Equality for all? And everyone fails... - <AUTHOR> http://alexnotov.com/post/10709775427/equality-for-all-and-everyone-fails <comment><USER2> Clinton was a centrist, far from socialist politician. Obama seeks the same top marginal tax rate as Clinton, while supporting lower taxes in many other areas, placing Obama to the right of Clinton. If this absurd analogy had any merit, we would have all failed many times over in the 8 year Clinton presidency.

I'm also curious what the OP means when he calls Obama a "corporatist socialist". Considering the vast bulk of Obama's policies have been the socialization of losses and the privatization of profits, that phrase may be an apt description, though I get the impression thats not what the OP meant to say.

<comment><USER3> I consider any inequality in tax rates to be socialist, its in Marx's fucking ten point plan. How is that not socialist?

<comment><USER4> Marx wasn't a socialist. ;)

<comment><AUTHOR> Are you kidding me???

"Karl Heinrich Marx (5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, sociologist, economic historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist who developed the socio-political theory of Marxism. " -Wikipedia article

If you tell me that Wikipedia is not a legitimate source for the above information, shall I point you to 10 other sources that will corroborate the above??

You must have been born on another planet.

<comment><USER4> The point I was making is that what Marx believed is called Marxism and not socialism. They differ in a number of ways.

1.One is the Marxism is derived from the Hegelian German tradition of a dialectical view of social change.

2.Marxism argues that socialism is a possible, but not necessary step between capitalism and marxism. The more revolutionary the more likely this step should be avoided.

3\. Read: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism> and notice how they use socialism and in what context. They use it in opposition of Marxism and Communism.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> You know what's more damaging to American politics than the LURKING RED MENACE of socialism?

Uncited, anonymous propaganda designed to get people frothing at the mouth and to see people with opposing viewpoints as nothing more than gullible idiots.

<http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/socialism.asp>

</comment><comment><USER6> It's a strawman arguement.

You can't substitute grades for money. Because there are more drivers than just 'success' in "the real world"

In reality... The people who were getting "F"s would be earning no money, so they'd all starve, their families would starve... You really think they'll just think "well I won't do anything, cause I don't like how this system works".

Also, you are running the test on a group of people who have been conditioned into the capitalist way of thinking, of course they find socialism unsustainable, just as socialists find capitalism unsustainable.

Run an inverse capitalist experiment and tell the class "I'm only going to give these 2 guys here As and the rest of you will get C-s regardless how hard you work because their dads paid me some $$$" -- See how well the class goes then.

<comment><AUTHOR> Why can't I substitute grades for money?

In our current educational system, grades are a measure of value, determined just as arbitrarily as USD or Euros, by just as an arbitrary an authority.

You can think of grades as educational fiat currency.

The people whom are getting Fs are the ones who'd be on welfare. And they'd have no incentive of getting out.

<comment><USER6> I explained, there are more drivers than 'success' in the real world, that are not simulated by grades.

The example in the OP illustrates a 'crash' of a socialist system, by saying everyone gets Fs, if you convert that into money, you are talking about a complete crash of equity (i.e there is no money to share around). Meaning there is no welfare, meaning they all starve, with their families. You don't die, if you get a bad grade, you do die, if you don't eat.

I'm saying before a complete collapse you would trigger peoples survival instincts and they would work - just to survive (similar to china from the 50s-70s).

At less extreme cases people will always want to improve their living situation, and thus will strive to generate more capital (or more directly, contributing value to their community).

<comment><AUTHOR> So are you effectively saying that a socialist system would not collapse, because people would to survive and that in less extreme cases, people will strive to generate more capital...

But, in a socialist system, whom would hire these people who would be on the brink of survival?

As for the less extreme cases (let's say a mixed economy), whom will pay them for the creation of value, and who will judge the value created, and who will thwart value creation through placing incorrect judgments?

Do you see where I am getting with my questions?

<comment><USER6> No, I'm not sure what you are getting at.

> But, in a socialist system, whom would hire these people who would be on the > brink of survival?

I'm saying it would never get to that. Just like if you lose your job now, you don't wait until you "are on the brink of survival" before you find another job.

>whom will pay them for the creation of value, and who will judge the value created, and who will thwart value creation through placing incorrect judgments?

I'm not sure what answer you are looking for here. You are clearly driving to a point, without actually making it. How about you make it, rather than the socratic run-around.

> Do you see where I am getting with my questions?

No, I don't. Because you never actually made a statement in your response.

<comment><AUTHOR> First of all, thank you for staying on point and keeping your rational train of thought. You have been the only one to realize the purpose of my post: stirring rational discussion about a very difficult issue that deserves attention from entrepreneurs. Also, thank you for calling me out on the Socratic run-around and lack of direct statements. Here are my counter- arguments (and notes of agreement, where possible), one by one.

> I explained, there are more drivers than 'success' in the real world, that > are not simulated by grades.

Of course. Everyone has a set of values that they follow through virtuous action or otherwise, whether they realize it or not. Some seek the values that ultimately lead them to their demise, others to their success. This does not, however, preclude that some values are good and others bad for a given individual. So if achieving good grades were the standard of value in a school system, then it follows that the driver of success in that context were the grades. Yes, in the real world, there are other factors (and if grades were analogous to currency, then the acquisition of wealth is not the only thing I'd be after - and I'd certainly not be accumulating in fiat currency).

> The example in the OP illustrates a 'crash' of a socialist system, by saying > everyone gets Fs, if you convert that into money, you are talking about a > complete crash of equity (i.e there is no money to share around). Meaning > there is no welfare, meaning they all starve, with their families. You don't > die, if you get a bad grade, you do die, if you don't eat.

