Launch, Land, Repeat - <AUTHOR> https://www.blueorigin.com/news/blog/launch-land-repeat <comment><USER2> Am I the only one finding the last 2 BO videos highly disingenuous ?

As mentioned numerous times, there's the whole "reaching space" vs "going into orbit" before landing.

More important to me is the fact that SpaceX is streaming its different tries in _live_, taking the risk of crashing the rocket out in the open. How many vehicles did BO lose before achieving a vertical landing ?

Oh, and what about the fact that they have total control on the location and time of the launch ? Meaning they basically control weather to an accuracy no one launching anything useful into space has. For example, last failed SpaceX landing was officially linked to fog icing the leg locks. That's not going to happen if you launch on a clear day from the desert.

These are more comparable to the Grasshoper tries than to anything SpaceX has done recently : no horizontal speed, full weather control, no reporting on failed attempts, very limited weight. Even the last grasshoper video seemed to have more side winds that had to be countered than this 100k altitude video.

Even the format of the video itself screams "vaporware" to me. It looks like a trailer for a bad action movie, where some spacey something goes to space, separates and lands back in 15 seconds. When the grasshoper videos left me in awe, looping over them 5 times in a row, the BO ones just make me feel like they sh/could end with some sexual innuendo over their big rocket

<comment><USER3> You're the one turning it into a competition, in reality it is simply two separate companies doing different awesome things. Yes, obviously, going into orbit is harder than not doing so. But going to space sub-orbitally is still very difficult and cool, and the only reason there's a negative spin on BO's achievements is because people feel the need to compare it with SpaceX as if there can be only one.

Just be excited for the positive direction of spaceflight in general. Everyone benefits from both companies doing well, even if SpaceX is ahead of everyone else for awhile.

<comment><USER2> I wish I had the power to turn that into a competition, but I don't think they need me for that :)

Jocking aside, I don't think there can only be one. I am comparing BO and SpaceX the same way I'd compare google and apple. In the same industry but not doing exactly the same thing. And when Apple tried to go on one of Google's turf with maps, they sucked. When Google tried to go do phones, at first they sucked. Comparison is natural and welcome.

Here, it feels to me that BO is putting themselves up for comparison for no reason.

As far as the positive direction of spaceflight, I think that transparency is key. Space exploration needs more accountability and trust that ever has been available before _in_any_industry_ever_. And there, so far SpaceX is winning hands down, including versus the old players (soyouz, ariane, ULA...). When SpaceX says "one of our struts was structurally deficient, broke down, made the rocket lose equilibrium and ultimately explode", they're also telling their competitors "Watch this. We've learned it the hard way.". Same with fog icing the leg lock. In the grand scheme of things they are making space safer, and not only for their customers. I only see bragging and borderline (note the "borderline") bullying on BO's side

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Honestly just roll my eyes now at these pissing contest blogposts from Bezos. He does his team a disservice by suggesting that what they are achieving is actually more advanced than what SpaceX has done - it all looks like the approach the Soviets took in trumpeting various "firsts" in space in the 60s as the US methodically built capability far beyond what the Russians could sustain.

I am impressed by both companies' ambition, and SpaceX clearly has both the time and money advantage over Blue Origin. Let your accomplishments speak for themselves.

<comment><USER5> If it's a pissing contest that accelerates the rate at which we progress space travel and technology then that's fine by me.

Also I feel like perhaps you're underselling their achievements here, it's still impressive and it's still incredible progress in space travel.

Good luck to them both.

<comment><USER6> What's great about Blue Origins long term is the frequency of launches. Blue Origins will be launching a rocket every day years before SpaceX will, because of obvious differences in rocket magnitude and mission.

There's a fair amount of boilerplate that comes with launching a rocket. From the command terminals (and associated IRL command structure) to the pod's parachute and rocket assisted landing , all components will be used and tested _A LOT_ thanks to Blue Origins' strategy.

Assuming Blue Origins learns as much as possible and iterates on any sliver of weakness, we as a planet can be far more confident in the human carrying structures that are used to transport space-to-surface. SpaceX undeniably has more impactful and impressive rocket technology, but I'll always respect the lower level work Blue Origins is focusing on.

Space is really, really, really hard. Everyone wants to go up, I enjoy how much Blue Origins wants to come back down. :)

<comment><USER7> > Blue Origins will be launching a rocket every day years before SpaceX will

I would stake my life on you being dead wrong, that's how fucking positive I am. It's such a silly thing to suggest! SpaceX has made dozens of launches, Blue Origin has made a _couple_ ! What in the world implies to you that their rate of scaling will soon outpace Spacex??

<comment><USER3> The fuel cost of a Falcon 9 launch is ~$200k. In a perfect world (tons of launches), lets say (generously) that we get launch costs down a million a pop, all things included.

BO's New Shepard is shooting for something like $100k or less per flight. The rocket is much smaller, uses less fuel, and is much easier to move around on the ground, reducing fixed launch costs. It's at least an order of magnitude lower in price, for a completely different service (suborbital tourism), which will make it accessible to a much larger market.

<comment><USER8> Larger market? I think not. The space launch biz is populated by hundreds of different companies, all wanting to spend millions or billions to get a useful sat into orbit. BO is looking to a small group of billionaires with the money to throw 30-50k to spend a few minutes vomiting. And of those, only the ones young enough to participate, a rare thing amongst billionaires.

(1) The launch is not gentle. Everyone will be strapped tightly into chairs, ready for launch escape rocket thrust if necessary.

(2) Time weightless will be measured in minutes, probably less than ten. So nobody is getting out of the chairs. At best they get a few minutes of watching pens hover, unless that is everything has to be secure. In such cases only the vomit will float.

(3) The landing options are not great. Soft if all goes to plan, but parachutes/hard if no. So everyone stays in chairs. No old people and/or heart conditions need apply.

How many people pay to ride the vomit comet every year? How many of them are billionaires? That's BO's market.

<comment><USER9> Well, I'm not even a millionaire and I would very gladly sell my house to go to the space, even for a few minutes.

Best thing is: with that money, I can go twice!

<comment><USER8> cc. Here ya go: [https://www.gozerog.com/](https://www.gozerog.com/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Impressive, but one important difference with the SpaceX rockets is that this rocket only goes up to space but it doesn't put satellites in orbit.

Form: [https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/](https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/)

> _The reason it 's hard to get to orbit isn't that space is high up. It's > hard to get to orbit because you have to go so fast. _

<comment><USER11> I agree with this. But Jeff makes a valid point about judging the rocket by its smaller size. The launch of orbital vehicles is a solved problem, but landing the booster is newly under development. The smaller booster is harder to land vertically, so the technological solutions they are testing may prove to be more robust in adverse conditions.

<comment><USER12> I don't think the smaller booster is harder. It's almost by definition easier. It weighs less, doesn't need to reach orbital velocity and can have an engine that throttles all the way down to hover because the MTOW is not that different from it's dry weight. Not reaching orbital velocity is the main thing here, it's what makes all of this easy in comparison.

The solutions they are exploring are many times less complicated and difficult than what SpaceX is doing. Saying otherwise is mischaracterising both of their achievements.

<comment><USER13> The dynamics problem of balancing an inverted pendulum gets easier as the distance between the COM and the force input is increased.

Of course, its also easier to have very fast gimballing on a smaller engine, and a taller rocket bends more which makes it harder to detect exactly where it's pointed in the first place.

<comment><USER14> A rocket isn't an inverted pendulum. This is a common mistake.

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

<comment><USER15> The pendulum fallacy has to do with the tail of the rocket not naturally following the head during launch. Landing really is an inverted pendulum problem.

<comment><USER16> _How_ is even the landing an inverted pendulum problem? There's no instability of an inclined rocket during the landing; there's an instability of a "gimbaled-away" rocket. That's not the same thing.

<comment><USER15> I'm not sure what you mean by that. How is this different, mathematically, from the classic 8th grade textbook picture of a child balancing a yardstick on his nose?

<comment><USER16> Easily. The yardstick is unstable in inclination if it isn't vertical. The rocket is unstable in horizontal position if it isn't vertical. But it doesn't start to rotate as long as the thrust vector goes through the CG. The thrust vector has stable orientation relative to the rocket (if you don't gimbal), whereas the force vector doesn't have stable orientation relative to the yardstick.

<comment><USER3> > The thrust vector has stable orientation relative to the rocket (if you > don't gimbal)

This is what makes your argument moot - because they _do_ gimbal, and the gimbaling is what creates the moment/torque. In a way that _is_ very nearly analogous to twisting your hand around slightly to balance a broomstick.

> The yardstick is unstable in inclination if it isn't vertical. The rocket is > unstable in horizontal position if it isn't vertical.

The rocket is unstable in position _and_ inclination (attitude). So you're right that there's more to it, but it's still the inverted pendulum problem for attitude, plus the rocket formulas for translation and added constraints of landing location. Are you saying Bezos is lying in this post when he explicitly says "When you do a vertical landing, you're solving the classic inverted pendulum problem"? He would know, and I don't see a reason for him to lie about it.

<comment><USER16> > This is what makes your argument moot - because they do gimbal, and the > gimbaling is what creates the moment/torque. In a way that is very nearly > analogous to twisting your hand around slightly to balance a broomstick.

