The American Dream Is Alive in Finland - <AUTHOR> http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/07/nordic-american-dream-partanen/489032/?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits&single_page=true <comment><USER2> Finn here (though lived the past 12 years in the UK).

In my experience, the one thing that by far works best to enable social mobility, and that I think Nordic and some central European countries have done quite well, is free, high quality education - from primary school to university.

Especially as we move further and further to knowledge based economic growth, this is crucial, not just for social mobility, but well being and success of whole countries.

Market forces are great at optimising some things, some not so great. Things that require long term focus - basic research, education, environmental issues - are best handled, and paid for by governments.

<comment><USER3> There is a great deal of information (in studies and research) that shows post-secondary schooling is a good investment for the individual, but that does not mean that increasing the average amount of schooling is good for the country. A number of people are now making the argument that greater 'educational' achievement is mostly just signalling status, intelligence, socialization, and work ethic, not actually teaching people anything useful. If this view is correct, increasing the amount of education that the average citizen receives is just wasting their time (as most people do not enjoy their time in class), at great expense to them and the average taxpayer.[1]

[1] [http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2014/02/why_the_college....](http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2014/02/why_the_college.html)

[2] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signalling_(economics)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signalling_\(economics\))

<comment><USER4> > If this view is correct, increasing the amount of education that the average > citizen receives is just wasting their time (as most people do not enjoy > their time in class), at great expense to them and the average taxpayer.[1]

Even accepting your first premise, this does not follow. Even if degrees are 100% signalling and 0% actual education, it's still the right choice for the individual because that signalling has value. The alternative is that people who have the positive qualities that are signaled but not the money for the degree cannot get the jobs which require those characteristics and have good pay.

<comment><USER3> Subsidizing a signal serves to make the signal more expensive, and does not increase its utility; all Western governments are subsidizing education, and hurting their citizenries by doing so. Some proponents of the signalling theory have gone as far as to advocate for a tax on education.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The American dream mantra as it is currently being regurgitated in America is little more than a cheap slogan at best and calculated lie at worst.

What it is said to represent are qualities like social mobility in which America ranks amongst the very worst of the other 48 developed nations.

<comment><USER6> False.

'Social Mobility' cannot be compared between USA and small Euro nations.

'Social Mobility' _within_ Denmark, a country smaller than Los Angeles, is pretty good.

What if you compared 'Social Mobility' across the EU.

Do you think that poor people in Croatia, Sicily and Greece are 'mobilizing' up past the Swedish middle class?

No.

Also - America has large ethnic groups. America is really 5 nations: Europeans, Asians, Latinos, Blacks, and 'everyone else'. By almost every measure, America is different for these people, it's tough to compare. I'm not saying it's right, rather alluding to what it is.

Finally - I would say having lived in the US and Europe - that there is without a doubt more opportunity in America than in Europe overall. No question about that.

The elite in most European nations come from pretty good families. They go to the top schools and have their careers guaranteed.

Anyone in America can be successful.

Obviously, that's not a pragmatic statement, as poor kids from the ghetto often have no appreciation of this and simply don't work towards great outcomes - but this is the reality.

Anyhow - the gini coefficient for 'all of Europe' I suggest is definitely lower than the US, and this is because it's nary impossible for poor Spaniards/Greeks/Sicilians to rise to higher than the European upper middle class.

<comment><USER7> Great point. Nordic countries and other rich European countries owe large part of their success to colonization in the past. For example, Belgium performed mass genocide in Congo, enslaved the people and stole the natural resources in the country. So, today people in Belgium live comfortably, since the modern Belgium is built on top of African slaves' pile of bones.

About half of GDP of Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, France, Austria is taxes. It's easy to talk about redistribution after you've pillaged the entire world.

<comment><USER8> > Nordic countries [...] owe large part of their success to colonization in > the past.

The Nordic countries had no (or negligible) colonies. The Nordic countries are Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Norway.

<comment><USER9> lol. Please tell me more about how Nordic people never established any colonies. The countries that made all the colonies are Nordic colonies in and of themselves.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normans)

<comment><USER10> Sweden had colonies. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_overseas_colonies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_overseas_colonies) . Sweden also had slave trade. Denmark/Norway had colonies as well: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_colonial_empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_colonial_empire) . Greenland and the Faroe Islands are what remain of the Danish colonial empire.

Finland is another Nordic country, though not a Scandinavian country. Finland has never had an empire. It was too busy being controlled by Sweden and Russia. This means the Finns are Nordic people. Hence getgoingnow's statement cannot be true for all Nordic countries.

That said, cplanas is correct. Finland had no colonies, and for the other Nordic countries the colonies provided only a small revenue source. They surely did not "owe large part of their success to colonization in the past" as getgoingnow claims. Eg, Sweden's wealth historically comes from copper and iron, and Sweden was a poor country. Norway's w

I see you switched from "Nordic countries" to "Nordic people" and then to "Normans", to then imply that successful Norman conquests and colonization lead to a significant economic gain to the Nordic countries. I do not think that's a meaningful connection for the current discussion.

First, I do not like how you imply there is only one type of colonization. There's settler colonialism, like how the Bantu migrations displaced the Pygmy populations in early Congo history, or how the Norse/Danes controlled the region known as the Danelaw, or how the Norse settled in France, and assimilated (switched to Catholicism and to the French language), or how the Norse colonized Iceland.

There's also exploitation colonialism, which England and Spain are two of the best known examples. But the Norse conquest of England, which might have enriched some of the Norse in France, never went back to " _the Nordic countries_ ". Where then is the source of the revenue stream that getgoingnow implied was a basis for the success of the modern Nordic countries?

Second, the connection from "Normans" to "Nordic countries" doesn't work that way. The term "Nordic" is a relatively recent term that refers to a list of modern countries and territories; see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_countries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_countries) . It does not refer to Brittany, where the Normans lived, nor to Britain or southern Italy, which the Normans conquered.

Third, "Nordic people" has a variety of meanings (see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_people) ). It can refer to the Germanic people as a whole, or the people who live in the specific Nordic countries, or a term from scientific racism from the late 1800s, or the Norse, or more specifically the Vikings. I think your introduction of that term confuses the topic more than it helps. Which definition do you mean to use, and why not stay with "Nordic countries"?

Fourth, the Normans are only one link in history. Why stop with them? The Normans come from the Norse. The Norse are Germans. Why not simply say it's all due to German colonization?

Then again, you wrote "The countries that made all the colonies are Nordic colonies". I must have missed that part of history where they covered how the Normans colonized the Islamic Iberian Peninsula and lead to the Portuguese colonies.

<comment><USER9> > Fourth, the Normans are only one link in history. Why stop with them? The > Normans come from the Norse. The Norse are Germans. Why not simply say it's > all due to German colonization?

You could well say that... but I'm not sure how it makes the assertion true that nordic countries/people didn't have colonies. It's actually something that I've picked up on from my studies of history that many colonizers derive from Germanic roots. (My hunch which I can't prove / haven't investigate much is that the germans picked up on it from the romans)

I didn't mean to suggest that there's only one kind of colonization, I'm actually a huge fan of the idea that there are many types, and that some of them were beneficial.

Also, I don't really buy into the idea that colonization was responsible for the success of the nations that did the colonizing. I think that the exploitative type of colonization was harmful to development of the economy just as slavery in the Southern US lead to widespread poverty when compared to the North.

Yes, that was an absolute statement which you disproved handily, not all colonies were created by nordic / germanic peoples.

The very language we are communicating in is a testament to the colonization of England (or whatever the fuck it was called before it was colonized) by Nordic/Germanic people/countries. It's a colonization similar to America by Britain, where the colonists decided to give the middle finger to the motherland, similar to the way the English just gave the finger to their original colonizers in Denmark.

[https://www.englishclub.com/english-language- history.htm](https://www.englishclub.com/english-language-history.htm)

<comment><USER10> > "Yes, that was an absolute statement"

And there was no need for you to introduce a absolute statement as the previous nuanced statement was correct.

> the colonization of England

There have been many waves of colonization of England: Celts, Romans, Angles and Saxons, Norse, and the Norman French come quickly to mind. The colonization of England is far different from the combination of English, French, and Spanish colonization of the Americas.

I think you overemphasize bloodlines when you focus on immigration and "people". The Romans were a diverse set of peoples from across the Roman Empire, with people as far away as Africa living in England. The Christianization of England, or the spread of the concept of the divine right of kings, or of democracy, was not due to immigration of bodies but to an immigration of ideas. The rise of Sweden as an invading superpower in the 1600s was due in part to the Reformation, which let the Swedish king confiscate money from church land, and not simply from some intrinsic nature of the people.

"England" comes from the Angels. In modern use it refers to the area in the southern part of Great Britian, and corresponds mostly to where the Anglo- Saxon kingdoms were, ie, not Wales and not Scotland. There was no name before the Angles as there was no reason to highlight that specific area.

England as a short-hand for Great Britain was called Britannia by the Romans, and Albion, from a Celtic language through the Roman.

> "I think that the exploitative type of colonization was harmful to > development of the economy..."

