Using ltrace to debug a memory leak - <AUTHOR> http://jvns.ca/blog/2016/06/15/using-ltrace-to-debug-a-memory-leak/ <comment><USER2> Is there a convenient way to get a heap profile in Rust? I'd expect it shouldn't be too hard. I'm used to using pprof with tcmalloc, jemalloc is based on tcmalloc, and Rust uses jemalloc by default.

pprof heap profiles make this kind of thing easy to debug. It draws a call graph using graphviz. Boxes are scaled according the total byte size, so if there's a large leak you can pull up the graph and the giant box all but says "you idiot, the problem is right here".

</comment><comment><USER3> This is my favourite kind of post to read: a tool I don't know well, and someone using it enthusiastically to solve a real-world problem.

</comment><comment><USER4> > At this point I was tired so I fell asleep. This isn't done, of course -- we > still need to chase the Rust program to figure out why that allocation never > gets freed. But it's a start!

The type of .boxed() would probably help. I would expect a .boxed to return a Box<_> (e.g. Vec::into_boxed_slice(v) returns a Box<[_]>) which would get RAII-deallocated. So either .boxed() returns a raw pointer for some reason, or it properly returns a Box but leaks internally.

<comment><USER5> There's a good chance that if the memory isn't getting deallocated that it's not _technically_ a leak but rather unbounded growth. "Oh, oops, the refcount will never go to zero for this item I allocated."

<comment><USER4> Also possible, but Rust's Rc/Arc are RAII'd, so that also shouldn't happen, you don't normally need to manually decref.

<comment><USER5> Yeah, I could've been more clear I meant "Oh, oops, I stored a reference of every single transaction ever, so we'll never reap that memory (because it will never get its refcount decremented automatically)."

It's not a leak but this kind of thing is often detected as a positive slope in a process' RSS graph and it's common to refer to it as a "memory leak" because from this symptom it's indistinguishable from an actual leak.

<comment><USER6> That's still a memory leak. It's just caused by a logic error that a compiler couldn't ever catch.

<comment><USER5> Well, you might think it's a distinction without a difference but in fact it's not a leak. A leak only occurs when the handle one might use to deallocate memory/resources is itself deallocated.

Whether "I added one FramistanObject to the FramistanObjectLog for every single HTTPConnection" is a logic error or not depends on what the intended design was.

<comment><USER7> Valgrind calls that an indirect leak (stuff that wasn't freed at exit but is referenced by stuff that also wasn't freed)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I wish there would be a blog / website which collects those kind of debugging stories. It would be a very valuable ressource for programmers.

<comment><USER9> [https://github.com/danluu/debugging- stories](https://github.com/danluu/debugging-stories) is a good start

<comment><USER8> Thanks for the link! I was kind of thinking about creating such a blog as a side project but now that I see that link I am a bit demotivated -.-

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Does Valgrind work with Rust binaries? If yes, then this would make everything much easier. You just compile in debug mode and say `valgrind --leak- check=full`, and it will give you stacktraces to the allocations that were not freed.

<comment><USER4> > Does Valgrind work with Rust binaries?

Technically yes, but for allocations you need to run nightly and either alloc_system (disable jemalloc) or rebuild nightly with JEMALLOC_FLAGS='\--enable-valgrind', otherwise valgrind misses jemalloc's allocations, which is more or less all of them: [https://github.com/rust- lang/rust/issues/28224](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/28224)

And the second fix may or may not keep working as jemalloc 5 apparently removes valgrind support: [https://github.com/jemalloc/jemalloc/issues/369](https://github.com/jemalloc/jemalloc/issues/369)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Neat! Hadn't come across this tool before but it let me track down a PulseAudio crash that's been bugging me for months. Turns out that it was unloading a shared library whilst executing code from that shared library, which meant that the inevitable crash happened in code that was no longer loaded, and that was why I couldn't get a meaningful backtrace at the time of the crash. The call to dlclose() right before the crash was a huge hint; knowing that was the last library function called made it easy to set a breakpoint and catch it in the act.

Thanks for the tip!

</comment><comment><USER12> I'd be curious to see the full source code. A memory leak from an owned pointer should be impossible unless you're using `unsafe` somewhere in your code or in a library you're pulling in.

<comment><USER13> Technically it's possible to leak a Box without using `unsafe`, since the std::mem::forget function is not marked as an unsafe function (because it itself can't cause memory unsafety, and because there are (incredibly convoluted) ways to create an equivalent function entirely in safe code).

However, the only reason you'd have for using std::mem::forget would be because you're doing unsafe things elsewhere in the program (as discussed at [http://doc.rust-lang.org/std/mem/fn.forget.html](http://doc.rust- lang.org/std/mem/fn.forget.html) ), so you're correct that in practice there's almost always an `unsafe` block somewhere that's the culprit.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Whatever Happened with Black Annex? - <AUTHOR> This was a game that was greenlit on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/248590/Black_Annex/
...an isometric Syndicate-like cyberpunkish action shooter thingie. It got a ton of press several years back when it was first announced, because it was said to be programmed in QB64:
https://www.qb64.org/
...a cross-platform BASIC compiler that aims to be highly-compatible with QBASIC 1.1 and QuickBasic 4.5, while also employing many advanced features for modern platforms.
The game was written by Lance McDonald from Australia:
https://twitter.com/manfightdragon
There is also some form of source code, that the author made available:
https://gist.githubusercontent.com/anonymous/8fdec5275b2c3e81e1e1/raw/blannex
...which does look like QB64 code - but whether it runs/compiles or whatnot is almost impossible to determine given the lack of the supporting graphic and any other files.
This was highlighted in an earlier HN submission that didn't seem to get any traction:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17164068
If you google around, you can find some mention of the game as late as June 2018 - but really, there hasn't been any word from the author or anything else as to what has happened with this game, which again was highly anticipated. The author still seems to use twitter regularly, but beyond that, it's like the game never existed.
Does anyone know what happened? Did the author give up making it? Was it consigned to the dust bin? I had hoped to be able to purchase this game, as I'm sure many others were as well, but now it appears that is not going to be possible. Even so, some form of closure as to what ultimately happened to cause it to be "cancelled" would be welcomed from the author. <comment><USER2> Oh hey! I'm Lance, the guy making black annex, I work on it quite often! It's really just a hobby project for me, as I left my day job recently, I'm a stay- at-home dad now, and I work on an unrelated YouTube channel for a little income that keeps me busy. I update the steam page sometimes, new screenshots and whatnot. It's just very slow going haha.

I'm really happy to see this show up in my Google Alerts haha, sorry it's taking so long but I promise I work on it and I'm really, REALLY enjoying it :D

<comment><USER2> Furthermore, here are some tweets from last year when I started polishing a few of the minigames that appear in the game. You might enjoy a small look at their progress:

[https://twitter.com/manfightdragon/status/102773278750201446...](https://twitter.com/manfightdragon/status/1027732787502014464)

[https://twitter.com/manfightdragon/status/103644777917270425...](https://twitter.com/manfightdragon/status/1036447779172704256)

[https://twitter.com/manfightdragon/status/103679381310727782...](https://twitter.com/manfightdragon/status/1036793813107277825)</comment></comment>


A 17 year-old high school drop out tackles mobile advertising with MobFox - <AUTHOR> http://eu.techcrunch.com/2011/04/26/a-17-year-old-high-school-drop-out-tackles-mobile-advertising-with-mobfox/ <comment><USER2> Smart, good luck.</comment>


Man offers to sell house for Bitcoins - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/man-offers-to-sell-house-for-bitcoins/

<comment><USER2> Hm, I feel compelled to upvote this because I own bitcoins and any promotion of bitcoins will likely result in an increase in value, but I can see how it will result in HN being full of meaningless articles about bitcoins.

Incidentally, by placing this comment I've out-meta'd myself.

</comment><comment><USER3> Transactions like this are the beginning of regulators getting interested in Bitcoin. If the entire transaction was done in Bitcoin instead of Canadian dollars, how could the government tax it? They could I suppose call it a barter and tax it under barter tax laws. In North Carolina property can be exchanged for "any valuable consideration" and a tax is due to the state according to the value of the consideration exchanged. Lot of interesting issues here.

But I agree with TorKlingberg that the fact that he didn't price it in Bitcoin is a little disappointing. Though I believe the value of the house would be a distressingly high percentage of total daily volume of Bitcoin exchanges.

<comment><USER4> While I'm not familiar with Canadian law, I think the same law which applies to any foreign currency would work here. I don't think you can avoid taxes by using a certain currency. The government can simply determine the value of the bitcoins and then tax based on that.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> It is worth noting that he is asking for $405,000 Canadian worth of Bitcoin, not a fixed number of Bitcoins. As long as people as selling things for "$X in Bitcoins" is doesn't really provide any liquidity for Bitcoin. Of course, nobody wants to take on the currency risk of setting a fixed price in Bitcoins, until Bitcoin gains more liquidity and stability.

<comment><USER2> Very good point. It might even be cheaper to offer it in bitcoins, tax-wise, depending on government regulations.

(off-topic: are you the Asahi Kasei Tor? long time no see!)

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> The link at the bottom of the article (<https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=137.0>) is awesome. Just 2 years ago, someone paid 10,000 BTC for a pizza. That was worth $40 USD back then. If he saved it, he could've had $600,000 USD...

</comment><comment><USER7> i wonder when those cornering the market start to unload. i guess some already have a decent amount of FY money in coins. so why should they wait for regulations or even bans other than pure greed?</comment>


Math and Movies (Animation at Pixar) - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX0NB9IyYpU <comment><USER2> I find it interesting that the interviewer almost calls out on the disappointing fact that the surface smoothness is essentially just "blobized" interpolation: "It doesn't seem very subtle." It's like when a director has run the film through some colorizing filter to give it a desired tone and you can tell to the point of it becoming distracting.

