Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick the Habit - <AUTHOR> https://www.npr.org/2019/10/01/766057380/how-magic-mushrooms-can-help-smokers-kick-the-habit <comment><USER3> I used another psychedelic (DMT) to self treat my alcoholism. While it is early days still, I am almost 600 days sober.

The drug allowed to me introspect and access my mind in a way which was previously blocked. From the perspective it unlocked, it was easy to see the harm I was doing to myself and others. It changed my life.

<comment><USER4> I've got a habit I'm trying to break as well and I pondered using drugs. But I don't do drugs otherwise. How do you go about finding DMT?

<comment><USER5> You can buy pre-cursors (or known as analogs) like 4-AcO-DMT online from Lysergi. They are sold as a 'research chemical', however they metabolize into psilocin so it is indistinguishable to psilocybin. Obviously you should take every pre-caution before ingesting any substance by doing your own research, and looking into the authenticity of the supplier.

<comment><USER6> pedantic semantic quibble: precursors are molecules that are used to produce a target molecule. Analogs are molecules which are a functional substitute for a target molecule.

5-Aco-DMT is an analog to psilocin, and is believed to be a prodrug (converted into target by your body), but I think precursor is a misnomer in this case.

<comment><USER5> Yeah that's why I added analog in brackets haha. But I believe you're correct

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Why are they called "magic" mushrooms? Because they remind you that life is, in a sense that we rarely recognize, truly magical. We can adopt the materialist lens and say that they "rewire your brain" \-- and in a certain sense, that's of course true. But the crucial point is that experientially, you discover firsthand that life is precious _beyond belief_ \-- beyond what the rational mind can contain -- and if cigarettes (or depression...) aren't helping you express that transcendent truth, well, bye bye. And that's not something you easily forget.

(And on a grander scale, if our modern way of living isn't helping _life_ thrive, well, maybe it's time to make some loving changes. So I'm glad this research is being done.)

<comment><USER8> After a decade of solitude, they helped me realize that I was living in a machine world. It showed me how to love myself, other people and nature again. Yes, it was like magic, a true perspective change, a reintroduction to the human world.

It showed me what supreme contentedness and connectedness is after this long time of seeing the world purely in differences - within myself, without myself and in the relationships between me and my environment. Unity.

Understanding what love is. Why people go to parks. How they can enjoy life. Why they bond. The beauty of life and subjectivity.

When you are in a state of happiness, everything in the past and present seems meaningful and positive in some way, because all of it brought you to this state of being. Even if it was terrible. Even if you didn't dare to consider it. In this state, you can contemplate these things because you are overloaded with serotonin.

I advise everyone to use a tripsitter when they experience this, especially for the first time. Respect the drug and it will respect you.

If you don't know anyone and think you are alone, do not be afraid, there are people who will do that for you

:)

<comment><USER9> > you can contemplate these things because you are overloaded with serotonin.

And while serotonin definitely is involved, it is only a part of it.

The real "magic" can happen because psilocybin/LSD/etc. allows you to increase your frequency. This in turn allows you to tune in to other ("higher" and immaterial) dimensions that surround us all the time. Most of us normally do not yet perceive them in everyday life, but these special molecules can make that happen for us - for a few moments at least. Some call this state "heightened intuition", others call it "getting in touch with your guides", others call it "opening your clear-senses". The benefit of such a short "peek behind the veil" is that at least your subconscious will always remember that there is an infinite profoundness to life that we completely ignore in our current way of living/culture. This is why many people get out of their deep/long-lasting/clinical depression, sometimes by experiencing only a single dose of LSD. They have seen "it", maybe heard "it", or smelled "it", but most of all, they have _experienced_ "it" and it will stay with them - "it" being this mysterious force of pure joy, love and deep understanding (which is much more profound that any intellectual understanding).

Word of caution: Before you go ahead with such an experience, make sure you take all the time in the world to educate yourself about all of it. Then make sure your source sells you the actual and pure substance; maybe test it beforehand if you can. Plan your trip carefully. Do it in nature and undisturbed.

<comment><USER10> How do I measure this frequency? What would it look like on an FFT plot?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I think it's clear that there is a push for magic mushrooms to follow the same path as Cannabis has.

It's very hard to fight the war on drugs (from a personal liberty standpoint) one drug at a time. From my political position it's personally insulting that institutions such as the DEA and FDA tell me what I can and cannot put into my body. I'm an adult, I can either make those decisions for myself or hire experts for consultation to help me make the decision.

<comment><USER12> > From my political position it's personally insulting that institutions such > as the DEA and FDA tell me what I can and cannot put into my body.

I'm of two minds about that. While I agree that I ought to have full autonomy over my own body, at the same time the state has a vested interest in not allowing its population to fall victim to life-destroying drugs, especially when those drugs target the most vulnerable members.

Russia's heroin problem has been rising and rising -- apparently 2% of the population are addicted, and much higher rates for certain segments [1] -- and people talk of a "lost" generation. And it may get even worse.

I think our social contract with the state involves not allowing that to happen to its population.

[1] [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120792...](https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120792687)

<comment><USER13> You might be interested to learn that heroin is actually quite a safe drug and safer to self-administer than paracetamol [0]. While you're right that the state has a duty to protect its citizens the war on drugs, all drugs, has the opposite effect.

Drugs are a public health problem not a criminal one. People are taking things like heroin primarily due to other factors in their life, which the state should address. For drugs like magic mushrooms lack of availability is increasingly looking like actively harming the availability/development of a positive treatment for many conditions.

[0]: [https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jun/14/drugsandalc...](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jun/14/drugsandalcohol.socialsciences)

(tldr the negative impacts of heroin all arise from its criminalisation, while it is extremely addictive it's also extremely hard to overdose on when taken on its own)

<comment><USER14> > the negative impacts of heroin _all_ arise from its criminalisation

This is something of an exaggeration; heroin withdrawal can happen even without criminalization, for example, and is profoundly unpleasant, and constipation can dramatically reduce your quality of life. But certainly those negative "impacts" pale compared to the epidemic of drug-overdose deaths caused by prohibition, or even prohibition-induced unplanned withdrawal experiences.

<comment><USER13> That's a good point. I guess in addition poly-drug use is made more likely by criminalisation but doesn't necessarily cease with legalisation.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Set and setting. The drug just rattles your cage.

I quoted Leary on 'set and setting' the other day on an LSD history thread and mentioned Leonard Orr used to get great results with nothing more exotic than oxygen, so rather than repeat that ( [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21264919](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21264919) ) I'll say this:

If you have a modality of therapy that works, it will work without the drug (which, at best, serves as an amplifier and a "convincer".)

If you _don 't_ have a modality of therapy that works reliably, then it's irresponsible to add drugs and hope for the best. You're banging on the side of the box hoping to reseat the vacuum tubes.

The "convincer" effect can be achieved without drugs. Not to be too mysterious but I mean hypnosis. _You can e.g. quit smoking using hypnosis. It 's not even hard._

I'm not against drugs _per se_ I'm just against using them in therapy. It's irresponsible. It's like advocating zeppelins over bikes for personal transport.

(I'm great friends with Mushroom, and a little 'shroom tea can be great fun. But cramming 'im into a wee lil pill and then claiming "quit smoking" magic is in it... That's bad science and lousy magick.)

<comment><USER16> It's not just hitting the vacuum tube. If one just trips for the sake of tripping, then there is not much to be gained except for several hours of happy serotonin hits in the brain.

However, what we know about psychs is that there is a huge release of BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor) and a shutdown of the DMN.

The BDNF enables a ton of new neural connections to be built. It's like you have about 6-8 hours of a period where your brain plasticity goes back to that of an infant, just absorbing everything. So in this accelerated learning state, it's possible to work through one's emotions.

So it makes sense to prepare for several weeks to receive therapy and to outline goals and memories to revisit to process them during this heightened period. Then when the drug wears off, you're still left with the new neural connectivity and perspectives and the other benefits that were derived from the session.

Rather than hitting the vacuum tube, this is more like re-running the radio scanner in your car to find radio stations when you've moved over to a new city and the old radio stations are now out of range while one isn't tuned to the current set of radio stations.

<comment><USER15> > So it makes sense to prepare for several weeks to receive therapy and to > outline goals and memories to revisit to process them during this heightened > period. Then when the drug wears off, you're still left with the new neural > connectivity and perspectives and the other benefits that were derived from > the session.

The you're describing sounds _great_. All I'm saying is, a sweat lodge (for example) can take the place of the drug. The "magic" is in the "set and setting" not the pill.

<comment><USER17> Yes, I would be very curious as to your sources for this. I did medically supervised psychedelic treatment; I found the setting rather unpleasant because it took place in a doctor's office and one of the many anxieties I was treating was a lifelong phobia of germs and anything medical. This was a far cry from a sweat lodge or from recreational psychedelic experiences I've had with friends in nature etc. I did not enjoy all of my trips and some were hardly even reflective experiences because they caused me so much anxiety in the moment, yet I got massive psychological benefits from them nonetheless.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> This actually worked for me. I was a habitual marijuana user for several years and it had very adverse effects on my productivity and motivation, but I couldn't seem to quit. Then I did mushrooms with some friends and when I woke up I simply did not have the desire to smoke anymore. It has been around 12 years and I haven't ever picked it back up.