Which brings the topic back to the original discussion. getgoingnow wrote "Nordic countries and other rich European countries owe large part of their success to colonization in the past".

Do you think it's true that the Nordic countries (modern Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland) owe their success to colonization? If so, which colonization, and what was the return which lead to modern success?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> So many people talk about it in sheer numbers, but you know what sounds nice? Having time off to spend with your kids (as a man!), more balanced relationships and not worrying about healthcare if you get laid-off.

</comment><comment><USER12> I have long argued for a non means-tested welfare state that is not a safety net but a foundation on which to build your life.

Here in the UK there is much resentment to people who receive benefits. I have been someone who lived on benefits because I could, not because I needed to. I spent that time learning new skills and overall have been a net contributor.

But I also know people who have no intention of personal improvement who plan to spend their entire lives on handouts.

I look at the US and see a system that seems designed to breed crime, poverty and prostitution.

Don't trick yourself into thinking the Nordic model is the greatest though. I spent 6 months there in Finland and predict a lot of social pain in the next decade. Growing unemployment will put strain on the social services. Multinationals have been allowed in which means profits sucked abroad via Wal- mart, Lidl and a host of others.

The brain drain to other parts of the EU will also grow, if the students I met fulfil their ambitions.

<comment><USER6> "I look at the US and see a system that seems designed to breed crime, poverty and prostitution."

While at the same time producing the highest GDP per captia in the world, the most number of people with college education, and leadership in probably 80% of global industries?

The US doesn't 'breed' anything - communities 'breed' themselves.

I suggest the US could do a little better with the social safety net, and possibly some basic healthcare guarantees, but having 60% taxes, 30% payroll tax and 20% VAT meaning the average worker putting 75% of their income directly towards government spending is not going to work either.

The 'Nordic Model' can only work in small countries, with small, tight ethnic groups and cultural foundations.

Nordic Countries almost all have Monarchies, State Churches (Sweden gives 1% of it's tax revenues to their Christian State Church - could you imagine that in the US?). I'm not saying 'faith' is an important factor, rather pointing out the relatively cohesive social identity.

And yes, you are right: UK and Germany are sucking up talent like vacuums.

<comment><USER13> Well ignoring: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_\(nominal\)_per_capita)

United Nations (2014)[6] lists US as 12th, which is not bad. But, has been falling for a while. Norway for example seems to be ahead by ~30% despite a huge safety net.

Of course by PPP we seem to be stuck at ~25: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IMF_ranked_countries_b...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IMF_ranked_countries_by_GDP)

<comment><USER14> Norway has a) a tiny population and b) a gigantic supply of oil.

All the countries above the U.S. on that Wikipedia list are tiny countries that have a specialized economy (oil for Norway and Qatar, financial services for Switzerland and Liechtenstein).

You see exactly the same pattern when you look within the United States:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_GDP_per...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_GDP_per_capita)

The top of that list is also dominated by oil (Alaska and North Dakota) and financial services (Delaware, New York).

Note that Alaska has a per capita GDP considerably higher than Norway, Switzerland, or Qatar (only being beaten by Luxembourg).

<comment><USER13> PPP is the important one and we are below United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia, and Italy which are not exactly known for oil production.

<comment><USER14> On the contrary, both the UK and Canada produce vast quantities of oil.

Also, I'm not sure what numbers you're looking at.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_\(PPP\)_per_capita)

shows all those countries well below the United States. The only ones above it are, again, oil and financial services countries.

<comment><USER13> List of IMF ranked countries by GDP: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IMF_ranked_countries_b...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IMF_ranked_countries_by_GDP) Has different numbers.

Though, several other places don't seem to agree with those numbers. So, they may be off.

<comment><USER14> Sort the GDP (PPP) per capita column in descending order. It's Qatar, Luxembourg, Singapore, Brunei, Kuwait, Norway, United Arab Emirates, San Marino, Switzerland, United States.

<comment><USER13> Ahh, looks like the PPP column does not mean what I thought it did.

^2 PPP is calculated by dividing GDP (nominal) by GDP (PPP), expressed as a percentage.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist History podcast is doing a three-part series critiquing the state of American education and its effect on social mobility. The first part (released last week) gives a personal perspective of a child who passes on an opportunity for social advancement to instead provide family support. As far as I understand it, the next parts are looking at the incentives that that shape college budgets.

Part 1: [http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/04-carlos-doesnt- reme...](http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/04-carlos-doesnt-remember)

</comment><comment><USER16> The american dream seems to have changed more towards taking from others to give to ones self. I notice a difference in "safety nets" now compared to say end of ww1. Very different times, and it affects many things.

<comment><USER17> Don't conflate political rhetoric with quality of life.

Quality of life has never been higher for any social class, even with unfortunate income inequality.

<comment><USER18> >Quality of life has never been higher for any social class

even if this were true (source?) it doesnt matter when there is a steady move toward lower social class on average for the overwhelming majority of Americans

<comment><USER9> Yes, the middle class IS shrinking, but the amazing thing is people are leaving to the upper classes at a 2:1 ratio.

> The study shows that as the number of middle-class Americans fell (from 61 > percent of the population to 51 percent of the population), the percentage > of Americans who are upper income surged from 14 percent of the population > to 20 percent of the population.

[http://www.cnbc.com/id/48754974](http://www.cnbc.com/id/48754974)

71% of Americans are middle class or better, amazing. Most of those in the lower classes are those who decided not to get any skills.

<comment><USER19> Notice how that link is not specific about _what counts_ as upper class and middle class.

It is not the case that people in the "lower" classes decided not to get any skills. It is that the economy changes over time and their skills are no longer compensated well and, in general, US society is not good at accommodating people to change their skill-sets to move into a new career. You might have anecdotes about people who made such a career change, but for society as a whole, it is too difficult.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> there's a summary/excerpts here:

[https://www.contentcreamery.com/articles/what-s-so- special-a...](https://www.contentcreamery.com/articles/what-s-so-special- about-finland)

</comment><comment><USER21> freedom is hard earned, neither generously provided, nor enforced. a universally dictated form of "freedom" is a degeneration.

<comment><USER22> Exactly, which is why the Finns are diligent in maintaining a good standard of living for their worst off. They work hard to hold their government accountable to the people.

Or did you have something else in mind? Such as taking credit for the sacrifices of generations past?

<comment><USER21> my perspective is on the opposite side of modern european social liberal standards.

individuals should only hold themselves accountable. the effort to establishing universal well-being assumes political enforcement and coercion. it's a process of ceding individual sovereignty to a political entity.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Why so must fascination about a homogeneous society that has population of City of Houston? I will not take some of these articles of Scandinavian fetish any seriously any more.

<comment><USER24> Why do you think that the Nordic model can't scale?

<comment><USER25> Having moved to the US from Germany, not a Nordic country, but a country with a much tighter social net that works comparatively well, I agree that it probably wouldn't work in the US. I think a social net works best if there is enough empathy in society to keep people happy with paying for those who need the net as well as keeping people from exploiting it too much. Of course there will always be someone unhappy with paying or someone exploiting he system, but it only works if that remains relatively rare. That is much easier if you have a relatively high empathy for each other which is easier in fairly homogenous populations. The US seems to have a very split society along all kinds of groups. There seems to be a strong fault line between large coastal cities and the middle of the country, racial divides, Republicans vs Democrats etc. These divides seem much larger to me than anything I know from Germany and I can only imagine that they are even smaller in the less populous, Nordic countries.

<comment><USER26> I am in the US and I would be happy to chip in to help pay for health expenses of a poor person, who has no family, etc.

What I am NOT willing to do, however, is pay enormous overhead to the the insurance/healthcare/bill-processing complex which sucks out the blood out of this country.

I bet most people in the US object not to some kind of a social contract to help the less fortunate, but to the completely broken system.

<comment><USER24> > I bet most people in the US object not to some kind of a social contract to > help the less fortunate, but to the completely broken system.

I feel like there is quite a few who are fundamentally against the idea.

<comment><USER27> There'll always be a few against. What matters is more than 50% agree on it.

Health insurance is a PITA here. Physio in Canada charged me $60/ session. Here it's $240 per session. Insurance pays about 100 but I still pay $140 out of my pocket.

America has a crazy obsession of being rich that people will easily screw others to make a buck. It's a very stark difference to Australia and Canada.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> 60% personal income taxes after big payroll tax and 20% VAT?

I don't think so.

<comment><USER28> I dunno, I feel richer in Europe than I did in California. Rent in places I like living is cheaper, and I save a good $300-$600 per month on automobile costs. I also save several thousand a year on flights to Europe, since that's pretty much where I like to vacation anyway.

Also, I'm fortunate enough to work in tech which has pretty good PTO policies (for now), but my spouse does not, and 4+ weeks of vacation for her as well, letting us see more of the world, makes me feel wealthier than a bigger paycheck.

Oh, I'm not expected to answer emails on the weekend either. And I can cycle without fearing for my life every. damn. day - the US detests cyclists and disregards their deaths.