The point of the inverted pendulum problem is that the torque on a long, thin, ground-supported object (or even just any ground-supported object with a narrow base or a hinge on its bottom) is a function of its orientation. That gives you a second order differential equation for tilt. This is NOT the case with the free-flying rocket because the engine is rotating along with the rocket. You could simulate the inverted pendulum actively, by rotating the engine so that it has a fixed orientation relative to the ground (up to the gimbaling limit, which is usually <10 degrees), but you actually want to do the opposite with the landing rocket (with significant damping to boot). Basically, you want the active control system to simulate a _normal_ pendulum, just turned upside down (but with the damping so that it doesn't actually oscillate).

> The rocket is unstable in position and inclination (attitude).

Not the latter unless you make it behave in that way. You could also check on the Apollo LM landing guidance, maybe it will become more clear if you study that.

> So you're right that there's more to it, but it's still the inverted > pendulum problem for attitude

No, it's not. That's the point.

> Are you saying Bezos is lying in this post when he explicitly says "When you > do a vertical landing, you're solving the classic inverted pendulum > problem"? He would know, and I don't see a reason for him to lie about it.

No, I'm saying that this phrasing makes no sense. Remember that Goddard made a similar mistake when reasoning about rockets and pendulums, so arguments to authority are demonstrably to be avoided here. A significant clarification on his part could make it more comprehensible what he actually meant, but making any kind of analogy to a ground-supported object is clearly bad when talking about a free-flying body.

<comment><USER3> This is an excellent response - thanks.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I like it -- we're starting a 21st century space race between corporations rather than nations.

<comment><USER18> I like that, too, but this feels like just a cheap shot at SpaceX right now...

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> This is amazing, and a pretty amazing feat that we are taking for granted. Space is super super tough, the complex coordination of manufacturing something like this is being totally written off by many, but I assure you it is non trivial.

A popular sentiment in that industry is that rocketry is like writing software composed of many modules and testing each module separately on mac, then deploying the entire build on linux. If it doesn't work, you don't just back out the conversion error or stray quotes you left in, your rocket explodes.

The engineering spend alone is massive, as is the damage to the company when a failure is syndicated across youtube. Taking big risks is something we should be promoting.

We are in a technological renaissance and it starts with lowering launch costs to achieve realtime LEO satellite blanketing and distributed communication channels to connect to the other fucking 3 billion people without internet. Bezos is accomplishing something great, and we don't need to qualify that statement.

He and Musk are definitively the Jobs and Gates of the 21st century if you want to use the obvious cliche.

What Gates did. What Jobs accomplished. It was pretty fucking powerful. Musk and Bezos are sort of doing that, except both are working in at least 3 industries at that same scale.

I wish Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada, Firefly and all the other people in new space well. Nano-sats will provide realtime insight to the earth, people will be able to own a satellite in ~5-10 years because of these advancements.

this is good for _all_ of us, and the only negative thing to say about it is that for god sakes Jeff, that rocket does look a bit like a stubby penis.

<comment><USER20> 1\. _popular sentiment in that industry is that rocketry is like writing software composed of many modules and testing each module separately on mac, then deploying the entire build on linux._

Musk always says the passing grade in rocketry is 100%. As there's no way to test a rocket fully except to actually launch it.

2\. _bit like a stubby penis_ lol

And that stubby thing shoots less powerfully than SpaceX.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> SpaceX = Space launch.

Blue Origin = Rollercoaster.

I really don't see why these companies are competing. They are in totally different markets. Sure, there is some technological crossover in that they both use rockets, but this is like comparing a prius to a locomotive.

<comment><USER21> Because BO wants to be seen as being in the same league as the much more advanced spacex to raise their profile.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> It sounds like Blue Origin rockets are only capable of sending payloads to space for just an instant, before gravity pulls them back down to earth. They're nowhere near close to capable of putting anything into orbit.

Is that correct? If so, what are they good for?

<comment><USER23> They're a smaller-scale test platform for figuring out how to do propulsive landing and re-use, similar to SpaceX's grasshopper rockets. Blue Origin is also developing an orbital rocket, which will hopefully be more impressive.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> "Our vision: millions of people working and living in space"

When you have only a few seconds above the "official" space altitude on a parabolic trajectory, I wouldn't say" working and living in space", and specially not "millions" at the same time..

Is it me or this is primarily a pitch video ?

<comment><USER25> Very much so.

It is a bit disingenuous to imagine sustained life in space when we can barely live sustainably on the overwhelming majority of the surface of Earth. At least on Earth, we don't encounter the physical limitations that our bodies have when exposed to zero gravity, like loss of bone and muscle.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> I think its great that New Shepard is coming along, I don't get how Bezos feels he is helping his cause when he says "people living and working in space." when he doesn't come close reaching orbit. The difference between an orbital mission and a sounding rocket.

Now, that he is getting closer to having tourist flights outside the atmosphere than Virgin Galactic? That is pretty cool and a fair comparison. Being able to out execute Burt Rutan? That counts for a lot, but don't try to compare yourself to SpaceX until you're putting things into LEO and getting back the hardware to use again.

</comment><comment><USER27> Here is an animated video that shows what space tourism will be like. You will be in space for a few minutes. the view of the world from space will be amazing. plus you will be weightless. not sure how long you will be up there or the cost but it looks awesome.

[https://www.blueorigin.com/astronaut-experience#youtube- YJhy...](https://www.blueorigin.com/astronaut-experience#youtube-YJhymiZjqc)

</comment><comment><USER20> I wonder SpaceX opening an office in Seattle was just to make it easier to hire away engineers from Bezos?

</comment><comment><USER28> This looks like a very complicated engineering achievement that undoubtedly will lead to advances in space travel and tourism.

That said, I didn't get to watch the launch and join in its success or failure, so I'm finding it difficult to actually care as much as other launches.

</comment><comment><USER29> Is there a significance for ~100km? Is this, roughly speaking, space -- where the atmosphere is so thin to be almost negligible? Clearly atmosphere thins gradually so how do we define where space starts? Is the significance of ~100km something to do with the effects of gravity at that altitude from the Earth's surface? Does ~100km give you weightlessness? Or is Blue Origin going up to ~100km because it's a nice round number that is roughly (whatever that means) in space. But aren't kilometres completely arbitrary?

Also, can people please stop knocking Blue Origin. We get it at this point, okay? I'm a huge fan of SpaceX and Elon Musk but does Blue Origin have to lose for SpaceX to win? No. There's nothing in this post from Bezos bashing SpaceX as far as I can see. There's simply saying, look, we did it again with the same refurbished rocket. Good on them. May they do it again and again. And so may SpaceX. The next space race is on, happy days!

<comment><USER30> 100km is the Kármán line, the generally accepted boundary of space. It's the point at which aeronautics become useless, as the atmosphere is too thin to support lift greater than your weight without going faster than orbital velocity. Contrary to popular belief, in Low Earth Orbit you're still very much in reach of the Earth's gravity; it's only about 10% less than the gravity on the surface.[2] The tricky part about orbit is moving _sideways_ fast enough that you miss the ground.

So Blue Origin indeed got to space, landed and did it again. But it took a tiny fraction of the energy of the same feat for an orbital rocket (which is why SpaceX can only land its first stage).

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_line)

[2] [https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/](https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/)

<comment><USER29> Why then do astronauts on the ISS appear weightless? Do _not_ make me Google this :) And maybe we shouldn't call them astro- (suggesting star) nauts until they get to Sol and back. I kid! I guess in some sense we are all astronauts, man, on spaceship Earth. Seriously, maybe we should call them orbiternauts?

<comment><USER31> I love this question!

Something appears to be weightless when it is falling the same speed as everything around it. If you took a kitchen scale, taped a weight to the top, and dropped them, you'd notice it appears to have a weight of zero.

On the topic of falling, if you walk off a cliff, you fall to the base of the cliff. If you run, you fall farther way. The faster you go, the trajectory of your fall will be farther from the cliff. Now go really fast and you may fall miles away - but you'll be fighting air resistance and eventually slow down and hit the ground.

Above the Karman Line (62mi/100km up), the air is thin enough that there barely any air resistance. If you go fast up here, the air isn't there to slow you down. Gravity still pulls you back to earth though. [Blue Origin]

Now if you're above the atmosphere and going horizontally fast enough, the trajectory of your fall eventually overshoots the curvature of the earth. Follow that trajectory a quarter rotation around the earth -- you're still in space, you're still going fast, and you're still falling. You're in orbit. (SpaceX)

Since you're falling forever and the space station around you is also falling, you appear to be weightless in relation to the space station.

(The indie game Kerbal Space Program is a great way to play with/explore the concepts of orbital mechanics if you're intrigued.)

[Edit: For reference, the different in thrust needed to go straight up and coast to the Karman line compared to going up at an angle (spending more time traveling through the dense atmosphere) and establishing a horizontal speed of about 17,500 miles per hour is very big. I believe it's at least an order of magnitude though I don't have a citation for that number.]

<comment><USER32> > Above the Karman Line (62mi/100km up), the air is thin enough that there > barely any air resistance. I

On the contrary, even at the altitude of the ISS there is sufficient atmosphere to reduce its velocity by around 5 metres / hour under normal conditions. Particle density at 400 km altitude is 10E+15 particles / cubic metre ( about a billion times less than at sea level ( but much more at times of Solar flaring.

The ISS makes a sonic boom which propagates to the ground, it's just incredibly weak.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> Is Blue Origin landing a booster that SpaceX is letting crash? Would their forces combined result in total re-use? I'm not sure what all the parts and roles are. Sorry for the dumb question.

<comment><USER34> SpaceX is going 10x higher than Blue Origin. They can land on the ground, perfectly fine. They just haven't figured out how to do it on _a moving barge_ , yet. Because launching from Houston means burning extra fuel to put the rocket over land. Fuel that could be used for boosting.

