A more balanced reading list? - <AUTHOR>

As an avid user of reddit and hn, I read a good amount of technical blogs. This stuff is great, but I realize now that its ALL I read. While I enjoy the posts, (and I learn a lot) I feel like I'm becoming disconnected with the average user.<p>Do you know any good blogs etc by people who don't make websites for a living? <comment><USER2> _I feel like I'm becoming disconnected with the average user_

Do you mean the average user or the average person :-) ?

I read some human-interest blogs to decompress, my favourite is by a UK paramedic and is at <http://randomreality.blogware.com/>

The problem with these kinds of blogs is that it is hard to jump in the middle (unlike a technical blog where you can start reading at any point). The blog format makes this worse of course- it's generally hard to start "at the beginning". Anyway in this case the guy has written a couple of books covering the highlights so far.

</comment><comment><USER3> I'm a huge fan of The Morning News and Arts & Letters Daily</comment>


Kirk Douglas: 'I never thought I'd live to 100. That's shocked me' - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/feb/12/kirk-douglas-i-never-thought-id-live-to-100-thats-shocked-me <comment><USER3> TIL that Kirk Douglas isn't dead.

<comment><USER4> To be honest, I'd be surprised if most of the crowd in HN knows who Kirk Douglas is. Maybe the smarter ones will figure out he's Gordon Gecko's dad.

<comment><USER5> I would hope that people know who Sparticus really is.

<comment><USER6> No, I am Sparticus!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Aging is an illness, a degenerative process for which evolution has optimized against by reproducing before it takes its toll (death). It is entropy maximizing, dissolving the body. Those processes can be reverted by correctly directing outside energy into the system, in order to achieve reordering (reduce entropy); we just need to find the proper way to do it.

Once we find the root cause of aging, and we devise a cure for it, we will be surprised at why it took so long to understand such a simple problem. The same way we are surprised to hear that people 200 years ago were convinced that heavier-than-air objects could not fly, or that trains traveling at high speed (50 Km/h) would cause irreparable damage to the body.

<comment><USER8> "people 200 years ago were convinced that heavier-than-air objects could not fly"

Did they not have birds back then?

<comment><USER7> They did. People who thought the Earth was flat also had an Earth to check, but it was not enough.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Side note: one son overdosed and one nephew in prison, maybe having everything (post-scarcity, basic income, etc.) could be an issue for society.

</comment><comment><USER10> ashkenazi jews live very long lives. There are plenty of articles about this.

<comment><USER11> Current oldest person still living -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yisrael_Kristal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yisrael_Kristal)

<comment><USER12> Nope: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_verified_oldest_pe...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_verified_oldest_people)

<comment><USER13> The article on Kristal says "oldest living man". Looks like the grandparent misread this as "oldest living person". He's "only" #19 on the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_living_people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_living_people), by the way.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> There are over 53,000 people 100 or older in the US. I imagine with a few advances in medicine, that number could increase 10x, or even 100x, within the next half century.

<comment><USER4> I wont rule out that posibility, but it is much more complex than that.

There is a qualitative difference between causes of death before and after ~75 yo. People in their 60s and 70s have a tendency to die from specific organ failure, - heart disease, liver disease, kidney disease, etc, - <USER2> medicine has gotten really good at dealing with this kind of health problems.

People 80+, on the other hand, have a tendency to die from ageing itself. The deterioration in their body is generalized and they find it harder to bounce back after common illnesses and mild accidents, with a non trivial risk of complications always present. And even if they kind of recover, this just adds to the teardown of general health and it will be a little bit harder to recover the next round.

IMHO, the increase we see in people who reach the 100+ mark has more to do with they being people that have won the "genetics lottery". Their families just seem to age more gracefully and/or slowly than average; we are seeing them appear in greater numbers now because they would have died of specific organic disease a generation ago.

However, I am afraid that in order to see the kind of dramatic increase in maximum life expectancy, we would need to develop a different kind of medicine, one that deals directly with the aging problem, not with specific diseases. I don't think we are that close to such breakthrough as to expect to personally benefit from it, so I will count my blessings if I make it to age 80 or so.

<comment><USER14> We do have Blue Zones from which we can study the genetic aspect:

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

It's a very young science so it's hard to say what we'll be able to do with it. To date, not much research has been done on aging. We could learn a lot in 50 years. The world of 1967 was a lot different than today, for example.

And I would think that the world will change more in the next 50 years than it has in the last 100.

<comment><USER4> Mostly agreed, though I would hedge this to include the fact that it is a non trivial effort to move from basic science to applied science, and from there to professional best practices.

Even if we crack the aging problem within 15-20 years, I do not think that the bulk of doctors that are going to learn the procedures that come out of it in Med school have been born yet. The doctors that would be in a position to invent such procedures might have been born already, but they will reach middle age themselves before they get a chance to develop their breakthroughs.

That being the case, please forgive me if I do not hold my breath.

<comment><USER15> Honestly it seems like doing procedures is less likely to extend your life, unless someone figured out head transplants. ;)

Much more likely that gene therapy will drive therapeutic advances for the next 50 years.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Tesla is impossible to value - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-is-impossible-to-value-2017-8?IR=T <comment><USER2> Sure, and the poster boy for this is Amazon. But if in 1998 Walmart executives had had the insight to recognize that a competitor with much lower costs (just like themselves previously) would be worth competing with directly, well Amazon wouldn't have been the stellar investment it's been.

Will Tesla be as lucky with clueless competitors? Unlikely but, nevertheless will Tesla justify it's current valuation? Probably. Hedging on Musk's continued unabated abilities would be a good idea.

</comment><comment><USER3> I value them at far higher than the market does. See? Not impossible. My valuation comes from intuiting that they will succeed and go on to selling 5M vehicles a year, with industry leading margins because of the embedded software premiums and supply/demand imbalance. Also they have a decent probability at getting a large chunk of the TaaS economy which itself looks inevitable and worth trillions. But yeah, if you want to use 2017 P/E, good luck.

</comment><comment><USER4> Then stop trying... let them prove or disprove themselves and we'll go from there.</comment>


Bitpost – Private decentralized messaging - <AUTHOR> http://voluntary.net/bitpost/ <comment><USER2> I automatically open all posts where I see the words "distributed", "decentralized", "fault-tolerant", and similar catchy ones, and now I'm feeling like I'm a victim of clever marketing.

<comment><USER3> Disclosure: I contributed (in a small way) to this project. I agree. I'm not sure who posted this link but the title should say something about Bitmessage in it.

<comment><AUTHOR> I posted this link after seeing Steve Dekorte's twitter post this morning - [https://twitter.com/stevedekorte/status/493947090507014145](https://twitter.com/stevedekorte/status/493947090507014145)

The posted title simple copies the title/heading verbatim from the webpage.

PS. Sorry for not replying till now... been out all day since posting this.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> The text is super-hard to read, field spacing needlessly big: [http://cl.ly/Wnhs](http://cl.ly/Wnhs)

If the whole idea of this is to have good UI over BitMessage, it's not that good of a UI.

<comment><USER5> I like the minimalism in the UI. Don't know how to get any use out of Channels though. Is it broken?

<comment><USER3> It looks like it's broken. We will fix ASAP. Message me here for an update: BM-2cVsnhcfNkU1D87u4hy7SfYw3qZ9m7Su55

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Not sure if the poster is also the author but why is the application connecting to a server? Is it using a centralised point to connect to the Bitmessage network?

Edit: It also appears to connect to Tor. Perhaps a quick overview of what's happening under the hood could be useful.

<comment><USER7> It's not connecting to a centralized server.

The UI launches a local pybitmessage node in the background which uses tor to connect to the Bitmessage network.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Information is a bit sparse on the page, so here is more information:

Source is available here: [https://github.com/stevedekorte/Bitpost](https://github.com/stevedekorte/Bitpost)

This is a client based on the BitMessage protocol. Here is a whitepaper that describes BitMessage: [https://bitmessage.org/bitmessage.pdf](https://bitmessage.org/bitmessage.pdf)

What I would like to know (since it seems that the original developers are reviewing comments made here it seems): How is this different from PGP? (Wikipedia article in case you're reading this and haven't heard of PGP: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy))

<comment><USER3> PGP AFAIK is simply encrypting the content of an email with the public key of the person you're going to send it to. The address is public. PGP is a bit of a hassle in terms of exchanging public keys and integrating with legacy email clients/web clients.

Bitmessage has additional features, such as the ability to broadcast messages from a public address to all subscribers.

Especially with this client, Bitmessage is actually much more user friendly and powerful.

To simplify,

PGP hides: content Bitmessage hides: content, recipient, sender.

<comment><USER8> PGP isn't just for email.

"PGP is a bit of a hassle in terms of exchanging public keys" this is true, but it's a bit of a necessary evil. How do you accomplish this in a secure and transparent way?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> It requires macos X 10.9. Really frustrating not being able to try out the app (it seems to have a better interface) while bitmessage runs on 10.6.8.

I suppose it uses bitmessage as a daemon and the app is a UX layer over it.

</comment><comment><USER10> I'm also working on database encryption for Bitmessage, such that the data at rest always remains encrypted, regardless of whether the underlying file system is.

</comment><comment><USER11> that's a great interface for bitmessage!

<comment><USER12> Is that what it is, a BitMessage client? The package is not signed, so I am reluctant to open it.

<comment><USER3> Yes. This is a bitmessage client. It is also opensource.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> So is BitMessage like alt.anonymous.messages on top of a blockchain?