<comment><USER19> Just as another data point, I actually love weed with no desire to quit, and I too found myself questioning if it's even something I want to keep in my life after a psychedelic experience.

One of the weird things about psychedelics is that you'll often think "why don't I take better care of myself?" which often includes not doing the drugs or living the lifestyle that gave you that insight.

I also think I enjoy weed less since I've had that experience, which I'm a little disappointed about, but I feel like I have a much better compass for making good decisions now. I replaced grams in blunts with small amounts of whole leaf vaporization after that.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> I can attest to that. In my early tweens i was in a severely depressive state and would be actively rejecting psychotherapy and just keep going further down the spiral - it all changed after a one or two experiences with magic mushrooms.

Despite not using them in a clinical, supervised environment, or in conjunction with therapy, the experience actually had me somehow understand where my depressions came from and helped overcoming them like nothing else did.

Of course it didn't "cure me", managing depression has been a way longer journey - but for me it changed my life from "barely able to get up" to a state where i was actually able to do things, start working, live my life and care for myself almost overnight. Literally felt like it had re-wired my brain, never since relapsed into quite such a dark and hopeless state i was living in back then.

<comment><USER21> >the experience actually had me somehow understand where my depressions came from

While I realize that it is an entirely personal matter, I can't help but ask if you can perhaps share some of your insights?

<comment><USER20> It's really quite hard to explain as anybody who's had psychedelic experiences will probably tell you - but for me it was something like this:

A major reason for my depressions where my fathers early death, which i hadn't really processed up to that point. In my first ever trip, some hours in i fell into a state where all that sadness and regret just overpowered my conscience, quite literally myself. Yet at the same time i was calmly observing myself, and i was able to reflect quite deeply onto my emotional state, ironically all whilst beeing utterly unable to control it.

This "loss of ego", i could maybe describe it as an "out of body experience" made it incredibly obvious to me how to put my regular emotional state into context and understanding how rejecting the process of grief and feeding my fears of loss had created the state i was living in.

Afterwards all those things that had an unshakeable grip on me started to become understandable in a way you'd understand ANOTHER person going through this, reasoning wasn't clouded anymore from my affection. I think that was the tipping point

<comment><USER20> Tldr; it quite literally "killed my ego" for a short time and allowed for an unclouded view onto what was going on with me. And that way of reflecting my emotional state stayed with me ever since

<comment><USER22> A lot of the people using them mention killing the ego, I've never done anything like that and wonder what do you think under the word ego? I know the literal term obviously.

<comment><USER23> Way I see it, the ego manifests as a bunch of defense mechanisms that seek to preserve the status quo of one's existing personality, by distorting one's perception and generating sometimes-intrusive thoughts. The ego is also the thing that always wants more... more adulation, attention, money, etc.

As an example: given that you have free will, at any moment you could say to yourself, "hey, there are X and Y habits/traits I have, let's not do those anymore and do Z instead." Maybe it's smoking, eating badly, you don't treat people the way they deserve, being a doormat, whatever. You could absolutely choose to become an entirely different person overnight. You might also change your career/lifestyle overnight (not everyone is so lucky though).

Now the ego swoops in and says, "Hold on, let's not do anything crazy, it'll be scary and embarrassing if I suddenly act differently, what will my friends think? It's easier to keep on keeping on. These habits are just things that _I would do_. It's okay when _I_ do these things because I'm _me_." and so on like this.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Awesome. So the last two years I have asked people if they know anyone with shrooms, I really wanted to quit dipping (Copenhagen tobacco), been dipping for 15 years, and heard this really works.

No one I knew had any leads, not really shocked by that. But I quit dipping anyways, about 6 months ago. Moral of the story: sometimes your friends don't have illegal drugs and you have to suck it up and do right things the hard way. Second moral: having friends that have drugs would have made all this so much easier.

<comment><USER25> Can you not go and pick them where you are? I thought liberty caps were pretty widespread over Europe

<comment><USER26> Just delete this comment. If you're not an expert on mushrooms, picking mushrooms is basically playing Russian roulette. Telling people to do so is wildly irresponsible.

<comment><USER27> Precious few mushrooms are truly poisonous.

And I've picked and eaten A LOT of supposedly dangerous ones, as well as other plants; something I suspect most people speaking out on the subject haven't.

As a matter of fact, I just got some red amanitas out of the freezer that I picked a few days ago. I'm going to fry them in butter with onions and garlic and make a lovely shroom sandwich.

Like amanitas, liberty caps have a very distinctive look. Soak them in water for a while if at all unsure, and only eat a small amount to begin with.

The really dangerous stuff is pushed by "science" and the people who come up with this FUD to sell their artificial, truly poisonous and addictive chemical cocktails for awesome profits instead.

<comment><USER28> I love mushrooms, and pick and enjoy both edible and psychedelic types, but this advice is frankly terrible. Russian roulette indeed.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> There was a New Yorker article a few years ago about an experimental psilocybin treatment program in NYU and Johns Hopkins. Obviously the numbers were quite small considering government approval would be shaky and all that but it found that it was effective in treating addiction and chronic anxiety.

Here it is:

[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/09/trip- treatment](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/09/trip-treatment)

</comment><comment><USER30> To anyone curious, this was studied at a small scale with promising results across several psychedelics. Most notably lsd and mdma (in addition to mushrooms and dmt). I can't seem to locate links to studies at the moment, but I'd suggest reading _How to change your mind_ by Michael Pollan if you're interested in this stuff.

<comment><USER31> I went to a talk last week by Robin carhart-harris who does deep research in this area. The talk itself was pretty complicated but he was saying (I think!) that they believe these drugs cause the brain to go into a state where it becomes more susceptible to change. The same thing happens under extreme stress / trauma. The context of the experience itself then determines how that's encoded. It's like it opens the brain up to change.

<comment><USER32> Yes. I've done a lot of reading on the subject trying to explain and begin to understand how the incredibly positive changes I've experienced come about...and "reverse PTSD" seems remarkably close. A guided, safe psychedelic session is similar in that it's a one-time, extremely powerful event that causes a lasting change in the brain--except in this case it's positive and intentional* whereas PTSD is negative and wasn't sought out.

* There seems to be a large degree of choice in which changes one wants to take away from the experience but this is a highly subjective, personal conclusion.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> I've only done mushrooms once, and I've never wanted a cigarette more in my life than during that experience.

<comment><USER34> Why is that? What was causing the craving? Can you elaborate? I've heard that alcohol and cocaine cause this.

IME mushrooms cause any low-consciousness activities like smoking/drinking/mindless partying to seem repulsive.

<comment><USER19> Repulsive is absolutely the right word for this effect.

Edit for one more thought on this: it also gave me an appreciation for vegans and vegetarians. I was eating chicken while tripping once and really had some inner conflict over if it was ok to eat another animal. I'll never be a vegetarian, but for a brief moment I understood what all my hippie friends are on about :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> I've been learning more about these psychedelics and they seem to have good medical benefits but if anyone is looking for a psychedelic or spiritual breakthrough, similar breakthroughs have been achieved through things like kundalini yoga. Its the same as weight training vs steroids, but of course you can do both. You might not be ready or even know how to process your experience if you just take a drug. (I'm not talking about for medical purposes)

<comment><USER36> Kundalini awakenings can be just as harmful (if not MORE) as psychedelics awakenings without proper integration work. It always helps to work with a teacher or guide when traveling through a shadowy psyche.

<comment><USER37> Not disagreeing but clarifying that the big psychedelic medical studies also rely on integration work as it dramatically increases the value of the treatment. This I am paraphrasing from what I have learned from the Psychonauts podcast.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> If the active ingredient really temporarily "rewires" the brain such that multiple "rewires" can help break dependency, it should be tested with video game addiction. I know many people I grew up with who have a WoW addiction that is highly detrimental to their lives.

<comment><USER39> I just started playing WoW classic. People always ask me how I like it, seeing as I never played WoW before. I would describe it as not very fun, but incredibly addicting. I'd continue to elaborate but I have to go do some leatherworking...

<comment><USER40> Oh god I fell into the trap as well. I hardly played games in the past few years and strictly single player ones which aren't infinite time sinks. Then WoW classic came and I just wanted to chill out a bit and experience some nostalgia. Now I'm hooked again, doing about 3 hours a day while also juggling work, family life etc.

BTW, the fun starts when they introduce PvP honor and battlegrounds. Other than that it's a true grindfest.

As for the OP topic, shrooms are great, got me out of depression during my late teens. No preparation or anything, just took some with friends and embraced it with positive curiousity.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER41> From what I can say from experience - Psychedelics make you aware of the internal sensation of the body a lot. So smoking actually gives you a negative feeling as opposed to the usual feeling. This negative reinforcement is really useful for kicking the habit.

Same with alcohol or even meat products in particular. You can feel becoming stupid eating those. I think microdosing for 30 days is an effective way of kicking off habits or forming new healthy habits.

</comment><comment><USER42> My own (anecdotal) experience with magic mushrooms underlines this. When I used magic mushrooms I was still a smoker. While on magic mushrooms, I felt much less need to smoke, and when I did it tasted less good. FWIW, artificial sweetened candy also tasted horrible. Also, Zyban (Bupropion) had a similar effect on me regarding smoking cessation aid.