<comment><USER13> They aren't going ten times higher, or launching from Houston. They launch from Florida and California, they are building a launch site in Texas, but its not in Houston.

The Falcon 9 1st stage will get over twice as high on some flights. Then height it self isn't a big deal, it's the extra time in free fall speeding up before it hits the atmosphere.

The big difference, is that the Falcon 9 is heading east at 1.7km/s, carrying as much mass as a fully fueled BO rocket when it stages.

<comment><USER35> > They aren't going ten times higher, or launching from Houston.

They're definitely going 10x higher (significantly more, in fact). The SES-8 launch saw the SpaceX second stage hit 79,130km - 790x higher than Blue Origin's vehicle has hit.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/1s33mz/ses8_deorbit...](https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/1s33mz/ses8_deorbiting_the_second_stage/cdtmwqr)

<comment><USER13> The first stage does not go to orbit with the payload.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> What I am really looking forward in the bigger rocket from Blue Origin that will be able to achieve orbital velocity.

</comment><comment><USER37> Article title sounds like somebody's attempt at a new MVP/PMF paradigm

</comment><comment><USER38> These guys played way too much lunar lander :)

</comment><comment><USER39> This is awesome. A great compliment to the work SpaceX is doing. To put it in perspective this rocket went about 100x as high as an average international airline flight but would still need to go about 4000x as far to reach the moon. Not sure about the 3 mile per hour impact with the ground on my way home from work. I suppose with a nice soft seat it would be fine but by the time United Airlines gets done with it you'll be packed in like an NYC cross town bus with a seat just as hard.

edit: got my facts straight

<comment><USER40> The moon is about 4000 times farther than the Kármán line, and you need to reach escape velocity to get there.

<comment><USER39> Right, corrected.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER41> One would think that using fuel to touch-down slowly is wasting fuel since they could use some kind of capture scheme with a parachute instead. I've read many times that the weight of the fuel is a big problem in spacecraft.

<comment><USER42> I don't know why you're getting down votes, it's a reasonable question.

Most capture schemes require the rocket to survive structural forces it isn't designed to handle. Increasing its structural thrength would increase its weight. Spacex tried parachutes on early designs, but gave up on them. A parachute landing on the ground means impact forces, landing in the ocean means salt water corrosion. Also even parachutes have a cost in weight, including structural strengthening. SoaceX and Blue Origin have both looked at the various options, crunched the numbers and opted for propulsive landing.</comment></comment>


Ask YC: What are VCs looking for in a "team"? - <AUTHOR>

I have been reading a lot of VC blogs lately, as I try to get my startup going. A lot of them are looking at the the team and asking if this "team can execute".  I want to know what does that mean?
I know VCs are looking for a good team because that's what they are investing in.  But does this mean having MBA guys with management experience, or technical guys with CS degrees from top colleges? We are two CS majors from Univ. of MD and Duke University, with about 15 years of combined experience at major consulting firms designing/implementing technical projects. How should we be looking to grow the team to meet VC criteria?
Thanks in advance for the advice! <comment><USER2> Depends on the VCs. The better ones are looking for tech whizzes. The ones lower down may still be looking for MBAs. What all want is some sign that you're a very effective person. They look at a combination of resume, recommendations, and their own impressions to decide that.

If you're working in a niche field, VCs may also care whether you have experience in it. But this doesn't matter as much as being smart and effective. If Blake Ross wanted to start a healthcare startup, VCs would fund it.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for your quick reply! In your opinion, do VCs shy away from teams with no prior startup experience? and or if they have consulting (system integration) background?

<comment><USER2> Zero startup experience is not a problem for the good VCs, if you seem to be a superstar hacker.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> What they want, ideally, is someone who was successful in your space. Second place goes to someone who failed in your space (and in about your size-range). That's why YC is so special--pg & co are willing to give folks a shot that nobody else will.

Having said that, if you are going for the "real thing" VC with $5-10M first- round financing, get someone who's done it on your team. It pays off manifold ways.

Smart VC know that your business is going to change. Significantly. Knowing how to do this comes with experience, inside business experience, that is hard to get except by doing it. An experienced CEO knows how to manage the changes, keep the investors off the backs of the workers when things get rough. And they will get rough.

From a pragmatic perspective, someone with experience already has the VC contacts to call, and knows how to tailor the pitches to each. This is a huge plus when getting started.

</comment><comment><USER4> Being able to execute means not chasing after shiny objects and being able to say "No". A favorite quote from Steve Jobs (on innovating):

[I]t comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don't get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We're always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it's only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.

</comment><comment><USER5> What part of "execute" don't you get? Hehe, that's exactly what it means: Get it done. On time. With quality.

It's deceptively simple. Can your team (no quotes) do it, and do it well?

Who cares if you are a brilliant programmer... Can you deliver what is required, or are you going to build a gold-plated, incomplete product? That's what execute means, and it's really freekin hard to get that into people's minds: Get it done, do it good enough, don't do it perfect. Perfect ain't for startups, it's for time-wasting hobbyists.

As for the MBA or whatever big university name or title or whatever: It doesn't matter squat. "Harvard" on your resume might get people's attention, but ultimately what matters is "can this person execute?" I have seen some brilliant people without an education do extremely well... And I have seen collossal failures out of people that look like the top 0.1% on paper.

It all boils down to execution: Getting it done. Can this guy prioritize correctly? Does this person know what's important for launch?

</comment><comment><USER6> I've thought a lot about this as well. From the outside looking in, it feels like investors would much rather fund entrepreneurs with previous successes or an existing hot product. I can't really blame them, but it makes the job of the first-time entrepreneur that much more difficult in getting off the ground. Which makes startup programs like YC all the more important.

</comment><comment><USER7> we've seen that investors also care about your passion/interest in the problem and the genesis of the problem (are you solving it for yourself or just chasing dollars?).

I would't get too excited about your consulting experience (unless you're building software for consultancies). Being a consultant and shipping software products are pretty different. One of my cofounders and I both built pretty sizable consulting companies over 5 or 6 years. So far every investor has utterly ignored that and was way more interested in the startup we previously built and sold in 6 months. One actually expressed suspicion of founders with consulting backgrounds.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for your response! So working at a consulting company implementing web- based applications doesn't count? I totally agree that it is not like shipping software products, but our startup is building a web-based service. Previous experience with a startup is something neither one of us have, is this going to be a huge factor?

Could you elaborate on "suspicion of founders with consulting background"? When I say consulting I don't mean management consulting, I'm referring to system integration firms such as Accenture, BAH, IBM, etc.

Is there anything one can do to offset the lack of startup experience?

<comment><USER4> Re: Is there anything one can do to offset the lack of startup experience?

Contribute to an open source project.</comment></comment></comment>


API Gateway and AWS Lambda allow you to never use servers again – live stream - <AUTHOR> https://www.livecoding.tv/ac360/

<comment><USER2> I agree that these are interesting services. But please, do some simple math. The prices climb astronomically even for relatively low rps. It's only useful for small services at this point.

Here are the costs for a 50 rps lambda function served by API Gateway for one month:

Requests = 50x60x60x24x30 = 129,600,000 request per month API Gateway Costs = 129,600,000 x 3.5/M = $453

Convert the requests to GB/s at 512M and 100ms requests, we get:

129,600,000 x 512/1024 * .1 = $113

$453 + $113 = $566/mo for 50rps. Please note the .1 multiplier. For every 100ms increase in your request time, add another $113. So for a 1 second request, you get $1130.

This doesn't even count other machines you need to run to handle databases, etc, it's for the most bare vanilla request.

For a simple lambda function with no external servers, you can easily serve 50rps from a micro for $9/month.

</comment><comment><USER3> How do you test these things?

<comment><USER4> you do it live, of course.

<comment><USER3> That's my method.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Your biggest accomplishment in 2012? - <AUTHOR>

HN is full of highly accomplished people, so let's inspire and share.<p>This year, I learned to code. I learned Objective-C and now make a living from my iOS apps. I also traveled to Thailand for 2 months and had my first Muay Thai fight which I won a decision after 5 rounds. <comment><USER2> I finally landed a paying job (an internship, but I'm still in school) doing the thing I love: coding and problem-solving. I actually got the position through a Who's Hiring thread, which for me validates my browsing of HN heh.

As for 2013, I graduate in May and am looking forward to working with startups in NYC. Hope to eventually found my own. I'm already building the first product!

</comment><comment><USER3> After 3 years of having startup ideas, I finally committed and built a product (with a couple of great friends) that's ready to launch! I'm not sure when we can truly call ourselves a startup (when we exit private beta? When we incorporate? When we get funding?), but I made huge steps towards that this year and it feels awesome!

</comment><comment><USER4> This year I got married and started freelancing. Now I'm building a company around my consulting services and launching my first product.

It's been a great year and I think 2013 will be even better.

</comment><comment><USER5> 2012 has been my worst year by far. I failed countless times. Hoping 2013 is better.

<comment><AUTHOR> You learned a lot from your failures!

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Left my job. Crossed the country, on foot and catching rides. Returned to California. Mostly finished getting well. Made in roads into solving the big issue that I think holds back at least one of my projects.</comment>


The Geometry of Reflection Groups (2015) [pdf] - <AUTHOR> http://people.mpim-bonn.mpg.de/geordie/mpg.pdf <comment><USER2> Coxeter groups are fun. I took it as a graduate course, but honestly you can get pretty far (and we did) just using elementary proof techniques that a 1st or 2nd year undergrad could handle.

