Siege – HTTP load tester and benchmarking utility - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/JoeDog/siege <comment><USER2> Siege is great! Really nice and easy to use.

Also noteworthy is Tsung[0], which is (far) more complicated but can speak more protocols, be configured to emulate user behaviour a little more closely and send crazy amounts of traffic.

[0]: [http://tsung.erlang-projects.org/](http://tsung.erlang-projects.org/)

<comment><USER3> Tsung also has the interesting property of modeling traffic as individual user sessions, with probabilistic thinktimes and dynamic variables. Makes it possible to test your app in a much more realistic way than most tools, which just benchmark a series of identical requests or replay a log.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> As far as I can tell, siege/vegeta/ab/boom/wrk are all affected by Coordinated Omission, which makes their results of little value. The only tool I'm aware of doing this properly is wrk2. I'm not sure about the distributed tools, free JMeter or hosted like gatling.io and blitz.io, but I'm fairly certain that they all suffer from the same problem.

If you're reaching for a tool like that and can code in Go, implementing a correct one is very easy (~200 loc): just spin up new goroutines for each request at a regular interval.

<comment><USER3> If you write your own, how do you suggest avoiding the same coordinated omission error as those tools?

<comment><USER4> Those tools all make use of a pool of workers. Say you want 1000 RPS, they'll make something like 100 workers and make them do 10 RPS each. To make 10 RPS each, their requests all must take at most 100ms each. The issue of coordinated omission arises when those requests take more than 100ms each and the rate of requests your measuring becomes distorted. This is well explained if you read Gil Tene:

[https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/mechanical- sympathy/ic...](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/mechanical- sympathy/icNZJejUHfE/BfDekfBEs_sJ)

How to avoid this error yourself? Don't make a pool of workers, have each 1000 requests be their own thread/goroutine. So you'll create 1000 goroutines per second, each of them doing their own request. This way you won't omit measurements by skipping beats.

<comment><USER3> great explanation, thanks!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I've used siege for a long time and never had any problems.

However, I'm easily tempted by the new and shiny which led me to find another great HTTP benchmarking tool: [https://github.com/tsenart/vegeta](https://github.com/tsenart/vegeta)

<comment><USER6> How do siege and vegeta compare to apachebench?

<comment><USER5> Siege is very comparable but vegeta has a lot more output options such as graphs, JSON, CSV, etc...

Another tool I forgot to mention was wrk (and now wrk2) which are unique in that they are scriptable via lua.

<comment><USER7> As a small follow-on, there is also Barrage [1], which is more of a framework than anything else. kellabyte wrote it to benchmark changes to Haywire [2], so it's geared towards configuring your client and server, and then collecting all of the metrics from both the client side, and the server side, and displaying them in an easy-to-digest format.

This obviously isn't terribly useful if you're just trying to gauge request rates, or apply load, but it's very useful if you need a repeatable way to not only measure request rates but see how your server is doing under load.

[1] [https://github.com/kellabyte/barrage](https://github.com/kellabyte/barrage)

[2] [https://github.com/kellabyte/Haywire](https://github.com/kellabyte/Haywire)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> The only problem I've had with siege and similar tools is that they're good to simulate load but from my perspective, they're not as useful when it comes to simulate real-life load, as in multiple IPs, different bandwidths, bursts, etc.

The only services that I found to simulate real life usage were paying services, which is understandable. Maybe in the future with some bittorrent- like load testing framework, I don't know.

<comment><USER9> ive had a lot of success with Locust. It makes it super easy to simulate actual realistic multi-step user flows with state (eg sign up, then create a group, then add some participants etc), and then to probabilistically weight the frequency of each flow (match it up with how freqently your users do particlar actions). if you do this for say your 3-5 most common user flows, we found you can get a pretty realistic simulation of real load. You can also distribute the "locusts" over a cloud of servers, coordinated via ZMQ.

big step up over seige/AB imho

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> For very high traffic loads, I have yet to find anything that compares to wrk ([https://github.com/giltene/wrk2](https://github.com/giltene/wrk2)). IME, it scales better and more efficiently than anything else I've tried, short of complex distributed tools that are only relevant to a small number of people.

</comment><comment><USER11> similar: [https://github.com/hellgrenj/hulken](https://github.com/hellgrenj/hulken)

</comment><comment><USER12> similar (Golang): [https://github.com/rakyll/boom](https://github.com/rakyll/boom)

</comment><comment><USER13> I am surprised nobody mentioned tank ([https://github.com/yandex/yandex- tank](https://github.com/yandex/yandex-tank)) yet. I found it highly configurable, relatively easy to use. For those who is interested in good perfomance and features, it might be a good choice.

</comment><comment><USER14> I am using siege to test my last project, Numerino[1] a priority queue, my experience has been great, easy to use and very performant.

[1]: [https://github.com/siscia/numerino](https://github.com/siscia/numerino)

</comment><comment><USER15> and there is also Gatling.io ;) [http://gatling.io/](http://gatling.io/)</comment>


Why Google+ Has Already Failed - <AUTHOR> http://blog.jasecooper.com/post/7085943572/why-google-has-already-failed

<comment><USER2> Facebook makes ~100% of its revenue from advertising-related deals too, no? Google's mission is to organize the world's information - there's a lot of money in that. So far they know that comes from advertising, but don't bet that it'll stay that way forever. Knowing about people's interactions is best done by knowing people, and so Google did indeed build + for people.

Also, if Google+ fails it won't be because of anything mentioned here. It'll be because I've been on it for 2 days unable to add more than 1 friend. I can't believe they're trying _another_ invitation system for _another_ social network. Guys, just let me add my friends already!

<comment><AUTHOR> Have Google really built Google+ out of a real human need/problem? I don't think so.

I'm not excusing Facebook and how they make money today. These aren't the same motives that influenced their reason for being, which were a lot more focused on people and universities.

<comment><USER3> > Have Google really built a product out of a real human need/problem?

Are you a troll?

<comment><USER4> Maybe he is too young to remember the pre-google search experience ;)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Why can't i downvote this, Google+ didn't succeed already but there is no single reasonable argument in this article.

Facebook being humble is the biggest joke ever.

</comment><comment><USER5> Something that I've realized is that any project that Google does which feeds into their search engine results is much more likely to be flooded by spammers than any project by any other company. This could mean that Google has closed the doors to anything involving content without realizing it. For example from the point of view of a spammer there's no real gain in hitting a like button a thousand times — but abusing a Google One Plus button seems like a worthy target. Google may just be polluting their own ecosystem by trying to do this...

<comment><USER5> ...I take back what I wrote here! I've now been playing with Google+ and it's killer. It may still get killed by abuse, but perhaps the Google team with some luck and hard work can prevent that.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I'm not sure I see why "I think Google has suspect motives" leads to the conclusion "Google+ Has Already Failed." The Internet has already shown that people trust those with suspect motives far too much.

<comment><AUTHOR> I don't think their motives are suspect. I'm fine with how they handle my information and conduct their business.

I just don't think their motives will lead to innovation.

<comment><USER7> Innovation isn't the only thing that leads to success, not by a long shot. Polish, ease of use, a large feature set, security, and any number of other factors can have just as big an impact on users as innovation.

People don't use Google search because it's innovative, and people don't use Facebook because it innovated and people won't make their decisions on Google+ based on its innovations.

<comment><AUTHOR> > Polish, ease of use, a large feature set, security, and any number of other > factors can have just as big an impact on users as innovation.

Not if it's something people don't need or want in the first place.

If Google have 'innovated' then it means they've created something original and new that is useful for people. Only time will tell, but my personal opinion, based on what I've seen so far is they haven't.

<comment><USER7> Well yes, if the users don't want the product then nothing else matters, but I don't see what that has to do with innovation.

I have no problem with your argument that Google+ will need to be useful in some sense to be successful, but originality is hardly necessary for that to be the case.

If what they're going for is "Like Facebook, but better!" then they certainly are going to have a difficult time convincing many users to switch, but I wouldn't say it's anything approaching impossible.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I disagree.

First, Google has a decent track record in keeping personal data and advertising separate. For example they claim that their tracking cookie used across the web is not connected in any way to your Google profile. They can make use of a lot of data to show decent ads. Whereas Facebook will obviously make use of all your data because that's all they have.

2\. Google makes most of its money by showing ads based on search terms you search for. They also use recent mails in GMail for ads within Gmail. They do not depend on any revenues from Google+. They likely see it as a defensive measure against Facebook which seriously threatens its real revenue model. Their competitive advantage is context, not primarily information about users. Again, for Facebook ads within the social network based on personal information are their sole competitive advantage.

It makes more sense to trust Google, at least as far as I am concerned.

</comment><comment><USER7> If your criteria for failure is that the company is more interested in making money than you, personally, then there isn't a successful product on the face of the earth.

Of course Google is trying to use Google+ to make ad revenue. You know, exactly like Twitter and Facebook, who you hold up as opposition to Google+.

If Google fails here it will be because they didn't make people want to use their product, plain and simple. Not because the people ultimately paying them aren't the people using their product. If that were the case, half of the web wouldn't exist.

</comment><comment><USER9> If Google+ fills a need for people, especially allowing people fine-grained, easy-to-use control of what is shared to who, then it should succeed.

Facebook is the big target that most people perceive, but surely LinkedIn is a huge target also, since Google+ circles should allow you to have work-oriented Sparks and pictures, versus personal-oriented status updates and pictures.

This shouldn't be a big deal for Twitter, since you might have many Twitter contacts where you simply don't know what their email is, but you still can read, message and retweet them, all within Twitter.

</comment><comment><USER10> "But it's the fact you see us an audience, rather than as users is what worries me about you."

i like Google and i like what i see in Google+ so far (great job guys). But I kinda agree with this.</comment>


Car-Free in L.A.? Don't Laugh - <AUTHOR> https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/7/31/car-free-in-la-dont-laugh <comment><USER2> _The key: relatively high density, a well-connected street grid, and many small businesses serving neighborhood needs._

No one's laughing. These ARE the things we must do across the US and the world, in order to curb pollution.