<comment><USER3> The interviewer was trying to figure out why the subdivision process doesn't turn everything into a blob -- which is understandable, given that the examples he was shown were squares turning into circles and cubes turning into spheres. I think he's trying to understand why, for example, Geri's head doesn't turn into a sphere.

DeRose doesn't say so explicitly, but the reason is that the position of any given point on the infinitely subdivided surface is only determined by the positions of a handful of points in the control mesh. That's why, for example, the derivation for the final position of B given at the end of the video only depends on its neighbors A and C, and not any other points.

Thus, if you want more control over a portion of a subdivision surface, you can just use a denser control mesh in that portion of the model. You can create arbitrarily hard edges by moving control vertices closer together. At a microscopic scale, the edge is still smooth and blobby, but it looks sharp at a distance.

You can also make creases in subdivision surfaces by using different subdivision weights over the surface of the model, which may be what DeRose is getting at when he answers with "magic numbers". But it's my understanding that most modern CG is done using subdivision with the standard Catmull-Clark weights over the entire model, instead relying on the density of the input mesh to specify detail.

<comment><USER4> This is correct. Explicit/per vertex subdivision weights are basically never used in high end CG. Geometric detail is used, since it is simple and universal. Geometry density is no longer a significant factor in interactivity and not the most significant factor in rendering.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> In case someone is interested in the "eigenanalysis," the recursion formula is:

        [1/2, 1/2, 0  ] [A^n]     [A^n+1]
        [1/8, 3/4, 1/8] [B^n]  =  [B^n+1]
        [0,   1/2, 1/2] [C^n]     [C^n+1]
        \_____   _____/
               M

And the question is, given [A^0,B^0,C^0], find [A^∞,B^∞,C^∞], which is equivalent to computing the infinite power of M. Waaaat? Enter the eigendecomposition.

The eigenvalues of M are 1/4, 1/2, and 1. If you compute M^∞, the 1/4 and 1/2 "eigenspaces" will disappear, so you're left with the subspace of the eigenvalue 1. [http://bit.ly/eigenex001](http://bit.ly/eigenex001) M^∞ = Q _L^∞_ Q.inv(), hence the [1,4,1] appears... very cool.

Sometimes procrastinating by reading HN actually helps with your work---today I'm working on problem sets for book 2 [http://gum.co/noBSLA](http://gum.co/noBSLA)</comment>


Show HN: Shodan 3D interface using THREE.js - <AUTHOR> https://simple.shodan.io/ <comment><USER2> A content-lite showpiece, but a pretty one.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, I'm still experimenting with how to display more information though I'm weary of showing too much and making it look too busy.</comment></comment>


How Google Docs Leaks Your Identity - <AUTHOR> http://33bits.org/2010/02/22/google-docs-leaks-identity/

<comment><USER2> From what I have seen Google is doing a really poor job of protecting account details, from Google Wave, which basically just publishes your email address for anyone to see, to Google Docs.

Collaboration automatically opens up security problems.

<comment><USER3> > Collaboration automatically opens up security problems.

I think you mean: "Collaboration automatically opens up _privacy_ problems."

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Google now collects enough information that it and along with other similar companies need to be regulated to separate information much like healthcare and financial companies are required.

</comment><comment><USER5> The Youtube video cuts out at 0:03 out of 0:04 on my system. Was it supposed to show anything other than that "Identify Me" link?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, after that it shows my Google username. Do others have this problem as well? It was my first time trying to make a screen capture, sorry.

<comment><USER6> It flashes your username and then the video ends. I had to pause it to see what it said.

You need to add a few seconds to the end so we can read it before the related videos show.</comment></comment></comment>


Corporations and open source: why and how - <AUTHOR> https://nedbatchelder.com/blog/201906/corporations_and_open_source_why_and_how.html <comment><AUTHOR> So maybe Tidelift is the answer.</comment>


VMware Disrupts PaaS Space With Cloud Foundry - <AUTHOR> http://www.cloudave.com/11714/vmware-disrupts-paas-space-with-cloud-foundry/

<comment><USER2> How is this disruptive?

It seems to be perfectly inline with what everyone else is offering. It seems no different than the relationship between EC2 and UEC (Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud / Eucalyptus). One interface and a bunch of providers.

<comment><USER3> It's not. It's just buzzword bingo.</comment></comment>


Don't be fooled by the 60 Minutes report on the NSA - <AUTHOR> http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/15/5214452/60-minutes-softball-NSA-expose

<comment><USER2> _But the focus on actively listening to phone calls is a red herring; the NSA has not been accused of doing that._

It certainly has: [http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57589495-38/nsa-spying- fla...](http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57589495-38/nsa-spying-flap-extends- to-contents-of-u.s-phone-calls/)

[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/nsa- spying-...](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/nsa-spying- scandal-merkel-and-hollande-demand-talks-as-us-is-accused-of-listening-in-on- phone-calls-of-35-world-leaders-8901065.html)

More to the point, the 60 minutes piece goes on in the same segment to address the issue of metadata; going so far as to demonstrate how it is used with an analyst behind the wheel of a metadata analysis tool.

A fluff piece for sure, but the article here is doing it's own misrepresentation of what was shown.</comment>


Hobnox AudioTool is realtime audio processing studio in Flash - <AUTHOR> http://www.hobnox.com/index.1056.en.html

<comment><USER2> Hobnox is such a great example of why HTML5 have a long way to go before it even comes close to offering proper online experiences.

<comment><USER3> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_technology>

_""Low-end disruption" occurs when the rate at which products improve exceeds the rate at which customers can adopt the new performance. Therefore, at some point the performance of the product overshoots the needs of certain customer segments. At this point, a disruptive technology may enter the market and provide a product which has lower performance than the incumbent but which exceeds the requirements of certain segments, thereby gaining a foothold in the market. In low-end disruption, the disruptor is focused initially on serving the least profitable customer, who is happy with a good enough product. This type of customer is not willing to pay premium for enhancements in product functionality. Once the disruptor has gained foot hold in this customer segment, it seeks to improve its profit margin. To get higher profit margins, the disruptor needs to enter the segment where the customer is willing to pay a little more for higher quality. To ensure this quality in its product, the disruptor needs to innovate. The incumbent will not do much to retain its share in a not so profitable segment, and will move up-market and focus on its more attractive customers. After a number of such encounters, the incumbent is squeezed into smaller markets than it was previously serving. And then finally the disruptive technology meets the demands of the most profitable segment and drives the established company out of the market."_

<comment><USER2> Yes I read Clayton Christensen. But it applies primarily to physical products like hardware. I am not sure you can make the same extrapolations in digital.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Take that, HTML5!

Seriously, though, I don't know enough about music to make that work right but it's pretty impressive. Would be cool if Flash allowed local MIDI devices to connect.

</comment><comment><USER5> It's highly impressive, but the question has to be asked: is a web browser really the best interface for a system like this?

The fact is that audio latency, hardware support and plugin support (amongst many other factors) are _always_ likely to be severely limited when running in a browser environment of any kind, let alone on top of the Flash run-time.

This is a great toy, and huge respects to the creator, but if you're even remotely serious about making music, you'll be ditching this within minutes and picking up a custom-built music environment which goes nowhere near a web browser at all.

Sorry, but anybody implying that this is a good reason to retain Flash is going to have to come up with a much more convincing argument.

<comment><AUTHOR> > picking up a custom-built music environment which goes nowhere near a web > browser at all.

Flash didn't meant to compete with desktop/native apps, but HTML5 meant to compete with Flash, or even desktop/native apps.

And HTML5 community had already claimed death of Flash several times.

I am not a big fan of Flash, but if HTML5 was designed to be something that the industry's choice for the next 20 years, it'd better catch up fast.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Definitely worth reading for anyone interested in audio processing in Flash: <http://blog.andre-michelle.com/> and <http://lab.andre-michelle.com/>

</comment><comment><USER7> A really neat tool, great attention to detail! Wish I had more time to play with it...

Had a nice "needs more cowbell" moment with the Tone Matrix default and the Rhythm Composer already!

</comment><comment><USER8> I am kind of amazed that hobnox has not created an embeddable widget to help the virality and move it forward...cause it is a hell of a tool.</comment>


The Promise of CBD, the Cannabis Chemical That Won't Get You High - <AUTHOR> https://www.newyorker.com/culture/on-and-off-the-avenue/keep-calm-and-live-in-new-york-city-the-promise-of-cbd <comment><USER2> Anecdotally, as someone with moderate bipolar depression and severe anxiety, a 1:1 THC/CBD tincture has been a miracle cure for me. I've spent my whole life going through every SSRI and mood stabilizer in the book, and the side effects have _always_ been worse than just going unmedicated. This is the only thing that has ever truly helped me. Cannabinoids seem to be highly synergistic, where THC can ease the depression but increase anxiety, while CBD decreases the anxiety to be manageable. Either one alone is far less effective.

<comment><USER3> so what do I have to buy? I live in Amsterdam. Is it just a specific sort of weed from the coffeeshop or do I need something special?

<comment><USER4> The strains are harder to find as they are considered premium strains these days with the rise of CBD but an easy replacement would be to consume your regular cannabis and then take a CBD pill immediately afterwards. It won't be exact 1:1 but you can play around with it to get the effect you desire.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> OK, this article is trying so hard to sound cool.

> The oil was the brownish color of a stagnant pond, and tasted like old bong > water with a hint of lemon.

It sounds like they haven't actually tried bong water, unless the CBD tincture they had was actually incredibly poorly made. Bong water is... not something you just drop on your tongue. It's hard for me to illustrate but it's very disgusting, unpalatable.

