Whonix – A desktop operating system designed for advanced security and privacy - <AUTHOR> https://www.whonix.org <comment><USER2> As someone unfamiliar with Whonix, I wanted to understand the project in a little more detail than what's on the front page.

This link was really helpful and thorough:

[https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Comparison_with_Others#General](https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Comparison_with_Others#General)

<comment><USER3> I also recently found ParrotSec OS I was using it as my main OS for about a month or two. I mostly used it because it is a Debian fork and it featured the latest of any programming language I wanted, which is great for me. I stopped using it because it felt cluttered for me to have so many different pentesting type of tools. It had built in support for connecting you to Tor and forcing all connections to go through Tor out of the box. A lot of things I don't need but others might find interesting. I may return to it now that they're building a flavor for developers. It comes with a few text editors out of the box including Atom. I wish Whonix would compare ParrotSec too. :)

Edit:

Link to ParrotSec OS website. [https://www.parrotsec.org/](https://www.parrotsec.org/)

<comment><USER4> Used parrotOS 2 years ago. I think it was newish then. Liked it a lot. Was fairly polished then. What do you use it for and what features do you like most?

<comment><USER3> I really just used it for programming. I loved having the latest of any programming language compiler / interpreter when I used it. Something I don't see in Ubuntu / Debian flavors I try. I'm using ElementaryOS atm because I like how minimal it is, I bring in what I need after installation. They have a "Studio" flavor that I wanted to try, but the Network manager seemed to be broken from install, I remember installing KDE from the ParrotOS based I installed initially and had the same problem, the networking wireless icon is completely missing. If they fix that on their "Studio" release I may start using it again. I enjoyed it overall. My only other issue was that I didn't need the "tools" ParrotSec came with. I would definitely recommend ParrotSec OS overall.

<comment><USER5> Can't you update to the newest version of some compiler? This is something I hear for the first time...

<comment><USER3> Linux Distros are always behind, and in the case of Ubuntu / Debian Python is locked into whatever they release because the OS actually relies on whatever version of Python they released the OS with, if you upgrade to latest and greatest on Debian Wheezy e.g. you might find your OS has bugs that Ubuntu 16.04 doesn't see (both use similar packages).

<comment><USER6> Really i use the latest and nightly gcc toolchain in ubuntu without issue, for python if what your saying is true could you not use conda or docker?

<comment><USER3> I guess it's mostly for interpreted languages. Try installing (not that I use it) Eclipse the Java IDE as another example, it's usually dated enough. This is probably why people use bleeding edge distributions. I guess in the case of compilers it's not as bad, though you can't usually get the latest and greatest Go compiler either, you have to grab the .deb off the website or use other tools. At least Rust just hands you rustup so I don't need to worry about this in the case of Rust, but with other languages like Python it's a concern of mine.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> If you like this, be sure to check out Qubes OS[1], which uses Whonix as a VM to route all traffic over Tor.

[1]: [http://www.qubes-os.org/](http://www.qubes-os.org/)

<comment><USER8> Qubes does not use Whonix for anything. Whonix can use Qubes, though.

Qubes and Whonix are fundamentally different. They attempt to solve two different issues.

Whonix solves privacy via obfuscation, Qubes solves security through virtualization / compartmentalization and specifically does not believe in security by obfuscation. You do not have to choose between the two if you run Whonix inside of Qubes, but I have a feeling most users who think they want privacy really want security, and it would be a hassle to constantly use Whonix.

I highly recommend Qubes, if you aren't already using it. It isn't for the faint of heart, however, and there are a long list of bugs to squash and features to add. Things are coming along nicely though, and this year they plan to test-drive corporate support for Qubes OS as a business platform, which if successful should give them quite a bit of capital for expansion and auditing of essential code.

<comment><USER9> > Qubes does not use Whonix for anything. Whonix can use Qubes, though.

Qubes comes with Whonix gateway and workstation templates preloaded. How is that not "using Whonix"?

<comment><USER8> Important distinction in terminology. Qubes _runs_ Whonix, Whonix _can_ _use_ Qubes as a host. And the Whonix workstation is an optional addition that a lot of users find no need for. It does not come preloaded, you must enable it during installation. But Qubes does not _use_ Whonix anymore than Windows _uses_ Firefox when you run the firefox process.

In software, when you say something "uses" something, you are implying it uses it as a backend or API. But Qubes does not communicate with nor expose any information to Whonix, and especially does not utilize it for any sort of functionality.

<comment><USER10> sounds like a distinction without a significant difference. "To improve your privacy and anonymity on the internet, you can install the Whonix Template on your Qubes machine." [https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/whonix/](https://www.qubes- os.org/doc/whonix/) to me that makes it sound like the quebes-os people use whonix to improve privacy

<comment><USER8> Why do you think an operator of a computer is called a user?

I use Qubes and do not use Whonix, and most users don't either. Qubes is security-focused, offering increased privacy in the process, but Whonix is for the privacy-focused and has separate use-cases. I'm not a journalist in some 3rd world dictatorship so using Whonix would just degrade my user experience.

But that's the thing. As users, we can use a piece of software, but our operating system is not using anything. And it is erroneous and misguiding to say that Qubes OS "uses" Whonix, because again, that implies special meaning, such as using it as a backend for main internet access. This isn't some trivial distinction. It is a very basic, important distinction when you are talking about software.

<comment><USER9> You may not personally launch Xfce Terminal either but it doesn't mean Qubes doesn't use it as a terminal emulator. Qubes uses Whonix for anonymous VMs. It's bizarre that you're so set on making this distinction that not even the creators attempt to make.

<comment><USER8> Oh? Can you provide context where they say that Qubes _uses_ Whonix? Under their doc file for Whonix they just mention that, if you want to use Tor, Qubes can make use of Whonix as a ProxyVM. That is the correct usage of the term "use". But not only is that not the same thing as using Whonix for a general backend for operation, many users forgo installing Whonix altogether.

This whole thing devolved from me just trying to make a distinction for other HN users so that they wouldn't get the wrong idea and not try out Qubes because they might think the systems are coupled and are worried of, say, being hacked by the FBI and put on more lists for using Tor.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Let's say I'm living in, say, Russia and I use this distro. Let's say I want to say some nasty things about Putin. Let's say they are so nasty, that Putin may want to kill me as a result. If I use this OS, is it possible to post the content in a way people can find it and not be identified? If so, what other steps would I have to take to do?

Is this a crazy question?

Are there trusted resources that spell out how to do it?

Would you trust the answers with your life?

<comment><USER12> The Grugq has some awesome write ups on OpSec. He is the authoritative source on it. Google around for his tumblr, medium posts, and grugq's github [1].

[1]: [http://grugq.github.io/blog/archives/](http://grugq.github.io/blog/archives/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Interesting!

How does this compare to an existing secure Linux distro with Tor support like Tails ([https://tails.boum.org/](https://tails.boum.org/))?

<comment><USER14> Their both Debian based desktops, so pretty similar from a user perspective.

The biggest difference is that Tails is designed to be entirely amnesiac, and leave no forensic trace. Whonix is a persistent system.

<comment><USER15> > Tails is designed to be entirely amnesiac, and leave no forensic trace

Does Tails drop privileges to the extent that root can't mount the hard drive and modify it?

<comment><USER16> It can mount HD, but the read/write privileges are the same as any other OS I imagine. I've copied files from my HD to Tails, but I've yet to try dropping files into the shared folder on my HD.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> It's just another Linux distro, not a new operating system.

<comment><USER18> While you're correct that this is a Linux distro, it should be pointed out that nowhere does it state that this is a "new operating system."

<comment><USER17> The article title is "Whonix - a desktop operating system...". That seems to indicate a new operating system, not a paint job.

<comment><USER19> I agree it should probably say "Whonix - A Linux Distro for..." Minor detail, though.

For others reading, a new OS for anonymity would be something like removing identifiers from and integrating Tor with seL4 (or Fiasco.OC), Genode, EROS, ExpressOS, or Redox. Key components of these don't make up a whole OS but could be with specific tech and a UI.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> How does Whonix provide privacy? From the details I see that it is providing anonymity through TOR, but I don't see any mention of encryption.

<comment><USER21> It uses two VMs, the gateway vm and the workstation vm.

the workstation vm is the linux box with the GUI and connects to the gateway vm.

so you do all your work and browsing in a guest machine where everything is routed through TOR.

regarding encryption, thats a loaded statement. read up on what specifically you want and see if it has it.

<comment><USER20> The VMs are just another measure added for anonymity not privacy. Specifically with regards to security we take anonymity to mean generally speaking protecting who we are and privacy to mean protecting what we are doing.

As an example; when I log in to my bank account this should be using a secure connection, but if I'm doing this from an internet cafe connecting to an untrusted wifi network I could be at risk that someone is ARP spoofing + SSL stripping. To not put myself at risk I would use a VPN with end to end encryption. This is privacy; I want to protect my banking data, but it does not provide anonymity; I do not care that anyone knows I'm checking my bank account so long as they can't steal my login/password.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Here are KVM images for libVirt (e.g. with the GUI virt-manager):

[https://www.whonix.org/wiki/KVM#Download_Whonix](https://www.whonix.org/wiki/KVM#Download_Whonix)

</comment><comment><USER23> One of the most thoroughly documented projects that I've come across.

[https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Documentation](https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Documentation)

</comment><comment><USER24> Would it be possible/make sense to use Docker for this?