I would recommend the book by Michael Davis for an in-depth dive: [https://people.math.osu.edu/davis.12/davisbook.pdf](https://people.math.osu.edu/davis.12/davisbook.pdf)

<comment><USER3> > I would recommend the book by Michael Davis for an in-depth dive: > [https://people.math.osu.edu/davis.12/davisbook.pdf](https://people.math.osu.edu/davis.12/davisbook.pdf)

While it's a great book, I think it's very intimidating for a newcomer to the field. (I assume, without meaning anything pejorative by it, that a lot of the HN interest in mathematics comes from amateur mathematicians with varying backgrounds.) Humphreys ([https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/reflection- groups-and-c...](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/reflection-groups-and- coxeter-groups/2910C1E00877D33A04A512791B6EDD72)) or Grove and Benson ([https://www.springer.com/us/book/9780387960821](https://www.springer.com/us/book/9780387960821)) is probably a better introduction.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Understanding Lie groups and differential equations is my current life goal, but I only took math up to linear algebra and differential equations for scientists and engineers in undergrad.

This is very readable, thank you for sharing!

<comment><USER5> I think you are almost there in terms of being prepared; I'd recommend studying the following before tackling Lie groups (if you haven't yet):

-multivariate calculus (any text will do)

-differential geometry (Manfredo DoCarmo's diff. geom. in 3D)

-introduction to topology (Munkres)

Multivariate calculus gives you the language to tackle surfaces in terms of their shape, which is what differential geometry studies.

Topology gives you more language to study surfaces in terms of their structure, and shows you the connection between structure and algebra.

Lie Groups/Algebras connect the shape and algebra, and so need differential geometry, and benefit from understanding of topology.

<comment><USER3> Also, as with a lot of places where algebra meets geometry, the 'homogenising' (in a good sense) effect of the algebra makes the geometry much less challenging than it could otherwise be. (Linear algebraic groups, which are a particular kind of scheme, underlie much of my research; but I understand way less about schemes in general than about the geometric structure of LAG's.) That's just to say that, from my point of view (as, admittedly, an algebraist), getting the solid linear-algebra background to handle Lie algebras as abstract structures is way more important to understanding Lie groups than a full picture of all the subtleties of differential geometry.

(With that said, anyone who wants to understand the geometry of differential equations _will_ need at some point to handle a lot of non-homogeneous geometry, so my advice isn't the end of the story even for those who agree with it.)

<comment><USER5> >getting the solid linear-algebra background

Oh! What an omission I made.

A solid linear algebra background is a must for absolutely _everything_.

There's nothing one can do without it. Not Calculus in several variables, not geometry, not group theory, etc.

I sort of assumed that people with diff. eq. under their belt know linear algebra well, but it's often not the case.

I can strongly recommend the following two texts for the subject:

-Sheldon Axler: Linear Algebra Done Right

-Serge Treil: Linear Algebra Done Wrong</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Is The Motorola Atrix Cooler Than the iPhone? - <AUTHOR> http://bostinnovation.com/2011/02/21/is-the-motorola-atrix-cooler-than-your-iphone/?isalt=0 <comment><USER2> Please stop; I'm already drooling over this thing...

Seriously, I so want one of these. And if they really are launching it on AT&T so much the better, since I am (for better or for worse) already on AT&T.</comment>


Ask HN: Would you buy? Auto-generate high CTR headings for blogs, articles? - <AUTHOR> Hi all, I've got a system in place that can generate higher CTR headings in the preferred styles of (CNN, Breitbart, Gawker, Buzzfeed) etc.
Would you use it? Is yes would you pay for it?
Let me know what your use case for this would be? <comment><USER2> I 'm not a content maker, but i 'd say go ahead and make it. Despite what people say, most publishers do use that strategy. As they say, look at what people do.

</comment><comment><USER3> Absolutely not. Because you dont know my audience and intent. Therefore I don't trust your claims even if the benefit is clear as day.

its like saying your product will give me an infinite lifespan: very clear and desirable value prop, but would I believe it? no

</comment><comment><USER4> I'd use it but I'd need a free plan first to prove it works. I'd use it more for ideas and inspiration than to just mindlessly copy over the headline. If the headline sounds trashy i wouldn't use it.

</comment><comment><USER5> Basically you've made a system that generates spam? What value does spam actually deliver to the world?</comment>


Ask HN: Review this idea - Online Dubbing Service. - <AUTHOR>

A community powered video dubbing service to dub videos in different languages or accents.
1. Video owner uploads a video and fix a price for winning dubbing. He also provides the dialogs in plain English text.
2. Community submit their dubbing (mp3 upload or direct recording using flash) which gets overlay-ed on video.
3. Community rates and discuss about dubbing.
4. Video owner selects the winners and pays the winning amount.
5. He can then download the dubbed video.
What you guys think about this idea? <comment><USER2> No. Too time-consuming to do well on a spec basis. Dubbing is an expense that a factored into the sale price at film markets. There's no upside for the producer to pay this forward, it just marks him/her as a sucker who doesn't understand the distribution process.

Do it for posters instead, using trailers or even a one sheet - it's cheaper, it's easier to market the film, you can have multiple winners, and every participant becomes part of your marketing team and your talent pool. You provide the platform and broker the exchange of rights to keep costs low for the producer and credit protection plus a breakout bonus for the graphic artists.

</comment><comment><USER3> At Voices.com you can bid for voice actors. It's a quite popular site.</comment>


Man Dies Of Caffeine Overdose - <AUTHOR> http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/health/man-dies-of-caffeine-overdose-ncxdc-102910 <comment><USER2> You pretty much have to have never pushed a serious amount of caffeine before in your life to make this mistake; I used to take caffeine pills during high school, and _minor_ overdoses would make me sick for days. I feel nauseous just thinking about a spoonful of caffeine powder.

</comment><comment><USER3> From the article:

"The court heard that Bedford ignored the product's recommendation to take no more than one sixteenth of a teaspoon and instead took two spoonfuls of the powder -- ingesting a level of caffeine 70 times more than is usually found in a high-energy drink."

He also washed it down with an energy drink!

</comment><comment><USER4> I used to be addicted to energy drinks, and I used to be a heavy natural coffee consumer, but I stopped doing it. I learned trough my experience that high amounts caffeine are only good for one time use, because it sort of overloads the system, making you feel good at first, but it's only temporary.</comment>


Recplay: Motorbike simulation record player - <AUTHOR> http://maxdamantus.github.io/recplay/?show

<comment><AUTHOR> Source code: [https://github.com/Maxdamantus/recplay](https://github.com/Maxdamantus/recplay)

Another website using the tool: [http://www.recsource.tv/](http://www.recsource.tv/)

</comment><comment><USER2> Elastomania! There is still an active community of players playing an online- enabled mod of this 15+ year old game over at [http://www.elmaonline.net](http://www.elmaonline.net) \-- come say hi :D

</comment><comment><USER3> Anyone knows of a simple simulator where you draw a bike/car (very simple model, just two wheels connected to the body by some simple lines, and then the model would run autonomously through a terrain, the purpose being to try and draw one that wouldn't crash or would go faster than your last successful one? I played it a lot some time ago (couple of years ago, I think), and never found it again.

<comment><USER4> I know the one. [http://boxcar2d.com/](http://boxcar2d.com/) is similar (possibly based on the one you're referring to but it looks like it's been updated). Also this: [http://rednuht.org/genetic_cars_2/](http://rednuht.org/genetic_cars_2/)

<comment><USER3> It was just like these, but you got to draw the vehicles instead of having them be generated.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Oh, man!

This gave me a massive wave of nostalgia.. haven't played Elastomania in an incredibly long time. Loved being a little kid and making giant loop-de-loops in this game.

Why did you make this now, of all times?

EDIT: Apparently there's still a vibrant community around this old game! Amazing! [http://www.recsource.tv/r/vkrdyhlbzj](http://www.recsource.tv/r/vkrdyhlbzj)

</comment><comment><USER6> Can someone explain what's going on?

</comment><comment><USER7> My jaw dropped when I saw it was Elastomania. Love that game!!</comment>


Show HN: The first ad blocker for podcasts - <AUTHOR> https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/podblocker-block-podcasts/id1133018564?mt=8 <comment><AUTHOR> Hi everyone, I got sick of hearing the same ads over and over again in podcasts, so I made this ad blocker for podcasts.

How it detects ads?

The app detect ads by either a user identifying an ad (by clicking the Podblocker button) or by a large minority of users skipping forward at the same point in a podcast. Once an ad is identified, we have a team that locates the exact starting and ending position of the ad.

Why not use ML to identify ads?

We would love to, but we can't work out how to make it economically feasible. A bag-of-words model we think would work reasonably well to detect an ad. However, at this stage, the cost of speech to text recognition is around $0.02 a minute, so if you are identifying ads in 10,000 podcasts that release once a week with an average duration of 45 minutes you are looking at spending around $468,000 a year just to get speech to text recognition.

If anyone has any other ideas on how to tackle this we are all ears.

<comment><USER2> Do you think poscasters show ads because they want to? They do so to support themselves and the cost of putting on high quality programs. They're often easy enough to skip. I would have been indifferent to your app if not for the .99 cent a month subscription which to me feels like theft.

<comment><AUTHOR> The app works by blocking ads that the community finds objectionable. We have found that a lot of users are frustrated by longer and longer ads, repetitive ads, and ads inappropriate for their interests. In particular, a lot of our users are not based in America, so an ad for buying US postage stamps isn't that relevant.