</comment><comment><USER43> A legal and safe psychedelic retreat center in the Netherlands is [https://synthesisretreat.com/](https://synthesisretreat.com/)

They have experienced guides/facilitators who can help in case someone is having a challenging experience while on psilocybin, and they have medical staff on premise if anyone needs it. The one caveat to note is that even though I'd say the retreat center is 90% secular/scientific, there's still a 10% remnant of non-scientific woo such as "shamanism" and "energy flows" and "cosmic surgery" that might be a turn off for the atheistic scientist crowd. Worth taking a peek though.

(And to second the warnings: please read Michael Pollan's How to Change Your Mind first, and be extremely careful if there's any history of schizophrenia in your family before trying any psychedelic)

<comment><USER44> You might call the shamanic aspect of it "non-scientific woo" but it's important to distinguish between "based on objective reality" and "actually improves your life" here. Many beliefs are one but not the other; in fact, I don't think they're that strongly correlated.

Of course, you can't easily alter your own beliefs, so if you have a lot of trouble suspending your disbelief for these things it might still be a turn off for you. But some such things can be useful to "believe" even if you do not think they reflect objective reality.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Makes perfect sense to me. I used IV ketamine infusions to treat anxiety and OCD. The effects I felt are very similar to what the patient in the article (and many other commenters on this post) describes; it's like my brain rewired itself in a way that allowed me to break out of negative patterns. I was suddenly able to consciously tell my brain to stop when I could feel myself going into a familiar anxiety spiral - and it WORKED. I had a sense of clarity about myself and my life that I had never experienced before. As a bonus, I went from being a frequent binge drinker to having literally zero desire to drink at all. It's not like waking up with a hangover and never wanting to drink again; I feel like I did as a child before I'd ever tried it at all and wasn't capable of craving the feeling of being drunk.

</comment><comment><USER45> A similar story, with a sample size of one - me. Smoking marijuana helped me quit smoking cigarettes.

One of the reasonably well known side effects of smoking pot is sometimes a feeling of intense paranoia. Well, over a period of a few months, I was regularly smoking pot in the evenings and convinced myself that smoking cigarettes would kill me and while stoned I was able to exaggerate these feelings to the point of paranoia (I was thinking very, very hard. Overthinking, another well known side effect).

Subsequently, even during the day when I wasn't high, I could still "feel" that paranoia whenever I lit up a cigarette.

It took maybe 2-3 months, but eventually I stopped smoking cigarettes all together, and even now almost 20 years later, just one drag starts to make me feel sick.

Of course, then I had a pot smoking problem, but that's a different story, which required a different solution.

<comment><USER11> How did you quit heavy cannabis usage?

<comment><USER45> I moved to another country where I didn't have the same network of friends and contacts. Basically, changed my environment and was busy setting up a new life.

I didn't move to another country to give up cannabis, it was just a happy co- incidence.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER46> Using Magic Mushrooms and Ayahuasca both made me more in touch with my body, and pushed me to take care of myself more. I noticed, while on Ayahuasca, that much of my anxiety was due to physical pain (or vice versa!), and that self- medicating with alcohol & tobacco were ultimately causing me more pain and dependence.

I was addicted to smoking, but not addicted to alcohol. Now, trying either leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Although, for health reasons, ironically, I am trying to pick up drinking Pinot Noir on occasion!

</comment><comment><USER47> > _New research shows that psilocybin might be an effective treatment for > diseases such as depression and addiction. While the work is still in its > early stages, there are signs that psilocybin might help addicts shake the > habit by causing the brain to talk with itself in different ways._

Interesting to see it might also help with depression because antidepressants are sometime prescribed to help quit smoking.

<comment><USER48> Depression can be seen as protection mechanism that reinforce rigid thought patterns in order to avoid runaway (psychosis, mania). So anything tiping the balance in the other direction allows to deprogram those behaviors.

This is related to the "entropic brain" theory, see [https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2014.0002...](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00020/full)

</comment></comment><comment><USER49> I think psilocybin (or patentable tweaks) has a future in medicine. Finally, pharmaceutical ads I wouldn't mind. ;)

Psilocybin Lead to (permanent) Increases in the Personality Domain of Openness.

1\. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3537171/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3537171/)

</comment><comment><USER50> good news, but:

where is the control group for 'going into a special place with the expectation of a spiritual/transformative experience and spending several hours meditating on letting go of the problem'?

pretty sure that might also have a nonzero statistical success correlate.

<comment><USER51> I don't have a citation on hand, but I know one of the early psilocybin experiments (of seminary students, so probably prone to spiritual response) used niacin as the control compound. These were drug-naive test subjects so having no response at all would have unblinded the experiment. Niacin, in enough of a dose, causes tingling, flushing, and heart rate changes.

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> The culmination of many experiences with mushrooms over the last several years has caused me to become completely sober from marijuana, alcohol, tobacco, and soon I will likely go vegetarian.

It seems to help with my psychological and spiritual development and make me more conscious, more purpose driven in life, and more aware of the shadow/devil side of my selfish personality.

I've also had a few enlightenment experiences that vastly deepened my understanding of what reality is and why we're here.

If anyone's curious; Elon Musk was right when he said:

"Love is the answer."

</comment><comment><USER34> Addicts cannot give up their addictions without fundamentally growing as people, raising their level of consciousness, and _boy_ will psychedelics help you with that...!

</comment><comment><USER52> This is the same fundamental dishonesty that pushed for marijuana legalization: the idea that there are "medicinal uses" and the drug should be legalized based on those, pushed by advocates of casual use. Medical use as a trojan horse for recreational/casual.

I don't really think using a seriously psychoactive substance for smoking is good at all; it is something that can be done by other means which involve much less risk or even personality change

<comment><USER53> The risk is minimal while the risk of continued smoking isn't.

The stories of personality change or risks are so overly reported on you forget that millions of people are using psychedelics daily without losing their personality.

<comment><USER52> the personality change is touted here constantly as a benefit of using it, and its promoted as a source for personal enlightenment. People here are talking about undergoing personal epiphanies and transformations.

i don't think it's smart even granting their argument to have a drug with powerful effects being used to solve problems. And this is assuming it wouldn't also amplify and mental issues a person has or cause psychotic breaks, etc.

<comment><USER53> It's not anyone's decision to tell someone what to do or not do in their life.

The argument about cost on society also doesn't hold up since we seem to be fine with other "risky" behaviors. Such as extreme sports. Heck we actually encourage it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER54> I had one of the best mushroom trips of my life while smoking a cigar on the roof of a downtown building. Never felt the need to touch one again, it was that good.

</comment><comment><USER55> This headline can give newbies the wrong impression. Mindset and environment are just as important as the substance.

A a more accurate headline would be "Months of intensive therapy set the stage for Magic Mushrooms to help smokers kick the habit"

I know people will see headlines like this, try to "cure" something with psychedelics, end up getting themselves into some sort of trouble and then blame the substances for their problems.

<comment><USER34> Doing meditation and other spiritual practices seriously seems to have a potentiation effect on psychedelic outcome IME.

My later trips have been much deeper and more profound after lots of this type of work.

</comment></comment><comment><USER56> Heroin helps from cough:

> ... Bayer marketed diacetylmorphine as an over-the-counter drug under the > trademark name Heroin.[79] It was developed chiefly as a morphine substitute > for cough suppressants that did not have morphine's addictive side-effects.

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

<comment><USER57> Are you... comparing psilocybin to heroin?

</comment></comment><comment><USER58> I have a friend who participated in the JHU study. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to quit smoking and is continuing his two-pack-a-day routine. From what I gather though, 3+ years on, the majority of other participants in his study have managed to quit entirely. Shame he wasn't able to do the same.

</comment><comment><USER59> Currently quitting nicotine, planning to go back to pipe smoking only when I'm "reset".

It's hugely psychological. I don't have the shakes or anything, but I'm drowsy, unalert, and feel slow. I can definitely understand how a shroom trip would "reset" my brain to a non-needy state.

<comment><USER34> Why are you planning to go back to pipe smoking?

<comment><USER59> Because it's very non-habit forming, and has a positive effect on my mental well-being, as well as having been correlated to longer life.

I formed a vaping habit during a stressful period at work, which is much more nicotine (a pipe gives you the amount of nicotine as about a quarter of a cigarette, delivered over about a half hour), and I plan to go back to my occasional enjoyment of a pipe at home, refraining from using vaping as a coping mechanism.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER60> The meme that quitting smoking is hard is manufactured to keep you smoking. Imagine who might benefit from this.

If you want to stop smoking there's only one book you need, Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking.

<comment><USER34> Joel Spitzer recommends this book and his youtube channel on quitting smoking is also fantastic.

</comment></comment><comment><USER61> This is like saying "I had a problem with a small chimney fire so I poured ten gallons of gasoline on it and now I don't have a chimney or a fire problem anymore because everything burned down"

Seriously no. This is not science. Hallucinogenic drugs also make people psychotic on occasion. Please don't take them, you'll be better off. Take the word of someone who's worked with recovering acid addicts. This shit ruins real lives.

<comment><USER62> > Hallucinogenic drugs also make people psychotic on occasion.

its like if prozac was a lab made compound where the anecdotes were that some people experienced cognitive benefits and some people wanted to commit suicide. except thats exactly what happened and instead of keeping this a mystery with a few dismissive anecdotes from people with good experiences and people with bad experiences, many trials were done and it came out with warning labels for some people to objectively avoid it.

hallucinogenic drugs can be treated with the same standard.

