What if financial systems were hacked - I-M-S http://worldif.economist.com/article/12136/joker-pack <comment><AUTHOR> I work in finance.

Our systems are as shitty as any other industry, security problems are there, and social engineering is a problem. However, there is one simple rule which allows us to worry less about possible hacks, and when this rule is broken for some reason, shit usually hits the fan (like in the case of Bangladesh heist).

The rule is: it always should be possible to manually reverse the transaction.

Ethereum got it right. Welcome to the real finance.

<comment><USER2> > The rule is: it always should be possible to manually reverse the > transaction.

In a financial transaction there are two parties, and both must agree to a reversal. Especially if you want to reverse thousands of transactions. Unless there are special circumstances. But in no way will it always be possible to manually reverse a transaction.

<comment><USER3> There are lots of parties to any financial transaction. Transfer agents, exchanges, clearing houses, regulators, central banks, _et cetera_. Various combinations of the above, along with banks and the "buyer" and the "seller", can reverse transactions.

<comment><USER2> s/can/could in some cases/

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Financial systems have been hacked since the beginning and now the hacking is getting worse.

Regulations will make it progressively harder for newcomers to compete in the marketplace, executive pay will keep rising, corporations will get bigger. Owners of capital won't be able to trust outsiders so they will only recruit their family and close friends into well-paid executive positions. Advertising will completely dominate consumer behaviour; small businesses will disappear; once virtual reality takes over, corporations will make sure that customers forget that these small companies even exist.

Machines will replace people in the workplace. The rich won't care because at that point; because of social tensions and advertising, rich people will have grown to literally hate the poor and want them dead.

<comment><USER5> Humor aside, the real crimes are the systemic from the top, like the Libor clowns, which will erase public trust at some point, which will cause the public go back to keeping money in mattresses.

Fortunately there are some small wins, like these little fish going to jail: [http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36737666](http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36737666) but we need to keep it up and restore accountability.

<comment><USER4> Yes, I think 'honesty', 'trust' and 'reputation' used to be very important in the old days but not so much now - The system is extremely generous when it comes to giving people 'second chances'.

In our semi-globalized world, you can take HUGE risks and make a COMPLETE MESS of your reputation and credit rating in your home country, but then you can move to a different country (and often, you can also bring along your dirty money with you) and start fresh as though nothing ever happened. Unless you're a major public figure; no one will know what a crook you are.

A partially-globalized world is a perfect world for crooks. I think we should either give up on globalization completely or go full steam ahead and merge into a 'world government' under which everyone can be held accountable for their past behaviour without any loopholes.

<comment><USER6> We don't need a global government as much as a global reputation system, and we're slowly moving towards that direction. It's especially true of the United States and Europe--if you screw up big time there, it's easy to find out, and it's not like authoritarian regimes outside the west have any incentive to protect the reputations of western companies via censorship.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The article talks about all these sophisticated attacks that could _hurt_ the financial system but I think they're not seeing the elephant in the room: What if someone just ran "rm -rf /" on thousands of servers at just _one_ of the "too big to fail" banks?

How long would it take to recover from that? Would it even _be_ recoverable?

I don't think any of the big banks employ enough IT people to recover tens of thousands of servers in time to save the world's economies from a major collapse. Recovering from such a situation would take _months_. Not only that but let's assume they hire temporary contractors to do the work... Can you even vet that many people that quickly? You'll be handing these folks some of the world's most sensitive information.

The Fed needs "IT stress testing" in addition to their balance sheet stress tests. They need to ask these sorts of questions: "If half your servers were deleted how long would it take to recover from backups?" "Demonstrate a backup recovery on the following ten randomly-selected servers _right now_. You have 8 hours. Good luck!"

<comment><USER8> Having worked at 2 of these "too big to fail" banks, disaster recovery testing is par for the course now. We would do DR testing every quarter on both the primary and secondary data centers. Common simulation scenarios were - network/disk failures in which case the secondary data center would take over the operations. We would also time how long it took for applications to come back up, with high priority apps (trading, payment etc) being given extreme importance.

<comment><USER9> We did this too. We tested our DR plan at least once every year (this included busing people to a different location, timed responses etc.), and we were considered a non essential part of the bank. We also had to make sure that all our servers had dual power supplies, and were attached to diesel generators in case of a power outage. They were much more on top of it than any other place I worked.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> A lot of financial systems are running COBOL on mainframes (which can look very pretty, check out the z13: [https://www.google.com/search?q=z13&tbm=isch](https://www.google.com/search?q=z13&tbm=isch) )

There was a talk last year at DefCon that went over mainframe vulnerabilities, and it was like a playground. The biggest barrier to entry is getting a mainframe to experiment with.

<comment><USER11> This reminds me of an article on wired[1] where someone hacked into hosts that were hooked into legacy X.25 networks. And just like mainframes and COBOL, there are not very many engineers who understand X.25 networks today, and hence had a very relaxed security posture.

[1] [https://www.wired.com/2016/05/maksym-igor-popov- fbi/](https://www.wired.com/2016/05/maksym-igor-popov-fbi/)

<comment><USER12> Thank you for that article. It's fantastic - I'm assuming you also read KrebsOnSecurity? There are similar kinds of stories there.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Transactions should be logged to something that can't be tampered with. Then you can go back and recover state by re-running transactions. Sarbanes-Oxley tries to require this, and it produced a boom in write-once media, such as DVD writers. There are also DAT tapes and even disks with controllers which supposedly enforce write-once.

It's not clear how good compliance with this actually is.

<comment><USER14> I would be hard pressed to think of things that "can't be tampered with." When you make something difficult to tamper with, you usually just increase the potential payout of tampering.

There's an essential problem: all security systems can be compromised. When a security system seems more safe than the others, more people will use that system, thereby increasing the incentive for adversaries to try to break it (and almost always they will succeed).

<comment><USER15> > When you make something difficult to tamper with, you usually just increase > the potential payout of tampering.

The real goal is to make the cost of tampering exceed the payout. The standard mechanisms for increasing the cost are computational power needed (cryptography) and ability to participate in mainstream society (legislation).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> As an someone on the outside, I would imagine the OCC, DTCC or some other clearing house getting hacked as creating far more havoc? Any reason this wouldn't be the case?

[http://www.dtcc.com/](http://www.dtcc.com/) [http://www.theocc.com/](http://www.theocc.com/)

</comment><comment><USER3> > _But if this happens to many banks concurrently, and nobody understands why, > would central banks be able to save the situation?_

Why not? If we restrict ourselves to sovereign, first world central banks ( _i.e._ the Fed, the BoE, the ECB, _et cetera_ ), a bank holiday (to reconcile records) followed by a liquidity injection would not only be expected, it would have direct precedent from FDR's bank holiday on 6 March 1933.

</comment><comment><USER17> I think the underlying issue here is that responsibility for preventing these attacks is misplaced. In short: we need to blame the victim.

There's a popular notion to "not blame the victim" when it comes to many other crimes (e.g. rape). Because long-standing culture traditions or implicit biases can be involved, it's not almost glaringly obvious that somebody is blaming the victim. As such, it's become a kind of litmus test: you look for warning signs that some policy or statement is (even unintentionally) laying the blame on the victim. And that habit is easily transferred to new misconduct, such as hacking.

I think we need to step back and understand _why_ we should not blame the victim for other crimes: I'd argue it is not because they're already suffering, but because the best way to prevent the problem is by focusing on (A) those we can influence and (B) those best placed to prevent the problem. Often that's not the victim - but sometimes it is. In many sex-crimes, the perpetrator is socially well-respected and in a position of power, so that's a (typically) a man that can be influenced (satisfies A), and since he's using his position of power he apparently has it; so he's well placed to prevent the problem (satisfies B).

So for example, we might prosecute people breaking into cars. But most people realize that we're not likely to catch enough thieves to really reduce theftto a minimum, so we also invest in locks, and we teach people not to leave valuables in sight. This is a form of blaming the victim - justifiably so, since I'd argue that if you left your car unlocked and/or leave valuables in sight you're not just hurting yourself, you're hurting others too: you're making theft easy, and by making it worthwhile, you may encourage thieves to try more frequently - also against other targets.

For another example, consider vaccination. Failure to vaccinate make cause the victim to become sick (or their kids to become sick). But here too, it's not just themselves they hurt; they hurt others by propagating dangerous diseases. Beyond a certain level, they'll contribute to epidemics that can hurt even the vaccinated since no vaccine is perfect.

From the perspective of preventing harm, protecting yourself from malicious hacks is more like a cross between theft prevention and vaccines, and not like preventing rape by a powerful individual. Most hacks are trivially easy to prevent (it often takes numerous bugs, mis-designs, and some social engineering to gain access) if there were systematic effort to prevent hacks, so the victim is in a place to prevent the harm from occurring. And since it takes considerable organization to run most vulnerable services in the first place, the victim is also one we can influence.

Focusing on the hackers isn't just futile, it's actively harmful in several ways. Not only is it obvious that many hackers cannot currently be found, many are beyond the reach of law enforcement by virtue of living elsewhere (or at least, acting through not-entirely cooperative countries). So it's immediately apparent that's it's never going to suffice to focus on the perpetrators (they don't satisfy A: we can't influence them). But also, by focusing on the hackers, we help keep vulnerabilities secret. Would you rather be hacked by a script kiddy or by an unscrupulous competitor or hostile country? Hiding vulnerabilities rather than fixing them means that the vast majority of hackers that can never be caught simply have more targets. Additionally, by focusing on hackers, we draw attention _away_ from those that _can_ bear the responsibility to prevent hacks: the victims. And that lets them get off the hook too easily. Most companies suffer rather few consequences for running infrastructure that is, in essence, a public menace. And much like theft and vaccination examples, they hurt others by remaining vulnerable. When an organization is hacked, it affects not just it, but many others. In a data leak, most harm is usually suffered by those who's data is leaked, not by the company holding the data. And when financial infrastructure is hacked then it's not just the organization running it that is harmed, but in particular those that rely on it.