> After ingesting it—perhaps, I will admit, because I really wanted to > believe—I thought I felt something

I think it's possible that some people feel effects from CBD alone, but most people probably need a more whole spectrum cannabinoid profile to benefit. I.e. the "entourage effect":

> First described in 1998 by Israeli scientists Shimon Ben-Shabat and Raphael > Mechoulam, the basic idea of the entourage effect is that cannabinoids > within the cannabis plant work together, or possess synergy, and affect the > body in a mechanism similar to the body's own endocannabinoid system. [1]

> I told him that I had tried CBD in coffee

Not the author's fault there... these substances are very opposite.

Finally I'd like to say for anyone wanting to experience the healing effects from cannabis without getting high should look into raw cannabis, or THCA and CBDA, which are the acid forms of THC and CBD and in studies I've seen provide anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer etc. effects (as THC and CBD are claimed to) but without the psychoactivity.

[1] [https://www.medicaljane.com/2014/05/14/thc-cbd-and-more- the-...](https://www.medicaljane.com/2014/05/14/thc-cbd-and-more-the- entourage-effect-of-whole-plant-cannabis-medicine/)

<comment><USER6> I've been sampling CBD oil from a few different sources the past few months. I just received a bottle from Bluebird Botanicals (as the author did). Their website warns you before purchase about the taste, and after sampling three other products, I just ignored the warning.

I received it yesterday and WOW it tastes AWFUL. It's really bad.

<comment><USER7> under the tongue intake ?

I'm wondering if it's possible to inhale CBD with the old bowl of near boiling water.

<comment><USER8> Dissolving under the tongue, for like 1-2 minutes, is the most common application advice I've seen with CBD oils.

<comment><USER9> But does it actually make any difference?

<comment><USER10> Absorption through the mouth skips a large portion of the digestive system.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I'm shadowbanned so I don't know why I respond to things anymore but...

Hemp-derived cbd is legal in all 50 states, which is appealing for legal reasons, but I've found cannabis derived cbd is much more effective.

Also, please be careful and research what you are injesting. There are a lot of cbd oils these days that have added terpenes and other things. If you can't find a scientific terpene profile I wouldn't use it, or even better, use things without the added stuff.

As a comat vet with ptsd I think it's a moral outrage that the one easy to grow plant that helps me and my buddies is illegal. Personally, I also think it's unconstitutional as well, but there is a good debate to be had (that I haven't seen yet) about states abuse of general welfare and health clauses to justify their attacks on it, along with good discussion about the abuse of the Commerce clause at the federal level.

Ps; dang, this isn't an alt, I changed my password without looking on the other account.

<comment><USER12> I dunno if shadow banning is a thing here but we can see your comments

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> CBD is a CB1 receptor antagonist, which means it suppresses activity in those receptors which are found in the brain and the tissues of other organs throughout the entire body. Excess CB1 activity seems to be implicated in many different disorders (most notably obesity).

Chronic CB1 receptor antagonism is associated with:

\- lowered blood pressure

\- increased levels of Akkermensia bacteria in the gut (associated with leanness)

\- decreased lipogenesis (creation of new fat cells)

\- decreased fat masss

\- resistance to obesity, despite caloric surplus

\- increased fatty acid oxidation

\- increased adiponectin

\- increased transdifferentiation of white fat into metabolically active brown fat

\- increased insulin sensitivity

\- reduced insulin levels

\- increased leptin sensitivity

\- reduced proteinurea and improved creatinine clearance in kidney disease

\- smoking and cocaine cessation

\- reduction in depression symptoms

\- reduced anxiety

Search PubMed for "CB1 antagonist" or "chronic CB1 blockade" to see what kinds of things CB1 antagonism can do. You'll find quite a lot of research into Rimonabant (another CB1 antagonist) but unfortunately it was found to cause psychological side effects like depression and suicidal ideation; CBD does not have these effects.

There are several anecdotal reports the on /r/cbd subreddit where people start taking it for anxiety and depression, and end up losing 10-40 lbs. of excess weight without trying.

I've found that it helps me sleep deeply, helps me focus at work, and I am satiated after much smaller amounts of food than before. I also notice that I can run at a significantly higher intensity on the treadmill for much longer with CBD.

I have recommended CBD to 7 or 8 people, and each one reports a plethora of benefits: helps depression, anxiety, ADHD, sleep, weight loss, brain fog, overeating, etc.

There seems to be a good amount of variety in the quality of non-isolate CBD products. Some contain minute amounts of THC and other psychoactive cannabinoids, so they may cause you to fail a drug test if that's a concern.

CBD is one incredibly beneficial compound. I highly recommend you try it if it's available where you live.

<comment><USER14> Is there a specific brand that you recommend?

<comment><USER13> Green Mountain, located in Vermont, makes a variety of lab-tested products which seem to be fairly high quality at a good price point.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I've tried full spectrum CBD from a reliable source and I'm jealous of everyone who seem to be reaping all of these benefits. I'm unfortunately not on that side of the fence. I've tried different doses from tinctures under the tongue etc...but I couldn't say I notice any difference in mood, anxiety, muscle soreness, joint pain et al.

</comment><comment><USER16> I have the start of arthritis in my hands. I just spent $50 on a topical salve with hemp-derived CBD oil after reading a lot of reviews about how effective it is.

The next day I checked if there was any research on its efficacy. Due to the volume of pages touting the benefits of CBD, finding the actual research was difficult. Most of the search results were either vendors or medical mj boosters.

The best I found was this: [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4851925/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4851925/)

Sure enough, CBD did help reduce inflammation and increased joint mobility in arthritic rats ... at a dose of 6.2mg/day. Considering that I'm hundreds of times more massive than a rat, and that my 2oz jar contains 150mg of CBD oil total, I'm probably getting 2mg of CBD oil per application.

That seems to confirm that the self-reported benefits of topical CBD oil is mostly placebo effect.

<comment><USER10> Get a salve made with cannabis and other plants. Something like: [http://www.papaandbarkley.com/product/releaf- balm/](http://www.papaandbarkley.com/product/releaf-balm/)

<comment><USER17> Can you link to some medical evidence of the efficacy of that?

<comment><USER10> What type would you like? Do you think doctors would recommend such products and patients would continue to buy such products if they didn't work/help?

<comment><USER17> You replied to someone complaining about medically ineffective doses with an evidenceless recommendation of another low-dose product.

Doctors and patients both benefit from the placebo effect - if it solves the problem, great, doctor and patient are happy and continue to do it.

I have health issues no one knows how to treat, and I have had doctors (qualified medical experts with decades of experience) recommend things there was little to no reliable evidence for currently, just in case they worked (didn't for me).

I (and lawmakers - CBD etc. are illegal where I am) want to know if things actually work.

<comment><USER10> There are probably higher dose formulations.

The key here, though, is that formulation contains THC (and extracts from other plants) and is derived from marijuana cannabis plants, instead of just hemp-derived CBD.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> The few times I've tried CBD oil it turned me into an extrovert like a light switch. Normally being quite introverted, I found the experiences interesting but exhausting.

Another product which I've found has a very similar effect on me, albeit weaker, is 5-HTP supplements taken orally.

Sometimes I'd take a large 5-HTP dose then go out to used book stores, talking to everyone I encountered. It's fun to occasionally visit being that person, but it's such foreign territory I'm not particularly good at it and by the end of the day it feels like I've been working at some horrible, inane, unfamiliar job. I don't know how extroverts find the energy for all the interaction while still getting shit done.

CBD was probably having other effects on me, but the extroversion was the most prominent from what I recall.

<comment><USER19> > Normally being quite introverted, I found the experiences interesting but > exhausting.

It sounds like you're still introverted, even while drug-induced into being more social (perhaps you're conflating shyness with introversion?). An extrovert would feel energized by the socializing, not exhausted, which answers your later question.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> So is Soma on the horizon then?

[https://www.shmoop.com/brave-new-world/soma- symbol.html](https://www.shmoop.com/brave-new-world/soma-symbol.html)

<comment><USER9> I'd rather hope it's something more like moksha.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_%28Huxley_novel%29](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_%28Huxley_novel%29)

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> I'm really perplexed by this refrain that CDB is "not psychoactive"

> A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, or psychotropic is a chemical > substance that changes brain function and results in alterations in > perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior. source: > [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoactive_drug](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoactive_drug)

Isn't the point of taking it that it's psychoactive?

<comment><USER22> This definition does not match people's expectation of what counts as "psychoactive". By this definition, if eating chocolate alleviates my bad mood, it's a psychoactive drug.

<comment><USER23> Seems like that's a good definition then, if it's reproducible across a large number of people in a scientifically rigorous format.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> From a little personal experimentation I've been surprisingly impressed. It helps winding down before bed after a hard day, but also helps to settle the mind for work, and doesn't interfere with concentration. Unlike other health fads (e.g. coconut oil, tumeric) it appears to have a quickly observable effect.

I theorize it may work by reducing or helping to manage stress. This could explain why it has raving supporters for a wide variety of real problems in distinct online communities, since stress is such an important factor in many kinds of physical and mental health issues. Admittedly it is hard to detect the placebo effect, but the indications so far are promising.

If it lives up to half of the promise of the online claims by people with significant problems, it is going to be huge. I'm wondering if there is an investment opportunity there somewhere, but don't know enough about that sort of thing.

It should be pointed out that there are a lot of bad or fraudulent products available, the market is immature and full of hype. But there are quality oils which taste good and work well. Also worth noting that much less is absorbed by drinking rather than than putting under the tongue.

There are also some bold claims flying around about it's effect on the Endocannabinoid system [1], and how improvements to that can improve many aspects of health and self-regulation. Whatever it does, I have a hunch that science is going to turn up some interesting results from looking into it.

