Startup Quote: Dennis Crowley, co-founder, Foursquare - <AUTHOR> http://startupquote.com/post/2975726342

<comment><AUTHOR> Don't let people tell you your ideas won't work.

\- Dennis Crowley (@dens)

<http://startupquote.com/post/2975726342></comment>


Richard Feynman: Do We Live in A Cargo Cult Society? - <AUTHOR> http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/2/CargoCult.pdf <comment><USER2> Absolutely. The biggest offenders in software engineering are the things people integrate into their identity (i.e. "I'm an Agile manager", "I'm a Java architect", "I'm a Lisp hacker"). Another red flag is when there are no clear ways of testing a hypothesis (i.e. "NoSQL databases are better for this task", "This management methodology is best for our organization", "Outsourcing is great if you do so-and-so"). Most, if not all, of the opinions regarding industrial software engineering are based in anecdotal experience, without the tiniest thought given to controlled experiments. C'est la vie.

PS: what's most confusing, for me, is that it seems impossible to fix all of the variables necessary to answer a question like "what technology is best for this real-world problem?". I've yet to hear of any good ways of systematically measuring the effect of technology choices on programmer productivity.

<comment><USER3> This is also the reason that fields like nutrition science aren't generally all that useful if what you want to do something like offer diet advice. There are just too many shifting pieces to offer a systematic explanation of what's going on, at least with the experimental limits we have right now. You can only track so many variables at once.

<comment><AUTHOR> This presents an interesting paradox though because at the end of the day a decision is required. Do I eat thing X or thing Y? And in what proportion? So when a set of things is not well understood but a decision is required, many non science strategies enter. So what can be done about this?

<comment><USER4> you have to downgrade from induction to deduction. given the environment humans evolved in and what we know about primate digestive systems, what is unlikely to do me harm? answer: fruit, nuts, eggs. what is the biggest thing we do that monkeys don't? eat tons of processed grains.

simple answer: decrease processed carb intake, replace with fruit (primate diets are often 50% fruit). since eating no grains isn't an option, eat the ones considered healthier: corn, beans, brown rice.

<comment><USER5> And how long do monkeys live again?

That is not to say it is a bad idea, just that you do not present any evidence that grains are somehow bad. In fact, without considering all the other variables, one could just as well argue that grains are _fantastically good_ for humans.

<comment><USER6> The archaeological and medical evidence (celiac disease) suggests that humans are not especially well adapted to eating cereal grains. That does not mean they are entirely bad, just that their hidden costs are relatively more likely to be whimsical and unpleasant.

<comment><USER5> And what do widely present allergies to pea- and other nuts, peas, carrots, tomatoes, citrus fruit, fish or shellfish (among others) tell us?

<comment><USER7> Don't forget eggs, bananas, peaches (and relatives), onions, carrots, etc. (include most foods, yes I've known people with fantastically, life threatening, sensitive allergies to these foods).

One of my favorites is the genetic differences over perception of the herb coriander. Some percentage of people hate it because it tastes like soap. While the rest don't taste any soapy taste at all and find it to be a pleasant seasoning.

People often make the mistake of conflating "evolved diet=good for you" with "ready availability of foodstuffs". Chimps will also happily eat a pile of steak and a milkshake if you give it to them. Alaskan Salmon are fantastically good for us, but they don't exist at our evolutionary homestead. Some humans have consumed dairy for so long that they have developed lactose tolerance, and some eat such a high protein diet that large amounts of carbohydrates (refined or otherwise) leads to very high percentages of diabetes.

IOW, not every human has the same genetic lineage, Coeliac disease is interesting for some variety of humans, but doesn't exist at all in other populations -- and even in the populations it _does_ exist in, it has a pretty low frequency (generally less than 1% population in any area no matter the genetic predisposition of the population). Egg allergies (one of the cited foods in this thread as "evolution safe" are fantastically more common by comparison. It's the second most common childhood allergy in the U.S.

<comment><USER8> Celiac disease makes up a tiny fraction of the cases of gluten intolerance, which as much as 20% of the population of, say, the USA may have. (Source: Dangerous Grains, by James Braly and Ron Hoggan) Then add in actual wheat allergies. That's a lot of people.

So yes, people can have allergies to all sorts of things. I've been there (long story; currently it's only cow's milk I have to avoid) and it's not fun.

<comment><USER7> I'm going to have to partially dispute you. I'll get to the point, but first let's define clearly, what is an allergy, an intolerance and what's coeliac disease.

Some raw numbers, wheat (gluten) allergies affect less than 1% of the population (it's something like .48%). It's not something you can hide, you either swell up and stop breathing when you come in contact with it or you don't. It's actually hard to find in adults as most people grow out of it when they enter puberty. If you don't die within a short time from eating wheat (without treatment) due to an IgE antibody surge, you aren't allergic -- full stop. (yes, there are emergent allergies that occur later in life, gluten allergies are generally not considered to be in the class of those types of allergies). <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IgE>

Wheat (gluten) intolerance is more prevalent. But so are most food intolerances. For example, it's generally considered that 3/4 of the adult population of the U.S. has a dairy intolerance. Intolerance != allergy. You can eat foods you are intolerant to. It might give you an upset stomach or bad gas or some such, maybe diarrhea and a really bad headache. But by those symptoms most of us are intolerant of high fiber diets, coffee and all forms of strong alcohol. It might be worse, like dizziness or some such, but if you don't have IgE antibodies in your system after contact with the suspect food it's not an allergy. In other words, probably 100% of the population is intolerant of _some_ food some of the time. People often mistake "allergic" with "intolerant". Allergies are far more severe and critical than intolerance. Intolerance comes from a lack of an ability to process a given external agent due to some genetic predisposition -- like how many East Asians can't process alcohol properly or MSG makes my Aunt get a headache.

Coeliac disease occurs in about .75% of the population (as identified so far). It is a distinct and different disease from gluten allergies and gluten intolerances. Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disorder where the body destroys the lining (the villi) of the intestine as a response to the presence of the _byproduct_ of gluten after it's been improperly modified by a faulty enzyme causing an IgA antibody flareup in the gut. It's only now really being diagnosed as it is easily confused with other bowel diseases prior (like IBS or Ulcerative colitis or granulomatous among others). Recent IgA antibody tests do a pretty good job of positively identifying the disease (but you have to be on a gluten rich diet for it to work, otherwise you'll have no antibodies to test for!). The number may grow, but probably not much, even wildly high estimates put it at under 3% of very localized, genetically predisposed populations. Whatever the case, it presents as a chronic disease, not an allergy. You don't eat wheat, then blow up, stop breathing and die. Your intestine slowly rots away, you become malnourished and your feces turns white.

Likewise, food intolerance != Coeliac disease != food allergy. The three things are different. You may as well bundle people with sun allergies and who have dry skin from harsh soap into your numbers if you are going to do that. The _only_ common factor is that the causative agent is the same -- wheat. But even if you add up all the numbers of people with wheat allergies and people with coeliac disease, you likely end up with something less than 3-4% of the general population.

"Dangerous Grains" is an interesting book. But if all you look for is a duck, suddenly everything starts to look like a duck. I'd caution anyone from self- diagnosing based on descriptions of layman oriented symptoms from a book written to popularize an interesting theory. Many things cause precisely the same symptoms as gluten intolerance (and visa-versa). Dangerous Grains, while an great way to popularize recent science with the layman, is not the same as medical science.

<comment><USER8> "If you don't die within a short time from eating wheat (without treatment) due to an IgE antibody surge, you aren't allergic -- full stop."

What? With all due respect, this is a ridiculous definition of "allergic" and not at all the standard one. Are all the people with, say, pollen allergies not really allergic if all they get is a runny nose? I feel lousy when I eat anything containing cow's milk, and I have high IgE antibody levels for it, but I don't die. Nonetheless, that is an allergy.

I'm well aware of the difference between an allergy and an intolerance, as I thought I made clear by mentioning gluten intolerance as well as wheat allergy.

Dangerous Grains makes and cites plenty of references to the published literature, so it's hardly your average pop-sci book. A major point of it was that celiac disease is only one way in which gluten intolerance, that is, inability to properly digest gluten, can manifest.

<comment><USER7> Okay, so maybe "die" was a bit strong. :)

Immunoglobulin E antibody presence is the only meaningful definition for "allergic" in the literature. You are right, there are different degrees of immune system response w/r to IgE response. But no IgE? Not allergic -- probably intolerant -- _may_ have something else.

Lots of things people say/think they are allergic to, they are actually intolerant of.

I'm not putting down Dangerous Grains, only cautioning that many people improperly self-diagnose. The authors are recognized practitioners in allergy medicine. I forget some of the the terms off-hand, but mistaken self-diagnosis when learning about new medical topics is sometimes called the "medical school student syndrome".

Just because many of the easily observable symptoms of Coeliac disease are commonly found in any random selection of population, does not mean that Coeliac disease is common. It doesn't help that most of the symptoms may or may not even be present!