Sure, electric vehicles give consumers and the market choice to derive energy from non-fossil-fuel sources. But just as crucial is reducing the need for cars and everyday commutes.

(At Qbix.com, building apps to connect local communities, we feel like we are going to make a large difference at scale in this direction, but that's can only be one part of a much larger approach.)

Cars and their fossil-fuel lock-in are one of the major sources of carbon and methane emissions. The other is livestock.

It's as hard to convince people to go vegan as it is for libertarians to tell people to give up the state. You just have to build better alternatives, like the Impossible Burger or apps that can automate neighborhood governance and services.

We need to have a market for carbon credits that rewards reforestation and biodiversity, with actual money from governments.

I know this is the home of geeks who think everything can be solved with an app or software platform, but seriously, we CAN make a huge difference, while politicians bicker. Companies can build these things.

Don't underestimate the power of companies like Qbix, Nori and Impossible Burger to help save the world! :)</comment>


Docker Bug Allows Root Access to Host File System - <AUTHOR> https://duo.com/decipher/docker-bug-allows-root-access-to-host-file-system <comment><USER2> This is a dupe, discussed twice on popular posts in the past 24 hours:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20039465](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20039465)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20031403](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20031403)</comment>


Diet Coke Exposed: What Happens One Hour After Drinking Diet Coke - <AUTHOR> http://therenegadepharmacist.com/diet-coke-exposed-happens-one-hour-drinking-diet-coke-coke-zero-similar-diet-soda/ <comment><USER2> Here's something for anyone upvoting to process in their brains, a koan coined years ago: "correlation does not mean causation".

Now write that on a wall and start banging your head against it ...

Here's the deal with Coke.

For a normal body fat percentage person (up to 20% male and up to 30% female) it's ok in small quantities. By small quantities I mean up to 500ml a day.

Don't drink it late and wash your teeth twice a day. And if you drink it after a meal, it may actually help you digest it a bit better.

<comment><USER3> "correlation does not mean causation" is very true, but in the case of this article _there are citations for studies that prove causation_ for some of the effects mentioned:

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19151203](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19151203)

[http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2013/Q3/prof-diet- dr...](http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2013/Q3/prof-diet-drinks-are- not-the-sweet-solution-to-fight-obesity,-health-problems.html)

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7854587](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7854587)

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17525693](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17525693)

Renegade Pharmacist is a bit of a crank site and tends towards pseudoscience some of the time, but that doesn't mean Coke isn't bad for you. It is.

<comment><USER2> My point is such - there's not even one research that shows direct causation. In cases of artificially sweetened drinks there's a lot of useless material.

Research done on people that are obese or have diabetes will not show the same insulin response pattern. So it's really hard to tell why Coke is bad for you, except for the obvious problems.

Too much caffeine is bad. There's also the issue of higher acidity that can hurt your teeth. Beyond that it's really easy to point more hurtful foods: donuts, pies, french fries and so on.

I've really did some research on this topic and bottom line is really simple: have a coke if you want to, just limit yourself to one or two a day at most.</comment></comment></comment>


Switch and Bait — How Apple should respond to Microsoft's laptop shopping ads - <AUTHOR> http://crookedtimber.org/2009/04/18/switch-and-bait/

<comment><AUTHOR> Conspire to give Windows users the use of a Macbook for less than a week — via misdelivery, a loaner when their hard drive dies, whatever.

Have it taken away from them unexpectedly, just as they were getting to like it.

Some percentage of them go out and buy one with their own money — advertise post-purchase interviews with them.

<comment><USER2> i think the author's idea of interviewing them as the macs are taken away could be far more comedic and make better advertisement

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> This is a somewhat special case since the guy already had experience with non- Windows UIs (Ubuntu) so trying something new wasn't very new to him. On the other hand, many Windows users are deeply set in what they're used to, and their initial experiences might be very different as they get frustrated with trying to figure things out.

</comment><comment><USER4> Given that Apple has the better platform the only thing Apple needs to do to beat Windows is:

LOWER THE PRICE.</comment>


'Cloaking' device uses ordinary lenses to hide objects across range of angles - <AUTHOR> http://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/watch-rochester-cloak-uses-ordinary-lenses-to-hide-objects-across-continuous-range-of-angles-70592/

<comment><USER2> This lens configuration would be pretty obvious to anyone who's taken optics 101. It's a just a telescope with f1=f2.

</comment><comment><USER3> It seems to be working very well on this website.

The link appears broken to me.

<comment><USER4> Been down for hours at least.

Google cache [http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/watch- rochester-cloak-uses-ordinary-lenses-to-hide-objects-across-continuous-range- of-angles-70592/)

Alternate site with same/similar info [http://phys.org/news/2014-09-cloaking- device-ordinary-lenses...](http://phys.org/news/2014-09-cloaking-device- ordinary-lenses-range.html)</comment></comment>


How to Turn Your Raspberry Pi into a Home VPN Server Using PiVPN - <AUTHOR> http://kamilslab.com/2017/01/22/how-to-turn-your-raspberry-pi-into-a-home-vpn-server-using-pivpn/ <comment><USER2> OpenVPN is great. I came to it to secure AWS VPC environments after learning that there were no other great client -> network solutions. PPTP is broken, what Amazon has built-in is for network <-> network connections, and the other solutions I found require a difficult setup of archaic virtual network hardware.

I use OpenVPN all over the place now. The configuration is extremely simple. The only downside is that there isn't built-in support under Mac and Windows (iirc it integrates decently with NetworkManager under Linux). I did, however, find Viscosity from SparkLabs [1] to be very nice to use on Mac and Windows, and would recommend it over the free clients (which also work fine, by the way) for its excellent UI.

[1] [https://www.sparklabs.com/viscosity/](https://www.sparklabs.com/viscosity/)</comment>


Tesla releases new software update to visually detect speed limit signs - <AUTHOR> https://electrek.co/2020/08/29/tesla-software-update-visually-detect-speed-limit-signs/ <comment><USER2> I've always wanted a feature like this on my car. A GPS geocache or RFID based system to let me know about current speed limits and speed limits ahead of me. Often the signs are so far apart on some roads I don't know the speed limit of the road I turned onto until miles have passed. In addition it would be cool if my cruise control could adjust for slow downs and my gas pedal could have a sticky location for the speed limit. Something to make breaking the speed limit more intentional.

Virtual road signs that my car could read and alert me about would be a great addition to the ones on the side of the road too. Stuff like upcoming crosswalks and deer crossings.</comment>


How to get a C64 on WiFi and start BBSing again - <AUTHOR> https://amigalove.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=159 <comment><USER2> I was huge into the BBS scene in the early 80's. My favourite were Blue Boards written by the late Martin Sikes: [http://www.penmachine.com/martinsikes/](http://www.penmachine.com/martinsikes/)

Martin was an early influencer in my life. Here I am 30 years later and I still love technology.

I have been searching for a copy of his Blue Board software for years so I can setup a memorial BBS site over telnet in Martin's honour. I even managed to contact the owner of the original Sota Software who published Blue Board, but I haven't heard from him since. If anyone knows where I could find a copy I'd be very grateful [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Board_(software)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Board_\(software\))

</comment><comment><USER3> Fantastic. I miss the BBS scene and I miss FidoNet. I've been writing a lot of Go lately and I sometimes daydream about writing a FidoNet-compatible mailer in it. I wonder if there's anybody left to talk to.

<comment><USER4> The ubiquitous of communication today removes a lot of the magic of the BBS, at least to me.

On the other hand, I think there is a compelling narrative for continuing simplification of interfaces. There is no reason that 90% of what is posted, read, and written on hn couldn't be totally done in a simple terminal interface.

Mobile phones collapsed complex desktop interfaces down to a single column. Bots and sensors are making things even simpler than that. We are going from complicated back to simple again, at least from the user's viewpoint.

<comment><USER5> I think what is really lacking today is small communities tied to a physical locality as in BBSes. Social media today focused so much on "contact anyone" that something was lost along the way. Sure you can make lists or subgroups, but the hierarchy is flipped. I think somewhere out there is a niche for a web/mobile BBS-esque site where people can sysop their own local communities and select from a list of features like conversations, events, games, mail, etc.

<comment><USER3> Also, the barrier for entry is so much lower now. Having a working modem and terminal program and the phone numbers of some local FidoNet BBSes was just so much harder to organize than an email or web client is today. The high barrier helped elevate the level of conversation on things like Fido's Echomail (akin to Usenet for Fido BBSes).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> amiga-workbench Very cool, I've got an RR-Net cart for mine and use Contiki to browse the web.

I haven't found a telnet client that will work nicely just yet.

[http://mos6581.com/pictures/commodore-64/fsf.jpg](http://mos6581.com/pictures/commodore-64/fsf.jpg)

</comment><comment><USER6> The OLED screen looks kind of out of place tbh. I think it would look better with a good old LCD.

<comment><USER7> Good old LCD? Funny guy.

<comment><USER8> "Good old LCD" isn't that unreasonable.

Commodore actually bought an LCD manufacturer in the early 80's as part of Tramiels obsession with vertical integration. And as one result of that they built a prototype portable machine using an LCD in 1984 ( _NOT_ a C64 compatible, though). It was presented at Winter CES in 1985, but never made it to production:

[http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=108](http://www.old- computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=108)

<comment><USER9> Commodore seems like the kind of company that only ever succeeded despite its management. That laptop as described is ahead of its time and amazingly affordable ($500) and they killed it in the cradle. The most amazing part is that it apparently was going to run on 4 AAs for 5 hours.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I am (very slowly) writing software for a MSX BBS; I have the same setup I ran a BBS on for many years in the 80s. Except for the modem being connected to a landline, it is connected to the internet. Well it will be when it works. It has been a long standing dream since I watched (begin 80s) some guys who taught me games in assembly, create BBS software in Pascal and run BBSs from circuit boards from MSX computers they had hanging from their ceiling to save space (and it looked cool to me) in their tiny attic at their parents place.