<comment><USER18> >the US detests cyclists and disregards their deaths.

to be fair, many cyclists in the US ignore traffic laws wholesale

<comment><USER29> That is no excuse for a death sentence. Many cyclists do this in the Netherlands too and in the period that I have lived there, I haven't seen them treated that way on the roads.

<comment><USER30> If a car hits a cyclist or pedestrian in Holland, the car is -by definition- at fault. See [1] link in dutch.

Free translation of the first part: Cyclist or pedestrians are seen as the weaker traffic participants. Because they are fragile in traffic the law has a special rule on collisions with a motorized vehicle. The driver in the car is responsible for the damage of the cyclist without his guilt having to be proven.

[1] [http://www.anwb.nl/juridisch-advies/aanrijding-en- dan/aanspr...](http://www.anwb.nl/juridisch-advies/aanrijding-en- dan/aansprakelijkheid/voetganger-of-fietser)

<comment><USER31> It looks like the driver does have the possibility of proving that he was not guilty, and if successful limiting his reponsibility to half the damages: [https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/strict- liabili...](https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/strict-liability-in- the-netherlands/)

<comment><USER30> The article i linked to discussed some of the exceptions. It is very difficult for the driver to prove. For example hitting a cyclist who crossed a red light is still your fault. Only cases where the driver could not possibly do anything to prevent the accident are considered.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


ccls: C/C++ language server supporting cross references, completion and more - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/MaskRay/ccls/wiki/Getting-started and [Emacs] [LanguageClient-neovim] [Visual Studio Code] (thanks to vscode-cquery, but a lot of xref features are hard to access)
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/vim/comments/99utc7/ccls_languageclientneovim_custom_cross_references/
I finally identified and fixed the null pointer dereference issue of Arch Linux aur/ccls-git, damn -fno-rtti + std::get_deleter https://github.com/MaskRay/ccls/issues/30#issuecomment-415594762 <comment><USER2> clickable, [https://github.com/MaskRay/ccls/wiki/Getting- started](https://github.com/MaskRay/ccls/wiki/Getting-started)

Looks interesting. Is there an example of it in use?

<comment><AUTHOR> There are some screenshots in [https://github.com/MaskRay/ccls/wiki/Emacs](https://github.com/MaskRay/ccls/wiki/Emacs)

If you use vim/neovim, [https://www.reddit.com/r/vim/comments/99utc7/ccls_languagecl...](https://www.reddit.com/r/vim/comments/99utc7/ccls_languageclientneovim_custom_cross_references/)</comment></comment>


Server under attack - <AUTHOR> My web server is being sent random URLs by some user right now. Is it possible to do something about it? It is more of a nuisance and I can easily lock the port but I could have spent the time doing other things. <comment><USER2> You could put your site behind cloudflare and enable one of the antispam modes. It is intended for this purpose. They have a nice free tier.

<comment><AUTHOR> What is the advantage of using cloudflare over only allowing port access through an aws load balancer?</comment></comment>


When is the best time to promote your startup (e.g., on what day of the week and at what time)? - <AUTHOR>

<comment><USER2> Tues/Weds.

Monday theres too much going on. Friday nobody cares because it's the start of the weekend. Tues/Weds gives you time to deal with bugs and problems that crop up after millions of users flood your site after the announcement.

</comment><comment><USER3> Sundays at 2:27 PST. But you just missed it so you'll have to wait until next week.

<comment><AUTHOR> This is a serious question.

Consider for example making a submission to reddit or digg. When would be a good time to do so to maximize the expected number of people who will check it out?

<comment><USER4> At this point, Digg and Reddit are hard to use unless you game them. It's so random as to whether it gets dugg/buried or up'd/down'd at the beginning. I hope you have a lot of friends with the right accounts or a way of paying $1/Digg.

<comment><USER5> Well, you used to be able to cheat your way to the top of Reddit - <http://reddit.com/info/1e7za/comments> \- but spez fixed that little hole.

You probably can still do it on Digg - I went after Reddit because I figured it'd be harder, but I bet Digg is full of XSS and XSRF vulnerabilities.

<comment><USER6> For that matter, use something small and fun like 2prong.com to pump out fake accounts. Digg yourself 30 times or so and you'll be headed up

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> In the PR business, tuesday is considered the best day to make announcements. At least, positive ones.

<comment><USER8> why?

<comment><USER9> I'm going to guess that Monday is the worst, because people are miserable they just got into work, as well as swamped with additional work that came about over the weekend. Friday sucks because people want to go home and be done with that week. Few people work on the weekend. Tuesday is best because it must give a person four business days for followup. Any reporter/businessperson/client who wants to reach the company has time to do so over the next few days. That would be my guess.

<comment><USER8> Great reasoning. Here's a quote from the Joel discussion board.

<http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?biz.5.470472.11> "This is from a P.R. pro. Monday is the day that most announcements go out. You still want it to be early in the week but to avoid the crowd, it makes sense to do it on Tuesday."

The odd thing is everybody followed this advice it wouldn't work. So the sluggish Monday idea is pretty compelling :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I've noticed weekends are nice because few folks are launching--and bloggers are more chill and likely to review your submission. Just a general thing I've noticed.

With that said, we launched Monday afternoon. Made to digg frontpage Tuesday evening; TechCrunch on Thursday 4-5am EST.

-Zaid

</comment><comment><USER11> Time is less important than the number of friends you have spamming it all at the same time.

<comment><AUTHOR> Suppose you are not going to have any friends spamming in that way.

<comment><USER11> If you want to get your stuff on a social news site you'd better start making friends now. A disproportionate numbers of diggs on the front page come from a small percentage of users.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> I realize that the middle of the week has the highest internet traffic. But high traffic might result in your submission being swamped by other people's submissions.

</comment><comment><USER12> Define your desired outcome. Then determine your strategy based on the goal. An endeavor that fails to prepare is an endeavor prepare to fail.

</comment><comment><USER13> The best time is the present. Right now.

Overthinking generally leads to underperforming.

</comment><comment><USER14> i'd say ASAP, if you have a product worth shouting about</comment>


Apparatus: A Hybrid Graphics Editor / Programming Environment [video] - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Xack9ufYk <comment><USER2> Cool concept, misguided implementation.

Look at Smalltalk and Pharo on how to do this properly, on the right platform. Not only is Javascript/browser the wrong platform for something like this, but it's also too constraining and limited in scope as to what one can do with it.

It's kind of sad to see bad re-implementations of paradigms that have been out there for 30+ years (in this case even more than that). I suggest that the maintainers of this project go to youtube and watch every Alan Kay video they can find. They'll learn a lot.

<comment><USER3> Pompous and condescending comment without any specific criticism.

<comment><AUTHOR> The suggestion to watch Alan Kay videos is especially funny given that this tool was produced at CDG Labs.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Also [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10293368](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10293368).

</comment><comment><USER5> I like the reusability of the parts, but other than that it looks like Grasshopper but for 2D instead of 3D. And code-based instead of patch-based.</comment>


Chelsea Manning recovering after suicide attempt in jail, lawyers say - <AUTHOR> https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/politics/chelsea-manning-suicide-attempt-virginia-jail/index.html <comment><USER2> Chelsea should be out, enjoying herself under the sun.

Hers is a generation that will inherit the debt of American war crimes, and it is an utter tragedy that things are going down like this.

It is a real modern travesty; to consider how extremely dire the situation is, the dead public silence vis a vis military war-crimes, versus what Chelsea is going through.

By what righteous metric can a society that allows such an injustice to happen be allowed to continue to keep its secrets?

Challenge the narrative and either you get justification for mass-murder, downright hostility from folks who cannot brook a challenge to the military hegemony, or outright ignorance and pleas of victim-hood.

So-called western moral authority is torn to shreds - but the interesting thing is, if the West is to step back from the precipice and face the truth, then Chelsea is going to be a part of that, too.

Her pardon is the only appropriate way forward, followed by proper justice for the real crimes against humanity that were committed by her colleagues, in the name of their families.

Chelsea's release, as well as Julian's, would most definitely be the _only_ way for things to turn around, for the generation that will inherit these debts is not easily going to forgive these deeds.

The leaks will continue.

Especially since the very real, extraordinarily catastrophic war crimes have continued to happen, and there is _still_ not an appropriate level of responsibility for the situation. There is ZERO Justice for the victims.

Just how long we are going to be distracted by puppets until we start jailing our very real war criminals? Assange and Manning being pardoned has to happen.

<comment><USER3> > Her pardon is the only appropriate way forward

A pardon is not possible because she has not been convicted of any crime. She is being held for contempt of court because she refuses to testify to a secret closed door panel. She says she will testify in public about whatever they wish but not to secret proceedings. She has also previously answered the questions they say they want to ask her in the secret proceeding.

<comment><USER4> > A pardon is not possible because she has not been convicted of any crime.

Is that true? Wasn't Nixon pardoned for his crimes without actually being convicted of anything? He didn't even manage to get impeached, since he resigned before that could happen.