Of course in a crash of an economic system, wealth allocated by individuals in worthless financial instruments (made worthless because their worth had been sanctioned by fiat) would be wiped out. Those individuals whom will have invested in other stores of value prior to such a crash would prosper, while others would live in squalor or perish (with some room for those in other parts in the middle of the spectrum). Such collapses have happened in the past, and are likely to happen again. Look at what is going in Europe for some early warning signs. There's no true socialism anywhere, but there are very serious attempts at implementing some of the philosophy of socialism. In places where the attempts are the most honest, the crashes shall be the most drastic. The places where they are the most honest, are the places most analogous to the classroom example in the OP piece.

> At less extreme cases people will always want to improve their living > situation, and thus will strive to generate more capital (or more directly, > contributing value to their community).

Yes of course in less extreme cases of socialist-like socio-economic systems (as in the US), those who see the writing on the wall will attempt to improve their situation - at any cost - and some without even realizing that they are doing so. I think that many entrepreneurs are in this class.

Now as to the reality of the failures of socialism... and its various interpretations... is the analogy of the OP piece I posted clear? Does it make sense, given what I've written above?

<comment><USER6> It would make more sense, but there are clear examples of socialism working in various forms, throughout Europe, China, Australia. So when reality counters a fairly weak and stretched analogy. I am skeptical (to say the least).

Socialism doesn't have to be the huge stifling of wealth.

China is generating wealth with Socialism with Chinese Characteristic™

Australia has highly socialist policies (free health care, study allowance, subsidised education, pensions, unemployment benefits), yet still boasts a robust capital-generating society, that has avoided recession (so-far) post GFC.

There are no "true capitalist" (true being 'everyone is a capitalist') countries either, because it simply doesn't work. One needs to exploit something (usually someone) in order to generate capital, and if everyone were looking to do this, there would be no one to exploit, and thus no surplus value, no profit, thus no motive for business.

<comment><USER7> An evenly-weighted average over each student's separate score bakes in a lack of collaboration or competitive advantage. The most outstanding "producer" was mathematically barred from compensating for even two poor ones, much less giving them assistance. This wasn't socialism, but communism (imposed across a wing of prisoner's dilemma cells), and the author of such a piece ought to know the difference.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Why is it that libertarians often resort to lame "parable-like" stories to get their point across? Is there really such a dearth of real, concrete examples from which to draw?

It might be forgivable if the parables were at least interesting or original. But this one has been recycled on senior citizen mailing lists for at least a couple of years now. You can find it splattered all over the Internet wherever tea partiers like to distribute their propaganda.

<comment><AUTHOR> I am not a libertarian. I am also neither a Republican, nor a Democrat. I've already apologized for the mistake of posting something that doesn't have attribution and is baseless. Still, I appreciate your input.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> This story is literally the archetype of a bad HN submission. I'm surprised and disappointed it lasted 13 hours. Of course I flagged it.

<comment><AUTHOR> Never mind, I just read: <http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html>

FYI: Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did.

<comment><USER9> I think the "don't comment, just flag" guideline is often counterproductive. Just look what happened here: my comment got you to read the site guidelines. You wouldn't have even known I flagged the post.

So, I ignore that particular guideline, and you can feel free to downmod my comment; I assure you I don't mind.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> If I wanted to read stupid-ass chain letters repeating the same old boring irrelevant political talking points repeated by the mainstream media I'd be reading my Facebook feed.

</comment><comment><USER11> Only in America could Obama be called a socialist. In most other countries of the world, his policies and platforms would be considered slightly RIGHT of center.

A socialist would have:

\- nationalized the banks instead of bailing them out.

\- cut the insurance companies out of health care instead of bringing in a health care plan very similar to the one proposed by the republicans in the 90s.

\- called for increased taxation on corporations to balance the deficit

\- immediately pulled out of Iraq & Afghanistan.

<comment><AUTHOR> -Bailing banks out and nationalizing them are virtually equivalent. Especially given the bailout terms.

-The proposed (and enacted) health plan _does_ cut out all insurance companies, which don't comply with its terms.

-Increased taxes on the "wealthy" _is_ an indirect tax on the corporations, since it is the "wealthy" which make those corporations possible.

-Why would a socialist pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan, when those are good justifications for perpetuating the same policies currently in place?

<comment><USER12> _Bailing banks out and nationalizing them are virtually equivalent._

Except for the results for shareholders, bondholders, and executives, all of whom end up much better off after the bailouts.

<comment><AUTHOR> And with the inclusion of the taxpayers who made the bailouts possible and who will ultimately pay the highest price.

Yay for corporatism with a socialist twist.

<comment><AUTHOR> Seeing that this got flagged down, simply means to me that the folks who flagged this comment down have no respect for reality...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Obama's socialism? 30 years ago Obama could have had shot at winning as a Republican. To call him a socialist is ridiculous.

<comment><AUTHOR> To be more precise, Obama's a corporatist with socialist leanings ;)

<comment><AUTHOR> Why did I get -2 points on this comment? How is this wrong?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> <http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/socialism.asp> shame on you!

</comment><comment><USER15> Pointless and biased exercise. Nobody would stop working just to avoid paying for other people's welfare, and only fools argue for absolute equality.

<comment><USER3> What people should do and what they actually do, is two separate entities. Try again.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Interesting, but: citation needed.

<comment><USER17> Agreed. The whole "experiment" reads like more like a politically-themed chain letter--the kind you'd get from a particularly eccentric aunt who found their way onto Facebook--than an actual exercise in sociology.

<comment><USER3> So its... unlikely? PROBABILISTIC FALLACY, TRY AGAIN.