But really here's the list of symptoms: Abdominal pain, Abdominal distention, bloating, gas, indigestion, Constipation, Decreased appetite (may also be increased or unchanged), Diarrhea -- chronic or occasional, Lactose intolerance (common upon diagnosis, usually goes away following treatment), Nausea and vomiting, Stools that float, are foul smelling, bloody, or "fatty", unexplained weight loss (although people can be overweight or of normal weight upon diagnosis), Anemia (low blood count), Bone and joint pain, Bone disease (osteoporosis, kyphoscoliosis, fracture), Breathlessness (due to anemia), Bruising easily, Dental enamel defects and discoloration, Depression, Fatigue, Growth delay in children, Hair loss, Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), Irritability and behavioral changes, Malnutrition, Mouth ulcers, Muscle cramps, Nosebleed, Seizures, Short stature, unexplained Skin disorders (dermatitis herpetiformis) Swelling, general or abdominal, Vitamin or mineral deficiency, single or multiple nutrient (for example, iron, folate, vitamin K), Type-1 diabestes, autoimmune thyroid disease, autoimmune liver disease, rheumatoid arthritis, addison's disease, sjogren's syndrome.

Almost everybody I know has half of these symptoms half of the time -- and the ones that are less common are from something that's not CD (hair loss? how about Rad poisoning. Short children? Pituitary irregularity. Mouth ulcers? How about being a skank in High School?)

Here, let's try some example differentials: Patient is 28, Female, Caucasian, blood pressure is normal, pulse is normal, height and weight are average. Symptoms: Anemic, Bloating, Constipated, Abdominal Pain, Nausea and vomiting, Bruising easily, Fatigue, irritability and behavioral changes, muscle cramps, swelling, vitamin D and Calcium deficiency in lab work.

Does she have a) Lupus? b) PMS? c) or one of the .5% of the adult population with CD? (hint, it's never Lupus).

How about this: Patient is 62, Female, Caucasian, BP is elevated, pulse is elevated, height is below average and weight are average. Symptoms: Anemic, Indigestion, Occasional Diarrhea, Bone and Joint Pain, Bone disease (osteoporosis), Bruises easily, Dental discoloration, Fatigue, Hair loss, Hypoglycemia, Malnutrition, Short Stature, unexplained, Hives, Vitamin and mineral deficiency.

Does she have a) Lupus? b) Old, eats a crap diet of mostly snack foods, works a high stress sedentary job and drinks lots of coffee and tea and just starting eating a high fiber diet for the first time in her life? c) one of the .5% of the adult population with CD?

Or let's try another: Patient is 34, Male, Caucasian, BP is normal, pulse is elevated, height is average, weight is above average. Symptoms: Thyroid disease, type 1 diabetes, fatigue, vomiting, foul smelling stools, diarrhea, irritability, nosebleeds, vitamin and mineral deficiency.

Does he have a) Lupus? b) Has hereditary Grave's disease, is fat, eats a crap diet of pizza, candy and Jolt, has poor social skills, and just ate a bad piece of three day old pepperoni and we should check to see if he has sepsis and swab for known food-borne pathogens? c) one of the .5% of the adult population with CD?

My point is that the observable presentation symptoms for CD are crap. They could be symptoms for anything. Hence the caution on self-diagnosis. It also doesn't mean people should go out of their way to inconvenience themselves to avoid grain products and food with gluten in it because they get bloated on occasion or have stinky poo.

<http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/celiac/> _"Diagnosis involves blood tests and, in most cases, a biopsy of the small intestine."_

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I feel like we go round and round, dealing with the same problems that our ancestors had to deal with.

What I see here is part of the human condition. Pitfalls that "most" people are doomed to repeat. People are born with similar ways of thinking. I would propose that intuition is most always wrong. This is one reason we must educate people. Unfortunately, Memories and Communication are not precise. And I realize that all job fields require some sort of education or training.

There exist Complex ideas, technologies, material things (eg. biology): that are not comprehensible by one single person at a time. This is why we have groups of people that make products and not individuals.

Also people age, lose their usefulness. If only you could educate people who would increase their intelligence, and never die.

We live in a world of conclusions based on facts. A conclusion can be wrong, a fact cannot. News media, blogs, conversation are an exchange of conclusions. We can't communicate in just facts because we can't work with that much data at a time.

If only, one could link to another: a computer or another brain and be able to access knowledge and its accuracy. Is this possible, I don't know.

There are many problems worth fixing (but probably won't any time soon): a phonetic english alphabet with a different letter for each unique sound, Human Language to AI command compiler, optimize human mental process (engineer the human mind), build biospheres in inhospitable regions of the Earth, Fast internet that is cheap (100Mb/s (and I mean Megabit)) -> HD remote controlled robots, Tactile feedback for TV just like we have visual and sound, Engineer ways of rejuvenating/regeneration of humans so we can control our lifespan, Creating or finding what makes humans "sentient" or "have a soul" or "conscious" or "self-aware" -> Preserve this "consciousness" without a body for long trips of space flight

</comment><comment><USER10> Choice quote:

      The first principle is that you must not fool yourself
      -- and you are the easiest person [you can] fool.

</comment><comment><USER11> There's one paragraph I don't get:

        "I tried to find a principle for discovering more of these kinds of things, and came up with the following system. Any time you find yourself in a conversation at a cocktail party in which you do not feel uncomfortable that the hostess might come around and say, "Why are you fellows talking shop?" or that your wife will come around and say "Why are you flirting again?"--then you can be sure you are talking about something about which nobody knows anything."

I've been trying figure out what he meant, so I can apply the same method.

<comment><USER12> He meant that if you ever catch yourself in a conversation where no one knows anything about the subject matter, you should end the conversation.

<comment><USER13> I think he's saying that certain topics allow everyone to participate because no one knows anything. If specialists were in the conversation, it would become shop talk.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Previous submission:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=993150>

A good book for background on how people in general think is What Intelligence Tests Miss by Keith Stanovich.

[http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=97803001238...](http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300123852)

[http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss- Psycholog...](http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss- Psychology/dp/030012385X)

As Feynman points out, "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself --and you are the easiest person to fool." Human cognitive illusions are part of the human condition, and every scientist has to guard against them ceaselessly.

</comment><comment><USER15> I just finished reading this: <http://www.nthposition.com/thelastcargo.php>

Very interesting. I especially liked the term "cargo prophets."

The article paints cargo cultists as performing, with fervor and rigor, a "magical repetition" of an "inexplicable complex of delusions."

And the cargo prophets, being the messengers, expound new canon to the "John Frum" myth which further glorifies and necessitates this "inexplicable complex of delusions," or rituals and methods.

The methods and rituals these cargo prophets ask followers to perform are NOT reason or integrity.

I could go on with my thoughts on this, but basically yes. I do see a very clear parallel.

</comment><comment><USER16> How can I get a link to the scribd HTML5 reader?

<comment><USER11> I'm not sure. With the big announcement that was made about how they're switching and everybody here on HN celebrating, I was expecting all the [Scribd]'s to turn into HTML5 links. Is that because the HTML5 isn't ready yet, or because the HN code hasn't been updated?</comment></comment>


A product or service that doesn't sell may be priced too low - <AUTHOR> http://www.jslogan.com/would-a-mercedes-be-a-mercedes-if-it-cost-half-as-much/ <comment><USER2> That's why everybody should TEST different price points and everything else about the offer. Apply direct marketing knowledge to this problem.</comment>


Show HN: Skychalk - share thoughts on anything anywhere (like digital graffiti)  - <AUTHOR> http://www.skychalk.com

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey guys, we've seen similar ideas coming out recently so we wanted to get our work out there and try to validate the idea.

What we've created is a way to let people leave messages at any latitude/longitude point for anyone else to read (so not just venues.). There are a lot of potential uses for this: i.e. meeting your neighbors, self-guided walking tours, missed connections, local classifieds, lost dogs etc... We've made it optionally anonymous and pretty open in terms of use. We're not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but want to see how it evolves.

Right now you probably have to pan over to SF to see it in use, but it's open for use anywhere.

We'd love your thoughts.

</comment><comment><USER2> it allows you to reach people who aren't your facebook/twitter friends - cool!

<comment><AUTHOR> Definitely. One reason why we created it was that even though Facebook and twitter can add location to posts, no one really uses it in the proper mindset. On facebook, you're constrained to your social graph. You can't try and seek out neighbors who live across the street that easily on FB or Twitter, but here it would be really simple to do.</comment></comment>


Secrecy at the Border - <AUTHOR> http://www.onthemedia.org/story/on-the-media-2014-02-28/

<comment><AUTHOR> Apologies for those that may not have time to listen to the podcast, transcripts will be available tomorrow. But if you can make the time, the whole show is worth a listen.</comment>


Host webpages on Google Drive - <AUTHOR> https://googledrive.com/host/0B716ywBKT84AMXBENXlnYmJISlE/GoogleDriveHosting.html

<comment><USER2> I think this might be a pretty nice tool for people learning how to program for the web, in that it's easy to share a link with friends for some quick feedback.