In short: we need a sea-change. To really address the risks posed by hacking, we need to stop focusing on hackers, and instead blame the victim. By failing to defend themselves they are hurting themselves and others, and focusing on hackers is never going to work anyway (and indeed makes it less likely that vulnerabilities are discovered by non-malicious or mildly malicious actors rather than those really motivated and out to get you).

<comment><USER18> You're speaking to the choir here. Find a way to make your point more concise and convince the popular media and your non technical friends, and then we're on to something.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> $100M theft from the central bank already this year:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Bangladesh_Bank_heist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Bangladesh_Bank_heist)

<comment><USER10> That is mentioned in the article.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> I am surprised they did not mention the FDIC hack.

This is dangerous stuff when a small hack can destroy peoples lives.

<comment><USER21> Do you have any links/sources?

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Not surprised [http://cnbc.com/id/43471561](http://cnbc.com/id/43471561)

</comment><comment><USER23> Return to gold standard and have process for rolling back transactions if the gold doesn't match

</comment><comment><USER24> TPFAssembly uses sheet metal and scrap pallet guillotine. It is super effective.

</comment><comment><USER25> Bitcoin rises; Fiat burns.

<comment><USER26> Haha! I'll take bitcoin seriously once it can actually process a useful number of transactions without choking.

<comment><AUTHOR> It does now. 30 minutes is much better than a day for bank transfer.

<comment><USER27> Typically ~seconds in the UK with Faster Payments (which is generally up to £10,000)

<comment><USER28> > Faster Payments Scheme Limited (FPSL) is (private) company

It's like saying that banks allow you to send money instantly, because you can just give cash to your friend by hand.

<comment><USER27> Except it's not, as I'm just initiating a normal online payment through my online banking, and the recipient receives it (usually) close to instantly.

Giving cash to a friend still requires me to withdraw the cash from an ATM, pass it to the friend, who then needs to deposit it using a deposit ATM or visit his branch.

One involves a few clicks on your online banking website, the other requires a much longer process. The backend company isn't really relevant, what is relevant is that 'Faster Payments' has been used as a marketing term for 'near instant bank transfers' that transparently use FPSL as a backend.

Not at all equivalent.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Meta Almanac – Reddit for programmers - <AUTHOR> https://metalmanac.com/ <comment><USER2> Well, ya got me, I bit. I think a small part of me bit because the domain, if you look at it really quickly, appears to almost be 'metalmaniac'. And while I'm far from the metal head I was as a teen, there's still a small part of me that will check out any service that at least _appears_ as though it might be 'metal'.

In all seriousness, though[0], here's a couple of observations:

Where does the 'Reddit for programmers' originate? I was pleasantly surprised when I visited the site that it didn't feel at all like Reddit. Maybe part of that was the lack of redditors (no, that was the biggest part -- and a bit of a selling point, IMO). But I wonder if branding it in that manner is a good idea. Personally, I have very few positive feelings about Reddit and when I read that, initially, I _almost_ didn't click the link. That said, I _really_ hate it when people offer criticism without any suggestions for improvement. Unfortunately, that's me right now. The problem I kept running into was that the things I wanted to replace 'Reddit' with were things like 'Hacker News' and 'Stack Overflow', which highlights a different problem -- things like this kind-of already exist. In addition, Reddit has sub-reddits that cover the topics you're offering on the site, so _it_ is almost this product. Fortunately, Reddit does a pretty terrible job. Sub-reddit quality has a pretty large range, post counts on those subreddits is often low, posts tend to focus on 'How do I do this really simple thing that (a) was already asked (yesterday...twice) and (poorly) answered, (b) has a very high ranking solution on StackOverflow with several (very good) answers, and (c) a quick google search of two of the most specific words related to the problem yields more than three pages of (mostly good) posts on other sites?'. Of course, the answer provided is usually a single-line link to StackOverflow, or a snarky 'Here, let me google that for you' with a google search link. Or it's just unanswered, the answers are minimalist/unhelpful or just completely wrong. And since that, also, sounded like my highlighting a problem without offering a solution: I think a way of _helping_ this problem is to set solid guidelines, have good moderation in place, and focus on topics that are more niche in the programming community and are less likely to be riddled with very green developers providing unhelpful responses.

Looking over the sites features, I really liked the idea of the chat part of the site. I think with the right participants (and actually _with_ some participants) this might be a fun feature. That said, I can't _remember_ the last time I participated in a group chat outside of internal company Slack channels and I really haven't been all that interested in doing so for at least a decade when I left my favorite IRC client off of a machine re-load[1]. Chat experiences are ruined by the same kinds of problems -- trolls/jerks -- but instead of having long delays between response/trolling, where moderators can step in and vote people's poor behavior down (or, in the case of parts of Reddit, vote it up!), moderating chat is almost impossible. I've been around these parts long enough that trolling rarely bugs me, but at the same time, I know I left IRC because valuable 'signal' was so drowned out that it basically made using it a chore[2]. Personally, short of full-time staff pouring over and dropping (preferably shadow) ban hammers[3] on offenders, or a breakthrough in ML that _reliably_ can moderate this, I don't think there's a good solution to this problem -- the trolling is rapid/real-time.

It's a tall order, sir (or madam), but I wish you success.

[0] And since it doesn't always come across properly in text, I mean this respectfully -- I recognize that this is a site with a social element, so it's not going to have terribly much content in the early days, so it may not be possible for me to pass any form of judgement this early. All that to say, these are my observations and I offer them as opinion, not as an attack on a site that I'm guessing you put a lot of time into.

[1] And it's been so long that I can't even remember what my favorite was!

[2] I always reveled in how one could spend such a long time carefully wording a question so as to avoid taking flack only to have the first several responses be exactly what was trying to be avoided. After a while I just went with terse and somewhat rude, which received the same amount of flack but with less effort on my part. Then I wondered why I was bothering at all when I could find an answer elsewhere, more easily, and I didn't have to interact with that kind of individual.

[3] I wrote about a form of shadow banning in a comment on another post a _long_ time ago that would work well in this case (once you solve the problem of finding enough moderators to make the banning effective). It works like normal shadow banning -- stop the toxicity from being received by all participants but make it appear to the troll that their posts are getting through -- but take it a step further. Bundle all of the banned participants together so that their trolling posts _do_ get through to others who are shadow banned, but don't appear to anonymous or authenticated users. This provides solid feedback to the troll. Trolls will respond to trolls. And it also tires them out quickly and, hopefully, keeps them away for good.

<comment><AUTHOR> > the domain, if you look at it really quickly, appears to almost be > 'metalmaniac'

The domain name confuses people a lot, I've actually received similar comments before. Terrible naming choice from my side.

> Where does the 'Reddit for programmers' originate?

I thought it was a reasonable analogy to describe the site. Since it's essentially subreddits+chat for programming topics. The other alternative is "An online community for programmers", which is what I have on the landing page currently. I'm still experimenting with different taglines.

I agree that there are already (very good) solutions for the problem I am trying to solve, it's just that it's a broken experience (or so I thought), jumping between stackoverflow, hn, reddit, irc. I thought there is value in providing this experience under a single site in the hope that it becomes a more welcoming place for beginners.

Regarding the chat part, yeah it does allow realtime trolling, but I have not had much traffic so far. One solution is to just set the tone for the community and be hard on trolls with shadow banning and even banning. As you said, having good moderators is also necessary.

Thanks for the feedback.

<comment><USER2> > The domain name confuses people a lot, I've actually received similar > comments before. Terrible naming choice from my side

Personally, I love it, but I spent most of my teen years as a metal- head/progressive rock fan (which I've found to be pretty common among programmers). Meh, name is important to a point, but with all of the 'common names' taken up, and companies picking goofy hipster names, I don't know _how_ important it really is.

I agree with you about fragmentation ... it would be nice to have a site with all of these features with the content to go along with it. Maybe it'd make sense to synchronize relevant Creative Commons documentation that's out there. As long as it's always up-to-date and not done in a spammy manner, having a nice source of docs that includes Q&A and chat would be interesting (I know SO is working on something like that now, too, minus the chat).

It's a neat idea that will require a _lot_ in the way of execution -- getting users to join/participate, or even _interested_ is going to be the biggest up- hill battle.

Curious - is the code for it open source and what language is the back-end done in? It's something I'd consider participating in the development of if it's in languages I work with (mostly .NET and JavaScript [though I do 90% in TypeScript these days and try to avoid JS]).

<comment><AUTHOR> > getting users to join/participate, or even interested is going to be the > biggest up-hill battle.

Exactly, getting users to join is hard. It's a chicken and egg problem. It's not useful until there are users on the platform, so getting the first users to engage is _hard_.

I've tried doing 2 Show HNs so far and people are just not interested. I thought it would appeal to hackers, but I don't know what to make of the underwhelming response.

> Curious - is the code for it open source and what language is the back-end > done in?

It's Django+Postgres and I use websockets for the chat. The code isn't open source currently, but I will open source it if I gain any traction at all. All I can say is, it's brutal trying to get a product off the ground.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Bill introduced to pay for border wall with civil asset forfeiture - <AUTHOR> https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170217/14250136737/rep-sensenbrenner-thinks-we-can-pay-border-wall-with-more-asset-forfeiture.shtml <comment><USER2> Clickbait submitter title change.

Neither the title of the article nor the Congressmember's page says _anything_ about _Civil_ forfeiture.