<comment><USER6> Do you actually have a point to make, or are you just assisting people in pointing out Rhetoric? (without calling attention to your own?)

I've responded above with a somewhat sensible view point. How about you contribute there?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Ok, to those of you whom have responded kindly to my mistake and did not act like children, thank you.

I wrote this in answer to your honorable requests: [http://alexnotov.com/post/10752273733/a-mistake-on-my- part-r...](http://alexnotov.com/post/10752273733/a-mistake-on-my-part-re-last- post)</comment>


Last place on Earth without life - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140303-last-place-on-earth-without-life

<comment><USER2> What effect does salt have (in general) that causes microorganisms problems? Is it just sodium chloride, or do other salts have the same effect?

<comment><USER3> A high salt gradient outside of the cell creates osmotic pressure which causes water to leave the cell, essentially drying the inside of the cell out completely. All solutes have this kind of osmotic effect, so that would include all salts. Organisms deal with it by pumping Potassium ions inside of their cells (to match the outside concentration with a strong inside concentration) and by creating a bunch of (safe) organic molecules on the inside of the cell to match the osmotic pressure created by solutes on the outside of the cell.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> And in the first paragraph it discusses that there IS some life there, just not much. Interesting, but a bit of a sensationalist title given it's the BBC.

<comment><USER5> You didn't read all of it.

The "last place" referred to in the title is the Don Juan Pond not the Atacama Desert mentioned in the first paragraph.</comment></comment>


Show HN: Music Training Site Ultilizing WebMidi API - <AUTHOR> http://musicians-u.com

<comment><AUTHOR> I got rejected today by YCombinator for W15. Putting this out there to gauge interest.

[http://musicians-u.com](http://musicians-u.com)</comment>


Writing a replacement for OpenSSH using Go, part 2 - <AUTHOR> http://blog.appsdeck.eu/post/105010314493/writing-a-replacement-to-openssh-using-go-2-2

<comment><USER2> I'm always super skeptical about "second-hand" reimplementations of crypto protocols like these, because after working through a few of the crypto challenges around, it's pretty obvious that it is very easy to end up with vulnerable code.

Compared to a lot of other code, where you can easily tell you're "done" because "it works", with crypto code you're only halfways there. Not only does it have to work, but it has to _not break_ and not leak secrets, too. Anything from timing attacks to bad handling of padding, bad random generators, not to speak of buffer overflows and logic errors (goto fail, anyone?)

I'm thinking it would be prudent to at least use separate keys for anything interfacing with non-default implementations. Can't remember the details but wasn't there an issue where if any (gpg? ssl?) key had been used for signing on a certain flawed implementation, its secrets were spilled?

What's the state of the Go SSH library, has it been vetted by ... veterans? :)

<comment><USER3> Well, here's the code that Go uses to do elliptic curve encryption:

[https://github.com/golang/crypto/blob/master/curve25519/squa...](https://github.com/golang/crypto/blob/master/curve25519/square_amd64.s)

It's in assembler, with no comments. It's from Bernstein's code, via Supercop, and is not original to the Go team.

A recent effort to formally verify that code, out of Taiwan, Japan, and the Netherlands, found one bug not previously detected by testing.

[http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/2670000/2660370/p299-chen.pd...](http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/2670000/2660370/p299-chen.pdf)

This stuff is really hard to get right.

<comment><USER4> Your second link gives me an error.

<comment><USER3> Here it is without the ACM paywall:

[https://cryptojedi.org/papers/verify25519-20140428.pdf](https://cryptojedi.org/papers/verify25519-20140428.pdf)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Any references about the security of cryptographic primitives in Go? I mean: side-channel attacks, timing attacks and the behaviour of rand().

Because that is the first thing I would look into.

Thanks.

I am just asking (a bit fearful, yes), not simply ranting.

<comment><USER6> The ones in the standard library are implemented for the most part by subject matter experts and are probably more trustworthy than OpenSSL's, which is what virtually everything else uses.

<comment><USER5> Just what I wanted to know. Many thanks, tptacek.</comment></comment></comment>


Quotations Of The Dread Pirate Roberts, Founder Of Silk Road - <AUTHOR> http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/04/29/collected-quotations-of-the-dread-pirate-roberts-founder-of-the-drug-site-silk-road-and-radical-libertarian/print/ <comment><USER3> I agree with some things he says,and some things he says are absolutely stupid. Private police force that you need to pay directly for protection? Reminds me of ancient Rome times, when if your house was on fire, the fire brigade would come and haggle with you first,trying to negotiate how much you are willing to pay to save your house. Having to pay somebody directly(rather than in your taxes) for protection is unfathomably stupid. Right now you can call the police literally anywhere you are in the world, and they will come and help, because that's what they do. With his solution, you could drive to a nearby city and nobody would help you,because you haven't paid the security agency there.

<comment><USER4> There are bigger problems with the private police force idea than them not helping you if you don't pay them. The far bigger problem is that it would be way more profitable for them to just take everything you own than it would be to protect you and your things for a few coins or bills worth a tiny fraction of your net worth.

<comment><USER5> You forget that there wouldn't be just one private police force but many service providers. So if one offers bad service (by robbing you) you just hire one of their competitors.

<comment><USER4> ... and pay them with... ?

This kind of cuts to my biggest problem with objectivists and anarchist- capitalists, no sense of time context or history.

"Let's abolish the government and all that stuff, it is bad and not natural", ignoring the fact that without the sort of government-structured society we've already made, they'd be in no position to have the wealth they are so afraid that taxes are going to "steal" and it works forward too in the sense that without the protections we take for granted from tax-sponsored government, they'd be robbed blind very quickly by those with the means and will to do it.