We allow users to subscribe to up to 6 podcasts without paying the subscription fee. I think this is a pretty good deal. Unfortunately, unlike a desktop ad blocker - we need a lot of human involvement to block the ads.

<comment><USER2> That's good to know. I guess then this is for an audience that doesn't include me because the tech podcasts I listen to often have repeated ads of about 1 to 2 minites in length but they are relevant to the audience (tech meetups or conferences, hired.com and others for job finding, or even the random blue apron spots) or are easy to skip as they happen at around the same time and for about the same lengths. Good luck.

<comment><USER2> *minutes (apparently I can't type)</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


"Load More" is not the Answer - <AUTHOR> http://www.phoboslab.org/log/2010/07/load-more-is-not-the-answer

<comment><USER2> I think the answer is AJAX pagination of content and change the URL appropriately.</comment>


Argh There's an asshole on my internet - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/i-m-h-o/66e8721ff869 <comment><USER2> You need to have a thick skin when presenting your work for critique regardless of whether you are a programmer or a cook.

Moreover, I would personally take abrasive factual criticism over superficial pats on the back and fake smiles in a heartbeat.

In fact, this -

      Bookmark hell? What about click through stuff hell?
      Needless to say, 5 clicks through, I gave up.

is a _very_ useful feedback. It's raw, but it is the actual uncoated impression of a real user. Live with it, learn from it.

<comment><USER3> Useful, maybe. Constructive, no. Especially to someone who didn't understand enough not to do this in the first place.

Just because you should expect the internet to be full of douchebags does not mean you need to contribute to their number. It doesn't hurt to be nice.

<comment><USER4> I don't see anything particularly nasty about the comments called out by the author. One even seemed somewhat humorous in nature (first one).

Look.. if you are unable in this day and age, and this environment, to differentiate between honest criticism directed at your product, in this case "you wrecked my back history", "too much clicking", "too much animation" and insults directed at you (or your child.. what a shameful appeal to emotion), you are in the wrong line of work.

I honestly and truly mean that. If your criterion for "nasty" is a short message containing no insults, no foul language, simply a lack of social niceties book-ending the actual content, you're going to be very unpleasantly surprised when actual end users get ahold of your product and start voicing their annoyance with language that would make Linus Torvalds blush.

Being a labor of love certainly doesn't exempt you from criticism, even less so when you make a "Show HN" post about it!

 _If you don't like my work because it is bad, tell me about it._

Here were three very concrete issues presented by random people. I don't know about you, but were I on the receiving end of those pretty reasonable comments, I'd have taken their advice to heart and made changes, not written what amounts to a tone argument in blog post form.

This post is made not in insult of the author or his work - it is made in honest critique of the blog post. Whatever tone is chosen to be read into this post is the reader's choice.

<comment><AUTHOR> I am the author and I'd like to answer your comments, please:

I agree with you that the jump from the quoted comments to my passionate statement ("If you don't like my work...") was extremely abrupt. It seems to indicate that I believed the criticisms to be ad hominems directed at me.

Refuting the ad hominem ad-hoc, without an example was childish behavior on my part and I would like to apologise for that bit unreservedly. I also realise that it is VERY ironic considering the nature and topic of my post but I hope the rest of the post still makes good points.

Nope, I am not ashamed about the 'appeal to emotion' because it wasn't an appeal to emotion. It is something I personally believe and I'd like to stand by it, please. I think that anyone who's created something deserves a bit of admiration/praise along with the criticism and in that regard the example fits perfectly, IMHO. Let us agree to disagree here?

I beg to differ about the 'honesty of the criticism' and the 'concreteness' of the three issues you mention - IMHO, they were disguised as insults. The same points have also been brought up by others in the same thread in ways that are far better at promoting a conversation and a learning experience, in general.

It'll please you to know that the original creator of the Show HN (TuringMachine) was a far better man than I and I was thoroughly impressed by his responses. I, OTOH, was quick to express my anguish in a public forum and I have received some very interesting criticism myself. Yours is definitely one of them, thank you.

<comment><USER5> _I think that anyone who 's created something deserves a bit of admiration/praise along with the criticism and in that regard the example fits perfectly, IMHO._

As a programmer, it's worth keeping in mind that your work—with any luck—will touch the lives of tens of thousands of people. If your work is poor, you will make those lives worse. If your work is excellent, you will make those lives better. Everything you do, for good or ill, may be multiplied by a huge number. This is how programmers can change the world, and how they can make piles of money.

But with this power comes a responsibility: We have to listen to those users, and we have to give them the best we can. If we're unlucky, the users will say _nice_ things while suffering in silence. If we're lucky, some of those users will gripe and moan about something specific. Many programmers spend a huge amount of effort trying to get users to vent their frustrations in detail. One of the most brutally effective things a programmer can do is watch a user through one-way glass from a sound-proof room. You will sit there cursing yourself, mutter, "How could I have been so stupid? I have to fix that immediately."

Now, if a novice programmer shows me their Rails app in person, I'm going to compliment some stuff, rip some other stuff apart (with instructions on how to fix it), and point them towards useful tools. But if a programmer releases software to a wide audience, and that software sucks, I'll gripe as much as any other user. (Of course, if the software is open source, I know the answer will be "Patches, please!", so I skip the griping and send patches along with enthusiastic thank yous for the code.)

If you don't think your work is ready to touch the lives of ten thousand people, and you don't want that responsibility, then I actually recommend against doing a "Show HN". Find a smaller, more personal group, where people will interact with you, and not just your code.

And I say all of this as somebody who has _zero_ patience for nasty personal remarks. The feedback you quoted was brutal, but as a working professional, I've invested both time and money to elicit similar feedback.

<comment><AUTHOR> I wish I could meet more people like you and I wish that you meet better people than me. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this. You are truly awesome.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I agree with his thoughts pertaining to, effectively, the fact that people should put some time into being polite even in their negative criticism. Specifically, things like the following could be said in a better way while still conveying the message that the user has issues with the site:

> What is this? Sorry, but I'm not going to watch shapes flying around my > screen to find out.

However, then he goes on to imply that the things being said are personal attacks, not critiques of the work itself.

> If you don't like my work because it is bad, tell me about it. If you don't > like my work because you don't like me, talk to the fucking hand.

The messages he quoted, while they could have been phrased better, were not personal attacks. They were comments on things that people found wrong with the product, not the person.

<comment><USER7> This post is the epitome of irony. The guy attack HNers as people for attacking people instead of their work, but post as example critiques of work.

It is like the bible phrase about judging while still having a post on your eyes.

<comment><AUTHOR> That guy is me, the OP.

The post was written as a single-draft rant and published in a hurry. In retrospect, I should have taken care to draft it better. Should I edit the post and structure it better? Is it right to edit your post once it has been published and commented upon? In any case, thanks for the criticism.

As for the irony, I would like to politely disagree with you on that one: I am not attacking people of HN in the post at all!

In fact attacking is the wrong word, IMHO. I am ranting against/criticizing HN-ers criticizing skills. I personally believe that, in the context of HN, your posts, comments & critiques are defined as "your work". So essentially, I am criticizing "your work", don't you think?

Also, I apologised for the rant going slightly off-topic in my last paragraph. I would like to believe that I did not stray too far off-topic but do tell me if I did: I'll take care to construct my future posts better.

Thanks for reading!

<comment><USER8> _The post was written as a single-draft rant and published in a hurry._

If you want constructive criticism, here is some: don't do that. Particularly not if you are basically complaining about other people doing that. And even more particularly not if it isn't just a quick comment on HN, but a separate post on your own blog; blog posts are expected to have more thought and care behind them than comments.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yup, duly noted. :)

However, now that it is out there in the wild, I am taking notes for what to do (and what NOT to do) the next time I post something. The 'published in a hurry' bit happened because I accidentally clicked the publish button instead of the save draft button. I am not entirely sure how to unpublish on Medium - or if such a thing was even possible. So I went ahead and posted it to HN expecting - very literally - nothing.

One way or the other, I'm getting to learn quite a few things now! :)

<comment><USER8> One other item that I think is worth repeating, about the original presentation: the "click-through hell" commenter didn't choose the most tactful way to put it, but he had a point. :-) I know slideshows and videos are all the rage now, but a simple article or blog post has one big advantage over them: it's much higher bandwidth, at least for me, and I suspect for a large percentage of your target audience. I can read a _lot_ faster than your video can run, or than your slideshow can go from slide to slide. If you don't give me a quick, high-bandwidth way to find out what you're doing, I'm not going to invest the time.

[Edit: I see from comments elsewhere in this thread that you were not the author of the original presentation; but I still think the above is a good general rule to follow.]

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Not all criticism is wrapped in a pretty package, but most of it is still useful. You are not your code, if someone attacks your code/product try to get to the useful part of that criticism and don't get bent out of shape about the insults.

I agree people should be more polite but there are some that are just incapable of wrapping their criticism up to be nice.

Speaking on the mentor portion of the article as a Junior Dev I worked under an older Senior Programmer who would flat out say the code I just finished and was proud of sucked, after asking a few questions I'd get to the root of it and learn something. Under the crude insults he was a smart guy who knew his stuff. The way he reviewed code was just part of his personality, he actively tried to be nice but it never came out to others as nice as he thought it was. In the end I'm glad he gave me criticism even if it wasn't pretty, it really helped me to hone my skills.

<comment><AUTHOR> So what you are saying is some people are like Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory - they just can't be bothered to be polite about something they know is inherently wrong?

