Jean Michel Jarre – Equinoxe IV (1981) [video] - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsxMRz477jM <comment><USER2> For the electronic music geeks, JMJ presents the gear he used to make this album: [https://youtu.be/ctOhwRGdVvo](https://youtu.be/ctOhwRGdVvo)

About the "matrisequencer" and "digisequencer": the matrisequencer was conceived and built by Michel Geiss, an engineer who worked with Jarre for more than 20 years, from discreet components. It was horribly complex and expensive.

In the early 90s, Geiss rebuilt it anew as the "digisequencer", with a tactile interface driving an Atari ST and using MIDI instead of CV/gate.

The matrisequencer was only hand-built once; IIRC however the digisequencer software and design may have been publicly available at some point and several may have been built.

<comment><USER3> And today all of this fits inside a computer. Amazing

<comment><USER4> Kind of. As others have mentioned, the way you play an instrument is pretty important. It isn't hard to see the difference between playing a real harp and playing its software analog (no pun intended) on a keyboard. It may be a bit harder to understand how an actual modular synth is different if you have never spent any time playing one.

Of course, the software based synths are more practical and easy to deal with since you can automate everything easily, things are reliable, never go out of tune and you can fit an obscene amount of sound-generation into a small device. Not to mention that your DAW will give you a lot more flexibility than those old monster mixing desks gave you.

I also think the limitations are important. While Jarre's setup from way back when may have looked impressive, it is still extremely limited compared to what even amateurs have available to them today. So he had to make everything count.

(If you want an interesting counterpoint: Deadmau5 mostly makes music by editing MIDI on a computer -- still, he has 2-3 huge modular analog synths. Hans Zimmer actually plays keyboards and mostly composes orchestral works, but he still uses modulars from time to time)

<comment><USER3> Yes, using the actual device gives some artistic freedom that's hard to control with a mouse and keyboard.

Though you could try mapping some of it to a Midi instrument that allows for things like pitch bend (not sure if it's possible though)

<comment><USER4> You can get a lot of MIDI to CV/Gate interfaces today, and some modulars even let you manage presets so you can at least store parameter values. But I think the hands-on experience of playing the instrument is important. Of rewiring it as you go, of having happy accidents when you plug the wrong wire into the right socket.

Even something as seemingly inconsequential as the physical resistance in a knob can make a difference. For instance, I have one synth that has a very light filter cutoff knob and one that has a slow and heavy one. This tiny bit of tactile difference invites different kinds of uses. The light knob invites me to flick it rapidly -- the heavy one doesn't invite that kind of playing so you end up sweeping it more slowly.

I think the best example I've seen was a friend of mine playing a Doepfer Dark Energy synthesizer using a Dark Time sequencer. You can make the sequencer skip and jump by flipping switches to make it repeat a section or restart the sequence etc. So with without changing the pattern at all he made this entire performance just by creatively messing with the timing and playback.

This hadn't really occurred to me when playing similar instruments on a computer before. You would have had to make a very conscious decision to do exactly what he did in the software, but given the physical interface of the sequencer, this came naturally.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Fans of Jean-Michel Jarre often also like:

Tangerine Dream (DE): My favorite recordings are Logos and Poland (both live recordings), but there's many other great ones, e.g. Force Majeure, Phaedra, Quinoa, …

Redshift (UK): Love almost every single album they made. My all-time favorites are Redshift Wild 3, Redshift Wild 2, and Wild (all live recordings).

Peter Baumann (DE): I particularly like the first few tracks of Romance '76.

If anyone shares my taste, please please please post some more recommendations! :)

<comment><USER6> Isao Tomita. Classical music mostly played on a Moog, with an increasing collection of supporting polysynths as the years went by.

Everything up to The Ravel Album is great.

Tomita probably ranks as the only true Moog virtuoso sound designer. Literally nobody else used the instrument quite so creatively, or produced such an incredible range of distinctive sounds with it.

This sounds like a recipe for cheese, but it's anything but. Everyone who owns, uses, or is even slightly interested in modular synthesizers should hear his albums.

<comment><USER7> Tomita's music is fantastic. I love his version of Holst's The Planets. I haven't listened to his music in years though, so I just now found out he passed away last year!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Jean Michel Jarre was an early musical love of mine, which says a lot since I'm only 26.

I could not believe that, when I first heard it, Oxygene II was recorded in the 70s. With a simple, small multitrack recorder.

It honestly is a great example of using simple and minimal components to create something that ultimately sounds far more wonderful and complex as a whole. It's not to say that complex is good, it's more that the simplicity coming across as complex is awesome.

For me, II captures that but, despite how great they are, the others in Oxygene don't quite hit it like II does.

Check it out!

<comment><USER9> [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q00HQwO2Sg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q00HQwO2Sg)

<comment><USER9> My order was Vangelis, then JMC, then The Alan Parsons P.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q00HQwO2Sg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q00HQwO2Sg)

<comment><USER10> Same progression for me with a smattering of Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream, then branching to Jean Luc Ponty - I heard Pulstar on Albedo 0.39 and was hooked.

<comment><USER11> If you like Jean-Luc Ponty check out Alan Holdsworth (also played with Ponty on a number of tracks), Pat Metheny, Paul Winter, Leomoon, Return to Forever, John Abercrombie.

<comment><USER8> Thank you and the parent. GP's suggestions were pretty much the road I was on but clearly lost my way. Think there's more than enough here for a nice work commute playlist :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> That's a lot of knobs. _Knobs_ are the ultimate general purpose machine. They can make music, or macaroni. Knobs can also make knobs, which accelerates our ability to make knobs. Artificial dexterity running on cheap knobs will one day force us to deal with a world without work.

Sounds great too.

<comment><USER13> Your comment is hilarious, but as I deal with UIs a lot, the sheer complexity of all those knobs kind of astounds me that he can deal with it all, _and in real time_ to make music.

Wow.

I've loved his music since the late 70's, it's great to hear it again.

<comment><USER14> Loads of physical knobs is the most intuitive UI for this kind of thing. You can find the control you want to tweak by combination of it's position and touch very fast and in many cases without purposefully looking at the thing.

When we tried to build touch based mixing/lighting console (large capacitive touch panels were significantly cheaper than loads of physical knobs and motorized faders even ~5 years ago) we found this out very fast and scrapped the whole project.

For synthesizer control, people probably aren't that dependent on using it without looking, but the part of quickly finding what you want to tweak still stands.

<comment><USER13> > _You can find the control you want to tweak by combination of it 's position > and touch very fast and in many cases without purposefully looking at the > thing._

I really wish car makers would rediscover this fact.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> This was the first western pop music concert in China. Wham claims their 1985 concert was the first, that is not correct as this predated it by 4 years. Also, Jarre was invited by the Chinese government to play, unlike Wham he did not have his publicists petitioning for it. He had gone over to a university there to meet students and show them synthesizer technology. He even left some schematics so they could build their own.

It was also said to be the most widely listened to live broadcast in history, with over 1 billion listeners, though this is tricky to confirm.

<comment><USER16> > _This was the first western pop music concert in China. Wham claims their > 1985 concert was the first, that is not correct as this predated it by 4 > years._

Well, Jarre is not exactly pop music though. Not compared to Wham!

<comment><USER17> Well, Oxygene reached number two in the UK album charts and Oxygene IV was a hit single reaching number 4 in the UK singles charts. Those were popular music charts, and back then there was a much wider variety of genres of music occupying the top 40's, especially in the UK. I was ~11 years old and for a while you couldn't avoid Jarre on the radio and Top of The Pops.

<comment><USER16> Sure, but "pop music" is also used as a stylistic term, not just about mere popularity. Some jazz and classical works have been on the top-40, but that doesn't make them "pop music" in the first sense.

Wham, however, where a pure 80s pop group, if there ever was one.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> There is a documentary about JMJ's trip and his series of concerts in China in 1981, which for some stupid rights ownership reason is no longer available (afaict). One curious fact I learned from this film was that the concert in Shanghai required so much electric power that they had to actually switch off the power in the entire city during the concert. At least that's what JMJ tells his then wife Charlotte Rampling in a taxi before the concert.

Other than that, the sound of this album, _Concerts in China_ , was absolutely mind blowing then and still remains a landmark in electronic music. Big fan of JMJ and especially his concerts in China series.

<comment><USER19> I recently saw a documentary on the early years of Kraftwerk; it was one of those when you start watching it without expectations just to get your mind blown and busy for weeks after watching it.

I'd love to see a collection of these; the visionaries of the 70s and 80s, and I might include Jodorowsky's Dune at the end.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> By the way, Jean Michel Jarre just played a concert in Israël at the Dead Sea against difficult weather conditions.

It was done to promote an ecological message as effect of global warming can be seen in this specific area, see more info about his show on the official website.