<comment><USER6> I enjoyed David Friedman's discussions of the incentives present under market anarchy in "The Machinery of Freedom", now available in its entirety online[1]. Your objections are not new and have been discussed at length by market anarchists. Whether or not you find the responses satisfactory is up to you.

David writes for a mainstream audience which is assumed to have some familiarity with concepts of economics and property, but does not need to already be a libertarian. I feel he is the best representative of market anarchist thought.

[1]<http://daviddfriedman.com/The_Machinery_of_Freedom_.pdf>

<comment><USER7> One thing I don't get with libertarianism is why this, second paragraph of the book, doesn't apply both ways:

"People who wish to live in a 'virtuous' society, surrounded by others who share their ideas of virtue, would be free to set up their own communities and to contract with each other so as to prevent the 'sinful' from buying or renting within them. Those who wished to live communally could set up their own communes. But nobody would have a right to force his way of life upon his neighbor."

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8>
        > Personally, I don't think they [Bitcoin, Tor] can be effectively banned at this point. Iran and China, for example, are actively trying and failing.

That is, unfortunately, not quite true in regards to Tor. Iran has on multiple occasions done/tried out doing (turned it on, then off) traffic censorship that directly or indirectly very much affected Tor. [1] [2] True, Tor managed to roll out obfsfroxy et al., which they'd been already actively developing prior to that, but if e.g. Iran (again) attempted country-wise generic SSL censorship, that would hurt things. Tor's pluggable transports would perhaps be a response to that still, but Iran's gov't could move on to other things.

With China it's even worse, as it seems there is custom software being used from within China to actively discover and censor out new Tor bridges (as in, a new one is used by someone, some minutes later another connection from China comes in to it, speaks Tor protocol, disconnects, and then the bridge is blocked.) [3]

This is just to make sure the information about these matters is out there. If anybody is interested in helping out Tor, the mailing lists [4] and research papers and code is out there. :) [5]

[1] [https://blog.torproject.org/blog/update-internet- censorship-...](https://blog.torproject.org/blog/update-internet-censorship- iran)

[2] [https://blog.torproject.org/blog/iran-partially-blocks- encry...](https://blog.torproject.org/blog/iran-partially-blocks-encrypted- network-traffic) (more results via a simple search if interested.)

[3] [https://blog.torproject.org/blog/knock-knock-knockin- bridges...](https://blog.torproject.org/blog/knock-knock-knockin-bridges- doors)

[4] <https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo>

[5] <https://www.torproject.org/getinvolved/volunteer>

</comment><comment><USER9> I was so excited to discover that something like this exist - a community that gets on with its business without any stupid organization or agency putting sticks in its wheels. I just wish this spirit of freedom would come over to countries of the former USSR where it is badly needed.

<comment><USER6> I wish it would come to the USA.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Why does frobes insist on adding page numbers? For page views? It's terrible reading experience having to click every few paragraphs.

<comment><USER11> Here you go : [http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/04/29/collect...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/04/29/collected- quotations-of-the-dread-pirate-roberts-founder-of-the-drug-site-silk-road-and- radical-libertarian/print/)

It's beyond obnoxious sometimes when some sites (not Forbes specifically) put just 1-3 paragraphs per page with one image so that each one is effectively a slide surrounded by ads. When I reach my limit of the "paged experience", I search for the printer friendly page.

Edit: Er... Looks like Forbes is redirecting to the full "paged experience" upon clicking. Oh well. Just scroll to the bottom and click "print".

<comment><USER12> They redirect based on Referer header.

<http://pastebin.com/WNmLmKqL>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> This guy is doing good work, and I fear for his safety.

<comment><USER14> Please elaborate on this? Good work in what sense?

Ignoring the dubious ethics of running a black market, SilkRoad is ultimately a rent-seeking enterprise making money from transactional frictions. It creates no value - hardly the sort of shining beacon of enterprise the founder(s) make it out to be.

<comment><USER15> Morals of being a drug market aside, in what way is SilkRoad a "rent-seeking enterprise" any more than any other transaction facilitating entity? Every transaction has friction and facilitators provide the service of matching buyers and sellers. Maybe not the highest ideal of productivity but hardly deserves to be described as rent-seeking.

<comment><USER14> You're correct, every business that profits from easing transactional friction is to a greater or lesser extent, rent seeking.

<comment><USER15> Well, I guess we just disagree on the definition of rent-seeking. Matching willing buyers and sellers creates value by increasing the satisfaction of both the buyer and the seller since both should be better off after the transaction. The facilitator who creates more mutually beneficial trades is increasing the wellbeing of society as a whole. From wikipedia "Rent-seeking behavior is distinguished in theory from profit-seeking behavior, in which entities seek to extract value by engaging in mutually beneficial transactions." SilkRoad is not rent seeking because they are not looking to change or increase the transaction friction and regulatory control of the drug trade for their own benefit. That is why rent-seeking is usually used to describe entities trying to create a government policy which benefits them but hinders mutual exchange of others. To define rent-seeking is such a loose way as to cover all facilitators who don't produce anything directly is to distort it's original meaning and make the word useless to describe true rent-seeking.

<comment><USER14> Consider that it's very much in Silk Road's interest that the regulations that currently create the transactional frictions on which it makes a profit remain as they are, or perhaps become even more restrictive. It's rent seeking in the same way that smuggling illegal immigrants is rent seeking. This does not require a broadened definition of rent seeking at all.

<comment><USER16> >It's rent seeking in the same way that smuggling illegal immigrants is rent seeking.

Smuggling illegal immigrants is not rent seeking. If an illegal-immigrant- smuggling company lobbied the government to tighten immigration controls, that would be rent seeking.