</comment><comment><USER3> <http://www.site44.com/> does the same thing for Dropbox.

<comment><USER4> Syncdocs <http://syncdocs.com> lets you publish a website to Google Drive right from your desktop. It also gives a much shorter goo.gl URL, and automatically re-publishes changes.

However, Google Drive might has usage restrictions, so this is probably only for low traffic sites.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Sweet, now you can get your own URLs that are as ugly as Google+ ones.

<comment><USER6> That's a bit of a whiny comment! Use something else if you don't like the Urls. Urls are less relevant these days anyway. Who types Urls anymore? Or who even looks at them?

<comment><USER7> Who types URLs or looks at them? If you write URLs in an email, print them on a business card, put them on a poster, say them in a conversation, or basically need anybody who isn't already using a web browser to go to your page, you type URLs _and_ look at them (or hear them). Hearing is the worst offender.

\- Hey there, you should check out this really cool site/post/app/thing!

\- That sounds nice, where should I go?

\- You go to uh.. googledrive dot com slash host slash zero capital B ehh... forget it.

There is a reason that facebook gave their users vanity URLs, and twitter user URLs are so minimalist, and people pay millions for domain names. A shorter URL is more useful and hence more valuable.

Having the option to point your own domain at the folder would be really nice, actually, and put this on the same tier as Github Pages and S3.

<comment><USER8> You would never put a link like this on a business card or relay it in person anyway. You'd probably just hyperlink some text on a blog or in an email. It's pretty clear that this isn't a permanent web hosting solution.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Nifty. Note, however, that if you want to use it to share javascript demos or something, and you're on a google apps domain that forces https, you might hit something similar to "[blocked] The page at <https://googledrive.com/whatever> ran insecure content from <http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.9.1.min.js>. So you'll have to include your own copy of jQuery or Require or whatever.

<comment><USER10> If you use Google's hosted libraries, you can embed it like so, and it should seamlessly work over SSL.

<script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.0/jquery.min.js"></script>

<comment><USER11> Same goes for cdnjs, jsdelivr, bootstrapcdn, etc.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> now it says: "There are currently too many people viewing this file. Please try again later."

<comment><USER13> #whois googledrive.com Registrant: Matt Serlin DNStination Inc. 303 Second Street Suite 800 North San Francisco CA 94107 US email@example.com +1.4155319335 Fax: +1.4155319336

<comment><USER14> Note that the name servers are correct, though: ns{1-4}.google.com

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> They serve user supplied JS from googledrive.com domain? Can it be done in a secure way?

<comment><USER16> Dropbox also does that. You can potentially host your website within your 'Public' Dropbox folder.

I'm sure Google is not using <http://googledrive.com/> for anything that's user-identifiable.

The only harm that I think can happen with JS is you being able to access/set any cookies/storage that are set by another 'public' site hosted on Google Drive that you've accessed earlier.

<comment><USER17> Dropbox shuts links down if you get any significant traffic.

<comment><USER18> Really? Could you give more detail - at what level of traffic do they shut down links?

<comment><USER17> <https://www.dropbox.com/help/45/en>

Looks like 20GB (free) or 200GB (paid) per day.

<comment><USER19> Seems like more than enough for simple sites shared with a bunch of people you know. That is about 600 GBs of bandwidth a month, for free.

If you need more bandwidth, you would probably be looking at any of the other innumerable hosting solutions available on the web.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> I can see this being extremely useful for someone just getting into web development that needs a free place to host some stuff.

I recently started using Github as my blogging plaform. I just created a repo called 'thoughts' which has a bunch of markdown files inside.

When I create a new 'post' I just share the link to the markdown file on twitter/g+.

I can imagine someone using this feature in a similar way. A super lightweight, quick, and easy way to share some content.

Sometimes just getting the content out is __far more important __than having a nice website or url.

<comment><USER21> Right up until the underlying platform decides it needs a different model to support its business needs.

It really seems like there should be a middle ground: my ideas get published while ensuring your business survives. Right now, the two are independent functions.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> I've been waiting for this for a while. Although git is my preferred method of working, for people who aren't technical and who just can't do stuff from terminal, I think this is a great alternative.

<comment><USER23> The cool thing is you can still use Git with this approach. See: [http://bigtrapeze.com/2012/08/25/using-google-drive-as-a- git...](http://bigtrapeze.com/2012/08/25/using-google-drive-as-a-git- repository/)

<comment><USER22> Or you could just use Bitbucket haha

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> My favorite part is that the page illustrates how it was created. Kind of a "This is my life" story.

(the url in the image at the bottom is the url of the page itself)

</comment><comment><USER25> Is the URL of that document pretty reliable or is it not really meant for the long term? I'm thinking of whether there would be issues with using a custom domain for it.

I currently host a static website from S3, and I still have to pay a couple of bucks for the traffic. Sounds like this would be completely free.

<comment><USER26> Check out GitHub Pages for hosting static content for free. I use it for all my statically-generated sites now, and it's been great other than the couple times GitHub went down.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> So this implies that it would be delivered over Google CDN, e.g. from a network close to requesting location?

</comment><comment><USER28> Sorry guys but I think GitHub/Bitbucket beat you to the punch, not to mention all the PaaS apps out there.

Hosts more than css, html, js (for output)

Custom domains

Collaboration via revision control.

I see zero reason to ever use this when there are so many betters tools out there .

<comment><USER29> Well, sometimes arrogance and being small minded does blind you to certain things.

Like how if you're an office manager and you finally got used to using Docs for word processing and spreadsheets but now wanted to make a webpage to send out a message about the office party, this would be a good option.

Or if you're the outreach coordinator at your local church group and having been using Gmail all the time to chat and setup group communication for awhile this would be really easy for you to get started at making a webpage to talk about the recent retreat.

Or if you're a high school student and you wanted to let people in your neighborhood know that you're a go-getter that's capable of walking their dogs, this would be a good option to make a webpage out of.

This is more for those that switched over from Microsoft Office world and it's more of a direct competitor to grab use cases for Apple/iWeb.

<comment><USER28> Your right I never though of end users just publishing docs straight to html, I wasn't being arrogant, small minded probably.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> Seems to be working fine, but I'd honestly never use it. It's pretty difficult to do anything other than very simple HTML websites.

I had tried to upload my website template that I was working on that used head.js (lazyloads javascript) and it was not working correctly.

>6/10

</comment><comment><USER31> Is that an official Google page on how to do this, or a demo you put together that Google may nix shortly? I ask mainly because a DS_Store file is visible in the directory, which strikes me as not a typical Google thing. Do they even use Mac OS for anything?

<comment><USER32> Macs are quite popular at Google, actually

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> There doesn't appear to be a way to edit the files, as the owner, after they are uploaded.

</comment><comment><USER34> i think Skydrive currently doesn't do that...they may not even have plans to implement that..

</comment><comment><USER35> Is this sanctioned by Google?

<comment><USER36> Yes[1] - it's an extension of an extant feature of Google Cloud Storage[2]

[1] <https://developers.google.com/drive/publish-site>

[2] [https://developers.google.com/storage/docs/website- configura...](https://developers.google.com/storage/docs/website- configuration)

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> This does not appear to be an official Google site or suggestion. Personally, I'd use them for my cat's blog and that's about it. Google could pull the plug on this at anytime

<comment><USER38> Seems pretty offficially supported in this blog post from Nov 2012 [http://googleappsdeveloper.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/announcin...](http://googleappsdeveloper.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/announcing- google-drive-site-publishing.html)

and the associated drive SDK for publishing web content <https://developers.google.com/drive/publish-site>

<comment><USER39> He probably means in the same way that iGoogle was officially supported.

In that if its unpopular or not to Google's expectation, they'll kill it all of a sudden.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER40> github work fine for me to host my static html,css,js pages.</comment>


Backbone and Pinocchio - <AUTHOR> http://lazywithclass.posterous.com/backbone-and-pinocchio

<comment><USER2> Excuse my naivete, but I don't understand why you can't have Controllers. My understanding is that Backbone does not provide an abstraction for Controllers because, well, there's not much to abstract about them, they are just objects with some data and some functions.

</comment><comment><USER3> Not trying to start a framework-flamewar here, but what would the benefit of choosing backbone over a full mvc framework like ember or spine be if you're just adding the 'c' to backbone with a bunch of plugins?

<comment><USER4> Backbone is not as much opinionated as other frameworks, although you have a point here. What I find most funny is that we're slowly evolving to full- fledged frameworks on the client. I wonder when the Spring for javascript will appear...