<comment><AUTHOR> That's how it's most commonly referred to in law, because it doesn't require a criminal conviction or even charges to take place, and disputes over liability are resolved.in civil court.</comment></comment>


A third view on trees - <AUTHOR> http://conal.net/blog/posts/a-third-view-on-trees <comment><USER2> Coral CDN mirror because this site is being slow: [http://conal.net.nyud.net:8090/blog/posts/a-third-view-on- tr...](http://conal.net.nyud.net:8090/blog/posts/a-third-view-on-trees)

</comment><comment><USER3> Haskell is in the air again this year. Interesting times ahead, or just a retro fad passing through again?</comment>


Ask HN: What would you do with six months? - <AUTHOR> I plan to leave my job and spend the next six months doing interesting things, before graduate school starts, all on a budget of ~10k USD.
Currently this plan includes international travel and intimate time with my reading list. But, really, anything, anywhere is on the table.
What would you do? <comment><USER2> Here's one suggestion: go to Florida and watch a rocket launch (schedule [1]). During the ascent, reflect on how far we've come since our ancestors were banging rocks together to make sparks for fire. And maybe reflect on how far we have to go still...

Best of luck in grad school.

[1] [http://spaceflightnow.com/launch- schedule/](http://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/)

<comment><USER3> very interesting or try to see how tiny and insignificant we are compare to this universe.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I was just over on Bantayan island in the Philippines a few days back. Met a lot of Europeans that stay their for 4 months at a time. You can find rooms for around $165 a month if your ok with something minimal. Summer time is just starting so there will be nice sunny days.

There is wifi on the island, just not super fast. Bring a Kindle with some books etc.

<comment><USER5> The Philippines is such an awesome country, I loved my time there. Beautiful, friendly, great food, cool culture. Downsides: Extreme poverty juxtaposed with extreme wealth, thousands of homeless children in Manila alone, I met some of them and I wished I could take them all home with me.

<comment><USER4> The best thing you can do is give them a little food. If you give them money, it is usually going to an adult that is exploiting them.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Things I want to do that I don't have time to do:

1\. Take a tour of as many old Western ghost towns as possible (assuming you're in the US). I'd spend a lot of time photographing.

2\. Hike the Pacific Crest or Appalachian trail.

3\. Make an epic long distance bicycle ride, across the country or something similar.

</comment><comment><USER6> Bet you a beer, you'll do something great and won't be willing to leave it go to school. : )

</comment><comment><USER7> I would take part in a wildlife volunteer project, in my opinion a great chance to connect with nature. See if there are projects in the countries you want to visit anyway.

</comment><comment><USER8> I'd walk a long distance trail.

</comment><comment><USER9> Visit a upci.org church, just one service.

</comment><comment><USER10> I am not able to answer this but i really think 'quora' would prove benificial for you</comment>


SwiftOnSecurity Needs to Stop Pretending to Be Taylor Swift :) - <AUTHOR> https://www.change.org/p/we-the-people-demand-swiftonsecurity-stops-pretending-to-be-taylor-swift <comment><AUTHOR> It's all tongue in cheek of course, but I cannot take it anymore.</comment>


New Features in Python 3.9 You Should Know About - <AUTHOR> https://firstname.lastname@example.com/new-features-in-python-3-9-you-should-know-about-14f3c647c2b4 <comment><USER2> Hmm. Not sure I like the new dictionary merge operator but I don't have to use it so that's good.</comment>


Cellphones Track Your Every Move and You May Not Even Know - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/business/media/26privacy.html?_r=1&smid=tw-nytimes&seid=auto

<comment><USER2> The sad thing is that this will only be used for nefarious purposes. Imagine a disaster like the tsunami here in Japan. It's conceivable the phone company could provide data updates for each user until the phone or the cell phone tower is overwhelmed with water. You could get a report of every person known to be ok and the last location of every missing person.

If this sort of usage was possible, people would understand the privacy they are giving up and appreciate the benefits.

Unfortunately, that sort of usage will never be built out. It will only be used as a when required by a court. Apple has taken a small step in this direction with the find-my-iphone feature, but I think it could be made much more accessible to the end-user. If people are going to forfeit privacy, at least let them benefit from it.

</comment><comment><USER3> "...and you may not even know" - huh? Seriously? I thought this is well-known. The privacy implications have been discussed before many times (even Wikipedia knows about it: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_tracking#Privacy>)

It's just that most people don't care enough, or at least they are willing to trade that part of privacy against the advantages of ubiquitous connectivity.

<comment><USER4> Everyone knows abstractly that cell providers can store all your location information. But the extent and detail that this real data set shows can be an eye opener.

The most shocking thing to me is that this information wasn't recorded because he was specifically targeted, but this information is stored for everyone, for such a long time.

<comment><USER5> Is it really an eye opener? Just because data isn't directly used it is not safe to assume that data is discarded.

The cell companies need data on crowd movements[1] to best allocate network resources, to provide a better service. This collective data has to come from a collection of individual datum. Data might need to be collected for all users over a long time frame (years) to correctly identify (for example) how much additional infrastructure is needed near stadiums in football season, how the profile of commuters is changing and what new suburbs are being inhabited.

If we want a stable and reliable cell network, we have to allow the cell companies best plan for our usage.

[1] <http://senseable.mit.edu/realtimerome/>

<comment><USER4> Fair enough. If you need usage information, and distribution of usage information, it can very well be anonimized. You don't need to store the (attributable) travel paths of individual users for any longer than it takes to process it (or for the billing period).

It's also important to set priorities. I'd rather have more solid privacy protection than up-to-micromanagement optimal planning of capacity. Western Europe has extremely good cell coverage, so I don't think this is much of an issue.

<comment><USER5> Our good coverage is in part due to analysis by the likes of Ericsson on user movements/density. Make the laws harsher on storing location data and we could see a drop in network quality down the road.

Having worked as an employee (not contractor) for 3 of the 4 major Irish cell companies I know that data like this is heavily protected internally (I never saw any subscriber location information). There are data protection laws already in place to stop this information leaking.

Why do you want to limit the information a company can keep on its users? Are you a fan of this new EU cookie directive?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2327282>

Stallman +1

</comment><comment><USER7> In other shocking news, your ISP knows what websites you visit.

While we need to have real discussions and set real policies, we should be talking about the length of data retention, the way the data is stored, the entities who can access the data, the purposes for which the data is collected, the exact data that's being collected, and a rational weighing of the benefits vs. the costs.

Instead, we usually get fearmongering and witchhunts, usually instigated by somebody selling something. If you've successfully kept a low profile, all is permitted. If you haven't, you get to be the Great Satan for a while. While the hate mail will help you grow a thick skin, if you're the Great Satan a little too often, the politicians, prosecutors, and bureaucrats smell a 'winning issue', and will attempt to ruin your business and make your life a hell.

I would not start an analytics or an advertising company in 2011.

</comment><comment><USER8> The article mentions the data file and visualizations, but doesn't link them:

Raw data file:

[https://spreadsheets2.google.com/ccc?authkey=COCjw- kG&hl...](https://spreadsheets2.google.com/ccc?authkey=COCjw- kG&hl=en_GB&key=tjwZrdlN1Y7CMUtd9PyffIw&hl=en_GB&authkey=COCjw-kG#gid=0)

Visualization (in German):

<http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-vorratsdaten>

</comment><comment><USER9> I was watching the TV show _Life_ the other day, and there were a surprising number of situations in which the protagonist relied on his cell phone while committing criminal acts, or traveling to or from criminal acts. And he's LAPD, so such a character would know better in real life. (Remember OJ Simpson's capture?)

</comment><comment><USER10> From Wikipedia -

Qualified services may achieve a precision of down to 50 meters in urban areas where mobile traffic and density of antenna towers (base stations) is sufficiently high. Rural and desolate areas may see miles between base stations and therefore determine locations less precisely.

</comment><comment><USER11> The tracking isn't exactly a revelation--same deal for using every scrap of customer data for marketing.

<comment><USER12> If I go into a store and pay for something with cash (and the store is a major chain), invariably I get an added part on the register receipt wanting me to participate in a store survey. The opinion site usually have a web alternative, but they want a phone number "so that we can notify you if you win". Feels heavily like a form of customer profile creation / data mining to me.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I'd like to be able to request a visualization of my location similar to the flight pattern project <http://users.design.ucla.edu/~akoblin/work/faa/>

figure ATT owes me at least that much

</comment><comment><USER14> Is there any relatively easy way to find/record/request this information for one's own phone? Would be enlightening.

<comment><USER15> Try Google Latitude. The history feature is probably a rough approximation of what the cell phone company (and by extension, law enforcement) would see.</comment></comment>


CSS variables are in the works - <AUTHOR> http://dev.w3.org/csswg/css-variables/

<comment><USER2> What happened to the @var variables? Not a big fan of this data prefix stuff.

</comment><comment><USER3> For crying out loud, no more changing stuff! We already enough to worry about with supporting Facebook Connect, rendering for iPad, iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, IE7,8,9, HTML5, etc.</comment>


Mono 3.8.0 is released - <AUTHOR> http://www.mono-project.com/docs/about-mono/releases/3.8.0/

<comment> shahid-pk And their are official mono 3.8.0 packages for Debian and Centos Derivates here. [http://www.mono-project.com/download/#download-lin](http://www.mono- project.com/download/#download-lin)

Great to see linux supported again as a first class citizen.The future is bright</comment>


Palo Alto bans vehicle dwelling - <AUTHOR> http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=30521#.Uga4BbyErCY.twitter <comment><USER2> "We're attempting to take care of the needs of some of the neediest in our community at the same time we're trying to take care of the safety of those residents who live in this community"

I know I can get pretty fired up about zoning laws in the bay area but what a pile of utter horse shit. It's not a community when only the rich get to live in it. And the notion that this is a public safety issue is a complete lie. Just like every other zoning issue in the bay area this is an issue about rich jerks not wanting to see poor people. It's about exclusivity and segregation. Don't want people living in cars, maybe you should allow affordable housing to be built?