[https://www.jmj-israel.co.il/en/index.html](https://www.jmj- israel.co.il/en/index.html)

</comment><comment><USER21> Jean Michel Jarre - Rendez-Vous Houston (VHS), 1986

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iVQ2o-PI9M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iVQ2o-PI9M)

Fantastic collection of TV sound bites begins at [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iVQ2o-PI9M&t=57](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iVQ2o-PI9M&t=57)

This love of some french artist in Houston felt odd when I last rewatched this, about ten years ago. Loved the enthusiasm and openness shown in this video.

<comment><USER22> The Houston concert received a lot of extra attention because Ron McNair was meant to play sax for the piece Last Rendez-Vous, which usually is presented dedicated to him as "Ron's Piece". Then Challenger blew up, and Jarre considered cancelling until people at NASA convinced him otherwise. So while I'm sure Houston would have welcomed Jarre without it, that concert got a special role as a celebration of the astronauts of Challenger.

Ron's Piece is one of my favourite pieces of music and haunting enough and sad enough on its own, but the history of it makes it even sadder.

<comment><USER21> Ah.. I had assumed that meaning behind "Ron's piece" was that Ron hailed from Houston... and that JMJ dedicated the piece to Ron because of the recent tragedy.

:/

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I used to listen non-stop to this album in college, late 80s. Listening to it after all these years, it is still exciting but I don't think JMJ is going to age well. This album with its Chinese street sounds and all the mythology around the trip was heady and amplified the psychological impact. But it also sounds a bit plastic, too much mascara, if you will. I couldn't loop listen this again. Once in a while, sure.

In contrast, I think Kraftwerk is timeless. Imagine this with the same staging as the China concert: [https://youtu.be/NL3NqfFTec8?t=25m5s](https://youtu.be/NL3NqfFTec8?t=25m5s)

<comment><USER24> I had the chance to see Kraftwerk live in LA a couple of years ago, and it was just amazing. One of the best live shows I've ever seen.

Thematically, they were trying to address the conflicts and tension between us and the technology we create. I had forgotten about these themes from their "Radioactivity" album (from 1975), but they brought it up to date by dropping "Fukushima" into the lyrics as sung that night. It ended up sounding profoundly prescient, like so much of their other work.

I don't think JMJ has anything like the depth that Kraftwerk has. Like you, I've been listening to both since the mid 80s - I had Magnetic Fields on vinyl, but Zoolook on CD. Jarre is mostly simple entertainment for me now, but Kraftwerk makes me think.

<comment><USER11> Jean-Michel Jarre was besides a half decent composer excellent at marketing and a good showman. By comparison Kraftwerk was the more interesting, further ahead of the curve and more geeky. Usually the people that liked the one also like the other to a greater or lesser degree with Vangelis somewhere in the middle and Tangerine Dream somewhere to the far side of JMJ.

What is amazing to me is that when I listen to that music today it does not feel nearly as dated as other music from that era.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> This kind of music represents such a huge chunk of the spirit of that era. A post space age leaning toward mainstream tech culture.

</comment><comment> c-smile 1997 concert in Moscow on Sparrow's Hills (Воробьёвы Горы) with Russian Airforce participating:

[https://youtu.be/pFNlcNpUIk4?t=118](https://youtu.be/pFNlcNpUIk4?t=118)

<comment><USER26> Attendance: 3.5 million! [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_concerts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_concerts)

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> Music for Supermarkets is absolutely amazing.

"notable for having only a single copy pressed, and the subsequent, deliberate destruction of its master plates, effectively making the copy unique."

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

</comment><comment><USER28> Live version of Oxygene.

[https://youtu.be/H9UzNh_2TXk](https://youtu.be/H9UzNh_2TXk)

Not a digital interface in sight. I don't know much about synthesizers, but the kit used definitely looks vintage.

</comment><comment><USER29> I will always associate his name with 'Oxygene' and the soundtrack to the movie 'Gallipoli'.

His work really made me want a Sequential Prophet 5 synth back in the 80's. Never got one, but I see now that Dave Smith Instruments has released the Prophet 6, based on the same concepts, but improved... [0]

[0] - [https://www.davesmithinstruments.com/product/prophet-6/](https://www.davesmithinstruments.com/product/prophet-6/)

</comment><comment><USER30> Much of the equipment consists of analog modular synths.

If that intrigues you, definitely check out the recent documentary on the topic "I Dream of Wires" ([http://www.idreamofwires.org/](http://www.idreamofwires.org/)). It is on Netflix streaming, but there's also an extended version that is a bit more geeky. The documentary does a great job of covering synthesizers from the Moog days to the present revival of analog synths. Interesting stuff.

<comment><AUTHOR> Also see the Muffwiggler forums[1], the largest modular synth community on the internet.

[1] - [https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/index.php](https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/index.php)

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> Here the full 1981 China concert video:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTyAtn177zo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTyAtn177zo)

</comment><comment><USER32> Is he really playing that music live as shown in the video, the knobs he twirls doesn't seem to match up with the music change.

This section: [https://youtu.be/NsxMRz477jM?t=179](https://youtu.be/NsxMRz477jM?t=179)

</comment><comment><USER33> The Social Network featured a lot of analog soundtrack from Trent Reznor. e.g. Swarmatron music analog instrument [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuM4yBFI03E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuM4yBFI03E)

</comment><comment><USER34> To all Space Shuttle lovers out there, this video clip for JMJ's Rendez-Vous #4 is pretty amazing: [https://youtu.be/tuuWw7OSqIo](https://youtu.be/tuuWw7OSqIo) — I have always loved this song :-)

</comment><comment><USER35> Is that an early Synclavier in the back past the keyboards? With the 8" floppy drives?

<comment><USER36> It's actually a Fairlight CMI. So far ahead of it's time it was like alien tech! 16-bit sampler/synth, light pen you could enter notes into the sequencer or edit waveforms... all in 1979! [http://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/fairlight_cmi.php](http://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/fairlight_cmi.php)

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> Jean Michel Jarre is a genius.

</comment><comment><USER38> is this mono?

</comment><comment><USER39> Not sure what this is doing here, presumably because of the electronic devices on his stage? Sure, he was an early adopter of sampling technology, but he probably also invented the "turning knobs on the DJ equipment just for show" malpractice and most certainly built up huge fake device installations on stage.

<comment><USER16> > _but he probably also invented the "turning knobs on the DJ equipment just > for show" malpractice and most certainly built up huge fake device > installations on stage._

Those are modular synths. And there's nothing "for show" about them, this is not DJing. He tweaks filters, and other such things.

<comment><USER25> That's part of what contemporary mainstrea DJ do too. And it's not always gimmicky; a low pass filter as a bridge-cut to slowly restore the full sound (such as the intro of Armand Van Helden - You don't know me) is a very common idiom and has a clear musical emotional impact on people.</comment></comment></comment>


Openness Movement (open source) Curriculum - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/equitableopen/openness-movement_curriculum <comment><AUTHOR> It's a more comfortable read on HackMD, which adds a sticky TOC: [https://hackmd.io/Z6w4WVQdSeuByYdoTi1X2Q?view](https://hackmd.io/Z6w4WVQdSeuByYdoTi1X2Q?view)</comment>


Code streaming  4:00pm PST: Python, app engine and github api - <AUTHOR> Hey HN!
I've been experimenting with a new idea that I borrowed from Starcraft 2: Streaming live coding sessions. The idea is to have fun, productive sessions on open source software where I can talk a little bit about what I am doing.
I envision a future where a lot of programmers use their open source, side-project, hobby inspired hacking sessions and that allows a lot more people to learn how to do stuff.
Today (in 2 hours) i will be streaming for 3-4 hours doing a Google App Engine application that interacts with an API I wrote for Noticias Hacker( a spanish version of HN) to get the list of github users. Then i'll use the github api to store some information and try to do a nice dashboard where you can see what the users of NH have been up to in the last week in Github.
I will start from zero, create a GAE app, a github repository and use some task queues and cron jobs.
Please join us @ www.livestream.com/dfectuoso
We will have some people on Skype and hope to get some nice feedback from the chat! <comment><USER2> This is great. I wanted to do this for a while myself. Couple of questions:

1- Why livestream? 2- What was the viewer count? I ask this because; was there audience participation? 3- What software did you use for streaming?

Thanks!

</comment><comment><USER3> Goddamned ads: <http://i.imgur.com/LgrlL.jpg>

</comment><comment><USER4> any chance you can loop the video once you're finished so us euros can watch it tomorrow morning?

<comment><AUTHOR> It will be available as streaming in that same url :D</comment></comment>


Ask HN: I broke disk permissions in el capitan, Not SIP, anyone know how to fix? - <AUTHOR> Sorry,
I know this isn't really the place for this, but people here are usually just super helpful and not extremely hostile (like one SO).
In my haste to move to El Capitan, I think I just chowned all of /usr/local, even as rootless (csrutil disable) I can no longer use sudo because
/usr/bin/su and /usr/bin/sudo are owned by me.