<comment><USER5> A quick web search shows this to be a matter of some dispute. Some cases have been ruled in favor of the executive being able to pardon contempt while others have declared contempt to not be an offense as defined by the Constitution and therefore not pardonable.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> More proof that it is unlawful to continue holding her, as the Grumbles motion her team submitted last month stated. Further imprisonment will not cause her to talk, so it is unlawful to imprison her.

Hope she recovers quickly.

<comment><USER7> In my opinion, she should be free. That being said, I don't think an emotional outburst is "more proof" (maybe you meant more evidence) that it is unlawful to hold her. Can you imagine going in from of a judge and saying "my client attempted suicide in prison, that means it's unlawful to hold her." The precedent would allow basically any prisoner who attempts suicide to be released.

<comment><USER8> For instance, Jeffrey Epstein.

<comment><USER9> Yeah... whatever happened to him? I hope his story gets back into the news cycle after this Pandemic blows over.

<comment><USER10> He's still dead, last I heard.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Is she allowed visitors? Where is she being held?

<comment><USER12> The linked article [https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/16/politics/chelsea-manning- back...](https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/16/politics/chelsea-manning-back-to- jail/index.html) says she's in the Alexandria Detention Center.

According to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Manning#2019_jailing_f...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Manning#2019_jailing_for_contempt) she was in "administrative segregation" for the first month or so but has been in "general population" since then.

<comment><USER11> Thanks, I had skimmed the article but missed the location.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Prisoners who are either in for 10 years+ or are put into solitary confinement should be given a voluntary euthanasia option. If Chelsea Manning sincerely believes that she will not be freed, and wants to end her own life on her terms, let her.

This objectively reduces harms. You cannot sincerely tell me that people who wanted to end their suffering in the face of extreme torture or solitary confinement are "mentally ill" or acting irrationally.

<comment><USER14> This would be an indirect death sentence to many. Involuntary confinement is extremely stressful and has been known to lead to irrational acts like suicide. Why do you think they take your belt and shoelaces when you get incarcerated?

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> "She is scheduled on Friday to appear for a hearing on a motion to terminate the contempt sanctions from her refusal."

hmmmm.... she is scheduled Friday for a hearing that will most likely free her, but attempts suicide yesterday???

sounds very concerning and fishy to me.

edit: guess everyone forgets about Epstein. I wouldn't doubt it if this happened to her cause they don't want her getting out.

<comment><USER15> Likely to free her? You figured that out how exactly? From the article and how the civil contempt works, she would be held indefinitely, until the reasons for contempt charge would end. That is probably until the trial with Assange in US ends. And it didn't even start yet.

<comment><AUTHOR> if you listen to the accompanying news reel, she was only suppose to be in there for a maximum of 18 months. it's been 2 years so with the hearing coming up on Friday, there should be a good chance she can go free _fingers crossed_.

<comment><USER12> I'm pretty sure that rule does not apply when the person has the ability to comply with the court at any time and continues to decide not to. That's why in this case, Chelsea is being fined an additional $1,000 per day. Each day is considered a separate act of contempt. She was not sanctioned summarily, but will be held until she complies.

<comment><USER16> > Chelsea is being fined an additional $1,000 per day

Wow, I didn't know that. It's not enough to ruin her life while she's in prison, but they want to ruin it if/when she is eventually released.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Bessemer Ventures Anti-Portfolio - <AUTHOR> https://www.bvp.com/anti-portfolio <comment><USER2> this is really just self-congratulation by them about how they have strong deal flow.

they also use this as a disingenuous/insincere way of rejecting founders (we don't want to invest, but you're probably one of the other unicorns we didn't invest in! check out out antiportfolio!)

<comment><USER3> Thanks for this. Just reminds me how much I hate the entire business model of venture capital circa 2020.

If you are a founder just remember that raising capital is a tool just like any other. Misuse of it can be disastrous for your business.

I'd encourage more entrepreneurs to build companies like Basecamp.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Previous discussion: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15547136](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15547136)

</comment><comment><USER5> I know they wouldn't risk their reputation to do but I had hoped this was a list of companies they are betting will do poorly in the coming years.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Seattle-based OVP Partners which shut down a few years ago also had a interesting anti-portfolio page. The Starbucks story was hilarious:

"A guy walks into your office some time in the late 1980s and says he wants to open a chain of retail shops selling a commodity product you can get anywhere for 25 cents, but he will charge 2 dollars.

Of course, you listen politely, and then fall off your chair laughing when he leaves. Howard Schultz didn't see this as humorous. And we didn't make 500 times our money." OVP believed that there was no market for Starbucks' premium coffee, which may indeed have been the prevailing wisdom at the time,

</comment><comment><USER6> I am sure they left many out. Check Point Software for one.

</comment><comment><USER7> Considering how many of the anti-portfolio DavidC seems to have missed, I wonder how he still has a job?

<comment><USER8> If I had a peanut for every trader talking in hindsight what he should have done I would be pretty sick of peanuts by now.</comment></comment>


Indexed, not submitted in sitemap. Why is our website not in Google? - <AUTHOR> https://www.seotool.ee/indexed-not-submitted-in-sitemap <comment><USER2> The world would be such a better place if Google could simply communicate a little bit better.</comment>


Show HN: Hacking the cremation urn industry – Artisurn.com - <AUTHOR>

I have been a fan of hn for a long time. I spent a lot of time lurking and then finally made an account. I have found a lot of the startups getting launched on or through this site as inspirational. I am not a programmer but I do consider myself a hacker. I am originally from Russia but now live in the US. This is my third business and my first online business.
I did all of the design and setup of artisurn.com myself using shopify. I would appreciate any feedback or tips from the community on any way to improve on what I have created.
I feel that the funeral business is ripe for disruption and I've chosen to start in the cremation urns category as a proof of concept. So far things have been moderately successful. I'd really appreciate any feedback. Thanks! <comment><USER2> congratulations on your online business, I see some people don't like these sites here because you are not a Solo founder using some cool language or library. I admire your drive to setup a business online. One suggestion would be to reach out to pet cremation companies and offer them a catalog of your products so that they can recommend them to their clients. I had a pet parakeet die recently and I would've loved to have a nice box where to put his remains instead the boring and sad looking box I got. I would've paid good money for it and I know people love their pets.

Keep up with this great idea, add more entries in your blog and good luck to you .

<comment><USER3> Actually, my migivings arise from a difference in culture betwen Europe and the States, I now realise — nothing, at all, to do with the conceits you've presumed.

Simply that we don't suffer the same restrictive funeraal industry that you guys appear to.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Nice site. Will there be an option for a cat's paw on the pet urns in addition to the dog paw?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you for your kind words. The paw print is intended to be either a cat or a dog paw print. You also have an option of selecting a personalized cat tag that can go on the urn's lid instead of the standard paw print. See design #4 here: [http://artisurn.com/collections/pet- urns/products/segmented-...](http://artisurn.com/collections/pet- urns/products/segmented-pet-urn).

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> [http://artisurn.com/](http://artisurn.com/)

</comment><comment><USER6> "So far things have been moderately successful."

Please share your sales figures.HN would appreciate the insight. Your product is fascinatingly different.

<comment><AUTHOR> Artisurn.com was launched one month ago and I've had 3 sales so far averaging $150.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I sincerely fail to understand how the listing of this site here in any way supports a supposed 'hacker ethos' or is 'disruptive' to a specific industry.

If I was only a tiny bit more cynical I'd presume you were merely fishing for linkage.

Best of luck to you in your business, of course — you've done a solid job re- styling Shopify. I just don't get what's HN-relevant here.

<comment><USER7> When's the last time you bought a cremation urn?</comment></comment>


Path Tracing 3D Fractals - <AUTHOR> http://blog.hvidtfeldts.net/index.php/2015/01/path-tracing-3d-fractals/ <comment><USER2> Those results are fantastic. I have to say, I like the noise that path tracing creates (you can see it in the video for the Brigade engine as well, mentioned in another comment). It looks rather like the noise you get from a lower-end digital camera, which actually rather enhances the realism for me.

<comment><USER3> > lower-end digital camera

And here I was going to say "the grain you get from high ISO film ([http://i.imgur.com/4FDyk.jpg)"](http://i.imgur.com/4FDyk.jpg\)"). Dang kids, get off my lawn!

Anyways, you can actually see this effect (combined with chromatic aberration, which simulated the effect of cheap camera optics) used to great effect in P.T., which was a sort of tech demo/playable trailer for an upcoming silent hill game. Here's a screenshot: [http://www.silenthillmemories.net/silent_hills/screens/pics/...](http://www.silenthillmemories.net/silent_hills/screens/pics/silent_hills_pt_screen_20140821_02.jpg)

<comment><USER2> Ha, of course, film as well; for whatever reason, my first thought was "crappy flip-phone camera".