</comment><comment><USER11> I wonder what type of speed a modem made of modern components may achieve using a conventional phoneline based transmission today..

<comment><USER12> you mean *DSL? The issue lies with the copper pair and the frequencies used. And of course the hardware in-between. So between 10 and 120Mbits/s.

<comment><USER13> Your lower bound is much too high. In our development country re network access (Germany) we still have areas getting "DSL light" with rates of 384kbit/s down and 64 kbit/s up (but equal pay...)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Seeing as you need a TV etc. then it is worth considering serial too.</comment>


Ask HN: Would you be interested in an open-source Amazon Echo? - <AUTHOR> Hey HN,
A recent Amazon Echo question got a lot of attention here. I've considered developing Alexa Skills, but I don't like that Amazon needs to approve your Skill in order to add it into the Alexa platform for general consumption. One of the blockers here is that if you try to build an integration with a device without that brand's permission, it could be an infringement issue.
I was thinking I'd use Wit.ai to build open integrations for all or most home automation devices with open APIs. Users could then use the software in DIY projects with something like a Raspberry Pi and their own server.
How much interest is there for this? <comment><USER2> If you actually got so far as to implement half of what you mentioned, you'd be crazy not to commercialize it.

At some point, you'll need to develop commercial agreements with other corporations. At that point, you'll probably need to have been commercialized.

Also, Amazon already has open source activity around Alexa: [https://github.com/amzn/alexa-avs-raspberry- pi](https://github.com/amzn/alexa-avs-raspberry-pi)

tl;dr: Just decide and get started.

</comment><comment><USER3> If the idea's a complete autonomous, self-hosted system, then, of course it's interesting.

Especially, if it won't be English-only or, even better, could be taught other languages by a skilled end-user.

<comment><USER4> Agreed. But its as far from self hosted as even possible by using Facebooks Wit.ai.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> No. I don't want to have a device listening to everything I say or do.

<comment><USER6> I think that the open source nature of this project would help in that regard. Since there wouldn't be a specific set of hardware tied to it like with the Echo and other devices, you could make a rig that only begins listening upon being prompted to by a button.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> You may be interested in this -- Amazon open sources an RPi ALexa system. [https://github.com/amzn/alexa-avs-raspberry- pi](https://github.com/amzn/alexa-avs-raspberry-pi)

</comment><comment><USER8> Yes.</comment>


Argentina on Two Steaks a Day(2006) - <AUTHOR> http://idlewords.com/2006/04/argentina_on_two_steaks_a_day.htm <comment><USER2> Nobody here eats 2 steaks a day..anymore.. Their buying power has been reduced ( inflation here is 25-33% per year ) with salaries always lagging behind.

I moved to BA in 2006.. the dollar was 3:1. It's now 15:1. But again, with less power.

The avg middle-class person used to have weekly 'asados' aka bbqs at their home with friends and now most can't afford the beef. The really good beef is exported to 1st world countries ( and recently the US : [http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/08/us/argentina-beef-ban- lift...](http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/08/us/argentina-beef-ban-lifted/))

Life quality however ( if earning USD ) is 4x what you will find in NYC ( where I grew up ).

From here I was able to bootstrap 2 profitable startups ( hiring local talent ) [http://JuicyCanvas.com](http://JuicyCanvas.com) & [http://POPteam.io](http://POPteam.io)

Live in a the best neighborhood in a 2k/sq ft house' and pay for a house- cleaner/nanny, 5-star health insurance, and top private school for my son. ( total 3k USD ).. the same exact lifestyle would cost 4x that in SF/NYC.

Hardest thing was leaving my friends,family, and learning spanish. But I'm significantly ...way happier.

<comment><USER3> Interesting story. Where are you from in the US originally? Your comment is worth expanding into a longer blog post - I would happily read it. @simon on twitter if you want to connect.

<comment><USER2> Actually im writing a how-to book on this ;-) .. Small world! Simon we met 3 years ago when you visited StartupChile! We had ceviche with some friends.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I'm in Buenos Aires right now and that's pretty spot on. Beef is of incredibly high quality and it's incredibly cheap. I've been here for a couple weeks and will be staying until December (I've taken a year off with my girlfriend to travel the world). So far, I love it. The Spanish is spoken with an almost Italian accent, so I find it much easier to understand than, for instance, Chile's Spanish, which is impenetrable. One idiosyncrasy is that the double ll is not pronounced like a /y/ as in most other dialects, but like a /j/.

The wine is wonderful as well, provided you like the sort of big acidic wine that goes well with a nice hunk of meat. Luckily, that's my thing.

To be honest, if the economy and politics weren't so unstable down here, I'd consider buying a place. Unfortunately all weirdness with the blue dollar and the petty crime make it somewhere that I'll just keep on the radar.

Also, the thing he didn't mention when it came to booze was that this is the only other place in the world that Fernet Branca is distilled. Argentines drink the most Fernet per capita, as well as the most Coca-Cola (the second is related to the first).

<comment><USER5> You should try a visit to Uruguay! Its a smaller, safer version of Argentina.

<comment><USER6> Uruguay has a higher murder rate than Argentina [0]. This is also true if you compare the city of Buenos Aires with Montevideo[1], though exact numbers are harder to find and I don't have a reference handy. If Buenos Aires has more crime(I have never been able to find numbers on amounts of roberies), it is not as dangerous.

[0]: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intention...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate) [1]: [http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/156754/un- argentina...](http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/156754/un-argentina- has-%E2%80%98europelike%E2%80%99-murder-rate-)

<comment><USER7> Having spent a short amount of time as a pedestrian in both cities, I'll just say that way people drive the cars and buses in Buenos Aires could easily be described as _murderous_ , though that's certainly not reflected by the murder rate.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Argentina is lovely, and not just Buenos Aires. Good god, the wine. You can have an incredible wine-tasting vacation in Mendoza or Cafayate. If you love the outdoors, there's Tierra del Fuego - which is also the jumping off point for Antarctica. There's more that's purported to be great, too.

At the moment, the key is to bring all your money in American dollars, and never touch a credit card - the official exchange rate is set by the government, and has no relationship to reality. Exchange your money into pesos on the black market, and an already affordable country gets even more so.

<comment><USER9> I had good luck using Xoom.com to transfer money. The rates were very close to (and occasionally even better than) the blue rate. You just have to find an office to pick it up from.

Also, make sure you don't end up with too many extra pesos at the end of your trip. It's almost impossible to change them back to dollars.

<comment><USER2> if you plan on staying longer than a small trip..i know a safe reliable service that gives you the exact blue rate.

Today Xoom is giving you 13.8 Official Blue rate = 15,19

Follow me for more contact info @arturmakly

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Yep, that's Argentina. I definitely agree with most of the author's points, especially the Argentine skittishness around seasonings and spices. The beef is fantastic without any embellishment, though. Two things that I'm surprised at is the author's lack of mention of the Argentine obsessions with mayo, and the separate but equally baffling obsession with ham and cheese (as a combo). I saw mayo abused very frequently when I was in Argie. I also saw ham and cheese plastered onto every menu.

"Items are preventatively glazed with sugar whenever there is be the slightest doubt as to whether they are supposed to be sweet or savory; this is what prevents the otherwise excellent Argentine croissants (medialunas) from being the king of breakfasts."

Ah yes, the heavenly medialuna. I don't consider them to be ultra-sugary, but they do have a lot more sugar than a typical croissant. I know my girlfriend (who is Argentine) is crazy for medialunas, and I quite enjoy them also. They're much more flavorful and properly sized (small) than other croissants I've had-- I even prefer them to the Parisian kind.

"Thank God, therefore, for the ice cream. When the Italians came here at the start of the century, they took one swig of the fine pampas milk and knew what they had to do. The ice cream in Buenos Aires is easily the best I have ever eaten, and the parlors that serve it are everywhere."

Yes. The ice cream in Argentina is heavenly, and they will deliver right to your door. The other icecreams I've had don't remotely compare. Definitely visit the chain called Freddo if you find yourself in BA.

"What Tim Horton's is to Canada, mate is to Argentina - a national obsession whose appeal is inexplicable to outsiders."

Mate is gross, and my gourd rotted away because I didn't cure it properly.

EDIT: But the coffee is sublime. Having coffee in Argentina ruined coffee for me... nothing else state side is remotely as flavorful and smooth.

<comment><USER11> > Two things that I'm surprised at is the author's lack of mention of the > Argentine obsessions with mayo

Au contraire. He talks about how it is sold in two liter bags, and reflects upon how fun they are to drop off of balconies.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> For those predisposed to some vegetables there's this thing in Uruguay called a "chivito al plato". Here's a good representation: [http://www.brisasdeldayman.com/historia-y-receta-del- verdade...](http://www.brisasdeldayman.com/historia-y-receta-del-verdadero- chivito-uruguayo/)

They don't skimp on the steak (despite the name "chivito" it's made with beef, not goat), or the ham, cheese, or egg. There are many fried potatoes on the plate as well. And they'll also throw on a huge variety of vegetables, fresh and pickled.

I ate many of these around my early teens at The Manchester in Montevideo.

<comment><USER10> Chivito always seems like 4X as much food as I actually need... I had a whole one at Copacabana in Montevideo and didn't eat for the entire next day.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> My feeling with Argentinians has always been that they could easily come from the South of Italy and you would notice no difference. There is a very strong connection between Argentina and Naples too. It's amazing how an Argentinian and a person from Naples can feel more connected than, say, Naples and Milan.

<comment><USER14> This is very true. I'm from Argentina and visited Italy earlier this year. Naples felt very much like Buenos Aires, and a lot of people understood me even when I spoke in spanish.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> The steaks in Argentina are indeed glorious, however feedlots are today actually the main way cattle are being raised. See John Torode in: [http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2i1imr](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2i1imr)

</comment><comment><USER16> I spent 2 months in argentina and I ate enough meat and drank enough Malbec for a lifetime. 2 reasons: they were DELICIOUS and they were CHEAP _.