    -rwsr-xr-x   1 myname  wheel    25K Sep 17 03:07 su
    -r-x--x--x   1 myname  wheel   165K Sep 17 03:07 sudo
 so I can't change it back because there is no effective uid

    effective uid is not 0, is sudo installed setuid root?
 is the output from running anything as sudo. I have to ship something for a client asap, and I can't install programs anymore. There is no disk permissions repair on el capitan, and I am not sure installing the OS again would help (and it takes like an hour).
If anyone has any idea how to sort this, I would be super appreciative.
chown, sudo chown, and chmod do not work even with SIP disabled.
tl;dr I am a moron and borked permissions. <comment><USER2> I'd try booting to recovery mode (Command+r) then go to Utilities and select Terminal. I think you should be able to reset permissions from there.

<comment><AUTHOR> going to try that. Thanks a lot.

Wow, it can not find su or sudo. Root doesn't own them. Gonna dump the OS, in a bit. God. damn. it.

<comment><USER2> Have you tried Repair Permissions from Disk Utility?

<comment><AUTHOR> it doesn't seem to exist in el capitan. I ran first-aid on all drives/disks. I feel like a moron but i am not sure what else there is to do.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Why are there no online databases of whitelisted ubuntu binaries? - <AUTHOR> I'm looking for a powerful tool to scan for illegitimate ubuntu binaries. The existing tools (tripwire, rkhunter, chkrootkit) seem to require you to maintain your own brittle whitelist of acceptable binaries. Why is there no online database to do this?
My definition of a whitelist is: the set of SHA256 hashes of every binary found in every release of ubuntu.
This is a trivially monetizable idea as well - you can keep the whitelist on your servers and make the users upload their live binary SHA256 hashes to the server before checking them, so that your whitelist remains a commercial asset (similar to the VirusTotal model).
I'd be willing to pay good money for this. Can someone please build this? <comment><USER2> If you look beneath /var/lib/dpkg/info/ you'll find a set of checksums for binaries in, for example, `zip.md5sums`.

It wouldn't take much effort to extract all the packages from a release- archive and make that searchable.

I once processed the Debian archive in such a manner, but the problem is security updates will release every now and again and cause you to need to update things. Not a problem to store a set of hashes for binaries, with a floating "most recent" value.

But given that the information is already available to you I'd suspect not many people would pay for the service, or use it.

<comment><AUTHOR> This goes back to the problem of maintaining your own whitelist, though. The problem is that maintaining your own whitelist is a lot of work. For example, if you update your system, but don't update your rkhunter database, your next report is totally inaccurate.

I just want a solution where I can boot up any system from a live CD, and inspect an existing installation, based on an external verified database.

<comment><USER2> Even if you paid for access to a list of known-good binaries you would still need to have your own local list.

e.g. Malicious exploit drops in /etc/cron.d/botnet.

You might also feel safe if you have "good" copy of bash, but your version matched a checksum from pre-shellshock.

Really making the list is easy, you could do it yourself, or you could pay somebody to give you one, but it doesn't solve the problem because you'll still have local changes you need to flag/whitelist/update.

<comment><AUTHOR> Well, I'm not denying that config-file trojans exist, but whitelisting all executables massively reduces the haystack.

Thx for the tips.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Auden Hated His Most Famous Political Poems - <AUTHOR> https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-wh-auden-hated-his-most-famous-political-poems <comment><USER2> _The Shield of Achilles_ [0] hits a lot harder than _September 1, 1939_ , in my opinion, though I still like "We must love one another, or die" as a flat assertion of fact.

      Out of the air a voice without a face
         Proved by statistics that some cause was just
      In tones as dry and level as the place:
         No one was cheered and nothing was discussed;
         Column by column in a cloud of dust
      They marched away enduring a belief
      Whose logic brought them, somewhere else, to grief.

[0] [https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/shield- achilles](https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/shield-achilles)

<comment><USER3> None shall receive unless they give; All must cooperate to live</comment></comment>


Skunk Work's Kelly Johnson's 14 Rules and Practices - <AUTHOR> https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/business-areas/aeronautics/skunkworks/kelly-14-rules.html <comment><USER2> Preaching to the choir, but Ben Rich's "Skunk Works" is well worth the read.</comment>


Philosophy of computer science – Utrecht University - <AUTHOR> http://www.cs.uu.nl/groups/AD/index-phil.html <comment><USER2> Thanks - this has been an area of interest for me for some time, being a philosophy grad and long time dev. Good to see the Turing name check. I'd expect Godel, Church and Quine to figure too. "To be is to be the value of a bound variable": that's where ontology meets language design!</comment>


US transportation secretary announces drone registration requirement - <AUTHOR> https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-transportation-secretary-anthony-foxx-announces-unmanned-aircraft-registration <comment><USER2> Notably absent from the "Statements of support for DOT's approach to UAS registration" [1] is the AMA (Academy of Model Aeronautics)

Congress (and Obama) asked the FAA to write rules integrating UAS into the national airspace by September 2015, back in February 2012. [2] By all accounts, the section 333 exception policy does not meet that request... and now they expect to develop a full-blown registration process ready before the end of December? Please, don't make me laugh. They couldn't even answer at the press conference what the benefit of registration will be, arguing that it would be used to track down owners of drones flaunting the rules, but seemingly having forgotten that they already can't identify airborne drones properly.

I think Motherboard says it best. "It's clear that the agency, which oversees the Federal Aviation Administration, wants to crack down on the unsafe use of drones, and it's looking like it's going to try to bypass as much of the traditional rulemaking process as is possible... The short answer is, the FAA will probably cut corners and perhaps 'reinterpret' existing manned aircraft regulations" [3]

[1] [https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/statements- of-s...](https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/statements-of-support- uas-registration)

[2] [https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/faa-regulation-of- dr...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/faa-regulation-of-drones-will- challenge-our-privacy-expectations/2012/04/19/gIQA9IH8TT_story.html)

[3] [http://motherboard.vice.com/en_ca/read/8-questions-raised- by...](http://motherboard.vice.com/en_ca/read/8-questions-raised-by-the-faas- decision-to-register-every-drone-in-the-us)

</comment><comment><USER3> Drones should be licensed and/or registered, much the same way as cars are. There are places where you can drive an unregistered car without a driver's license. And that will be true of drones as well. There will be places where you can fly them unlimited. Just not in the common space defined by the government as such. That's what the government is for.

"Drone ranch" here we come.

I am a private pilot, so I appreciate how nuanced the airspace can be. Also I think drones are super cool and access to them should be easy. But not free. Drone operators should be required to take at least a brief ground school covering airspace (take it online!) and pass a quiz (also online!)

<comment><USER4> Yeah, we should regulate drones. Thing is, no one really flies "drones". People are just flying RC helicopters. But we call them drones and associate them with flying death machines and suddenly everyone is scared.

RC has been around for the better part of 60 years and it's never caused a major problem. The only difference between then and now is that now they are much more controllable and a little cheaper, and so more people are interested. If anything, it's safer today than it was 10 years ago. They are more reliable, more controllable, and fewer people are flying gasoline powered craft.

This won't make things any safer. Far from it. It will just stifle innovation by drying up the revenue streams of companies like DJI and 3DR. So instead of them being able to spend resources building smarter, more intelligent flight controllers and guidance systems people will just look to DIY kits.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission banned toy fucking magnets, but 250 people got shot yesterday and any legislation about firearms is off limits. Can't talk about registration or "tests" or anything. Someone, somewhere, maybe almost had a "close call" a few months ago with a plane and an RC helicopter. Better get the DOT, FAA, and Congress on this stat. It's literally the next 9/11 just waiting to happen.

So we'll come up with a registration list, licensing parameters, mandatory insurance, and we'll start "banning" anything that doesn't meet FAA specifications from being imported or manufactured.

Meanwhile, in the time it takes them to draft their first proposal 7,000+ people will get shot. A few thousand will die.

<comment><USER5> Why would this make people turn to DIY kits? DIY drones also have to be registered.

<comment><USER4> That won't be enforceable.

<comment><USER6> I don't see why not. If an unlicensed drone is found operating off of the owner's private property, it's confiscated. Straightforward enforcement.

<comment><USER7> It's _slightly_ more complicated, seeing as how shooting them down with nets is a bit difficult (although we may see widespread application of serious _DEATH RAYS_ , excuse me, lasers for that (hey, I want the future that was promised to me in the '60s to come to pass)). There's also the ECM approach, or maybe even EMP.