</comment></comment><comment><USER63> These threads are always a trip. So many addicts in here.

</comment><comment><USER64> For people with addictive personalities often the best treatment is a substitution with something addiction but less harmful

</comment><comment><USER47> Time and Time again, we see how stupid the war on drugs had been for humanity. Look at all the negatives:

\- Racist origins which disproportionately targeted minorities. It allowed police and prosecutorial discretion to arrest more minorities and give them longer sentences.

\- Stopped medical progress. Finally a flood of studies are showing us mushrooms, marijuana, MDMA, acid, and more have positive medical uses.

\- Gave law enforcement massive budgets which are further inflated with asset forfeiture. We see SWAT raids based on lies ruining lives and killing innocent people.

\- Prevented people from relaxing with safer alternatives to alcohol.

The war on drugs needs to end.

 _No drug should be illegal._ Drugs are a health concern, not criminal.

Replace public funding of law enforcement with public finding of rehab and other mental/physical healthcare services. It'll be cheaper and society would be healthier.

<comment><USER65> I look forward for the US to decriminalize all drugs. I'm Mexican and I live near the border, I've seen every day for the last 10 years how cartels gain power with all the money sent from US consumers. That money and power has corrupted not only police and politicians, but also some sectors of the population, drugs and narcos used to be anathema to most people, now they are part of our pop culture, thanks to news, TV series, movies and music.

<comment><USER66> > I look forward for the US to decriminalize all drugs.

Is there evidence to prove that legal cocaine/meth/heroin being readily available for citizens would be good for society?

<comment><USER67> There is a difference between decriminalization vs making something readily available. They are not the same thing.

Look at Portugal. They treated drugs as a social issue and are making great progress.

[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/05/portugals- radic...](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/05/portugals-radical- drugs-policy-is-working-why-hasnt-the-world-copied-it)

[https://time.com/longform/portugal-drug-use- decriminalizatio...](https://time.com/longform/portugal-drug-use- decriminalization/)

<comment><USER66> Am I wrong in feeling like comparing Portugal to the US is a bit different because Portugal doesn't have many South American drug cartels looking to make money/do business at such scale knocking at their borders?

<comment><USER68> Portugal is within border-free EU and no so far away from Africa as well, there is plenty of opportunity for cartels there.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER56> Guillotine is very effective against headache...

<comment><USER34> Comments like this are effective against growing your understanding of reality.

Unless I misunderstood and you were meaning to say that psychedelic experiences can cause you to face your own death and have glimpses of enlightenment, then yes, but the metaphor will be lost on most people.

<comment><USER56> You should ease up on mushrooms. To come up with such an interpretation...

I mean literally, guillotine heals headache 100%, but that's not a sufficient reason to practice it.

The same with psychedelic mushrooms, even if they work against smoking, it's not necceserily a sufficient reason to use them.

<comment><USER34> _How do you know_ that decapitation "heals" a headache? That sounds clever ... you're not bad or wrong for this, it's extremely common and I am guilty of it myself. But I'm pointing to the fact that you don't _know_ that.

 _" even if they work against smoking, it's not necceserily_ (sic) _a sufficient reason to use them "_

This I can respect and agree with ^

<comment><USER56> I suppose the entity capable of perceiving headache stops to exist.

Of course noone can be 100% sure, the same as with existence if reality outside of ones mind. We just suppose.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER69> What's far more terrifying about this practice is that it's a method of reprogramming the way someone thinks. This is "Clockwork Orange" level experimentation.

Imagine this being used in concentration camps or interrogations. Getting people to a mental state where they have no choice but to confess or conform because their minds will no longer let them "touch the cigarette".

This is very scary.

<comment><USER70> The CIA tried this with MK ULTRA. It doesn't actually work and they abandoned it.

<comment><USER44> Granted this did supposedly give us the Unabomber so there's reason to be skeptical of such practices. Not to say that what these researchers are doing is MKULTRA.

<comment><USER70> They didn't use psychedelics on the unabomber.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Technically speaking, smoking also helps smokers kick the habit, albeit over a period of 40/50 years or so on average.

Good for that woman that this helped her, but, as the article said, it takes you a few months and a whole lot of money to do this, as well as a host of other factors. It's hardly a cure-all.

<comment><USER71> I don't think the broader implication is that it's a cure-all, but there's significant research being done that points to it being far more effective than you may be giving it credit for. I'm at work and can't pull up sources but there's a group at John's Hopkins as well as a number of others - <USER2> Ferriss has a ton of links I believe, if you feel like looking into it. Speaking anecdotally, I have a number of friends who make very compelling arguments as to how remarkably transformative a single session (with the right intention set and setting) can be to your broader outlook with regard to addiction issues and depression. I wouldn't dismiss it outright or trivialize it just yet.

<comment><USER26> > I wouldn't dismiss it outright or trivialize it just yet.

I wasn't planning to do that. However, I'm not going to be part of any initial test-set either.

I will say, however, that I'm sceptical of the long-term prospects of this technique vis-a-vis remission. Furthermore, I'm not a huge fan of solving problems by taking strong psychotropic drugs.</comment></comment></comment>


Why is there an engineer shortage? - <AUTHOR>

<comment><USER2> For hyper environments like SV, probably because there is a shortage of hyper individuals in the general population.

For more general environments, it's probably not a shortage of engineers, just a shortage of engineers who will enthusiastically work at the rates that employers would prefer to pay.

<comment><USER3> I think there is also a different thing going on. Most companies expect their hires to already have significant experience, but little are ready to train new hires to match (future) needs. It's understandable where it comes from: employees are not that loyal anymore, so any training would be an investment that returns to somebody else.

On the other hand, times when companies were loyal to their employees are long gone, and this is pretty much why employees switch jobs so often nowadays.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This gem from Joel On Software (2000) blog is very relevant:

 _" Now, let's review some microeconomics. In a free market, it is almost axiomatic that the market always clears. That's a technical term that means that when somebody tries to sell something, if they are willing to accept the market price, they will be able to sell it, and when somebody wants to buy something, if they are willing to pay the market price, they will be able to buy it. It's just a matter of both sides accepting the market price.?"_

</comment><comment><USER5> Almost any situation described as a labor shortage is actually just a complaint about the price of said labor. Offer a $10 million/year salary, and see how easy it is to get the engineers you're keen on. "That would be a ridiculously high salary", you say? Great, you've established my point; now we're just haggling...

<comment><USER6> Also with such a high salary, people would quit very quickly just because they would be able to retire.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> A lot of companies don't care to train them anymore.

</comment><comment><USER8> It's a matter of money and career perspective. Being a good software developer requires a lot of learning. The job can be quite stressful and your knowledge devalues continuously because of tech change. In the long run other professions probably are more attractive, don't require permanent re-learning and at least provide an option to climb up a career+$ ladder. Provide better pay & conditions and you'll see more engineers.

</comment><comment> T-A Is there? [http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/03/the- myt...](http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/03/the-myth-of-the- science-and-engineering-shortage/284359/)

</comment><comment><USER9> The question is too general. There are shortage for certain requirements of engineer. For example experienced engineer to build self driving car is in shortage, or engineer understand high speed trading.

I don't think there is a shortage for engineer without much real world experiences.

</comment><comment><USER10> More realistically Why is there shortage of engineers who are young, smart (no, not the looks), excellent on data structures and algorithms, has good knowledge on bigdata, loves analytics, has awesome great frontend development skills?

<comment><USER11> Because large companies have come to falsely believe that supply and demand don't apply to them. Large companies want people with Windows and Linux experience, mostly to work on dreary Windows projects, at code-monkey prices. Pay more, and you'll see more good candidates.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> There are probably local shortages in certain areas like Silicon Valley, and a surplus in others. the shortage wouldn't be as bad if remote work were more common.

</comment><comment><USER13> if you are asking why more people don't take up engineering I would tell you that you need to think what percentage of the population has the cognitive ability to write code day in/out and then filter the list for personal characteristics,hobbies,jobs that were given to them, equal opportunities etc. Then think of how much our society has switched focus to software development in the last decade.</comment>


Hilbert Space - <AUTHOR> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert_space <comment><AUTHOR> >"The mathematical concept of a Hilbert space, named after David Hilbert, _generalizes the notion of Euclidean space_.

It extends the methods of vector algebra and calculus from the two-dimensional Euclidean plane and three-dimensional space to _spaces with any finite or infinite number of dimensions_."</comment>


Ex-Windows chief: Here's why Microsoft waged war on open source - tech-historian https://www.zdnet.com/article/ex-windows-chief-heres-why-microsoft-waged-war-on-open-source/ <comment><AUTHOR> > After Microsoft ported SQL Server to Linux, Ballmer said he no longer saw > Linux as a cancer, but he maintains his analogy was right for the time and > that going to war with open source made Microsoft a "ton of money".

There you go.

<comment><USER2> Ballmer, acting as an executive of Microsoft, has a duty to provide a profit to Microsoft's shareholders.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> > Microsoft open-sourced the 1983 GW-BASIC interpreter last week as a > historical software artifact.