In any case, it's great. The noise hides some details that would otherwise reveal flaws in the render, similar to how motion blur and focus help as well.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Maybe I'm wrong but these fractals are made with raymarching not raytracing see ex: [http://www.iquilezles.org/www/articles/mandelbulb/mandelbulb...](http://www.iquilezles.org/www/articles/mandelbulb/mandelbulb.htm)

<comment><USER5> The terminology is admittedly confusing. This is how I understand it:

       Ray casting:   Determine intersection of a ray analytically
       Ray marching:  Determine intersection of a ray by taking stepwise samples
       Ray tracing:   Ray casting or marching along a light path (from the camera)
       Path tracing:  Ray tracing with random experiments

The first two are ray calculation strategies, the latter are rendering strategies. In ray tracing you usually have many simplifications and effects like in real-time rendering, for example direct light models. In path tracing these effects are the result from approximating the full rendering equation.

<comment><USER6> Hmm, I think some of those definitions are a bit off. Let me try:

\- Ray-casting is the general technique of using ray/object intersections (usually to solve a graphics problem). Could be via analytical solutions or not.

\- Ray-marching refers to using an iterative technique for computing ray/object intersections. This type of strategy is used for these 3D fractals.

\- Ray-tracing creates an image by casting rays for each pixel in the image (from the camera).

\- Path-tracing is one of many random ray-tracing techniques. It averages across many random deep bounces of rays following light paths to accurately solve for lighting.

In this case, the ray-tracing casts rays against the 3D fractal via ray- marching and uses path-tracing to compute accurate lighting.

<comment><USER5> So path tracing is only used for the secondary rays and beyond?

<comment><USER6> I think think that's kind of a philosophical question. Wikipedia, for example, explains path tracing as integrating over incident light on a surface. You could either think of that as incident light at a point on a virtual film/sensor plane behind a lens or incident light on the first object you hit in the scene.

<comment><USER7> Such techniques are often generally known as "Global Illumination".

Often in physics based rendering you are attempting to estimate the BSDF (bi- directional scattering distribution function, often broken into T, transmission and R reflection) parts. This gets complicated by interactive media and subsurface scattering (i.e the photons go into a material and bounce around) but in the simple case of a surface interaction you are estimating an integral over solid angle for all light interactions. Monte Carlo path tracing is one way to do this estimation.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> What gaming engines already implement or plan to implement path tracing in them in the future? Path tracing looks like the future of gaming graphics, and would do especially well with VR in a decade or so (hopefully by then path tracing will also be accelerated in hardware).

<comment><USER9> There is the Brigade engine[1] that I know of. It's as far as I know a one man project. I haven't heard of an update in a long time though.

[1] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpT6MkCeP7Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpT6MkCeP7Y)

<comment><USER10> [http://raytracey.blogspot.fi/](http://raytracey.blogspot.fi/)

Sam Lapere seems to have left Otoy around November 2014.

<comment><USER11> I'd guess Jacco Bikker and Jeroen van Schijndel are still involved though?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I've been following this blog for a bit. Fragmentarium is pretty interesting.

</comment><comment><USER13> The results look great!</comment>


Google Video Quality Report - <AUTHOR> http://www.google.com/get/videoqualityreport

<comment><USER2> So, what does it show?

I only get "Results from your location are not yet available."

<comment><USER3> It's only available in Canada right now</comment></comment>


A Man Who Tricked Chemtrails Conspiracy Theorists - <AUTHOR> https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xd5kq7/i-tricked-chemtrail-conspiracy-theorists-947 <comment><USER2> When you are in a jet, you can sometimes see the contrails being formed near the wing tip. It's pretty obvious that its not something "being sprayed" and is actually fairly interesting to witness up close.</comment>


Show HN: Vigyaa Anonymous – A safe place to write and read anonymously - <AUTHOR> http://Vigyaa.io <comment><USER2> A hunch: I think anonymous writing today (by those with more non-anonymous writing) will be reliably de-anonymized relatively soon through some sort of comparative analysis by a motivated enough party.

It feels like writing needs an additional layer of obfuscation. For example, one way to give feedback in a small circle of people might be to have a neutral, anonymous third-party rephrase the idea in their own words -- a bit like running it through Google Translate but less deterministic.

This sort of feature could potentially be baked into a service, as a checkbox. Perhaps in order to post you have to "anonymize" n number of other users' posts first.

Some further reading:

[https://33bits.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/is-writing-style- suf...](https://33bits.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/is-writing-style-sufficient- to-deanonymize-material-posted-online/)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylometry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylometry)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you for your suggestions and suggested reads. Though I think the incentive to de-anonymise or get into stylometry is there only if the post has a larger impact on an organisation or individual. Most of the post on Vigyaa.io are personal in nature. I don't see why anyone will make the effort to figure out who has written it. The whole obfuscation is necesarry if one is blowing the whistle on someone or is posting something offensive. In either case the author will make their own effort to not let their writing style reveal themselves.

Would love to hear your prospective further.

<comment><USER2> > The whole obfuscation is necesarry if one is blowing the whistle on someone > or is posting something offensive.

Agreed -- I don't think personal posts need the anonymization as much as perhaps political discussions in oppressive regimes (at which point getting the technical security stack right seems higher ROI than worrying about de- anonymization).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> How do you plan to moderate this? I notice there's a report button, but does that lead to a manual process for you? How do you plan to scale that? 10K articles is already sizable!

For a site that claims no IP tracking, the constant callbacks (to /api/api/analytics..., some of which include a parameter `unique_id`) and the inclusion of googletagmanager make me a little uneasy.

<comment><AUTHOR> The callbacks and unique ID etc we will work on to help protect user information.

The report function is automatic after a sizeable number reports and article. Rest we do manual moderation and are working on NLP to automate. Thank you

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Just a word of warning: Anonymity while writing honestly is harder than people typically think. You may need to develop some best practices to help people actually be anonymous while writing "anonymously."

People are generally pretty oblivious to the many things they say and do that can point to their real identity.

<comment><AUTHOR> Noted thanx

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Vigyaa.io is a 100% anonymous platform where there are absolutely no trace of your identity. So users can be free of any fear of judgment or vulnerability.

I watched a movie called "Dear God" a long time ago. A crook is sentenced to serve the community by working in the post office sorting room. He finds a pile of mails addressed to God. He starts to read them. That Idea stuck with me since.

Here is the link to the IMDB page of the movie: [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116059/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116059/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0)

So Vigyaa.io is a digital incarnation of that idea. User is 100% anonymous. Anonymity takes away all the vanity of presenting your best version to the world. It makes you comfortable in your own skin. It rips away any kind of incentive for you to fake it. And thus you get to see the TRUE version of the people who post. I believe that it is a very rare thing in today's social media lead world.

The stories you find on our platform are so honest that it has become a one of a kind place where anyone can share anything that they are not comfortable sharing with another sole until now.

We moderate the content for any kind of spamming/ solicitation posts or that can be hurtful to any segment of the larger community. If we miss anything that is still offensive users can report such posts and we have them removed.

Our only goal here is to unburden your hearts and have a place to connect with humanity at large.

Please try it out and share your feedback. Ask questions. I will try to answer to my best.

<comment><USER5> >you get to see the TRUE version of the people who post

It is a great idea, no doubt, given how tiny is a step from free speech to public outrage with personal consequences today. Real values are important, as are discussions on these. But sadly you get to see true version of not all people, but mostly people who constitute a core mindset of those who prefer to be anonymous. And that attracts a much more specific population and mood than in general.

Maybe you're sure you know what you're doing, and I wish vigyaa good luck not turning into a version of altchan, dickroulette and many other sites with initially nice ideas of usage.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> It's not a safe place for your mind being on though. At the time being, it is an usual, textbook aib content without images. If you look for places that could reduce your depression or fear of being stalked, _do not_ consider anonymous boards. You'll get a huge loads of depression, products of mental illness, twisted worldviews, thinking errors and outright engineered posts than will put your own mental health in danger if consumed regularly. It's no safe place, because once you're hooked in, you're exposed to everything there and you cannot control that. It's tempting to separate "you" and your identity and integrity by hiding your name or username, but it's _you_ who is there, not your username. It is like saying "okay, the world is scary and I will live in a simulation game where nobody knows who I am". The problem with that thinking is that now you live there and all your issues are still with you.

Also, as others pointed out itt, the problem with anonymity and deanonymisation is not in ip addresses or similar technical trails. To be anonymous, you have to check what you speak of on anonymous board and irl constantly, and which information you disclose, either consciously or in small details. Many slow aib users can recognize each other just by a little amount of text. You can also never know whether your readers could do A+B+C of your story or a comment and recognize you or someone from your environment irl. Your life is unique enough to do that, even if all you do is sitting before the screen all the time. I'd suggest to lurk for few years before getting out of readonly to evaluate your ability to stay anonymous, but only if there was something to do there in the first place.

It is also funny that it is called safe, when all you need to detect who said what at the legal level is your isp's metadata.

<comment><AUTHOR> I get your point about spiralling down depression reading the posts there. We aim to segregate such posts using NLP so they don't crowd the center stage. But we can't and dont want to stop such posts as venting helps these people. And then there are many frequent users now that spend time helping other through reply posts.

ISP point noted and will see what we can do about that.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> _" Something Went Wrong!!! Please Try again"_ messages make it totally unusable. Not even a second after opening any post, bam: _" Something Went Wrong!!! Please Try again"_

After trying for some time and reloading a page like 5 times, honestly, I don't think I'll try again.