Rather, follow the drone until it lands. If the owner is stupid enough to bring it back to him, you can go quite a bit further.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> The current and proposed restrictions on drones seem insane to me. To see why, do the reversal test.[1]

Imagine if single-prop planes didn't exist, and drones were already used for productive purposes. Courier drones deliver packages in minutes. Construction drones monitor work sites and inspect structures for safety. Police drones scout and warn people near any crimes in progress. Ambulance drones alert drivers and secure intersections so emergency vehicles can respond faster. Some even deliver life-saving equipment or medicines. People have personal drones to follow them on bike rides or runs, carrying supplies and lighting the way at night. Etcetera.

Now imagine someone wanting to restrict these drones so that a few people can use cloth-winged planes that run on leaded gasoline. It would be a joke, right?

Except, it's not. It's the world we live in.

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

Edit: I'm talking about general aviation, not civil aviation. Airliners and drones operate at very different altitudes. Except near airports, there's ≈0 risk of a collision.

Many find my example too skewed in favor of drones, but I think I've been rather conservative. Due to restrictions, there are many applications that haven't been explored. In all likelihood, the "killer app" for drones has yet to be invented.

<comment><USER9> This is a great example of how the reversal test is fundamentally question- begging -- you propose an idealistic version of the future (ignoring the reality of drones falling out of the sky and injuring people, preventing firefighting efforts, and invading people's privacy by hovering outside their apartments with cameras), and assert that it's desirable. Of course it's desirable, you made it up to support your point!

<comment><USER8> My point is that the current and proposed rules are centered around preserving general aviation. Nobody is seriously proposing restricting general aviation to the benefit of drones, despite the fact that it would almost certainly be better for the vast majority of people.

Because of CYA syndrome, it's generally easier to pass new laws that to repeal them. If drones actually start causing the problems you suggest, it makes sense to restrict them in specific ways. But preventative legislation kills countless beneficial uses.

<comment><USER10> Drones are already doing/have already done the things dogecoinbase listed in his parenthetical. He's not fear-mongering some possible future state, but referencing issues that have already happened with drones.

<comment><USER8> Drones would have to be much more troublesome than they currently are to justify the current or proposed restrictions. Every time a drone causes a problem, there's a story about it. Could you imagine if the same were true for private aircraft? Or cars? Newspapers would have to be much thicker. Every day in the US, 100 people die from cars. 15 are pedestrians.

I'm flabbergasted that people worry about drones falling on them, then they go outside and think little of walking next to giant metal boxes zooming by. Can't they see how mistaken their priorities are?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I'm actually a big fan of this idea. As a private pilot, I'm excited about a lot of cool possibilities enabled by drones that aren't possible in manned aircraft (high speed, low-level FPV racing!) or are made better (package delivery with relatively high power aircraft). But I'm anxious about touching drones at all right now because the rules are either undefined or unfriendly and I theoretically have a certificate on the line.

I hope that we're able to get to a sane regulatory environment here that gives me well-defined, positive rules for flying progressively more powerful and sophisticated UAVs, including in controlled airspace. Those won't be toys, and it's debatable now whether many drones in the hands of consumers are already. The FAA is already stretched way too thin with existing manned aviation and there's no way the local FSDO is going to bother going after a kid with a small electric drone, registered or otherwise, unless they do something really stupid.

<comment><USER12> RC helicopters are not a threat.

Give me a break.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> There's a lot of vitriol and misinformation flying around (pun definitely intended).

Here's my take on the situation.

Large companies building 'ready to fly' multicopters need to have some sort of communication with the FAA and other agencies.

I do not own a DJI quad myself, but I'm very familiar with them, so I'm going to use them in my example.

DJI has frequently updated firmware for their devices. It would be very trivial for them to add in a 'default' setting on the device that prevents the device from breaking any of the _already defined_ rules.

If the pilot so chooses, and most importantly, is authorized via a Section 333 exemption (or otherwise) can override those settings on the device.

As for all multicopters, I have no qualms about using a Dremel to etch in a registration number on my device. I do, however, have issues with those suggesting that I must add extra hardware and extra transmitters to my device.

Etching the registration code on the device will also allow someone to return my quad if it's lost.

</comment><comment><USER14> Ugh. So we're going to expand the bureaucracy to support this for the purpose of stopping a handful of bad actors that are going to be impossible to identify anyways.

Fantastic. Simply fantastic.

</comment><comment><USER15> Also [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10406261](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10406261).

<comment><USER2> That article was rumor/speculation a couple of days before this (the actual announcement). Good discussion in both places, but this one has the better info - thanks for keeping this one up.

<comment><USER15> Yes. When a developing story has significant new information, we don't count follow-ups as dupes.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> What describes a drone? Do I need to register my $50 "drone"?

<comment><USER17> I have some drone designs based off common materials and tools. You need your hands and a sheet of A4 paper. Good luck registering those.</comment></comment>


Multiple vulnerabilities in RubyGems - <AUTHOR> http://blog.rubygems.org/2017/08/27/2.6.13-released.html <comment><USER2> Most notably, this fixes a RCE that can be exploited by any MitM capable of poisoning a DNS response[1].

[1]: [https://github.com/rubygems/rubygems/commit/8d91516fb7037ecf...](https://github.com/rubygems/rubygems/commit/8d91516fb7037ecfb27622f605dc40245e0f8d32)</comment>


PayPal is no GayPal: another PayPal horror story - <AUTHOR> Hello HN,
One of my side projects is a small gay discussion group online. It sells certain services (not pornographic in nature, it is the digital equivalent of a support group) and I had to use PayPal for payments for certain business reasons, unfortunately.
Today my entire PayPal account was frozen, 700 dollars was stolen from me, and I can't seem to get anybody at PayPal to deal with me rationally and overturn this decision.
I believe that some automated filter at PayPal saw the phrase "gay phone sex" on the site, but missed out the total description around that text that made it perfectly clear that it was NOT any kind of gay phone sex or any kind of pornographic service.
I'm not a rich man and I depend on this money to pay rent and I'm in a real jam here. If anybody at HN has any connections at PayPal and can help me out, I would really appreciate it.
Please email me at wd1993 AT gmail if you can please help me out. Thanks. <comment><USER2> Say what you want about PayPal but they don't discriminate. They screw everyone regardless of race, religion, sex or sexuality.

To the OP: Like so many people, I lost money when PrayPal[0] locked me out of my account. No amount of faxing documents, emails or phone calls would convince them that it was my account and my money. I ended up just walking away.

A suggestion might be to go talk to a gay rights group and try turn this into a civil rights / discrimination issue ... they won't want the bad press.

[0] PrayPal: Put money in and pray you get it back out again.

<comment><USER3> I agree, attacking this from a gay rights angle will probably be the best approach. If he can get a major publication to run with this, PayPal will have to respond.

<comment><USER4> Really sad to see this idea, and even more to see it upvoted.

It's obvious the account wasn't shutdown due to 'gay rights'.

This is like an incompetent woman who was sacked suing for sexual discrimination.

<comment><USER5> Except that the incompetent woman really did deserve to be sacked. This guy did not deserve to have his money kept from him. He is also probably correct that some brainless automatic filter went off over gay phone sex.

Paypal cheats. Hard. End of story. The more money they can lock up for longer, the more they make. It's a great big moral hazard built right into their business model that creates a disincentive to operate fairly so huge that even Mother Theresa would have a tough go of it.

Squeak whatever wheel needs squeaking to get attention. Even if it's a gay wheel.

<comment><USER4> Paypal probably has to cope with millions of $ worth of fraud a day. The fact one or two false positives crop up from time to time isn't surprising.

The terms of service clearly state that sites of a sexual nature are not accepted.

<comment><USER6> While false positives are a fact of life with any filtering system, they have no incentive to FIX the problem, as those false positives lead to their being able to hold funds indefinitely, earning interest at least, and potentially absorbing the entire balance.

This is called a moral hazard, and it should be pretty clear to you.

Paypal has a very long, very well documented history of triggering holds on accounts, and never resolving them.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Merlin Mann's comment seems so fitting:

<http://twitter.com/#!/hotdogsladies/status/12525667593752576>

<comment><USER8> perfect

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Right at the top of:

[https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?cmd=_render- content&c...](https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?cmd=_render- content&content_ID=ua/AcceptableUse_full&locale.x=en_US)

you have:

"You may not use the PayPal service for activities that:"

"relate to sales of [...] (e) items that are considered obscene [...] (g) certain sexually oriented materials or services"

I work on (amongst other things) a gay online discussion group/social network. A lot of what's discussed on there would probably be considered obscene by the population at large, and is certainly sexually orientated in many cases.

I suspect your site is similar. Care to post a link to it?

eg, Someone saying "Gay phone sex is great!" is probably ok. Someone saying "I just had a gay phone sex call where they said they'd do [x] to my [y] while swinging from the [z]" may not be.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, but I would prefer to remain a bit anonymous until I can get this sorted out.

My goal with this thread is to try and get some connection to somebody at PayPal that can help me.