<comment><USER3> There is no blockchain. Messages are broadcast (encrypted) to everyone on the network. The biggest similarity to bitcoin is the use of a "Proof of Work" concept. The mechanism for this is different, however.

<comment><USER14> What do you mean by "there is no blockchain"? Are you saying Bitmessage doesn't work on top of Bitcoin?

<comment><USER15> Bitmessage uses similar p2p messaging as Bitcoin (all messages are broadcasted to everyone on best effort basis), similar binary protocol, Base58 encoding for addresses which are hashes of EC pubkeys and per-message proof-of-work to combat spam in Hashcash-manner.

But there's no currency and no blockchain.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> every time i see a service promising privacy i laugh. no company can guarantee privacy, and most companies don't know what they don't know.

<comment><USER17> BitMessage is a pretty neat idea, and this service is only a GUI on top of it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> > centralized services such as email

Stopped reading right there.

<comment><USER19> Email is centralized to a great extent. Think of gmail, yahoo mail or outlook / hotmail.

<comment><USER18> Bitcoin is centralized to a certain extent. Think GHash, etc

See how silly this sounds?

<comment><USER20> Your counterargument sounds silly because _it is_ silly.

Email is a federal system. Even if it's more decentralized than having a single point of failure, it still has authoritative nodes and just a few points of failure (maybe 4-5 instead of a single one, not much of a difference here).

If your system has servers on which clients have to rely, it's not fully decentralized. A fully decentralized system is peer-to-peer only and does not rely on anyone else. You just join the network as a peer and that's all. There's no single point (or a few points) of failure because _everyone_ is authoritative.

If, for example, GMail is taken over your email is gone and any email sent to you thereafter is lost. Your mail address is owned and controlled by GMail, they just allow you access. Even switching from GMail to Yahoo is a burden! All your contacts have to update their address books and all non-updateable media (think printed, downloaded or out of your control, like some whitepapers I published which feature my email) is stuck with your old, unusable address forever. My Bitcoin address is working, regardless of who joins or leaves the Bitcoin network.

Your GMail/GHash simile is misleading. GHash users can leave the pool and they'll still have their coins in their wallet, operating normally. If GHash is closed or DDoSed users could carry on normally, or even switch to another pool if they want to do so.

GHash is external to Bitcoin (a service to gather peers for convenience), while GMail and other massive email servers are critical parts of the system.

Even if you set up your own email server, other servers could refuse to relay email to you, or perhaps DNS servers might choose not to handle your domain... and you're gone. In a federal system, other authoritative nodes have to acknowledge you, which they might not. And even if they acknowledge your existence, your server is still a single point of failure for yourself! And you're still relying on other single-points-of-failure for delivery. Even if your server is fine, you might not be able to deliver messages to your friend in GMail if it's gone.

We've already seen this happening. MtGox is gone, but Bitcoin (the system, not the community) didn't even notice.

<comment><USER21> For all intents and purposes, E-Mail (assuming you are in control of your own domain name) and Bitcoin are equally decentralized.

E-Mail uses DNS information to find ip addresses matching recipients' host names. Bitcoin uses DNS seeds to bootstrap new peers.

E-Mail can avoid using DNS, for example using /etc/hosts (a series of more-or- less hard coded hostname-ipaddr pairs). Bitcoin can avoid using DNS, through a series of hardcoded seed nodes' ip addresses.

Unless the destination host's IP address is known, E-Mail will rely on DNS to discover it. Bitcoin will broadcast the message and hope for its inclusion in the block chain.

DNS providers, E-Mail providers and other participating Bitcoin peers may at any time decide to ignore or block messages or not to forward them. Bitcoin miners may choose not to include messages in the block chain.

Once the destination host is known, E-Mail can transport messages directly through SMTP. Bitcoin can broadcast to any nodes, including the desired recipient.

As far as I can tell, SMTP is _at least_ as decentralized as Bitcoin. And it avoids the problem of having to rely on unreliable peers and picky miners. I'm happy to learn though, so please feel free to point out any mistakes I made.

<comment><USER20> > For all intents and purposes, E-Mail (assuming you are in control of your > own domain name) and Bitcoin are equally decentralized.

I completely disagree.

If your system isn't fully peer-to-peer, it's not decentralized. Period.

The central servers might federate with each other, but it's still not decentralized since you're still relying on central third parties.

Even if you set up your own server, the recipient's server is still a third party you have to rely on.

> Bitcoin uses DNS seeds to bootstrap new peers.

You focus too much on DNS (which I purposely skimmed over in your parent comment, just a single sentence) while I'm talking about the system itself.

In the first place, Bitcoin relies on DNS much less than email: it's easier to replace DNS for Bitcoin (e.g. using list of known seeds, as you said) and it's something you do once (when connecting to the network for the first time), while email relies entirely on DNS for normal operation.

\- If you want to send email to a new unknown domain, you must fetch it's mail server from DNS if you don't know its IP already. And you still have to rely on the destination server proper operation!

\- If you want to send some BTC to a new Bitcoin address, you're good to go as long as you're already connected to the network.

Let's level it: even if you avoid using DNSs both on email and Bitcoin, Bitcoin is still way more decentralized (since it's peer-to-peer) compared to email (which is peer-to-server-to-server-to-peer).

If there's a server inbetween, it's not decentralized.

Also: Bitcoin addresses are not tied to single providers, while email addresses are.

> Bitcoin miners may choose not to include messages in the block chain.

But because it is a decentralized protocol, someone else may choose to include it. That's the magic! If a single peer refuses to do something, there are still thousands of peers which might not refuse! In email, you rely on two authoritative servers, the sender and the recipient. If any of those two fail, communication is interrupted.

Even you can include the transaction (with enough horsepower) or offer some compelling reason for others to include it, such as a huge fee.

In email, if the server you rely on refuses to do something (think of a judicial order)... you can't do anything about it other than changing providers, updating your addresses, sharing your address with your recipient (which you might not be able to), etc.

> Once the destination host is known, E-Mail can transport messages directly > through SMTP. Bitcoin can broadcast to any nodes, including the desired > recipient.

Exactly! Quoting you: _Bitcoin can broadcast to any nodes!_ Even if the recipient isn't even connected, the system keeps working!

That's what makes Bitcoin more decentralized than email.

I'll quote you again: _Bitcoin can broadcast to any nodes!_

> And it avoids the problem of having to rely on unreliable peers and picky > miners.

So you'd rather rely on _a few_ unreliable and picky servers which might be subject to coercion, instead of _a lot_ of unreliable and picky peers which are easily repleaceable without damage or any burden to the system or its users?

The key here is _a few_ vs. _a lot_ , and replaceability of nodes without burden for the users.

<comment><USER22> Technically SMTP can be decentralized in the way you describe. Anyone can run a MTA. In principle a MTA should try routing messages through alternate routes to the destination if the first route does not work; also messages are stored on the way if some routes are blocked.

The fact people do not currently use SMTP in a fully distributed fashion does not detract from the fact that e-mail can be (re-)made fully distributed if/when need be.

<comment><USER20> Kind of, and I acknowledge it here:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8102128](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8102128)

But even then it wouldn't be decentralized.

Everyone would have his own single point of failure, but it's still centralized (as I explain there) because SMTP is designed to rely on centralized services (DNS, which you can't practically avoid) and assumes servers which are single points of failure (even if there are millions of them, you can still be cut off from yours).

A government can disrupt email communications even if everyone has its own server because SMTP assumes single central points of delivery by design.

> if the first route does not work

Bitmessage does it _even if_ the first route works. Which is exactly what makes email centralized, and Bitmessage not.

Imagine a malicious MTA saying "ok, got the message" but not relaying it. The email is gone forever and you wont even notice. In Bitmessage the message will reach its destination one way or another... by design!

If you have to hack email to be more like Bitmessage for it to be decentralized... what's exactly your point? :P</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


What's a virus, anyway? The bare-bones basics - <AUTHOR> https://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2020/04/02/whats-a-virus-anyway-part-1-the-bare-bones-basics/ <comment><USER2> Wise words a former cell biology aware PhD said to me once: a cell is at a scale where van der Waals forces means 'water' isn't behaving like you think and the 'liquid' of a cell is possibly more like a matrix than a fluid. Those high school cell models are very misleading. He basically said macro scale intuition was useless for what it means to pierce the cell wall, as an example. What does "pierce" even mean?

<comment><USER3> Agree! I found ([https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/watch- the-...](https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/watch-the-life- cycle-of-hiv-in-colorful-new-detail/)) to be pretty mind-blowing.

<comment><USER4> Pity I only get 1 upvote. I'd triple-click if I could.

This animation enables one to visualize a single SARS-CoV-2 virion binding with the ACE2 enzyme, entering the host cell, and replicating 4-5 new virions.

One SARS-CoV-2 virion is 125 nanometers wide. By the time it shows up on a CT scan we are talking many, many billions.

It's seems impossible anyone could test positive and still be asymptomatic.

<comment><USER5> > It's seems impossible anyone could test positive and still be asymptomatic.

Why? Most symptoms are part of the body's response switching into overdrive and not a direct consequence of cells getting subverted into virion farms. If the immune system wins without resorting to state of emergency measures like a fever you won't notice, but in the meantime there is a phase of viral replication in the throat.