Using something like Whalebrew? [https://github.com/bfirsh/whalebrew](https://github.com/bfirsh/whalebrew)

<comment><USER25> No, Docker is not built for security. I do use Docker sometimes to isolate processes, but not for serious security.

<comment><USER26> if properly configured why not? What would stand in the way of implementing a secure containerized version of the workstation+gateway type setup?

<comment><USER27> Theoretically, nothing. In practice, the isolation it relies on is somewhat weak. And in general, it is new and exciting and changing frequently, which means security bugs. Also, most people seem to rather suck at configuring it, as far as I've seen. (That's not per se a problem with Docker, but it is frequently a problem with Docker as-deployed.) And then there are potential kernel bugs.

When talking about "trusting X", one always has to answer the question "trust X to do what, exactly, under what circumstances?" I don't yet trust Docker to be secure enough for production, internet-exposed business use. I know other people disagree; YMMV.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> They should probably offer ISOs too so one can more easily try it using kvm or vmware instead of virtualbox.

<comment><USER29> They have KVM images as well, and KVM was the suggested model on Linux last time I looked.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> Operating System is a heavy word to throw around for something that's just a Debian derivative.

Opened hoping for something microkernel-based... bummer.</comment>


A whiteboard video making tool with 10,000+ drawings - <AUTHOR> https://www.animaker.com/whiteboard <comment><USER2> If it meets the guidelines, this might make a good 'Show HN'. Show HN guidelines: [https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html)</comment>


Fabricate Yourself: Using the Microsoft Kinnect to 3D print yourself - <AUTHOR> http://i.materialise.com/blog/entry/fabricate-yourself-using-the-microsoft-kinnect-to-3d-print-yourself <comment><USER2> Kinect is incredible technology.</comment>


Google chrome based netbook specs are out - <AUTHOR> http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/20091227/google-chrome-based-netbook-tech-specs-are-out.htm

<comment><USER2> "A 64GB SSD? On a device that won't store data because it'll all be in the cloud? Don't be silly." Not my original thoughts, I may even have seen them elsewhere on HN, but I fully endorse them.

I'm reminded of all the speculation about the iSlate, and the retrospective of the iPhone speculation (very hit and miss, mostly miss).

</comment><comment><USER3> _The netbook, which is expected to launch in the holiday season of 2010, will reportedly also come with preinstalled Google apps such as Google Map, Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calender and Google Search by Voice._

What does this even mean? There will be "preinstalled" bookmarks to those apps I guess?

</comment><comment><USER4> The article starts with "Believe it or not". I guess not.

This is just a collection of rumors. We can collectively and individually write a similar article.</comment>


Please Welcome Lenovo to the LVFS (Linux Vendor Firmware Service) - <AUTHOR> https://blogs.gnome.org/hughsie/2018/08/06/please-welcome-lenovo-to-the-lvfs/ <comment><USER2> In theory this LVFS is nice. In practice it has always been useless for me, because I have never owned one of not so many machines supported.

This morning I tried my ThinkPad X1 Carbon 5th, which is now on the list of supported devices.

The updater did not find anything to update, although I'm sure I don't have the newest BIOS installed.

From reading the article I guess my updater could be too old (not using Fedora 28) or the update is still blacklisted from some other reason.

Let's see whether this start to work some day...</comment>


What the Nature Neuroscience Acupuncture Study Shows - <AUTHOR> http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2010/06/when_what_an_acupuncture_study_shows_is.php

<comment><USER2> What a crappy article. He just nitpicks on the press release to push his atheist agenda. He repeatedly talks about meridians, which aren't even mentioned in the actual paper:

[http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.25...](http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.2562.html#ref4)

This quote is actually kinda funny:

"What really bugs me about this article, though, is that it's cool science. These guys have found something interesting that may even have a potential clinical application. For instance, local injection of A1 receptor agonists works the same as the "acupuncture.""

Right, because injections are totally better than poking your skin with needles or acupressure or shiatsu or what have you. The problem with that mentality is that it assumes adenosine is the only chemical at work, and that the more of it, the merrier (or worse, that, a standardized dose approved by the FDA is necessarily better than what each person's own body will produce naturally).</comment>


Foldify - print foldable 3D figures from iOS - <AUTHOR> http://foldifyapp.com

<comment><USER2> It looks awesome, but...

Why oh why would you go public on this before the app is available in the store? I looked at this thing and said "I want it." Will I remember to look again once it is available?

<comment><USER3> They did ask for your email so that you'll get notified when it launches.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> If you are interested in printing foldable paper models, also have a look at Pepakura Designer (<http://www.tamasoft.co.jp/pepakura-en/>). This takes 3d models and unwraps them to printable images.

No connection, other than having used it's output to entertain children at various times.

</comment><comment><USER5> I bought one of these off Foldable (<https://www.foldable.me/>) and while it was quite cool how it all came together, I was a little disappointed by the lack of customisation options.

This looks to rectify that and make a more personalised creation, great work!

<comment><USER6> Any idea what tech is behind this? I mean something for selection and preview generation like <https://www.foldable.me/foldables/new>.

<comment><USER7> It's all squares and rectangles so CSS3 transforms would be perfectly adequate.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Foldify is so much better than "Origami for Westerners", I think they may even get a season push, considering the coming festivities. How good would 8 bit squares and 8 bit Santa look on the tree. Hope it comes through for the makers.

</comment><comment><USER9> Wow, that is cool!

Goes to show that not _every_ useful application for iOS has been built yet, or that the unmade ones have to be extremely complicated.

</comment><comment><USER10> Is this a pivot from "Foldable me" or something along those lines? I remember seeing that on here awhile ago. I like this idea!

<comment><USER11> Looks like a copy rather than a pivot.

<comment><USER12> Foldify idea was born in 2011, It's an indie project ( created after normal work ) and the dev started in january of 2012. Foldable.me started after March of 2012. So definitely not a copy ;) as Foldify was first.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> While we're forgetting this was going to exist one day, why not get some of the cool models from cubeecraft right now?

<http://www.cubeecraft.com/>

(Not mine. But I've created my own. If you want Illustrator templates send me an email: email@example.com)

</comment><comment><USER14> I just saw this on Twitter. Very impressive! Talk about a great experience.

</comment><comment><USER15> Why are the lines on the outside of the figure!?

<comment><USER16> It's because the foldable model is printed out on a single side and it's probably going to be a pain in the ass to have users print 2-sided with lines on the other.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> What kind of paper do you use with this? It looks stronger than regular printer paper.

</comment><comment><USER18> Christmas tree ornaments?

<comment><USER19> House fire?

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> This looks awesome. Will it be available for Android?

<comment><USER7> Does android offer a printing API? I know there are individual apps...

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> love it. would love to see caricatures made of people we know in this.

</comment><comment><USER22> That is so cool!. Kudos to the team

</comment><comment><USER23> If only I had a color printer.

</comment><comment><USER6> A novel App after a long time.

</comment><comment><USER24> want - squeal - yeah!

I hope you can submit your own 3D models to share and make viral!

<comment><USER25> Did you just squeal?</comment></comment>


Obamacare Will Suck the Life Out of the Economy - <AUTHOR> http://www.cnbc.com/id/101791342

<comment><USER2> Actually it could benefit low wage workers. If they used to have to work 70-80 hours week to hold 2 jobs now they only have to work less than 60 which is a lot easier to do. That's just right at the poverty line.</comment>


It is insane how many research reports predicted the Bitcoin market before hand - <AUTHOR> https://bitcite.com/ <comment> bull-whale This one called the November 14, 2018 crash before it happened: [https://cryptonaire.com/wp- content/uploads/2018/11/stability...](https://cryptonaire.com/wp- content/uploads/2018/11/stability-concerns-nov0718-cryptonaire.pdf)</comment>


The Startling Poetry of a Nearly Forgotten Japanese Modernist - <AUTHOR> http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-startling-poetry-of-a-nearly-forgotten-japanese-modernist

<comment><USER2> Some samples in English translation:

[http://www.asu.edu/pipercwcenter/how2journal/archive/online_...](http://www.asu.edu/pipercwcenter/how2journal/archive/online_archive/v2_2_2004/current/translation/chika.htm#poem1)</comment>


Ask HN: Finding short term housing in the Bay Area - <AUTHOR>

As someone about to make the jump out to California in August for a sort of personal sabbatical(3-4 months in the mountain view area, possibly longer if a job opportunity presents itself). What are my options when it comes to locating a short term furnished rental. Nothing fancy, just a bed and dresser is fine and even a shared bathroom are ok. I won't be able to visit beforehand for any longer than maybe a weekend because of my current job. I'm wondering if craigslist is the best option since most people want you to see the place before signing any agreements.<p>Would spending the first week in a hotel and surfing craigslist be a good option? I would really like to lock in a place before making the trip out there. Anyone else have experience with this? How did you go about locating a place? <comment><USER2> I have friends that stayed in Hostels and used Airbnb.</comment>


My First Homemade Pedalboard - <AUTHOR> https://0ut3r.space/2020/06/16/handmade-pedalboard/ <comment><USER3> If the author is reading--definitely use wood glue for the next one, not just nails. I know waiting for glue to dry sucks (that's why I do metalworking as a hobby) but it adds incredible amounts of strength. For something like a pedal board, glue is a necessity. Stomping on it will gradually loosen the nails. Plus, glue holds across the whole joint, not just at the 3-6 locations that have nails. For a proper glued joint, the wood itself will fail before the glue will

Not a bad looking project for a first-timer with limited tools though, the end result looks great. Fine woodworking is hard, but the end result is worth it, just like anything else that is difficult. And I can definitely agree that having some other hobby besides CS/IT is a good thing to keep sane.