There was nothing obscene on the site, and in our FAQ, it was made clear that this wasn't a gay phone sex service. Regardless, the PayPal employee I spoke to agreed that it wasn't some obscene porno or sex service.

<comment><USER10> It's hard to build grassroots support for a site nobody knows about.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I love a good PayPal bashing as much as the next guy (I've had my own poor experience with them), but there is a significant amount of detail missing here.

It's unclear to me that you've actually contacted them - by phone, not via email or their online support gadgetry. Have you? If so, what (specifically) was their response?

<comment><AUTHOR> I spoke with somebody on the phone, and they viewed the site and agreed that it wasn't pornographic, but their decision is final and can't be overturned.

I asked to speak to a manager. They said a manager would get back to me, but no response yet and I'm guessing they won't ever call me back.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Have you tried contacting any news organizations? I can imagine a few in and around San Francisco would probably be interested in this, as it has a direct impact on Gay Rights.

This seems like complete discrimination. They shouldn't be able to freeze your account for having any references to "gay X" any more than they should be able to freeze your account if you were advertising "african american X".

<comment><USER12> Let me know if you feel otherwise, but it could be reasonable for paypal to want to distance itself from "african american phone sex."

<comment><USER13> Random discrimination agains minorities is never a wise move for a public company. It would not be wise ling term but they could be some short term gain if they pander to some extremist gaining ground in government.

I don't think they realize just how noxious this is to small companies. Pay pal is convenient but they are Earning a recommendation for unreliability large this kind od thing is enough to put a start up in serious danger. I hope star ups are not forced to play it squeaky clean and forced to discriminate in order to avoid loss of liquidity.

It sounds like it takes no more than a bad word or rumor of some outspoken group to get cut off. By bad word I mean gay black muslim independent.

I feel sorry for our non white non catholic friends. There seems to be a growing movement in the US to fragment our nation and KUt the others off from income and protection of law.

<comment><USER14> Any reason you say Catholic specifically? I understand why you would expect eastern religious to experience discrimination, but in my experience Christians as a whole are basically safe and Jews don't really have any problems either. If anything the Catholics are discriminated against _more_ than other Christians although I certainly wouldn't say that either group see much trouble.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> How many times have you called back?

Generally, every time you call, you'll have another shot at it. Even if they're taking/referencing notes, if your case truly is reasonable, someone will make it happen on their end. In every case, that's always worked for me.

The phone is the secret for everything - customer support, making sales, getting jobs, etc. :)

</comment><comment><USER16> All this Paypal "we had to use it for business reasons" stuff reminds me of a family friend who was a Mcdonald's franchisee and got screwed over by Mcdonald's corporate and vowed to never eat at Mcdonald's again after being able to exit the business. Sure enough, 3 months later, there he was going to Mcdonald's. Excuse? "Well it was the only decent place to stop at this exit."

If you chose to use Paypal for business reasons, then you should own up to having possibly made a bad business decision. There are alternatives: Amazon Payments, Google Checkout, WePay, and 3rd party payment processors.

<comment><USER17> Ebay is the sole reason I still use paypal as a consumer. It seems very hard or impossible to buy things on ebay without having a paypal account.

<comment><USER16> That's fair enough, I'm not an Ebay customer (I manage quite well via the Amazon marketplace and places like extremedeals). I wonder if locking people into their system causes Ebay any decreased revenue. That would be hard to test for though if there are no other payment methods.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> This area seems to be a real problem for a lot of people. I suspect, though don't have evidence to back it, that this type of problem extends beyond just paypal - to all merchant accounts and processors.

I've found that there is another problem related to payments too. Fraudulent chargebacks. Small businesses often aren't good at following up on things and end up throwing a lot of money away because some customers habitually do chargebacks for things like "don't recognize charge," etc... and then get their money refunded because the business owner doesn't reply to the request quickly enough (the window to reply is very short).

I don't know if any services address this or not, but I would be interested in helping to solve problems around merchant accounts.

If there were a centralized site that people like WillyDmz could go to then maybe the individual could garner a bigger voice. How cool would it be to see how much money any specific merchant is holding back? Maybe a site like this could get a little more attention.

What do you think? If anyone would be willing to work with me on this, we can make it happen. I'm capable of building out the code for it; would need a designer and a marketing person to help. If anyone interested, let me know.

</comment><comment><USER19> After all the crap I've heard about PayPal we'll definitely be using another service when we start collecting payments soon

</comment><comment><USER20> Ugh, why does paypal care about sexual orientation?

For future reference, seems that a merchant account with Visa or Mastercard is fine even for hate groups like the KKK. <http://www.christianconcepts.net/informat.htm>

If those douchebags can charge cards, Im sure you can figure something out.

<comment><USER21> But not for wikileaks apparently. Though I see your general point as they probably aren't discriminating. Paypal seems to do many 'random account verifications' these days. They freeze the account until its verified.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> What's the URL of the site? My side project is also a gay discussion site (gaygeeks.org) so I'm surprised I don't know who you are :-)

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey, cool site. I'd prefer to remain a bit anonymous until I can sort this out though. Thanks.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> I think the worst possible scenario is them paying you the money after 180 days, although your account will remain locked.

</comment><comment><USER24> It's an aside, but wanting anonymity while asking for help/connections probably isn't going to get you very far. If you're willing to provide more information to someone who can help before that person puts his/her reputation on the line by trying to make a connection for you, that might help you to be taken more seriously.

</comment><comment><USER25> Why don't people ever recommend suing Paypal in small claims court? It takes time, but won't that force the issue?

</comment><comment><USER26> They may be able to lock your account, but I don't think they can keep the money. I suspect they will mail you a check for the $700. In the meantime, I see from their website they are located in San Jose. Find their mailing address and send them a certified letter.

</comment><comment><USER27> And this is why people should be working on getting paypal legally classed as a bank.

</comment><comment><USER28> I wonder how many years we are going to have to wait for a congressional hearing on PayPal (which afterwards will change nothing but at least it will be on the national agenda for awhile).

</comment><comment><USER29> Contact a few players in the gay media, or some of the more popular gay bloggers.</comment>


Science Fiction Writers of America: Statement on BLM and Protests - <AUTHOR> https://www.sfwa.org/2020/06/04/a-statement-from-sfwa-on-black-lives-matter-and-protests/ <comment><USER2> Golemiprague, you're shadowbanned, but you can watch the full 16 minutes of this video to get a feeling for the tip of the iceberg of this issue: [https://www.youtube.com/embed/Byk2axDVNHE](https://www.youtube.com/embed/Byk2axDVNHE)

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

This isn't just "police brutality".

> Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, knelt on his neck for almost nine > minutes while he was lying face down handcuffed on the street. Two other > officers further restrained Floyd and a fourth officer prevented onlookers > from intervening. Floyd, who was being arrested on suspicion of using a > counterfeit bill at a nearby market, begged for his life, repeatedly telling > officers "I can't breathe". During the final three minutes Floyd was > motionless and had no pulse. While the onlookers repeatedly pleaded to let > Floyd go, officers made no attempt to revive him, and Chauvin's knee > remained on his neck even as emergency medical technicians attempted to > treat him.

This is cold blooded murder by someone who thinks he should be untouchable. Just like the wanton brutality you see in the video above emanates from such people. Their pathology is one ingredient, the others are technology and special privileges.

If you consider yourself an intellectual, someone who values ideas over raw power and brutality, you must stand against it, simple as that. That's not "getting crazy", that's having a backbone as well as intellectual integrity. Unless you yourself would accept a boot to the neck as an argument against anything you might say in any situation someone else might dislike what you say, then you cannot be silent as others are treated this way. None of this should even need saying.</comment>


Spartan HUD – Next Generation Augmented Reality Helmet - <AUTHOR> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/realjds/spartan-hud-next-generation-augmented-reality-helmet <comment><USER2> What happens when you lose power and you're still wearing the helmet

<comment><AUTHOR> Good question. Well first before that happens, you'll get warnings at approximately T-3 hours, 1 hour left, 30 mins left, 10 mins left.

From there you just need to find a wall outlet and use the included charger. Typical use will have you good to go for an 8 hours of continuous high energy use (up to 12 on lower intensity activities).

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Hey Hacker News, I'll keep my eye on the thread to answer your questions! Thanks</comment>


Ask HN: Where are all of the CSS Themes? - <AUTHOR>

It seems like before anybody ever started making CSS Templates, they should have had a strong foundation of CSS Themes. Stylesheets that reset the browser defaults, then style all of the default elements to be a better browser default. I've been using Drupal's "default.css"(?) just so that development is easier on the eyes. Does anything like this exist?<p>This alone would really help get my MVP up and running a lot quicker. jQueryUI only handles so much (as it should). <comment><USER2> I think you're looking for this:

[http://devkick.com/lab/tripoli/sample.php?base=base&visu...](http://devkick.com/lab/tripoli/sample.php?base=base&visual=visual&type=type)

<http://devkick.com/lab/tripoli/>

It's not just a reset, it's an attempt to be a "better browser default".