With SARS-Cov-2 there is even the pattern that detection drops already in the throat of patients that still have a pneumonia raging in their lung (probably because the throat, as a battlefield in this war, somehow favors the immune system more than the lung?), so it's not even a subset/superset relation between symptoms and positive throat PCR, it's a partial overlap.

<comment><USER4> Seems impossible but from observation obviously is not.

Comorbidity is the issue with SARS-CoV-2. It is interesting that some patients testing positive report losing the sense of taste and/or smell while others report digestive problems prior to the onset of acute respiratory problems or even sore throat.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Is there a a good read on how RNA and DNA work for a Computer Scientist? And more generally how biology, genetics, epigenetics, virus, etc work?

Many vulgarization sources say that DNA is like the source code of life. But they mostly skim across the issue and go to conclusions like "this gene or set of genes are responsible for that outcome".

But coming from a CS background that sounds a bit like non-sense. I feel like it is like saying that "this processor instruction is responsible for that outcome". But in the end what is important is not the individual instruction but the interaction between them and the environment (Input / Ouput).

<comment><USER7> I wouldn't recommend trying to understand it through analogy to CS - I'm a biologist and know enough CS to feel uncomfortable really using any of the usual analogies. The problem is that they work ok for a layperson understanding, but are fundamentally wrong enough that if you want to understand it at the level of something like virology you'll be lead constantly astray. I dont know of a better recommendation than "watch some recorder bio 101 lectures or pick up a textbook, and learn it like a bio major instead of a CS major." It's a lot of time commitment, but I think you have to put in the time to actually learn it from first principles.

For context, imagine if I as a biologist asked you, what's a good read on CS for a biologist? And generally how algorithms, data science, AI, and operating systems work?

You can understand why it would be difficult to recommend any readings on it. For me to learn to code at any level, I had to spend the time learning it from the fundamentals, and it was worth spending the time for me as it was far more rewarding than trying to wrap my mind around something like "so imagine source code is this thing that's like DNA + epigenetics + dna topology that codes for the information you want, but instead of a complex set of chemical and physical interactions, it's math, and you can change it at will and nothing is leaky on purpose, and the code you write doesnt evolve unless you tell it to which you might want to do sometimes for AI stuff, but usually not."

<comment><USER8> It's hard not to draw analogies though.

For example, the covid-19 virus's RNA ends with AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (33 As) which, as someone pointed out, looks suspicially like a "NOP sled"[1] (i.e. so that a protein coming in hot can hit anywhere on the sled and then slide down to the actual information)

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

<comment><USER7> A poly A tail is at the end of the transcript, not the start. This is a perfect example of the dangers of analogies because this one is completely incorrect. Poly A tails protect RNA from degradation. A ribosome will not bind to that part, it will bind to something within the 5' untranslated region on the other end of the genome) ribosome binding site, kozak consensus sequence, etc). If you bound to the poly A tail and slide "down," you'd just slide right off the end of the gene.

Definitely nothing wrong with trying to find things that look similar across fields and try and gain differentiated insights, it's certainly an admirable thing and an important part of making many discoveries. But a first principles understanding of the structure of DNA, what a 5' end and a 3' end is, and how transcription/translation works (all bio 101 type stuff) would provide a much better foundation to do that with. You don't need a degree in biology to know the basics, just like you don't need a degree in CS to know the basics, but it's worth learning the basics if you want to get an understanding of the field or work with it.

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

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> > Is a virus a living thing? Maybe.

I remember 20 year ago, at school, when the biology teacher was presenting this dilemma. Ever since, when I hear someone saying "doing this will kill the virus", it triggers my brain into this subject, since you can't kill something if it's not alive ;)

Somewhat related, I also like the concept of the "Viruses of the Mind" [1], which makes an analogy between the spreading of a biological virus and the spreading of an ideology.

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

<comment><USER10> If you can kill a process, or a proposal I don't see why you shouldn't be able to kill a virus -- alive or not!

<comment><USER11> Process reproduce (through forking) metabolize (stdin->stdout) and maintain homeostasis (garbage collection). How could they not be alive?

<comment><USER12> (Morally) Because reproduction without purpose is not life. Necessary but insufficient.

<comment><USER13> what's the purpose of an amoeba? or a mosquito? or a duck? or a chimpanzee?

<comment><USER12> Would you not say they each have more purpose than a virus?

<comment><USER14> Definitely not. Viruses perform key roles in ecosystems, particularly in ocean ecosystems. Their infection and subsequent killing of organisms provides a vital mechanism for cycling nutrients. They also help keep algal blooms in check. Viruses kill 20% of bacteria in the oceans everyday.

Viruses also provide a mechanism for horizontal gene transfer. A protein that is critical to the formation of the human placenta has a viral origin.

Viruses have a massive impact on life, but we're just now starting to realize it.

<comment><USER12> Granted, but to me those seem like side effects.

The virus has no intentionality in doing them. They're a consequence of replication.

In contrast, I think a much stronger case could be made for a chimpanzee, duck, mosquito, or even amoeba evaluating multiple options, choose one to the exclusion of others, and pursueing it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> > Try multiplying a billion billion billion billion by a trillion trillion > trillion trillion, then multiply that by a thousand, and that (10 to the > 31st power) is the mind-numbing estimate of how many individual viral > particles are estimated to populate the planet.

What definitions of "billion" and "trillion" are they using? 10 to the 31st would be only ten million trillion trillion, going by the common definition of million as 10 to the 6th and trillion as 10 to the 12th.

<comment><USER16> Yeah, if you multiply "a billion billion billion billion by a trillion trillion trillion trillion, then multiply that by a thousand" you get a larger number than the atoms in the observable universe.

<comment><USER17> That's a lot of viruses! I'm staying inside.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> > Is a virus a living thing? Maybe.

Maybe Virus is akin to a SEED. Seeds are inert/dead by themselves, but it carries as all the code/DNA/instructions needed to spring to life, flourish & even reproduce infinitely when put in an friendly environment (nourished soil with water, O2 etc)

<comment><USER19> But a virus doesn't "spring to life." A virus is like a seed that just generates more seeds without ever making a plant.

<comment><USER20> The seed analogy may be onto something.

Some viruses don't directly cause the host to create new viruses. Instead they direct the creation of virus creating factories, which create the virus.

Then you get virophages which are even tinier than normal viruses, which infect the virus factories of other viruses.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> What always fascinates me is that biologists talk about how these large molecules bind and self-assemble, and how enzymes control the reactions and so forth, but what are the odds? It's almost like putting the parts in the mixer, and getting your little machine in the output. I have very hard time imagining it, especially in the cell which has thousands different molecules going on inside it, how everything gets in the proper place in the end.

<comment><USER22> Firstly, evolution over billions of years makes it possible. But in more direct answer to your question about how these things self assemble - at this level atomic forces are like little magnets (I mean, literally they are the electromagnetic force) and those cause the atoms to arrange themselves in particular ways. There are lots of videos online showing this, eg. one I picked at random: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muNNSAYZDS8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muNNSAYZDS8)

<comment><USER23> Exactly, molecular self-assembly is completely obvious once one can see the equivalent with his own eyes.

I hope nobody complains "but he shakes the flask" \-- because that is exactly what the temperature is -- how fast the particles "jiggle" as Richard Feynman would that describe:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_y5iKcDdOQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_y5iKcDdOQ)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Geohot has been doing a pretty unscientific but interesting look at the molecular & computational biology side of the coronavirus.

Interesting for coders/hackers

First in the series here: [https://youtu.be/8vWaawiUteM](https://youtu.be/8vWaawiUteM)

</comment><comment><USER25> I always thought the "flightosome" picture was a great way that biologists can demonstrate just how complex biology is.[1]

When you see a biologist draw a system in biology, say, how a protein interacts with a cell membrane and then causes a change in expression within the nucleus, it can look relatively simple.

Well, it's about as simple as drawing how an airplane works. In this example, you have the "flightosome", which is made up of fuselage, wings, cockpit and landing gear. That's what transports passengers from one airport to another.

Simple right? Well even the landing gear component is complex and with biology, we have very little understanding of it at all.

[1][https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2017/02/01/th...](https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2017/02/01/the- flightosome)

</comment><comment><USER3> An insanely detailed molecular simulation of HIV infection is extremely illustrative:

[https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/watch- the-...](https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/watch-the-life- cycle-of-hiv-in-colorful-new-detail/)

</comment><comment><USER26> Someone who is a molecular biologist, please correct my understanding.

DNA is a molecule, made out of 4 amino acids. ACTG. There are 18 different kinds of amino acids. Amino acids are made out of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen. Amino acids make proteins. Proteins are the structural bricks (like LEGO) that are combined in various sequences by enzymes to build more complex machinery.

The proteins make up cell organelles, which make up cells.

How much of how DNA turns into proteins and different proteins build different structures is understood? Do we have a DNA simulator where I can write ACTG code and it tells me what kind of proteins will be made, how those proteins will interact to build complex structures?

How close are we for computer science folks to actually start writing compilers, debuggers, frameworks and simulation tools for DNA and man made cell machinery ?

How far away are we from making custom DNA + cells that act like 3D printers taking collagen and building nanometer precision complex structures?

It seems our cells already do nano manufacturing and computation, how do I tap into that ?

<comment><USER27> DNA is made of nucleic acids (deoxyribonucleic acids), not amino acids. DNA is translated to amino acids, except when it encodes long-noncoding RNAs, or miRNAs, or piRNAs, or untranslated regions, or intergenic regions, or transposons, or psuedogenes.