Edit: to provide some background , the reason I know a fair bit about wood construction is from building experimental aircraft with wood wings. Still hated the woodworking aspect, but the plane flies and I'm confident it's solid.

<comment><USER4> As a former senior structural engineer turned software developer, I just wanted to comment regarding the glue +/vs nails. Although glue adds rigidity to the whole board, glue does not add strength, meaning their strength is not additive. The glue needs to fail in order for the nails to provide their function. In tension, the glue prevents two pieces from separating, and the nail just sits there not being engaged. In shear, the glue prevents two pieces of wood from sliding past each other and therefore prevent the nail from being engaged.

<comment><USER5> The nails are used with wood glue to keep the pieces together while the glue sets and then left in because it would damage the piece to try to remove them.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Always nice to see music oriented projects on here. I highly recommend checking out VCVrack for broadly exploring possible tones. I was just playing with a "wah" effect patch i made controlled with game driving pedals.

<comment><AUTHOR> Holy moly looks like a lot of knobs and buttons!

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Great looking board - for your use case (playing at home/practicing) it should be great. That is a nice basic set of pedals too!

But a tip as you get started on your guitar gear journey:

1\. DO NOT go on the gear board - it will just get you to spend money on stuff you really don't need. I would avoid it until you are at whatever proficiency level you have set for your self.

2\. Seriously consider a multi-fx as a way to try many types of effects - <USER2> you get an idea of what they do, and how they might interact with each other.

3\. And the most __important advise __\- tone is in the hands! 99% of the time, that new flavor of the month distortion /overdrive won't make you a better player, it will just drain your wallet.

After spending thousands on pedals and pedalboards (boards, cables, power supplies, etc.) I sold all of my pedals and basically use a Helix Effects, a boss TU-3 Tuner and a OneSpot CS6 power supply on a Pedaltrain Metro 16. Does everything I need. And will do everything I ever need to in the future or am capable of doing. Total cost of complete setup? $875. Sounds like a lot, but I spent more than $5,000+ over the years on pedals, boards, cables,power supplies. Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) is a real problem for guitar players - so beware.

Welcome to the life long tone chase!

<comment><AUTHOR> Mulit FX was always something too expensive for me. When I was young I had second hand Korg A5 Multi Effects Pedal and it was nice. I will definitely buy what you recommended when I decide to expand the range of effects. Thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Looks great man. Once you have your main board set (like you do), don't forget to think outside the board you've built to add things like a wah and volume pedal. For me these have both been staples of my rig that sit outside the "effects" part and can be be added/subtracted as necessary.

<comment><AUTHOR> Wah was always something I would like to give it a try, but first I have to work on technique :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I've started building my own pedals from scratch. I gotta say the sanding, painting and decal is one of the relaxing things I've done in ages.

<comment><AUTHOR> True story. People have already forgotten how pleasant it is to create various things. Even when it requires physical work.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Nice work!

I gave in to the digital world, trying out a Scarlett Solo (audio interface) with Neural DSP plugins at the moment.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you. Once I learn to play and try to record something, I am thinking of buying Scarlett 2i2 to build mini studio. (I still have to persuade my wife to sing) LOL.

<comment><USER11> I used to have a Scarlett interface and found the software buggy and without much UX thinking having gone into it. Gen 3 might be shipped with better software better but in the end I switched to Behringer UMC404HD (four channels for less than the price of two) and really haven't looked back! Plug and play as well, with physical knobs only, so no confusing software to configure.

<comment><AUTHOR> That sounds interesting. Do you use any microphone with this interface? Like BEHRINGER C-3 for example. Do you recommend something?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Looks great! I also built my pedalboard(s) from scratch like this and they've held up really well.

<comment><AUTHOR> Nice!</comment></comment>


How to make sure nothing gets done at work - <AUTHOR> http://fortune.com/2015/09/30/workplace-bureaucracy-simple-sabotage/ <comment><USER2> The interesting message is that you can recognize these sorts of behaviors and then shut them down. And when you see them persist in a person you can better manage that person's role to be non-destructive.

</comment><comment><USER3> Wow, this site is unreadable. The site design is so cluttered and confusing, and the right sidebar looks like spam content.

<comment><USER4> Par for the course these days. I feel like we are on the verge of an ad revenue bubble collapsing, there's not much more that can be done to make the ads more intrusive unless you get rid of the content altogether.

Incidentally, that's basically what the print version of Forbes has done...they now have sponsored content which are basically ads masquerading as articles written by Forbes.</comment></comment>


HN blocked in China - <AUTHOR>

I've had troubled accessing HN from Shenzhen, China recently. Any other HNers in China had similar problems? <comment><USER2> I'm not surprised - HN often ends up with posts or comments which are outspoken against Chinese government policy.

Also, it will probably boost their engineering productivity by 10%.

</comment><comment><USER3> Not in China now, but this nice website seems to prove you right:

[http://www.blockedinchina.net/?siteurl=news.ycombinator.com](http://www.blockedinchina.net/?siteurl=news.ycombinator.com)

<comment><USER4> Interesting site. I entered google.com and it was all OKs. I thought google was blocked in China.

</comment></comment><comment> barry-cotter This varies regionally. I'm commenting from Shanghai. Last time I was in Shenzhen it was blocked.

</comment><comment><USER5> It's CloudFlare the firewall seems to be blocking sometimes, I am in Shanghai and HN comes and goes at random. Plus I notice the same thing on other CF sites. China is a pain for almost all CDNs

</comment><comment><USER6> I am located in hangzhou, the connection is good.</comment>


Coursera's co-founder Daphne Koller set to start anew at Calico - <AUTHOR> https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/17/courseras-co-founder-daphne-koller-set-to-start-anew-at-calico/ <comment><USER2> I never understand all this hubbub. Does anyone actually think millions of Americans suddenly found a love of knowledge in the past couple decades? I know I'm in college to get a piece of paper to get green pieces of paper. I learn what I care about on my own time.

The majority of people are in college because you get (rewarded for | penalized for not) going by Mr. Market, however you want to spin it. It doesn't matter whether it becomes apparent in your work that your degree was basically irrelevant. Booming education among a market where the fastest growing and largest job sector is shit jobs in service is just nation wide stack ranking.

We're all on a treadmill and we can't _all_ win.

<comment><USER3> That's a very cynical, narrow, and depressing view of what education is. I very much doubt that view is shared by anyone that started or worked on Coursera or any other MOOC.

<comment><USER2> It's a view about why people get education, not what education's potential is. If I felt I had the luxury to go to college and spend 4 years and thousands of dollars broadening my horizons, I know what I would study, what classes I would take, what professors I would talk to. But I don't feel that secure and so I am doing something completely different.

I enjoy learning, I really do. I spend my freetime reading texts about what I love and talking to other more educated people who've studied it. It's not why I went to college, and not why people told me to go to college ever since I was old enough to understand arguments about my future life prospects and career and etc. It's not why my aunt who's been a nanny for 20 years is going to com-college, It's not why my mom is becoming a CPA, it's not why my dad went to engineering school, etc.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I do not believe that both Koller's and Andrew Ng's transitions out of Coursera reflect badly on Coursera or on MOOCs in general. Instead, what you're seeing is two incredibly brilliant professors (I was a grad student in the same lab as both, and I TA'd for Koller) returning to their area of expertise. The world will probably be a better place for it.

<comment><USER5> I was an early user of Coursera. I really enjoyed and completed three classes and thought it was the future of education. Since then, they've tried to monetize and in the process thrown quality out the window and ignored their users. I think Koller leaving is just another sign that coursera is run by its investors, in it for money instead of making a great education platform. The site no longer has any value to me, and I haven't even browsed the course list in over a year. I'm sure Koller is making a good decision, moving on from it to something she can be passionate about again. Best of luck.

<comment><USER6> So on point. I took Andrew Ng's first machine learning course, it was the future of learning!

In stead of building a framework for iterative improvements, and an online educational material, Coursera focused on building "classes" and "credentials" and trying to monetize. It isn't surprising that I learnt the most in college from Wikipedia. Which isn't even meant to be a teaching material.

Truly a shame.

Hopefully Khan Academy or even Wikipedia doesn't eventually disappoint.

<comment><USER7> Unless those credentials are accepted by employers and schools and count for a real degree, they are meaningless.

<comment><USER8> That's a bit like saying there's no point in reading a book because employers don't ask for the books you've read.

The courses are awesome just for you to learn things. It wouldn't even matter if you got nothing at the end. However they do provide a genuine way to show that you've taken a course. It shows willingness to learn above and beyond your degree. You can stick it on your Linked In profile and Stack Overflow profile, it's a way to differentiate yourself from the masses.

Also it's a way of finding better employers. If you're employer is open-minded enough to take your Coursera courses seriously then they're more likely to be a good employer.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> MOOCs seemed like a good idea at the time until everyone realized you go to college for the rubber stamp. The actual knowledge is an illiquid thing available on YouTube/Google or wherever. It is most definitely not a business.

What's surprising is that people who've been professors for 18 years at Stanford or frickin heads of a Ivy League university didn't realize this until 5 more years into the business side of education. Shows how narrow academic's wheelhouse is.

<comment><USER10> Huh? All of the MOOCs very early made it clear that their business model was selling certifications, drive that's where the marketable value was. It didn't take anyone involved 5 years to recognize that.