<comment><USER7> Same experience. What's the point of a message board where you can't read the posts?

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I think this looks great, I definitely will want to use it. I tried to read some of the popular posts and found a small bug:

When you are on a post page (like [https://vigyaa.io/sadness-is- confusing-86b8c139/](https://vigyaa.io/sadness-is-confusing-86b8c139/)) it loads the content of the page and you can scroll and everything but then after a few seconds it switches to "Something Went Wrong!!! Please Try again".

Watching it happen with the console open this error comes out when it fails:

TypeError: NetworkError when attempting to fetch resource.

I'm still excited to use Vigyaa, worts and all!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you. Will have it fixed.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Anonymous communication is interesting. It is nice to see another project in this space. Like some of the other commenters, I am curious how the moderation will work. Without IP address logs or user accounts it seems hard to ban malicious users. Since one can reply to posts, I imagine the moderation will be main difference from something like 4chan (also no images). I also wonder what the monetization strategy is. Finally, I am curious about what the name means.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you for your comments. The moderation is currently manual and a manual moderation layer will always remain. plus we have a "report abuse" button for user supported moderation. 3rd we are also developing a NLP module that will be able to fish out anything offensive. Since we don't want to keep IP address logs we can target content directly. Any advise on that is welcome.

On monetisation: we will relay on ads and sponsored posts that are relevant to the audience.

Vigyaa means "knowledge"

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> "The Only Platform Where You can be 100% Anonymous" [citation needed]

</comment><comment><USER11> I checked your platform, its a great idea, especially for someone like me who's a great introvert and has a fear how people will judge me.

Good Work!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you for your encouragement. I am an introvert too. And don't like to put my feelings on display. I feel that is just a stunt to seek attention. But here you can't seek any attention since know one knows who you are.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Use NLP for sentiment analysis

</comment><comment><USER12> Not surprising that there's literal hate speech on the front page.

</comment><comment><USER13> How old is this?

<comment><AUTHOR> Launched April this year. The numbers are from June onwards</comment></comment>


Show HN: Riddle.com – create Buzzfeed-like content in 60 seconds - <AUTHOR> http://www.riddle.com

<comment><USER3> These comments seem really fake.

<comment><USER4> Indeed. I'm a bit surprised that this company is 'savvy' enough to post to and 'engage' with Hacker News, and yet not smart enough to realize that being so blatantly obvious in posting fake comments is a surefire way to attract the disapproval of that same community.

Or am I underestimating how mainstream HN has become?

(of course there's still the possibility that these comments are actually genuine, however unlikely. In that case my apologies for making the wrong assumptions.)

<comment><AUTHOR> Well - it sounds like all these comments are from actual users... but TBH - the positive comments are great, but we're much more interested in the constructive (and blunt) feedback HN is known for… any thoughts?

<comment><USER5> They may be from actual users of your program, but votes and comments here need mostly to be by actual users of HN.

Votes and comments for promotional reasons are against HN's rules and tend to get accounts and sites banned. We want people to participate because they find a story intellectually interesting, not because they or a friend have something to promote. It's totally fine to post your own stuff, but after that, the HN community needs to drive.

<comment><USER6> At what point do I stop being offended that you are saying my comments are fake?!

<comment><USER4> Being offended is understandable if you are a real user and just really excited about this project.

But then the underlying problem is that all these comments seem fake, which clearly indicates they don't offer any value and only hurt the product. So I'd say if you really love riddle.com, either just upvote the post, or add something meaningful to the conversation :-).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Riddle is so simple. The star of it all, the UX.

</comment><comment><USER6> This has been a great help with driving traffic to my Kickstarter campaign. I was amazed how simple and fun creating engaging content can be!

</comment><comment><USER8> This is so good, thank you for sharing this here

</comment><comment><USER9> Looks interesting. Just signed up - the design immediately grabs me, and I'm looking forward to seeing what I can produce.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks so much - we really appreciate it!

And any feedback - about the good, the bad, and (hopefully very little of) the ugly - we'd love to hear about it.

Mike Co-founder

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Best polling/quizzing tool that I know of, can't wait to see how they develop this year.

</comment><comment><USER11> I have had a lot of fun - and success - using riddle for various content and contact needs. Good stuff - quick & easy!

<comment><AUTHOR> Woohoo! We like to hear that... any features you'd suggest or things we could do better?

<comment><USER11> Hey Mike thanks for the offer. I'll put a list together on some ideas - <USER2> overall really like the tool

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Really easy to use for creating quick quizzes.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks - we'd love to get any ideas on what you think we could improve if you've got a sec to share? :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> They are super easy tools for any social media manager who needs to build quick polls & quizzes - definitely worth checking out!</comment>


Elon Musk Is the Cosmo Kramer of Crony Capitalism - <AUTHOR> http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/elon-musk-is-the-cosmo-kramer-of-crony-capitalism/ <comment><USER2> Never pan out? Doesn't seem that way to me. Everything hasn't panned out but what has been achieved is quite astounding and far beyond what I or many others expected years ago.

It's also quite nutty to single out Elon for crony capitalism and never mention the dozens of far richer people and larger companies that have a longer history of taking more money from the state and delivering far less. Elon is a bargain compared to old aerospace, defense, federal IT, and other contractors.

IMHO the hatred for Elon comes in part from exactly those quarters. He's actually delivering something, which threatens those who take tons of taxpayer money and do not.

</comment><comment><USER3> So when Musk started making cars, this was part of a cabal of other entrenched electric car makers oppressing big-carbon auto?

Ditto, rocketry, he was part of that old boys club that didn't care to innovate, was he?

The subsidy figures seem to be fantasy as well, but would be worth stating if they were true.

I think Snopes dot com needs one more article.</comment>


Simple launches Android app - <AUTHOR> http://twotoasters.com/ideas/2013/introducing-simple-for-android/

<comment><USER2> They see to have made a really nice custom styled app while still remaining true to modern Android conventions. Well done.

It would be cool if banks could license their code (for a hefty fee) because the apps by banks here in thee Netherlands aren't very good at all.

<comment><USER3> Given the legacy infrastructure they have to deal with I wouldn't be surprised if the code were dropped in their laps that it would still be impossible not to ruin it when wiring it up.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This is very well done. Usually I'm skeptical when a startup elects not to do the Android app themselves; it's often a sign that they don't really care about the platform. But in this case it's obvious that Two Toasters cares deeply, and I'm sure they weren't the cheapest option, so that shows that Simple cares as well.

In the future it might be smart for startups whose care value isn't in the UI, to only do their web apps themselves and outsource the native apps to experts in the platforms, with guidance of course.

<comment><USER5> I thought the same thing initially. That they did not care about Android as much. After all this app is released over eight months after the iOS and on top of that it's outsourced?

But according to Simple's official blog statement they actually consulted with TwoToasters and have their own Android team.

[https://simple.com/blog/Banking/announcing-simple-for- androi...](https://simple.com/blog/Banking/announcing-simple-for-android/)

Incidentally, their jobs page has an opening for an Android engineer:

[http://banksimple.theresumator.com/apply/phViRT/Android- Engi...](http://banksimple.theresumator.com/apply/phViRT/Android- Engineer.html)

<comment><USER6> Hiring really good Android engineers is really hard. I'd say it's easily the hardest set of hires I've approach in a new startup trying to bring people onboard.

<comment><USER5> What qualities would you say make someone a good Android engineer?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I am going to be in quite the conundrum when I get a Simple invite. On the one hand, I think what they're doing is awesome — for me, namely, the Safe-to- spend feature. I currently keep track of this in a not-so-accurate Excel spreadsheet and in my head.

On the other hand, I currently use Perkstreet's debit card for everything and the 1% cash back adds up in a noticeably short period of time.

I wonder if the 1% cash back is worth the grunt work that Simple would make quite, well, simple.

<comment><USER8> Simple also don't offer any interest (nor a savings account) which grates a bit. Using Simple loses you money. It's not a "hidden fee", but it's a cost that isn't that clear.

EDIT: There's also no outgoing ACH transfers yet, which I really would like.

<comment><USER9> Re: interest, this isn't technically correct, though the rate is 0.01%. See: <https://simple.com/faq/#interest> and <https://simple.com/policies/rates/>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> So the technology platform is Simple's main product (after all, they're not a bank, that part is left up to their bank partner), right?

In light of that, it seems odd that they'd farm out the development of one of the biggest customer-facing parts of that platform to a third party.

<comment><USER11> In my experience Simple's main product is customer service (and delight). They're great at leveraging technology to accomplish this, but I'd say they're far from being a technology company.

In an ideal world I'm sure they would have created their app in-house, but it looks like outsourcing the development left them with a quality final product. Seems like a smart enough choice to me.

<comment><USER12> You hit it on the head. We were also able to speed up time to market and provide them with more than _just_ outsourced dev.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> For anyone looking for an invite to Simple, I've got three available. Shoot me an e-mail (in profile).