And the protein coding sequences are coded into proteins, except when there are alternative splicing sites, or anti-sense RNAs.

And then the protein sequence folds into their minimum free energy state, except when they are assisted by other proteins, or when they exist as disordered proteins.

And it's not always DNA -> protein. Sometimes proteins make other proteins, for example circular proteins can only be made from other proteins.

Then there are post-translational modifications, which change the RNA sequence between DNA to RNA and RNA to protein. And then there's RNA interference, where miRNAs interfere with RNA to protein translation.

And then there's epigenetics such as DNA methlyation or histone modifications (histones are protein which compress DNA) which change what genes can be expressed when.

Really, for every rule that you've been taught, there is an exception. Biology is so much more complicated than we understand. And understanding how to make a biological computer (different from the biological computing of Adelman, yes the same Adelman as RSA) would involve understanding how all the pieces fit together.

<comment><USER28> As an outsider, microbiology is hopelessly complex.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> Somewhat funny to think how different I would expect an article with this headline to be if it was posted on HN this time last year.

</comment><comment><USER30> Read this recently and found it fascinating!

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

<comment><USER31> To add on to sources of fascinating information...

At least for me, I had tons of pedestrian questions, as I haven't taken a biology/chemistry course since high school.

A search for virology on the youtoobs led me here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_bOhZd6ieM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_bOhZd6ieM)

I found it to be a homerun in all but addressing my 20-30 questions in these times just in the first ten minutes. To the point. Without the current yt culture of gratuitous cuts and FX.

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> In the case of the coronavirus, we see a significant binding affinity to the ACE2 membrane protein, which explains why the infection targets the lungs and guts so readily.

<comment><USER33> And also why common blood pressure medications which block that same receptor are (probably) and good anti-viral for them.

Losartan is currently in clinical trials for this new usage.

<comment><USER34> My Dr. said that preliminary results indicate that blood pressure medications, generally increase your risk with the COVID-19, as well as Ibuprofen.

<comment><USER35> Is this based on basic research or demographic analysis? Has the research ruled out the possibility that people who are being treated for high blood pressure are more likely to be older and in poorer shape? Because that's a pretty strong confounding effect unless the research in question is a randomized controlled trial.

I've also heard conflicting reports about Ibuprofen. I don't think anyone knows for sure.

<comment><USER36> My initial thought on Ibuprofen is just correlation not causation. How many people who get a fever will try Ibuprofen to try to lower the fever? Probably quite a few. When these people die its easy to say "well they all had Ibuprofen". That doesn't mean it had any effect.

On the flip side, NSAIDs do reduce inflammation and inflammation is part of the body's response to various stressors; I could see that lowering our response leads to worse outcomes when sick. I have always thought that cold medication increases the duration of a cold just from my own observations, so I do find it at least plausible.

I agree on the high blood pressure, if you are on it that means you have hypertension and are likely in poorer shape than someone who does not take it. I can somewhat see diuretics having an impact though as those can flush needed minerals out of your body when your body is in need. They also dehydrate you, so if you are on one and don't get properly hydrated and have a proper mineral balance, I can see that being a big negative.

<comment><USER37> Speculation surrounds ACE inhibitors (ACEI), which are a type of high blood pressure medication, in that they may dampen your immune response to viruses over long time usage. The other speculation is that circulating amounts of ACE2 are increased by ACEI and SARS-Cov-2 specifically binds to ACE2. The confounding aspects are as you suggest that the overall health including kidney health are often poorer in people with hypertension.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> I find this incredibly fascinating. I wasn't aware of how complex these things were.

A few videos that blows my mind on what really happens inside your cells - [https://youtu.be/bee6PWUgPo8](https://youtu.be/bee6PWUgPo8)

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

</comment><comment><USER39> For a deeper dive I'll recommend this lecture series: [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGhmZX2NKiNldpyRUBBEz...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGhmZX2NKiNldpyRUBBEzNoWL0Cso1jip&fbclid=IwAR0dV7y_dk0St28xOmqWLkW1GC4o1YrrZy8RCLWro0q0oTraRq3g7h0fn-g)

</comment><comment><USER40> Question: How is the production of a cell wall encoded (or not) in DNA in a cell's replication process?

</comment><comment><USER26> They say there is a part 2. Where is the said part 2, I couldn't find the link.

<comment><USER41> Looks like it hasn't been posted yet. This article came out today, this is the most recent article from that author, and google didn't turn up anything. It's strange how the end implies that part 2 already exists though.

</comment></comment><comment><USER42> it's sort of the low level live form is hacking the high level one. am i missing something?

<comment><USER43> Natures pentest, red team edition.</comment></comment>


N?A - <AUTHOR> https://www.facebook.com/brianacton/posts/10215136498239451 <comment><USER2> >You must log in to continue.

#createFacebook before you can read #deleteFacebook</comment>


Interview with the CDC director on coronavirus, masks, and an agency gone quiet - <AUTHOR> https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/04/an-interview-with-the-cdc-director-on-coronavirus-masks-and-an-agency-gone-quiet/ <comment><USER2> March 11; this person told Congresscritters "the CDC is overprepared for this crisis" among other odd fantasies.

[https://www.c-span.org/video/?470181-1/cdc-director- redfield...](https://www.c-span.org/video/?470181-1/cdc-director-redfield- testifies-coronavirus&start=1291#)

TFA asks him about his agency's "invisibility"... Assuring us they had everything in hand until it was too late; developing tests that don't work and blocking the use of tests that did... I have to say "invisibility" is the best thing they could pursue right now and hope to survive as an agency.</comment>


Show HN: BrowserFace – Embeddable Chrome Front end. Connect to browser remotely - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/dosyago/BrowserFace.git <comment><USER2> This is so awesome! I've been looking for something like this for a "user testing" use case

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, I'm really glad you thought it was awesome. Sorry for the questions but I think you could have some really useful feedback. What do you mean by user testing? what would you find particularly useful?

I've been told to do a bug replay feature to record exactly what a user tried to do and what went wrong.

<comment><USER2> Not sure if I'm going to build this yet, but I was looking into building a tool that let product designers/managers easily ask customers/user testers to record themselves trying to complete various tasks on a website.

e.g. "go to amazon.com and add an item to your wishlist"

I wanted to see if it was possible to make it so the tester didn't have to install/download anything. It is possible in modern browsers with WebRTC, but it's kinda clunky and doesn't work on mobile/Safari. A "cloud browser" was a solution I looked into a bit, but it seemed too complex for me to try implement on my own, which is why I'm excited to see this exist. Again, I'm not sure I'll end up working on this, so my feedback probably isn't useful, but I'm happy to give it anyway.

Another possible use case is recording for customer support (I run screenjar.com which uses WebRTC for this), but the main issue for this use case is customers would have to log in on the cloud browser which isn't ideal in terms of usability as well as security.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for those ideas, that's super useful. And Screenjar looks awesome! The not working on mobile issue is a reason I wanted to build this so it can be delivered everywhere.

About sessions:

How would clients feel about providing a "login link" for their support customers to login (that is single use and wouldn't expose credentials), and could even be tied to whitelisted IPs for the service?

I've thought about this as well, I don't know if there's an easy solution to get around having people login. Of course if they already have an specific extension installed you could "transfer" the session cookies to the remote browser, but again this is not great for security-appearance. It's easy enough to discard the credentials or provide guarantees they are redacted from recordings but I suppose it depends on how clients and their customers view it.

<comment><USER2> The "login link" makes sense, it would just require more upfront work/dev time from clients. I honestly don't know much about what people would be willing to put up with as Screenjar is super early-stage. I'm just excited that this exists as it's another option to explore when coming across these types of use cases.

<comment><AUTHOR> Okay cool thanks</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: What do people think of Microsoft? - <AUTHOR>

Just received an offer from Microsoft and was curious to know what everyone thought of it, especially in comparison to other big techs.<p>Particularly interested in thoughts on the Satya Nadella era. <comment><USER2> Microsoft shut down its Research Lab in Silicon Valley. The staff included two Turing Award recipients.

The Computer Science Research community was unhappy: [https://thmatters.wordpress.com/2014/10/14/letter-re- closing...](https://thmatters.wordpress.com/2014/10/14/letter-re-closing-of- microsoft-research-silicon-valley/)

Microsoft responded with: [http://blogs.msdn.com/b/msr_er/archive/2014/10/21/harry- shum...](http://blogs.msdn.com/b/msr_er/archive/2014/10/21/harry-shum-open- letter-to-academic-research-community.aspx)

</comment><comment><USER3> They lost out by not getting Alan Mulally and if your senior manger totally screws up a softball Q at an internal meeting like Mr Nadella did - you have messed up big time.

Board should have dumped him quickly over that- sorry to be brutal but at that level you have to be on your A game all the time.

</comment><comment><USER4> They have abusive employment practices. My manager started looking for reasons to fire me, for example he scheduled a "stand up" at eight in the morning, in a conference room far from my office, with just one other person who had nothing to do with our project.

</comment><comment><USER5> Got acquired, worked there a couple of years, didn't enjoy it. The performance review cycle is a train wreck.</comment>


Amazon book prices by SMS (My weekend Project) - <AUTHOR> http://prce.me

<comment><AUTHOR> This is my weekend project, I wanted to build a web app with no web interface. It's ultra-MVP. It's one of those things that isn't terribly useful except when it's exactly what you need. Send a text message to a phone number, and get back the amazon.com price, new and used, with links to buy or add to your wish list. The idea is that when you are in a physical book store, you can quickly check on the price of books, without having to launch an app or web browser and without having to take a picture of the book or barcode as you have to do with some apps.