_ I live in the USA and the dollar was strong vs the peso during my visit- so cheapness was relative to me but my Argentinian friends told me that they produce meat 10 their needs (they export the rest).

</comment><comment><USER17> I loved Argentina. The funny looks and the rolling of the eyes when you ask for a side salad or worse, fries, with a steak. The half cow that they fling on the flaming parrilla (BBQ). So much meat and do much nice red wine. Yum.

Lovely welcoming people too. I'd love to visit again once my kids are old enough to stomach the flight from Europe.

</comment><comment><USER18> Things you learn: Argentina had a lot of Italian immigrants. I was about to criticise the author for not crediting the Spanish.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnography_of_Argentina#Itali...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnography_of_Argentina#Italians)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Latin_American#Argentina](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Latin_American#Argentina)

</comment><comment><USER19> Just had myself an asado (barbecue) here in Buenos Aires the other day! :)

A few things about the culture and article:

The meat is not universally great. One has to find the right butcher- he will be a lifelong friend. Also, the chicken here is really pumped full of hormones, so I hear...

The good meat, however, is great. And it is given the proper respect it deserves. At a proper asado it is served without condiments and enjoyed by all. The asador is a hero when the meat is well-cooked.

</comment><comment><USER20> I was surprised to find that people from Argentina love to drink beer along with mezze like we usually do here in the Middle East. Maybe this was the result of the influence of Syrian and Lebanese immigrants on their cuisine.

<comment><USER21> Yes, picadas (which means chopped in Spanish) are pretty common in Argentina and people usually drink beer with them. You can order them at pubs and they are something standard in social gatherings.

But I think mezze includes more elaborated food; the typical picada includes cheese, cold cuts, olives, peanuts, bread, snack food and that's it. The things served are more similar to the italian antipasto, but the way of serving them (many small dishes distributed over the table) resembles the mezze.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> I was in Buenos Aires about three years ago, in the Palermo Hollywood area. And very much to our surprise there were a lot of vegetarian restaurants as well. One of which my wife and I still talk about how good it was. Regretfully I do not know the name anymore. It also seemed as if those restaurants were more expensive then the 'normal' ones.

<comment><USER23> Probably either Bio (vegan) or Artemesia (not-so-strict-vegetarian). Or green bamboo.

But the reason you found lots of vegeterian restaurants is not surprising: you were a tourist in a touristy area, and it's mainly tourists that look for vegetarian restaurants in Argentina!

Source: I'm Argentine, and I live here. Also, I eat at those restaurants.

<comment><USER22> Thank you, maybe it was one of those. Definitely will check them out if I ever go back !

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> I imagined Ron Swanson narrating as I read this.

<comment><USER25> Thanks for bringing up Parks & Rec. I miss that show.

</comment></comment><comment> guard-of-terra I could only eat one steak per two days. Then the next day I can only eat light food.

Still, I think I should have eaten more steak while there.

</comment><comment><USER26> I hate this kind of gluttony over meat. No one needs two steaks a day, and just because it is part of some countries culture (although, is it?) doesn't mean it should be glorified. Anyway, it's also ignorant to think all the cows are roaming around free in some grassy bovine nirvana until they get slaughtered.

<comment><USER27> uhtred, I hope you expected to be downvoted :o).

My dentist, who also has a phd in chemistry, always tells my about beef. Beef has to rest for a while in the cold storage until it becomes soft and eatable for humans. During this time, which counts as a quality time for the meat, it actually rots. Yes, beef lovers (me included), it rots! - It is called ageing in the ads, as if it were good, red wine. The phd thesis of my dentist was about the number of poisonous substances that build up during the ageing process. He found 200 different poisonous substances! This is most likely the reason why colorectal cancer can be statistically related to beef consumption. Problem is: it only shows after 20-30 years, so there is room for procrastination.

<irony>Enjoy! And ignore the facts. Looking at facts makes life so much less enjoyable.</irony>

<comment><USER28> All this talk of facts, and no source link?

<comment><USER27> No source link. As I have written, my dentist told me. His thesis is published but certainly rots in some archives. If you want to know about the statistical correlation between beef consumption and cancer risk - do yourself a favour and just type some keywords into a search algorithm, please. You will be overwhelmed with results (ignore the ones from south american steak distributors, steak houses and also the ones from vegan activists :o).

<comment><USER29> You said 'he' and as far as I can tell Dóra is a Hungarian feminine name so I guess it's not this: [http://phd.lib.uni- corvinus.hu/597/1/Marta_Dora_den.pdf](http://phd.lib.uni- corvinus.hu/597/1/Marta_Dora_den.pdf)</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Go concurrency patterns - <AUTHOR> http://talks.golang.org/2012/concurrency.slide#1 <comment><USER2> How do goroutines get cleaned up? For example, in many of these examples they create a goroutine that is supposed to send a message over a blocking channel eventually. What if I use their "select + time.After()" pattern and the timeout hits and I return. Does the goroutine hang forever? Does it constitute a memory leak? We both hold the channel, so it can't get garbage collected, is Go smart enough to know there aren't any more readers and the goroutine + channel can get cleaned up?

Maybe to solve this I use a "quit" channel as they do. Do I need to worry about what happens if a quit message is never sent, or if two routines send one, or if the receiver is multiplexed and only one of many readers gets the message and cleans up correctly. It sounds like the whole malloc() and free() dance all over again, except this time I don't have any nice invariants to reason about such as "Everything that gets malloc()ed needs to be free()d, exactly once". Instead I need to worry that everyone is playing nice and will terminate when asked, _and_ I need to remember to ask exactly once.

<comment><USER3> Rob Pike has a Q&A at the end of his video where he answers (what sounds like) the exact same question you ask: <http://youtu.be/f6kdp27TYZs?t=46m17s>

Essentially, it gets garbage collected without you having to worry about it unless you're doing something fairly special.

<comment><USER4> Except that Rob Pike later in the golang-nuts groups expand on exactly that question: [https://groups.google.com/d/topic/golang- nuts/bfuwmhbZHYw/di...](https://groups.google.com/d/topic/golang- nuts/bfuwmhbZHYw/discussion)

Qoute: "Goroutines are not garbage-collected. They must return from the top- level function (or panic) to have all their resources recovered."

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Video of rob giving the talk: www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6kdp27TYZs

Also, this makes use of the excellent "Golang Present Tool", which makes most of the code on the slides executable.[1]

[1]: <http://godoc.org/code.google.com/p/go.talks/present>

</comment><comment><USER6> Completely off topic, but this is literally the worst presentation software I've ever seen and I hate it when it pops up. It didn't fit in my screen, so I zoomed out (or whatever the pinch movement does), at which point horizontal scrolling stopped working, even when I zoomed back in. IIRC it didn't work at all on the ipad.

Is it really so hard to have forward/back buttons on the slide somewhere?

<comment><USER7> Google presenters don't care about you unless you're running Chrome and have a keyboard.

Pro-tip: If you load it with JS disabled, all the slides show up as plain text. That might let you at least consume the slides' content.

EDIT: Pro-tip #2: It looks like if you tap the edge of the next/previous slide, it should scroll onto screen. Kind of tricky, though.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Here's a video of the talk from Google I/O 2012: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6kdp27TYZs>

</comment><comment><USER9> > Rough analogy: writing to a file by name (process, Erlang) vs. writing to a > file descriptor (channel, Go).

That analogy doesn't really work, messages can be sent to an Erlang process by pid, how this pid came to be obtained isn't necessarily through naming (you can also register a process to a name, in which case it is indeed like writing to a file by name), and some of the things messages are sent to are not actual processes (e.g. ports).

<comment><USER10> The way I see it is that you write to files with an fd, but and fd can point to more than just files.

<comment><USER9> > some of the things messages are sent to are not actual processes (e.g. > ports).

<comment><USER10> Ah, fair enough. I don't know erlang. Can a process have multiple distinct channels it receives on?

<comment><USER9> Nope, each process has a single mailbox.

On the other hand, processes don't have to go through their mailbox sequentially, they can prioritize messages (through pattern matching) and handle these first even if they are the last message in the mailbox (it's called a "selective receive"), so you get the same feature trivially by tagging messages instead of sending a message to a different channel.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Slide #33: _Fan-in using select_

I always get alternating Joe/Ann responses. I'm not seeing that in the code though. It says selectors are chosen pseudo-randomly. I'm expecting Joe or Ann to get a couple quickies in at some point.

<comment><USER12> If you added a trivial wait of random length before each response, mightn't you see non-alternating behavior at times?

<comment><USER13> Not GP, but I also saw this.. Increasing the timeout to 0><10 seconds does give the expected output..

But shouldn't I see this from time-to-time with 1 second as well? Hmm..

<comment><USER13> My rand.Intn() was always returning the same value. Seem like you have to to seed it manually (once, in main() for example): _rand.Seed( time.Now().UTC().UnixNano())_

[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12321133/golang-random- nu...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12321133/golang-random-number- generator-how-to-seed-properly)

 _Edit:_ It's in the documentation, but you have to look for it.

" _Seed uses the provided seed value to initialize the generator to a deterministic state. If Seed is not called, the generator behaves as if seeded by Seed(1)_ "

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Ok, I've never actually written anything in go so humour me here.

The generally given reasons on HN that threads mapped 1:1 to pthreads are bad seem to be as follows:

 _Shared mutable state is hard._

 _Memory usage is inefficient when you are allocating a fixed size stack per thread and those threads spend most of their time blocked waiting for IO._

Let's assume you are using some thread pooling pattern , so thread startup time is not such an issue.

Apart from perhaps better syntax with channels etc, how does go fundamentally solve these problems in way that you cannot with standard threads?

For example, shared mutable state problems can be mitigated to a degree by going down a "shared nothing" approach and handling shared state through some middleman like a Queue or a SQL/NoSQL DB.

I assume go supports some form of pass by reference so you can still make shared mutable state an issue with it if you pass a reference to a goroutine.

Each goroutine has it's own stack regardless of how many pthreads exist so there can still be wasted memory on a blocking operation.