I've been using Simple for the past 6 months and I've got to say I don't miss my brick and mortar bank one second. These guys are the perfect example of doing it right.

<comment><USER14> Just out of curiosity what's the big deal? I received an invite was reluctant to signup because there is an "inactivity fee". As far as I can tell it's just an online bank?

<comment><USER15> > _I received an invite was reluctant to signup because there is an > "inactivity fee"_

From their site: "After 180 days (6 months) of inactivity, we charge a $5 monthly fee to avoid escheatment,..."

I think if you were to switch to Simple it would be very rare to not use your card for 180 days, but that's just my 2 cents. But yeah, I wouldn't switch to only have an "extra account" that would eventually hit that 180 day inactivity time.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I have a simple account and the simple app on my Android phone. It's top notch. And while I've run into an issue with them refusing to work with my paypal account (because the paypal account shows a business name and my simple bank account is a personal account) -- the tech support was at least friendly about it. So far I like what they are doing.

<comment><USER17> Same thing happened to me on a Friday and they locked my account. CS claimed they couldn't unlock the account until Monday... just imagine if they were my only bank. Not impressed.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> If anyone would like an invitation to Simple, please shoot me an email via my profile, with a brief explanation as to why you might enjoy it =)

I get a few invitations every once and a while (have 3 currently) and would love to give them to people who would truly like to use this awesome bank.

<comment><USER19> I just sent you an email with a request for an invite.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Minor rant: I requested an invite and got one but they didn't have an Android app and thus wouldn't let me sign up. They were supposed to send out another invite once the Android app was available. I'm probably just being impatient but I am actually really interested in trying their service.

<comment><USER21> I'm in the same situation. I just clicked the signup link in my email that contained the original invite and it let me sign up.

<comment><USER22> Same here, previous sign up link lets you sign up now. Albeit, I have to wait to make sure I have the minimal $200 to transfer.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> It took me a while to figure out that Simple is actually a company name. That's like naming your company "Red", also an adjective.

Honestly though, what is Simple? Everyone else seems to know it.

<comment><USER24> a bank <https://www.simple.com/>

<comment><USER25> Simple is explicitly not a bank[1]. It's a financial-experience-as-a-service -- they manage your interactions with depositing, withdrawal, budgeting, etc. Their partner bank takes care of the money itself.

[1]: <https://www.simple.com/faq/#thebasics>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> I've noticed several people in this thread asking for Simple invites. I have three available. Message me with an email if you'd like one.

<comment><USER19> I would like one, if you have any available. email@example.com

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> I requested an invite in September; haven't heard from them since. What's the rollout pace right now?

<comment><USER28> I requested one in September and got the invite in early December so I'm not sure if there is any real rhyme or reason to how the invites roll out. You might check your spam folder as well; mine had somehow ended up there.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> It will take years for Simple to reach the UK customer. How unfortunate for Britons.</comment>


Show HN: Catchy.link: make urls short, memorable, manageable, and temporary - <AUTHOR> I've just created the URL shortener I've always wanted: http://catchy.link
The main reason I use catchy.link is to quickly make a short, memorable, and pronounceable link I can share with people in my group, class, meeting, conference, or chat room. I appreciate that I can change the destination for a link after I've created it, or even let the link expire. And doing so without using passwords is a plus.
For example, the Show HN you're reading now is at: http://catchy.link/ShowHN/CatchyLink
A few features of interest to HN readers:
* emphasis on memorable URLS
* quick creation and URL management without creating an account
* no passwords (email is used when verification is necessary)
* links are temporary (from 1 day to 1 year) but you can extend them
* written in Go and running on Google App Engine
I hope others find catchy.link as useful as I do. Thanks, y'all, for any feedback, and for not trying to break it.
Website: http://catchy.link
Documentation: http://catchy.link/CatchyLinkManual
Source Code: https://github.com/BrentNoorda/catchy-link
This Show HN announcement: http://catchy.link/ShowHN/CatchyLink <comment><USER2> >(email is used when verification is necessary)

This sounds really insecure, many people know my email as I have it shared everywhere (as contact form, etc.), and using just email would mean anyone would be access my catchy account.

<comment><AUTHOR> The link isn't actually created until you respond to an email saying "did you really create this link?" So it is as secure as your email is secure.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> This looks very similar to [https://sayable.co/](https://sayable.co/) which requires you to remember exactly three words with no expiration.

<comment><AUTHOR> similar in the effort to make links easily pronounceable. Different in many other ways.

Say, since [https://sayable.co/](https://sayable.co/) uses three words to link to any web address, and [http://what3words.com/](http://what3words.com/) maps any geographic coordinate to a set of unique 3 words, do you suppose they could be tied together into a tool to convert any web page into a geographic coordinate? :-)</comment></comment>


Apple's Dumbing Down of Computers a.k.a The End of Super-User Computers - <AUTHOR> http://mattshaw.org/news/apples-dumbing-down-of-computers-a-k-a-the-end-of-super-user-computers/ <comment><USER3> > So, while I don't like Apple's general direction, I do think that an iOS- > like OS is great for consumer computers. I'm just not sure it's great for > the rest of us and everyone's wallets when Apple is in control.

Let's get down to brass tacks. Nobody says you have to buy an Apple computer (and the author of this post points out that he doesn't have one). We're done here, right? Not quite.

Picking through the ranting what I think I see is someone who's upset about Apple's success and what they're doing with their market inertia. It was pretty much a given that if the App Store for iOS took off there would be an App Store for OS X. If we were in a pirate movie right now we'd call that a "parlay." Apple has done a lot of things right if your metric is strictly financial success. Where people seem to be incredulous is that (although highly subjective) Apple has also done a lot of things right when it comes to user/consumer experience. Nerds are not the primary audience for Apple's products. My parents, grandparents, and people who are more interested all things non-technical are. An App Store on OS X (and the existing one of iOS) is good for the two parties most important to Apple, normal users and Apple.

If you feel strongly about how this has shaken out then I challenge you to ask yourself, "why?". There are tons of ready-made excuses along the lines of "openness", "freedom", and "I don't like guys in turtle necks." None of them really matter. The problem of how non-technical people find and install computer software is decades old. As designers and developers we've largely left that problem to platform developers, sales, and marketing people. Now someone has come along and placed a viable solution into the mass market all while creating the potential to make a tidy profit. We call this capitalism.

<comment><USER4> This is a good quote to choose from the OP, because it gets at something I think people fundamentally misunderstand about Apple: they make products that _they_ want to use. The "consumer" they target in a "consumer computer" is themselves!

So while their Mac offerings certainly vary in terms of size and performance, they all must pass this test. The _worst_ Apple computer should still be one that they would be happy to use. To write software, to make music, to make spreadsheets, to enjoy movies.

This is why they've never compromised on keyboard size.

So to think that the Mac App Store is some sort of move towards draconian control misses the entire point. It's not control they want, but a trusted directory of Mac apps that don't crash or behave maliciously. Even a power user shouldn't have to waste their time on bad software (unless they want to).

We should all value our time so highly.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> This sounds more alarmist to me. So what if the direction Apple chooses for their computers is to make them (only?) usable by the common person? So what if they charge you to develop for their computers? Then those who disagree or want more from their machines will just buy something other than Apple. As an Apple user it will be sad for me if they go that way, but I'm not losing any sleep over it. I was a Linux user before I went Apple.

<comment><USER6> Sorry, but if anyone expects me to pay for the right to develop on my own machine, they can buzz off. I'll just go back to GNU/Linux. I hope that others will do the same and we see a brain drain of developers.

<comment><USER7> I doubt you'll have to pay to develop for Mac, the 99$ are for joining the developer program that allows you to get your apps on the App Store (Mac or iOS). Xcode, compilers and the possibility to run and sell your programs via other means will still be free.

<comment><USER6> That's my point. It's free at the moment, but the fact that I can't compile and run my own code on my iPod Touch or so without paying the $99 is abhorrent. I don't know if a similar situation will take hold on the mac or not.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Good. Computers need dumbing down. The number of times I've solved a relatively common computer problem using what to ordinary computer users would be "deep magic" is pretty high. And often times I wonder "how the hell do ordinary users deal with this sort of thing?"

The answer is that they don't. They get frustrated, they reboot their machine, and if that doesn't work they give up completely and reinstall from scratch or _buy a new computer_. This is a horrific user experience and it needs to change.

Using a computer for mundane tasks should be ... mundane. And I think the mobile OS (iPhone/android) model fits that use case far better than the existing free for all model of desktop computing.

But what does this mean for hackers and "super users"? Probably not much actually. It probably means that we'll have to make some configuration changes on our systems, or buy different models, or install our own OSes (oh noes!)

</comment><comment><USER9> I guess I don't get it. The Mac App store is... wait for it... a store. Just like the physical brick and mortar Apple Store, it carries not the universe of software available for the Mac, but a screened subset of that software that Apple thinks best showcases the capabilities of their product line.

Complaining that the App Store will not carry all available MacOS Apps is almost as silly as complaining that the Apple Store at your local mall does not carry all available MacOS Apps. (`almost' because the shelf space of an online store is, presumably, less limited.)