<comment><USER11> Yes, they knew that the business model was to sell certifications--not sure what else it would be.

However, that Coursera certifications would be valued (presumably by employers) on a mass scale was always an aspiration without an awful lot of evidence behind it. (Yes, there are certifications that people pay a lot of money for but they're essentially all focused on a very specific set of skills and tied into some sort of ongoing program.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Although I disagree with this view I cant help but get the sense that people are expecting to replace a 3-4 year education which is filled with 6-12 of these types of courses with 5 courses and think they will be valued just as much. Getting knowledge in a topic is one thing, years of problem solving across different topics is another.

I use these classes as additional support to my education (when i dont understand something or if my class just scratched the surface and i want more). Other cases are classes that aren't offered that i find interesting like advanced databases from CMU that was posted a couple of months ago.

It is definitly not a replacement, but helps you dwell into topics that you may not be able to or are unsure of.

<comment><USER8> I can't see how anyone would expect that Coursera certificates will be a replacement for a degree. There's quite a clear difference between the two.

Having said that each of the individual courses that I've taken on coursera were significantly better than any courses I took during my degree.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> As to Coursera, I really don't like the specification concept. When I browse the course list, I want to see a clean interface, not an interface cluttered with specifications.

I don't have the data. But I guess that although Coursera has 20 million members, their overall engagement rate is decreasing. Because without new courses, many users will likely not return to the site.

<comment><USER14> > Because without new courses, many users will likely not return to the site.

In my opinion rather without free Statement of Accomplishment many users will likely not return to the site. It might be different in the US, but in Germany there is a culture of "certificate or it did not happen". I have heard that the same holds in Brazil, too. Thus being German I stopped attending Coursera courses as soon as free Statements of Accomplishment were dropped. I also have the impression that after this step the quality of courses dropped.

Originally I remember that it was seriously considered that as a way of monetizing MOOC sites there was the thought that MOOC participants are people that love to learn new stuff on their own. This is something many employers like. So the idea for monetizing was: why not allow employers give (for money) access to the list of participants to find potential employees. Does anybody know why this route to monetizing MOOCs was left?

<comment><USER11> > Thus being German I stopped attending Coursera courses as soon as free > Statements of Accomplishment were dropped.

Did you feel that being able to list the free statements of accomplishment has some specific value to you as an employee or a job seeker? (But, presumably, not sufficient value to pay for a certificate?)

Otherwise, it seems a bit of an odd attitude. Do you avoid reading books for educational purposes or watching videos on professional topics because you don't get a certificate for doing so?

I do get that there's value in some certifications. But, except for some limited circumstances (continuing education requirements, as _something_ to show in the absence of a traditional degree) my impression is that Coursera certifications don't have a lot of value. Which has been sort of their problem.

<comment><USER14> > Did you feel that being able to list the free statements of accomplishment > has some specific value to you as an employee or a job seeker?

I have never been in this situation (but I will be in near future), so take the following with a grain of salt. I think employers see Coursera Certificate of Accomplishments not as a qualification that I know the topic inside out. But having a Certificate of Accomplishment to show for MOOCs that I took is a clear sign to potential employers that I'm willing to invest a lot of my free time to learn about new topics on my own. Which shows willingness to learn, being able to work independently on hard topics on my own under difficult circumstances (only help in the forum instead of having a tutor etc.). This is something that I think employers like.

> Do you avoid reading books for educational purposes or watching videos on > professional topics because you don't get a certificate for doing so?

I read lots of books for educational purposes. But I read them because I'm deeply interested in the topic. I will probably never get any monetary gain from it (as I said: certificate or it did not happen). Videos on professional topics are rather uncommon in German culture (as I see it in opposite to the US-American culture). One reason for this is indeed that they don't deliver a certificate.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> But I just got an email from her as a registered coursera user that she will soon rerun the Propabilistic Graphical Models course which is now split to three separate courses. I hope that her new position won't change that, her course is very good.

</comment><comment><USER16> Will Geoff Hinton's Neural Network course still continue?

</comment><comment><USER17> This is very sad! I for one think that MOOCs have huge potential to disrupt higher education even if it becomes a non-profit at the end.

<comment><USER11> edX is already a non-profit. Which is probably why, notwithstanding pleas to pay for certifications, you still have full access as a free user.

<comment><USER14> > notwithstanding pleas to pay for certifications, you still have full access > as a free user.

No, just look at the "XSeries" and "Professional Education" programs at edX. These are not free.

<comment><USER11> I believe the XSeries are just track certifications for courses you can still take for free.

However, the Professional Education programs--which I think are relatively new --do seem to be fee-based only. I stand corrected.

Of course, even though it's a non-profit, edX is doubtless still under pressure by its sponsoring institutions to more or less pay its own way. That's a lower bar than "make VCs a bunch of money" but it still can't survive as a bottomless money pit.

<comment><USER14> > I believe the XSeries are just track certifications for courses you can > still take for free.

I stand partly corrected, but there are also XSeries tracks for courses from Professional Education.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Is documenting weight loss in time-lapse photography an interesting idea? - <AUTHOR>

I was thinking there are a couple of ways to go with the app: 1) Sharing videos might enable an compelling social layer. 2) You could create better games around weight-loss, because if the contestants were strangers they might want to see who they are competing against throughout the game. 3) It  could be an online version of 'Biggest Loser' with advantage of being able to interact with the contestants. <comment><USER2> Go for it! I think it would be better for guys, I'm thinking most middle aged women folk would be less than willing to share fat pics

<comment><AUTHOR> True. I'm thinking some early adopters might be bodybuilders who loose a lot of weight right before a competition and love promoting themselves.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Interesting idea, though if I were you, I'd make the sharing aspect optional (and make that extremely clear on your signup page).

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah I don't even think we'll do fb connect because of privacy fears. And well make it so no one can look you up unless you want them to. I imagine that if people want to share, they could do it with just one or a couple people, like their trainer and a work out buddy.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> p90x does something similar using youtube to promote transformations using video, you may want to check it out

<comment><AUTHOR> That's true. The app I made can get better frame-to-frame consistancy (here's me: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlMLFrB1QUA>) which I think make is much more valuable as a tracking tool.</comment></comment>


Algorithms that changed the world - <AUTHOR> http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/33488.html

<comment><USER2> Any list of "algorithms that changed the world" which doesn't include the FFT is utterly bogus.

<comment><USER3> Agreed. FFT is easily one of the top 10 algorithms of all time outside of the Carmack method for fast inverse square root.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: how to verify users identity (background check)? - rush-tea

As I am building my marketplace startup, I would need to verify the identity of my user before I send them ACH for their payment.
I am curious to find out what and how you would use in term of verifying your user identity.  I understand like airbnb is using offline identity (passport or driver license), taskrabbits are using background check (sterling info systems), I think Zaarly is also using some background check as well.
if using background check firms, who would you recommend that is startup friendly in term of integration and cost?
Thanks. <comment><AUTHOR> One trick I have seen online merchants use is to credit a prospective customer's account a small sum of money, like $1.16. Then call the customer and ask them to tell merchant the amount that was added. If the customer has full access to the account, customer can answer the question. If the credit card is stolen, the customer will not know the amount merchant credited.</comment>


Hacking the Massachusetts Lottery - <AUTHOR> http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/07/31/a_lottery_game_with_a_windfall_for_a_knowing_few/?page=1

<comment><USER2> Dup: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2828122>

</comment><comment><USER3> part 5 of the article is paywalled</comment>


Years of Ethics Charges, but Star Cancer Researcher Gets a Pass - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/science/cancer-carlo-croce.html <comment><USER2> I left academia some time ago because I could not establish a publication record strong enough to justify being given grants.

And so, to learn that there are lots of successful researchers who basically intentionally lied and cheated, without getting caught, using trivially detectable techniques, and the difficulty of getting journals to even admit they failed to detect these lies, just burns me up!</comment>


Show HN: The program code is in the URL - <AUTHOR> https://easylang.online/run/?code=%23%20Red%20ball%0A%23%20%0Afloatvars%0Arad%3D12%0Ax%3D50%0Ay%3D15%0Avx%3D1.5%0A%23%20%0Aon%20animate%0Amove%200%200%0Acolor%20111%0Arect%20100%20100%0Acolor%20700%0Amove%20x%20y%0Acircle%20rad%0Aif%20x%20%3E%20100%20-%20rad%20or%20x%20%3C%20rad%0Avx%3D-vx%0A.%0Ax%2B%3Dvx%0Aif%20y%20%3E%20100%20-%20rad%0Avy%3D-vy%0Aelse%0Avy%2B%3D0.1%0A.%0Ay%2B%3Dvy%0A. <comment><USER2> Great stuff. How do you monetize EasyLang?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. I don't. I don't intend to. And I don't have to.