Another sample, applied to an existing W3C page: [http://devkick.com/lab/tripoli/selectors.php?base=base&v...](http://devkick.com/lab/tripoli/selectors.php?base=base&visual=visual&type=type)

<comment><AUTHOR> Excellent! This is perfect for what I need now. Thanks Terretta.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> For the first half of that (resetting the browser defaults) I use Yahoos reset.css (<http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/reset/>), which works a charm.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, I have used that before too. It does a great job of removing the browser defaults.

What I dislike, is that it forces me to have to start from scratch (reset.css scratch) in order to make a project at all readable/usable.

<comment><USER4> Though it means adding a bit more code to each page, YUI has this Base CSS component that is meant to rebuild some of the native formatting Reset CSS removes: <http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/base/>

<comment><AUTHOR> I remember coming across this in the past. This is very similar to what I want to find, only.. I want to push the "Base" much further.

<comment><USER4> YUI is on GitHub. I'm sure they'd love any help & suggestions to their Base component. <http://github.com/yui/yui3>

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> It seems that there is no readily available solution. So if I were to create one, it would go something like this:

href="theme-base-renegade.css"

theme-base-renegade would style all of the default markup in its own styleish little way. Whatever that may be: Super padded with big fonts and so on, or incredibly tiny with minimal line-height, font-size, etc..

href="theme-color-grayhaze.css"

theme-color-darkness would specifically color the default markup. Things like th, tr, td, dl, dt dd, etc, would have be darker/brighter than others with their respective font-colors and such to complement the element background- colors.

Since both stylesheets would be styling the default markup - not specific to styles or id's - the two stylesheets could be swappable with other like type themes components and not interfere with one another.

After that.. it's CSS! You could overwrite any one of the many styles used to create that theme. Plus, with all of the tools we have to debug, overriding otherwise desirable styles in order to apply specific/custom ones would be much more convenient.

</comment><comment><USER5> Blueprin CSS framework does a good job of this.

</comment><comment><USER6> Sass has plugins that cover most of the CSS "frameworks" but to my knowledge doesn't have a lot of fully developed themes. The advantage to using a preprocessor is that you can apply the built in styles to the classes/ids of your choice instead of having to use the same ones the css framework uses.</comment>


The Toolbox: a directory of the best time-saving apps and tools - <AUTHOR> http://thetoolbox.cc/ <comment><USER2> That's a pretty good list, thanks.</comment>


Leadership Lessons From Lego - <AUTHOR> http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkotter/2013/09/24/leadership-lessons-from-lego/

<comment><USER2> Weird, what I learnt from playing with Lego since I was 5 years old is completely different:

#1: Following Lego instructions is trivial and I don't find it challenging. I buy Lego sets just to have more pieces for creating new things.

#2 I agree that you need to solve building issues with the "few" pieces you have but the difference is that usually you have many construction alternatives. In general logic puzzles are more restrictive.

#3: Re #1: it's trivial to build Lego sets with the instructions and I don't have any special skills to be able to do it.

#4: I love to play Lego alone. If I am playing with other people (children specifically) I try to help them with their own projects.

#5: The final product depends on the Lego set.</comment>


CSS Variables: Coming Soon to a Browser Near You - <AUTHOR> http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2008/04/css-variables.html

<comment><USER2> This is something that would be very convenient. However, like most everything else related to web browsers, you constantly have to deal with backwards computability across multiple browsers. So this is just going to end up being ONE more thing that CSS coders have to be aware of. Hurray for CSS variable adoption being available to 90% of browsers in 2015!

</comment><comment><USER3> Indeed. I think CSS shouldn't have variables. You should use a server-side program dynamically creating your CSS, perhaps, but CSS variables seems like more trouble than it's worth.

<comment><USER4> I agree about using a server-side program to dynamically create CSS, but I still think it would be beneficial to have CSS variables.

First, having native support for variables in CSS would eventually simplify the implementation of a proper (separation of variables from declarations among other things) "CSS compiler". It would also promote a better style of CSS because I don't think very many people use a framework with CSS variable/declaration separation.

Second, in theory CSS is the domain of designers and they presumably use "standard" tools to edit CSS directly so they don't have variable support I'm guessing?... I'm sure we could be surprised how much CSS is edited by hand.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: I am giving up early on things I want to achieve.What is the way forward? - <AUTHOR> I have realized that I end up giving up on things more often than I should.
If I want to learn drawing or sketching: I may try for a day or two and then think "It doesn't look like the one I saw on the internet".
If I want to do kaggle competition: I won't even try to do single submission thinking - "I won't make it to the top 10, why bother, instead do something else."
I want to be the best in something I do, but I lose patience often, thinking "it is taking more than what it should be taking". May be I am completely unaware of how time it actually takes to master something and setting up wrong expectations.
Have you felt this, and how to achieve your goals or master something without giving up? <comment><USER2> Don't beat yourself too much. 100% of the "overnight successes" you hear from the media bubble were ALWAYS X years in the making, where X >= 10.

> _If I want to do kaggle competition: I won 't even try to do single > submission thinking - "I won't make it to the top 10, why bother, instead do > something else."_

If you want to achieve mastery, you already lost. When the Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa received a honorary Lifetime Achievement Award at Oscars at the age of 80 he said, " _I don 't think I understand the cinema yet_".

Seeking mastery has nothing to do with learning and everything to do with our own insecurities: "If I'm the best maybe women will love me", "If I'm the best maybe people will like me", "If I'm the best maybe I will find my own identity".

Give up mastery. Embrace learning.

> _" It doesn't look like the one I saw on the internet"._

This is the wrong mindset. Instead ask yourself: _Does it look better than the work I did yesterday?_.

> _Maybe I am completely unaware of how time it actually takes to master > something and setting up wrong expectations._

It takes time and consistency. Small, quantifiable steps every day. This applies to _everything_ : dancing [http://danceinayear.com/](http://danceinayear.com/), web development [http://jenniferdewalt.com/](http://jenniferdewalt.com/), ...

Good luck!

<comment><USER3> See "A Note on Practice and Persistence":

"As you study this book, and continue with programming, remember that anything worth doing is difficult at first. Maybe you are the kind of person who is afraid of failure so you give up at the first sign of difficulty. Maybe you never learned self-discipline so you can't do anything that's "boring." Maybe you were told that you are "gifted" so you never attempt anything that might make you seem stupid or not a prodigy. Maybe you are competitive and unfairly compare yourself to someone like me who's been programming for more than 20 years."

[http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/intro.html](http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/intro.html)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I recommend watching Ira Glass's video on the gap between your taste and your abilities. He addresses your problem specifically because it's very common: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI23U7U2aUY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI23U7U2aUY)

You need to refocus your goals away from _achievement_ and towards _output_. Learn to become motivated by effort rather than mastery because it will be a long time before you are top 10 at anything. Nobody stays motivated for that long without enjoying the work.

</comment><comment><USER5> My first impression is that you're trying too many things and not focusing on what's actually important to you. Giving up on low-value activities in favor of high-value ones is a good thing.

My suggestion is to make a list of how you want to grow as a person over the next few years. Sort it by importance, and then do not do anything that's below number 3 or 4.

Taking my own advice, I really should stop reading/commenting on HN and reddit. And I know how to break this habit, so I don't have a good excuse. So, uhh, bye?

</comment><comment><USER6> To be honest I have had it like you describe for the most of my life, and still have it in some areas.

What I have learned as a 43 year old is that it is just how I am and when I accepted that, it became easier and it is no longer a "problem" for me.

Perhaps you are like that?

I took the strenghtsfinder 2.0 test and that helped me understand myself which helped me to accept myself.

I can highly recommend the book "start with why" to figure out who your innermost values are, and the letting go book from zenhabits to accept who you are and letting all your ideas about who you should be go.

</comment><comment><USER7> > Have you felt this, and how to achieve your goals or master something > without giving up?

Personally I have functional goals when I'm interested in an activity. Learn C++? Okay, how do I write a program that will draw a box to the screen? Now how do I shade it? How do I do that with less overhead....

I give myself six months for tasks like that, often it takes considerably less time. Sometimes a matter of days or weeks. Very occasionally I run into a 'To make an apple pie, first create the universe.' style problem and it takes significantly longer in those cases. But at least then I've got a basis to compare how hard the problem is to, and can cache out the steps that need to be taken. Worst comes to the worst I get to the end of the six months and assign new schedules based on how large the problem stack has grown.

If you think of it like a constraint for a problem: You're starting off and your constraint is 'Best in the world' and that's a very narrow target to hit. But if you start the other side of things, 'my constraint is to draw a circle' , 'now it's to shade it' 'Now it's to give the circle a nose' ... then it's a lot harder to fail, especially if you're generous with your time in those sorts of activities.