<comment><USER15> Nothing stops you from doing anything you want with threads, including using them to implement very safe patterns. The problems are, 1: the thread libraries do not afford those safe patterns, and indeed, afford very unsafe ones (and also ones that compose poorly) 2: libraries written for the ecosystem will end up using the poor patterns 3: lack of compiler enforcement and how easy it is to accidentally mutate something unexpectedly mean that unless you are superhumanly careful you will still screw something up, somewhere.

And you are correct that Go does not enforce shared-nothing between the goroutines. It has _better_ affordances on those fronts that conventional C, but it is not _enforced_ as it is in Erlang or Haskell. And while I say the affordances are "better", I still think that people screwing it up will be a practical problem.

<comment><USER16> Yeah, this is exactly right... I have to say Go changed my thinking about concurrency. But now I want to write a very small wrapper around pthreads that lets you write in the actor style. It just adds those "affordances".

Go is more or less the actors style, except with the (discouraged) possibility of sharing mutable state... even though for some reason it doesn't seem to be advertised as such.

The reason is that I don't think Go can cover what C + Python can. C gives you more low level control and Python is still shorter (and thus quicker). I like Go a lot but I would rather program in C + Python (like I do now) than C + Python + Go.

And then the other component to this is de-emphasizing the somewhat-horrible- for-concurrency Python/C API. The library I'm talking about would have channels, and you would have one end open in Python, and one end open in C. Python and C are running in different threads. Rather than the crazy subroutine/callback hell you have now with any nontrivial Python/C binding.

So basically I want to fix the C/Python interface, which is the only reason it is awkward to program in C + Python (the languages themselves are both great), rather than adding another language that overlaps highly with both of them.

The OS is written in C, so you've never going to get past C. If there was a whole world written in Go, that might be reasonable... but I don't believe in portability layers.

<comment><USER17> What does the OS being written in C matter? libc has to make a syscall to access OS functions just like anything else does. There's no obligation on a language implementation to make calls through C. It's a thin enough layer that if your language runtime is otherwise written in C you may as well, but that's a design decision.

It would be perfectly reasonable to write a non-C language runtime targeting Linux against syscall instructions or against Windows' documented system DLL interfaces.

Even if it didn't there's no reason to ever add a C dependency to your system if one of the languages you're already using has sufficient "systems" versatility. Go is clearly intended to fill this role.

tl;dr: you can get past C just fine even on an OS written in C and the C dependency isn't free.

<comment><USER18> I find this pretty interesting. It is basically using Erlang as an OS on top of Xen. <http://erlangonxen.org/>

Haskell had a similar project but I can't remember what it was called.

<comment><USER19> HaLVM. <https://github.com/GaloisInc/HaLVM>

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> How do goroutines compare to things like futures in eg. java?

The ultimate structure seems much the same: start off a worker, and then you wait for the result with a timeout. As an example, the following code gives the same result:

In Go:

        c := make(chan Result)
        go func() { c <- Web(query) } ()
        go func() { c <- Image(query) } ()
        go func() { c <- Video(query) } ()

        for i := 0; i < 3; i++ {
            result := <-c
            results = append(results, result)
        }

In Java:

      ExecutorService executorService = Executors.newCachedThreadPool();
      Future[] futures = new Future[]{
       executorService.submit(new Web(query)),
       executorService.submit(new Image(query)),
       executorService.submit(new Video(query)),
      };

      for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
       Result result = futures[i].get();
       results.add(result);
      }

<comment><USER21> Find an example that shows using a timeout channel along with another async activity on another channel, and then switching on that. Then you will start to see some elegance versus the Java way. (Sorry, in a hurry otherwise I'd provide the link myself :(

<comment><USER22> Please do show how to do this in Go when you have a few minutes, I'm really curious (and happy to write it in Java once I see what you mean).

<comment><USER23> I think they mean something like:

        c = make(chan bool)
        go doSomeWork(c)
        select {
        case b := <- c:
            # do something here if something happened on the channel
        case <- time.After(5 * time.Second):
            # timed out :-(
        }

<comment><USER20> Well the timeout can be handled in java too

      Result result = future.get(5, TimeUnit.Second);
      if (result == null)
         // do something if timed out
      else
         // do something with result

My original question was phrased badly though, and what I meant to ask was: is the underlying implementation faster? Since Golang is designed as a systems language, is the channel/gorouting system a lot more performant than the Executor/future method of Java?

EDIT: I see what newobj is talking about now:

With the Java method, the 'task queue' in this case is very rigid and would be hard to add futures from multiple locations, while the goroutine method allows easy access to add new messages to the channel from anywhere.

You could probably emulate the goroutine method using a synchronized queue or similar, but the goroutine version handles it automatically.

<comment><USER24> FYI - you can also have 100,000 goroutines on a standard desktop without hitting resource problems (the go authors mentioned debugging a system in production that had 1.3 million). I doubt the same could be said for futures.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> Off topic: Why are their slides so unusable on iPad!? I can't swipe to the next slide without skipping that and 3 others.

<comment><USER26> The 'present' tool is open source, you can improve it if you have some JavaScript skills: [http://code.google.com/p/go/source/browse/?repo=talks#hg%2Fp...](http://code.google.com/p/go/source/browse/?repo=talks#hg%2Fpresent)

Here's the touch event handling code: [http://code.google.com/p/go/source/browse/present/static/sli...](http://code.google.com/p/go/source/browse/present/static/slides.js?repo=talks#259)

<comment><USER27> Yes, someone, please do this. I am the author of present, but I just pulled slides.js from another slide deck software.

It's on my list to try to fix this, but I have little experience with touch devices. I'm sure someone with experience writing UI code for touch devices could make quick work of this.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> The phrase "concurrency patterns" tells me we are not yet talking about the concurrency-oriented language of the future. This is in the sense that patterns usually deal with the weak spots of the language, and lo, we must build weird constructs like doing fanout (not relevant to the original problem.) Go isn't alone here, in fact I see it every time someone thinks: "Erlang is nice, but gee, PIDs are so darn crude."

In my mind, a language that makes concurrency the real priority (and I don't mean to say Go, Rust, et al. shouldn't be tempered by other concerns) will not require intermediate patterns to map the problem to the code. In other words, something close to a 1:1 correspondence should exist between problem concurrency and language support, including the nature of communications.

I'd like to draw a comparison to memory management in C. It's a far simpler problem, but it's easy to illustrate that we don't (normally) need "allocation patterns" that go beyond the problem of memory needs. You can sum it up: "If you need memory, allocate it. Free it when you are done." The rules are simple and the advanced memory allocation techniques aren't required to map to the problem.

<comment><USER29> > patterns usually deal with the weak spots of the language

 _Design_ patterns, as the term is usually understood, do. Using the word "pattern" to refer to organisational structures that arise in practice is useful and distinct than preaching design patterns like some people do for C++.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> _"You don't need to be an expert! Much nicer than dealing with the minutiae of parallelism (threads, semaphores, locks, barriers, etc.)"_

Great! But then, a few slides later:

 _"Go has 'sync' and 'sync/atomic' packages that provides mutexes, condition variables, etc."_

: (

Can program written in Go still deadlock or not? I became a big of Clojure's no-brainer "no locks at all, hence no deadlock" approach btw.

<comment><USER8> Yes, you can still deadlock, but the runtime will usually panic saying that no goroutines can advance, which is definitely nicer than just hanging. If the core of your code is synchronized on channels, it becomes very easy to manage.

<comment><USER31> How does the runtime detect this? I'd have suspected that such a thing would be undecidable, but I'm not at all a concurrency expert.

<comment><USER32> The run-time checks if all goroutines are asleep and waiting for input. If true it panics and halts the program.

It can't detect live-lock or thrashing, if you are still waking up other goroutines but not doing anything useful it won't prevent that.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Deploying Saas behind the Firewall (Enterprise) - <AUTHOR> http://fi.engineyard.com/

<comment><USER2> I'm very excited that it's possible to have normal hosting for shared SaaS, and dedicated deployment for enterprise accounts.</comment>


Amazon Offers $30 Credits To Orwell Kindle Swindle Victims - <AUTHOR> http://consumerist.com/5352732/amazon-offers-30-credits-to-orwell-kindle-swindle-victims

<comment><USER2> Two things:

1\. It's about freaking time. But...

2\. It's never too late to do the right thing. Kudos to Amazon.</comment>


Judge blocks Trump from building sections of border wall - <AUTHOR> https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Trump-s-plan-to-fund-border-wall-faces-first-13892871.php <comment><USER2> We all know the wall is going to be built, this is just stalling and showing the judge is putting his personal politics first.

<comment><USER3> The wall is a hilarious feux-solution to a non existent problem of immigration in the US. There will always be ways around a big fence.

<comment><USER4> Research how effective the Israel Border Wall was with stemming illegal immigration.

While it will not be 100% effective, it will reduce the inflow substantially enough to allow our Border Patrol personnel to focus on the fewer numbers without being overwhelmed.</comment></comment></comment>


Astronomers Detect Record-Breaking Gamma Ray Bursts - <AUTHOR> https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/astronomers-detect-record-breaking-gamma-ray-bursts-colossal-explosion-space-180973610/ <comment><USER2> " Gamma rays are the highest-energy form of radiation, with wavelengths that can be smaller than the nucleus of an atom. (Radio waves, for comparison, have wavelengths ranging between about a millimeter to hundreds of kilometers.)"

This is so insane to me. I knew the wavelengths were small but not this small. Nature is so cool!

<comment><USER3> Doesn't really make sense to speak of wavelengths at these energies any more. For all intents and purposes, these are particles.

The energies we detect go into the hundreds of TeVs and charged cosmic rays have been detected to much, much higher energies.

<comment><USER4> the transition/duality of particles and waves is something that, despite having heard about it many times, I'm still unable to grasp intuitively

<comment><USER5> I'm still not grasping it either, to the point that I feel we may eventually learn they are neither, something else that looks to us sometimes like a particle and sometimes like a wave.

<comment><USER3> We already did learn that. QED describes a photon perfectly mathematically.