<comment><USER5> It already exists : ExtJS , is a monster frameworks for javascript using JSON instead of XML for "dependency injection". it is very hard to use due to the dynamic nature of javascript, hard to know what comes in and out of a method, some classes have more than 200 methods. But it is really really powerfull,especially regarding data persistance. Once you master it you can do very very complex apps pretty quickly.

By the way this is when you wish Javascript had a type system. How can you know what type a method parameter is unless you dive in the doc ? with Java you usually just have to look the interface ...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Wait, let me get this straight, this framework eschews the standard MVC separation and allows for mixing the M with the V?

I like Backbone and I love AngularJS. Both have their merits. If Backbone isn't doing it for you perhaps your app needs a full-stack framework like Angular instead of violating separation of concerns.

<comment><USER7> No, this is an implementation of the Command Pattern for MVC. It doesn't eschew standard MVC separation, rather it strengthens it by removing domain/business logic into so called "Commands" and keeping it out of the other tiers.

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

[http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/12263/The-Command- Patter...](http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/12263/The-Command-Pattern-and- MVC-Architecture)

This Backbone+Marionette/Geppetto thing reminds me a lot of RobotLegs, which ASFAIK is one of the most well engineered and well loved AS3 MVC+Command micro frameworks. It's worth a look.

<http://www.robotlegs.org/></comment></comment>


20% revenue split to help monetize a website - <AUTHOR>

I have a site getting significant traffic and need someone who is knowledgeable about ad networks/ad layout testing/etc. I will pay 20% of whatever revenue your suggestions bring in for a period of 6 months. <comment><USER2> When it comes to ad sizes, you'll want to run 300x250 on your site using AdSense. It has the highest stock available, so it'll generate the most bids and profit.

You might want to consider randomizing the ad locations in your results. I viewed a few pages, and I already know where the eBay ads are listed, so I'm skipping over them. You could randomize an eBay (if they pay well) or 300x250 AdSense advertisement in every other row.

The best option is always selling the ads directly on your own or through an ad manager that takes a large commission. For example, I earn 20x or more on my direct ads, compared to AdSense. Of course, I don't always have a direct advertising campaign, so AdSense runs as backup when one isn't available.

Browse Commission Junction and try some offers, although I have low expectations. I usually send them a few hundred clicks for every sale, which only earns a few dollars.

Your FAQ says people are interesting in selling items on your site, but that's not available, you just scrap sales from forums. Why not allow people to promote their forum sales on your site? For example, on the top of every page, you have a featured row with 4 random sales in that category, currently being promoted. So, I'm selling a watch on WatchUSeek, I visit your site, pay $20 to get listed in the featured row on the watches category for a week. For example, here's a quick Photoshop...

[http://i.imgur.com/uRBXAdD.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/uRBXAdD.jpg)

Good luck, advertising is an uphill battle, and you need to spend a lot of time trying out different strategies and carefully monitoring the results.

<comment><AUTHOR> Holy smokes- GREAT reply and complete with a mockup!

I'll start loading up some of those 300x250 units. I guess my hesitation in the past was that I didn't know if those ads would adapt to screen sizes/orientation and the units would break the layout but I might as well find out now. I'm still scratching my head on the gun section though since it's very poplar but I can't run AdSense in that category (against TOS), but I guess direct deals, CJ, and featured guns would work there. You mention an Ad Manager for getting direct deals... Is this someone I hire from a job board or are there ones you can recommend?

<comment><USER3> >So, I'm selling a watch on WatchUSeek, I visit your site, pay $20 to get listed in the featured row on the watches category for a week.

>I'm still scratching my head on the gun section though since it's very poplar but I can't run AdSense in that category

Popular gun forums are on the same boat and that's why their side-bars are filled with advertisers/affiliates/sponsors. Just contact those with your numbers on the sub-section, i'm sure you'll sell out quickly.

Your website has a lot of potential for targeted advertising.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yup, you're right. Featured + advertisers found on gun forums should solve it.

Time for me to think/ask an advertiser about what he wants (i.e. ability to login and see impression/click counts, etc.) and what the CPM rate(s) should be.

I appreciate the time you took to think through that.

<comment><USER3> >Time for me to think/ask an advertiser about what he wants (i.e. ability to login and see impression/click counts, etc.) and what the CPM rate(s) should be.

The problem is often that we can't guarantee the stats like google does. (for clicks) That's why i either sell a guaranteed minimum impressions per month or a flat CPM rate.

Still track the impressions and clicks, but only as a indicator or email them reports to save the hassle of managing credentials.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Advertise on porn networks. Traffic Junky is dirt cheap compared to most other display networks, and these sort of things would likely appeal to the predominantly young male audience.

Another suggestion is reddit ads. Align the categories with various subreddits and write some decent funny copy.

<comment><AUTHOR> Had some earlier success with reddit ads and even made it to the Top 20 (all time) on a decently sized subreddit that I manually submitted to. Never heard of Traffic Junky but it makes total sense. Thank you for the suggestions! Brilliant.

<comment><USER4> No problem at all. If you need any more help feel free to shoot me an email. I do lots of marketing for tech companies, and I'm always happy to give out some advice for free.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> If you post the site url, I'm sure many of us would be more than willing to post some monetization-advice here for free. Just a thought.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the suggestion.

\---

At the moment, I'm running only ebay ads incorporated into the following areas:

\- 2 units per page on category pages like: [http://www.lionseek.com/watches](http://www.lionseek.com/watches)

\- 2 units per page on brand pages like: [http://www.lionseek.com/watches/brand/seiko](http://www.lionseek.com/watches/brand/seiko)

\- 12 units per page on individual item pages (found in the 'similar items on the web' section/slider) like: [http://www.lionseek.com/watches/brand/seiko/fs- seiko-6309-50...](http://www.lionseek.com/watches/brand/seiko/fs- seiko-6309-5029-2178f3)

\- 4 units on a search result page that has no matches like: [http://www.lionseek.com/watches?seller_id=-1&has_photo=true&...](http://www.lionseek.com/watches?seller_id=-1&has_photo=true&category=watches&limit=22&page=1&q=blah+blah)

\---

I have an Adsense account, Commission Junction account, and an Amazon Associates account it's just that none of these have been implemented. I can get self-serve ads implemented quickly. The site is responsive so the ads would have to work with a couple of breakpoints.

An ideal scenario is someone saying 'Stick a XYZ ad unit here stylized in the following way. Stick ABC ad unit here in the following format. This ad platform (XYZ) might help for testing and maximizing revenue.'

If you are confused about what the site is/does then take a look at: [http://www.lionseek.com/p/faq](http://www.lionseek.com/p/faq)

Any suggestions would be TRULY appreciated!

<comment><USER5> In your shoes, I think I'd start by incorporating generic adsense units in order to get a "baseline". It'd probably be easiest to start with the newer "responsive" ad units that Adsense offers, since those will fit the container you make available, and you won't have to worry about breakpoints and such.

I would run those plain ads for long enough to get statistically significant data on CTR and CPC. Adsense revenue will likely vary widely for a few days and then level-out in a consistent range after a while.

Once you've got that baseline, you have a metric by which you can compare other strategies and options. Then integrating something like CJ/affiliate ads becomes simpler. You just let that new strategy run for a small subset of visitors and see how the revenue compares to your "control group" (the visitors who saw adsense). Then you can be methodical and scientific in your approach, and test all options you have available to you. This is the same method by which you can test other adsense units, other styling options, etc. Split-testing software like Optimizely makes these kind of tests very easy to run and get data on.

<comment><AUTHOR> Good suggestions - thanks!</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ghostly surge sees park ride moved - <AUTHOR> http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5izoEYv9tVbJ-f9KsDJSlBGEn2QRg?docId=B30801921296829941A000 <comment><USER2> "Jim Arnold, of South West London Paranormal, said results were picked up immediately, with orbs, ghostly images in photography and ouija reaction results being strongest around the site where Storm Surge was to be built.

He said: "The results were so strong, we felt the only explanation could be that an ancient burial ground or settlement was being disturbed, prompting the extra paranormal activity.""

So, you know, their approach is quite scientific, with specialized equipment and all.</comment>


Coinbase Raises $75M from DFJ Growth, USAA, NYSE, and More - <AUTHOR> http://blog.coinbase.com/post/108642362357/coinbase-raises-75m-from-dfj-growth-usaa-nyse <comment><USER2> Funny how apparently the biggest Bitcoin company is a bank for centralized storage and management of Bitcoins, which was the exact opposite goal (according to the idealists) of bitcoins. Next up they'll probably offer interest and loans/mortgages.

<comment><USER3> Coinbase is just another company in the Bitcoin ecosystem, them being successful does not mean Bitcoin cannot have other faces or uses. Nobody condemns email for being too centralized because Gmail is popular, people who care for decentralization can and do set up their own email server.

<comment><USER4> Well said, though, I think there is reason to be concerned about the continued centralization of bitcoin payment processors. In a world where bitpay and coinbase are processing the vast majority of bitcoin payments, it's easy to imagine how a coordinated denial of service attack could temporarily cripple the bitcoin economy from the consumer's perspective.