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

</comment><comment><USER25> So I've experimented consistently with pure CBD (0 THC. Even 16:1 CBD:THC is too much for me). In my opinion, it's better than weed, at least for those of us who are more sensitive to marijuana than most (e.g. I probably couldn't drive high).

I'm not saying I put it in my coffee every morning, but the relaxing effect is real and powerful. Certainly a better substance than alcohol for taking the edge off in my opinion.

You could probably write software while on CBD. If I had to characterize the effects, I'd say it makes one less intense, more patient, cures headache, and gives warm-fuzzies for a few hours. The following day you may be slightly more irritable than average though.

(Note in NYC you can sometimes get it over the counter in some head shops. In SF you can get it with a medicinal card)

<comment><USER26> Would CBD show on a typical 5-panel test which tests for THC?

<comment><USER2> Well it's a completely different molecule than THC, so no.

<comment><USER10> It's not completely different. They appear to be identical in large portion. Check the diagrams at: [https://patents.google.com/patent/US6630507B1/en](https://patents.google.com/patent/US6630507B1/en)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> One of the trainers at my gym swears by a CBD oil as relief for muscle soreness. Have yet to try it. But can easily see how it will soon be a household item in every medicine cabinet. Much like "ben-gay" back in the day ;)

First NIH sponsored CBD study to begin shortly. And interestingly enough, it will evaluate whether CBD is effective in reducing the cravings for alcohol in sufferers of PTSD!

[https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03248167](https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03248167)

</comment><comment><USER28> I live with complex PTSD and CBD has been a godsend. For those looking for a flower (to smoke, not tincture) with high CBD and very low THC (reduce anxiety without the high, very conducive to deep focus work) I recently discovered a strain called C3PO, also sold under the Marley Naturals brand. It's an incredibly "clean" experience - no noticeable side effects. Worth checking out if you deal with potentially crippling anxiety on a somewhat regular basis.

<comment><USER29> As someone with crippling anxiety and PTSD, thanks! I know Marley Naturals is found in some stores in Seattle, so I'll try to look for that strain.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> There will be more and more info in the coming months about CBG, CBC, CBN, etc and its effectiveness to alleviate certain things.

Eg. CBN is now known to be the compound that makes you lazy or couch locked

Here's a good talk by Manuel Guzman on his labs studies on Cannabinoids and Cancer

[https://youtu.be/lHI6RcTKdNk](https://youtu.be/lHI6RcTKdNk)

</comment><comment><USER31> It's interesting to me that it took so long to catch on in the West. In Eastern Europe, it has been a well known fact for centuries that Hemp Oil was calming/soothing. They would even give a little to fussy babies to help calm them down. I suppose everything old becomes new again.

</comment><comment><USER32> It seems mainstream media takes so long to get actual news, people have been using CBD for years but now that it's becoming more popular it's okay to report on it.

I wonder what other great medical news the mainstream media is refusing to report.

</comment><comment><USER33> For those subject to random drug testing, can legal CBD use trigger a postive result for marijuana?

<comment><USER34> As far as I know if it is extracted from hemp only, and the label says 0% THC from a reputable analysis company, those tests will not show it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> CBD is definitely psychoactive. It just doesn't feel very good at all. (For some people.)

<comment><USER36> it's negligible, like I feel more high by drinking coughee

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> yay, we aren't gonna get high!</comment>


145: Thoughts on Stallman, spying in tech, Istio, K8s issues with iptables, more - <AUTHOR> https://devopsish.com/145/ <comment><USER2> So, ignoring what Stallman said, article says he thinks that way as a function of the sex he is and his skin color.

I am struggling to see the relevance to the issue.

Is the author saying that if the comments were made by a female of non-white skin tones they would be acceptable, or at least less harmful?

Starts to look similar to place where phrenology is ok, as long as I get to choose which are the good head lumps. You can extrapolate from there.

<comment><AUTHOR> What?</comment></comment>


Show HN: Occies – Designer eyewear with screen light protection - <AUTHOR> https://occi.es <comment><USER2> This potentially resonates with me. Blue light is a problem for me and most others I work with, but we can't use f.lux due to the color alterations (graphic designer). Are your lenses completely clear?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yep! Occies are designed to be completely clear. We want it to be the reasonable alternative that people would actually want to use. We distinguish ourselves from computer glasses that have the yellow tint.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> How do these compare to other alternatives for minimising blue light exposure?

<comment><AUTHOR> Occies are designed to be the reasonable solution for reducing symptoms caused by starting at screens. They filter out only the most dangerous wavelengths of the blue light spectrum and thus keep our lenses untinted, making them look like normal glasses.

In contrast to f.lux and other software services, Occies also reduce glare and flare. Streetlights/computers/car beams become flareless and is one of the most soothing experiences of wearing Occies.</comment></comment>


Post incorporation things to take care of while using Stripe Atlas - <AUTHOR> Currently in the process of evaluating services to use in order to incorporate a company, and I'm a bit confused about what post-incorporation documentation does Stripe Atlas actually provide help with. They say that they provide templates for all the documents, but what kind of documents are actually left to be submitted? the 83b form is one that comes to mind.<p>I'd appreciate it if anybody who has used Atlas can talk a bit more about this. thanks! <comment><USER2> Have you asked Stripe?

<comment><AUTHOR> yes I emailed them, but I was wondering if there's anybody over here who could answer my question too</comment></comment>


Ask HN: How hard is it to build a basic self hosted secure messaging app - <AUTHOR> From all my reading on how secure messaging apps are built, outside of securing infrastructure, from my understanding, for a conversation between two people each using a unique device:
- Each device would need to generate it's own public/private keypair for use in chats.
- The devices swap public keys for encrypting messages
- The devices communicate over a server which simply facilitates delivery of the public keys and the encrypted messages between each device
- The devices decrypt messages using their private keys
I have a couple of questions here:
1. What is the need for the Signal protocol? From my reading, I understand that there is the concept of a single shared private key and a lot of work to share it securely? Is there something that the above scenario can't satisfy that Signal needs to do so? 2. If no to the latter part of the above question, does my super basic breakdown of a secure messaging app actually cover all bases ?
This is ignoring all the other things that go into a full blown messaging app and massive network. For the purpose of the question, I'm only considering the bare minimum to get a "hey" from one phone to the other. <comment><USER3> " _simply_ facilitates delivery of the public keys" is the pitfall here - <USER2> do you verify that you're actually swapping pubkeys with the intended recipient? Sure, you could hardcode server's pubkey (uh-oh), but then you still only know that you're swapping pubkey with someone who says "I am Bob" through a known _server_ , without any guarantee that the other user is not Mallory who will then MITM the conversation (i.e. pose as Bob for you and as you for Bob).

<comment><AUTHOR> Curious though. Wasn't that the exact same issue people raised a stink about with Whatsapp? Signal has a prompt to verify when a key changes on the other person's device? I think the only solution they have is to use a QR code to verify that the exchanged keys are the same?

I'm very new to all of this so curious if any of that is actually connected

<comment><USER3> Yes. Key management is not so simple.

<comment><AUTHOR> Fair enough. Thank you so much for replying by the way. Assuming I can show my friend the public key I received over the server, and she verifies it, then everything else can work as described right? As in, it wouldn't require anything as complex as the Signal protocol to send messages securely?

<comment><USER3> Well, you'll need an independent channel to do this, which also needs to be resistant to MITM. (In-person works, even though it's bothersome - but you only need to establish this once)

As long as it's a 1:1 chat, there's not much else to it - of course, great complexity comes to multi-user chats.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


The "New Energy Economy": An Exercise in Magical Thinking - <AUTHOR> https://www.manhattan-institute.org/green-energy-revolution-near-impossible <comment><AUTHOR> Stark view on the state of renewables vs hydrocarbons for energy storage and use</comment>


Gondolas Could Be the Next Great Urban Transportation Device - <AUTHOR> http://www.wired.com/autopia/2012/11/austin-gondola/

<comment><USER4> I saw the Rio de Janeiro gondola system [0] on Brazil with Michael Palin [1] a couple of days ago, and spurred on by the fact I've always enjoyed travelling on these systems, I began searching out more information about them around the world. I found a fantastic (for transport wonks :-) website called the Gondola Project [2] which has a vast amount of info (there's a link to it buried in the OP Wired article) about all the different types of systems and which circumstances they fit best. It also mentions the several aerial ropeway urban transport systems that are in successful operation around the world, such as Medellin, Colombia; Caracas, Venezuela [3]; Constantine, Algeria [4]; and Villa Nova de Gaia, Portugal [5].

To the commenters here saying "why can't they just make huge suspended buses", apart from the obvious engineering loads that entails, the problem is mostly that this means the gondolas have to stop at each "station" so that a decent amount of people can embark/disembark.

The most common modern gondola systems are built with MDG (monocable detachable gondola) technology, though the state of the art is the 3S (or TDG - tricable detachable gondola). More cables makes a 3S system more expensive, but makes the gondolas much more stable in higher winds, and allows them to travel faster along the line as well.

In these systems, many small gondolas flow in a continuous system, but are detached from the cable and slowed at stations so people can embark/disembark. This allows the main pull cable to always run at the same speed, which conserves energy and keeps all other attached gondolas moving. It also allows for corners (!) in the line (though a station must be located at the corner), as gondolas can be detached at a station, moved around by the required angle as they load/unload, and then reattached to the new cable which takes them off in a new direction. For a good example of this, see the Rio de Janeiro system mentioned above. Junctions can even be implemented this way if required (though the logistics would be interesting).

Rescue issues – most of these urban systems are designed to run over accessible areas, and no higher than 2-4 storeys from the ground, so if rescue is needed Fire Department crews can use standard equipment to reach the stranded gondolas.