Please let me know what you think.

</comment><comment><USER2> As a book collector and book lover (I have a web app about books, too) I really love the idea! It is great, and, as you said, it's terribly useful when it's exactly what you need. You could add to options, "AM + ISBN", which would be what you do now, and "EB + ISBN", which would give you the first three titles in eBay and the actual price, just in case :) (I am from Argentina so I won't be able to use it, but anyway, I would use it!)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback. I hadn't thought of searching other sites, but ebay seems like a no-brainer. I could add phone#'s in other countries, but it gets expensive pretty quickly (even with Twilio's low prices).

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Not a bad idea. What I'd really like is an app that tells me when Amazon book prices on my wishlist drop so as that I can try and purchase them all at their cheapest.</comment>


Amazon and Google home speakers get stuck in infinite loop - <AUTHOR> http://www.pcmag.com/news/350050/watch-these-echo-google-home-speakers-get-stuck-in-infinite <comment><USER2> Not infinite. After "tonight" is over the loop will end.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I'm waiting until someone comes up with a Eliza script between the two of these so they can talk all night..</comment>


Fast convolution algorithms with Python types - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/baruchel/karatsuba <comment><USER2> If it meets the guidelines, this might make a good 'Show HN'. Show HN guidelines: [https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html)</comment>


Show HN: Hacking message threading into Slack - <AUTHOR> http://www.talkhq.com <comment><AUTHOR> In the spirit of hacking to make things better(while waiting for Slack to launch their feature...) I bolted on message threading onto Slack. It consists of a two part effort. First using the Slack api to overlay a reference map on to all messages and then secondly, overlaying a UI upgrade onto the slack web client (via JS/dom manipulation encapsulated via a chrome extension).

Conceptually, this means it is possible to also 'upgrade' various other sites/apps that we feel is lacking in some way or another.

Try TalkHq out and tell me what you think!</comment>


Ask HN: What internal data structures does redis use to make it so fast? - <AUTHOR>

I'm wondering how reddit stores its datastructures in memory to make it so fast.If I were to extend redis to store proper tables and json in binary format, how would I do that.<p>Also as a learning exercise how do I make a pure disk based redis. e.g the way sqlite is to sql <comment><USER2> Read the code yourself here: [https://github.com/antirez/redis/blob/unstable/src/dict.c](https://github.com/antirez/redis/blob/unstable/src/dict.c) (It's a classic hashmap.)

JSON in binary format? You mean BSON? Just use MongoDB at that point, or PostgreSQL with JSON support. Redis has tables to an extent, you don't need any more than that.

Also, running on disk versus in memory is very different. Writing in SQLite is done to a Write-Ahead Log and then committed into the file slowly. Reads are done by building a schema to a set of pointer additions and finding objects in b-trees by scanning both the in-memory cache as well as objects on the hard drive. Totally, totally different. Just use the Redis Serialization feature instead. Or, better yet, use MongoDB/PostgreSQL/SQLite as intended.

Aside: the whole point of the Structured Query Language is to take away the lowest level, most basic work from the programmer. That way, he or she can write the logic without worrying about how the logic is performed. Why redo all of that work? SQL exists for a reason: so you don't reinvent the wheel.</comment>


AI is trained using a real life dog - <AUTHOR> https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610775/this-ai-thinks-like-a-dog/ <comment><AUTHOR> Another article is here [https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/14/17234570/artificial- intel...](https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/14/17234570/artificial-intelligence- dogs-research-science-learning)

Recorded a real-life dog over 350hrs, apply representation learning, learn to distinguish walk-able surfaces, and inside/outside.</comment>


Loyalty Oaths Compared: An Orwellian Exercise - <AUTHOR> https://www.econlib.org/loyalty-oaths-compared-an-orwellian-exercise/ <comment><USER2> I think that Berkley's Diversity Oath is not excluding people based on ideology, but rather based on their ability to do the job.

Berkley seems to have taken the stance that part of being employed at the university means making contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The self-authored vow is the way they choose to evaluate candidates on their ability to perform these tasks.

You could argue that making contributions to diversity shouldn't be part of the job description, but this seems like a much harder angle to argue. Then again, maybe in the 1950's the same seemed true of being anti-communist...</comment>


Cringely – how Amazon's Echo Dot could make a good SIDS alarm - <AUTHOR> http://www.cringely.com/2017/04/26/15429/ <comment><AUTHOR> The author's son died in his lap 15 years ago, similar to around 4000 babies in the US each year. Through his grief he's put a lot of time and energy into how a SIDS alarm would and would not work. This idea:

> _The goal of the alarm is to monitor the sleeping baby's heart, detect a > SIDS event, then set off a very loud alarm to rouse the baby because waking > Mama often doesn't work. So the Dot will be listening for the baby's heart, > monitoring its pattern, then blasting a loud noise if SIDS is detected. I > know I just wrote pretty much the same thing twice but the sequence is that > important._

(snip)

> _... you have to know what you are listening for. The American SIDS > Institute (today in Naples, Florida, but in our day it was in Marietta, > Georgia), has an audio library of SIDS deaths that actually happened while > on a heart monitor. Remember what I said about parents being too tired to > hear the alarm? Sadly the Institute has quite a selection of SIDS deaths to > choose from and analysis of those deaths shows there is a characteristic > slowing of the heart prior to a SIDS death. In every case the pattern (the > rate of deceleration) is the same and the result is that death can almost > always be predicted several minutes before it actually happens. That's > plenty of time to intervene, IF you know to do so._

Really the whole article gives great background into more related issues, and how the tech landscape today is much more capable of creating a useful alarm compared to 2002.</comment>


Shipping $36000 worth of Japanese candy - <AUTHOR> http://bemmu.posterous.com/first-year-of-candy-japan <comment><USER2> To get more subscribers, I think you ought to be:

\- Writing about Japanese candy. \- Making videos about Japanese candy. \- etc.

Doing this will attract people interested in Japanese candy, and will pull in potential and real subscribers. Over the long term I think this could be good. I also think the topic of "Japanese Candy" is big enough for you to write/video about it once or twice a week.

As for the service itself - I think it lends well to word of mouth, or at least it could. People get their candy and share it with others, and those others ask where you got their candy. I was a subscriber for probably 4-5 months, and at least two of my friends signed up because of my word of mouth.

Thing is, all three of us have unsubscribed - and for all three of us, it actually came down to the quality of the candy (or perhaps, it came down to our tastes in candy). I know originally (and maybe still) your thing was about sending people Japanese candy they can't get outside of Japan too easily. That's good and all, but in the end, after a while we all realized the candy itself in terms of quality / taste was hit or miss... and with subscription, you can't have too many misses before someone unsubscribes. I'd say I personally enjoyed the candy I got half the time, so I just unsubscribed because it wasn't worth it.

I think finding candy that people will like rather than candy people find different or original is much more important. I think that's the difference between gaining more subscribers naturally through word of mouth and losing subscribers.

At least, that's my opinion on it. I do hope you start revving sales up again, though. I loved the candy when I loved the candy, and I think it's a good idea, but between myself and friends we unsubscribed because we didn't always love the candy :(

<comment><AUTHOR> This was interesting, thank you.

I'm not sure how to only send the good ones, and that would depend on the recipient's tastes as well. Part of the idea is to try new things, so it seems unavoidable that as I go through all the varieties out there, people will not like some of them.

Some people don't like gummy candy, some really do. Some people are really into "construction kit" type candy, some hate the effort involved and so on.

Perhaps there could be a way to make the subscribers feel like they didn't lose out even if they got something they really hated, but not sure how that would work exactly.

<comment><USER2> I agree, taste is super hard to figure out -

Maybe if you ran some kind of candy A/B Test.

Send two different kinds of envelopes to people, and keep track of who got what. Then, send a survey to these people to have them rate the candy's they received. After a few months, you should start to have a general idea on what types of candies are liked more and what types are liked less. Even though you'll never have a taste-consensus, you can get a general idea, and modify what kinds of candy you send and the amounts of the kinds of candies you do send.

Or, another way would be to send all the same candy to everyone and send out a survey. Then the next two weeks send another set of candy and run another survey.

Whatever you do / don't do, getting stats and info is really nice.

You can't, unfortunately, please everyone :( so might as well please a group of people _a lot_ and get a group of really evangelical fans, I think.

<comment><AUTHOR> Right, the only trouble is that if I want to create a community, I have to send the same thing to everyone, otherwise there can be no common discussion about it.

If I totally abandon the community aspect though, then I could start designing the ultimate sequence of candy that maximizes retention. Not sure which is better.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Candy, coffee, cigars, women's shoes/accessories...

There seems like a ton of subscription businesses around and I almost feel there might be room to create a white/gray-label platform that can handle the website, subscription management, payment and shipping labels to potential operators of these kinds of services.

Wondering how big the addressable market is.

UPDATE: <http://member.ly> already does this according the child comments - awesome!

<comment><USER4> I launched <http://teapeat.com> a little over a month ago. I like to call it TAAS: Tea as a Service.

I've had a decent amount of signups since then, but it has leveled off. I hope to share what I've learned so far very soon.