Welp, I'd not considered that at all! Thank you so much for that perspective. I'll keep that in mind the next time I meet someone like that! :)

<comment><USER10> considering you just made a big bang theory reference, i'm inclined to say you had it coming, son

<comment><AUTHOR> I am not much of a TV-person but I like some of the characters and some parts/episodes/scenes of the show. And yeah, while it was a fitting reference, I should have known that I had it coming. :(

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> > What is this? Sorry, but I'm not going to watch shapes flying around my > screen to find out.

Oh no, that's such a terrible criticism.

</comment><comment><USER12> I have also been disappointed in the change of HN over the last few years but he picked some really poor examples to try to show case those issues, this is more jumping on that band wagon while not understanding what the banner on the side says. I will admit I was quickly lost while trying to read this chest beating bravado manifesto mixed (strangely enough) with a lack of self confidence oozing from every other sentence. You know what impresses hackers? Code, quality code that does something non trivial. In academia either no one pays attention to your work and you can think it's great without anyone arguing with you, or they try to tear something truly novel apart like a pack of rabid hyena. When you get on the front page of hacker news some people are going to do the same thing. Think of it as publishing a ground breaking paper. Programmers can be rather laconic, and if this means using a short sentence to let you know you aren't explaining your product/project succinctly enough, or you are requiring to many clicks just to get to the meat of what you want to tell people perhaps it's good advice and you should take it (along with a grain of salt because SOME people are just assholes but assholes rarely give actionable valuable feedback) especially if it's multiple people.

<comment><AUTHOR> I am OP and the author of the post.

Yup, you are right. I picked some poor examples to showcase my experiences and I should have drafted/edited my post better. I have nobody to blame but myself. Thanks for pointing that out, I'll keep this in mind for the future.

As for the lack of self-confidence, I am working my way through that. I kept thinking it was merely a manifestation of the impostor syndrome. Reading your comment, it seems I have over-estimated myself and I am actually suffering from a lack of self-confidence more than anything else.

To tell you the truth, as an utter newbie, I am never entirely sure if I am doing the right thing so I am cautious with almost everything. Unfortunately for me, the same does not seem to apply with my rants. I really should edit my posts better. My escapist brain tells me to excuse myself by saying, I never expected to get on to the front-page of HN. It is definitely a slow news day, I guess.

Also, the project that I chose as an example in the post isn't mine. I should have made that clear in the beginning itself. It just caused my anguish to bubble over.

<comment> Digit-Al Not a criticism, but I believe you have misinterpreted the meaning of "imposter syndrome". Imposter syndrome is when someone experienced and who gets credit for their accomplishments does not believe they deserve the credit or praise they receive. If you are a newbie, as you say, then by definition you cannot suffer from imposter syndrome.

<comment><AUTHOR> The impostor syndrome is not for my experiences as a developer. It's for a different part of my life. :)

Also, I thought it had nothing to do with experience and was strictly about 'internalizing accomplishments' \- at least that's what Wikipedia said.

Maybe I am over-assuming. Maybe you are right and I just suffer from low self- esteem. :(

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> These kinds of posts are tiring - the Internet White Knight is a tired meme, and has been tired for almost twenty years. Unless you can provide a solution to the problem, you're just creating noise - something, like assholes, that the Internet certainly does not need more of.

Social networking on a grand scale has been around for almost 30 years, and in that time the Internet has remained skeptical, critical, and slightly negative.

Lets think about why that is for a second. The Internet is built on ads. Not content, not content creators, and not Google. Advertising drives the machinations of the Internet and there are very few large sites out there that aren't advertizing driven.

When the underlying pulse of the Internet is marketing, it's no wonder that people take a reserved and slightly negative approach - they don't know whether they're experiencing something genuine or being fed bullshit, and sometimes the answer is both.

So please, be a bit less of an anti-asshole and a bit more understanding about why people take this tack in their online personas - it isn't about an inherent negativity of their personality, but rather a defensive mechanism that they've subconsciously developed due to the reality of what the Internet is - a marketing platform.

<comment><USER14> Usenet was famously full of assholes and vigorous flaming. Usenet was (for some time) free of advertising.

Very many other online fora with no advertising have had similar problems with vigorous discussion. See, eg, Wikipedia, where people often have personality clashes.

<comment><USER13> Parts of usenet were full of assholes. But parts of any ecosystem will be full of assholes.

Also, Wikipedia does not exist in a void. I would posit that more than half of Wikipedia's traffic comes from Google, the poster child for ad driven business in the Internet age.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> End users and reviewers are not going to be all fluffy bunny rabbits on the Internet. Suck it up and fix it. You will gain respect for actually responding constructively rather than ranting about how unfair it is.

In real life it's even harder. To be blatantly honest I nearly cried once when a client ripped the shit out of two weeks of backbreaking work I did for them. Instead of crawling off and whinging I fixed it and the client was happy. This was in 1998 and they're still a client now.

Now try again :)

<comment><AUTHOR> To quote a song from my childhood.

"I get knocked down But I get up again You're never gonna keep me down."

Right? ;)

<comment><USER16> Although I would be tempted to refrain from taking life lessons from Chumbawumba. :)

<comment><USER15> I can think of worse bands. Chumbawumba have a great reputation for stirring things up in a comedy fashion.

Oh and no twirking or whatever it is.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I've been programming for years & years. I juuuust missed the punch card era. Whenever I'm approached by a new learner, I remember a story my mother told me.

My mother was studying to be a nurses assistant. She was learning to draw blood. Her first real human patient was a frail, elderly lady. My mom was apologetically poking this woman's arm. "Don't worry, dear," the lady told my mother. "We all have to learn somehow."

Whenever I get poked by a newcomer to the field, I try to help as best I can. We all have to learn somehow.

</comment><comment><USER14> Asking people to give better feedback is pointless. The arseholes on HN enjoy being arseholes and will condemn you for suggesting they give the same feedback in a less arseholey way.

> What is this? Sorry, but I'm not going to watch shapes flying around my > screen to find out.

It's tempting to reply to this with a "well, fuck off then." but it's valid critique - some people don't want a presentation, they just want text. Look at man pages - it's possible to improve the typography and the presentation, and include some graphics and CSS, but the information is what people want.

([http://www.openbsd.org/cgi- bin/man.cgi?query=afterboot&sekti...](http://www.openbsd.org/cgi- bin/man.cgi?query=afterboot&sektion=&apropos=0&manpath=OpenBSD+Current&title=New%20System%20afterboot))

As a contrast, look at the mostly positive comments on the 180 days of whatever it was posts - some of the more negative posts got downvotes, and most of the comments seemed positive.

So, maybe it's useful to (avoiding age[1]) say "I'm learning $X and this is what I made? Any useful critique?" You'll still get arseholes but I think you'll have not as many.

[1] Because no matter what you've achieved as a 15 year old there'll be someone on HN to say "Yeah? SO WHAT? That's nothing special."

<comment><AUTHOR> Good thoughts, thanks! :)

I didn't expect this post to polarise people so much but, in a way, I am glad it did. I have found some interesting conversation behaviors and patterns that will surely stand me in good stead when I post my very own "Show HN" in the (hopefully) near future.

As a quick thought, I'd like to leave you with this:

> What is this? Sorry, but I'm not going to watch shapes flying around my > screen to find out.

OR

> [...]some people don't want a presentation, they just want text. Look at man > pages - it's possible to improve the typography and the presentation, and > include some graphics and CSS, but the information is what people want.

I'll stretch my neck out here and claim that both posts are offering the same criticism (somewhat). However, different people react differently to the two statements quoted above. For me, it is the second one.

Which one eggs you on more?

<comment><USER18> I think it's worthwhile looking at this short statement on the HN guidelines:

 _Be civil. Don 't say things you wouldn't say in a face to face conversation._

 _When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. E.g. "That is an idiotic thing to say; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3."_

[http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> People have already said it - Grow a thick skin. People will comment not always having enough time to construct their thoughts, others will post their immediate unedited impression, there will be some where English is a second language and then there are the douchebags. It's feedback. The fact that you make it to the frontpage is feedback. The fact that people are writing means that you have struck a nerve. That is a good thing.

Remove the noise from the signal and use it to improve your product. I like HN and I think it is useful and I haven't found a forum that does it better. I can't comment about Reddit because I have never used or read any articles or threads on it and I have no plan to.

</comment><comment><USER20> If you think those comments are harsh, try dealing with actual users.

</comment><comment><USER21> > _No, there's no harm starting at the lowest rung; you do, after all, start > at the bottom and make your way to the top. However, it is a bloody outrage > when the lowest rung is treated exactly the way Shudras were treated in > early-India._

I sort of see what you are trying to say but I don't think this is an apt analogy. Yes, when you start you might tend to get a RTFM from more experienced developers (often rightfully so) but no one is holding you to a _class_. Asking the right questions and trying to see what the commenter/user is really trying to say might be more helpful in the long run.

> _You never know, your vitriol might just end up killing the next-big-thing > on the internet._

Who knows? You just might uncover a really big pain point the same way.

</comment><comment><USER22> > Is it wrong of me to have started learning programming at the age of 30? Do > my attempts mean squat if I didn't start the same time as you did?

Maybe it would be worth to consider whether your attempts should be as public as they are. Why does everything has to be made public immediately? Continuous delivery does not mean pushing out sub optimal work just because you can and because nobody has to pay for it.

> I don't see you guys taking up cudgels with Pascal because he wrote > treatises in Physics and Philosophy both, do I?

Comparing yourself with a genius is probably not the most humble way of discussing the issue.

</comment><comment><USER23> I'll bite.