Some commenters on the Wired article mention the Portland Aerial Tram system, and various disappointments around it. Aerial trams are different from gondolas in that there are normally only two cars, which move in opposite directions simultaneously, so each must be stopped at the same time, and any mid-point stations must be equidistantly located, unless you are happy having one car stopped in mid-air while the other is at a station. For examples of this with funicular railways, see the Innsbruck Hungerburgbahn [6] or the Wellington (NZ) Cable Car [7]. The main limitations on this kind of transport are slow load/unload times (hence longer passenger wait times), inflexible station layout requirements, non-detachable gondolas means no cornering etc.

Someone mentioned the "scared of heights" issue – my partner is scared of heights, but she was fine travelling on a gondola system similar to all these at Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney, as well as on the Nordkettenbahnen, the aerial tram in Innsbruck that takes off from the top of the Hungerburgbahn. Of course, YMMV. A system that probably _isn't_ good for people with a fear of heights is the new Stanserhorn Cabrio (stunning pic [8]) [9].

For (even more) info, The Gondola Project website has a big section called "Learn about cable transit" - fascinating stuff [10].

[0] <http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/02/st_riogondola/>

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_with_Michael_Palin> (Episode 3: The Road To Rio)

[2] <http://gondolaproject.com/>

[3] <http://gondolaproject.com/2010/03/11/medellincaracas-part-1/>

[4] [http://gondolaproject.com/2012/07/19/constantine- telepheriqu...](http://gondolaproject.com/2012/07/19/constantine-telepherique- celebrates-12-million-passengers-announces-2-more-lines/)

[5] [http://gondolaproject.com/2011/04/08/new-urban-gondola- opens...](http://gondolaproject.com/2011/04/08/new-urban-gondola-opens- portugals-teleferico-de-gaia/)

[6] <http://www.nordkette.com/en/cable-railways.html>

[7] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Cable_Car>

[8] [http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24956/stanserhorn_cabrio- opening_day...](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24956/stanserhorn_cabrio- opening_day.jpg)

[9] <http://www.stanserhorn.ch/en/travel/cabrio/>

[10] [http://gondolaproject.com/learn-the-basics-what-is-cable- pro...](http://gondolaproject.com/learn-the-basics-what-is-cable-propelled- transit/)

<comment><USER5> _[...] most of these urban systems are designed to run over accessible areas, and no higher than 2-4 storeys from the ground, so if rescue is needed Fire Department crews can use standard equipment to reach the stranded gondolas._

This sounds like a design challenge for a built in rescue system. Rope ladders, only somehow made much safer.

<comment><USER6> Chutes can go that far? You sit down, and scoot into a hole int he floor - <USER2> tube-like chute extends from the car to the ground and provides drag

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> A Siemens S70 LRV such as the ones used on the LYNX Blue Line in Charlotte, NC, can hold 68 passengers sitting, 230 including standers. One train comes every ten minutes peak, fifteen minutes off. This means we have a max capacity of 1380 pphpd (passengers/hour/direction) peak, 920 pphpd off.

These gondolas look like they can hold a max of about six passengers, but there's also a lot more of them. The article offhandly mentions a peak headway of thirty seconds. This implies a max capacity of 720 pphpd peak. For the same max capacity as current Blue Line service, we'd need to land a gondola every 15 seconds. The catch is that the Blue Line still has room to add trains, but landing a gondola every 15 seconds is probably pushing it.

I was expecting this to turn out rather poorly in the gondolas' favor, but considering the major advantages in capital cost, this actually doesn't look too bad. And they do have a point about high-frequency services attracting ridership. The main question is whether they can actually pull this off for the stated capital costs, and whether the operations and maintenance costs will come back to bite you later.

<comment><USER8> Gondolas, like elevated monorails and trains, have an unfortunate failure mode which is 'stopped and trapped' so in the event the system has to stop, everyone is 'trapped'. Back in pre-historic times when Disney ran their 'people mover' (which finessed the load/unload option quite well with the moving platform, one load/unload every 10 seconds) they talked about systems with excess cable such that in an emergency the gondolas could all lower to the ground. But that is impractical in longer runs (the wire buffer needs to be too long) and has its own issue if it lowers the gondolas in a non- emergency situation.

The best things they have going for them are that you can easily re-use existing right of way, and the per-mile implementation costs can be lower than conventional light rail or subways.

My favorite system that was spec'd but never built was the Chicago PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) which had four person 'cars' on a track that worked like elevators. You pushed a button at the track and an empty car arrived, you got in and punched your destination. It didn't have to stop until you got there. That particular system had issues with the amount of computer power it needed, although today it would be trivial to implement. If you can imagine autonomous vehicles on a track with 'smart' switches, its a lot easier than a self driving car.

<comment><USER9> What if we added a rolled-up rope ladder inside each gondola? Also, if they are laid over the existing road network, in the case of major failure you could have the fire department rescue the people who can't climb down a ladder on their own.

<comment><USER10> _> What if we added a rolled-up rope ladder inside each gondola?_

Many would find that terrifying, so would still be trapped.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> As the transit planner Jarrett Walker regularly reminds readers on his blog[1] and book of the same name, the real things that make a mass transit project effective are not about the particular technology being used to do the moving. The geometry of the network, its connections, and its schedule of service are what actually make it usable.

[1] <http://www.humantransit.org>

<comment><USER6> Getting it built should be added to that list. Gondola has an edge there.

<comment><USER12> The advantages that gondolas would have in Austin is the ability to easily cross the lake and climb the hills. All without expensive rail lines (limited to 2-3% grades) and eminent-domain seizures.

Although - having drunk people flying over your house during SXSW or Formula-1 weeks might not be attractive, because of uhh, biological contamination reasons...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I was hoping they meant this kind of gondola: <http://www.gondolas.com/images/gondola_main.jpg>

<comment><USER14> Indeed, before clicking the link I assumed it would be an op-ed covering climate change and rising sea levels, which then goes on to argue that in the future, flooded coastal cities would enlist gondolas (the waterborne kind) to replace buses, like Venice.

<comment><USER15> similarly, I expected a lengthy discussion of how water transport is more efficient than ground one in terms of pollution and energy consumption (I don't know if it is, I'd reckon it's not) and cities would be building water canals everywhere.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I fondly remember being able to go many places in Manila, Philippines, in the downtown shopping/restaurant core, using only my feet - they had elevated walkways to take you over the busy traffic and the malls were inter-connected.

You could walk for quite some time and never be at ground level. Most people can walk 1 km extra per day and never notice losing any time, given the savings in waiting for transit or getting into and out of a car.

<comment><USER17> Same kind of thing in Hong Kong, you can cover large parts of Wan Chai and Central without ever touching the ground. But I remember the opposite in Japan, you could seemingly traverse long distances underground by going from Subway station to Mall to another mall all underground.

<comment><USER18> You can do the same in Hong Kong - Tsim Sha Tsui is connected underground.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> The article only briefly mentions the major prototypes for gondolas as real urban public transport. Medellin (Colombia) and Portland. Both were finished 2006. Before them, nobody considered gondolas as a real urban public transportation option. Now they do, and there has been a proliferation of interest (the recent line built in London, for one [not that it goes anywhere]).

The advantages often mentioned by transport planners are their cheapness to build and ability to traverse terrain easily (where trains and trams cannot). More importantly perhaps - people like them. Its a much better ride to work than on a subway or bus - thats for sure!

</comment><comment><USER20> What about privacy issues?

Vancouver's transit authority has been discussing the possibility of replacing the bus service to Simon Fraser University, which is on top of a mountain, with a gondola, as in heavy snowfall conditions the bus can't handle the roads. The main criticism of the scheme has been from property owners that would be under the gondola line, as they would no longer have any privacy in their own back yards.

Similarly if one had a downtown scheme, there would be the possibility of a full gondola moving by your 10th floor window at all hours of the day.

<comment><USER21> You could design them with frosted windows or blinds that obstruct passengers from looking at downwards angles, so they could still see the horizon and the sky.

I think I've read about a train being build through a city somewhere, where it'd pass close by residential buildings, but only briefly. This was solved by installing "Smart glass" so they windows are obscured temporarily when going past the buildings.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Even only 15-20 feet off the ground, my instinct is that there's a fear factor in riding aerial gondolas unlike any in urban rail.

<comment><USER23> I'm sure you're right that some people will find them unusably terrifying, but my experience is that most people with a typical level of fear-of-heights can handle gondolae just fine. A friend of mine, for instance, refuses to ride on a chair lift, but has no problem with a gondola.

<comment><USER24> I've spent a lot of time on ski lifts over the years and I've had one occasion where people had obvious problems with the height - we were on the Vanoise Express between La Plagne and Les Arcs in the French Alps, which is a very long, very large gondola. When we set off from the La Plagne side it was misty so you couldn't really see how high up we were. However, half way across the car emerged from the mist and the fact that the car was 380m up became very clear - one person fainted and another had a very loud panic attack.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanoise_Express>

<comment><USER25> From the Wiki page: "This closure effectively shut down Paradiski for that season."

I skied in Vallandry that season staying right near Peisey-Vallandry where the cable car station was.

If anything it made my skiing experience all the better as the resort was so much quieter than normal. We still had a large ski area to use (Vallandry and Les Arcs aren't small). Didn't care that we couldn't get over to La Plagne, Vallandry/Les Arcs was still as popular resort before the Vanoise Express existed.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Austin is quickly densifying but still doesn't have any public transit other than buses.

This solution avoids all the pitfalls associated with conventional rails (street level and underground) and I see it very rapidly becoming very successful.

<comment><USER27> _Austin is quickly densifying but still doesn't have any public transit other than buses._

I'm a little worried about new transit here in Austin for that very reason. Historically the city hasn't given me much faith to believe a new layer of transit would be implemented well enough to (A) get people riding it and (B) be remotely efficient.