<comment><USER5> As a tea neophyte, I strongly suggest that you add a link to recommended equipment for brewing loose-leaf tea. I have considered trying to get into tea several times, but could never figure out exactly what I should buy if I want to brew loose leaf tea. (I'm sure I could find something, but I only like buying things off of recommendations.)

This could do 2 things for you:

1) You could earn some money off of an affiliate program.

2) People like myself who are new to tea are unlikely to subscribe to your service without some help. Tell me what I need to enjoy tea (include brewing directions if they don't come with your tea), and I'm much more likely to subscribe.

I would specifically recommend that you recommend a single product with a direct link—not a type of product or brand.

<comment><USER4> Thanks. I will definitely do that. I actually thought about selling tea "equipment" through the site but for it to be economical I would have to buy a decent quantity. Using an affiliate program may indeed be the better option at this point.

<comment> a-priori Maybe have a deal where if they pre-pay some number of months, you'll include that equipment with their first order?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Why don't you buy candy directly from one or two Japanese suppliers rather than pay for the supermarket's margin?

Although that wouldn't address your decline in subscriptions it would improve your bottom line.

<comment><AUTHOR> I do get a bit of discount from them (5%). Mostly it's just really convenient since they save me a lot of time by doing the packaging on site. Maybe if I reached really big volume then it would start making sense. The price of product is only 23% of the cost even now. Shipping is the biggest one at 33%.

<comment><USER7> Would it reduce your shipping costs if you shipped all candy to your US subscribers to one person in the US, who would then mail out the individual packages? Just a thought.

<comment><AUTHOR> Then I would become the importer and would need to pay for customs clearance of my bulk package too. I would need to start cooperating with the manufacturers to get them to help me with the necessary paperwork.

At the scale I am in, I doubt anyone wants to talk with me since I'm only buying $1000 worth of their product (I cycle through different candy so don't buy that much from single manufacturers) as it is. Also not all of my subscribers are in the US, I have many in Canada, Germany and all over the place.

<comment><USER7> Ah, I didn't realize that about needing customs clearance. I know that not all of your subscribers are in the US. I was just using the US as an example.

In that case, how about partnering with people in each country who live in large enough cities that they can acquire Japanese candy themselves (at the Japanese mall or whatever), and then ship to the subscribers in that country? As I think a few people have pointed out, the real benefit to a subscriber is if they live in a rural place with no access to Japanese candy.

Again, I have no idea if this would reduce your shipping costs in the end, but I'm curious if it would. I think that there are not a lot of people who both (a) don't have access to Japanese candy themselves, and (b) are willing to pay $24 a month for it (since high earners tend to live in larger cities).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> You should be targeting tech startup's kitchen staff with this. Imagine if the people who stock Google or Facebook's food pantries bought a bunch of subscriptions. You could also target campus stores at universities with a large Asian population.

<comment><USER9> @bemmu maybe you should get in touch with the guys at Zerocater. Try emailing Andrew Badr, firstname.lastname@example.com.

<comment><AUTHOR> Alright, trying that.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I had heard of your service before and thought it was a really neat idea! I wished there was a service like yours for getting paprika chips in the US. For some reason, it is nearly impossible to get them here. At one point I even thought I'd start a service that regularly ships just these chips to people in the US/Canada. When I looked into the import laws though, I was very confused how to navigate through them. I've heard the people who did the Zico coconut water had to get rid of their entire first shipment because they weren't allowed to bring their goods into the US. Any suggestions on how to navigate these complex regulations?

<comment><AUTHOR> Afaik if you send directly to someone abroad, you are not the one importing it, rather the recipient is.

I did look into importing a bulk of product to US and then shipping from a hub there. I got as far as the FDA page where I was supposed to register my product. The FDA site requires you input the code of the factory the product is produced in. I tried asking the manufacturer for the factory code, but they weren't interested in helping me.

At my scale it probably doesn't make sense yet, anyway. But since you asked, you at least need to get that factory code and fill some forms on the FDA site.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I love your idea and love candy more than you can imagine; however I found the service quite expensive and since I live in a big city I can find most Japanese candy in Chinatown (yes, there are some Japanese shops in London's Chinatown). I did assume the shipping pushed up the cost and it turns out to be correct. If I didn't live in a big city though, the cost probably wouldn't be an issue. Best of luck.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, if you have a local shop that is importing bulk amounts, you are probably better off buying from there if you're not after the surprise element.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I love these stories on HN about travelers supporting themselves through entrepreneurial means. It gives me inspiration to do it myself.

<comment><USER13> Any links to other stories of travelers supporting themselves through entrepreneurial means?

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I grew up in SEA (South East Asia) and ever since I moved to Canada, one of first things I notice was the lack of high quality stationery and junk food - essential for any students. Naturally, Japan/Korea/Taiwan are the places to go for excellent craftsmanship.

Perhaps you could try targeting a different audience. While through sites like HN is great, try going for a younger audience. I grew up in the 90s, it was always fun to share and showoff something new in school (but then again there was no iPhone, or iPad etc) But I'm not so sure about today's teen generation's mentality, and their willingness to subscribe something monthly.

Very intrigued by this concept though.

</comment><comment><USER15> Reminds me of Joel's post on streamlining a shipping process [http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/HowToShipAnything.htm...](http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/HowToShipAnything.html)

<comment><AUTHOR> Joel's post was useful. I managed to avoid buying that $1000+ label printer they use. Instead I have a script that makes a PDF of labels and then I go to the convenience store, discreetly replace the paper in the common expensive looking copy machine with labels and print with that. Prints 300 labels in under 5 minutes this way.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Hi bemmu.

We met at a meetup just before Startup School last year. I remember you telling me about your Japanese candy selling business. Glad to see you post an update about it. Best of luck!

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, I recall you also have a Japanese wife. Startup School was a lot of fun, hoping to get a chance to visit SF again too.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> You might try once a month. Do a poll and see how people would react. you have been so honest thus far, I think continuing to say that it will be very difficult to continue with the existing profit margin will allow subscribers to take a hit. Example: they pay $15 for one shipment per month. You will most likely keep most subscribers and potentially gain the cheaper ones who don't want to pay $24 for Japanese candy

</comment><comment><USER18> That video on your site is so surreal. In that way it really fits with the Japan-theme.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. Having a video on the site has also improved conversions a lot. I suppose it gives people confidence in subscribing to see that there are actually people in Japan running this service.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Have you considering putting a phamplet in each envelope that people can give to friends who can try it at half price for the first month or so? That way you could get access to new potential customers.

You could also make it more enticing for people to give the phamplet to someone by rewarding people who have friends sign up.

<comment><AUTHOR> Good idea, I should probably include something anyway to explain what the package contains. I could make a combined candy explanation + referral pamphlet and include that.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Have you considered offering a second "chocolate"-focused subscription? Things like green tea pocky, sweet potato kit kats, or even those little pocky-style mushrooms. After reading your post I signed up for the $13 sample, but $24/mo is a little high for me when I'm not a huge fan of the sort of candy you're mailing out. It would also hit on koichi's issue where some people are more concerned about quality than novelty.

For what it's worth, I'd pay $15/mo for one package or $30/mo for two packages - personally, the difference between $24 and $30 is negligible, given how much I'd already be paying. I currently pay ~$50/mo to have Steaz and/or other iced teas delivered (cheaper than going to Dunkin' Donuts once a day), so the issue isn't really price, rather it's the relative value compared to, say, $24/mo of drinks.

<comment><AUTHOR> I tried sending chocolate before. It was an embarrassing disaster, the goods got delivered damaged. If I try that again I have to up my packaging first.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Have you considered the possibility of starting distribution branches? For example, might you save on shipping if you shipped via a single shipment to a central location (country) where your primary subscription base is. From there, mailing them from the central hub to the clients. For example, if you set up a US branch and then sent them via UPS or FEDEX to the customers. Obviously the shelf life of the candy is figures into this process, but if its mostly hard candy I imagine it probably has a couple months of shelf life. Maybe you could offer a 4 or 6 month subscription plan at a lower rate.

<comment><AUTHOR> I'd like to try this, but not sure how to proceed with FDA. If you know anyone who has done this with food, I'd love to learn.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> If you are solely relying on the site to drive your subscriptions - it could use some work..

1\. High-res pics of candy and call to action above the fold.

2\. Registration/Membership on-site not just paypal sub link.

3\. Video is great, but it would help to have, sorry to be frank, less amateur shaky cam in favor of something a little more pro that gives me confidence in handing over money every month to a person out there.

You should also consider reaching out to daily deals sites with a "discounted membership" deal that could really move the needle for you.

I think this is pretty awesome, I'd love to see how this develops...

</comment><comment><USER23> I'm a subscriber to Candy Japan and I love it. Nice work Bemmu!

</comment><comment><USER24> This guy is going to eventually run afoul of the US Customs and the FDA. <http://bit.ly/w2XSMA>

"Food that is sent to an individual in the U.S. for personal use (i.e. not for resale) by a business is subject to special requirements of the Food and Drug Administration. Businesses that send goods to the U.S. must file prior notice. Prior notice may be filed on-line if the goods are being sent through the postal service."

<comment><AUTHOR> I'd love to work with FDA to make sure I follow all the rules, but so far they have ignored my emails. Perhaps I will try to reach them by phone some night.

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> This is a bit late but there seems to be a market for: [http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&...](http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rihga.co.jp%2Fosaka%2Fleclat%2Fplanet.html)

kind of candy in the US. Consider importing it if only to raise your brand identity by getting it featured on novelty blogs.