To all the residents of the bay area. Wake up and realize that the bay area has grown in population and is now a dense urban environment. Build some dense urban housing and stop pretending that everyone can live in a house with a yard.

As an example check out Ordinance No. 4101 from Palo Alto's zoning code: "To minimize the negative streetscape impact the construction of new two-story homes could have on established one-story neighborhoods, the Council, on July 13, 1992, adopted the Single-Story Height Combining District (S) regulations. The purpose of the ordinance was to preserve and maintain single-family living areas of predominately single-story character. The maximum building height in the "S" district is limited to 17 feet and a limit of one habitable floor. "

Basically, to protect the view we need to not have affordable housing. That's the trade-off here. Density is ugly and we would rather pretend that we all still live in the 1970's.

Or read this article: [http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/07/29/palo-alto- mobile-ho...](http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/07/29/palo-alto-mobile-homes)

Not everyone in Palo Alto is a millionaire yet. But pretty soon they'll have to be if they want to stay.

<comment><USER3> I'm particularly perplexed by the Libertarian Pacific Legal Group filing suit to prevent the implementation of a high-density housing plan for the Bay Area: [http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2013/08/06/lega...](http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2013/08/06/legal- group-sues-to-stop-plan-bay-area.html?page=all)

<comment><USER4> What's perplexing about a libertarian group not wanting some regional agency imposing a housing plan on a city that doesn't want it?

<comment><USER3> The Libertarian Group is in Sacramento, and is trying to use State environmental law to prevent the local governments in the Bay area from cooperating on a plan to build high-density housing.

I'm not sure which 'city' you're referring to here, as PLC isn't representing any particular city, and Sacramento (where they're based) isn't part of the Bay Area, not that that makes a huge difference legally speaking.

<comment><USER5> They are not the only group going after this development. Many smaller cities in the affected area also raised issues but their hands are tied. Even the Occupy movement doesn't like the PLC. Developer groups are against it in many areas as they have stated time and time again, high density housing of the type required is the domain of the wealthy and will not serve the purpose the PLC claims to address.

It should not get a free pass because it sounds good. It takes away the ability of local government to determine what best use the land has under their domain. It tells builders what they have to build. It tells owners what they have to rent/sell for. It an attempt at one size fits all for an incredibly varied landscape.

Let alone, the OP who brought up this groups complaint fails to address how the PLC would even begin to help the homeless in their cars. The PLC certainly isn't about fixing that.

If people want to fix the homeless issue they are going to have to look away from city governments, across the country they are going out of their way to hide the homeless, drive them into the subs. The reason is simple, they don't have the money to deal with it and they don't see any benefit in keeping these people in town. The very party that runs most cities across the country, the very party that claims it wants to help the poor, only wants to do so provided they don't have to see them or live with them

<comment><USER3> _Even the Occupy movement doesn 't like the PLC._

The Occupy movement doesn't like anything except the sound of its own voice, which is why their internal meetings require 90% majorities to decide anything. Even semi-anarchist unions like the IWW don't impose such unworkable restrictions on their internal governance.

I'm not sure what this 'PLC' you're referring to is. I'm talking about Plan Bay Area, which was put together by the Association of Bay Area Governments, an umbrella group of the 9 Bay Area county governments. It's not some external agency imposing its mandate on local governments, it _is_ the local governments.

<comment><USER4> It is more complicated than that. There are state mandated housing requirements that are imposed through ABAG. They are going to tell you how much housing your town MUST build regardless of what the citizens or city council of the town want.

<comment><USER3> Actually they're state-mandated environmental requirements, from SB 375 which s designed to reduce the output of greenhouse gasses. Stuff that people ultimately voted for (indirectly, via the election of representatives to our republican form of government) and have not so far seen fit to overturn via ballot initiative.

I am not too big a fan of planning, but then I am not too big a fan of sprawl either. The fact is that ABAG is a local organization and the Plan Bay Area initiative is an attempt to coordinate planning activities between the local governments that they have voluntarily entered into.

So, some people don't like it. Not everybody gets everything they want in a polity. People like myself who don't care for sprawl had to accept the fact that we were in the minority on many past planning decisions too.

<comment><USER4> You've changed the argument from "I don't understand why libertarians might be opposed to ABAG requirements" to "I support ABAG requirements because I don't like sprawl." Whether people "ultimately" voted for it is as irrelevant as saying people ultimately voted for Obama and therefore libertarians should support war in Afghanistan. ABAG takes local control of housing away from city governments. It is less accountable to residents than city government. Of course a libertarian wouldn't want local control of development superseded by regional, or state, or federal mandates.

And if you don't like sprawl, you shouldn't be forcing Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Burlingame, etc. to increase density, you should look for density in downtown San Jose and San Francisco, and try to get people to move from the suburbs back to urban centers.

<comment><USER3> Well I'm trying to respond to things other people have said which also broadened the scope, and I still don't understand the basis of the Pacific Legal Foundation's suit. As for complaining that ABAG takes control of housing away from city governments, you seem indifferent to the fact that ABAG is an association _of_ local governments. The various counties around the Bay Area (with whom city governments already had to deal) are entirely within their rights to work together, and frankly it seems a good deal more efficient to coordinate some things through a medium like ABAG than to come up with 9 separate plans that take no account of each other and would result in 9 separate bureaucracies to administrate them and so on.

Downtown SF and SJ are already quite dense, and while I'm in favor of them getting more dense your notion that smaller cities lying along the 280/Caltrain corridor are some sort o rustic havens doesn't make sense. As I said earlier, if you really want to get away from it all it would make a lot more sense to go to Half Moon Bay or even Portola Valley, whereas Palo Alto is situated along 3 major transit arteries (101, 280, and Caltrain). I'm sure you've lived in Palo Alto a while and don't like to see it change, but look at a map; all the coast around the Bay is dense and you're sitting in between 2 cities with populations of around a million that are only about 45 miles apart. I'm _not_ particularly sold on the ABAG plan, but I am quite in favor of working together and having a plan instead of just muddling along pretending the various counties around here don't impact each other.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> > At the same time, the council heard from numerous residents of the nearby > Greenmeadow neighborhood who pointed to the growing homeless population at > Cubberley Community Center and said they no longer feel safe near their > homes.

I never cease to be amazed at how illogical and inhumane some people's though processes can be, especially in aggregate. People living out of their cars makes you feel unsafe? Better ban that activity! How about investing in a couple ways to get them off the street and into a home, so that they can move _on /up_? Rather than seeing them all as a destitute scourge waiting to pray on the unsuspecting, which is more likely to happen when you _deliberately_ make their lives worse.

<comment><USER3> Did you read the rest of the article, where they covered specific reasons for why some local residents felt unsafe?

<comment><USER7> This law won't alter the fundamental situation. There are people who cannot afford homes. Forcing them to hide their now illegal sleeping arrangements is not going to make them disappear or make the problems that come with a thoroughly disenfranchised population disappear.

The only thing this accomplishes is putting more of the burden on the poorest people in the community. Now, those people who formerly had a reasonably safe place to park overnight to sleep will have to find a new place to sleep every night. They won't be able to build any sort of community bonds with their neighbors, develop a routine (that might be necessary for recovery from addiction, or getting a job, or getting a kid to school every day, or any number of things that requires one to know where you're going to be sleeping each night).

I've been among the wealthy mobile homeless for five years now (I live in a motor home, and traveled almost non-stop for four years; lately I travel only ~3 months out of the year, but will return to traveling more as I recover from some personal grief that's led me to need some stable friendships and a predictable life for a while). I've met a whole lot of folks who live in their vehicle, whether it's an old motorhome, a van, or even a car, including in Palo Alto (where I parked for three weeks while visiting friends). This kind of law criminalizes people who shouldn't be criminalized, and it makes crime part of the daily lives of people who are just trying to get by.

The problem here is that this is using a violent solution to a community problem. When you ask for a law to be made against an activity someone does, you're using violence and imprisonment to get your way. That's what the state is: Legalized violence. Is it right to find someone so far down on their luck that they are living in a _car_ , and respond by sending men with guns to fine them or arrest them?

Because that's what this means. The poorest people in Palo Alto will now be subject to being ticketed or arrested for _sleeping_. Not because they want to hurt anyone, but because they have no where else to sleep.

<comment><USER3> I'm not trying to represent the council's POV. I'm just asking if the opster above read the article, because s/he didn't address some of the specific things in it that seemed relevant.

 _That 's what the state is: Legalized violence._

No, that's one model of the state suggested by one influential sociologist. I am sick to the back teeth of this trope being trotted out as if it were a fact. All it tells me is that you have an axe to grind.

 _sending men with guns to fine them or arrest them_

Perhaps you should try a country without mass gun ownership then. I quite like that British and Irish cops don't carry guns as a matter of course, but then that's got something to do with the much lower rate of gun ownership. If you like the 2nd amendment, and I guess that you do, it's unreasonable to demand that the police don't wear guns, and to suggest that the mere carrying of guns mean they're violent by definition.

<comment><USER7> "If you like the 2nd amendment, and I guess that you do"

How about if I remove the mention of guns? "sending men to fine them or arrest them". This still seems violent to me. Fines lead to warrants...I know several homeless folks who are always at risk of arrest because they have bench warrants from unpaid tickets for sleeping (in Austin, sleeping pretty much anywhere other than an apartment/hotel/house is illegal). Taking away someone's freedom is a violent act (obviously no one is going to jail voluntarily...it's only the threat of violence that makes them choose jail).