<comment><USER14> It's in the interests of the smugglers that tight immigration controls remain in place, just as it's in the interests of Silk Road that regulations on restricted substances remain in place.

They need not lobby directly for these restrictions, they have other organisations that will do that for them.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Given the ultimate traceability of bitcoins, would anyone care to speculate how tDPR converts SR's transaction fees into fiat currency without being tracked down by law enforcement?

<comment><USER17> He is law enforcement. His interest is the vendors and mapping the network.

<comment><USER18> "How can you plug yourself into the tax eating, life sucking, violent, sadistic, war mongering, oppressive machine ever again? How can you kneel when you've felt the power of your own legs? Felt them stretch and flex as you learn to walk and think as a free person? I would rather live my life in rags now than in golden chains. And now we can have both! Now it is profitable to throw off one's chains, with amazing crypto technology reducing the risk of doing so dramatically. How many niches have yet to be filled in the world of anonymous online markets? The opportunity to prosper and take part in a revolution of epic proportions is at our fingertips!

I have no one to share my thoughts with in physical space. Security does not permit it, so thanks for listening. I hope my words can be an inspiration just as I am given so much by everyone here."

Definitely a cop.

<comment><USER17> He's definitely not a cop in the sense of a Hollywood movie (eg Miami Vice).

He and his team are specialists. They are to cops what the Navy Seals or Rangers are to an Army E1.

The primary goal is information. They could care less about busting any given small time vendor. They want a mapping of the network of trade, origination, distribution, communication, transactions and financing. Particularly to draw currently unknown or difficult to track network nodes out into the open.

It's the same thing that has been done with paedophilia online. It's a honey trap. There isn't much value in busting single nodes. They want to see how much of the network they can map out, and the leads it provides to larger players. If this concept didn't exist, they'd desperately want to create it. Given their history of creative honey pots and how long they've been leveraging technology heavily, I think it tilts Silk Road toward being a likely sponsored program.

<comment><USER18> I think you give the government too much credit.

1\. How do you map the network if they are using Tor?

2\. Just the idea of Silk Road is more dangerous to the powers that be than any drug networks.

3\. It can not be called law enforcement if it does not go through the chain of command, which it most certainly cannot.

<comment><USER19> Why would it not be able to go through the chain of command? The military and intelligence services for example engage in all kinds of covert and clandestine operations whilst still being government employees.

There are also techniques which may allow tor users to be deanonymized to vary degrees. Browser/OS fingerprinting , flash cookies etc. These will be easier if you control one of the end points.

I've never used silk road, but presumably if you want people to ship stuff to you , then you have to enter an address at some point?

<comment><USER20> Many Tor users use the Tor Browser Bundle, which blocks flash by default, includes noscript (I forget if it by default activates noscript...), and doesn't retain any information between sessions other than what is manually stored like bookmarks or saved passwords. On SR, buyers communicate their address via PGP. Sellers only communicate an address (which may be fake) on the package they send a buyer. SR is thus blinded to physical addresses.

<http://www.gwern.net/Silk%20Road>

<comment><USER19> I guess law enforcement would simply gather as much data as they can. Only need a few guys screwing up their browser settings one day, or maybe you get more sophisticated and start looking at response times, timing jitter etc.

If you control the mechanism for key exchange would this not make MITM possible? Display different keys to different people for the same person.

<comment><USER20> I'd be interested to see if any more sophisticated techniques have ever been successfully used to uncover a Tor user.

From the webpage I linked, "Security-wise, Silk Road seems to be receiving passing grades from law enforcement agencies internally; a leaked FBI report mentioned no attacks against SR, anonymous anecdotes claim the DEA is stymied4, while a May 2012 Australian document reportedly praised the security of vendor packaging and general site security."

Right now a buyer's address is vulnerable if they don't use PGP when giving it to a seller, or if SR is indeed trying to do a MitM attack by replacing a seller's published public key with their own. But the latter case is easy for a seller to check against simply by creating a second buyer account and verifying the buyer sees the correct key. The buyer and seller can also arrange to exchange keys off of SR. A better plan (also mentioned on Gwern's page) would be to have law enforcement create their own buyer and seller accounts and act like normal users until it was time to start a crackdown -- the problem seems to be that law enforcement, or at least the FBI, either doesn't have permission to engage in mass entrapment and fraud, or it's just not interested in buyers.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> For someone who paints themselves as some sort of Randian superman, he sure uses the words of collective action and altruism a lot.

"It's paradoxical, but the less you focus on your own happiness and focus on others', the happier you'll be."

John Galt indeed.

<comment><USER21> He's an anarcho-capitalist, not an objectivist. The two groups often disagree on many things.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarianism_and_Objectivism>

</comment></comment><comment> mike-cardwell "Do you want to see this thing go all the way and take the absolute piss out of the power mongers of this world"

Would anybody other than a Brit say that sentence?

[edit] Although I notice a lot of American English spelling in there too.

<comment><USER22> Brits, Irish and Aussies too I believe. When I read that comment, I thought that Dread Pirate Roberts could be using Libertarian musings (which I've never heard outside of US political discussions) and references to US law enforcement agencies as a smokescreen for his identity.

Interestingly, and coincidentally, there's been speculation that the Bitcoin creator (Satoshi Nakamoto) could be an Irish computer science student called Michael Clear, due to British spelling in his (if it is his) written work: <https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Satoshi_Nakamoto>

<comment><USER23> 'British' English is the standard English taught in Europe and the Middle East, likely in India as well, so I doubt that this is a remotely helpful clue.

<comment><USER24> "take the absolute piss" is colloquial British English though. I doubt that anyone is actually taught to speak that way.