<comment><USER5> The big difference is that you don't need to be certified and so it doesn't exclude anyone from getting into this game. Compare that with banking which is basically impossible to even get started with properly.

The interesting thing here is that it's build on an open protocol rather than on legislation and so this I believe will at least give the opportunity to create all sorts of interesting solutions that are currently impossible to do within the current banking system because technology moves faster than legislation.

So even if we are talking centralization or clustering as I like to call it, we are not talking exclusion.

<comment><USER4> Sure, the barrier to entry is lower, but that may not always be the case, especially once the big players start to push towards regulating competition out of the market. Even existing regulations are already a show-stopper for any company without the considerable capital necessary to tackle the morass of money transmission laws and licencing concerns that vary from state to state. There is also a big first mover advantage in payment processing because there isn't very much room to innovate beyond lower fees (hard to beat bitpay's 0%) and a reputable brand.

I think there is a real risk that we'll see bitcoin processing completely swallowed up by these big players.

<comment><USER5> How can they push toward regulation? Honest question? I could set up wherever i want i the world right?

<comment><USER4> Yes, you can setup wherever you want, but if you want to process payments for U.S. businesses then you need to act in accordance with U.S. money transmission laws, otherwise, nobody will do business with you. Currently, bitcoin payment processors do not fall under the purview of MSB or MTB classification, but that could easily change, especially because cryptocurrencies are still a relatively new concept.

<comment><USER5> But then it's the US businesses that will not be in compliance right? Not me?

<comment><USER6> Right, but if US (et al.) merchants are not using your service because using your service means they're not in compliance, you won't be much of a competitor in that field.

<comment><USER5> Which if the rest of the world is, is going to decrease the risk of any legislation happening to begin with no?

<comment><USER7> You are a bit late...

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

<comment><USER5> Unless you are being overly pedantic I don't understand what your point is. And if it is just pedantic then oh well.

<comment><USER7> The point was that Bitcoin already is regulated pretty much everywhere. If you have pockets deep enough to exploit any of the remaining loopholes it'd likely be cheaper to just get a regular license.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Confirms for me that Bitcoin is on track to disrupt credit card payments, possibly ACH/Wire, and _not_ to be a replacement currency. Credit cards handle about 3.6 trillion/year in transactions. With 3% per transaction fees, chargebacks and equipment costs -- there are plenty of reasons for merchants to increasingly accept BTC provided companies like Coinbase are prepared to take the BTC market risk by sweeping BTC into local currency.

<comment><USER9> 3% for very low volume maybe. Get a little bit of volume and you'll get less than 0.7%.

<comment><USER10> How is that possible given that my credit card gives 1% cash back?

<comment><USER11> they bank on you not paying the full balance every month so the interest alone will more than pay for your cash back.

<comment><USER12> That and the fees they collect from the merchants.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Interesting to see an investment by USAA. They've really stepped up their tech game lately, partnering with some very cool companies (e.g. TrueCar), so I wonder if some type of Coinbase integration is in the works.

<comment><USER14> I totally agree, especially considering USAA's reputation as a conservative player in the Banking world

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> That's a pretty impressive lineup of investors. With that kind of funding, I imagine that Coinbase isn't just setting themselves up as a Bitcoin company, but they should be able to create infrastructure that processes/handles any sort of cryptocurrency. So even if BTC loses favor, they'll be one of the few companies that have the infrastructure to support whatever the up-and-coming cryptocurrency is. Regardless of which specific cryptocurrency is in vogue at the time, I do believe that cryptocurrencies are here to stay, and Coinbase is aiming themselves up to be the market leader. This is an investment that even I'd be willing to buy into as well, if there were ever an opportunity.

<comment><USER16> More likely: a push to become the next PayPal, but using the Bitcoin network rather than the standard ACH banking network. Here's one step towards that: [http://avc.com/2015/01/feature-friday-us-dollar- wallet/](http://avc.com/2015/01/feature-friday-us-dollar-wallet/)

<comment><USER17> Is this a sign of how little PayPal has innovated lately?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Things are so unpredictable. That's regarding the whole Bitcoin (r)evolution. I believe what's currently happening and has happened is great. All these random events that pushed its price down are giving enough time for any interested entities to acquire them at reasonable price - if they understand it and think it may be a good value storage. And it may turn out to be a really good value storage indeed.

Regarding Coinbase I would assume they are convincing their investors that the company has a huge value and expertise even assuming total Bitcoin collapse / switch to another digital currency.

<comment><USER19> There are 8 names on the press release, and probably a few more smaller investors. This doesn't represent a _huge_ amount of money for any given fund - at most probably US$20m or so for the lead. The payoff should BTC prove useful will be in the realms of Facebook/Google/Apple valuations. Even if you think there's only a fraction of a percent probabilty that they'll be successful it'd still be worthwhile putting a few million in (assuming you can afford to lose it).

Personally, I think BTC is going to be OK because there's already a decent ecosystem growing around it. Enough people are keen on it succeeding that it'll do _something_ useful. The real question is whether it'll be a multi- trillion dollar industry that replaces money or a multi-billion dollar industry that's used for secure value transactions or proof of work or something, not than whether or not it'll fail entirely and disappear.

<comment><USER20> > Enough people are keen on it succeeding that it'll do something useful.

Exactly. I am personally convinced it will succeed, but I don't know in which way. It could be anything that benefits of proof of work.

Are there actually libraries, or clients which create a P2P network, that is generic? I mean the client synchronization is the same as in BTC, but the data exchanged is generic.

<comment><USER21> Namecoin ([http://namecoin.info](http://namecoin.info)) might be of interest to you.

<comment><USER20> That's what I was looking for.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Congrats Brian, Fred, and team! Quite an interesting funding round, and, quite a blooming market. Keep up the good work! I have to say, this sector is one of the most interesting to watch.

</comment><comment><USER23> Maybe with this capital infusion, Coinbase will get an actual business address. Right now, their mailing address is a PO box in San Francisco's homeless district, their SSL cert is a cheap "domain control only" SSL cert, and their SEC filing gives the address of an apartment on Bluxome St.

That's a violation of California B&P code section 17538. ([http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi- bin/displaycode?section=bpc&gr...](http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi- bin/displaycode?section=bpc&group=17001-18000&file=17530-17539.6))

 _(d) A vendor conducting business through the Internet or any other electronic means of communication shall do all of the following when the transaction involves a buyer located in this state:_

 _(1) Before accepting any payment or processing any debit or credit charge or funds transfer, the vendor shall disclose to the buyer in writing or by electronic means of communication, such as e-mail or an on-screen notice, the vendor 's return and refund policy, the legal name under which the business is conducted and, except as provided in paragraph (3), the complete street address from which the business is actually conducted._

<comment><USER24> ... (3) The complete street address need not be disclosed as required by paragraph (1) if the vendor utilizes a private mailbox receiving service and all of the following conditions are met: (A) the vendor satisfies the conditions described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 17538.5, (B) the vendor discloses the actual street address of the private mailbox receiving service in the manner prescribed by this subdivision for the disclosure of the vendor's actual street address, and (C) the vendor and the private mailbox receiving service comply with all of the requirements of subdivisions (c) to (f), inclusive, of Section 17538.5.

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> I would be really interested to have more info about Coinbase vision and plans to make bitcoin more mainstream, etc.

Some of those institutions are obviously signs of opening BTC to stock exchange or more hedge founds, and traditional investments assets.

Would have been nice to hear more of where they see/want to put bitcoin in the future.

</comment><comment><USER26> Ben Horowitz predicted on 11/19/14 that Bitcoin is going to be one (of two) of the next massive disruptors in technology. He compares Bitcoin with the revolutionary impact of the internet.

It is gaining momentum.

[http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=3369](http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=3369)

</comment><comment><USER27> Wow... Vikram Pandit is in this round. I can't think of a worst person to bring into a financial services startup. I come from the industry, and this to me, is Coinbase's Condoleezza.

I don't know how much everybody knows about him (I'm pretty sure his Wikipedia profile won't tell the entire story), but this finance executive has a bad reputation. Pre-financial crisis, he was COO Morgan Stanley, and later went off to create a hedge fund 100% based on hyped market bluffs. He sold the fund to Citigroup ($800m) in 2008* as a condition for him joining as interim CEO of Citigroup... and just a few months later, Citigroup wrote-off the entire fund. As per his role at Citigroup, I'll let you do the research and news digging.

I sometimes don't understand the tech's sector hypocrisy: tech wants to become a solution to the problem, and they go on to finance and advice themselves with the problem. I really don't get it.

* edit from 2007 to '08

<comment><USER28> This might be covered by Putt's "Law of Failure": "Innovative organizations abhor little failures but reward big ones" and its corollary "Failure to fail fully is a fool's folly." His point was that innovative orgs will look at someone who "went big" and failed as someone who now knows a problem inside and out, and has walked through the fire so is now better equipped to deal with than anyone else (and so might succeed this time.)