<comment><USER2> Can I do server side stuff with it too? If so I have some great uses for it

<comment><AUTHOR> This language is not made for it. It is designed as a teaching and learning language and has only arrays as data structures and no powerful string functions. Also, the graphics builtins are not useful for other things than simple canvas apps.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Just for demonstration:

[https://easylang.online/run/?code=%23%20Minesweeper%0A%23%20...](https://easylang.online/run/?code=%23%20Minesweeper%0A%23%20%0Alen%20cell%5B%5D%2056%0Alen%20cnt%5B%5D%2056%0Alen%20flag%5B%5D%2056%0A%23%20%0Asubr%20initvars%0Astate%3D0%0Aticks%3D0%0Aindx%3D-1%0A.%0Afunc%20getind%20r%20c%20.%20ind%20.%0Aind%3D-1%0Aif%20r%20%3E%3D%200%20and%20r%20%3C%3D%206%20and%20c%20%3E%3D%200%20and%20c%20%3C%3D%207%0Aind%3Dr%2A8%2Bc%0A.%0A.%0Afunc%20draw_cell%20ind%20h%20.%20.%0Ar%3Dind/8%0Ac%3Dind%20mod%208%0Ax%23%3Dc%2A12%2B2.5%0Ay%23%3Dr%2A12%2B14.5%0Amove%20x%23%20y%23%0Arect%2011%2011%0Aif%20h%20%3E%200%0A%23%20count%0Amove%20x%23%2B3%20y%23%2B2%0Acolor%20000%0Atext%20h%0Aelif%20h%3D-3%0A%23%20flag%0Ax%23%2B%3D4%0Acolor%20000%0Alinewidth%200.8%0Amove%20x%23%20y%23%2B3%0Aline%20x%23%20y%23%2B8%0Acolor%20600%0Alinewidth%202%0Amove%20x%23%2B0.5%20y%23%2B4%0Aline%20x%23%2B2%20y%23%2B4%0Aelif%20h%20%3C%3E%200%0A%23%20mine%0Acolor%20333%0Aif%20h%3D-2%0Acolor%20800%0A.%0Amove%20x%23%2B5%20y%23%2B6%0Acircle%203%0Aline%20x%23%2B8%20y%23%2B2%0A.%0A.%0Afunc%20open%20ind%20.%20.%0Aif%20ind%20%3C%3E%20-1%20and%20cell%5Bind%5D%3D0%0Acell%5Bind%5D%3D2%0Aflag%5Bind%5D%3D0%0Acolor%20686%0Acall%20draw_cell%20ind%20cnt%5Bind%5D%0Aif%20cnt%5Bind%5D%3D0%0Ar0%3Dind/8%0Ac0%3Dind%20mod%208%0Afor%20r%3Dr0%20-%201%20to%20r0%2B1%0Afor%20c%3Dc0%20-%201%20to%20c0%2B1%0Aif%20r%20%3C%3E%20r0%20or%20c%20%3C%3E%20c0%0Acall%20getind%20r%20c%20ind%0Acall%20open%20ind%0A.%0A.%0A.%0A.%0A.%0A.%0Afunc%20show_mines%20m%20.%20.%0Afor%20ind%20range%2056%0Aif%20cell%5Bind%5D%3D1%0Acolor%20686%0Aif%20m%3D-1%0Acolor%20353%0A.%0Acall%20draw_cell%20ind%20m%0A.%0A.%0A.%0Afunc%20outp%20col%20s%24%20.%20.%0Amove%202.5%202%0Acolor%20col%0Arect%2059%2011%0Acolor%20000%0Amove%205%204.5%0Atext%20s%24%0A.%0Afunc%20upd_info%20.%20.%0Anm%3D0%0Anc%3D0%0Afor%20i%20range%2056%0Anm%2B%3Dflag%5Bi%5D%0Aif%20cell%5Bi%5D%20%3C%202%0Anc%2B%3D1%0A.%0A.%0Aif%20nc%3D8%0Acall%20outp%20484%20%22Well%20done%22%0Acall%20show_mines%20-1%0Astate%3D1%0Aelse%0Acall%20outp%20464%208%20-%20nm%26%22%20mines%20left%22%0A.%0A.%0Afunc%20test%20ind%20.%20.%0Aif%20cell%5Bind%5D%20%3C%202%20and%20flag%5Bind%5D%3D0%0Aif%20cell%5Bind%5D%3D1%0Acall%20show_mines%20-1%0Acolor%20686%0Acall%20draw_cell%20ind%20-2%0Acall%20outp%20844%20%22B%20O%20O%20M%20%21%22%0Astate%3D1%0Aelse%0Acall%20open%20ind%0Acall%20upd_info%0A.%0A.%0A.%0Afunc%20start%20.%20.%0Acolor%20676%0Amove%200%200%0Arect%20100%20100%0Acolor%20353%0Afor%20ind%20range%2056%0Acnt%5Bind%5D%3D0%0Acell%5Bind%5D%3D0%0Aflag%5Bind%5D%3D0%0Acall%20draw_cell%20ind%200%0A.%0An%3D8%0Awhile%20n%20%3E%200%0Ac%3Drandom%208%0Ar%3Drandom%207%0Aind%3Dr%2A8%2Bc%0Aif%20cell%5Bind%5D%3D0%0An-%3D1%0Acell%5Bind%5D%3D1%0Afor%20rx%3Dr%20-%201%20to%20r%2B1%0Afor%20cx%3Dc%20-%201%20to%20c%2B1%0Acall%20getind%20rx%20cx%20ind%0Aif%20ind%20%3E%20-1%0Acnt%5Bind%5D%2B%3D1%0A.%0A.%0A.%0A.%0A.%0Acall%20initvars%0Acall%20outp%20464%20%22%22%0Atextsize%204%0Amove%205%203%0Atext%20%22Minesweeper%20-%208%20mines%22%0Amove%205%207.8%0Atext%20%22Long- press%20for%20flagging%22%0Atextsize%206%0Atimer%200%0A.%0Aon%20mouse_down%0Aif%20state%3D0%0Acall%20getind%20floor%20%28%28mouse_y%20-%2014%29/12%29%20floor%20%28%28mouse_x%20-%202%29/12%29%20indx%0Aticks0%3Dticks%0Aelif%20state%3D3%0Acall%20start%0A.%0A.%0Aon%20mouse_up%0Aif%20state%3D0%20and%20indx%20%3C%3E%20-1%0Acall%20test%20indx%0A.%0Aindx%3D-1%0A.%0Aon%20timer%0Aif%20state%3D1%0Astate%3D2%0Atimer%201%0Aelif%20state%3D2%0Astate%3D3%0Aelif%20ticks%20%3E%203000%0Acall%20outp%20844%20%22B%20O%20O%20M%20%21%22%0Acall%20show_mines%20-2%0Astate%3D2%0Atimer%201%0Aelse%0Aif%20indx%20%3E%20-1%20and%20ticks%3Dticks0%2B5%0Aif%20cell%5Bindx%5D%20%3C%202%0Acolor%20353%0Aflag%5Bindx%5D%3D1%20-%20flag%5Bindx%5D%0Aopt%3D0%0Aif%20flag%5Bindx%5D%3D1%0Aopt%3D-3%0A.%0Acall%20draw_cell%20indx%20opt%0Acall%20upd_info%0A.%0Aindx%3D-1%0A.%0Aif%20ticks%20mod%2010%3D0%0Amove%2064.5%202%0Acolor%20464%0Aif%20ticks%20%3E%3D%202500%0Acolor%20844%0A.%0Arect%2033%2011%0Acolor%20000%0Amove%2066%204.5%0Atext%20%22Time%3A%22%20%26%20300%20-%20ticks/10%0A.%0Aticks%2B%3D1%0Atimer%200.1%0A.%0A.%0Acall%20start)</comment>


Dreamhost is down. All of it. - <AUTHOR> http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2009/10/12/dreamhost-network-is-down/

<comment><USER2> Now I know downtime is normal for a host. Yes, even Google.

But when you visit the homepage of their status-blog[1], don't you think that's a bit too many updates a little too frequently?

Or should we commend Dreamhost on being super-transparent in their network/uptime issues?

[1] <http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/>

<comment><USER3> what is funny about the status page is that it isn't a day that they don't run into an issue ..

<comment><USER4> Given the number of domains they host (nearly a million: [http://www.webhosting.info/webhosts/reports/total_domains/DR...](http://www.webhosting.info/webhosts/reports/total_domains/DREAMHOST.COM)), I'm shocked they don't have _more_ outages to report. Perhaps they do. They've got enough hardware that system failures are bound to be a daily occurrence. And I'm sure software problems stack right on top of that.

<comment><USER5> if you look at the issues too there's a lot of "this server had to have an fsck to resolve something" and "theses servers were slow so we fixed them".

99.9% uptime is still something like 8 hours downtime - this big outage was about 40 mins so they've some leeway yet.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Semi-unrelated but if you're curious about BGP, this 2004 talk—although absurdly long—talks about some of the issues with BGP (an many other issues with hosting content on the Internet). The speaker is Tom Leighton, one of the founders of Akamai.

<http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/199> (BGP at ~10 minutes in)

</comment><comment><USER7> _It looks like our core router lost its BGP session which took down our entire network (as far as we can tell). We have our network administrator heading to the data center now and should be there in 20 minutes or so. More updates to come._

Umm core rout _er_?! One? I'm thinking they'll revisit this strategy now.

<comment><USER8> Significant downtime throughout the entire history of the company doesn't seem to have caused them to revisit any of their strategies. Nothing will change, changing would cost money they clearly don't need to spend, or they wouldn't have retained their customers.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I liked this comment on their status page

"shabooty Says: I wonder if this site is hosted at media temple?"

epic

</comment><comment><USER9> Good news, my DH hosted site just came back up sometime in the last 2 minutes.

<comment><USER10> mines up as well

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> """We have our network administrator heading to the data center now and should be there in 20 minutes or so."""

Huh. He could not dial in to login to the router? No emergency DSL line for maintenance?

</comment><comment><USER12> First Microsoft/Danger/Sidekick, then Apple, now this. We need a computing paradigm that does not suffer from single points of failiure, or at least fails more gracefully.