</comment><comment><USER26> Here's an idea to generate some revenue: Some people might love some specific candy you sent. Let people buy packs of that candy through you.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, I should seriously consider this. Again I probably couldn't send very big bulk amounts without getting the recipient in trouble with customs.

Another reason I haven't done this yet is that I would need inventory control again. I was running an ecommerce store once and it does add a bit of extra work to make sure you have every item you claim to have and to be able to pick and pack them efficiently. Basically need barcodes and labeled shelves.

<comment><USER27> I was wondering about this, too. We haven't been able to get Puccho Grape around here for months now.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> Have you done any marketing towards otakus? Also, have you done about expanding it to other Japanese goods? like tea? dried fruit? cookies?

<comment><USER29> This was my thought exactly - Find out where the candy otakus and/or japanophiles hang out, and test buying advertisement there, in whatever form is available/can be negotiated. This might look like banner ads, blog sponsorship, etc. Test and measure what converts to subscriptions, and renew with the ones that work.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> This gave me an idea of shipping dark rye - eastern european kind of bread. They do have rye bread in UK, but it is completely different from the real thing. I wasn't able to find any "lithuanian bread" online, maybe the nature of the product is difficult to ship. I think most breads shelf life is like 3 days, with some extremes of 10 days..

<comment><AUTHOR> Issue with rye bread is that unless it is really fresh, it loses a lot of flavor.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> On the traffic and subscribers front, I'd recommend reading everything that patio11 has written about Bingo Card Creator: <http://www.kalzumeus.com/>

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm a big fan of patio11, read his posts and even went to see his talk in Osaka. The idea of scalable content creation was interesting and I have been thinking about how to apply it here. I'm starting by having individual pages for each candy, for example <http://www.candyjapan.com/chelsea-butter-scotch>

Not sure if that will really be applicable to this, though. I should go back and re-read his posts.

<comment><USER32> I'd say a good goal would be to rank #1 for long tail searches like "where can I buy FOO_CANDY in the US?" for the top 50 best selling Japanese candies.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> What about advertising on manga forums? They still seem to be popular

</comment><comment><USER34> Would you deliver candy toy cooking sets?

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr-qewC-4gY>

<comment><AUTHOR> This one would not fit in a normal envelope. What happens in the US when you get something that doesn't fit into your mail slot?

I just know that in Finland, in such cases you have to go to the post office to get the package, so I've tried to avoid sending such things as part of the regular shipments. I might still add an option to order those separately.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> maybe if you made it not just japanese candy but candy from all over the world, it just seems like a service that could work.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! Perhaps other countries could be added and there could also be an overall subscription to get from any country, it's a good idea. I do feel I should get this working well for Japan before expanding.

<comment><USER36> Also, the price is a bit high for candy... have you tried a one envelope a month subscription?

<comment><AUTHOR> I could try that, but am hesitating a bit to introduce more complexity to this, since then I would have multiple tiers of subscribers.

<comment><USER29> Do you have to precommmit to the grocery store with how much candy you'll buy? If not, then really the only added complexity would be the label printing step - you just print some labels on different frequencies from others. If I were you, I'd be listening carefully to the feedback you're hearing in these comments - seems like there's a lot of demand for a less frequent/less expensive option.

If you want more data on whether you should do this, try asking customers that have canceled their subscription if they'd stay on if it was once a month. Also, think about running an a/b test with once a month vs twice a month...

<comment><AUTHOR> No, I don't need to precommit. There is nothing really preventing me from doing this.

I want to say yes to this experiment, but immediately come up with more stuff that this would require that holds me back from adding it right now.

With tiers you will eventually have people who want to upgrade / downgrade between the tiers (of course I can just say you can't do that). I need to change my scripts that scan PayPal to support these tiers and still correctly figure out who to send to.

Need a tier selection page and this will also complicate wording on the main page. Not missing out on those customers who only wanted one envelope a month seems it might make this worth doing, agreeing with you there and hoping to find the time to add this.

<comment><USER37> I agree, I don't think your churn rate is so bad that you need to offer any more levels. I would put all your work into acquiring new subscribers first. Every business is going to have churn, but the only way to grow is with new customers.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> Did you get the email I sent back with ideas? I love what you're doing, but there has to be some community formed around it.

</comment><comment><USER39> Try <http://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/>

</comment><comment><USER40> Do you have to pay customs/duty?

<comment><AUTHOR> Nope, since I am not the one importing them. Recipients do not need to pay either, since the envelopes are small and fall under the customs limits.</comment></comment>


Scalar Types and PHP - <AUTHOR> http://blog.ircmaxell.com/2015/02/scalar-types-and-php.html

<comment><USER2> My concern is with the internal php functions, assuming this scalar typing is enforced. How does one handle a function such as array_key_exists, or any function that has a mixed parameter?

Are you left to re-factor your code to explicitly cast each index prior to use?</comment>


OpenSSL Says Breach Did Not Involve Corrupted Hypervisor - <AUTHOR> http://www.informationweek.com/security/vulnerabilities-and-threats/openssl-says-breach-did-not-involve-corrupted-hypervisor/d/d-id/1113308

<comment><AUTHOR> context - [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7002720](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7002720)</comment>


How  A Solicitor Can Help You At Christmas - <AUTHOR> http://thblegal.com/blog/5-ways-a-solicitor-can-help-you-at-christmas/

<comment><USER2> I'd flag this if I could.</comment>


React List Helper - <AUTHOR> https://www.npmjs.com/package/flatlist-react <comment><AUTHOR> A React package that allows you to handle lists of anything like a pro</comment>


The Spy Novelist Who Knows Too Much (2013) - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/magazine/gerard-de-villiers-the-spy-novelist-who-knows-too-much.html <comment><USER2> > Other pop novelists, like John le Carré and Tom Clancy, may flavor their > work with a few real-world scenarios and some spy lingo...

This seems like an unfair characterization of Carré who actually worked as a spy for both MI5 and MI6 and who introduced the word 'mole' as slang for a sleeper agent into the english language.

<comment><USER3> You're not kidding - calling le Carre a "pop novelist" to begin with, let alone lumping him in with a hack like Tom Clancy, is selling him desperately short.

<comment><USER4> > lumping him in with a hack like Tom Clancy

While not all of his 17 best sellers merited their sales, I'd say a handful of them were good enough to set Clancy a far cry away from a 'hack'.

<comment><USER5> Did Tom Clancy write each of those books? It'd be interesting to see if he's less hacky if we ignore the ghost-written books.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> After this article, my wife visited Paris and went to the FNAC (department store) to pick up one of these books for me. She asked the clerk and he said "Oh, we don't have those books here, you should go to the "Tabac" (a hole in the wall store where you buy newspapers, cigarettes, bus tickets, and junk food.)

It's funny that the French public puts this guy about two steps below Jack Reacher and Dirk Pitt. The covers always feature a overly made-up, blonde, Eastern European in some sort of fancy underwear/fetishwear holding some kind of fancy gun.

Anyhow, I got my SAS novel and enjoyed it.

<comment><USER7> Well, it's pretty trashy. The fact that the books are well-documented doesn't make up for the lack of writing ability (also, I think every book has the same sex scenes, more or less). They're part of a genre called "roman de gare" ("train station books"): pulp books only fit for reading in the train (and presumably discarding once read).

<comment><USER8> There is no lack of writing ability. The writing ability has almost no correlation with the genre. SAS is not badly written. Even in the worst collections (like [http://www.harlequin.fr/collections](http://www.harlequin.fr/collections)), you can find books that have been written by students who became famous authors.

<comment><USER9> Then what does set them apart from novels with better reputations, if not style? I don't think it can be just the topic, and I don't believe it's just some arbitrary value that society assigns to what is high vs. low brow.

<comment><USER10> It is arbitrary. Compare e.g. treatment of Jane Austen (or heck, Shakespeare) at the time and today.

Academic literature forms a clique (I mean this descriptively rather than pejoratively). The critics and the writers all know each other, are largely the same people.

<comment><USER7> Well, compare Le Carré's writing and De Villiers. Or if you want to compare two right-wing French writers, take Vladimir Volkoff and De Villiers. Volkoff forgot more about writing than De Villiers ever knew.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Here is an English translation of his first book, "The turkish Affair" and it is a free e-book.

[https://books.google.com/books?id=dy0NAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA171&lpg=...](https://books.google.com/books?id=dy0NAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA171&lpg=PA171&dq=the+turkish+affair+villiers&source=bl&ots=cCmNkexkJw&sig=jhi4EylJbuBqZeU5nVVKWpV4pHw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAWoVChMIt5O8_tnexgIVzwuSCh3CQQD2#v=onepage&q=the%20turkish%20affair%20villiers&f=false)

<comment><AUTHOR> Fencepost error, you're off by one century (and one first name) ...

P.S.

A cursory search hooked me up with this most scrumptious page of Spectator archives, featuring OCR text and zoomable images of the original pages for a June 1853 issue: [http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/25th- june-1853/1/the-...](http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/25th- june-1853/1/the-turkish-affair-has-taken-a-turn-which-rather-p)

Besides the arch deriding of a Russian _' "circular note," which professes to be condescendingly frank, is equivocatingly dishonest, and cannot help being arrogantly insolent'_ , on the image of page 2 there's a concise report on a House of Lord's debate on the introduction of an income tax, expected to be abolished in 1860 ...