I'm not trying to be argumentative here, I'm just always surprised when people don't see the obvious. Kidnapping is a crime...only the state can get away with it, through overwhelming force.

I don't really care to get into a gun rights debate, so I apologize for bringing it into the conversation. It was a cheap tactic on my part, to make the violence of police more visceral to someone who might not have seen police violence in person before. Thank you for making me aware that I did it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Rather than creating laws against the poor, perhaps the millionaires of Palo Alto should try to do something to fix the problem.

<comment><USER9> Nice false dilemma

<comment><USER10> > Nice false dilemma

I think you meant "false dichotomy" [1]

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

<comment><USER11> Your link begins "A false dilemma (also called false dichotomy, ...)".

Both are standard terms for the same thing.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> As the measure clearly shows, the homeless interest were the #1 concern for those who voted in favor.

That's sure, as in "We need to protect them people from themselves". Unfortunately, it may not be enough. "think of the homeless" \- you must help them even more than that!

So what about an even more audacious proposal: confiscate the vehicle in exchange of a free sleeping bag and 2 month of food stamp - because you want to make sure them people are sleeping and eating properly, even if it requires some coercion to discourage them of their bad behaviour.

Of course, as you are good spirited and really care about their comfort, no one will ever consider that this is just a way to frighten them to move to another area and hide the problem under the rug.

Totally outrageous.

</comment><comment><USER13> I really dislike it when things are outlawed for no other reaon than not being liked. In my opinion, in order to outlaw an activity, you should have to show that it is causing actual harm.

<comment><USER3> Without endorsing the decision, there were some showings made: _But residents who live near Cubberley had other concerns. Several pointed to recent incidents, including one in which one homeless man beat another into unconsciousness and another in which a homeless man threatened a police officer._

<comment><USER14> I know a few kids that went to school and beat each other unconscious every once in a while. In retrospect, I guess my town should've banned going to school.

<comment><USER3> The grandparent post said there should be some showings made of actual harm. I pointed out that such showings were made, and said that I _don 't endorse the decision_. Don't start an argument with me just because I referred the other poster to something he overlooked in the article.

<comment><USER14> My comment wasn't to argue with you, just a comment on the situation. Sorry if it seemed like I was calling you out.

<comment><USER3> OK, sorry if I seemed prickly.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> This hurts ... I once had to spend the night in a car (one night) so I know how it hurts emotionally.

I pay myself these days, but wonder about businesses that run off of greed. What is happening in Bangladesh could very well come to our country unless we begin to value our fellow man ... even the man that did not have that _original_ great idea, or founded the company.

I understand that America was created by people who wanted to build something useful for themselves _and_ others. Perhaps we should find a way to reinvest in this country. Make jobs for our fellow man somehow. It is an unselfish idea ... we made it, they didn't. So, why care?

It would be cool if some young talent here could make a web service that helped these people. We have plenty of photo sharing sites now ...

</comment><comment><USER16> This seems like a clear message to the houseless (!= homeless) population of Palo Alto to GTFO. Sad, but can't say I'm surprised.

</comment><comment><USER17> On what basis can they even mandate such a ban? Is it based on the government's ownership of roads? In that case, can you live in your car on private property (parking lots, driveways, etc)? The article doesn't give enough info.

<comment><USER18> The ordinance says:

> It is unlawful for any person to use, occupy, or permit the use or occupancy > of, any vehicle for human habitation on or in any street, park, alley, > public parking lot or other public way.

So it looks like there is no impediment to living in a vehicle on private property.

<comment><USER19> If that is the case then Menlo Park also has a de-facto ban because they don't even allow you to park on most public ways over night.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> unchecked capitalism without a social safety net is a savage and brutish failure

<comment><USER21> How does this have anything to do with capitalism?

The same politicians banning people from using the only shelter they have left are the same politicians who prevent the same people from running their own businesses by raising the barrier to entry artificially. Want to sell grilled cheese sandwiches? Not in this politicians backyard (without business license and permit that is).

<comment><USER22> > How does this have anything to do with capitalism?

Unemployment is a creation of Capitalism. Even in Feudal and slave societies, people had homes and jobs.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I've spent months living down in the more affordable East Palo Alto working in the region and Palo Alto always struck me as a bunch of rich snobs. So this doesn't really surprise me.

I remember seeing a lot of people sleeping in the parks in Berkeley. One friend and resident of a nearby house said the people had a right to stay there. I also saw many at a local clinic. So at least Berkeley is still hip to letting people be.

</comment><comment><USER24> Many of the comments presuppose that Palo Alto's city council is in a position to do something about a truly macroeconomic problem, i.e. "instead of kicking them out, why not provide them with jobs etc."

That being said, I don't agree with the council's decision. But the cultural momentum that has carried them there is so far beyond them, and many of these comments miss that point.

</comment><comment><USER25> tldr: Rich people tell the poor to GTFO with the backing of the police looking for more useless work to do.

Cue libertarian comments at government overreach, and socialist comments at libertarian excess corrupting the political system.

I really don't care what your political bent is, but if you live in a developed nation it's your responsibility to try and help, not punish the poor. Why? Because someday you might be poor yourself. The economy is like that.

I've met people who lived in their cars, and they don't make any trouble, keep to themselves and just want to be left alone till they get back on their feet. Why do you need to bother them? It costs you nothing to leave them alone.

</comment><comment><USER26> But what if I want to live out of my Tesla Model S? Then its ok, right???

<comment><USER7> I'm tempted to park there in my motorhome (new MSRP ~$95,000, though I bought it used for a third of that) again, as I did a few years ago for three weeks. I ran into lots of the folks who lived in the neighborhood, and they all simply wanted to know where I'd traveled and where I was heading next.

Would be curious to see how a middle class white guy gets treated vs. poor people.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> The Borders on University could mike a nice shelter...

</comment><comment><USER28> It seems no one commenting here is actually from Palo Alto.

</comment><comment><USER29> tl;dr: It is now illegal to live in (most obviously, but not necessarily, sleep in) vehicles parked in streets, alleys, and "public ways" (parks, etc.) in Palo Alto.

It doesn't apply to private property, so you can conceivably still use a camper as long as you own or are given the right to use a plot of land.

<comment><USER30> > _It doesn 't apply to private property_

But this does. PAMC 18.42.070:

(f) Limitations for Sleeping in Recreation Vehicles

Subject to securing a permit therefore from the building official and otherwise complying with applicable law, the use of a recreational vehicle, as defined in this title, may be permitted for sleeping purposes only for a period not to exceed thirty consecutive days in any calendar year for not more than two nonpaying guests of the occupant of a single-family dwelling in accord with all applicable regulations governing parking and storage of vehicles.

(g) Vehicle Visibility from Public Streets

Except in the OS (open space) and AC (agricultural conservation) districts, no person shall store, place, or park any of the conveyances designated in this section, whether disabled or fully operative, in any areas visible from a public street unless it is parked or stored upon either permeable or impermeable paving surface.

(h) Parked Vehicles shall not Obstruct Traffic Views at Intersections

No person shall store, place, or park any of the conveyances designated in this section within the thirty-five foot triangle of property at the intersection of streets improved for vehicular traffic.

(i) Parked Vehicles Maximum Coverage of Front Yard

No person shall store, place, or park any of the conveyances designated in this section in a manner that they cover more than 40 percent of any required front yard.

(j) Each Day of Violation a Separate Offense

Violation of this section is a misdemeanor, punishable as provided in this code. Each day of violation constitutes a separate offense and may be separately punished.

(Ord. 4934 § 4 (part), 2007)

<comment><USER31> That sounds like as long as there is payment, you can, and as long is on pavement. As in, 1 cent, legal

<comment><USER30> It's the opposite — you can _only_ have non-paying guests. I also assume there are numerous regulations governing RV parks, which is what you'd be if you accepted payment.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> Thus my plans to run a startup from my van by the river are dashed.

<comment><USER7> Been doing it for five years. Works great. But, California might not be the ideal location for it.</comment></comment>


Richard III dig: DNA confirms bones are king's - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-21063882

<comment><USER2> One day you're king, next day you're a pile of bones under a car park.

Which makes it all the more worthwhile to be remembered for what you've done while you're alive (hopefully postive things) than where your bones rest even if you were born into privilege.

I don't know if this will keep going, but there are people to this day (usually mathematicians or someone with an affinity to that line) who tenderly care for the grave of Thomas Bayes. The man has been gone for almost 250 years.

<comment><USER3> Honestly the whether we are remembered once we are dead or not doesn't really matter -- in no shape or form will we be around to care.

Same for the people who are found months after they have died -- the dead don't care (or do anything else).

<comment><USER2> That's rather nihilistic.

You're only partly right: The dead won't care. But if you're remembered for good things by others, then by default you've done good while you're alive. That's really the point of living don't you think?

We can all debate the metaphysical on what happens afterwards, but what's real, observable and true is the effect you had on those around you while you're alive and the legacy you leave behind. Bayes obviously won't care what happens today, he can't. But those alive today still do after so many years.

The fact that we won't be around to experience the merits of our actions doesn't mean our actions should be devoid of merit.

<comment><USER4> "That's really the point of living don't you think?"

Well, in my opinion, you shouldn't base your actions on what you can write on your resume... Do good things, regardless of how broadly it will be received. You can easily portray yourself as a saint but in reality do more harm than good, and get away with it. But why care the about how you will be perceived when you're gone? The time it takes to be forgotten doesn't have anything to do with how "good" you were.

If you did miracles for elderly people you might get forgotten a minute after your death. Does that mean that your actions doesn't count? Why would you even care to think about it?

<comment><USER2> Of course! :) Do good even if you're remembered or not.