You're starting off with constraints that are at the edge of your current skills that way, rather than constraints that are... not feasible to reach that quickly.

Even then, I would warn against a desire to be the best in the world: There are seven billion people in the world. If you define your success along some particular line as being the best, you are comparing yourself to someone who got all the genetic breaks, started when they were a kid, and finds the subject rewarding enough to work on it more or less continuously.

Chances are really bad that you're the best in the world at anything. Like 7 billion to 1 against. Even worse, the sacrifices demanded of people who are truly the best in the world in terms of some particular activity often seem to leave time for anything resembling a life. And for what? The returns on being the best in the world are rarely in line with the effort it takes to be so, or at least so it seems.

^_^

tl/dr: Small steps, consistently applied.

</comment><comment><USER8> > _May be I am completely unaware of how time it actually takes to master > something and setting up wrong expectations._

An oft-quoted metric is 10,000 hours to truly master a skill. Translated into the working world: That's working full time at a job for roughly 5 years.

> _Have you felt this, and how to achieve your goals or master something > without giving up?_

When I started boxing as a teenager there was a life-size cutout of Mike Tyson in the corner of the gym. The words "Your competition is training harder than you" were emblazoned across his chest. That message stuck with me, and I still use it as a motivator. When you're ready to quit, just remember: there's someone else who wants this more than you do, and they're not quitting yet. Keep going!

</comment><comment><USER9> Stop worrying about "mastery" and focus on just putting in the time. Every single day, spend some time, be it 5 minutes or 5 hours, on whatever it is you want go be great at. Don't compare progress at any interval less than one month.

Nothing happens overnight except failure.

</comment><comment><USER10> Stop giving up.

Seriously, if you feel like you're giving up too early, don't do that anymore. Keep going, even if you feel like it's hopeless. Maybe not forever, but try going twice as long as you otherwise might.

You expect to feel magic. Either some kind of power that comes over you and makes you do the right thing without putting in the sweaty shit work, or that you'll just start feeling like you can do it after a tiny bit of effort. Magic isn't real; sweat is real.

Trust me, hard shit takes lot of work. And you might just suck at many of the things you try, because that just happens a whole lot. You'll never get any better by abandoning it.

* there's a whole lifetime of this informing my comments.

</comment><comment><USER11> "it is taking more than what it should be taking" \- This is exactly the thing I used to think about. But as time progresses I realized even if I would have stuck with it for just a few more days, I would have been much better.

</comment><comment><USER12> Just remember every day that 1.01^365 ~ 14 and 0.99^365 ~ 0.07. You will be surprised how far you can go, just by doing the thing and improving by a small margin everyday.

</comment><comment><USER13> As you find yourself not pursuing things, you are also potentially finding focus by letting go of goals that are not important to you. In order to master something however, you will have to do boring, repetitive feeling tasks mentally and physically. You just have to figure out how to push through those moments of pain. What Red_Tarsius said is excellent advice. It isn't about the end goal so much as it is about the process.

</comment><comment><USER14> You are giving up on things because they are things you don't truly enjoy. You want to become good at something for no reason, other than to be good at it. The world is not a competion, even though some people make it look like it is. Just find something that you like doing and do it for yourself, not to be the best at it.</comment>


Ask HN: Startup not "giving" me my exercised shares - <AUTHOR> I was at a startup for a year and a half, one of the first employees. Since I had vested my first year of shares, I asked to exercise them. They initially told me that I couldn't, and that I could only exercise upon leaving the company. That was a ridiculous claim, and after a few weeks of back and forth and what seemed like hunting for reasons why I couldn't exercise my stock, they finally agreed that me exercising at that time was not "early exercise" and that I was able to do so.
I ended up leaving the company for other reasons. I still thought the company had value, but it didn't make sense for me to stay there in terms of my career. I sent in my exercise notice and check. All great, they cashed my check, agreed to get things worked out and to send me my stock certificate in a month.
Three months later, I e-mail them asking about the certificate. They respond with "Oops, we forgot to let you know, companies these days aren't issuing certs, and the exercise notice you filled out is legally binding, so you are all good then".
This seems ridiculous to me. I understand digital certs as opposed to paper ones, but I've never heard of anyone taking someones word for it in terms of property ownership. I have a feeling I'm getting scammed. I read that if I was promised a cert, I should get one. My plan of attack is to request a cert in some form, and contact a lawyer if that doesn't work out.
Has anyone had a similar experience? What would you do in this situation? <comment><USER2> You could ask for a copy of their latest cap table and make sure you're on it.

</comment><comment><USER3> Your cashed check and their email serves as a receipt. Move on.</comment>


Background Jobs with DJ on Heroku - <AUTHOR> http://blog.heroku.com/archives/2009/7/15/background_jobs_with_dj_on_heroku/

<comment><USER2> This is a really old post, see this update: [http://blog.heroku.com/archives/2009/12/3/dj_has_evolved_int...](http://blog.heroku.com/archives/2009/12/3/dj_has_evolved_into_workers/)

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes - I actually was trying to work through the stuff above and it didn't quite 'click'. I'm also looking at 'other' frameworks that achieve the same thing...

Thanks for the update tho!

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> heroku's awesome but the lack of minute or five minute cron is dealbreaker for me, thus i need my own servers to be able to schedule mailings

<comment><USER4> For sub-hour scheduled or recurring tasks, most users prefer a scheduled background task with DJ, rather than old-school cron. There are a bunch of ways to do this, for example:

       Delayed::Job.enqueue(work, 0, Time.now + 5.minutes)

Docs: <http://docs.heroku.com/delayed-job>

<comment><USER3> Great! I posted that hoping that there would be a solution. I've looked around delauyed job trying to find some scheduling funciton but I didn't look close enough it seems. Thanx!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Great news!. I've started to use Heroku for hosting, and i'm very impressed.

I really would like to have a plan between $15 and $200 too.</comment>


This Week in Rust - <AUTHOR> http://cmr.github.io/blog/2014/02/09/this-week-in-rust/

<comment><USER2> Someone needs to write a "History of Programming Language Design Mistakes." (Not saying Rust is one of these.)

While working for a Smalltalk vendor, I got to see that the various Smalltalk implementations all made the same mistakes. (Visualworks, ObjectStudio, Digitalk) Then later on, I've seen eerie reminders of those things I saw in other environments/languages.

This is a highly complex subject, not only spanning a great deal of technical material, but also interactions within communities of many programmers, decision makers, and others.

I think such a book would be highly valuable to the programming field. (Or, as Alan Kay says, "not quite a field.")

<comment><USER3> Here's one that's been on my mind that I haven't seen people talk about: making O(1) and O(n) operations look the same.

Example in Python:

       d = { ... }
       for ...
         if 'key' in d:
           func()

       L = [ ... ]
       for ...
         if 'key' in L:
           func()

Python is my favorite language, and I teach Python classes, but the number of both beginner and production programs I've seen with quadratic blowups because of this issue is crazy.

I think a lot of the problem is the subtle syntax. People with a solid CS background find this distinction fairly natural, but most Python programmers apparently don't.

I guess the alternative syntax would be L.find(), which sort of emphasize the linear search. It seems WAY more elegant to have the polymorphic "in", but the number of mistakes is too high.

Actually now that I think about it, this was question #0 on the stripe CTF3. So I guess the same thing happens often enough in Ruby for them to use it as a question.

<comment><USER4> I see this as ultimately being a much better from an optimization standpoint. Now I can change L to a set or a linked list if I find that more efficient without having to change it _everywhere_. Language features are no substitute for algorithm and data structure knowledge, which your students can likely be forgiven for not knowing about.

<comment><USER3> I don't buy it. Physically editing text is never the problem when changing a data structure like this. The work is ensuring your program is still correct and performs better.

<comment><USER5> Ensuring code is "still correct and performs better" is made easier if only the data structure used has to change to get "performs better", and the "still correct" comes free with it because the operation that performs the same function is the same operation regardless of the efficiency of the algorithm.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> As some of the Rust developers hang around here, a question:

Result is the Either monad in Scala / Haskell? So IO functions return either a success wrapping a value, or a failure? This is great -- I'm a big fan of this style of error handling. However it seems that Rust doesn't have syntax for monads -- the equivalent of Haskell's do and Scala's for. This makes monads a bit of a PITA. Is there a plan to address this?

<comment><USER7> People keep wanting monadic syntax (I'm one of them), but I believe the general suggestion is to do it via macros/syntax extensions. E.g. write something that desugars

       do! {
           bind x = foo();
           let bar = baz(10);
           ret x + bar
       }

into the equivalent of Haskell's

       do
        x <- foo
        let bar = baz 10
        return $ x + bar

Rust currently lacks higher-kinded types, so it would be hard to write functions that are generic over monads but the above would at least give some local reprieve.