<comment><USER25> Non-natives English speaker pick their English where they hear it. If you're watching British television or speaking with English people a lot, you'll surely pick some English colloquialisms.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> I'm curious how long it will be until this person is turned into an FBI informant (think Lulzsec and Sabu). The website has done some obscenely stupid things in the past, like leaving their real (non-Tor) IP address on error pages. Presumably the website is a large target, even just for it's common mention in media.

<comment><USER27> The beauty of Silk Road design is that the site being a FBI honeypot has been built into the threat model from the start. All identifying info sent between buyers/sellers is encrypted using PGP, Silk Road doesn't see anything.

<comment><USER28> That's not accurate. People are encouraged to use PGP for addresses and other sensitive communication there, but it is not enforced or directly supported by the system. There are still vendors who can't be bothered to figure PGP out (often relying upon dubious alternatives like privnote), and there will always be customers who don't care one way or the other.

Silk Road itself doesn't even have a discrete place for users to enter their public key; it is only by convention that most vendors put it at the end of their profile text.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This man/woman is a hero of the free market and I wish him/her all the best.

</comment><comment><USER29> Submitted this the other day <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5645665>

</comment><comment><USER30> Is there historical evidence to back the notion that, through market forces, employment standards would rise to meet workers' demands?

<comment><USER31> Hong Kong is a good example. You can watch the first episode of Milton Friedman's PBS series "Free to Choose" for more details.

*edit for clarity

<comment><USER32> HK grew off opium trafficking and money laundering, any other examples?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I get so tired of libertarian self-serving mumbo jumbo. He's a drug trafficker, makes large amount of money of it and I have a hard time seeing that any decrease in government oppression isn't offset by the realities of the drug trade. Regardless if I agree with it or not, someone like Cody Wilson has a far better case in my book.

<comment><USER33> > any decrease in government oppression isn't offset by the realities of the > drug trade.

What "realities of the drug trade"? Any drug sales happening on TSR are by small-time manufacturers and dealers. There are no shootings or stabbings on TSR. The cartels don't have any reason to use TSR. I think the nature of TSR prevents most of the "realities" you're citing.

<comment><USER28> Indeed. Pretty much all of the ugly 'realities' of the drug trade are those which exist and thrive precisely because drugs are outlawed. SR happens to protect its users from having to deal with most of those realities - <USER2> that's a great benefit. DPR rightly deserves praise for helping people to get the drugs of their choice without having to hit the often dangerous streets for them.

Perhaps one day western societies will be able to have an adult conversation about drugs, but for the time being shrill reactionaries still set the tone. Meanwhile for every one dramatic walking-cliche of a drug casualty out there killing themselves and making the world shittier, there are at least a handful of responsible drug users conducting perfectly normal and successful lives. For any drug you can name.

<comment><USER7> If there's anyone being dramatic here it's the people who think anything that furthers their cause is good. In term of transparency SR is the opposite of legalization and will sooner or later be ruled by the ones who can produce the best product for the cheapest price at a high enough volume. And responsible drug use isn't a contradiction to "irresponsible drug manufacturing", so I don't get your point there.

<comment><USER28> Your point is pretty much impossible to discern as well. All I see in your post is slagging off DPR as a glorified drug trafficker, and some rather vague handwaving about the "realities of the drug trade".

"Irresponsible drug manufacturing"? If you're imagining that SR is a cesspool of tainted products, you could not be further from the reality of it. On SR, buying communities for specific drugs or drug subtypes tend to band together to discuss and assess vendors and their products quite publicly. In some cases, you see users subjecting vendors' products to lab tests (in countries where it's actually easy and legal to, god forbid, quantify the exact composition of illegal drugs). It's nowhere near as easy to get away with selling tainted garbage in this venue as it is on the street. There are typically far fewer unscrupulous operators standing between buyer and the actual supplier on SR, and consequently product quality is higher than most buyers likely have access to IRL.

> sooner or later be ruled by the ones who can produce the best product for > the cheapest price at a high enough volume

..and? If the guy who can produce untainted, good-quality product at the cheapest price wins (which he won't, as there are any number of other factors that people involve in their buying decisions), then why would that be a problem?

<comment><USER7> I think it's fairly safe to assume that the drug trade didn't significantly change over night and that the sources of drugs are largely the same. Which means that a lot, especially of the harder drugs, come from south america. I'm obviously not going to go through the problems the drug trade causes in south america, as I assume this is public knowledge. Of course there is similar problems with manufacturing in the US.

Also I don't think its hand-waving when I base my opinions on the available information. I'm all ears if you can show that drug production has significantly changed (or at least what's is available on SR), that there's a significant overlap, and shift, between buying on SR and buying from street gangs and that this new distribution channel won't have largely the same victors, and therefor problems, as the rest of the drug trade.

Like I said, if someone comes up with a way to locally manufacture smaller amounts of drugs and give the control to the users, than you might have a theoretical case.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Microbat: allows web browsers to contribute to SETI@home project via widgets - <AUTHOR> http://insertmode.no.de/

<comment><AUTHOR> In alpha stage, built this weekend as part of Node Knockout competition.</comment>


UK government pushing ahead with surveillance powers bill - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2016/03/01/uk-government-pushing-ahead-with-surveillance-powers-bill-in-face-of-strong-criticism/ <comment><USER2> One of the dubious Indian journalist (who is above 70 years old) was caught (and on camera) soliciting sex for a minor and luring her into meeting him. It made a big news and I almost assumed the guy would be done for good. Turn out not only the guy got out quietly but continues to write in newspapers preaching morality to others. I tried a lot of figure out how he might have escaped the law but I cant.

I am giving this example only to show that when the British government cant enforce existing laws using available evidence, you cant expect them to dig up anything new with more powers.