<comment><USER27> My comment is not about failure, it's about what is wrong with wall st's crony capitalism. this has nothing to do with failure, but about the lack of values, and the damage this has done to the world economy at so many levels.

<comment><USER28> Certainly not arguing with any of your points; I'm saying the things that happened could rightly be construed by investors as types of failure (e.g., "Citigroup wrote-off the entire fund") which is one of the reasons the law might apply. I'm talking about perception from a particular perspective, not the ethics.

<comment><USER27> I understand what you mean, and agree to a very large extent with the that line of thought. My concerns with Pandit are not so much on failure, but fraud and mismanagement.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> It certainly seems like Bitcoin is dead.

<comment><USER21> To the sarcasm-impaired: [http://bitcoinobituaries.com](http://bitcoinobituaries.com)

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> Huge congrats Brian!

</comment><comment><USER30> As Regina says in Mean Girls, "Stop trying to make (Bitcoin) happen. It's not going to happen."

<comment><USER31> Bitcoin has already happened for a lot of people.

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> There's one (or 10) born every minute. If I were a scammer I'd want these folks email addresses.</comment>


Statement Regarding Repurchase Operations - <AUTHOR> https://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/opolicy/operating_policy_190920 <comment><USER2> Related: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21029481](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21029481)

</comment><comment><USER3> Wow this is not good. Repo market is the market of overnight debt between banks. Banks lend money to each other to cover their collateral needs/exposures at the end of each day. If banks lose confidence in each other, they start demanding more collateral from each other in the overnight market, which means the overnight rate goes up. The NYFed is trying to keep interest rates down and is having trouble doing it. As a result, it's having to take some extraordinary measures to the tune of injecting $100b into banks, every night, for the next month. They are basically trying to ensure that no bank gets caught with it's shirt off, while the banks are signaling that they think their peers might be naked.

<comment><USER4> I don't think that's whats happening. Basically, in a repo you have one party posting a treasury bond as collateral and being lent the equivalent amount of cash. There's an interest rate you're charged on the cash, and potentially a "haircut" on the amount of cash relative to the value of the bond that a bank might take if they decide the other party is a risk and they want more collateral posted.

What you're describing is an increase in "haircuts" in these transactions between banks, but I haven't heard anyone report that has been happening. It has been, more simply, that too many people are showing up with bonds and want cash and too few people are showing up with cash and want to lend it. So the interest rate has risen

<comment><USER5> Why is there such a liquidity crunch though?

And why is the fed stepping in when the liquidity crunch could just correct itself via market mechanisms - if the market rate for overnight lending was 9% I assume plenty of organizations would race to take advantage of that

Aside from something that would just naturally correct itself (lenders being temporarily short on cash due to some statistical anomaly), the only explanation I can think of is that some of the lenders believe that some of the creditors are about to default

<comment><USER6> Quarterly taxes seems to have been the initial cover story. My guess is it ties back partially to the eurodollar carry trade. There is an unprecedented amount of international rate and currency arbitrage going on which has pulled US dollars out of the US and could easily manifest unintended macroeconomic consequences like this. One day repo is easy for the Fed to address but if it persists then it becomes a confidence issue and people to start wonder: is this just the tip of the iceberg? If the underlying cause really is a systemic imbalance of sufficient magnitude, then who knows what else could pop up. It's more likely to signal major problems in the economies that are importing dollars (Europe in particular but also Asia) than the US itself, but a meltdown is bad for everyone; this uncertainty may be what some traders are starting to hedge against.

<comment><USER7> This is an interesting line of thought, could you expand and simplify your explanation a bit for people who are not as familiar with the dynamics you're talking about?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> One thing to note is that $100B is created everyday but the $100B is destroyed the next day. It's not like $100B created everyday for the next month.

<comment><USER9> That's true. But another way to look at it (not necessarily good), it's like the water in desert. You are in the middle of the desert and you need water - you ask a guy - lend me some water please, I will buy you back the same amount once we are home. Technical speaking, the amount you get and the amount you give back is the same.

What happened during the last crisis is also a great illustration - many banks took taxpayers money during the 'dark hours' then paid it back easily some time later, when the air cleared. Some went as far as to suggest it wasn't necessary at all. Well, the truth is, the banking system as we know it survived only thanks to governments stepping in - otherwise _none_ of the banks we know would exist today. There was 0 trust during the crisis - and all the banking system is build on trust.

That's why the FED is "taking a sledgehammer to squash a bug". That's also why it's a very disturbing signal. My gut tells me shit is about to hit the fan.

PS. But don't try to time the market and short it - as the saying goes, the market can stay irrational longer than you can remain solvent.

<comment><USER10> You don't have to short it, however, would it make sense to start selling things? Where should money be right now or where should it start going if it is about to hit the fan?

<comment><USER11> If there truly is a cash shortage to the point that it is threatening bank liquidity, the Fed's likely response would be dropping rates and increasing the money supply with another round of QE.

If that happens, you should be buying, not selling, since QE basically acts as a subsidy for equities as institutions seek yield with cheap money.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Hoping to clear up some FUD here:

1) This is the financial equivalent of taking a sledgehammer to squash a bug. Financial markets operate largely on confidence, and especially the rule that the Fed is the lender of last resort at their specified Fed Funds Rate (now 25 basis points lower as of Wednesday).

2) This isn't $165b. It could be the same $75b used every day.

3) No, this isn't a sign of a healthy market, but bond prices especially in Europe have gone bananas the past few months and we could be in the biggest bond bubble of our generation. This was evident in negative yields as also a very quick yield curve inversion in the U.S. for 2y10s.

4) I personally believe some banks were over levered as bond prices began to unwind this week and got caught with their pants down.

5) I think the Fed is using this sledgehammer approach to allow some banks to unwind and de-lever their bond positions safely and orderly over the next 2 weeks.

6) I said #5 about 11 years ago, but I believe "this time it's different."

<comment><USER13> > 2) This isn't $165b. It could be the same $75b used every day.

I made the $165b comment, my understanding is that there's four overlapping liquidity injections (three 14-day operations and the recurring overnight operation). Would this not be 30 + 30 + 30 + 75?

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> To retry my earlier comment[1]:

The Fed is nobly ensuring banks' 2.25% APR ("target federal funds") rate against being viciously squeezed to 9%.

Over three weeks.

That means banks are, at most, saved from having to pay an (extra) interest charge of $3.6 million per 1 billion (revolving) dollars borrowed. [2]

That ... still seems like a rounding error against their typical quarterly profits, considering it's a one-time anomalous event.

Is that really something that justifies extreme Fed measures?

[1] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21000023](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21000023)

[2] computed from 1,000,000,000(1.09^(3/52) - 1.025^(3/52))

<comment><USER15> It's to prevent a cascading failure due to a rapid loss in confidence requiring even greater action from the Fed (such would occur if interbank lending dries up because of counterparty risk [perceived or actual]).

Disclaimer: I work in financial services, but am not involved in these operations.

<comment><USER14> So, banks don't trust each other's collateral, but the Fed does, and that judgment is more correct?

<comment><USER16> > _banks don 't trust each other's collateral, but the Fed does, and that > judgment is more correct?_

The collateral is Treasuries. Nothing exotic.

<comment><USER14> Then why are banks not trusting that as collateral?

<comment><USER17> I don't think banks not trusting Treasuries as collateral has ever been raised this week. Banks simply do not have the liquidity to finance transactions in the repo market right now.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Additionally, three overlapping 14-day term operations of atleast $30 billion each.

Adding it together we can see the fed is going to be providing a minimum of $165B in total liquidity to the market while all the operations are undergoing.

Curious how this will play out in the long term. Are we going to add even more liquidity when these operations end?

<comment><USER18> I wish the fed would print some money for me to help pay my student debt

<comment><USER19> There are presidential candidates essentially promising just that.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> I wish I understood what this meant. From my primitive understanding, we have too much money concentrated in too few people trying to make unrealistic returns, so they hold on to it rather than invest it.

Does this move mean that the fed is trying to keep its benchmark rate too low and absent market forces it would be much higher?

<comment><USER21> From what I've been able to gather, there has been a decrease in demand for US Treasurys from certain segments of the market. This has resulted in primary dealers having to purchase the difference. They don't purchase USTs from cash on hand. Instead, they use the repo market to fund the purchase. However, the supply of repo market funds is relatively inelastic. Thus, you have a big spike in repo demand with a relatively fixed supply. This was causing the rate spikes we saw. Thus the Fed stepping in as lender of the last resort.

<comment><USER22> It seems to me that the issue is that there has been an increase in supply, because of the massive deficit. This means that there are more US Treasuries for sale than there are buyers. They could sell more by letting the interest rate rise, but that would have major negative effects if a large increase is required.