Really anything can be taken from you. Money, status, memories and even life itself, but the one thing no one can ever take away is what you've done. Whether you're remembered or not your actions can never be reversed, so hopefully they better be good ones.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> To add some context, the team had established roughly where the remains should be and discovered a skeleton in place; so while neither the DNA test nor the dating could be conclusive, when added to the contextual knowledge the level of confidence is (in the team's language) beyond reasonable doubt.

<comment><AUTHOR> Also (from the article) the state of the body - that it had wounds consistent with descriptions of Richard's death, that the wounds were confirmed to have been inflicted pre-mortem, and that the other general characteristics of the skeleton were consistent with our knowledge of Richard.

The confluence of factors is what allows such a high probability to be ascribed to the hypothesis.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> We've put together a mini-site to further explain the history, archaeology and science of the discovery.

<http://www.le.ac.uk/richardiii/>

<comment><USER7> The archaeology portion of this website makes for some exciting reading. Well done!

<http://www.le.ac.uk/richardiii/archaeology.html>

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> <http://goo.gl/2CH7n> from NYtimes: "One of the descendants, Michael Ibsen, is the son of a 16th-generation niece of King Richard's" which means 18th generation descendant of the King. Each generation has roughly half the DNA of the ancestor (Y Chromosome and mitochondrial (female only) DNA excepted. Thus an 18th generation descendant would have just 1/2^18 or about 1/256,000 of the King's DNA. Of course this amount would actually be larger since other ancestors to the King would have been his ancestor as well.

In the Talmud there is a famous expression, "He who saves a life is as if he saves and entire world and he who destroys a life is as if he destroys an entire world." and this relates to the meaning of this statement.

<comment><USER9> In the BBC they explain that he is a direct descendant of the mother of the King, by an all female branch. They don't explain why they take all the trouble to find this kind of descendant, and why this detail is important.

But the only reasonable explanation is that they are using mitochondrial DNA. The advantage of the mitochondrial DNA is that it is not mixed so, ignoring a few random mutations, the mitochondrial DNA of this person and the king should be equal.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> According to ancestry.com, and yes it has my relatives going back that far, I am a descendant of Richard III. Wonder how many others are here.

<comment><USER11> Perhaps almost everyone: " Some experts estimate that 80 percent of England's present population descends from Edward III." [1] There was an Economist article posted to HN several months back that explained the general principle better but I couldn't immediately find it.

[1] [http://www.nbcnews.com/id/13662242/ns/technology_and_science...](http://www.nbcnews.com/id/13662242/ns/technology_and_science- science/#.UQ-xYo5_jao)

<comment><USER12> Similar with French Canadians, since they are all descendants of a small group of immigrants, a lot of them claim to be related to Celine Dion.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Now is an excellent time to be reading The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey.

</comment><comment><USER14> As you can see from the photo of the bones in the ground, kings look no different than peasants when they're eaten by the earth. Still, the hard working people of the UK are happy to sponsor their "princes" and their Vegas expenses.

<comment> Tuna-Fish That's technically not correct. The UK royal house is paid an annuity that was given in exchange for them surrendering the revenues from their private holdings. These revenues are much larger than the annuity they are paid -- by some 5 times. Even if you take the most broad definition of the costs of the royal house, including the security provided to them and the lost revenues from the official properties they use, they still surrender more than £80M more to the state than they cost in upkeep.

There are many good arguments against the British royalty -- cost is not one of them. Were they a private family with private holdings, the people of the UK would pay more taxes than they do now.

The only way you can argue that abolishing the monarchy would save money is if you argue that they should be stripped from their private property. But if you start such land redistribution, just where should you end? Most of the land in the UK is held by aristocrats. And the US is not much better -- in the wealthy areas in the east, most of the land was originally acquired by means that would be less than reputable today.

<comment><USER15> >And the US is not much better -- in the wealthy areas in the east, most of the land was originally acquired by means that would be less than reputable today.

You could kind of argue that _all_ of the land in the US was acquired by less than reputable means. :P

<comment><USER16> You could say that about pretty much anywhere - certainly most of Europe. Just chain back through land ownership transfers until you find the last person who got it by cheating/stealing/killing.

<comment><USER17> Except in Sweden.

<comment><USER18> All land is stolen. What in your opinion is different in Sweden?

<comment><USER17> The land was re-distributed to the populace over 100 years ago when the ruling class feared that the revolutions sweeping Russia would reach Sweden. They chose to give up land rather than their lives.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Obligatory: A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!

<comment><USER20> Eyewitnesses of the King's demise at Bosworth recorded him as having bellowed "traitors, traitors, traitors" while personally charging to within feet of Henry Tudor. Both Shakespeare and recorded history appear to be equally dramatic in this case. Richard's death ended the War of the Roses, and historians such as Norman Cantor would claim that also it marked the end of Medieval era and the beginning of the Renaissance.

"The Sunne in Splendour" retells Richard's life and also offers a fascinating look at his older brother Edward IV, a man who warred his entire life and never lost a battle.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Too much to hope that the margin of error on such things will be properly explained

[https://bristolclassics.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/bah-and- fur...](https://bristolclassics.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/bah-and-furthermore- humbug/)

<comment><USER22> He doesn't give any info on the margin of error and just goes on a tirade about how we only care about artifacts when they are from famous people.</comment></comment>


Why Every Startup Should Complete the Y Combinator Funding Application - <AUTHOR> http://www.centernetworks.com/every-startup-should-complete-y-combinator-app

<comment><USER2> True that, it made everything so clear. After filling it up I knew what was the "exact" problem I was trying to solve.

What people are on-board with me, what value they are gonna bring in.

Where do we stand. It really makes everything transparent and brings you to the ground.

</comment><comment><USER3> Totally on point, but they dont provide "space" for their businesses.

</comment><comment><USER4> All things Y Combinator at Y Combinator Universe: <http://ycuniverse.com/>

</comment><comment><USER5> You know, not everybody wants to give away their plans for free. Nor does everyday wat to cut somebody else in on the action.

<comment><USER6> The whole point of the article is that you use the application as an exercise, without actually submitting it.

<comment><USER5> Some HTML forms send every character you type as you type them.

<comment><USER7> The way to check for that is view source. In Chrome: view- source:<http://news.ycombinator.com/w2011form>. No JS. Does YC or HN even use JS?

<comment><USER8> When you are logged, only the upvotes and downvotes in HN use JS.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Impressive terrain generation in 4Kb [+DirectX] - <AUTHOR> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YWMGuh15nE

<comment><USER2> Long live the demoscene.

Glad to see 4K's are where the innovation is still at. (I'd love to see some dotcom jockey do even a quarter of that at any size).

<comment><USER3> I've heard it said that the art of the 64K demo is dying... because it's big enough so as to hardly be a challenge anymore. New tools like Crinkler[1] are making small demos much easier to write than they once were.

[1]: <http://www.crinkler.net/> / <http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=18158> \- an executable compressor optimized for incredibly small output files</comment></comment>


Proposal to require clinical trials data to be shared for publication - <AUTHOR> http://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/01/27/proposal-data-sharing-remarkable-turning-point-says-yales-krumholz/ <comment><USER2> > Pharmalot: What do you make, though, of the editors at The New England > Journal of Medicine? In a recent editorial, they expressed reservations and > set off a ruckus by saying that some researchers worry about 'research > parasites.'

>Krumholz: There are lot of people who feel the research they do is the best research. It comes across as self-serving and absurd. Science is about replicating and testing your work. We need scientists to test and investigate and provide new insights. … Remember, people may make errors and the only way to catch mistakes and make corrections is to see the data.To call people parasites who are taking advantage of existing data and using that to generate new knowledge is not parasitism. That's synergy and building on work of others. … Anyone who holds that view is not seeing the big picture about how different people can work in different ways to help society advance.

There's been a lot of anger at NEJM for this editorial, largely because it used the brazenly derogatory term "research parasites," more than any other particular complaint. The same discussion happened last decade in the basic research community, as gene expression microarray studies started publishing lots of data, and no single initial publication could fully mine it. Now that the clinical science community is encountering more of this, and information dense technologies are being used to gather data during clinical trials, the same discussion is getting rehashed.

Meanwhile, those whose primary research thrust is analysis of data rather than generation often have more offers to collaborate than they could ever meet. They may not get the Science or Nature papers though, as those are typically reserved for data producers.

<comment><USER3> The derogatory term is far from the only problem with the NEJM editorial. The problem is that the article was acting as if publications and socially approved results are primarily a reward for putting in effort, as opposed to part of a search for truth.

The article criticized "rude" behavior like using someone's own data to refute their conclusion. That's the biggest bit of cluelessness in the editorial.

<comment><USER4> Sadly, most researchers are primarily judged on publication record, with the not-too-subtle subtext that "low" rates of publication are due to lack of either effort or talent. In such rating exercises, truth is never a factor.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I'm always glad to see submissions to Hacker News from the new Stat news service. This submission has a lead paragraph before the interview transcript that sets a lot of context: "In an extraordinary move, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors last week issued a proposal to require researchers to share their clinical trial data as a condition for publication. And the researchers would also have to submit plans for how their data can be shared. The journal editors, who represent such periodicals as The New England Journal of Medicine and the Annals of Internal Medicine, believe data sharing 'will help to fulfill our moral obligation to study participants, and we believe it will benefit patients, investigators, sponsors, and society.'"

The key words there are "condition for publication." If researchers can no longer publish in the major journals without an ironclad guarantee that they will share their data, the incentive to share data well improves a lot. Interestingly, the Retraction Watch group-edited blog about scientific research has a guest post today "Sharing data is a good thing. But we need to consider the costs"[1] by Liz Wager referring to the same proposal by medical journals, but suggesting that some other rules would be even more helpful for improving research.