The presentation for the Bookmark was at best horrible. Just by forcing the reader to repeatedly click on a specific point of the screen just to get a progressive sentence or two, just isn't a way to do it, especially if you don't even give an indicative of where you are at. I gave up at 20th click or so.

Second, let's examine how the link was titled:

      Show HN: Escape from Bookmark Hell

_Escape_ from _Hell_ already gives a connotation that the author believes that the pre-existing system(the bookmarks), which people have been using for a long time, is somehow _Hellish_ and that it is so bad that it needs _escaping_ from.

Of course, perhaps the author has found and solved a problem which none of us knew we had, but if it were a constructive progress, I'm fine with it. But when you have to click seven to eight times, past the buzzwords, just to see exactly _what_ the author is claiming to be such inefficient system, and ten or so clicks furthermore for the proposed _solution_ , it just reeks of arrogance.

At this point I simply pressed a 'back' button, got annoyed, and simply closed the tab, not averting my attention to it ever again.

Apart from a personal experience from the example, here are the takeaways:

I didn't like what I saw. I didn't like the presentation. Which is fine, you can't please everyone. But _I did not leave a feedback_. To the author of the Bookmark, I didn't exist, or in a way more relevant to a developer, _the disgruntled user whose opinion is valuable in improving the product_ never reached the developer.

That's how unconcerned people usually react.

Instead, you have a group of passionate people who took their time to criticize and comment on the product and the presentation. You should really take it with a grain of salt.

Of course, there should be some assholes, but it's the internet, or even, a group of people. If you had thought somehow that _academic developers_ were all nice and respectful, you would be very sorrily disappointed.

I have no idea if the OP is the author of the Bookmark thing, but normally, when people don't like what they see, they _leave_ , lest leave a comment. Some of the examples the OP listed are actually pretty helpful comments, of this point has already been discussed.

A criticism is better than negligence. Almost always.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hi, I am OP and nope, I am not the author of the bookmark thing nor am I related to him in anyway.

I am, however, someone who unintentionally empathized with the author of the bookmark thing and posted my anguish. I am now learning a lot from this discussion.

I thanks you for your detailed comment and I particularly liked two statements you made:

1\. To the author of the Bookmark, I didn't exist, or in a way more relevant to a developer, the disgruntled user whose opinion is valuable in improving the product never reached the developer.

2\. A criticism is better than negligence. Almost always.

I'll keep these in mind forever when evaluating something for someone else from now on. No matter how small, a single line of feedback can lead to some powerful changes, sometimes. Personally, I'll ensure that I'll always craft this constructively but if I'm on the receiving end I won't take it personally if someone chooses not to. :)

As for the original author of the bookmark thing, he is a far better man than I. He has responded very calmly and respectfully to all the jeering/criticism and I continue to remain in awe of him.

I still have a lot to learn, I guess.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Wow, if the examples in this article are the best examples of "assholes on the internet", the author should try reading about the experiences of non-male or non-white coders sometime. "Yer product sux" is positively TAME in comparison...

</comment><comment><USER25> This article brings up something I wish was discussed on HN more often. As a group, we're not very nice. HN comments are typically filled with cynicism and a jaded worldview that is incredibly off-putting.

</comment><comment><USER26> There are no "participation trophies" in programming.</comment>


Ask HN: How to receive payments from India for an international company? - <AUTHOR> Our B2B business has been getting a bit of traction in the Indian market of late (through no effort of mine), but it appears to be very hard for our Indian customers to actual pay us. We are based in Australia and have no Indian subsidiary. So far all I have found is wire transfers (which are a huge pain for smallish amount). It seems that almost all Indian credit cards can't be used for international payments.<p>Has anyone else run into this problem and has anyone found any workable solution? <comment><USER2> Your customers may need to speak with their banks if they haven't requested activation of their cards for international transactions, since the transactions may be flagged otherwise. This is a simple call; shouldn't take them more than 5-8 min depending on the bank.

In addition, 2-factor authentication (2FA; Verified by VISA; Mastercard Securecode) is mandatory for debit card based transactions. I don't think that's the case for credit cards, but I wouldn't be surprised if, in either case, banks decline to approve transactions from payment processors who don't support 2FA --> so perhaps this is something you could check with your payment processor?

paypal: Many banks in India don't allow transactions with Paypal (perhaps because of concerns of paypal's compliance with Indian banking guidelines), so Paypal is hit or miss.

<comment><AUTHOR> This activation process is limited to a small number of cards only and I can't find out any information if company credit/debit cards can be activated or just personal cards.

I surely can't be the first business in history to run into this problem?

<comment><USER3> AFAIK, all credit cards should work directly - whether company or personal. So far as debit cards are concerned, to the best of my knowledge, such cards are issued to company/business accounts ONLY if the business is a sole proprietor type. If there are multiple people operating a business account, no debit cards are issued. Thus, a business account debit card is essentially the same as that of a personal account.

HTH

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> You can try asking State Bank of India and some of the large private sector Indian banks like HDFC and ICICI Bank. Googling will easily get you their sites and some links or emails via which to contact them.

I recently checked with my bank about paying vendors outside India via online methods, but that was for personal use, like buying small consumer items, not as a company. They did say it was possible. But if your clients in India are companies, you will have to check - the rules (and available methods of payment) are likely to be different for companies than for individuals.

</comment><comment><USER3> Based on my first-hand experience:

1\. Credit cards issued by ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and AXIX Bank work directly for international payments (been using all 3 for over a decade now)

2\. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank Debit cards also work for international payments, but not by default. The card holder has to call up the bank to activate international payment facility - a quick and simple process.

Let me know if there is any other specific info that I can provide.

HTH.

<comment><AUTHOR> Is this for business credit and debit cards? It is hard to find information what regulation are on these cards and if they are treated differently to personal cards.

<comment><USER3> The ones I've been using (as mentioned in my previous comment) are all personal cards, both credit and debit. While I don't have any first-hand info on business cards vis-a-vis international payments, I believe they should work the same way as the personal ones.

<comment><AUTHOR> It is amazingly hard to get any information from anyone on this topic. I find it hard to believe that there are no other companies outside of India that have ever had to solve this problem :(

<comment><USER5> First hand experience. Personal cards (incl corporate cards) both debit and credit issued by ICICI and AMEX always worked internationally without a problem.

My SBI corporate card needed to be "activated" before international travel. It was NOT a Bank policy or Govt policy but something that the finance/accounts dept instructs bank to do to reduce risk of fraud (its nonsense, but there it is).

For all cards, it's between bank and customer. All AMEX and Most (all?) Visa/MasterCard should work internationally.

<comment><AUTHOR> I am glad to hear that corporate cards can also be activated. It looks like the best option is far is provide customers with a guide on how to activate their cards. Still pretty high friction, but at least it is a viable solution.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Paypal should work. I routinely use Paypal to pay for international vendors. I know this is not the preferred option, but they are well integrated with our Indian banks. As far as I know, Stripe and other similar options don't work in India.

I also remember using Amazon payments a couple of years back but that was to pay an US provider not Australia, so your mileage may vary.

<comment><AUTHOR> Are you sure PayPal works as we actually use PayPal as our payment processor for small payments and the Indian customers told me the payment would not go through? I have a feeling for it to work you have to have it linked to one of the tiny number of Indian credit cards that allow international payments.

Edit. This quora link suggests it is a known problem [1] and this link goes into more detail [2].

1\. [https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-make-international- payments...](https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-make-international-payments- when-most-of-Indian-bank-debit-cards-are-not-supported-by-Paypal)

2\. [https://www.isaumya.com/paypal-google-wallet-indian-debit- ca...](https://www.isaumya.com/paypal-google-wallet-indian-debit-card- support/)

<comment><USER6> My bad, I do use the ICICI debit card but many nationalized banks dont support paypal. If it is so important to you could integrate a payment gateway into your app. Payment Gateways support all major banks. Here is a link to one. There are several PGs available. I am not sure if all of them support international merchants.

[https://www.payubiz.in/international- merchant](https://www.payubiz.in/international-merchant)

<comment><AUTHOR> Not a problem. From my investigations the Indian payment gateways can only deal with Indian companies.

The RBI certainly hates us :(

<comment><USER6> Hi Daniel, atleast the one I linked to above, support international merchants. See if their plan suits you.

<comment><AUTHOR> Sharmi for you and anyone else reading this thread payubiz can only deal with Indian companies. Back to square one.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Can they pay in bitcoins?

Then you can convert them to cash at coinbase and alike exchanges right away.

<comment><AUTHOR> I suppose in theory, but does anyone know of a reliable Indian bitcoin exchange that is easy for Indian businesses to use?

Edit. A quick check suggests this is a very expensive way to go given the price of bitcoins in India. Also to buy bitcoins in India you basically have to set up a bank account and go through the whole KYC process. This does not look like a low friction option for Indian companies.

<comment><USER8> Localbitcoins should allow you to buy BTC other than with a bank account.

[https://localbitcoins.com/country/IN](https://localbitcoins.com/country/IN)

<comment><AUTHOR> This is not really a low friction or cheap solution.

<comment><USER8> Why not?

<comment><AUTHOR> I answered it in the response to the OP. A wire transfer would be cheaper and have lower friction.

<comment><USER8> That's bullshit. Banks are the ones with the highest friction and fees.

<comment><AUTHOR> The bitcoin spread is over 25% right now in India. That combined with the paperwork requirement needed for a business to buy bitcoins does not make for a low friction experience.

<comment><USER8> What paperwork do you need as a business to buy bitcoin?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks to the RBI you need to go through the full KYC process - basically the same as setting up a business bank account. This in not low friction.