<comment><USER13> You've got it. Call IBM and ask them about managed hosting. You can use the Dreamhost prices as a reference, just add 3-5 zeroes on the end.

If you buy a $500 car, never service it, and it breaks down unexpectedly, do you call for a new paradigm of personal transportation, or do you say "rats, well it was cheap and served me well while it lasted"?

Is avoiding 33 minutes of downtime worth tens of thousands of dollars to your business? Didn't think so.

<comment><USER14> I switched from DH, where I had constant outage problems, to Slicehost and Linode, both of which have never had outages (for me), for only $15 more a month...

<comment><USER13> That's nice, and $15/month probably buys you a lot over DH -- but it's not like Slicehost is immune:

<http://status.slicehost.com/2009/9/22/stl-a-network-issues-2>

[http://status.slicehost.com/2009/3/27/stl-b-network- issues-0...](http://status.slicehost.com/2009/3/27/stl-b-network- issues-0945-gmt)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I am not very familiar with Dreamhost, although I've heard of them many times, but if they're big enough, shouldn't they have failover for everything?

<comment><USER16> But even after all those measures, shit happen sometimes. Then the only thing that matters is how you respond to it and how transparent and honest you are about it.

<comment><USER15> Are you saying they did have failover set up for everything? I'm just curious. I do agree with your point, though.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Quick fix for such a problem. Dreamhost support is pretty impressive, but sites can be a bit slow.

<comment><USER18> "We have our network administrator heading to the data center now and should be there in 20 minutes or so. More updates to come."

If they host a million domains, why isn't someone on site 24x7?

<comment><USER19> Anyone with serious uptime requirements avoids DreamHost. It sounds strange considering their size but it probably just isn't really in their budget. I used to have a DH account and it's pretty good for what it is. Now I have a VPS though.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> My site's loading...and websites loading is a good thing.

</comment><comment><USER21> works fine for me

</comment><comment><USER22> Shit happens. Even Google has outages (Gmail, anyone?). Life goes on.

<comment><USER23> Other than search and google.com, the reliability of Google's services is truly awful.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Funny that this happens the day I start looking into a hosted Wordpress service.</comment>


Associations of Cognitive Function Scores with CO2, Ventilation, and VOC - <AUTHOR> https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/27662232/4892924.pdf?sequence=1 <comment><AUTHOR> The full title is: _Associations of Cognitive Function Scores with Carbon Dioxide, Ventilation, and Volatile Organic Compound Exposures in Office Workers: A Controlled Exposure Study of Green and Conventional Office Environments_. I'm not sure how to best shorten it.</comment>


A Degree with Zero Student Debt. Does It Work? - <AUTHOR> https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/05/28/614435379/a-degree-with-zero-student-debt-does-it-work <comment><USER2> I had no resources and an innate fear of significant debt, so I worked my way through school in the 80s, including a few years of graveyard-shift computer operations. It took six years to get my B.S.C.S., but no debt.

</comment><comment><USER3> I got my undergraduate degree with zero debt (1971-1974). Tuition was $2000/year plus dorm and meal fees. I worked several jobs every summer to earn the money. It used to be possible.</comment>


Ask HN: What do you use tools like IFTTT or Zapier for? - <AUTHOR> Also, what integrations do you wish you could use? <comment><USER3> About six months ago I came across Huginn [1] for the third or fourth time and finally decided to give it a shot. I've absolutely loved it so far! The docs aren't always great for each agent, but I've never struggled for too long before figuring it out. I'm currently using it for:

* Scraping HN search for new appearances of projects I work on, and immedietely alerting me via email.

* Checking the frontpage of HN for topics I'm interested in, and adding it into my daily digest email.

* Pulling in Commit Strip and XKCD comics when they're posted and adding them to my daily digest email.

* Sending me a notification in the morning if it's going to rain.

* Giving me and my friends the cheapest flight price for a group holiday we're planning. It scans google flights daily so we can watch it tick down over time and decide when to buy.

* Sending me notifications if there's a significant drop in the currency for the country we're going to so I can purchase some at the best price.

* Adding the names of people who RSVP to my wedding into my daily digest email so I can keep a pulse on the final guest list.

Hopefully I'll get a few more ideas from this thread as well!

[1] Huginn - [https://github.com/huginn/huginn](https://github.com/huginn/huginn)

<comment><AUTHOR> Great tip, will definitely check it out!

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I have a Zapier hook that filters donation projects from donorschoose.org (food related needs from low-income schools) and sends it to my email address.

Example:

Title: Yummy Yummy in Our Tummies

School: Jeanne Meadows Elementary School

City: San Jose

State: California (North)

Cost to complete: 248.48

Link: [https://www.donorschoose.org/project/yummy-yummy-in-our- tumm...](https://www.donorschoose.org/project/yummy-yummy-in-our- tummies/4599016/?utm_source=api&utm_medium=feed&utm_content=bodylink&utm_campaign=DONORSCHOOSE)

Description: I teach at a Title I school in East San Jose. A majority of my students are first-generation Americans with hardworking immigrant parents. Seventy percent of the students at my school are

<comment><USER5> Thank you very much for bringing this site to my (and other HN'ers) attention.

It looks like your comment got cut off mid-sentence. I would like to read more about what you were talking about. (And apologies if it didn't get cut off and it was just an issue of my reading skills not fully kicking in :))

<comment><USER4> Oh, sorry! That was a cut off description from the example email I get sent.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I use IFTTT with a project of mine[0] to track hotel and flight prices in a spreadsheet and get suggestions on places to go.

[0]: [https://monitoro.xyz](https://monitoro.xyz)

<comment><USER7> I like that. Could you tell more? Which site/api are you using to monitor the prices? Feel free to plug your site!

<comment><USER6> Thanks!

I have a few destinations I'm interested in and some others that I take regularly. I'm watching the respective airlines' own websites for specific searches, and gather the prices in a spreadsheet that I review every time I feel wanderlust.

Regarding the integration with IFTTT, I wrote about it here: [https://blog.monitoro.xyz/post/190023685811/monitor- website-...](https://blog.monitoro.xyz/post/190023685811/monitor-website- changes-ifttt)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> When I had the original Pebble, I set up an IFTTT notification when the outside temp got above 80 to remind me to go outside and enjoy it.

<comment><USER9> I'd do that but make it below 80

<comment><USER10> Between 65 and 80.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I always pick Zapier for automation these days, even for production-level projects. Before that I once searched across several other alternatives and came across Tray.io for my project but they seemed to be very expensive and also had less integrations compared to the likes of Zapier, with no free trial.

I'm not sure why anyone would choose them over Zapier for the prices they were offering but perhaps that's the reason why I wasn't surprised why many developers and businesses keep choosing either Zapier or IFTTT.

</comment><comment><USER12> I forget if it was IFTTT or something else I set up that downloads any YouTube videos I like/upvote into a cloud sync directory for me.

I may write some custom code to extend this to just youtube-dl anything that appears in my youtube history and store it on my NAS.

I'll probably self-host huginn and have it periodically put downloaded things (eg offline maps, torrented music via rss) into a syncthing directory (that syncs to all my workstations).

</comment><comment><USER13> I use Zapier to automatically invest monthly savings (our bank has an API and Zapier integration). Didn't come up with this myself, but here's how it works:

[https://medium.com/@petervandoorn92/how-i-automated- investin...](https://medium.com/@petervandoorn92/how-i-automated-investing- through-bunq-zapier-degiro-and-a-bit-of-node-js-8f61ea21cbf3)

</comment><comment><USER14> Pro tip - We moved most of our automated processes (business and peronal ones) from Zapier to Integromat which is not only more powerful but also more generous in its free tier.

[https://www.integromat.com/](https://www.integromat.com/)

<comment><USER15> I don't often comment recommending companies but Integromat is awesome. Their support is also fantastic.

The only thing I don't like much is that there is no easy way to export stuff you insert in their databases.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> I don't use Zapier because of money. I use IFTTT to:

* Keep a spreadsheet of my written tweets.

* Keep a spreadsheet of my liked tweets.

* Used to download Instagram photos liked by me, but Instagram API broke it.

* Keep a text file of my hn, reddit comments, in two separate files.

<comment><USER17> Yeah, you _can_ use Zapier for that, but you haven't mentioned anything that couldn't be done just as easily with curl and a shell script... I don't have anything against Zapier, in fact I have a good friend (a dietician) who build a bunch of Zaps to semi-automate her business, a good call for someone who has zero interest in coding. It just seems to me that anyone reading HN might find it easier to _not_ use Zapier or IFTT...

<comment><USER16> Well, for me, it was never curl or shell vs Zapier or IFTTT. Only time I have used curl is few years ago in PHP while fetching some external link or page. The closest to shell script is my bunch of .bat files or even less number of .vba files I used very few times in life. I never touched linux or *nix if you don't count using Control Panel on PHP Hostings & using Android.

Also, the Ask HN was what do you use these for, not what do you use these for which can't be done by shell?

> anyone reading HN might find it easier to not use Zapier or IFTT.

Well,there you go, I find IFTTT easier than shell or curl because of all GUI & inter-connectivity. Although last two years I go to Google Apps Script first for anything related.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Company uses it to sync client jiras to our internal jira so PMs and the like don't need multiple logins.

I personally do not use either. The less tech and notifications in my life the better.

</comment><comment><USER19> If Donal Trump tweets something that has word "Turkey" then I immediatly get notified. If it is something negative I sell my Turkish Liras and buy Euro.