"I want to re-emphasize that I am not against data sharing. If I had a magic wand (aka unlimited funding for research and its dissemination) I would undoubtedly wave it over all research and create a system in which raw data were permanently linked to all types of report and all the report formats were linked (so that, for example, somebody reading a press release could easily check the journal article, and, if they wished, also the protocol, full study findings and raw data). But if the fairy gave me two wishes instead of a wand, I would wish for prospective trial registration and access to full trial reports for all trials before wishing for raw data."

[1] [http://retractionwatch.com/2016/01/28/sharing-data-is-a- good...](http://retractionwatch.com/2016/01/28/sharing-data-is-a-good-thing- but-we-need-to-consider-the-costs/#more-36359)

</comment><comment><USER6> If you got curious about this, check Ben Goldacre's website ([http://www.badscience.net/](http://www.badscience.net/)) and the OpenTrials project ([http://opentrials.net/](http://opentrials.net/)). He wrote a couple very interesting books about this issue.

</comment><comment><USER7> I'm helping [http://www.myire.com](http://www.myire.com) which is about to publicly launch this quarter and is working on this exact problem. It's everything from ideation to publication allowing for collaboration. Truly reproducible research.

If you want to chat about it email me hn at strapr dot com and let's talk.

</comment><comment><USER8> This is pretty awesome. I think what's as important as actually providing the data + results is details of the steps taken to produce the analysis. Clinical trials data analysis is often performed by underqualified research assistants and then sent to a biostatistician for a rubber stamp. Having a mechanism to review analysis would not only save time in getting potential treatments to patients, but also reduce the effort required to analyze new datasets.

</comment><comment><USER9> Quote:

"In an extraordinary move, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors last week issued a proposal to require researchers to share their clinical trial data as a condition for publication."

If this happens, it would turn a very important philosophical and practical corner in the sciences. It might even prevent things like this:

[http://www.nature.com/news/over-half-of-psychology- studies-f...](http://www.nature.com/news/over-half-of-psychology-studies-fail- reproducibility-test-1.18248)

Noteworthy about the above result is that many studies that were to have been included in the study, couldn't be, because the original data couldn't be located.

<comment><USER10> The International Society for Computational Biology has responded here:

[http://news.iscb.org/2016/01/iscb-responds-to-new-england- jo...](http://news.iscb.org/2016/01/iscb-responds-to-new-england-journal- of.html?m=1)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I won't wold my breath for this. Despite a decade of talking about "open science" there is very very little progress.

</comment><comment><USER12> Finally

</comment><comment><USER13> Too bad corrupt pharmaceutical companies and desperate starving researchers just alter the data.</comment>


Tesla Gave Me Control of Their Site Forums - <AUTHOR> https://www.dansdeals.com/more/dans-commentary/went-tesla-delivery-hell-tesla-giving-control-site-forums-1-5-million-tesla-account-contacts/ <comment><USER2> > [I bought a $19K car because:] After we got stranded without gas for the 3rd > time I knew I'd have to take the plunge and buy a car.

Or you could, you know, get the gas gauge fixed or stop trying to micro- optimize the last 25% of the grocery gas discount. Either of those would cost 50-300 times less than $19K...

<comment><USER3> I would like to know how this guy is going to get stranded less often in a Tesla. At least with a fuel burning car he can call roadside assistance to bring him some gas. When his battery is flat they can't bring an extension cord though.

What a world we live in that someone so careless has so much money to throw at his problem.

<comment><USER4> I sense a market here: supercharge trucks. A truck with a buttload of diesel, a 1000kW generator, and an assortment of charging hookups.

<comment><USER5> I'm not a mechanical or electrical engineer by any means but how hard would it be to have a swap-able batteries like in the old cellphone days?

<comment><USER6> sorry I had to [https://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/21/the-tesla-battery- swa...](https://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/21/the-tesla-battery-swap-is-the- hoax-of-the-year/)

look at smartphone and laptop batteries now compared to 10 years ago. battery swapping used to be a thing when companies were cool with right to repair and independent shops fixing products; not so much now. look up louis rossmann and the way apple dealt with him (spoiler sending customs to take everything under the guise of using fakes)

<comment><USER4> If you have a couple of hours, watch some of these: [https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertMurraySmith/videos](https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertMurraySmith/videos)

He's developed carbon only batteries/supercaps that beat Lithium ion batteries by something like double the capacity. Some of what he is working on can be overcharged at high voltage and the cell comes to capacity in a very short amount of time.

<comment><USER6> I think I remember his videos, one went around during the whole graphene craze on reddit

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> With customers like this, who needs hackers?

The customer support story was bad enough, and I mean this from Tesla's perspective. I do fault Tesla for not just saying NO when a customer "complains" they want to change how their car is configured after they take delivery.

There are a lot of Tesla owners who have some real issues with their cars that they would like to address, while this guy is calling in to get more forum posts. This guy, who after getting direct replies from Elon on Twitter complains they don't respond quickly enough on Twitter.

This guy, who after getting mistakenly elevated privledges in the forum, proceeds to poke around the whole site, fuck with settings on his own threads, start a conspiracy theory, and then crash most of the entire forum!

This guy, who now thinks he should be paid a bug bounty for that (rather than being brought up on CFAA charges?)

Disclaimer: Took delivery of my Model 3 last Saturday and really enjoying my new spaceship.

<comment><USER8> If they'd said "now is the last opportunity to decide X" that would be fine, but they said something else and then couldn't work out how to do it.

He tried to report the forum thing and was ignored for a period of time.

You should be able to get customer support without tweeting the CEO.

[disclaimer: I'm jealous of your spaceship]

<comment><USER7> They do say that all over the site, in their deposit agreement, and in their purchase agreement. The problem is it also says any changes can impact your delivery date.

So I don't blame a customer for wanting a change but not wanting to reset their place in line.

Case in point, I ordered the upgraded 19" wheels, because I didn't like the look of the aero rims. I didn't realize at the time you could pop off the aero faceplate and have nice dark colored rims underneath. And I have the dark grey metallic paint which would have matched.

So now I have silver rims which I plan on powder coating to match the dark grey, which I paid $1,500 extra for plus another $1,000 to power coat, when the aero rims with the faceplate removed would have been perfect.

But I didn't want to bump my place in line, so I left it. And I didn't tweet, email, call, beg, escalate, and blog about it to get it "taken care of" specially.

It's not fair to the thousands of other early adopters to monopolize their limited customer support resources like that and squeeze them for special treatment.

Of course the squeaky wheel will get the grease. When something goes wrong with my iPhone that is a bit fishy but _probably_ because it got dropped one too many times, sure I press Apple to go above and beyond to make my day a little better.

With Tesla I personally think it's my responsibility to go at it the other way around. They need customer advocates not customer leaches.

It's part of being an early adopter to a company that is running everything so close to the wire in order to radically change a very stagnant (and in some ways corrupt) industry.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> This is extremely irresponsible, and never should've even been possible to occur in the first place.

Imagine all the possibilities past goofing around:

1\. Could sell account contact information. (The _least_ threatening option.)

2\. Could make posts to influence Tesla stock price, either negatively or positively. Either way, the stock would likely go down sharply afterwards if this happened.

3\. Could social engineer financial information from customers.

4\. Could lead users to phishing sites or malware with hype of a fraudulent announcement.

As per usual, Large Company Ignores Report of Serious Problem and Then Has To Deal With Negative PR From Ignoring Said Problem When They Can Easily See How Many Other Companies Fell Into This Trap And Tries To Pretend They Do Not Ignore Problems.

<comment><USER10> > _This is extremely irresponsible_

Innovation is a game in trade-offs. I've been, in the past, super critical about Tesla trading off customer safety in its autopilot branding. This time, however, ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯.

Tesla is scaling production on the world's best-selling electric car, a jewel in a world ignoring climate change. They have more important things to be doing than keeping forums humming. This is a good case of knowing when to ask for forgiveness.

<comment><USER11> They weren't (AFAICT) trying to make innovative web forums. They weren't (AFAICT) pulling overworked battery engineers off their workstations to handle phone support.

Even a third-party hosted web forum would have done better than this, in cost and security. This isn't the price to be paid for electric cars. This is just carelessness.

<comment><USER10> > _This is just carelessness_

Right. A lack of care given to this. Because it was—properly, in my opinion—being diverted elsewhere. They needed a forum, someone quickly spun something up, and then that someone properly stopped thinking about this and got back to work.

<comment><USER12> They can't hire enough people so that the care isn't "diverted"? The same person that put up the forums is also doing some "important" work on the cars? Come on, now.

What boils down to a defense of "it's okay to be careless with X when you're doing more important work on Y" is on-its-face ridiculous to me, in three ways. One, the sentiment itself. Two, the implication that properly taking care of your IT/web stuff is less important and/or handled by people that usually do "more important things". Third, the idea that two important things cannot be done because one of them is more important... since when are proper IT/web security AND producing a good product mutually exclusive?

It sounds more and more these days like "innovation" is just becoming an excuse to do other things improperly. Innovation is great, just not something to be worshiped at the expense of all else

<comment><USER10> > _since when are proper IT /web security AND producing a good product > mutually exclusive?_

Since finite resources. It's not okay. But it's an acceptable transgression given what they're doing and how close to the red line they're operating.

Pulling back from that redline to keep every piece of IT infrastructure up to date and secure would be a bad strategic trade. Waiting until a problem and then fixing it makes more sense. Lazy versus eager allocation.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> another report of how tesla moves fast and breaks things :(

... it sounds like an internal system which scope has been expanded to include customer support as the company grew (unaddressed _technical debt_ ) and they forgot about identity management.