Walking into a Radio Shack viewing some Tandy running BASIC prompt, more fun was the grin walking out of store. Infinite loop of random ASCII always got some looks. Kids 6 years old today could do this.</comment>


Ask HN: List your Etherpad alternatives - <AUTHOR>

Etherpad is down right now. Hopefully it will come back up soon so everyone can export their pads.
In the meantime I thought it would be good to make a list of open source etherpad sites.

   piratepad.net
   faxpad.org
   lolpad.org
   ietherpad.com
   primarypad.com (in future, only for UK schools)
 Please comment on your preferences and any others you've discovered!
So far, there is no replacement for the account and business oriented side of etherpad (please enlighten me if you've found one).
Thanks everyone! <comment> tomh- What about Google Wave? :)

</comment><comment><USER3> Not etherpad, but I found it worked better for me on a bad internet connection with a slow processor.

<http://moonedit.com/>

</comment><comment><USER4> Anyone here with Java hosting experience want to do a (cheap) paid account model? Looks like we all still need a well maintained one.

</comment><comment><USER5> Dropbox + vi?

<comment><USER6> ghetto

<comment><USER5> Just the way I like it :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> If those sites have email set up correctly, you can sign up for free pro accounts. Just go to /ep/pro-signup/ at any etherpad domain.

<comment><AUTHOR>
       piratepad.net/ep/pro-signup/ - finish activation seems broken
       faxpad.org/ep/pro-signup/ - <USER2>
       lolpad.org/ep/pro-signup/ - working! I think. Email has yet to arrive.
       ietherpad.com/ep/pro-signup/ - finish activation seems broken

<comment><USER7> It works on my testing site (no uptime guarantees -- it's for testing!): <http://thoughtjotter.com/ep/pro-signup/>

Note: the verify email still needs some tweaking. You _must_ change these in the verify URL:

      1. remove https for http

      2. remove the dangling :0 at the end of the hostname

<comment><USER8> The second issue can be solved easily by changing the line 378, on etherpad/utils.js to:

        if (appjet.config.listenSecurePort && appjet.config.listenSecurePort != "443") {

The https problem I changed sometime ago in a bulk search for https on the source.

HTH.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


For China-based accelerator Haxlr8r, 'hardware is the new software' - <AUTHOR> http://thenextweb.com/asia/2012/11/16/for-china-based-accelerator-haxlr8r-hardware-is-the-new-software/

<comment><USER2> This comes as little surprise upon thinking about the cost structure which seems to still aptly define the Chinese economy. With the cost of manufacturing still relatively low on a global scale, it should at least in part follow from this that opportunities for hardware startups would be relatively greater.

</comment><comment><USER3> Seems in line with what PG has been saying recently about the increasing number, and feasibility, of hardware-based startups:

<http://www.paulgraham.com/hw.html></comment>


Show HN: Make a business model canvas in your browser - <AUTHOR> https://sbussard.github.io/canvas-sketch/ <comment><USER2> The github project itself is at [https://github.com/sbussard/canvas- sketch](https://github.com/sbussard/canvas-sketch)

Question: how do you save/load?

We had a similar idea for draw.io [1]

[1] [https://www.draw.io/?splash=0&url=https://raw.githubusercont...](https://www.draw.io/?splash=0&url=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jgraph/drawio- diagrams/master/templates/business/business_model_canvas_1.xml)

<comment><USER3> The whole state json-stringified and then stored as base64 in the localstorage. Looks like a valid solution for that amount of data.

<comment><USER4> I think the question should be restated as: how do you save _to a file_ and load _from a file_? The use of localStorage means you can only have one version of a canvas per browser/device pair.

<comment><USER5> Create a gist and support loading from a gist URL?

It's shareable between devices and people, and even editable if you pretty- print the JSON, rather than base64 encoding it.

I would probably support both options.

[https://developer.github.com/v3/gists/#create-a- gist](https://developer.github.com/v3/gists/#create-a-gist)

<comment><USER6> put my contact info in a public gist and say goodbye to me as a business partner.

<comment><USER5> Yeah, good point.

You can make the gist non-public by default (set public=false), and perhaps gists are the wrong tool, but something akin to gists seem like a good way to do something like this. I know Dave Winer was using the DropBox API in this way for some of his outlining tools.

But your point is well made, one of the downsides of the "web" as a platform is that it's hard to know what happens with the data you save to a random web application. I've had experience with product managers loading entire customer lists of emails into random "email validation tool"s, which were clearly just honeypots for foolish people's data.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> That's a nice technical implementation of the Business Model Canvas. However, you should check the licensing under which it has been published as the result of accademic research: [https://strategyzer.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/506...](https://strategyzer.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/506842-business- model-canvas-and-value-proposition-canvas)

>The Business Model Canvas, released under Creative Commons license, is open for building other approaches and variations on the concept. There have been a number of variations discussed and demonstrated here in the Hub and externally. Where variations have been made, recognition of the original source material must be included in the variation. The text and link Strategyzer.com should be clearly visible and legible under every canvas.

If you're interested in the topic, you should definitely check out [https://strategyzer.com/](https://strategyzer.com/) which is the company co- founded by the former PHD that developped the concept of the Business Model Canvas.

<comment><USER8> Can a concept really be restricted? I thought ideas were not patentable.

<comment><USER9> Who mentioned patents?

<comment><USER10> In the current US patent climate disaster it is not really a big leap to see something that is clearly not protected by copyright and then think "maybe they got a patent for it and throw licenses around because of that."

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Shameless plug: we built business model canvas building [1] into Aha! In addition to being able to create them, you can save them and put various versions into presentable notebooks [2] to see how they change over time or just to compare them. Also, it's configurable, so you can create a lean canvas or SWOT diagram or others [3]

[1] [https://support.aha.io/hc/en-us/articles/205738519-Create- an...](https://support.aha.io/hc/en-us/articles/205738519-Create-an-Aha- business-model-canvas-strategic-model)

[2] [https://support.aha.io/hc/en- us/articles/360006871731-Custom...](https://support.aha.io/hc/en- us/articles/360006871731-Customize-notebook-slides)

[3] [https://support.aha.io/hc/en- us/articles/360000716906-Create...](https://support.aha.io/hc/en- us/articles/360000716906-Create-your-own-strategic-models)

</comment><comment><USER12> This should be made into an Electron app with load/save, and then sell licenses to it for $50 USD. ;)

<comment><USER13> I'm really bummed Chrome discontinued Chrome apps.

Basically what I really want is to be able to make electron like desktop apps but not ship and load an entire browser with it.

Chrome apps were light weight and you could do a lot of desktop like things with it.

Progressive web apps are nice but there's a ton of things lacking.

<comment><USER14> There is still Qt WebEngine as a "lite" Electron. Or if that is too objectionable you can use the WebView interface with a users browser and let the app run as a background process.

<comment><USER12> Electron (while inside Atom) started out its life as a WebView from WebKit.framework, but they realized there are too many downsides to that. So they forked Chromium to add it to a Node process and wired it into Node's libuv, which is all Electron really is. So yes it's heavier weight, but now you have Developer Tools built in.

<comment><USER13> What would be really awesome is if Electron somehow managed to use shared resources if the Chrome was already open and not be a giant memory hog.

That's the biggest downside to Electron I see. You can create some fast performant UIs in it, but just a blank view is a big memory hit.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Very nice and useful! I guess that's not your main concern, but when I tried to type some Hebrew characters the whole board disappeared (try שלום).

<comment><AUTHOR> Fix merged [https://github.com/sbussard/canvas- sketch/pull/16](https://github.com/sbussard/canvas-sketch/pull/16)

[https://sbussard.github.io/canvas-sketch/](https://sbussard.github.io/canvas- sketch/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> FYI to other business software developers: this does not refer to a "canvas" object in HTML 5 sense nor tying that to a business domain model object as we might expect, it's a Business tool for apparently brainstorming business ideas for people that don't already have a clear business idea.

</comment><comment><USER17> You can find a BMC and a bunch of similar tools for free on [https://www.businessmakeover.eu](https://www.businessmakeover.eu)

</comment><comment><USER18> I'd love to hear about peoples experience with this.

I have the book and I tried setting up a canvas a few times but I didn't find it very helpful. It might be because of nature of the projects that I tried it on, I am not sure. Can anyone tell me about a time where they got explicit value/insight from setting one up?

<comment><USER19> It's part of the Lean Startup methodology. And the very first step in getting to MVP. Where I believe it is helpful is getting feedback. You have something concrete to show people. And hopefully their feedback will help you to crystallize your design.

<comment><USER11> To be clear, though, there is a difference between the business model canvas [1] and the lean canvas [2]

[1] [http://creatorconsulting.com/wp- content/uploads/2014/05/Busi...](http://creatorconsulting.com/wp- content/uploads/2014/05/Business_Model_Canvas.png)

[2] [http://3daystartup.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Lean- Canva...](http://3daystartup.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Lean-Canvas- Official--1024x791.png)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Cool! Fyi, when adding an item with 30+ characters, the item spills over to the next grid. Since you are already using css grid there are some css grid properties that handles minimizing/ wrapping values within a parent grid. Cheers!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback! I'll create an issue for that

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Awesome! I think this tool is great. I would recommend adding to your future MVP is an info highlight to each block of the canvas, so the user doesn't have to research the type of questions he/she needs to fill the canvas.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! I'll add it to the backlog!