Now, if there were a move to make the App Store the only way to get (or even the only way to buy) apps for the Mac, that would be different. But as far as I can tell, there isn't.

<comment><USER10> > if there were a move to make the App Store the only way to get apps for the > Mac

Why does everyone think this is unlikely rather than inevitable? We already know not only that they can get away with it successfully, but their staff doesn't even feel it's an unethical way to treat their customers or the industry.

<comment><USER11> Because it would be an insanely irrational move that would destroy the platform?

They were up on stage yesterday talking up the new AutoCAD port. The new AutoCAD port which is utterly incompatible with the posted App Store rules. The AutoCAD port that would in no way benefit from the exposure the App Store would give it, and which doesn't need and would never accept the 30% sales overhead for payment processing.

Locking the platform to the App Store would be a great way to kill Office, MatLab, Photoshop, Lightroom, AutoCAD, Steam, and a bunch of other software the platform _needs_ if they want to keep anyone using it. To assume that it is inevitable that Apple will do it is to assume that Apple has a death-wish for the Mac platform.

But if we're going to assume that, why not just assume they'd kill the platform in the most straight-forward way possible: by discontinuing it.

<comment><USER12> Not to mention the technical difficulties. How would they stop me from running an application which I'd copied off a CD, or compiled myself, when I already have control over my filesystem? I suppose they could figure out a way, but it'd involve a lot of voodoo.

Besides, imagine the marketing pitch for _that_ version of OSX. "Upgrade to our latest version! Most of your old software will stop working, and you'll have to buy it again!" I don't think so.

They're going to make a lot of money with their app store -- they don't need to destroy the rest of their platform to do it, though.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I have an engine that I can directly fiddle with, using one hand to rev the engine whilst the other messes with the carbs. Most new cars (in developed Western economies) come with a big cover over the engine, forbidding the user to touch the internals. If you just want to drive within the lines, you get the latter. If you want to fiddle and play and experiment, you get the former. It's really not a problem for anyone.

<comment><USER14> My car comes with a complete technical manual online (<http://www.hmaservice.com/>) that I can access freely, so that if you want to remove the four bolts that hold that plastic cover on, you can.

It sounds like you chose to stop learning about cars after manufacturers stopped using carburetors.

The point still stands though - some people like to hear that the computer they're buying "just works," and other people like to know a little more about what goes on under the hood, so that they have a better idea of whether or not they're getting shafted by their, uh, mechanic.

<comment><USER13> "It sounds like you chose to stop learning about cars after manufacturers stopped using carburetors."

Read what I said again. You'll find that actually all you can infer is that I have a car with carbs; there's no information there on how much I know about anything else.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> For some reason it always astonishes me how incredibly reactionary geeks are. We're supposed to be the neophiles.

Listen: for the first time in history, ordinary people are actually _using computers_ , every day, in their real lives, and we're kicking and screaming as hard as we can against the systems that have made that the case.

The future is different from the past. The coders who are empowering creativity on iOS (and similar devices) aren't the ones whining about how hard it is. Get over your ridiculous nostalgia, stop bitching, and write BASIC for the 21st century.

</comment><comment><USER16> This fear mongering is getting completely absurd:

      > Apple doesn't want you use your computer to control an
      > Arduino, write custom printer drivers, run a game server
      > or control your house lights.

Are you serious? How does creating an App Store (that is only suited for certain types of consumer-oriented software) imply that Apple doesn't want you to do any of these things? What?

      > Your computer will also cost a lot more because you're a
      > professional. So Apple can bump up the profit margin that
      > it once lost because of the commodification of fast computers.

Yeah, cause Apple is really interested in bumping up its profit margin on the 1% of Mac users that write Mac software, instead of the 99% of Mac users that consume it.

      > So now, as a developer, if you want to sell your software
      > it better be in the AppStore. If not, Mom will never find
      > it and Mom wouldn't trust it if she did.

How is that any different from the _current_ situation? As a Mac developer if you want to sell software right now, you have to handle _everything_ yourself.

A Mac App Store (which is entirely optional to participate in) gives you increased visibility, a massive audience, and takes care of the pesky payment details for you. Is that worth a 30% cut to most developers? We'll see. (I suspect the answer is going to be yes.)

</comment><comment><USER17> Sorry man, but that's just a random collection of FUD there. The AppStore won't be the only way to install apps on the Mac, it will be - as you correctly pointed out - the most convenient for the average user.

Concering your argument on fragmentation and different devices. My grandfather, now 75 years old, just started using the Internet thanks to the iPad. You can read about it here: <http://blog.dispatched.ch/2010/07/18/my- grandfathers-ipad/>

And you know what? He loves it so much, that he got himself a 16Mbit connection after three months. To make something like that happen, that's a major feat. He's on the net regularly now, sending mails, checking news - <USER2> couldn't be happier about his machine.

I won't use the iPad as my primary computer, of course - but a lot of people just can't operate a developers OS. And they shouldn't have to.

As for the price tag - that argument is as lame as it is old. Start comparing other high-end vendors and models and you'll have your epiphany. For starters search for competition on the Macbook Air 11" or at the other end of the spectrum the iMac 27". Then come back and write another blog post.

One last thing: your comments system is broken. I got cookies and JS enabled, but still get this: <http://dispatched.ch/bilder/Broken_Blog-20101021-235606.jpg>

</comment><comment> brown9-2 "Please do not go elsewhere for software"

Just to be clear, no one at Apple is actually saying this, are they?

The irony of this article's title is how many hackers and programmers swear by their Macbooks.

</comment><comment><USER18> I just don't feel that the AppStore is all that different from package managers on Linux.

If you need something, you run Synaptic/yum/aptitude/whatever. Sometimes, you can't find what you're looking for and you go elsewhere.

Can you imagine Ubuntu without Synaptic? Dell selling Ubuntu like that?

Did people complain about the "Dumbing Down of Linux" when package managers showed up?

<comment><USER19> I don't know about that. Anybody can package any software they want in a file that will be read and installed by the package manager. If you want to have something installed on Ubuntu, just package it in a proper .deb file and you can distribute that file any way you want. Once your user/customer gets a hold of the .deb file, all they need to do is double click it and your software gets installed by the package manager. There is no review process, there are no rejections, nobody takes a cut of your fees.

<comment><USER20> And the user can add 3rd party repositories.

<comment><USER21> My third-party Mac repository is Google.

<comment><USER22> Why use Google if one can be lazy and use MacPorts ;)?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Time will tell, and until that point, this is just a rant without any evidence.

</comment><comment><USER24> It all sort of reminds me of Amusing Ourselves to Death where we keep giving up freedom for the sake of entertainment. Where is Neil Postman when you need him?</comment>


YC Startup MightyQuiz: Stump Strangers with Your Arcane Knowledge - <AUTHOR> http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/10/mightyquiz-stump-strangers-with-your-arcane-knowledge/

<comment><USER2> I love MightyQuiz. It really locks you in. They have trouble in presentations at YC because everyone immediately focuses on the app. That's an excellent problem to have.

</comment><comment><USER3> Having yet another "well, why didn't I think of that?!?" moment. Nice app.

</comment><comment><USER4> I'm not usually a fan of facebook apps but mightyquiz would actually make a great one.

<comment><USER5> we're working on it... =)

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> some really great design work coming out from the current batch - v. fresh and upfront

</comment><comment><USER7> Beautiful presentation for the main app, although I don't like the way two tabs are laid out for choosing whether you want to create a new question or make a quiz for your blog on the "Write" page. Addictive app, though. How are you guys planning to monetize this?

</comment><comment><USER8> That's prety cool. I had 4/4 right and started to suspect it was saying right to everything as a joke, 'cos I hadn't signed up. That's when I found out I didn't know the proper term for cat whiskers!

<comment><USER5> we scale the difficulty of the questions dynamically, so if you're doing well it starts serving up harder questions, and vice versa.

<comment><USER8> This would be killer on an iPhone.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Somebody at last year's Startup School said he had a very successful quiz site (widgets for myspace.) Is that the same person?

</comment><comment><USER10> Congrats! Looks great!

</comment><comment><USER11> I would like MightyQuiz more, if I hadn't after 80 questions found, I think, four or five that had incorrect 'right answers'.

It'd be better if they had some kind of way to prune these out.</comment>


Jay Rockefeller: Internet should have never existed (2009) - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct9xzXUQLuY

<comment><USER2> Headline fail. The very next thing out of his mouth is:

"...and that's a stupid thing to say."

<comment><USER3> Indeed.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Pretty ridiculous title. I can't believe some people here are ignorant enough to upvote this.</comment>


Show HN: Streamlined shipping for Big Cartel - <AUTHOR> http://www.hipment.com/

<comment><AUTHOR> I created this app to streamline the order fulfillment process of my online store.

It used to take me days to fulfill orders (had to hand-write all addresses, find time to go to the post office and wait in line, etc) but now I get most orders out same day. Hipment pre-fills my shipping labels with the order details from Big Cartel, so I can just confirm everything's correct and purchase/print labels right away.</comment>