Also, note the `if_ok!` macro alluded to in the point about IO errors is giving the shortcircuiting behaviour of the Either monad (specific to Either, though).

(NB. the macro probably can't be called `do` just yet, but we may remove that as a keyword. Maybe.)

<comment><USER8> Wait, how don't macro need to take escaped sigils?

Like range! takes range!('[' 0 , Inf ')' )?

Is 'do' still a keyword? I remember it being removed, pretty much everywhere. I just assumed it was thrown away.

<comment><USER9> > Wait, how don't macro need to take escaped sigils?

These are proper (hygienic) syntax macros, much like Scheme's syntax-rules. C's "macros" only work at the token level.

> Is 'do' still a keyword?

I believe it is still a reserved keyword, but not used anymore.

<comment><USER7> It appears to not be a reserved word at all:

      $ echo 'fn main() { let do = 1; }' | rustc -

runs with just an unused variable warning (if it were reserved it would fail with "error: `do` is a reserved keyword").

<comment><USER10> It probably should be reserved.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I noticed that rustpkg has been removed, leaving Rust essentially without an official package manager for the time being. Can't say I'm heartbroken, but what's the plan?

</comment><comment><USER12> > Rust is a systems language pursuing the trifecta: _safe_ , concurrent, and > fast.

> It was also discovered that we closed the second largest number of issues of > any repository on GitHub!

Doesn't make me very confident...

<comment><USER13> > _Doesn 't make me very confident..._

This makes no sense at all. For one, it's a language under heavy development. Obviously most of these issues where things not implemented already, library ftuff missing, temporary implementations that had to be changed to the new one, small and bigger regressions due to syntax and library changes etc etc.

Second, you'd rather those issues remained open? Or that magically some rainbow unicorns perhaps would have prevented the language from having any issues in the first place?

What matters is that the number of issues drops low enough, as the language tries to reach version 1.0. And what the announce here is very well aligned with that goal.

<comment><USER14> There's no need to be snide.

I think he may just be surprised that those bugs still occurred, given how the Rust toolchain is itself implemented in Rust, by the designers of Rust, and how Rust is supposedly designed in a way that prevents bugs to a larger extent than other languages do.

It's understandable where he's coming from. If those who know Rust the best are still subject to bugs in their Rust code, it's perfectly valid and reasonable to wonder if the rest of us really be any better off than we are with Java, or C#, or Python, or whatever language(s) we're currently using.

<comment><USER13> > _I think he may just be surprised that those bugs still occurred, given how > the Rust toolchain is itself implemented in Rust, by the designers of Rust, > and how Rust is supposedly designed in a way that prevents bugs to a larger > extent than other languages do._

Well, then what he probably doesn't understand is that those bugs are not in their majority memory bugs or sound-ness bugs or bugs in the things Rust is supposed to protect you from.

Most are issues related to half or mis-implemented features, syntax that changed and libs that need to change in accordance, etc. If I have:

random() { return 6;}

as a stub, I could post an issue to remind me to implement a actual random number generator later. Doesn't mean the language has some inherent problem itself.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


The Disproportionate Risks of Driving While Black - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/us/racial-disparity-traffic-stops-driving-black.html <comment><USER2> This looks substantive. Please email firstname.lastname@example.com if you would like us to send you a repost invite. (This is an experiment we're working on to give good stories a second chance at attention on HN.)</comment>


Ask HN: Comment my Twitter client UI mockup - <AUTHOR>

From time to time i throw some code at one of my pet projects idea for an (m)IRC chat-like interface to follow hash tags on twitter.
My latest mockup is up at http://tweetirc.com/chat/prototype/
What do you think? <comment><USER2> To get a better feel for it, could you populate it with actual data (even if you just copy&paste it)?

</comment><comment><USER2> To get a better feel for it, could you populate it with actual date (even if you just copy&paste it)?

<comment><AUTHOR> it's still pretty much static (although its a django app), still working out the arquitecture/features</comment></comment>


Argo: Open source Kubernetes native workflows, events, CI and CD - <AUTHOR> https://argoproj.github.io/ <comment><USER2> We're using Argo as a replacement for our GoCD based continuous delivery system and it's been fantastic. We were about to move onto Concourse and realized we would need to set up the and manage the equivalent of a Kubernetes cluster just to support it. We took a few extra weeks to prototype Argo first and were glad we did.

In our use case, the primary deployment model is blue/green deploys of VM based microservices on AWS with a bunch of Terraform managed infrastructure gluing them together. The newer class of service we're developing right now is container based and has even more infrastructure complexity. Teams manage their own service releases and each group has slight variations in their deploy steps. We need a deploy system that can support the old and new style and remain flexible while providing a migration path.

Teams love the flexibility and expressiveness of the workflow definitions. They've begun to move cron jobs onto it as well. Argo is much more lightweight and easy to operate than any other system we had worked with because it leans so heavily on Kubernetes primitives that we already needed to understand. The codebase is also relatively easy to understand, so we've been able to contribute things back to the project while working through the migration.

We've taken a cue from the project and begun to consolidate our control plane on CRDs so they can seamlessly integrate with Argo. CRD Operators + Argo are allowing us to consolidate all of the custom deploy/config tooling we built over the years onto a common system that is testable and well integrated.

It's a little early in the project to measure the full effect, but the internal project has a lot of momentum.

</comment><comment><USER3> The idea is nice, but if security is one of your concerns, you'll probably not want to run this if the docs are even close to representative of the actual application:

> 3\. Configure the service account to run workflows

> For clusters with RBAC enabled, the 'default' service account is too limited > to support features like artifacts, outputs, access to secrets, etc... Run > the following command to grant admin privileges to the 'default' service > account in the namespace 'default'

This raises so many red flags. Never give admin rights 'as a default'.

<comment><USER4> While I agree with your position that admin rights should not be the default, that doesn't seem to be what Argo is actually doing.

The text snippet you've included is from the quick start/demo page, which seems to be targeted at getting the examples running quickly so that a potential user can see what it is capable of. Other issues for this in a production setup would be the use of the 'default' role/namespace at all. In this use case (running the examples in a new cluster), giving the default user full access is the quickest way to this result.

Clearly it would be better if Argo included a more precise (permission wise) role by default, but from my understanding Argo does not require cluster admin permissions in order to function.

<comment><USER5> The parent post did quality it appropriately with "if the docs are even close to representative of the actual application".

I hope the docs are not representative, but the parent post is right that it's a bad sign. At least put up a warning sign that it's insecure and only suitable for demo purposes to do that.

<comment><USER6> Thanks. We've updated the docs to outline the bare minimum set of privileges.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> We've had much success with Argo workflows over the past months. Among other projects, we use it to generate city-sized extracts of mapping data from the OpenStreetMap planet. Blog post at [https://www.interline.io/blog/scaling- openstreetmap-data-wor...](https://www.interline.io/blog/scaling- openstreetmap-data-workflows/)

Using Argo on Google Kubernetes Engine makes it easy to auto-scale for our workflow steps that parallelize. We're also able to reuse Dockerfiles and resources between both our batch workflows and our running services (also on Kubernetes).

</comment><comment><USER8> What does this project simplify?

It seems to be equivalently complex to the process it would have you replace.

<comment><USER6> I always explain that Workflows should be thought of as a fancier version of Kubernetes Jobs. Some of the killer features, IMO, are with artifact management and control flow (e.g. loops, conditionals, parallelism).

So far, our most common use case has been in the machine learning space. One of the biggest problems it can solve is the ability to leverage a Kubernetes cluster as an auto-scaling compute grid for all forms batch processing. We've been working closely with ML teams at various companies, both large and small, and many of our features were implemented to address the ML use cases (e.g. DAG support, loops/step expansion, step aggregation).

With that said, Argo got its start trying to address the CI use case, so we also feel like we handle that one pretty well.

The workflow controller has always been intended to be a lego block to enable higher level applications to be built on top of it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> FYI, Google's new Kubeflow Pipelines service uses Argo.

[https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine- learning/i...](https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine- learning/introducing-ai-hub-and-kubeflow-pipelines-making-ai-simpler-faster- and-more-useful-for-businesses)

[https://github.com/kubeflow/pipelines#acknowledgments](https://github.com/kubeflow/pipelines#acknowledgments)

</comment><comment><USER10> Is there easy way to build containers ?

I see many resources for running stuff with already built container but could not any simple how to do it. Currently just mounting docker host and building on it.

<comment><USER11> Dockerfiles?

<comment><USER11> Edit: I misunderstood the parents question.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Very very small suggestion: its not very expensive to register a domain and have it redirect to the github pages; might make it appear somewhat more polished.

<comment><USER13> "that's like yout opinion, man"

registering vanity domains is a shure way to make this information harder to find in a few years</comment></comment>