There is just now word that maps that to ordinary terms.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Astrophysicist here, I'm currently finishing my PhD, mainly focused on data analysis for the kind of telescopes that measured this GRB, while my main focus is on a smaller prototype telescope (FACT), I also work for the one that detected this GRB (MAGIC).

AMA ;)

<comment><USER6> Is there an archive with all the data ever received, or is the "uninteresting" data dropped after some time?

<comment><USER3> For the satellites all data is publicly available as required by NASA.

Unfortunately all ground based telescopes until now keep their data private but nothing is thrown away ;) We have several Million air showers recorded.

This is going to change with the next gen observatory, which will operate as an open observatory.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Are GRBs a danger to astronauts and people in the International Space Station?

<comment><USER8> Are people on Earth safe from GRBs?

<comment><USER9> Depends on the GRB. A supernova 50 light years away is supposed to eliminate all large animal life (including us). Fortunately any stars capable of it are more than 100 Ly away, where they would only eliminate, e.g., civilization.

A magnetar quake 500 light years away would sterilize the planet (but not harm the magnetar at all). Fortunately, the nearest magnetar we know about is 9000 light years away, so its blast would be ~300 times weaker, just enough for a garden-variety mass extinction, and end of civilization. But there might be one closer.

All the ones we detect happen millions of times farther away. So they are only terrifying if you think about how we can even tell something happened that far away.

<comment><USER10> What about Eta Carinae?

<comment><USER11> We are probably okay. See "Superluminous supernovae: No threat from Eta Carinae", [https://arxiv.org/abs/0705.4274](https://arxiv.org/abs/0705.4274)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> >> A powerful outburst in a distant galaxy produced photons with high enough energies to be detected by ground-based telescopes for the first time

First sentence makes no sense.

several galaxies produce photons with high enough energies to be detected by ground-based mark-1 eyeballs every night.

Staggering numbers of galaxies produce photons with high enough energies to be detected by ground-based telescopes every night.

They need to include the unusually short wavelength of the photons to convey their message.

<comment><USER13> Well, the sentence has to be understood in the context of the headline, which specifically talks about gamma radiation, which so far was not possible to observe from earth as the atmosphere absorbs it.

So this must have been a really scary event, sending photons over 4 billion light years, energetic enough to pass through the absorbing atmosphere.

We can only hope to never be hit by a GRB from our cosmic neighbourhood, that would be a life-ending event.

<comment><USER3> No gamma rays at these energies are able to penetrate the atmosphere and reach the ground.

We only detect the particles indirectly.

When a high energy particle enters the atmosphere, it creates a cascade of particles called an air shower. In that cascade, charged particles, mainly electrons and positrons, travel faster than the speed of light in air and thus produce Cherenkov radiation.

This is light in the UV to blue visible range, you may know it from pictures of nuclear power plants.

The telescope measure the Cherenkov light and from that reconstruct the properties of the particle that created the air shower.

This event was not the first time we measured high energy photons on the ground, we do each night. But it was the first time we measured them from a GRB.</comment></comment></comment>


Germany train crash: Several killed in Bavarian town of Bad Aibling - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35530538 <comment><USER3> Note that in this particular case two trains belonging to a small regional short distance company collided.

I have relatives working for "Die Bahn"^, which is the actual national train company. And i can tell you that this kind of thing is a direct result of the privatization of the train industry in germany. First it simply resulted in less quality in transport, with money being saved on the maintenance of non- critical parts, such that i.e. one car per train may have non-functioning air control.

Now small unaffiliated transport companies have sprung up to cover very short distance trips on budgets just as short. The result is what you have in the article.

The only good news is that as of yet, travelling with Die Bahn is still safe, since they at least spend a lot of money on training and maintenance of critical parts.

^pronounced "dee bahn", meaning "The Rail"

</comment><comment><USER4> As a European I consider trains to be the most comfortable way of traveling available today. Planes have these awkward boarding procedures and trains, even in economy, have nice amounts of moving space.

It is so mind-boggling to me how train-to-train crashes can occur. You can naively assume this must be one of the easier things to prevent. Especially in a highly developed country like Germany.

Does this mean train infrastructure (in Europe) is so outdated? Or why does this seem to happen fairly often?

 _Edit:_ According to the Wikipedia list mentioned below there seems to be a train-to-train collision about every 2 years in (Western) Europe. Let's not focus on whether that is a lot or not, but what generalizations can be made about their causes.

<comment><USER5> This _seems_ to happen fairly often (note the emphasis); things that _actually_ happen often are not on the news (because [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_values](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_values) ).

From [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rail_accidents_(2010%E...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rail_accidents_\(2010%E2%80%93present\)) : I have counted about 170 fatalities 2010-2016 for the whole of EU, about half of which (81) is from the 24 July 2013, Santiago de Compostela derailment, about another quarter is "train hits car after driver went around the barriers," and there seem to be significant numbers of sabotage (about 20 fatalities). In that, I have counted only 5 train-to-train crashes (Buizingen, Szczekociny, Sloterdijk, Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Bad Aibling).

See also this Eurostat report: even for the deadliest year for a long time (the Santiago derailment again), train collisions accounted for 101 deaths per year. [http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics- explained/index.php/...](http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics- explained/index.php/Transport_accident_statistics#Railway_accident_statistics)

You are quite correct that this is a well-understood problem, one that is prevented millions of time per day as the absolute baseline of any railway system. Of course, _when_ it happens, it makes the news - precisely because it's so rare. If two cars collide and people die, that's not news - <USER2> happens all the time (at least 27 101 people in 2013, across 23 EU member states).

<comment><USER5> What is also not on the news (yet it does happen fairly often) are _prevented_ accidents: train passes signal at danger due to driver error, all affected traffic stops immediately and automatically, some delays and a mountain of paperwork appears.

 _That_ is an example of the safety system working as designed. No property damage, no injuries, no loss of life - not newsworthy.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> "Someone screwed up" On today's railways, it is very difficult, deliberate action excepted, for one error to cause an accident of this magnitude. Most modern railway accidents occur following an unfortunate combination of coincidental events and\or procedural breakdowns. Technology and procedures have evolved over the years to ensure that one mistake cannot lead to such an event. Railway authorities are no longer complacent and reactive in their application of safety measures as they once were.

<comment><USER5> Still, it's _quite obviously_ possible. Nobody has implied that this was specifically due to a single point of failure or a single human error...we'll have to wait for more data.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> The JavaScript framework situation is getting out of hand</comment>


Hash_salt= - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/search?p=2&q=%22hash_salt%3D%22&ref=searchresults&type=Code&utf8=%E2%9C%93 <comment><USER2> another "hey i just learned that github has a search feature" post. what is going on today?

<comment><AUTHOR> I don't know what the trigger was but I was thinking of posting something on this line couple of hours back before this whole thing started. Weird coincidence but I can show you history of my github searches for 1-2 hours back.</comment></comment>


Amazon AWS error exposes info on 31,000 GoDaddy servers - <AUTHOR> https://www.engadget.com/2018/08/09/amazon-aws-error-exposes-31-000-godaddy-servers/?yptr=yahoo <comment><USER2> Ouch. "S3 bucket insecurity," combined with "AWS pricing model so complex it needed to be modeled" makes this just a tire fire all around.</comment>


Running XQuery Universally - <AUTHOR> http://xqueryguestbook.my28msec.com At 28msec, we're using XQuery in replacement of a typical application stack (SQL, scripting, Javascript). We've built the following demo in order to showcase the advantages of using a single programming language when building an application: http://xqueryguestbook.my28msec.com <comment><USER2> While the general idea is interesting, I think that we've been mislead a bit. My take away is that we could use XQuery for everything. JQuery is used to back the whole thing. While XQuery might be the language that the front end is programmed in, it still needs JavaScript to do its job. Also, index.html is still HTML filled. So the XQuery manipulates the app that way, but still needs HTML in a template to get to the user.

I was expecting the whole thing to be generated by XQuery.

<comment><USER3> the nice part of it is that "the whole thing _is_ generated by XQuery. XQuery is aware of languages like XML, XHTML or HTML and can natively serialize content to any of those. (see the W3C XQuery serialization spec.)

A few more comments: \- JQuery is a different story. Besides the "Query" in the name there is no other comparison. JQuery is a set of Javascript libraries; XQuery is a XML Query Language. Moreover, both can co-exist in a web application. \- The XQuery Guestbook exaple is a proof of concept that a language like XQuery can be used "universally" from the back-end to the front- end. \- If you want to install the plug-in version of the XQIB (XQuery in the Browser) you can turn off JavaScript support in your browser.

So you might wanna dig a little more into XQuery and platforms like 28msec's Sausalito that do all the things ONLY in XQuery. You might love it. :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Is XQuery a joke?

<comment><USER5> Is that a question?

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> (: the syntax for comments makes me smile for each and every of them :)</comment>


NYTimes uses Hadoop, S3, EC2, and some custom code to handle PDF generation for 4TB worth of data - <AUTHOR> http://open.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/self-service-prorated-super-computing-fun/

<comment><USER2> I'd have imagined that a huge non-tech organization like the NYTimes would be too full of PHB's to let anything "untested" like S3 or EC2 be used for a high profile project, but between this and their open sourcing some code (code.nytimes.com), I seem pretty wrong. What other non-obvious (Facebook, Google, Amazon) companies do you guys know of that are tech-open-minded?

</comment><comment><USER3> Take-home message: "Amazon is so fast and cheap that I can run computations over 4TB data sets, notice that I screwed it all up, and run it again."

<comment><USER4> I think what is equally important was their extensive use of open source packages of all types using both Java and Python. Xen, Hadoop, and Boto just are examples showing that more often than not, open source is the way to go.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> There is not shortage of PHB at nytimes but there are enough folks that get it and if you know now to manage the situation good things can happen. Things have really been changing in the last year and there are many more really interesting things to come. This was just one fun example.</comment>


Finding the R community a barrier to entry, Python looks elsewhere for lunch - <AUTHOR> http://joelcadwell.blogspot.com/2014/01/finding-r-community-barrier-to-entry.html

<comment><USER2> There are several dynamics all intertwined.