<comment><USER21> The increased supply of UST is another contributing factor, yes. Important point AFAICT is the supply inelasticity of repo funds.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> What is the asset banks are so worried their counterparties have on their balance sheets that they need a Fed repo operation?

Couldn't be stuff like a $500m personal loan to a startup CEO, secured by said CEOs stock in a private company that has negative cash flow and no real assets, which he also happens to control? Surely there is no reason to doubt the quality of collateral like that.

But more seriously, legit question is what do the banks know about each other that the financial press hasn't reported yet?

Personally I think the Fed is keeping interest rates down to defuse a massive geopolitical conflict that is closer to blowing than anyone realizes, but that doesn't explain why banks are worried about getting stiffed by each other.

<comment> o-__-o >Couldn't be stuff like a $500m personal loan to a startup CEO, secured by said CEOs stock in a private company that has negative cash flow and no real assets, which he also happens to control? Surely there is no reason to doubt the quality of collateral like that.

As a startup CEO with available stock, an actual positive cash flow and no _real_ assets.. please tell me where I can apply for this type of loan? Because all the loans I'm looking at are 3-8% interest and requires me to sign over my personal assets as collateral in return for a paltry $250k. I'd rather use that loan to just buy more real assets for myself instead (which is what I am doing)

<comment><USER24> This is a reference to Elon Musk's financial strategy, specifically [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-offering- banks/elon...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-offering-banks/elon- musk-owes-507-million-to-banks-helping-tesla-raise-capital-idUSKCN1S901E)

Essentially, he has almost nothing in cash, and instead of selling stock to raise cash he borrows money with his stock as collateral. This is why he's so monomaniacally focused on his stock value and public image.

For a more professional, but login-walled, overview, see [https://www.economist.com/business/2016/10/22/countdown](https://www.economist.com/business/2016/10/22/countdown)

<comment> o-__-o This isn't just Elon, Oracles Founder did the same thing. Except they actually have a company with assets. So I don't get what OP was rambling on about "non real assets". A fucking manufacturing plant is an asset. My servers are not. Looks like the financial world is working as it should...

<comment><USER24> The specific $500M number was a reference to Elon, but yeah, given how successful this strategy is I'm not surprised the Oracle founder uses it too.

I agree with you that these cases are where the companies have tangible, provable value, even if they're not profitable right now.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> Bloomberg only gives a few free stories out so choose wisely:

[https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/the-repo- market](https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/the-repo-market)

[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-18/powell- se...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-18/powell-seeks-to- regain-control-over-fed-funds-with-ioer-tweak)

[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-18/overnight...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-18/overnight- u-s-funding-rate-at-2-8-elevated-for-a-third-day)

[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-16/repo- mark...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-16/repo-market-chaos- drives-overnight-rate-up-by-most-in-months)

</comment><comment><USER26> To me it sounds like there is glut in treasuries due to the huge government deficit and there are not enough buyers. This event is the banks not having enough on hand on hand for the treasuries and the corporate tax event at once, so the fed is stepping in to provide temporary liquidity.

Is it possible, or are we close to to where the banks (or other buyers) won't be able absorb the glut in treasuries themselves, and the fed has to buy them, effectively monetizing our deficits?

</comment><comment><USER27> Zooming out, here are some points I've been considering:

1\. A repo intervention on this scale hasn't happened since the 2008 crisis.

2\. Experts seem divided on what's causing the extremely tight overnight liquidity phenomenon.

3\. The Fed refused to budge from its tepid stance on long-term rates and restarting QE in its recent meeting. This stands against a backdrop of a stagnating world economy, the collapse of foreign sovereign bond yields, and unprecedented browbeating from the White House.

<comment><USER16> > _Experts seem divided on what 's causing the extremely tight overnight > liquidity phenomenon_

Divided on root cause, but not on its seriousness. Quarterly tax payments on the same day as a massive Treasury issuance amidst a Eurodollar carry trade that yields more, for longer, than the overnight markets. Nothing related to the soundness of the financial system.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> In order for the overnight rate to be within the Fed target range shouldn't the Fed be involved in the market every day anyway?

</comment><comment><USER29> So if banks are super desperate for Fed funds, but actually have Treasuries to put up as collateral to borrow those funds in the overnight market, why don't they just sell their Treasuries instead, or let them mature, and hold more cash?

Hasn't the Fed for years now been literally paying the banks to do just that with IOER?

</comment><comment><USER30> NFI what any of it means myself, but it does seem sensible that upcoming Brexit and middle eastern news has a lot of large funds moving around, which might be sufficient reason for extra liquidity to be needed?

</comment><comment><USER31> Smoke and mirrors and games...

<comment><USER32> Hey, it's all fun until 14 million people lose their homes again right? /s

<comment><USER31> My point was purely that this is the financial market playing their usual games again.

<comment><USER32> I hear you, and my point was that sometimes those games go sideways in a big way.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> fed$ git push repo

</comment><comment><USER34> We've come a long way from stress tests I see

</comment><comment><USER35> This is great for bitcoin.

</comment><comment><USER36> My understanding is that repo trades are 1-day loans collateralized by government bonds. So I don't see how the government is taking any risk here or why it is problematic.

</comment><comment><USER37> Could you even imagine what we could do with $100B every day?

My god. They just sit down at the keyboard and print money out of thin air and electrons and give it to any of the 20 biggest banks who ask for it.

We could literally solve every single problem.

<comment><USER38> Banks are there to give capital to businesses, which do solve every single problem from the beginning of capitalism. This is how it works.

<comment><USER39> More like 95% of that is going to go into funding/offsetting some obscure financial derivative that 8 Mathematics and Finance PhDs in a room cooked up.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: What did I get into by accepting this job? - <AUTHOR> I'm going to be as anon as possible. I've been interviewing a lot, since I need a job out of school. I recently finished interviewing with a company in NYC. The job description was essentially for a fullstack JavaScript Software Engineer.
I passed the interviews. Before the interviews, I stated I was looking at $50k to $60k (come on, that's not a lot for NYC). They said they'll try to do their best.
Today I got the offer: 3-month contract (no staffing firm/recruiter involved) at $30k/year with no benefits.
It's a late stage startup owned by a parent company. I'm accepting it, because unemployment sucks. But come on, $14/hr for a CS graduate with lots of responsibilities is much less than I pay my barber.
Does anyone have advice on how I can make the most out of this? I really can't comprehend how I ended up with this. There was a whiteboarding interview, so it's not like anyone would be accepted. I don't even know what the expectations are, when the salary is so low. <comment><USER2> Run away. Perhaps you're not aware; being a contractor _also_ opens you up to paying an extra ~14% in self employment taxes. This is no kind of living wage and you are absolutely being exploited.

</comment><comment><USER3> Take it!

In 3 months you will have "Fullstack Javascript Software Engineer" on your resume and it will be much easier to find a better job.

"$14/hr for a CS graduate with lots of responsibilities is much less than I pay my barber."

I was real bitter when I started my career after getting a 4 year degree in a CS from a reputable institution and was making less money than my friends who were waiters. It only made me miserable so my advice is to let it go. Also in 5 years your barber will still be supporting his family on measly $20/hr and you'll be pulling in 100k+.

</comment><comment><USER4> This is absolutely ridiculous on their part, but like you say, unemployment sucks, and it sounds like you're fresh out of college. Accept it, get some experience, put it on your resume, and keep looking for more jobs. Oh, and no matter what you do, _don 't reveal your present salary to new employers_.

My first programming job (out of high school, not college, and it was 2000 when dollars were worth a bit more) was also for a $15/hour 3-month contract. And then I doubled it with every job change, and it kept doubling far longer than I would've expected, until money was no longer a significant problem. I have friends that did similar - $15/hour webmonkey job to $75/hour contractor to $100K/year salary to...well, lots. It's not unusual (unreasonable perhaps, but not unusual) to start out like this, but you don't want to _stay_ at this level unless you really don't value yourself.

Edit: Just realized that your contract may preclude you from taking other jobs during the 3-month period. If that's the case, seriously consider not taking it. You can probably get better offers in NYC even as a junior developer.

</comment><comment><USER5> > Does anyone have advice on how I can make the most out of this?

First jobs just out of school often suck. Mindset is vital: Understand that your story has now changed from unemployed job-seeker to 'I'm a full-stack engineer with a promising startup'...

Think of this as a paid practicum, get some forward career momentum going. Use this time to practice your craft, add to your portfolio, and build up professional contacts. Tough it out for 6 months, certainly no longer than a year.

Also, stay visible-- start regularly attending local Meet-ups. That's where you'll connect with hidden job opportunities. > [http://www.meetup.com/NY- JavaScript/](http://www.meetup.com/NY-JavaScript/)

</comment><comment><USER6> If you want to be local/in-office vs remote work:

\- Ping Jon Lehr @ the VC work-bench \- Ping Kris Beevers at nsone, Zac Smith at packet, and other local CEOs who are hiring or know those who are

Happy to connect you if you like - avi at kentik dot com.