<comment><USER8> With banks you always go through KYC/AML, this is nothing to do with bitcoin, and everything to do with banks.

<comment><AUTHOR> Well everything to do with the RBI regulations on bitcoin in India. The end outcome is that bitcoin is not a viable option to solve the India payment problem.

<comment><USER8> If your legal system is fucked, that's not bitcoin's fault.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I use Paypal

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes PayPal works if you have it linked to a credit/debit card that allows international payments. The problem in only a small percentage of Indian cards are able to be used to make international payments.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Bitcoin.</comment>


Vue.js Interview with Evan You and Sarah Drasner - <AUTHOR> https://shan.io/sighting/modern-web-podcast-transcript-vue-js-evan-yu-sarah-drasner/ <comment><USER2> They both commented favorably on the Vue,js docs. It's a Lansing local Chris V. Fritz that is responsible for them. He's the one that turned me on to Vue. Oh and he also has a Patreon ;<) [https://www.patreon.com/chrisvuefritz](https://www.patreon.com/chrisvuefritz)

</comment><comment><USER3> Should probably note that this is from April 2017

<comment><AUTHOR> Good point, added updated date. This transcript is new, handcrafted with @craigcannon's Podscripter output.

[https://www.podscripter.co/](https://www.podscripter.co/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I miss working with Sarah. So talented, very patient with engineers who aren't remotely web-savvy (cough, me).

</comment><comment><USER5> It took me a minute to find the audio link: [https://modernweb.podbean.com/e/mw-s04e09-evan-yu-sarah- dras...](https://modernweb.podbean.com/e/mw-s04e09-evan-yu-sarah-drasner/)</comment>


Show HN: Swagmeter – Detecting Hipsters Using Inception V3 - <AUTHOR> https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/swagmeter/id1228066331?mt=8 <comment><AUTHOR> Just wanted to share it here to get some feedback. The app is intended to be a joke. We build the original version in the hackathon (in which we won a 2nd place) and never got around finishing it until now. It uses a dataset of 5k images, and an inception v3 model, retrained to recognise each category. Everything is done offline and optimised to run on a mobile.

</comment><comment><USER2> Why is it 120MB?

<comment><USER3> Mainly because inception v3 alone takes around 80MBs. Add the project, few things to be able to read the model effectively (offline, on-the-go) and here we go - 100MBs :)

We have ideas of trying mobilenet as the model would be 5-15MBs then.</comment></comment>


Show HN: Be Your Own Password Generator - <AUTHOR> https://hachibu.github.io/be-your-own-password-generator/ <comment><USER2> > It records a short video of you and then transforms that raw video data into > an array of 8-bit unsigned integers. Then it randomly selects an integer > from that array and transforms it into its corresponding UTF-16 character. > If that character is a lowercase letter, uppercase letter, digit or special > character it will be used for your password.

This is an interesting idea but have you conducted any entropy tests by generating a class of passwords from a family of videos and seeing how different they really are (e.g. character freq)? Without any hard numbers I can pretty confidently assume that the colors (8 bit unsigned perhaps mean R, G, and B pixel values) in a video are not uniformly/randomly distributed in the color space and subsequent frames of the video are also highly correlated. Not to mention you specifically throw away any non ascii character so a large portion of the UTF-16 space is not even allowed). Unless by chance, those you throw away happen to also be the super common int values, I feel that it's likely the entropy of these passwords is going to be surprisingly low.

What do you think? The entropy test would make a great blog post.

<comment><AUTHOR> This is great breakdown. I think doing an entropy test would be a great idea for a followup blog post.

I don't know how to run an entropy test. Do you know how I could do that?

<comment><USER2> The search term you are looking for is Shannon Entropy [0]. That should set you in the right direction.

Put in layman terms - your best possible entropy is a case where every allowed character appears with roughly the same chance (i.e. there is no super common or super rare characters). The most extreme low entropy case is where only one character appears all the time so the password is completely predictable if you know how long it is.

I would recommend you run two tests. One with the same video over and over video and one with 5 or so videos filmed under similar conditions to measure how much of the randomness actually comes from different videos vs. your algorithm. For your videos genererate 100k+ passwords and count the number of times each character appears to get the probability of each character. Then use what you learned about Shannon Entropy (using the probability of each letter) to determine how much entropy your passwords have.

[0] [https://planetcalc.com/2476/](https://planetcalc.com/2476/)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you, I'll try it out.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> There's significant correlation between adjacent pixels in a natural image and between corresponding pixels in consecutive frames. Using the least significant bits of the raw pixel data is a reasonable source of entropy, but using entire pixels and just concatenating them is probably far less entropy than the length of the generated password would suggest.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, I should figure out how to test the entropy of this and add that to the site.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> "People who have this video," is a reasonable security challenge in some cases/threat models.

It reminds me that I've been very slowly experimenting with an idea I've been calling "avatar auth" for a Secure Scuttlebutt-like P2P social media (or possibly just directly with SSB). The idea is that the raw original image file used to build an avatar acts as the hash/input to a key derivation function so that the raw avatar image itself is the "password" to the account. You force a lossy series of steps between the raw image and the final avatar (crop, shrink, corner rounding, maybe some simple filters) so someone can't just copy an avatar as they see it on the service itself to log in. You can't entirely eliminate "copy-cat" avatars (but they'd have different keys/account numbers), and you have some difficulties with avatar migration, but overall it's a really simple login system idea (choose your avatar image file and go).

<comment><AUTHOR> That's a cool concept. I'd love to try it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> So this scheme could be useful as a simple sort of video hashing, at least to meet basic hashing needs. I wouldn't use this as a password generator, though. Anyone can reconstruct the password using the same video, so you would have to protect the video.

<comment><AUTHOR> Ah yes, I understand what you're saying. The videos aren't being stored anywhere. It's all happening inside the browser. The video disappears as soon as you refresh or close the browser.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I have a clear box of about 50 colorful dice on my desk. I can shake the box anytime I need a strong password. Dicewords.com word lists are an easy way to generate strong passwords completely off-line. If that isn't a requirement, a SHA256 hash of a photo of the box contents after shaking can easily generate 256 bits of entropy over and over.

<comment><USER7> Wouldn't a good psuedorandom number generator that takes measures from different sources in the computer and ambient room noise from the mic, mouse movements, etc be plenty of entropy while being much easier than having to shake a physical box and take a photo?

That would be a lot harder to recreate and reverse engineer than getting a copy of the photo of the dice.

<comment><USER6> Yes, you might be right.

I don't do top secret work, but I do want to protect my personal, business, banking, etc. information so I fiddle around with various approaches to generating passwords.

I actually bought a small, very cheap, PC that I run Linux on expressly for the purpose of managing passwords. It never connects to a network and has software for generating gpg keys, certificates and passwords. I use it infrequently enough that each time I do it takes a lot of work to remember how I decided best to use it.

What I use more than anything for 95% of my passwords is Apple's Keychain app. The information is backed up in the cloud and is available on my Apple computers, iPad, and iPhone. It's been a very helpful application, and I like how it's integrated into Apple's software. For important passwords I resort to the box of dice or my air-gaped little linux laptop.</comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Tripetto – Visual form editor for creating forms in websites and apps - <AUTHOR> https://forms.tripetto.community <comment><USER2> Ok, is this aimed at the general public or at programmers? It seems to be aimed at the general public, but it is way too much for a non-programmers to understand -- the examples, for instance, are GitLab repos with full React apps. If it is aimed at programmers, I find it difficult to conceive of a programmer using this instead of just writing their own login in 10 lines.</comment>


Ecuador breaks US trade pact to thwart 'blackmail' over Snowden asylum - <AUTHOR> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/27/ecuador-us-trade-pact-edward-snowden

<comment><USER2> That article is very confused. It starts by claiming that Ecuador did what the letter said. Then it points out that the letter is not an official document (it was unsigned). Then it concludes that everything in the letter is still true, even though the Ecuadorian government pointed out that it isn't.

</comment><comment><USER3> Shouldn't they have waited until they actually have Snowden? Isn't he in Russia now?</comment>


The Weedkiller in Our Food Is Killing Us? - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/the-guardian/the-weedkiller-in-our-food-is-killing-us-5598c440205f <comment><USER2> Woah first time I've seen "This story is for Medium members". I guess this is when people will start abandoning Medium.

</comment><comment><USER3> Here's the link on Guardian's website without a paywall - [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/06/the- we...](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/06/the-weedkiller- in-our-food-is-killing-us)

Edit - Personal note - I know farmers who are disgusted that the industry now sprays crops with weed killer not only before the crops have produced food but also directly on the edible portions right before harvest as a means of drying the moisture out of the crops so they can be harvested before winter. Many elevators will not purchase the crops if the moisture content is to high.

</comment><comment><USER4> Seems to be a paywall.

I would second this. Something has been causing adrenal gland issues for me and it is raising my blood pressure. BP drugs (all types) don't help at all. It seems more and more people are having this problem. I don't know how people are going to deal with the nasty side effects from damage to lymph nodes and adrenal glands.

<comment><USER5> I had a Yunnan tea habit of about a pound a month for 26 months then found out my thyroid function went to almost zero. Blood tests a month after I stopped showed heavy metal exposure down in the noise, so was it pesticides? Is it even related to the tea? I may never know. Now I'm on synthroid for the rest of my life.

<comment><USER4> Yikes. If you still have any of the tea, perhaps get it tested. The FDA could possibly make a public notice/recall.</comment></comment></comment>