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Nice use of CSS grid! Noticed special characters seem to break the site. e.g. …

</comment><comment><USER23> Hey really cool. I like what and how you did it, it is appropriate level of storing data.

Few years ago I made a html version, so people can create number of canvases. Gitignore ignores anything starting with model- and you have business and lean canvas examples.

[https://github.com/desireco/BusinessModelCanvasTemplate](https://github.com/desireco/BusinessModelCanvasTemplate)

</comment><comment><USER24> Great, very clear and easy to use but are you meant to be able to share this. What is the intended use case?

<comment><USER25> if you are looking for a free online version of the business model canvas and many more templates, you can also try out our tool canvanizer.com as an alternative. This also supports sharing and collaboration through edit or readonly links. Does not build on local storage though.

<comment><USER24> bit of cross-selling never harms ;) thanks, will check it out. Already utilising various tools but always keen to find better alternatives.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> There's a whole open source toolkit for managing and sharing BMC avail on [http://toolkit.builders/](http://toolkit.builders/) which would profit a lot from your sneaky interface.

</comment><comment><USER27> It looks OK. It's light on features and the UX isn't that great (why input popups at the top of the page?). Why not spend a bit more time on it before showing it off to a big audience?

<comment><AUTHOR> I had absolutely no idea it was even going to be noticed. I posted an older version several years ago and no one paid attention.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> The design is really nice. I'd add these things though:

\- rearrange cards inside segments

\- add a tooltip to the icon to each segment to briefly explain what's expected there or what are good examples

\- change color of cards

<comment><AUTHOR> these are good additions! Issue created!

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> Very cool seeing this here! Hope things are good out in Nashville!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks Jared! Let me know the next time you're in town!

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> Could OP maybe post an example of a board to play around with?

<comment><AUTHOR> Added to backlog. Thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> I have no idea what to do here, maybe pre-populate it when first time visiting to show the concept, add a button (with confirm) to start over?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah I put an issue in the backlog to help [https://github.com/sbussard/canvas- sketch/issues/9](https://github.com/sbussard/canvas-sketch/issues/9)

There's a whole book dedicated to the topic if you're interested. It's a quick read. [https://strategyzer.com/books/business-model- generation](https://strategyzer.com/books/business-model-generation)

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> That's really cool, but when I want to print it, it doesn't keep the business model canvas layout :/

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback! I'll add it to the backlog

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> Where's the data stored?

<comment><USER34> In your browser's LocalStorage as a base64 encoded JSON string

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> I don't get it. Is this anything more than post it notes on a grid?

<comment><AUTHOR> It's from this book [https://strategyzer.com/books/business-model- generation](https://strategyzer.com/books/business-model-generation)

</comment></comment><comment><USER36> Very cool!</comment>


Sir Ivan Rogers Lecture at UCL on Brexit (2019) [pdf] - <AUTHOR> https://www.ucl.ac.uk/european-institute/sites/european-institute/files/sir_ivan_rogers_lecture_ucl_22012019.pdf <comment><USER2> How nice to read a rational analysis. Video here:

[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=ivan+rogers+ucl&t=canonical&atb=v1...](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=ivan+rogers+ucl&t=canonical&atb=v1-1&ia=videos&iax=videos&iai=-PxpHNXIKnY)</comment>


Lynx A 3D camera hits Kickstarter, ready to motion capture your donations - <AUTHOR> http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/02/lynx-a/ <comment><USER2> Direct link to Kickstarter: [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/915328713/lynx-a- camera?...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/915328713/lynx-a- camera?ref=live)</comment>


Show HN: 100 coffee shops to work from. 11 cities. Wi-Fi passwords included - <AUTHOR> https://pickcrew.com/coffee-power/

<comment><AUTHOR> My number 1 search when I'm in a new city is good coffee shops to work from with solid Wi-Fi and plugs.

I know there's a few sites that exist that help with this but my problem was making it easy to see while I was on the go. Oftentimes, I would just have my phone and needed to find the closest place around me.

So what I did with this project is connect each city to a Foursquare list that can be saved on your phone and seen when you open Foursquare's app.

If you don't have Foursquare, I added a Google Map that uses your location data to spot what's closest to you.

We made lists for 10 major cities in North America and London in the UK. 100 coffee shops total with Wi-Fi passwords for most and plug locations.

The goal was to find enough coffee shops so you could move from coffee shop to coffee shop on foot.

Hope this helps if you're traveling and looking to get some work done.

</comment><comment><USER2> Turn it into app which would update wifi passwords as well.

Or someone already did that :-) [http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/global-wifi- hotspot-...](http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/global-wifi-hotspot- database-has-100-million-entries.htm)

<comment><AUTHOR> Nice. Ya, updating the password would be great.

Avoids the awkward exchange at the register asking for a password.</comment></comment>


Now's the Perfect Time for Apple to Bring Messages to Android - <AUTHOR> https://www.fastcompany.com/90297662/nows-the-perfect-time-for-apple-to-bring-messages-to-android <comment><USER2> And Windows</comment>


Cloudera announces real-time query engine for Hadoop - <AUTHOR> http://www.marketwatch.com/story/cloudera-announces-game-changing-real-time-query-on-hadoop-and-leads-a-new-era-of-data-management-2012-10-24

<comment><USER2> "Cloudera Impala: Real-Time Queries in Apache Hadoop, For Real" [http://blog.cloudera.com/blog/2012/10/cloudera-impala- real-t...](http://blog.cloudera.com/blog/2012/10/cloudera-impala-real-time- queries-in-apache-hadoop-for-real/)

Impala source code: <https://github.com/cloudera/impala>

Impala documentation can be found here: [https://ccp.cloudera.com/display/IMPALA10BETADOC/Cloudera+Im...](https://ccp.cloudera.com/display/IMPALA10BETADOC/Cloudera+Impala+1.0+Beta+Documentation)

</comment><comment><USER3> Metamarkets also open sourced their data store today. High performance, distributed query database.

<http://metamarkets.com/category/technology/druid/>

</comment><comment><USER4> This looks very interesting. I've got multiple PB of log files that I'd like to be able to do real-time and batch processing on. Log files are being generated at a small number of Gbps.

Anyone else got that much data and have a good solution?

<comment><USER5> I don't think anyone has managed to get interactive speeds (~seconds to max couple of minutes) at the PB scale.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I noted that Marcel Kornacker, the architect of Impala, was the lead developer for the query engine of Google's F1 project. In the end of the article:

[http://blog.cloudera.com/blog/2012/10/cloudera-impala- real-t...](http://blog.cloudera.com/blog/2012/10/cloudera-impala-real-time- queries-in-apache-hadoop-for-real/)

</comment><comment><USER7> So, what is the key innovation that changes hadoop from batch processing to real time. Is it similar to google's dremel?

<comment><AUTHOR> This doesn't change Hadoop from batch processing to real time - it's a new query engine that uses the same data sources/formats as Hadoop and the same interfaces as Hive. So yeah, similar idea to Google Dremel / F1.

<comment><USER8> It isn't like F1 at all... F1 is a multi-datacenter, transactional datastore and SQL, that google uses to replace mysql.

This aint nothing like that.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Interesting, I wonder how this will be different than Apache Drill, championed by Ted Dunning (MapR)

<comment><USER10> They're both Dremel clones, but this one seems to be a lot more complete (as Drill is just getting started).</comment></comment>


Adjusting to C - <AUTHOR> http://tspurway.github.io/adjusting_to_c.html

<comment><USER2> _" The GC language is carpet bombing your memory, your performance."_

Occasionally, the book-keeping to make sure you're able to clean up each allocation individually can be higher than the overhead of garbage collection. Of course, if you're working in C, you can just _add garbage collection_ , either globally (Boehm collector, say, though I don't know how well it actually performs) or only for some particular resources (though then you do need to be sure you are tracking your roots appropriately).

I always find it amusing when I write something that spends a bunch of work making sure everything is freed before it exits. (It's worth doing so valgrind can help you be more confident you're freeing what should be freed as you go along.)

<comment><AUTHOR> "I always find it amusing when I write something that spends a bunch of work making sure everything is freed before it exits."

Yeah, just exit! That's the kind of cool thing about these small, short lived Unix programs like grep and cat - chew memory (stack or heap, up to you!) and bail out - let the OS clean it up. It is essentially the same argument as "prefer large mallocs to small" \- the process itself is a 'large malloc'.

<comment><USER2> Right. Like I said, the reason to go to the (programming) effort is that I can make sure it valgrinds clean, which means (if I'm being moderately smart along the way) that I'm not dropping things on the floor that I don't mean to during the program run when I still care about it. Adding a flag for "I don't care about valgrind, go ahead and exit" is then a tiny bit of extra programmer work to save the processor a bit of extra work each run; not sure it's worth it but not sure it's not.

<comment><AUTHOR> Valgrind looks like an amazing tool. I am still a bit giddy to use a C with function prototypes, // style comments and enums, to be honest.

<comment><USER2> Valgrind and friends are great.

splint has been useful, but needs c99 (and now c11) support.

Tangential, but one thing I've recently taken to doing in my C is basically avoiding bare primitive types, preferring to wrap them in a single element struct. This means I can't pass, for instance, price where I mean quantity just because they're "both numbers".