<comment><USER9> Watch out for that Thanksgiving or Christmas false alert!

<comment><USER19> Yeah, I have panicked for a moment that day.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Working around silly proprietary features. Eg watching for changes to Alexa's shopping list and copying the item to a list in a proper todo app.

</comment><comment> m-p-3 I use it to get notified for specific keywords in some RSS feeds, and I get notified over Facebook Messenger when my alarm system is enabled / disabled (no control of it through Messenger)

I also use it to trigger IFTTT from some local system events via webhooks and curl (ie: my server finished downloading something)

</comment><comment><USER21> I use IFTTT to log various events on my home automation ecosystem to Google sheets. For example , each member in my household has their own unlock code for the zwave doorlock. So when any one of us unlocks the door, it will note the person's name and time the door was unlocked.

</comment><comment><USER22> Automating business processes such as archiving incoming invoices or sharing blog posts on LinkedIn.

</comment><comment><USER23> I use Zapier to watch the Twitter feed of a conference I go to (NationJS). They announce stuff there first, and update their website much later. Oh, and it only happens twice a year, so I find out about it when it happens, without having to go to twitter.

</comment><comment><USER24> Have been using Jogly and sometimes Zapier to notify us of actions happening with payloads being posted or form submissions across our sites - <USER2> simple use cases and have both x-www-form-urlencoded and JSON coming in to same endpoints.

</comment><comment><USER25> I'm building a competing product over at [https://puump.com](https://puump.com) which can post RSS feeds (automation is still in the works, so its manual for now)

</comment><comment><USER26> Business processes which are repeatable, time consuming and not possible to do with native integrations between tools (or when native integrations just don't exist)

</comment><comment><USER27> I watch some running race registration sites with Zapier and when it tells me that they are open I go register immediately so I can have a low bib number.

</comment><comment><USER28> I use Zapier (free plan) to post to the Facebook page associated to my side project.

I tried to do that through FB's Graph API and failed miserably. Too much red tape

</comment><comment><USER29> I've used Zapier to prototype a few APIs (Webhook -> Service), and IFTTT for presence detection (Using Wyze cameras as presence sensors).

</comment><comment><USER30> I only use IFTTT for one, dull use case - take documents from my favourite RSS feeds and add them to Pocket to read later.

</comment><comment><USER31> I've used IFTTT to make a backup of my internet activity, especially images shared across social media profiles.

</comment><comment><USER9> Is IFTTT the new Excel ala "if people are using an Excel sheet, turn it into a SaaS"?

<comment><AUTHOR> IFTTT is already a SaaS, not sure exactly what you mean.

<comment><USER9> IFTTT is indeed a SaaS but I would also classify it as a general purpose tool like Excel. A jack of all trades. Definitely a master of none. Would you use IFTTT or Pingdom to check your site is up?

If people are setting up IFTTT for business critical things, then potentially there is scope for a dedicated SaaS to some of those things.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> I use it to control my LIFX bulb from Twitch chat and from my stream deck. [https://www.samjarman.co.nz/blog/lifx- twitch](https://www.samjarman.co.nz/blog/lifx-twitch). No programming required but a technical brain helped :)

</comment><comment><USER33> when a bug is created on GitHub, create a trello card

</comment><comment><USER34> I use it to publish the RSS feed of my blog to Twitter.

</comment><comment><USER35> I use ifttt for monitoring reddit hobby aftermarkets

</comment><comment><USER36> I post into various telegram channels using IFTTT

</comment><comment><USER37> I built [http://pagepoller.r14.railsrumble.com](http://pagepoller.r14.railsrumble.com) it scrapes web pages and emails if some specific part changes. I use it to get top HN story, xkcd and when free books are available on packtpub.</comment>


US universities announcing online Fall 2020 - <AUTHOR> https://www.kmjn.org/notes/online_fall2020.html <comment><USER2> The _average_ cost of tuition (not room, board, books, travel, living expenses) for private colleges is about $35K/year. At the more expensive private colleges it's twice that.

Are people really going to pay that much for 15 hours of Zoom lectures a week? I doubt it. The primary reason parents are willing to pay that much is not for the education (with some exceptions) but for the credentials, the networking, and putting their kids into a cohort of successful, like-minded individuals from which they can choose an acceptable mate. And of course to get that 18 year old bundle of hormones and poor judgement out of the house but still in a relatively safe environment.

<comment><USER3> They might, because it keeps them in the cohort for next year.

I don't think a lot of Harvard kids are going to drop out and head to state school, and Harvard knows it.

<comment><USER4> Right, but is Harvard going to deny students from deferring admission for a year? I would assume the number of students attempting to defer this year is 10x what it normally.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Unless your four-year is paid for, community college for core curriculum is a better and better deal every year.

<comment><USER6> It depends a lot on the community college. My wife has taught at community colleges and 4 year universities, and she said that the students who transferred from community colleges were frequently very unprepared for a 4 year university. Like, they would struggle to write more than 1 page and have no idea what citations are.

<comment><USER7> I think the parent comment is implying that college diplomas are better at helping people get a job and earn a living.

Writing 1+ page essays and MLA citation formatting is work that seems to only exist in academia. It wouldn't surprise me if community college educated people transferring to university programs needed a refresher on that stuff.

<comment><USER8> _Writing 1+ page essays and MLA citation formatting is work that seems to only exist in academia._

Proper written communication and literature searching skills are demanded everywhere in the workplace. Doesn't everyone dread getting muddled, poorly formatted emails because you have to guess the meaning or write back and forth several times to find out what's going on?

I don't get the pervasive hostility to education and academia in this forum. Granted, much of high school and regional college is piss-poor, but instead of writing off all of university as useless one should demand proper performance.

<comment><USER9> >Proper written communication and literature searching skills are demanded everywhere in the workplace.

Proper written communication, absolutely. However, you can argue that people don't need 4 years of writing essays in order to comprise emails or PowerPoints. As for literature searching, what does that mean in a normal office environment context?

<comment><USER8> My students have to write lab protocols. In General Chemistry class they were filling in worksheets (seriously, are they paying tuition to fill in worksheets?), now they get to write 8 - 10 pages for each organic lab about the context, what they did and what is all means. The initial attempts are universally lousy, but they do improve. One hopes that the improved writing skills carry over to other kinds of written communication. It's just sad that expectations in the first semesters are set so low, it's really a tyranny of low expectation.

Footnoting means to put stuff into proper context. Of course you need literature searching skills to put stuff into proper context, and you need to know where to find documentation for your field of work.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> In my opinion it would be crazy to pay $50k of tuition for a few zoom lectures per week, and I think a lot of colleges are aware of this. In response, many of them seem to be doing a "hybrid" approach, where undergrads are allowed to come on campus, but all instruction will be online (Harvard for example). This seems to defeat the purpose of not having in person classes in the first place. I think it shows how much of a pickle they are in.

<comment><USER11> Safer for the professors though.

<comment><USER12> Safer in a health sense, but I fear once Academia realizes that lectures can be recorded and supplemented with some office hours for questions. The life of an academic will become tenuous..teaching in real time over Zoom is only a short order of magnitude above a well structured pre-recorded lecture series. At least in my experience.

<comment><USER13> Universities have figured this out a long time ago, and have been cutting all sorts of corners in instruction (Despite the growth in tuition.)

The life of an academic is tenuous already, and a lot of instruction is done by poorly-paid, untenured sessionals. Tenured positions are in 2020, rare as hen's teeth.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Since this topic has been a bit click-baitey recently, I was expecting yet another busy page with ads and popups and stock photos of students. It was so refreshing to see just a list of universities with text.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! I started collecting the announcements as part of discussions we're having in my department about the fall semester, and thought I might as well stick the list up on my blog.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Two things:

a) There is no way this list is even slightly close to comprehensive.

b) What is the purpose of this?

<comment><USER16> I have a child who is entering his senior high school year. This is very interesting to me in terms of thinking about which schools to apply to. I know this is not for 2021, but I think everyone realizes what happens in Fall of 2020 will have repercussions in Fall 2021. Does that make sense? I can elaborate.

Also, I agree this is not close to comprehensive, but the best I have seen. If someone here can keep a more comprehensive status I promise you many parents would pay something for access to that status.

<comment><USER17> > Also, I agree this is not close to comprehensive, but the best I have seen. > If someone here can keep a more comprehensive status I promise you many > parents would pay something for access to that status.

For those interested, two more exhaustive sources[0][1], one of which is linked in the footnotes of OP.

[0] [https://www.chronicle.com/article/Here-s-a-List-of- Colleges-...](https://www.chronicle.com/article/Here-s-a-List-of- Colleges-/248626) [1] [https://collegecrisis.shinyapps.io/dashboard/](https://collegecrisis.shinyapps.io/dashboard/)

<comment><USER16> Thank you!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Universities are hurting for revenue and will be remote for the near future. A benefit to this: right now presents a unique opportunity to get a Masters or a post-bacc.

You can take classes without needing to move/commute to campus. Furthermore, given a work from home environment and a more flexible schedule, many people will be able to make it work without needing to quit their full-time job.

If I ran a struggling university right now I'd lean into this and still be open to applications for the fall semester. This could attract a lot of working professionals like me.