I'm not shocked though. It is perfectly in line with: [https://twitter.com/atomicthumbs/status/1032939617404645376](https://twitter.com/atomicthumbs/status/1032939617404645376)

</comment><comment><USER14> Every time I reach out to Tesla to find something out it takes forever and usually I have to call and wait an hour on hold to get the answer for the question I asked in email. I have been directed back to my MVPA (the purchase agent who insures your paperwork is complete and the delivery location has its ducks in the row) more than once to get something answered that Tesla's phone support could not provide!

Got to love it. Tesla support and service if anything shows a major reason the dealership network is not obsolete. Now I own a TM3 and like the car very much but it does have a few panel alignment issues that I am going to get worked on when the tire rotation comes due. While I think there are truly bad dealers out there most name brand dealers have to compete with others to get your service dollars but Tesla doesn't. Hence they can leave you in limbo.

Back in 2013 when I had an issue with my previous car the dealership actually got the regional rep in to approve a fix that originally was denied. Who can go to bat for me when Tesla says no or just ignores me?

personal experience dealing with support:

My current outstanding question is, what is this check I received from Tesla for? It is a couple hundred dollars but with no explanation for what it is. There is nothing on my account page. My query is weeks old. Then again I had to call and and reach out to my original delivery agent just to get Tesla to pay off my trade forty five days after the deal had been done. This became an issue because the state wanted insurance on a car I did not have, the lien holder wanted insurance on it, but the insurance company was like you sold it, you have documents to that effect, you cannot have insurance.

<comment><USER15> Really, my experience has been very good. I ran over a nail and not only did they get a tow truck out to me and provide a replacement tire within 1 hour they also came to my office to swap the tire out. Without any cost to me.

<comment><USER16> Tires are one of the easiest things to fix and/or replace.

Lets not judge a company based on trivial issues.

EDIT: I changed my own tire with 0 experience ever.

</comment></comment></comment><comment> yjftsjthsd-h > people who now buy a Tesla via my referral code will get 6 months of free > supercharging.

What a world we live in, when _cars_ have referral codes

<comment><USER17> I recently bought a Model 3, but the 6 months free of supercharging is almost an insult of an incentive.

Even if I supercharge every time (about once a week) for 6 months, that saves me $168 (seems to cost me less than $7 per supercharge). So the incentive for referring someone to buy a 50k car is... $168.

Also, Tesla encourages the use of home charging over supercharging which many have interpreted to mean that supercharging is bad for battery life.

<comment><USER18> >Also, Tesla encourages the use of home charging over supercharging which many have interpreted[sic] to mean that supercharging is bad for battery life.

I'm not sure what wizardry Tesla batteries use for their supercharging, but it was my impression that you always want to charge lithium batteries at <1C to extend battery life as long as possible.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Haha ouch, what a f-up.

Looks like the forums are based on Drupal 6 (maybe 7). I have not so found memories of developing a few Drupal sites back in the day...

<comment><USER20> Haven't used it, but from what I gather the latest Drupal is a complete rewrite using Symfony, so they hopefully dumped most of the legacy bad parts

<comment><USER21> The problem with Drupal is not with the "latest Drupal" \- it's with the older versions, and the many sites who cannot/don't upgrade.

<comment><USER19> I still have nightmares from huge, almost infinitely nested, undecipherable and undocumented arrays.

One small error and you spent hours finding the culprit, digging around in the source code...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> The fun just keeps coming. We've killed Tesla's forum now.

      Service Unavailable
      The server is temporarily unable to service your request.
      Please try again later.
      Reference #6.6d0fd717.1542635887.2b540b\

Edit: It's back up now. It appears to be running Drupal version 7. Wonder if it's patched?

<comment><USER23> based on the contents of the publicly-available MAINTAINERS.txt file in the root, I'm gonna guess no...

<comment><USER22> I missed this screenshot earlier: [https://i.dansdeals.com/wp- content/uploads/2018/11/11015004/...](https://i.dansdeals.com/wp- content/uploads/2018/11/11015004/tess351.png)

 _" There is a security update for your version of Drupal...There are security updates for one or more of your modules or themes..."_

And then this: [https://i.dansdeals.com/wp- content/uploads/2018/11/11104508/...](https://i.dansdeals.com/wp- content/uploads/2018/11/11104508/tess42.png)

Shows that's it's version Drupal 7.59 and Mysql version is 5.7.14

So it has at least these issues: [https://www.drupal.org/SA- CORE-2018-006](https://www.drupal.org/SA-CORE-2018-006)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> If this is true, Dan needs to shut up, get a lawyer, and read up on the CFAA.

</comment><comment><USER25> "And does anything get cooler than this to avoid parking tickets?"

Seriously? No wonder so many people in Palo Alto / Bay Area hate Tesla drivers...

</comment><comment><USER26> I'm surprised they don't use Discourse for the forums

</comment><comment><USER27> Well, that's horrifying.</comment>


The Dork Distance - <AUTHOR> http://zedshaw.com/2015/04/23/the-dork-distance/

<comment><USER2> You are my hero! I aspired to be brave enough to drag paints out and risk painting a terrible picture.

(well, not painting in my case but its moral equivalent. Public speaking, risking making comments at work that could be important but just as well might be stupid, etc).</comment>


Ask HN: What city do you plan to move to if all companies move to WFH? - <AUTHOR> With all the major companies (FB, Twitter, Shopify) moving to an all-remote workforce, what city would you move to?<p>Please also specify: Current Role, Current City, Salary <comment><USER2> If my current MNC turns WFH full time, I plan to shift to Goa, take up a house by the sea, wake up to the breeze and take a dip in the sea once I'm done working.

Currently a Software Engineer in Bangalore, India earning approx $30k per annum</comment>


Ask HN: What are the best unique Mac apps? - <AUTHOR>

Mac users: what unique Mac-only apps do you use that couldn't be had on Windows? What apps with unique innovations do you see in Mac apps that you're not seeing on other platforms? I'm doing a bit of research for an article idea...
I'd asked this on Twitter earlier, and got some nice feedback, including Kaleidoscope, BBEdit, Courier, Reeder, MarsEdit, Acorn/Pixelmator, NvAlt, Fantastical, Sparrow, Versions, Adium, and Coda.
Thoughts? <comment><USER2> Alfred! <http://www.alfredapp.com/>

It's the natural successor to Quicksilver. When I had to work on Windows boxes, I never could find a replacement that felt anywhere near as good.

</comment><comment><USER3> Textmate, although there are a few apps in the win env. that try (E-TextEditor is great). Quicksilver/Launchbar - This is a biggy, I used to use Enso by Aza Raskin back in the day before I switched.

Ultimately it was these two programs that did it for me. Those and a terminal.

</comment><comment><USER4> Notational Velocity. There are Windows clones, but they suck really bad.

Really, with the Mac, it's the frameworks.

Acorn and Pixelmator are great and all, but I think that Paint.NET on Windows matches or exceeds them.

</comment><comment><USER5> Compared to Excel, Numbers has many disadvantages:

\- fewer features \- cannot handle huge spreadsheets \- slower

, but it feels so much better. In particular, allowing multiple cell grids on a sheet and allowing users to name columns and rows are good ideas (I know it was done before, but AFAIK, nobody is shipping that at the moment). It also helps that it takes effort to have it make ugly charts (Excel has improved here, but it is as if it doesn't dare commit to a design choice for fear of losing some customers)

</comment><comment><USER6> I'm surprised no one pointed out Growl. There's GNotify for linux but it's nowhere near as polished.

And in the growl package, there's an extra called growlnotify, which lets you pipe data from processes and show the output in growl form. I use this extensively.

</comment><comment><USER7> Two more examples for you:

Xcode, TextMate.

Adium is actually a clone of Pidgin, Pidgin can be used on Windows and Linux, so this is not a good example of a Mac only application.

<comment><USER8> Adium Is actually very different from Pidgin. I mean the core is based on Pidgin but the UI makes it unique and more useable (IMO).

<comment><USER9> Yeah, Pidgin on Windows is an usability joke.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Don't forget the obvious ones: iMovie, iPhoto. Yes, Apple makes them, but if you ever had to support a Windows user and figure out where their pictures are, you'll love iPhoto.

</comment><comment><USER11> Just released DesktopShelves <http://kitestack.com/desktopshelves> (my own app)

Also take a look at Skitch.

<comment><USER12> This looks fantastic - Downloading now

<comment><USER13> can't reply to the thread, so i'll just post here.

<http://www.secretgeometry.com/apps/cathode/> cathode is a beautiful mac only app that makes my windows based officemates real envious

and i also have an app of my own that dont have a windows equivalent: <http://twitjustice.org>

<comment><USER13> another i found on hn way back, bit.ly/ijXuHY

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Logic Studio. There is Cubase on Windows that comes close in functionality but is nowhere as intuitive and easy to use.

</comment><comment><USER15> CloudApp, Growl, Adium, Seashore and Fuzzyclock? Just simplicity. Ignore iTunes for your article.

</comment><comment><USER16> Sequel Pro -- Awesome free MySQL manager for mac. Transmit -- Great FTP client.

<comment><USER17> Thanks for the pointer. My new $job uses mysql and Sequel Pro looks like a great mysql tool. Bonus points for being open source!

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> SubethaEdit

Terminal (jk)

<comment><USER19> What do you use as a replacement for terminal? It was freezing my comp for 2-3 seconds when I'd switch spaces, so I moved to iterm2, and it's not great...

I'd like to see something that does a better job allowing me to distinguish sessions to different servers (diff background colors, etc.)

<comment><USER20> i just use x11.app and run a bunch of xterms in a tiled window manager (ratpoison). as for colored windows for servers, see <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2089389></comment></comment></comment>