<comment><USER11> I blew that, my apologies.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Died later that year :-/ [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/world/europe/gerard-de- vil...](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/world/europe/gerard-de- villiers-83-french-spy-writer-dies.html)

<comment><AUTHOR> The byline in that obituary is the same, Robert F. Worth, but it does have some other details on Villier's life.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Previous discussion (5 comments) on HN: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8912397](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8912397)

</comment><comment><USER14> After reading the original article when it was first posted, I picked up a few across the entire range (they're available for a few euros in French on Kindle) including all of 1-27 and read through them to see what the fuss is about.

My opinion FWIW:

\- the early books (1-20 or so) are pretty good and similar in tone and observations to non-fiction of the period written by those who lived it (Mike Hoare, Mike Calvert... even Jacques Foccart). There's a lot of interesting claims, which seem ridiculous and with a bit of research appear to be grounded in some form of reality. Even the names that come up seem to have done what is claimed that they have done (e.g. Gehlen). The local flavour is fantastic, the Iron Curtain stuff even more fascinating from being gone today. The books are extraordinarily politically incorrect in every way you care to list, racism, sexism, colonialism, great admiration for aristocracy and classism... there is no way a modern editor will ever approve a translation, or a translator will ever put their name on the job. Despite the tone, they are the most interesting ones in terms of actual content. Some are creative - the Hollywood plot definitely is the result of an active imagination.

\- The middle books (e.g. "Panique au Zaire") get pretty trashy in a Roger Moore Bond kind of way (but one with the sex scenes left in). There's still some "local colour" (e.g. in aforementioned, an exploration of Lebanese networks in Africa) but it's buried under fairly boring and flat plots. At some point I started skipping most and picking a few titles in locations of interest. For example, the photos of De Villiers with Savimbi hint that he might have interesting things to say about Angola, and I read the one on Singapore because I live there. Oddly enough he becomes more politically correct, especially regarding racism and colonialism, almost a 180 degree turn; "Compte a Rebours en Rhodesie" is profoundly anti-Rhodesian and anti- apartheid and has the aristocratic, blond-haired, "golden-eyed" S.A.S. go help one of the Rhodesian resistance movements whilst continuously expressing disgust towards the white Rhodesians. The books are somewhat worth reading for snapshots into fast moving political situations that look nothing today like they did back when the book was written.

\- The last books claim a lot of things which seem possible but which we will never know about. E.g. "La Vengeance du Kremlin" claims Litvinenko was acting FOR the FSB/GRU, accidentally poisoning himself whilst preparing the dose, and Cameron covered up the poisoning for political reasons as he was trying to get things from Putin. I thought they were interesting books presenting a non- mainstream POV (and "higher up gossip") but not as insightful as the early ones, and more political.

Fun fact: De Villiers selected the cover girls himself in the street, sometimes asking his contacts for "the right kind of girl" (said in a Helmut Newton accent).

France is the elephant in the room in all the novels, especially considering many of the locations.

</comment><comment><USER15> This is not of interest to HN readers.

<comment><USER16> I thouroughly enjoyed the read so I suppose I should be on my way then.

I struggle to see the purpose of a comment like this when a good chunk of the point of an algorithm/crowd driven news aggregator is that we don't have to defer to one persons finger in the wind judgement on the matter. We can just wait and find out.</comment></comment>


The Death of the Autodidact - <AUTHOR> http://thebaffler.com/blog/death-autodidact-mangla <comment><USER2> The deaths in Oakland are an illustration of why architects are licensed. They're licensed because legal construction requires building permits. And build permits exist so that fire inspections are less necessary. And fire inspections exist because people construct stupid things that lead to the deaths of other people.

Mies and Wright both had licenses to practice architecture. It's what allowed them to practice in the mid 20th century as license laws became common. License laws became common as building code become common. Building codes became common after the Triangle Shirtwaiste fire.

There are problematic professional licensure categories. Barbers aren't one of them. The practice is licensed because hygienic practices are necessary to reduce the spread of disease. It's why I probably won't get headlice or a bloodborne illness from a shave and a haircut.

<comment><USER3> > Mies and Wright both had licenses to practice architecture.

Which proves that licenses may be necessary to prevent dangerous architecture, but certainly aren't sufficient to prevent hideous architecture.

> There are problematic professional licensure categories. Barbers aren't one > of them. The practice is licensed because hygienic practices are necessary > to reduce the spread of disease. It's why I probably won't get headlice or a > bloodborne illness from a shave and a haircut.

What level of licensure or inspection is required? How certain are you that the current level is the correct level?

<comment><USER2> I am certain that the current level of barber licensing is more correct that the non-licensing advocated by the article for the public health reasons I listed.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Is this a problem? If so, can anything be done about it?

The notion that formal training from a reputable institution should count for more than self-learned skills doesn't seem particularly problematic. And even the notion that credentials from highly regarded and highly selective institutions should count for more than those from less distinguished institutions also seems ok. Of course they do. How could they not?

But maybe I am missing something. If so, I'm sure the internet will promptly inform me of it.

<comment><USER5> This article doesn't really express the death of the autodidact, but rather than the rejection of the autodidact in Silicon Valley enterprises.

I've seen in this article no references to statistics showing that there are less autodidactic learning now than earlier.

I've not seen either references to statistics showing that there were fewer autodidacts amongst startup entrepreneurs.

I would rather think that with the development of the Internet, of MOOCs, youtube channels dedicated to teaching, and the mere availability of books from the Internet, there is nowadays more autodidactic learning than ever.

For make no mistake, learning anything from a MOOC is really autodidactic: the requirements to pass the MOOC exams are usually minimum, if you want to learn something, you will have to do your own study well beyond what is required to get the little certificate.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Half-OT: Could it be that OOP was favoured for many years, because most professional developers were autodidacts and now that more people get CS degrees, we see a rise of FP?

<comment><USER4> I don't think there is a connection between OOP and autodidact developers. Do you see one?

<comment><USER6> The connection I saw, was FP has a steeper learning curve and favours higher math concepts that manye autodidacts are lacking, so they would naturally go into learning OOP.

<comment><USER7> I could argue the opposite, that working developers who have an autodidactic bent tend to be attracted to FP, while those who picked computer science because it is a good career learn OOP in school and stick with it.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Meet Microsoft's guru of 'design matters' - <AUTHOR> http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2014555677_microsoftbuxton21.html

<comment><USER2> Obviously I am not commenting from experience with Microsoft's design process, just from the article. But what little the article says is deeply disturbing.

It says that Buxton told Ballmer they needed to fix the design process. There's your problem right there. If they want to turn their design around, the conversation should involve Ballmer telling the troops to get cracking. It needs to be Ballmer's passion, not the passion of some gadfly wandering around trying to evangelize the company while being bereft of authority or responsibility for any single product line.

Design involves making painful decisions. It's not just pretty skins, it's an exercise in leaving things out. That's intensely political, and the only people with the authority to play that game are the people who have responsibility for shipping the products.

Joel Spolsky (<http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/TwoStories.html>):

      At Microsoft, if you're the Program Manager working on the Excel
      macro strategy, even if you've been at the company for less than six
      months, it doesn't matter - you are the GOD of the Excel macro
      strategy, and nobody, not even employee number 6, is allowed to get
      in your way. Period.

Does this sound like the kind of place where Buxton can wander around getting product managers to make trade-offs between their precious list of check-box features and good design?

The goal is noble, but this is not the way to change Microsoft's behaviour.

</comment><comment><USER3> > Bill Buxton is multiplatform the way Leonardo da Vinci was multiplatform.

I'm not a native speaker, but isn't polymath a better word to explain interest and expertise in multiple fields?

<comment><USER4> It doesn't say he's good at different kinds of math, though.

Kidding, but the average newspaper reader wouldn't know what a polymath is. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of smart people who couldn't tell you what a polymath is. It's a word that is not a common/standard word in the English language, but one that hackers tend to use and love. Kind of like "autodidact."

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> >He has the unique ability to speak about technology without actually talking about technology.

This sounds like a euphemism for talking out your ass.

</comment><comment><USER4> If the article is a reflection all the substance about design the guy could muster, I think I figured out Microsoft's problem. What exactly has he contributed?

I know nothing about this guy, so maybe he's a genius, but I've never heard of him before this article.

<comment><USER6> Buxton is a prominent name in the field of UX, and the book referenced in the article (Sketching User Experiences) is a seminal text in the field.

I think the failings you point out are more about the inability of the press to shoehorn both introduction and meaning into a thousand words, and less about Buxton himself.

On a related note: I think every software developer would be well-served by reading Sketching User Experiences. There is a false dichotomy between developers and designers, to my mind; many of the lessons about understanding your audience and the process of "ideation" and refinement apply equally to both disciplines.

<comment><USER7> I thought seminal texts were by Norman, Raskin and Cooper. Buxton? Never heard of him.

<comment><USER8> I honestly hope you are a backend dev and not s designer. You'd have to go out of your way as a designer to have not heard of him.

<comment><USER7> I am sure wast majority of the designers never heard neither Buxton nor those names I mentioned.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Is he showcasing the extent of his expertise via the design of his personal Web site? <http://www.billbuxton.com/>

It looks to me to be a mock-off of Jakob Nielsen's <http://www.useit.com/>

</comment><comment><USER10> The guy's office is messy and far from stylish. This is the design guru at Microsoft?!

I think the photo says it all.</comment>