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I don't think there is something inheritantly wrong with a lib allocating on your behalf. Most non-trivial problems require memory allocation, and if you have a struct that has dynamically allocated fields (like char*'s of data derived from files you've read in), often providing a ${structname}_new() and ${structname}_free() pair is less mental overhead than making sure to free certain fields in stack-allocated structs.

</comment><comment><USER4> An article not reviling static languages and encouraging people away from ruby/python? On my Startupnews?

<comment><AUTHOR> Well, truth be told, I'm a bit of an interloper. I'm quite old and C is my 'native tongue', although I haven't really programmed in it for years, until recently.

At the beginning of my career, I spent fourish years professionally writing K&R C. Before that I had convinced my profs that I could submit my assignments in C rather than the mainframe Pascal that was being used by the other students. The balance has been spent in Smalltalk, Java, Python, etc.

I must say that I really like the re-adjustment. Even though there are 'endless banks of RAM', C forces the programmer to be stingy with memory and come up with neat hacks, simply to avoid the enormous pain of being too clever.

Using malloc() is like lying. You've got to remember them all.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I don't know exactly what the author is referring to, but I know that C is unique in that it will never go away. So long as new hardware primitives come into play, we will always need to return to the level of C to squeeze out performance. This will only become more and more true as the ascendancy of multicores continues. A buddy and I were thinking about it just the other day: could you even imagine a closer wrapper for assembly with comparable ratios of effort to level of control?

<comment><AUTHOR> Machine language won't go away either. It's just that the only people writing it are compilers.

The article was more about: Python programmer meets C, C introduces him to malloc(), programmer falls in love with malloc, C gets jealous and in a fit of rage deallocates programmer.

I think this extended love affair for C comes from the fact that it's the least-common-denominator in terms of what our OSes are written in. At some point everything has to make system calls that are using C calling conventions and data structures. It makes sense that the base layer of everything will be written in C. It's an historic anomaly, not some fundamental awesomeness of the language itself.

That said, it's a fundamentally awesome language, especially to build OSes in, but that's tangential.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> As a long-time Java guy who just started learning C over the past few months, I've found it very valuable in understanding how some of the under-the-hood details which are hidden by the higher level languages actually work. Learning a low level language and pricking yourself with a few pointers makes you a better programmer, even if you never write a big app in it.

</comment><comment><USER7> malloc is special in environments that aren't free-standing, the compiler can assume that the pointer that malloc returns doesn't alias any other at that point.

<comment><AUTHOR> I am not familiar with 'free-standing', though, I think that malloc in most environments never returns the same pointer twice (an alias). Though I may misunderstand your point.

<comment><USER7> C++11 1.4 [intro.compliance]/p7 "A freestanding implementation is one in which execution may take place without the benefit of an operating system, and has an implementation-defined set of libraries that includes certain language- support libraries" [1]

C11 4 [conformance]/p6 "A conforming freestanding implementation shall accept any strictly conforming program in which the use of the features specified in the library clause (clause 7) is confined to the contents of the standard headers <float.h>, <iso646.h>, <limits.h>, <stdalign.h>, <stdarg.h>, <stdbool.h>, <stddef.h>, <stdint.h>, and <stdnoreturn.h>." [2]

[1] [http://www.open- std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2011/n324...](http://www.open- std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2011/n3242.pdf) [2] [http://www.open- std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1570.pdf](http://www.open- std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1570.pdf)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER2> There's also static allocation, though viewing that as happening in a stack frame above main seems not unreasonable.

<comment><USER8> The scope is very different, so that may be a misleading way to view file statics and globals.

<comment><USER2> That's certainly the case. It makes sense in terms of allocation pattern, but there are other distinctions to be preserved.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> _" Maybe it's speed, though I really wonder about that, given our blistering fast processors and endless banks of RAM"_

I've seen this thought hundreds of times over the last decade, and I don't think it's a very good one. If execution environment A is twice as fast as B, it will still be twice as fast after the processor speed doubles. Mostly, we usually want to do as much as we can with the hardware we have.

<comment><AUTHOR> If we are looking at the universe of Rails and Python programmers coming to C, then yeah, I think we can assume they aren't doing it for the exotic address manipulation operations and their colleague's prestige ;)

It's speed.

It is also almost always interesting. It reveals a boundary that has been crossed, a bottleneck plugged. I think that us HLL devs always like to think we have C in our back pockets. We say, "well if performance is bad we will profile then rewrite that bit in C". Then, when faced with the reality of actually having to write something in C, well it's a different story. We think the performance increase will be dramatic, but often we are left with something that performs worse than the original HLL equivalent, and that leaks memory and frequently crashes to add insult to injury!</comment></comment>


Ask HN: What software does every company write themselves? - <AUTHOR> Before Stripe every company had to hack together their own payment gateway. Before PagerDuty every company had to hack together their own incident response system.<p>What problems like these exist today? <comment><USER2> > Before Stripe every company had to hack together their own payment gateway.

WTF are you talking about? Payment gateways have been a thing for decades.</comment>


Ask HN: US Health Insurance for Startup Founders? - <AUTHOR> I would like to leave my corporate job and work on a startup idea I have. If I were to do this, my health insurance premium will move from around $300 a month I am paying through the company to $1550 under COBRA. What are my other options? <comment><USER2> Take a look at your states health exchange and get the plan that you think is right for you. I got a silver plan thinking I would save some money but one trip to the emergency room meant that I could have easily bought the gold plan.

</comment><comment><USER3> If there is Direct Primary Care in your area, that might work. Info:

[http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2017/01/direct- prima...](http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2017/01/direct-primary- care.html)

[http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2017/01/direct- prima...](http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2017/01/direct-primary-care- real-alternative.html)

If you are under age 26, you might be able to get coverage through your parents.

</comment><comment><USER4> Forget about COBRA, it's never affordable. Buy health insurance yourself. If you leave your corporate job, that'll be a "qualifying" life event, although that's not too important since open enrollment is coming up in November.

Don't expect anything comparable to your employer's plan though. I pay about $300 a month for an HMO in California, and the deductible is $10k. It's basically catastrophic coverage.

<comment><USER5> For a while I had COBRA plans in the $500-$800 a month range for a family in New York State; I knew what my employers were paying and the COBRA rates didn't seem crazy.

The Obamacare exchange in New York is pretty good if you can get the subsidies.

On an individual market, it is almost axiomatic that the price difference between a high deductible and low deductible plan will be the amount of the deductible. It is a textbook case of adverse selection.</comment></comment>


American social network refuses to send me my personal data and respect GDPR - <AUTHOR> https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/apwwza/american_social_network_refuses_to_send_me_my/ <comment><AUTHOR> To clarify: This is not my post. Just found it on reddit earlier today and wanted to share as it may be of interest to some users here.

</comment><comment><USER2> As much as I agree with GDPR, American companies are not subject to EU laws.

<comment><USER3> I don't think that's correct. If you do business in another country, you're subject to the laws of that country. More specifically in the GDPR case, if you're doing business with an EU citizen, who has the rights granted in the GDPR, you're obligated to respect those rights or not do business with that EU citizen (or any other).

[https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2017/12/04/ye...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2017/12/04/yes- the-gdpr-will-affect-your-u-s-based-business/#68e0cae26ff2)

<comment><USER4> While this might be the legal reality (I'm no expert), what exactly is the EU's recourse should a US business be found in violation?

If you have a US business, hosted with US servers, using US banks, accepting payment in US dollars, with no intention to operate an office or hire employees in Europe, what's the EU going to do about a GDPR violation? How does it enforce and collect a fine?

Again, I'm no expert, but it doesn't seem to me like the EU can do anything in that circumstance.

<comment><USER5> I imagine that the company basically becomes a no-show defendant in a hearing, and gets a fine. That fine probably compounds with each grievance.

Employees of that company may then be arrested if they enter Europe?</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Finding a hacker that understands music? - <AUTHOR>

Dear HN,
I am currently working to launch a new music startup. Now, I know what you are thinking when you hear "music startup", but this is different.
For the past 5 months, I've been piecing together ideas and solutions that will finally put an end to "the disease of which the RIAA is a symptom". The current record labels' business model is not working for the 21st century and thus needs a 21st century makeover; But…
I have no programming skills or background, and I need to find a co-founder that understands what I'm really going for and will bring something to the table that I am obviously lacking (Programming skills). I currently live in Frederick, Maryland where; to say the least, there is a shortage of computer-minded people.
So, I came to seek your opinion, HN…
Where can I find a cofounder/programmer that understands 'music'? (A hacker that understands the current problems that are facing the music industry today. ex: Piracy, declining music sales, etc. Someone that also has an interest in solving these problems.)
Should I just find my way to Silicon Valley by any means possible?
Any suggestions on how I should present my idea to a hacker (co-founder)?
Your advice and, or suggestions are all welcomed. <comment><USER2> I think you are best served by diving head strong into a programming language in order to make your idea a reality. When you struggle, get on mailing lists and forums. Go to Hacker meetups. Hang out at your nearest school's computer science lab. Contribute as best you can. Through that you will build connections and then you will be at the point of asking them to join you. However, if you have money, there are plenty of willing programmers who would be quite interested. What's your idea? How do you plan to differentiate yourself where other music startups have failed?