1\. Increased need for advanced statistical tools beyond just Excel and more affordable (and more modern) than SAS. This means that R is getting more and more attention from business analytics folks, just as Python is as well. If someone lives only in one of these communities, it's possible to misinterpret this overall expansion as being specific to just their language/ecosystem.

2\. More heterogeneous data streams and increased data volumes mean that traditional the data warehouse pipeline model of ingest -> clean -> structuring/modelling -> analysis is breaking down. (Cloudera, for instance, acknowledges their evolving customer needs in the DW space by branding their Hadoop stack as being an "Enterprise Data Hub".) However, most people are _not_ sold on the idea that there is a Single Unicorn Vendor that will sell them a single silo or comprehensive BI suite that fixes everything. Instead, in the face of increased demands for agility and increased heterogeneity, ad- hoc data munging is a real need. This is an area where Python truly excels.

3\. The author of this blog post is squarely focused in the world of stats. This is R's home turf and of course, R and S have been the de-facto languages of academic statisticians for decades. By the time that a user like him would consider turning to Python, then R's days will truly be numbered. That has not happened yet, nor is it the contention of the original blog post he was responding to. Instead, it's the idea that there is a huge diversity of statistical and analytical needs in the world, and Python is rapidly being adopted in those spaces because it's easy to pick up and it is a very polyglot tool.

The author of NumPy has commented that, "R is still king in the statistics department (and some social sciences). Everywhere else in the university - engineering and sciences - people use Matlab, C++, and more and more, they are turning to Python."

</comment><comment><USER3> I still can't get next to the idea of a language where indentation has semantic meaning to the interpreter.

Yuck.

Call me old fashioned but I find code with e.g. curly braces much more readable.</comment>


You have a story, and Fly Messages has the mask / Anonymously Share - <AUTHOR> https://flymessages.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> Fly Messages is an extremely unique social media platform that allows users the opportunity to voice their stories and opinions without fear of people having access to their name and entire profile. You don't need to have an account. Fly Messages allows you to post an update, story, or message anonymously with the whole world. Your privacy is never violated with Fly Messages' secure connection. All of the user data is encrypted so there is no threat of your private information getting out there if you don't want it to.</comment>


Tech Startups Feel an IPO Chill - <AUTHOR> http://on.wsj.com/1GftiDt <comment><USER2> How can they feel a chill, it has never been warm since 2001 :-)</comment>


Patents are 'useless' - says the chairman of the SME Innovation Alliance (SMEIA) - <AUTHOR> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/businessclub/8200861/Tech-body-patents-are-useless.html

<comment><AUTHOR> Here's the "Open letter"

[http://www.smeia.org/smeia- org/_img/sme/SMEIA_HMG_Growth_pol...](http://www.smeia.org/smeia- org/_img/sme/SMEIA_HMG_Growth_policies.pdf)</comment>


Eric Cantor succumbs to tea party challenger Tuesday - <AUTHOR> http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/eric-cantor-faces-tea-party-challenge-tuesday/2014/06/10/17da5d20-f092-11e3-bf76-447a5df6411f_story.html

<comment><USER2> _a Cantor supporter shouted, "Get a job!"_

All you need to know about why Cantor lost.</comment>


Republicans: No compromise possible on net neutrality - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/02/republicans-no-compromise-possible-on-net-neutrality.ars <comment><USER2> Notably, Boehner's top campaign contributer in the last election cycle was AT&T:

[http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?type=C...](http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?type=C&cid=N00003675&newMem=N&cycle=2010)

</comment><comment><USER3> I'm not sure how to post this without seeming like a troll, but... is this guy campaigning _for_ or _against_ net neutrality? I can't tell from the article. He wants to protect "our most basic freedoms", right? So... he _wants_ net neutrality? But then he says "no taxpayer dollars [should be] used to fund these net neutrality rules."

I'm sure I'm being either naive, stupid or both right now, but I'm honestly confused.

<comment><USER4> As a libertarian, I would interpret protecting "our most basic freedoms" meaning the right to freely enter into agreements with whichever service providers we choose. If a service provider chooses to limit bandwidth to certain sites I would be free to buy Internet service elsewhere. But, as a libertarian, I also recognize the fact that this will never work as long as government continues to regulate these services in any way. If government gives special favours to big providers there will never be an opportunity for small ISPs to compete.

<comment><USER5> in a libertarian world who owns the cables to your house? How does someone with a better idea/business model get new cables out to everyones house?

<comment><USER6> Who needs to own cables? You could rent cable in some areas, rent satallite for others, build short range wireless towers in others, use laser transmission here, build above ground infrastructure there, channel packets through power cables here, and phone lines there, and speed it up with local caching here, here and here.

Technology changes, don't expect the ISP killer to look like an ISP. Just as the land-line phone killer in no way looked like a better land line phone provider.

<comment><USER5> Who would you rent them from?

In a libertarian world who should have owned the cables for the past 20 years? How would competition happen when the cost of running new cables all around the country is extremely high?

<comment><USER6> As with everything, if you want something you either buy it or build it. If the cost to use existing infrastructure is too high, demand for alternatives will grow. If this demand can supplied, great, if it can't, then nothing can be done by market or government.

You've correctly pegged me as a Libertarian =), but I don't know who should be the title holders of the existing infrastructure.

<comment><USER5> The point is that a new business can't dig up everyones backyard if they think the current phone companies are doing a bad job, even if there is demand. I don't see how the libertarian model can work in this case.

<comment><USER6> Can I give you a link? [http://server.theadvocates.org/ruwart/questions_maint.php?Ca...](http://server.theadvocates.org/ruwart/questions_maint.php?Category=26&id=377)

Mary Ruwart (2008 Libertarian Party presidental nomination) answers a very similar question about roads.

The short answer is: Most of the infrastructure would be built and maintained by the people who lived next to them. A university and some nearby business(es) might build a high speed connection. Then some adjacent neighborhoods might tie in. As low-cost regional hubs grow, entrepreneurs might focus on cost effective inter-regional infrastructure.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> DanI-S The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing America that freedom for corporations equates to freedom for individuals.

<comment><USER7> Corporation are MADE of individuals.

A corporation is not a person and does not think. There is an actual human on the other end, and it is that human to whom you are giving that freedom.

People have a tendency to anthropomorphize corporations. A corporation did this, wants that, etc.

<comment><USER8> _"... Corporation are MADE of individuals. ^A corporation is not a person^ and does not think. ..."_

Yes they are.

 _"... In the United States, corporations were recognized as having rights to contract, and to have those contracts honored the same as contracts entered into by natural persons, in Dartmouth College v. Woodward, decided in 1819. In the 1886 case Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, 118 U.S. 394, the Supreme Court recognized that corporations were recognized as persons for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment. ..."_ ~ <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation#United_States>

A dubious outcome in what was meant in spirit to uphold a person's (black or white) civil and political rights being interfered by any state. cf: 14th amendment ~ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_Uni...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#Citizenship_and_civil_rights)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> All of these stories point to one solution- re-decentralize the Internet. Depending on either corporations or the government for a functioning Internet is a recipe for disaster.

<comment><USER10> Decentralization depends on standards, infrastructure and property rights. That's all. Bureaucrats and corporations not required. If you want to hook up your network to mine, so your users can share data with mine and vice versa, all we need is power, hardware, ethernet and good 'ol TCP/IP.

Net "Neutrality" advocates would make better use of their time starting their own networks, where anything _neutral_ goes, including equal prioritization of XXX porn and 911 VOIP packets. On my network, if you freely agree to the terms, your porn packets would _not_ be neutral. If you don't like that, you don't have to use my network. Don't like it? Tough. It's called freedom.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> There are a number of disturbing aspects of this news, but I find the new "no discussion, no consideration, no compromise" attitude of the Republican party to be extremely frightening.

<comment><USER12> It works pretty well though. Every issue is framed as a decision whether the country as we know it will be destroyed. Seems a lot of voters like this style.

<comment><USER13> Just a few years ago all the news was about how the American public was sick of this sort of "polarizing" style of politics, and wanted a kinder, gentler style epitomized by "compromise".

Of course, that was when the Democrats were coming in to power.

Now that the Republicans seem to be coming back in to power, it seems that "compromise" is off the table. Not that it ever was on the table for Republicans.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> The idea of net neutrality comes from the concept of Common Carrier in the Communications Act of 1934: carriers cannot block communications between any two parties (such as favoring their subscribers over those of another carrier). In exchange the carriers are not liable for the content of the communications.

Another thing that seems to totally ignored by Boehner et. al. is that you sometimes need regulation to protect basic rights, the Civil Rights Act for example. Net neutrality (hacker view) is the right to communicate whatever with whomever. The FCC has actually been protecting the Internet, bu ever since Powell the child's term as FCC chairman, the waters have been considerably muddied.

(In order to give my rant some measure of verisimilitude, I attempted to vet it against Common Carrier and Communications Act of 1934 over at Wikipedia. I found two of the worst and most incomplete articles that I have ever encountered. The Act itself is a 333 page PDF. tl;dnr So please be kind. :-)

</comment><comment><USER15> Check the following totally misleading article put out by the Corporate front "Ameripac":

FCC: Information Superhighway Traffic Cops <http://conservativeactionalerts.com/blog_post/show/2120>

This looks to be a campaign intentionally designed to confuse with the goal of restricting a truly free Internet in order to benefit big money interests.

Frankly I've had more than enough of mega-corporations corrupting good governance.

</comment><comment><USER16> Can someone tell me if net neutrality was to fail and big service providers did restrict access as they saw fit - what ways would there be around it without paying extra $ to line their pockets? VPN? Something else? (I don't know much about this stuff so sorry if this is a dumb question)

</comment><comment><USER17> Summary:

Do you want corporations to act as unregulated "traffic controllers"? Then you're against net neutrality.

Do you want an accountable government agency with a lackluster track record for citizens' digital rights to act as a "traffic controller"? Then you're for net neutrality.