It is something Mahatma Gandhi pointed out years ago about the British. In one of this Satyagrahas related to Champaran farmers, Gandhiji's modest and only demand was that the British must only acknowledge that there is a problem which needs to be solved. According to Gandhiji's colonial power's unwillingness to even show empathy to people means they are essentially uninterested in the helping people with their problems.

Law of Karma I guess.

[1] [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/other-news/Indian- ori...](http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/other-news/Indian-origin- journalist-Hasan-Suroor-arrested-in-UK-on-paedophilia- charges/articleshow/49756604.cms) [2] [http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/death-of- liberalism...](http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/death-of-liberalism- in-bollywood/194030.html)

<comment><USER3> > Turn out not only the guy got out quietly but continues to write in > newspapers preaching morality to others. I tried a lot of figure out how he > might have escaped the law but I cant.

So you are assuming that he "escaped the law" without having found any evidence. The articles I've found indicates that a bail amount was set. He probably met it, pending trial. Unless you've seen him out and about outside of the UK, you have no basis for assuming he escaped anything.

It's also worth pointing out that he was arrested following a sting by a vigilante group. There's going to be all kinds of issues with chain of custody of the evidence etc. that makes this almost entirely unlike a case handled by police from the start.

<comment><USER2> Whatever might be the reason the guy is not in jail. I think that is where the government has failed.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Back in 2000, the UK government introduced the widely criticized "Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000".

It was even heavily criticized in the House of Lords, but still made it through to Royal Assent on the 28th July 2000. The bill started in February of the same year and was pushed through as fast as possible in order to "prevent internet crime and paedophilia".

The core criticisms [1] surrounded the inclusion of the requirement for suspects to give up encryption keys or face prison (reverse burden of proof), and the expansion of the act to allow almost any government body to snoop secretly on the public.

It was dubbed the "Snooper's Charter" [2], and here we are 16 years later and that bill is now law and abused every day by councils across the UK to snoop on people "putting their rubbish bins out on the wrong day" [3]. Seriously, I'm not making this shit up.

Make no mistake; There is little we can do within the current political framework, in order to prevent this bill from passing into law, albeit with minor amendments and other hidden little nasties that we discover later were snuck in on the quiet.

The government is playing the long game, against a public that doesn't even realise they are even supposed to be playing the game.

Meanwhile the public are more concerned that "I'm a Celebrity get me out of here" is about to start, and the tax on petrol and beer to due to rise in the next budget.

"The only way to win the game is not to play", sadly doesn't apply to this game.

[1] [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/oct/24/qanda](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/oct/24/qanda)

[2] [http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009...](http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/jan/14/regulation- investigatory-powers-act)

[3] [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3333366/Half-of- counc...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3333366/Half-of-councils-use- anti-terror-laws-to-spy-on-bin-crimes.html)

<comment> k-mcgrady >> Meanwhile the public are more concerned that "I'm a Celebrity get me out of here" is about to start, and the tax on petrol and beer to due to rise in the next budget.

First of all, "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here" doesn't start until autumn time.

In all seriousness the lack of concern by the general public surprises me especially after the high profile coverage of Edward Snowden. I spoke to someone training as a lawyer (specifically in human rights) and they'd never heard of Snowden or mass surveillance - and didn't seem to care either when I explained. That was pretty worrying.

On the other hand the decline of privacy rights has concerned me so much that I plan to retrain in Law (been in technology for about 9 years since I left high school) with the sole aim of working to maintain our privacy rights. So although not everyone cares right now (they probably will when it's too late) I'm sure there are enough people who do who are willing to do what they can to try fix this.

<comment><USER5> It might well be that the lack of concern by the general public is related to the 'UK's dirty little secrets - illiteracy and innumeracy' \- [http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/may/03/illiter...](http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/may/03/illiteracy- innumeracy-prisons)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Part of me wants to say 'bring it on'. I once said to a copyright lobbyist that I think applies here: "Don't try to out-internet kids". Allowing police to hack into computers will start a war between law abiding citizens and police hackers. The cops cannot win that fight. Everyone will mobilize against them. Their malware will be studied and published across the planet. And it will certainly help push people away from proprietary systems in favour of f/oss.

<comment><USER7> > The cops cannot win that fight.

No because the sourcing will be outsourced to private companies.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Gotta love the BBC Headline currently on the home page: "Surveillance law: Revised bill adds privacy safeguards".

<comment><USER9> The BBC is _state_ TV.

They care for you on articles about salt intake or the lack of bees. State business they would sell you out in a flash.

<comment><USER10> Its actually completely seperate from the state, and for good reason. That being said it's biased on Some topics, this included.

<comment><USER9> It's not separate from the state. When push comes to shove the establishment tell the BBC what to do.

We've seen this in the 2011 riots. We've seen this in the 2008 banking crisis and subsequent massive wealth transfers. Now we see it with state surveillance.

The BBC is on your side until it matters. I don't care what their charter says, I look at what they do.

The UK is preparing. As living standards continue to fall state surveillance will become more and more necessary to try and suppress alternate views. How long before posting a blog on the UK's intractable deficit and massive private debt is "financial terrorism"?

<comment><USER11> The main flaw in your argument is that living standards are better than at any time in history before now.

<comment><USER12> As someone who has always been a UK citizen and is old enough to remember decades past I can say with confidence that this statement is not accurate.