Disclaimer: I'm a programmer at a music startup.

<comment><AUTHOR> Disclaimer acknowledged.

My start up idea doesn't have anything to do with the Record labels, but it does have everything to do with bringing artists and fans together, and allowing artists to control their own careers instead of signing their souls away to record labels.

I plan to differentiate myself from other music startups by NOT having anything to do with the 4 big labels or their music, but instead bring new talents to light!

<comment><USER2> That's an interesting proposition. Let me shed some light on the process from what I've learned over the past year.

\- Artists are all about distribution. For artists to want to effectively "sign" with you, you have to present them an avenue for distribution that is better than the current channels- Youtube, MySpace, Facebook, direct sales (Record labels and ITunes), and current music startups like us.

\- For fans to want to be interested, there has to be a value proposition for them. Sure they want to be connected with artists, but there has to be something in it for them. We thought that by having millions of free streaming music would do it, but even then its STILL hard to get fans to commit.

So I don't know what you have in mind, but you have to keep your mind on distribution. And just a word of caution--if it involves anything revolving around distributing music, be prepared for lawsuits. :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Why necessarily a programmer who understands music? Sure you want someone who loves it, but it sounds like you'll be bringing lots of the product/industry expertise in this case,so you two can complement each other.

I think if you looked around in NYC, you'd likely find some of these people too. NY is somewhat better for music+tech than SF, though SF is lovely as always.

<comment><AUTHOR> I believe it's necessary for me to find a cofounder that understands music, so that we can understand each other on a common level. Having a common understanding and goal is very important to the sucess of this idea(startup.)

<comment><USER3> Agreed, but careful. The tech guy has to rock at tech! :)

Feel free to email me too, anthony at hypem.com

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Just curious, are you familiar with the music business? Or a musician that had a bad experience interacting with the industry? Or just someone who has a random idea?

P.s., I'm also in the Baltimore area (~10 mins south of B'more). Drive near Frederick every so often when going to Annapolis Rocks.

<comment><AUTHOR> I used to be a local music producer, and most of the people around me are musicians.

I don't just have a random idea, I really want to dedicate my life time to music, and solving this problem. I believe if artists and fans are brought together, we can reduce piracy, and promote creativity in the music industry.

<comment><USER2> There is a lot of people who think like you and lots of people are hard at work solving this problem. The space is quite crowded, but is still ripe for disruption. Good luck.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I think you need to define what you mean when you say someone that understands 'music'.

Do you mean someone with experience in the music business? Someone who understands thing from the perspective of a musician? A hacker with knowledge of distribution channels? Recording labels & studios?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, I will clarify that...

I mean a hacker that understands the current problem facing the music industry today. (eg: Piracy, declining music sales...etc. Someone that has an interest in solving these problems)

I hope that makes sense

<comment><USER6> I think most artists simply want to know the easiest quickest way to make money for themselves doing what they enjoy doing (the smart ones anyway). Fans just want a powerful escape.

The only middlemen that even have a right to exist at this point are the ones that can demonstrate an ability to make these two wants come into fruition repeatedly and powerfully

Sellaband is a step in the right direction but the social entropy of it inherently neglects certain artists over other etc. Which leads to the same problems artists have always had - defining themselves as unique, valuable and "special" in the minds of people willing to talk about them positively and throw money.

<comment><AUTHOR> "I think most artists simply want to know the easiest quickest way to make money for themselves doing what they enjoy doing (the smart ones anyway). Fans just want a powerful escape."

It has been proven time and time again that fans will pay for music, if the price is right, and their demands are met.

I think artists both want to get paid, and ALSO reach more fans that enjoy their music.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> PS. I run the Hype Machine (<http://hypem.com>) a well-regarded music site that keeps track of music on blogs. Would love to know what you think about it.

</comment><comment><USER7> You could go to an HN meetup or maybe attend a conference. You may need to work on selling yourself because your post did not indicate (to me) what value you will bring to the partnership.

<comment><AUTHOR> I completely understand where you're coming from, but I didn't want advertise myself, I figured this wasn't the right setting for me to do that.

But, I will work on selling myself and my passion though.

Thanks</comment></comment>


I Know the Salaries of Thousands of Tech Employees - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/s/powertrip/i-know-the-salaries-of-thousands-of-tech-employees-4841bc26d753 <comment><USER2> Sharing concrete compensation numbers with co-workers and even peers at other companies is a good way to stoke resentment and bitterness--both in yourself and with others. Especially if you're not prepared to move on if you find you're making less than those around you. I learned long ago to actively avoid learning others' compensation.

It's a real dilemma. On an individual level fair pay is whatever you're willing to accept; what those around you are paid is completely irrelevant. On an aggregate level lack of transparency helps to persist systemic discrimination.

<comment><USER3> Yeah I agree. I like knowing rough averages of what similar roles are making but when it comes to individual people's salaries it can be difficult.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> In those charts posted, is that stock per year or the 4year grant?

</comment><comment><USER5> Seems like a dupe of: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18283821](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18283821)

</comment><comment><USER6> Boo hoo, you make $233k a year, don't pay for healthcare, and most likely get free lunches and the gender pay gap! My advice get out of the bay area and fantasy land. You are in the top 1% wage earner.

<comment><USER7> 233k in the bay area isn't close to the top 1% and isn't a salary that will afford a lifestyle higher than what you would expect to be middle class.

You clearly haven't dealt with the cost of the bay area before. Your dollar's purchasing power is cut in half compared to the Midwest.

<comment><USER2> The cost of a McDonalds meal is $7 in Kansas City but only $8 in San Francisco. See [https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/kansas- city](https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/kansas-city) and [https://www.expatistan.com/price/big-mac/san- francisco](https://www.expatistan.com/price/big-mac/san-francisco)

Housing is what makes the coasts costly. Other expenses are roughly similar and more than compensated for by higher earnings. Sometimes they can even be lower, like health insurance or certain goods or services. Because housing is so variable it's difficult to say which is more affordable without specifics, but the higher your disposable income the more likely it is that working in a coastal city makes more sense. If we both can save 20% each year for retirement or kids' college tuition, my 20% will be much larger than your 20% given the often times huge disparity in absolute earnings, and even my 10% or 5% might be more than your 20%. The price of a condo in Florida or Arizona is the same for both of us. State college tuition is also much more similar across states relative to earnings differentials.

Most people rationalize their decisions to stay put or somewhere familiar. If they didn't, most retirees would have moved to Ecuador--social security and pension payments are the same no matter where you live.</comment></comment></comment>


US police bait and arrest without crime committed - <AUTHOR> http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ht2a1kzYC-jLCmpN64F5PHdnq85Q?docId=a5a9812678b1434e97aa59e8b6c3b48d

<comment><USER2> Bait Car TV show. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait_Car_(TV_series)>

A few weeks ago a neighbor had their passenger window broken. They asked me if i saw anything. I said no. I asked if they had anything stolen. Yes, my Ipad was sitting on my passenger seat. Good grief. I find this tactic unbelievable. Did we learn this tactic from cartoons? All we need is a carrot, box, stick and string. By days end we will have a rabbit.

</comment><comment><USER3> Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Sting operations have their uses but should have much better safeguards. Officers using sting operations against rules and guidelines should face disciplinary penalties and even jail time in severe cases. Officers should be responsible for their actions before the law, just like citizens.

<comment><USER4> Who guards the gardians ?</comment></comment>


Pdf.js reached its first milestone - <AUTHOR> http://blog.mozilla.com/cjones/2011/07/03/pdf-js-first-milestone/

<comment><AUTHOR> I like this project. I sometimes feel Chrome has a slight advantage because Google is also building really cool services, so they can get both sides in sync (e.g. returning WebP images in page previews, or encoding to WebM with Youtube).

By building things like Pdf.js and butter/popcorn.js and giving them away for other projects to use Mozilla gets to have the same impact and feedback loop, which helps to further their mission to improve the web.

</comment><comment><USER2> I must be doing something wrong, because I'm getting fairly shitty rendering. I'm on FF5, Ubuntu 10.04. Anyone else have problems viewing their demo paper?

Screenshots: <http://imgur.com/a/hESRv>

<comment><USER3> The article mentions that pdf.js uses some new Firefox features. It should work correctly in FF7 (nightly) and not FF5 (stable).

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This is pretty cool! Theres a pretty interesting feature in the pdf standard that few viewers support is embedded animations driven by javascript. As far as I know, only adobe properly supports it, bu there are some nice visualization tools such as pgf/tikz which allow for producing such visuals.

<http://www.texample.net/tikz/examples/tag/animations/>

</comment><comment><USER5> This is awesome. Anything to streamline the UX and eliminate the overt loading of a separate application is terrific. Hopefully Mozilla can continue to innovate and push Google on the browser front.

<comment><USER6> I am surprised by this point of view. It seems to me that extending the web- browser UI to display complex non-web-page documents is a bad idea, that it makes the user experience more complicated and mysterious.

Most of the time, the user-experience problem with PDFs on the web isn't that a separate app has to be started to read the PDF, but that the information in question is in a PDF at all, when a simple HTML page is generally safer and more useful.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> If it understands PDF bookmarks, I'd default to Firefox for PDFs

</comment><comment><USER8> Doesn't look good on Chrome.</comment>