* Before voting me down, look at the actions the federal government has already taken in regards to traffic control (ala exempting wireless carriers, and kill switch legislation). This smells like traffic control to me.

<comment><USER11> Then you aren't familiar with network neutrality, which has nothing to do with the FCC dictating what kind of traffic is and is not allowed or controlling traffic.

<comment><USER18> No it certainly doesn't have anything to do with that. However it does set the precedent that the FCC can set rules for how businesses operate their networks, and once that precedent is set it will become much easier to extend it to regulation of traffic. Keep in mind that governments rarely give up a power once it's become accepted, but that they are quick to extend any powers they do have.

This isn't necessarily the first or last link in that chain, but it is _a_ link in the chain.

<comment><USER19> Isn't the FCC already regulating the Internet through CALEA? I don't quite understand the idea that NN is the FCC's "foot in the door".

<comment><USER18> Yes that's a good point. I edited my comment before I saw your reply and once after I saw your reply.

I'm not too familiar with CALEA but it seems to be an example of the phenomenon I was describing. It began as a way for law enforcement to monitor VOIP but expanded in 10 years to cover all internet traffic.

<comment><USER17> A good little technical overview of what CALEA entails here:

[http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/lan/catalyst6500/io...](http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/lan/catalyst6500/ios/12.2SX/lawful/intercept/65LIch1.html)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> I still want a technical definition of what Net Neutrality is. No using words like "freedom", given me something that is not open to interpretation.

<comment><USER21> As I define it: No packet shaping based on what service users are accessing; all packets are created equal.

Wikipedia also has a quite good definition. A key line from it: "The principle advocates no restrictions by Internet service providers and governments on content, sites, platforms, the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and the modes of communication."

Sadly, it's a term which is used to mean whatever the speaker wants it to mean. Political language does horrible things to words.

<comment><USER20> Actually, I want packet shaping as long as its under my control (my netflix is more important than the download of software updates).

"Sadly, it's a term which is used to mean whatever the speaker wants it to mean. Political language does horrible things to words."

You nailed the words to my biggest problem. I see how bills are named, and really won't say I support something unless I have a real definition.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Oh, Republicans are against net neutrality, so we should be for it, right?

If there's one dominant theme I've seen over the years when politics rears its ugly head in an online discussion, it's that

      Republicans = Corporations (Evil)
      Democrats = Workers (Wholesome goodness)

Now, it's entirely possible that those statements are true 100% of the time, but isn't it much more likely that there are exceptions to them, and if you're intellectually honest, you can acknowledge them? I'm not sure if Google results are a trustworthy source, but look up "corporate donations by party" and you'll see countless examples of corporations taking advantage of whatever party is in power. So you must acknowledge that neither party is completely beholden to "wholesome goodness".

Whichever side wins in the net neutrality debate, some corporations will lose, and others will win. If net neutrality needs to be enforced, it means that politicians will hold more power. Do we really want to keep giving those people more power, especially over something that's pretty free at the moment? Give more power to the same people who just renewed the Patriot Act?!

</comment><comment><USER22> I'm sorry, but I've heard a lot of topics from Boehner that include: "protecting our most basic freedoms".

Of course, by "our", he mostly means "Corporations" (IMHO, viewed as first- class citizen groups).

Just my opinion.</comment>


Steve Jobs The Lost Interview is on iTunes, but don't tell anyone, okay? - <AUTHOR> http://www.cringely.com/2012/07/02/steve-jobs-the-lost-interview-itunes-dont-tell-anyone-okay/

<comment><USER2> I think the author is making too big a deal of this video not being promoted by Apple.

Sure, to us reading from the author's blog, we know it's an independent video. To most people who would load up iTunes and see a big banner for a Steve Jobs video on the front of the store, it would seem as though Apple were behind it.

I don't think there's anything wrong with not actively promoting that sort of confusion.

If they'd really thought it was "too controversial" (Not sure why the author quoted that phrase, and then didn't say if it was an actual quote?), they wouldn't have put it in the store at all. It's not like banning something from their store is something they're afraid to do...

<comment><USER3> You misinterpret. It's just the old "See the X that Y doesn't want you to see" sales routine.

<comment><USER4> Exactly what I thought. There are lots of movies/apps/games/albums they don't promote.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I found this: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AttBk-Kt3C0>

Looks like it's been mirrored to avoid automatic detection.

<comment><USER5> Another great interview, 5 years ago: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nMD6sjAe8I>

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Unrelated to the post, but why is the only option to rent? I love iTunes, but I hate their rental policy (only watch for 24 hours). Would be nice if I could just pay the 10-15 bucks and own it.

<comment><USER6> I believe these policies are set by the copyright holder. The policies often change, so check back later and you might be able to buy it.

FWIW, this was a really good film.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Everytime I see the name Cringly I'm reminded of a chap who was building a plane and thru a major emo at the cameraman.

I know he has been going on about this lost interview for years but $3.99, naaaa. I call that cashing in like ew conning a TV studio to pay for you to build a plane for yourself.

Maybe he can move on now it's been `found`.

</comment><comment><USER8> Many attribute Apple's success to Steve Jobs, therefore reminding everyone once again he's no more by promoting an interview (or banning it) probably wouldn't be wise. No controversy here IMHO.

</comment><comment><USER9> It's not available for Canadians on iTunes store. Does anyone have a (high quality) link?

<comment><USER10> The video was extracted from an amateur VHS recording.

In 1080p, you'll get analog artifacts in HD, I'm not sure it's worth it...

The YouTube link above is fine (<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4193665>). All you see on screen is Jobs' face anyway.

Edit: There's a spanish-dubbed version in 1080p, you can mute it and watch it with the sound track of the other one if you like. But it really doesn't add much. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atyF5c9sdBk&feature=rela...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atyF5c9sdBk&feature=related)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Not available on iTunes outside U.S.

</comment><comment><USER12> > This is the most valuable company on earth

...and I stopped reading the article.

I think the author is being facetious/sarcastic, but I can't tell.

<comment><USER13> > I think the author is being facetious/sarcastic

Neither, They're stating a fact.

[http://www.forbes.com/sites/marketshare/2012/02/16/the- most-...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/marketshare/2012/02/16/the-most- valuable-company-in-the-world/)

<comment><USER14> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Aramco></comment></comment></comment>


SHCL – An unholy union of Posix shell and Common Lisp - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/bradleyjensen/shcl <comment><USER2> Anybody remember scsh? Seems a better integration of the shell and Lisp bits if you ask me (although this is a neat hack, don't get me wrong).

<comment><USER3> scsh was definitely awesome, and it's not really practical in Common Lisp[0], due to Lisp's unfortunate choice to upcase all symbols. Made sense at the time, but in retrospect I think it was a mistake.

It's a real pity that Franz's modern mode[1] didn't become more popular.

[0]: it's _possible_ , just ugly as hell because either one would have stuff like (|ls| |etc|) or one would have stuff like (|LENGTH| …).

[1]: [https://franz.com/support/tech_corner/modern.mode.lhtml](https://franz.com/support/tech_corner/modern.mode.lhtml)

<comment><USER4> You can use Readtable case :preserve to avoid the ugly-as-hell stuff [1]. Some libraries do this, for example KM [2]

[1] [http://clhs.lisp.se/Body/23_ab.htm](http://clhs.lisp.se/Body/23_ab.htm)

[2] [http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/mfkb/km.html](http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/mfkb/km.html)

<comment><USER5> In fact you can have case-sensitive Common Lisp packages that are completely backwards compatible with case-insensitive CL code by settings _readtable- case_ to _:invert_ [1], and this works without any problems for interfacing with external case-sensitive environments.[2] Allegro's modern mode is what you would get if you assume case sensitivity as a default, but portable Common Lisp can handle case sensitivity perfectly fine without breaking backwards compatibility.

[1] [https://oneofus.la/have-emacs-will-hack/2011-09-20-common- li...](https://oneofus.la/have-emacs-will-hack/2011-09-20-common-lisp-is-case- sensitive.html)

[2] [https://common- lisp.net/project/parenscript/reference.html#s...](https://common- lisp.net/project/parenscript/reference.html#section-symbolconv)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Most entertaining readme I've read in awhile. Nice job!

</comment><comment><USER7> My cousin's a core contrib on [xonsh]([https://xonsh.org](https://xonsh.org)) which is a posix-compliant python shell. I remember him cackling about making his env completely unusable to anyone else in the world (while giving himself amazing powers)...

</comment><comment><USER8> Now only if there was a Haskell shell (Hashell?) with monads as UNIX pipes...

<comment><USER9> Well, there's [https://hackage.haskell.org/package/turtle](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/turtle)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Idk about "unholy". I wish I could make eshell (in Emacs) my full time shell, but certain things like nvm don't work, etc.

<comment><USER7> nvm sucks! try n!

[https://github.com/tj/n/](https://github.com/tj/n/)

seriously, it's so much tidier!

<comment><USER11> Imho all these tools like nvm, rvm etc are deeply flawed and doesn't really do their jobs all that well.

Where I work we use the nix package manager. Making sure your team is using the same version of node is just a few lines of config away:

      with (import <nixpkgs> {});

      mkShell {
        buildInputs [ nodejs-8_x ];
      }

Pinning the whole package tree is just a few more lines away and offers you full reproducibility but I omitted it for brevity.

Another upside is that this approach is language agnostic and works for all tools packaged in the nix package repository.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Unix? Unity?

<comment><USER13> Pun for "union" most likely. It's punny because it is part of a Unix. The original title is union I think though.

<comment><USER14> We've s/unix/union/'d the title.

<comment><USER12> Thank you!</comment></comment></comment></comment>


The work spaces of over-achievers from Aaron Sorkin to Oprah Winfrey - <AUTHOR> http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/fanfair/my-desk-slide-show

<comment><USER2> Is it just me or does it appear that Lorne Michaels (page 7) is playing Snood on his computer? [https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Snood_%28vide...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Snood_%28video_game%29)</comment>