</comment><comment><USER19> It's interesting that while Pomona, Pitzer, Claremont McKenna and Scripps have all committed to online, Harvey Mudd College is still planning to be on-campus [https://www.hmc.edu/coronavirus- information/2020/07/16/updat...](https://www.hmc.edu/coronavirus- information/2020/07/16/update-on-hmc-fall-2020-enrollment/)

They have 540 out of 812 students planning to live on campus. I somehow don't see this working out.

<comment><AUTHOR> The Claremont McKenna announcement says that they don't think LA County is going to let them hold in-person classes, so they didn't really have a choice. Unless they're misreading hints from officials, seems like Harvey Mudd isn't going to have in-person classes either. Less clear about dorms; those might be allowed to open for students taking online courses (the model Harvard is using).

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> How long until credentials get phished and all university material is dumped online for free.

One of the rare opportunities where hacking could do good for humanity as a whole.

<comment><USER13> You can already get a world-class education for nearly-free, if you're willing to devote thousands of hours of your time into it.

Very few people take advantage of it - because the credential is more important than the knowledge.

<comment><USER19> It's also the structure that a formal class affords that makes it more effective. This is part of the appeal of book clubs (yes, part of it is, for some people, the opportunity to hang out with people and drink wine and eat cheese): some externally imposed structure makes it easier to commit to learning something. Paying for an opportunity also tends to make people more likely to honor their commitment.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Do they give you tuition discount as foreign student when it's all online?

<comment><USER22> The ones I know of (mine included) aren't giving any discount. They only waive the room and board but you have to pay everything else....

<comment><USER23> Why don't the students do a bit of collective bargaining? Reduced tuition or you all take the semester off.

<comment><USER24> If the amount to be paid is agreeable for the services expected to rendered, why would you want to take a stand?

If the amount to be paid is not agreeable for the services expected to be rendered, why would you want to utilize said services?

There does not seem to be any reason for a group to take a stand. It is either worth it or it isn't. If it is, everyone is happy. If it isn't, there is no loss in not seeing the transaction take place.

<comment><USER25> An in person education is maybe worth $30,000 a year, but should it not be worth $20,000 if the instruction delivered online?

Hard to say. We would need to look at the level of profit the college is making from this new arrangement.

<comment><USER24> If it delivers the same value to the student, shouldn't it still be worth $30,000? The input costs are irrelevant.

If it is only worth $20,000 now, which may very well be true, value has been lost. So, what value is lost? I imagine it will be a lot harder to make new friends and find new lovers when you spend your time at home on a computer instead of mingling at school.

Were people previously paying $10,000 per year (to stick with your numbers) to make friends and find lovers?

<comment><USER25> Students don't precisely control the ability to vote with their feet and drive market pricing for a college degree though, right? Virtually all institutions cluster around some specific yearly price, especially those schools that are competitive to enter. Additionally, since students (buyers) can obtain large loans to attend school, they are able to make relatively irrational market decisions such as paying $30,000 per year for tuition.

The thing you said about paying for what a thing is worth ($30,000) instead of what it costs to produce that thing ($20,000) is correct. If I buy a car like that, theoretically I'm able to walk away from the deal if I don't feel like it's worth $30,000, and the seller might eventually lower his price to $20,000 if he never finds a buyer at his desired price.

But I think with colleges, the presence of loans and zeitgeist irrationally motivate people to buy something for $30,000, and then if they do happen to pay off their loans they assume that they got $30,000 of worth out of it... But I think that isn't true, since most employers aren't treating a bachelor's degree very seriously these days.

<comment><USER24> I'm not sure it makes any difference if the perception of value is irrational or not. It remains, for a student to want to spend $30,000 on school, they have to have a belief that it is worth $30,000 to them. If tuition was instead $300,000, a lot more people would balk at the idea.

The outstanding question remains on whether or not the perception of value has declined with these announcements. If so, what perceived value has been lost in that transition? Presumably the education is still being provided.

<comment><USER25> How do we measure that it is really worth $30,000? You are saying it's worth it because someone wants to pay it. Maybe that's true, but TSLA stock has been worth anything from $200 to $1400 in the past few years. The actual worth to the bagholder in the event of the bubble popping is negative.

For your other point, yes, at an apples to apples comparison, the receipt of college credit and education/knowledge should remain the same. But the cost to produce it should be lower. And I'm arguing that the cost savings will not be passed on to the student, because there is no market mechanism that allows them to negotiate the price of their education.

<comment><USER24> _> How do we measure that it is really worth $30,000?_

It is not a question of what it is really worth (which is rather meaningless as nothing has some kind of absolute worth that is written into the cosmos), only what people see it as worth and are willing to pay.

 _> Maybe that's true, but TSLA stock has been worth anything from $200 to $1400 in the past few years._

Of course. The perception of value of a given thing is naturally going to change from person to person and from moment to moment. In this case we're talking about moment to moment. Because it was worth $30,000 to someone last year does not necessarily mean it is worth $30,000 to them today, as their knowledge has changed.

But, if the perception of value has declined, the question is: What has changed?

 _> But the cost to produce it should be lower_

Even if it were free to produce, if it is worth $30,000, then it would be logical to charge $30,000. Input costs are irrelevant. To emphasize that point, it could cost $30,000 to produce, but if people only want to pay $20,000 you can't charge $30,000. You're going to lose money. People lose money producing things _all the time_. Input costs are irrelevant.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> What a terribly dark time to be an international student in the United States.

<comment><USER20> There's worse things in life.

<comment><USER27> That always reminds me of this: [https://i.redd.it/wwje449jjge21.jpg](https://i.redd.it/wwje449jjge21.jpg)</comment></comment></comment>


Uncrackable Password Generator - <AUTHOR> https://uncrackablepassword.com/

<comment><AUTHOR> Just a little app I created for my own use...

</comment><comment><USER2> typo in more details "clock on ..."</comment>


BMW dragged into Dieselgate scandal as X3 exceeds EU emissions limit - <AUTHOR> http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-24/bmw-drops-on-report-that-x3-diesel-s-emission-exceeded-eu-limit <comment><USER2> > Emissions measured in road tests of 15 new diesel cars were an average of > about seven times higher than European limits, according to a study ICCT > published last October.

Curious what will happen in Europe the next coming years with respect to emission control and verification.</comment>


Democratic Party files suit alleging Russia, Trump campaign, WikiLeaks conspired - <AUTHOR> https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/20/democratic-party-files-suit-alleging-russia-the-trump-campaign-and-wikileaks-conspired-to-disrupt-the-2016-election-report.html <comment><AUTHOR> Text of lawsuit here:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16886293](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16886293)

</comment><comment><USER2> This story is 19 days late.

What's that? It's _not_ an April Fools joke? They actually _filed_ this? Seriously?

> Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said the party's > suit "is not partisan, it's patriotic."

It's not partisan, huh? _Riiiiiiiight..._

This is a civil suit for monetary damages. It's not going to undo the election. It's not going to impeach Trump. It's either a fundraiser for the Democratic Party (unlikely - they have to win to collect), or else it's exactly a partisan political publicity stunt.

</comment><comment><USER3> I wish someone would file suit against both the DNC and RNC for conspiring against the American public and third-party/independent candidates</comment>


Avg. net worth of 29-37 year olds down 21% since 1983; 56-64 year olds up 2x - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/magazine/do-millennials-stand-a-chance-in-the-real-world.html

<comment><USER2> Most 25-29 year olds I know are still living like college students. Buying gadgets, not saving, and spending more than they earn.

There was a guy at my last job that tried to unionize because he felt he deserved more money. He was also unwilling to to anything in the slightest to learn another skill or actually do something more for the company. This is just one example, but I am seeing this more and more.

The problem is entitlement. Nobody wants to do the work required to earn a good living. They just want a good job handed to them.</comment>


Why Open Source misses the point of Free Software - <AUTHOR> http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html

<comment><USER2> Summary: Open source advocates should stress the "free (as in speech)" aspect of free software more?

It's wordy, but does that about cover it?

</comment><comment><USER3> It seems disingenuous to claim they miss the point. They get it, they just don't think it matters.</comment>


Beliefs that helped us build a $270 million company in 5 years - <AUTHOR> http://mkatz0630.tumblr.com/post/7520656534/15-beliefs-that-helped-us-build-a-270-million-company

<comment><USER2> This is a very interesting post. I am intrigued by point 11, but it's written so abstractly that I'm not quite sure I understand what he(?)'s saying. What are the groups he's talking about? Functional groups (of employees, like 'marketing')? If that's correct, who are the stakeholders within that group? Perhaps he meant 'leader' of these groups, or 'strong personalities.'

Or is he talking about people who have an interest in the product (the usual use of the term 'stakeholders'). In which case, what is this variable compensation he's talking about?

I wonder how big a company has to be before this paragraph is something that actually has to be managed. Goal alignment has to be continual throughout the company's lifetime, of course, but at what point do you have to start identifying 'thought leaders' within groups and have to take special care that the group's own personality has goals aligned with the company?

I'd love to hear someone with this experience, of having stuck with a startup through some period where the mixture of talent has 'condensed' into separate functional groups, enlighten this paragraph a bit.

</comment><comment><USER3> Quite a remarkable feat and I am happy for their success but frankly no 'non obvious insights'. It was a rather long and boring post.

</comment><comment><USER4> I liked the article but didn't see any mention of the company name. Also, what do they sell?

<comment><USER5> It's in the first sentence - interclick, acquired by Yahoo for $270 MM couple years ago.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Should probably be updated to reflect the year of the post.

</comment><comment><USER7> literally one of the best posts I've read all year.

</comment><comment><USER8> good posting~!</comment>