Buses rarely sync up, you'll get off one bus just to see the transfer you need to catch on the other side of the road pulling off, missing your bus means getting to your final destination sometimes up to an hour late, the train only services downtown and north, meaning anyone south of the river is boned for rapid transit into the city...

I would absolutely love a new form of transit in Austin that was quick and easy to use, but I'm skeptical on our ability to actually deliver it, given our complacency with a rather poor and painful to use by system already in place.

<comment><USER7> Case in point: neither of you mentioned the Red Line, nor have I ever heard any of my family members in Austin mention the Red Line.

<comment><USER27> _the train only services downtown and north, meaning anyone south of the river is boned for rapid transit into the city..._

I didn't mention it by name, but there it is in my post.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> In my hometown Wuppertal, they had this since more than 100 years:

<https://www.google.com/search?q=schwebebahn+wuppertal>

Click on image search results.

<comment><USER29> The famous Wuppertal line is an aerial train - not gondolas on a cable. It is clever and I loved riding it though - but it is a different type of system.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> I wonder how they would fare in this litigious society we live in? Toss in that the not stopping part would instantly bring up complaints under the ADA (American Disabilities Act) in regards to the handicapped using them.

How do they fare in various types of weather? Are they heated and cooled? Would each car be camera monitored? This would be to monitor the safety of the people riding, for example if someone had a medical issue or was being attacked.

No, while I like the idea I don't see how you implement the cars which can be easily used by the handicap and that has caused all sorts of extravagant costs in our local bus lines.

<comment><USER10> If the cars are detachable, could there be a provision for wheelchair riders to get in their own car which could be attached to the cable?

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> Is there any reason that a gondola can hold only a maximum of 6 passengers? Can't you have a gondola the size of a bus?

Imagine all the crazy muni lines in sf turned into gondola wires. Would be pretty awesome to be "flying" 15ft above all the traffic. Not to mention the timing and schedule of service would be consistent.

<comment><USER32> The load/unload dwell time would impact the service's efficiency - <USER3> it's better to have more low density vessels than fewer large ones. It's largely a function of the journey time, though.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Good article, but I had to use reader on Safari on the iPad. Wired should know better than to disable zoom.

</comment><comment><USER33> And, lo, a thousand steam punk enthusiasts cried up with joy.

</comment><comment><USER34> This is flat out one of the most ridiculous ideas I have seen here in quite a while.

</comment><comment><USER35> This seems to come round every few years, and yet nothing ever comes of it.

See also Hypersonic jets that will fly at the edge of the earth's atmosphere and do London to Sydney in two years.

//edit//That will teach me not to read the article. I thought this was about airships.</comment>


Uber Is Raising Another Couple Billion, at a $62.5B Valuation - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/03/uber-is-raising-another-couple-billion-at-a-62-5-billion-valuation/ <comment> cat-dev-null Global taxi market revenue is around $30B/yr.

And from an investor's perspective, capitalizing at 6.25x supposed annual revenue, not profit, seems a bit ex _über_ ant.

Plus, Über isn't even close to ubiquitous yet. Good luck tracking down the one part-timer in Chico, CA, whom doesn't work weekends. It's probably due to about a dozen taxi companies already in to Chico / Paradise area already offering comparable rates, so there isn't really motivation to move into tertiary markets. This cash injection could easily lead to too aggressive over-expansion into too many low-margin markets, followed by layoffs / contraction, which is a common antipattern of investor pressure to "go big or bust".

</comment><comment><USER2> Was Über the first rideshare program, or were there other, lesser known ones attempted before?

<comment><USER3> Zimride came first and eventually changed its name to Lyft. Zimride offer a carpooling ride sharing matching service.</comment></comment>


Sweden Solar System - <AUTHOR> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden_Solar_System

<comment><USER2> I went on a hunt for a few of these when I was in Stockholm recently and it was a bit disappointing. We couldn't find a sign at the globe and lots of places were shut. Venus is now a building site and we couldn't find Jupiter at the airport. We found the Earth and moon, Mars and Mercury (from a distance). It is a good way to explore and you get good value out of a T-bana pass.

Edit: If anyone is interested I can write up the hunt. Got some good photos. It was this or a visit to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ytterby](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ytterby) and I think the solar system was the best choice. They should really promote these attractions more.

<comment><AUTHOR> > _If anyone is interested I can write up the hunt_

Please!

<comment><USER2> OK, will do. I also checked out [http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pionen- data-center](http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pionen-data-center) in Södermalm. It was shut but you can see a bit through the glass doors. Missed out on [http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/r1-nuclear- reactor](http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/r1-nuclear-reactor) though :(.

<comment><USER2> Here you go: [http://unop.co.uk/misc/sweden-solar-system- photos/](http://unop.co.uk/misc/sweden-solar-system-photos/)

I've also submitted it to HN: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8181696](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8181696)

Enjoy!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Just to have an idea how sparse space is, the closest star at this scale would be about 5x the (actual) distance to the moon.

</comment><comment><USER4> Solar Systems in scale are really impressive. We usually see them in books, where all the planets are close. The amount of space is astonishing. I saw one in Brazil in a Astronomy Museum [http://www.mast.br/](http://www.mast.br/), the Sun is smaller than a golf ball and you have to walk dozens of meters to get to Uranus. The nearest star would be in a city more than a thousand kilometers away. This is what I call a humbling experience.

</comment><comment><USER5> Zagreb also has this, albeit a mini version ...

The system is at scale 1:680 000 000. Earth's model is about 1.9 cm in size and at 225 m distance from the sun's model, while Pluto's model is 7.7 km away from it...

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Views](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Views)

</comment><comment><USER6> I shouldn't laugh, I really shouldn't...

"Uranus (2.6 m in diameter) was vandalized"

<comment><USER7> If it's in Gävle, it would be a logical guess that it was vandalized due to the local population's decades-long tradition of vandalizing monuments.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A4vle_goat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A4vle_goat)

<comment><USER8> Destroyed 27 times in 48 years. That makes the recreation seem like a bad idea.

<comment><USER9> It's an absolutely fantastic idea, best publicity that town gets all year. The whole country is engaged in the burning of that thing.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> We have one in Australia too - I drive it several times a year. Distance sun to pluto is 190 km unfortunately - I visited the wiki link ready to hurl abuse

[http://www.solarsystemdrive.com/map-planet- locations.html](http://www.solarsystemdrive.com/map-planet-locations.html)

</comment><comment><USER11> Previous discussion on this: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2220903](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2220903)

</comment><comment><USER12> There's one in Denmark as well, although much smaller (1: 1 billion). One thing that I thought was really cool when I visited was that if you stood by the fake earth an looked at the fake sun it appeared precisely the same size as the real sun. Also very cool to walk for a couple of hours and reaching tiny Pluto.

[http://www.planetstien.dk/Planetarypath.htm](http://www.planetstien.dk/Planetarypath.htm)

<comment><USER13> That should be the case for any model that is to scale. The moon and all planets should be real-sized (in steradians), too.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Not on the same sort of scale at all, but York (UK) has a scale model along one of the Sustrans cycling routes: [http://www.york.ac.uk/solar/](http://www.york.ac.uk/solar/)

SkyRide do free regular guided public rides down the route (or sometimes a subset there of for people who don't feel up to the full length and back) which is a pleasant way to spend an hour or two if you are in the area.

</comment><comment><USER15> How accurate is it? It seems that a lot of locations were picked because of them being in museums and other significant places. I guess if it was really accurate they would end up in more inconvenient spots.

<comment><USER16> Earth's distance from the Sun varies by +/-~2% at its current eccentricity, and the eccentricity isn't constant. So at a distance of ~7.5 km (1:20 mil of Earth's average orbit) you've got a ring about 300 m wide around the Sun to find a museum in.

Other planets further away give you larger rings to search in; you could place Jupiter in a ring ~4 km wide ~39 km away, and it would be within the range of its orbit around the Sun.

That said, while the task is easier than you might think (since there isn't One True Position for each planet), I don't know how well they did.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> [http://pages.umpi.edu/~nmms/solar/](http://pages.umpi.edu/~nmms/solar/) is another version of this idea.

</comment><comment><USER18> I pass through Ericsson Globe almost daily but never realized that I'm travelling in "Solar System"

<comment><USER19> Technically, _all_ of us are travelling in the Solar System.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Does anyone have a decent photo of the one (Saturn) in Uppsala? Surprisingly, I can't find any photo on the internet (searching in either English or Swedish), I lived there in 2012 and don't remember seeing a 6.1m circular object in Celsiustorget at all.

<comment><USER21> From the article:

> the model is a mat with a picture of Saturn, but will eventually grow to > crown a school planetarium at the city

<comment><USER20> I didn't notice a mat with a picture of Saturn (and I walked past the place many times); but, ivh notes it was just temporary.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> That's great, I'm going to Stockholm in November so I'll check out Mercury. Thanks for sharing.

It'd be even _better_ if there was an international solar system which involved several countries, to make it an even larger scale.

</comment><comment><USER23> This page contais more information and photos as well: [http://www.astro.su.se/english/about-us/the-sweden-solar- sys...](http://www.astro.su.se/english/about-us/the-sweden-solar- system-1.74650)

<comment><USER2> That's a good page if a little out of date. We followed [http://ttt.astro.su.se/swesolsyst/stations.html](http://ttt.astro.su.se/swesolsyst/stations.html) but the wikipedia page is better and more accurate.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Boston has one as well: [http://www.tripadvisor.com/Guide-g60745-i3496-Boston_Massach...](http://www.tripadvisor.com/Guide-g60745-i3496-Boston_Massachusetts.html)

not to scale :)

</comment><comment><USER25> I seem to recall reading about a scale model of the solar system somewhere in the northern hemisphere that 'included' the nearest star in Australia somewhere... Anybody else heard of this?