And -

Question for everyone - is there a resource like Old Geek Jobs ([https://oldgeekjobs.com/](https://oldgeekjobs.com/)) but for fresh grads / self-taught?

</comment><comment><USER7> _Get away._

> _It 's a late stage startup owned by a parent company._

Then they should be able to pay you more than peanuts--note that a single quarter payment under that scheme is going to be about 7.5K pre-tax; which you'll have to pay.

Get a job as a barista or plumbing assistant or something, because this is you getting taken for a ride.

</comment><comment><USER8> Move to Seattle. We are hiring at OfferUp and it's a fantastic place to work. Benefits and comp are great. Most importantly you'd be part of a fast growing, well funded startup that's transforming local commerce.

</comment><comment><USER9> 1) Start interviewing for something better immediately. It might be a while before something catches, but for many people, interviewing is a skill that doesn't come naturally and can only be improved by practice. Your salary is ridiculously low; there should be no reason for you to have any loyalty to your current employer.

2) There's still plenty to learn in an awful, underpaid job. First off, of course, practicing and honing your skills. Writing the best code you can within real-world time constraints. Reading other people's code and understanding a legacy code base.

Then there's logistical and interpersonal stuff. Working on a real-world team, and how it uses an issue tracker, version control, etc. Getting code review and learning to give good code review. Office politics.

In an office that's underpaying you that much, it's quite likely that a lot of things are insanely dysfunctional. That's OK! All offices are dysfunctional in one way or another. Learning to work around it is a good thing.

Just make sure that whatever the environment is around you, and as difficult as the people are to get along with, you're still being excellent to them. And try not to pick up really bad technical habits -- when you move on to the next thing, be as open as you can to learning better ways of doing things.

3) Go to tech meetups and network. You want to meet both senior engineers and people in engineering management positions. The former are great for networking and mentorship (and often refer people they know to others who are hiring); the latter are constantly hiring, especially those whose companies are in expansion modes.

4) Ask your senior engineering mentors to do mock interviews with you and help you understand where you might be running into problems with both technical and non-technical rounds.

5) Research which startups raised a major funding round 1-12 months ago. They're usually the ones in expansion mode. They're typically looking for oodles of junior engineers to place under the leadership of a smaller number of senior engineers.

6) Find yourself a recruiter. They've got clients desperately begging for javascript engineers (as I can attest, having recently been in the market to hire a front-end engineer), and it's in their interest to get you the highest- paying job you're anywhere near qualified for. The better ones may also be willing to help you practice non-technical interviews and offer feedback. Because it makes it easier for them to sell a client on you.

Yes, some recruiters are the scum of the earth, but there are also a lot of decent ones and a handful of great ones. If you've got a bit of skill and a non-toxic personality, even the halfway decent ones will find you a much better deal than you're currently getting.

(Just make sure that it's also a fit for you - obvious you want a salary around market rate, but don't let the recruiter shoehorn you into a high- paying position where you'll be miserable because of culture or other reasons.)

7) Practice negotiating!</comment>


Carol Bartz interview may come with $10 million price tag - <AUTHOR> http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/09/08/carol-bartz-yahoo-disparagement/

<comment><USER2> So you suppose she might not care that much? How much is her reputation worth? Wasn't she essentially retired before being brought in for a Mission Impossible?</comment>


Why Doing Nothing Is One of the Most Important Things You Can Do - <AUTHOR> http://time.com/5300633/doing-nothing-work-vacation-time-history-leisure/ <comment><USER2> When the cure is worse than the disease all you can do balk at an action. Not all action is productive or good but the times when we are most compelled to take action are during our most selfish moments to scratch the itch and alleviate the pain for a fleeting moment.</comment>


Why We Stopped Assigning Deadlines – And Started Getting More Done Because of It - <AUTHOR> http://meetedgar.com/blog/why-we-stopped-assigning-deadlines-and-started-getting-more-done-because-of-it/

<comment><USER2> Founder of Edgar here if anyone has follow up questions on this post</comment>


Show HN: Athletable - Leaderboards and player stats for office sports - <AUTHOR> http://athletable.com

<comment><USER2> The idea is novel, but it's a solution to a trivial problem. Most companies probably don't pay any significant amount of thought to sports standings. Fewer still would take the time out of their day to contend with some sort of system to keep track everything, much less pay for such a system.

It seems like a complex solution to a negligible issue.

EDIT: More so than the price, the work involved in implementing a system like this is probably the biggest deterrent. Games are a casual thing, and most people will be unwilling to tabulate and record everything after playing.

<comment><AUTHOR> It's certainly not for everyone but it's like the 37signals guys always say: scratch an itch. This has been an itch for a few places I've worked at so I figured I'd make something. Thanks for the feedback though :)

<comment><USER3> A $15/mo itch though?

We play a lot of office table tennis and even have occasional tournaments with online stats, a trophy, live tweeting, etc. We're looking at rolling our own leaderboard that calculates a running champion (rather than event-based champ) and I'd have considered a once-off fee to use this, but closed the tab at $15/mo. And that's even knowing it would probably take one of us a few hours of stuffing around to build something.

Hope that feedback is useful.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah pricing is hard. All Athletable trials are 45 days at the moment so I figure I've got a few weeks of pricing tests to work it out.

Cheers for the feedback.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Can I ask why you're charging for this at all? The cost to you has to be close to negligible. Even with expensive hosting, I would be surprised if you had to pay more than $200/mo at the height of popularity.

You might want to look into sponsorship. No need for banner ads, just create one or two "sponsored by" slots or messages. Give them away at first to your friends or companies you like at first. If the site becomes popular enough that hosting costs are an issue, there will be people willing to pay to get their name out there (office products, other office related software).

A lot of people, especially at 37Signals, have this "If you're not charging money for your software, you're a sucker" attitude. That can be true, but it's certainly not the only advice for every situation. A lot of people have trouble differentiating between "growing business" and "cool thing that I made". Unless you have some kind of hidden costs, you might get much more traction by just putting this out there.

</comment><comment><USER5> Interesting idea - I wouldn't try to monetize off the players, but gathering data and advertising. You've got an idea that reflects real world "social" - not people posting photos of kittens, but folks who are actually meeting, playing, and interacting with each other. Seems like that data would have a lot of value...

</comment><comment><USER6> Looks good, it would be cool if you added some sort of proper ranking for certain games. Something similar to ELO where everyone is ranked and you win more points by beating someone that is ranked higher.

<comment><AUTHOR> At the moment the ranking algorithm is a blur between ELO and the one used for Tennis. I'd like to eventually give people the option per sport to decide between a few different ranking methods.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> This is looking very polished already. My biggest barrier to entry was having to go through the invite process for each person in my office, so I'd prefer to have a single form that you can add multiple people to, then submit once. You could even take advantage of the fact that most people in a workplace will have a common email suffix, and pre-fill that.

Great app though. I think we'll have a lot of fun with this.

<comment><AUTHOR> That's a good idea to have the bulk invite. I might show a different form for when the account owner adds the initial players and then the single form for when there are already a few players.

<comment><USER8> That's more work than you need to do, just provide two options-bulk add, or single add...the person is smart enough to know which to choose.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Nice work, great design. Just one thing imho, the font size of "Athletable" is less than the description so your site name doesn't really "hit" me. The first thing I read on your site is "Pool, ping pong ...". I would recommend making "Athletable" a bit larger.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hmmm good idea. I might have a play with those sizes and see what I can work out.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I guess this is a pretty common itch. I scratched our office's with a weekend project. (it's open source if you want to host your own)

<https://github.com/zmillman/foosball_tracker>

</comment><comment><USER11> Cool, using it store our buckyball darts results!

<comment><USER12> Bucky ball darts? I can imagine but please elaborate :P

<comment><USER11> Here is our board - simple but effective - <http://twitpic.com/ber15u>

<comment><USER13> Please share the postmortem after the first person swallows a couple of stray magnets.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


People are falling in love with a simple productivity system using pen and paper - <AUTHOR> https://qz.com/701309/people-are-falling-in-love-with-a-simple-productivity-system-that-just-uses-pen-and-paper/ <comment><USER2> Looks nice, but can we put "people are" on some kind of ban list for headline phrases?

</comment><comment><USER3> Been looking for a decent notebook, but I do wish this one didn't say bullet journal on the front.

<comment><USER4> Can't say enough good things about the Traveler's Notebook.

\- It's rugged.

\- It's modular.

\- It improves with age.

In addition to all of the customization options, it's about the same size as a reporter's notebook, which fits nicely inside the cover. Also, if you're into fountain pens, the elastic band does a great job of keeping it in place along the side.

[https://www.travelers- company.com/products/trnote/about](https://www.travelers- company.com/products/trnote/about)

<comment><USER5> Where or how did you purchase one? They seem limited to Japan</comment></comment></comment>