</comment><comment><USER26> We have one in Maine as well, scale 1:93,000,000:

[http://pages.umpi.edu/~nmms/solar/](http://pages.umpi.edu/~nmms/solar/)

</comment><comment><USER27> The Smithsonian Institute (Washington DC, USA) has a walking model along the capital mall.

Our local (Boise, ID) Discovery Center has a model, too. Fun stuff!

</comment><comment><USER28> Munich has one, too with a much smaller scale, with the sun central at the technology museum 'Deutsches Museum'

</comment><comment><USER29> Ithaca, NY has one of these too : )</comment>


Azure interruption to Cloud Services, Virtual Machines Websites - chris-at http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/status/#

<comment><AUTHOR> According to the status panel this is quite widespread. I'm having problems connecting to one cloud service in North Europe. Two others in the same region are working fine.

<comment><USER2> My North Europe services are down too. Strangely it seems to be their load balancers that aren't working as i can ssh in fine...

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Microsoft: Where Do You Want To Go Today?</comment>


A Quick Look Into The Math Of Animations With JavaScript - <AUTHOR> http://coding.smashingmagazine.com/2011/10/04/quick-look-math-animations-javascript/

<comment><USER2> Cool article, it left out my favorite function though: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoothstep>

This is the magic sauce you need. (more visual demo here: <http://sol.gfxile.net/interpolation/index.html>)

</comment><comment><USER3> The author shunned mathematics in favor of programming, but this exercise showed why that was a mistake.

Compared to serious mathematics, programming is relatively trivial.

With mathematics, you can do anything in computing.

Without it, you're reduced to this feeble exercise in self-enlightment.

<comment><USER4> I completely agree with you. This line:

      As humans, however, degrees ranging from 0 to 360 are much easier to read. That's why you can and should convert between them with this simple formula.

Made be cringe.

<comment><USER5> Radians made no sense to me - until I found out the relationship to PI and then it's a much more natural was of describing angle - especially if you use Tau.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Very classical material, especially if you've ever been (as the author) writing demos/intros in the 80s/90s (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demoscene>). I have many memories of writing basic programs that spat out sine tables, since it wasn't possible to compute something as complex as a sine in real-time.

<comment><USER7> yes, I much enjoyed flipcode.com back in the day, particularly Alex Champandards series - [http://www.flipcode.com/archives/The_Art_of_Demomaking- Issue...](http://www.flipcode.com/archives/The_Art_of_Demomaking- Issue_01_Prologue.shtml)

I played with Javascript sine animations as a way of introduce the idea of sine function in some intuitive way.

Eg Two Rotating Circles - [http://quantblog.wordpress.com/2011/10/05/adding- circles-jav...](http://quantblog.wordpress.com/2011/10/05/adding-circles- javascript-animation-of-fourier-series/)

I think Javascript hacking in a web page is todays equivalent to hacking GW- Basic, Turbo Pascal or A86 assembler for my generation.

<comment><USER6> Of course, back in (my) day, the web didn't exist, so there was no flipcode.com. :| Now off to trim the lawn.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Reading this tutorial reminded me of the first time I realized how handy a bit of math can be for animation. I think it was this little ease-out snippet that opened my eyes (served me well for years to come):

posX += (destX - posX)/ slowdownRate

Moves an item like so: X....X...X..X.X

</comment><comment><USER9> This ball is so much fun to play with! Single click to where you want the ball to go.

<http://www.robertpenner.com/easing/easing_demo.html></comment>


Ask HN: Hosting/server for a startup - Should we think in scalability now? - <AUTHOR>

Hi out there! We are working on a new startup, that if it goes popular, it will need a good hosting.
Should we start with a simple hosting and the move (which may be hard, if in the future), or should we start buying a VPS or something like that?
We are developers but not so into the technical (server config) part, so we are a bit clueless here.
Thank you for your answers! :) <comment><USER2> I have been using www.knownhost.com for several months and so far they are excellent. They offer a managed VPS which means if you need something done and you aren't quite sure how to do it, they will handle it for you. They have pretty responsive email support too and they are always very helpful.

One thing that I really like about their support is if they do something on your server for you, they will send an email of exactly how the went about accomplishing the task i.e. all the linux commands they used. From what I have found, it also looks like they by far have the best prices for a managed VPS.

They also offer dedicated boxes so if you outgrow a VPS than you could always upgrade to one of those.

</comment><comment><USER3> If you are not really into sysadmin stuff you should try to avoid VPS if possible. It's not hard but you don't want to be learning while you have more important stuff to do. Check out Heroku or AppFog.

Having said that, Softlayer has a program called Softlayer Catalyst where they give you $1000/month in hosting expenses, mentoring and some other stuff. You can read more about it and apply here: <http://www.softlayer.com/partners/catalyst>

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you. I will check Heroky, AppFog and the Catalyst program.

Does VPS need more maintenance than a shared hosting?

<comment><USER3> Don't even consider shared hosting, unless you're setting up a cheap Wordpress site you're better off going for Heroku/AppFog or even a VPS. Shared hosting tends to be slow, unreliable, the support usually sucks and all their promises about "Unlimited X" are bullshit.

VPS do need a lot more work (not sure if I'd call it maintenance) than a shared host since you'll be installing everything from zero and after that you're the one in charge of making sure it stays running. But again, even that if preferable to using a shared host.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> If you are just starting out i.e. validating the idea - go with the cheapest and the easiest option which allows you to get the site up and running in front of your users. If this means cheap web hosting (assume you have no experience with a VPS) - then so be it. If you have managed a VPS before, then start with the cheapest VPS (say prgmr or linode). You can always easily scale the VPS until you reach a point where you need a dedicated server.

Best to cross the scaling bridge only when you come to it.

</comment><comment><USER5> We all need great hosting optimized for scaling if our ideas get crazy popular. But until then, you need something that you don't need to worry about, so you can concentrate on building and testing your product.

We recently switched to PagodaBox, because I have no interest in handling sysadmin stuff at the moment, and I'm loving them (writing a blog post about it soon).

Cross the scaling bridge when you come to it. In the mean time, find something solid that just works for now.

<comment><AUTHOR> Great, thank you. I was looking for this kind of advice :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> We started out on a VPS, but I also knew enough about Linux to host what we needed to host (mail, LAMP, RoR, svn, etc).

It doesn't take too much effort to get Debian working if you don't need too complex of a configuration, and unless you have 10k users it's relatively easy to learn as you go.

</comment><comment><USER7> I don't think there is anything wrong with shared hosted during your early prototype states. I love my low cost shared hosting service Alterhosting.com - these guys go above and beyond the call of duty in support - even fixing my applications sometimes.

</comment><comment><USER8> I started on shared hosting, moved to webfaction, but grew into VPS. It's just easier if you want to install software that they probably wont install in shared environments.

</comment><comment><USER9> I'll recommend Heroku.</comment>


Support Linux by Not Writing Linux-Only Software - <AUTHOR> http://www.tannerhelland.com/3772/support-linux-stop-exclusive-software/ <comment><USER2> As a developer, I gave up on supporting other operating systems because it was simply not worth it after a decade of trying to write platform independent software. Spending time to get software working for Windows is a pain in the ass. So now I'm writing software for Linux only because it's a lot more convenient in so many ways. Compatibility with BSD/OSX is something I can still think of (but for now, I'm Linux only and using Linux-only APIs like epoll, timerfd and SOCK_NONBLOCK).

If you actually get your software working on Windows, that's only the beginning. Windows users expect to find a binary zipball or installers and/or MSVC binary libraries. Making binaries is a fair amount of effort which I see as largely pointless because they're always lagging behind the source.

Catering to Windows users is also frustrating, since there are so few Windows coders and even fewer who are willing to contribute their effort to an open source project. Instead, you'll get bugged with a variety of support requests as if you have some kind of responsibility to "fix" your software to do what someone else wants it to do.

But the biggest problem in writing cross platform software is the lack of good cross-platform API's available. Windows users are never happy with x-platform GUI's like GTK or Qt. There are some frameworks for other tasks than GUI, but they tend to go with the lowest common denominator of the platforms they run on, which is usually worse than working with native api's.

Finally, I feel that there's no need to try to lure more Windows users to migrate to Linux. Linux has already passed the threshold of immortality and it will stay alive and well whether it attracts more user from Windows or not.

<comment><USER3> "Finally, I feel that there's no need to try to lure more Windows users to migrate to Linux. Linux has already passed the threshold of immortality and it will stay alive and well whether it attracts more user from Windows or not."

It would be a great cost savings to the world, in terms of direct money saved as well as indirect incompatibilities, if a significant part of the software using world used Linux and other open products. In other words, it's not just to improve the lot of Linux, it's also to improve (change) the world.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I've come to this conclusion myself, for similar reasons. Fighting with software that has been poorly ported to Linux as an afterthought has burned me too many times. The solution is to reverse the flow ( _and_ do better.)</comment>


Make Things Do Stuff - <AUTHOR> http://makethingsdostuff.co.uk/

<comment> brett-cawley Great Idea! Have been looking for something similar to MSDN's Coding4Fun for a while now, will definitely check out a couple of the projects</comment>


Pissing Away Our Money With Google Display Ads - <AUTHOR> http://blog.aha.io/index.php/pissing-away-our-money-with-google-display-ads/

<comment><USER2> Interesting - we're still noticing issues with invalid clicks on Google Mobile.

Check out Outbrain & Twitter - getting great results there at the moment. Twitter especially given your product manager focus.</comment>


Ask YC: cheap, fuel efficient cars I can buy right now. - <AUTHOR>

Hey Gang, I'm in the market for a cheap (<$15k), fuel efficient (>20mpg) car that I can buy right now in the US (NYC area).<p>What is the current wisdom of this crowd related to this issue? TIA! <comment><USER2> I bought a 1996 Ford Ranger (4 cyl, no extras) that had been totaled due to flood damage for $1600. Runs great, gets ~22-25 mpg.

It's an aluminum frame, two cloth seats, a powertrain, wheels, and a bed for loading crap. Most modern feature is power steering. Radio tends to fall out of dash.

Exactly what a car ought to be (although I'd like to strip it down and replace the engine/powertrain with batteries and this: <http://www.pmlflightlink.com/motors/hipa_drive.html>).

</comment><comment><USER3> My 2000 Corolla LE gets at least 30 mpg, averaged between fillups every 300-350 miles. We bought it five years ago for $8400 (not including tax/title/blah blah blah). It was a fleet vehicle returned after lease expiration at a Saturn dealer. We haven't noticed any shenanigans, just your run-of-the-mill maintenance.

Don't buy a new car. Owning the depreciation is stupid. You might try the rental companies if you want to avoid the uncertainty of the for-sale-by-owner market.

</comment><comment><USER4> <http://www.toyota.com/yaris/>

<http://www.smartusa.com/smart-car-fortwo.aspx>

edited to add: most of the older smaller cars, like a used civic, get really good gas mileage. if you want to buy used, those are good choices. you're just sacrificing safety and some of the modern features

<comment><AUTHOR> thanks, i was looking at the yaris, very good mileage.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> An used 2 door Civic hatchback (2k) or a Geo Metro (1k) or a new Smart Car (14k out the door with TTL).

Now, here's my question for Hacker News: I'm trying to decide between electronic toothbrushes. Which one should I get? Sonicare for the sonic waves or Oral-B because most dentists recommend it? Can someone also suggest to me a place for lunch? Quiznos or Subways?

<comment><AUTHOR> thanks, i would say go with what dentists recommend for the brush and quiznos for the lunch. mmmm toasty.

<comment><USER6> I want to buy a new desk. What types of wood should I be considering?

<comment><AUTHOR> I would say ikea. they are cheap as hell and very configurable.

...also, keep the asshat comments under the brim.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Microsoft Research JavaScript Cryptography Library - <AUTHOR> http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/29f9385d-da4c-479a-b2ea-2a7bb335d727/default.aspx

<comment><USER2> I am still downloading the library, just to take a quick look at it, however 254MB seems a bit oversized...</comment>


U.S. set to blame North Korea for Sony hack - <AUTHOR> http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/17/media/the-interview-sony-theater-owners/index.html

<comment><USER2> So, the Chinese have routinely hacked our power grid, yet for some reason North Korea hacking Sony gets overblown media attention. Am I the only one who thinks this is plain nuts?</comment>


Millennials What is more important? Saving for short-term or long-term? - <AUTHOR> I'm trying to understand if millennials value short-term savings to long-term and why? <comment><USER2> Asking this question on HN is probably not the most effective way to understand what "millennials" value, but I'll offer my anecdote.

My #1 priority is to have $10k in emergency savings. I guess that's my version of short-term savings.

Once I've hit $10k in liquid savings, I try to max out 401k and Roth IRA contributions. I am working towards having enough for a good down payment on a house by the time I am 30-32 (~10 years from now).

<comment><USER3> Out of curiosity, why would you max out your retirement contributions if you are trying to save for a good down payment on a house?

<comment><USER4> some of those let you pull out tax advantaged for your first house.

<comment><USER5> As far as I'm aware, you can pull your _contributions_ out of a Roth IRA without penalty - they are post-tax dollars when they go in, until a regular IRA or 401k. Earnings and returns are different.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Most do not. Financial illiteracy is rampant; most do not understand how to use credit intelligently, or to figure out how much interest rates cost them if they do use credit. Consequently far too many people either avoid using credit entirely, or treat it like monopoly money and content themselves with paying minimum payments.

Besides, an alarming percentage are still working shit jobs for no money, and paying everything extra towards college loan bills for degrees in useless things that do not make them employable, or worse, that they did not complete.

The idea of socking away enough money for a down payment on a house is, depending on where you are, a daunting to Herculean task. When the dating pool is filled with other people in a similarly fucked and precarious position as yourself, incentives are not great to pair up and expose yourself to a partner's poor financial decisions, further depressing the drivers to home ownership.

So a lot of people just float around hedonistically, and maybe start to wake up and become an adult around when they hit thirty. Or not.

</comment><comment> rc-1140 Definitely short-term right now. If I made a SDE's salary instead of a SDET's salary and didn't live in a high COL area and didn't have to support a parent, I'd be more inclined to value long-term savings. Objectively, planning for the long term is better than planning for the short term, and I'd like to actually make enough money to plan for it, but I gotta make do with what I got for now. I do have a 401k via my job, and my credit is good, but nothing else.

</comment><comment><USER6> I prefer long term; I've my pension and house sorted at 30, and will be able to retire early.

But I live pretty cheaply, and earn a decent income. When I'm saving for something short term (a holiday, new tech, etc) I usually just pick up a couple hours extra work, or don't over-pay into my savings/mortgage that month. I think if that wasn't the case saving for the shorter term, more experience-based things would be the priority in actually enjoying life.

</comment><comment> a-saleh Currently short-term-ish?

I have achieved more than half-a-year of income in my short-term savings, but I feel unsure if I should start long-term i.e. pension-fund-style savings. As I will be 30 next year, I probably should. I probably should start saving for my daughter's college.

<comment><USER7> If you have to save, I'd probably advise against doing it through long-only pensions. In 2008 when everything was wiped out, a lot of retirees had to settle for next to nothing.

I'd strongly recommend watching this video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBVx0Fw1VXo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBVx0Fw1VXo)

It totally flipped my savings approach.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I saved a lump of money for the short-term and took a very long vacation. I have a bit saved for the long-term from before, but now the focus is long-term saving.

</comment><comment><USER9> Millennials don't have enough money saved to apportion what they're saving. As of 2017, 46% had 0 money saved. Another 36% had <$5k saved.

I don't think there's anything long-term about a 4-figure bank balance.

</comment><comment><USER10> I think it doesn't have much to do with the generation. You'll find rich people saving long-term and poor people saving for the short-term(or not at all).

</comment><comment><USER11> What does saving for short-term mean? Spending quickly?

<comment><AUTHOR> Saving for short-term goals like a deposit on a home, purchasing a car or other big ticket items, starting a family, taking a vacation.

<comment><USER11> I'm lucky enough to have thought about my retirement planning first, before I had most other expenses. So I set up a standard boring Roth 401(k) and have been contributing to it with only one break, when I had some expensive car trouble. My wife and I managed to pay off my school loans and our car loans, but we still have a lot of credit card debt and it's going to be tough for us to get a house, which we both really want to do.

I'd say I'm extremely lucky to have a job where I _can_ fund my retirement account and also pay rent and pay off loans etc. But if you're asking about priorities, long-term saving has always appealed to me more.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you. I really appreciate your input.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Living, not saving.

I do like the governement do worldwide: spend money today, not caring about saving or repaying

<comment><USER13> If that were true, government bonds would be worthless.

<comment><USER12> Compared to crypto, recently they have been.</comment></comment></comment>


Orange – Interactive Machine Learning and Data Viz Toolbox - <AUTHOR> https://orange.biolab.si/ <comment><USER2> The alternative to this is probably weka [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weka_(machine_learning)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weka_\(machine_learning\))

FWIW weka is a well-designed system works great for many tasks. Especially if the user cannot code.

</comment><comment><USER3> this looks... too good to be true. there's no way a free piece of software has all of these features and actually works. but really outside of educational purposes I don't see the use case. serious users will reach for R or python or even Matlab. but it looks great for teaching a high school data analysis class (or something like that).

<comment><USER4> It's made at the University of Ljubljana so educational purposes are probably high on the list of requirements.

</comment></comment><comment> Nevada-Smith I like how their interface is similar to Grasshopper's graphical algorithm editor for Rhino 3-D.</comment>


Grayscale – A Free One Page Theme for Bootstrap 3 - <AUTHOR> http://startbootstrap.com/templates/grayscale/

<comment><USER2> scroll scroll scroll scroll zoom out map zoom out map zoom out map give up

<comment><USER3> At least the map is at the bottom, which is at least a little better? I guess?</comment></comment>


Anime trolls tried to silence a MeToo campaign with legal threats - <AUTHOR> https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/18/20870541/vic-mignogna-metoo-accusations-defamation-lawsuit-anti-slapp-laws <comment><USER2> It's bad enough that people think you are a pedo because you like anime, now people think you are an alt-right fanatic too.

<comment><USER3> _Real_ anime fans (and Scotsmen) view dubs with, at best, open hostility, so they would have no motive to defend Mignona.

But it is hilarious how the article only describes as a "free speech advocate" someone making a mean comment. But all those 1st amendment lawyers fighting against the silencing (including the "we must allow Nazis to speak" Ken White [1]) _don 't_ make the cut. Somehow, only the side making censorious legal threats gets associated with "free speech".

It would be difficult for me to have a lower opinion of these journalists.

[1] [https://www.popehat.com/2017/04/18/the-seductive-appeal- of-t...](https://www.popehat.com/2017/04/18/the-seductive-appeal-of-the-nazi- exception/)

<comment><USER2> It's funny.

I don't know about that guy, but many of the voice actors that made cringeworthy performances that I bitterly complained about in the 1990s are now doing very good work, particularly in games. Experience counts for something.

For instance Erin Fitzgerald did Noire in the Nep games about as well as Asami Imai did.</comment></comment></comment>