<comment><USER9> Thank you - most old people lie about this (I suspect due to guilt).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> As I've read today in The Telegraph, when a man is assaulted on the street UK police seek our help to identify the gang members who commited the crime. When travelling by Underground we are reminded constantly to report suspicious behavior. We are aware that today a handful of minority men police over the majority, as Noam Chomsky has put it. But we know that policing is a costly activity, and can observe how the animals around us distribute the cost of policing to the whole swarm. One day we will study Chomsky at history class and admit that we, all the other men, are part of the police without requiring to wear a suit. And will stop this game of minority ruling over the majority. Because its us the other men that you the Government seek help from when the actual police shows their weaknesses in solving problems.

</comment><comment><USER14> They're endurance predators, they just don't give up.

<comment><USER9> I said it the other day. The fall of the UK would be highly beneficial for the working man. They are at the heart of surveillance and at the heart of money laundering / tax avoidance globally.

They are the oldest landlords.

Oh no, not me

I never lost control

You're face to face

With The Man Who Sold The World

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> I've given up fighting this. I'm at a stage now where I think that things need to get worse before British people understand how dangerous these powers are.

<comment><USER16> It would be nice if we had an effective opposition, but we don't. Not when it comes to security concerns. Corbyn's stance with trident and Stop the War means that no one, and I mean no one, can take any argument he puts forward seriously when it comes to security. The result? The government can get away with anything that has a vaguely plausible sounding justification.

The only thing that can stop them now is the media, but it really is _not_ their job to be the opposition.

<comment><USER17> Cutting down on nuclear armament, which I presume is what you are calling out Corbyn for, is hardly something that no one could reasonably consider. You realize there are entire countries without nuclear weapons, right?

<comment><USER18> Like Ukraine?

<comment><USER3> What would Ukraine do with nukes? Threaten to nuke Moscow? Knowing their country would become radioactive glass in response? Russia would have no reason to assume Ukraine would be insane enough to use them over losing a few regions, and so would have no reason to take them much into account.

<comment><USER19> As a side note, Ukraine actually did have nuclear weapons post-USSR. Then, Ukraine agreed to give them up, in exchange for clauses in treaties where Russia guarantees its territorial integrity.

So now, after Crimean acquisition, we know that the Russian signature in nuclear treaties is worth nothing.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Its nothing they are not already doing! They are just looking for a way to use the methods more openly and then they can disclose evidence that usually stays hidden ("An anonymous tip brought him to our attention") in criminal trials and prosecutions.</comment>


Practical Combinatorial Testing (2010) [pdf] - <AUTHOR> http://core.ecu.edu/STRG/materials/SP800-142-101006.pdf

<comment><AUTHOR> The original [better] link blocked by a previously one point submission [now two] from 1389 days ago.

[http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/SNS/acts/documents/SP800-142-101...](http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/SNS/acts/documents/SP800-142-101006.pdf)</comment>


Ask HN: Scenic, Remote, wired locations? - <AUTHOR>

I'd like to spend some time working from a beautiful place. The only problem is, most beautiful places don't tend to have very good Internet connections. Any suggestions for remote, beautiful affordable places to spend a month or two? <comment><USER2> I have three suggestions, all of which are pretty lame and very predictable, but affordable, practical and accessible:

Caymen Islands - slower pace of life, fairly wired for tax fraud purposes, easy to blend in due to British heritage

Miami Beach is pretty remote from the "real world" parts of the business- oriented United States - very little serious business going on here. Trust me, I live here! ;)

Another nearby option would be the Florida keys, which are pretty slow paced with lots of water sports. You can stay in a shitty hotel room and eat fish all the time, watching fearsome sea creatures out the window while working on your million dollar idea.

<comment><USER3> +1 for Cayman Islands, especially the 7 Mile Beach area of Grand Cayman. Definitely wired, and easy access to banking.

Also consider the Philippines, particularly Cebu. As an up and coming outsourcing powerhouse, Cebu is wired with highspeed internet connections, and it has nice beaches. My outsourcing team is located in Cebu City. Nearby Boracay is nice too, but the internet isn't as fast. A nice touch is that the main beach has WiFi if you want to work right on the beach.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I am in Hot Springs, AR. The farther west you go, the more remote it gets, quickly. Lots of lakes around. Some DSL, lots of Wireless 3G.

And cheap. Very cheap. Let me know if you breeze through.

<comment><USER5> If you want mountains further---much further---to the west send me email and my brother should be able to suggest some locations.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Aitutaki, Cook Islands, South Pacific. Expensive ASDL but beautiful location, pop. 1500, all English-speaking.

</comment><comment><USER7> Barbados or Trinidad. They have good net connections and are very picturesque

</comment><comment><USER8> Costa Rica or its neighbours.</comment>


Larry Page says "Fuck Off Poor People" - <AUTHOR> http://thucydidespress.com/2014/03/21/larry-page-say-fuck-poor-people/

<comment><USER2> There is a very strange obsession with how other people spend their money. This article basically decries wealthy people using their money to try to earn more money rather than giving their money away to people who need more money. All the while, the author is writing this from, what I expect, isn't a mud hovel while being, what I expect, is fully clothed, fed, and sheltered because they, themselves, did not give all of their money away to people who need more money.

</comment><comment><USER3> Wow, this guy totally missed Page's point. You know the old adage "give someone a fish, they eat for a day, teach them to fish, they'll eat for a lifetime." Well Page would rather give his money to someone who can figure out how to make life better and teach us to fish, rather than to give it someone who'll just buy some fish.

</comment><comment><USER4> This is crazy sensationalist. There's no right or wrong way to spend your money, we can just hope that it's used to better humanity whether it's short or long term. I don't think Sergey is saying that to anyone, rich or poor.

</comment><comment><USER5> "thucydidespress" says - click on my linkbait and observe error.

<comment><AUTHOR> so they do. well it was good while it lasted.</comment></comment>


Scientists Scan Striking Nanoscale Images - <AUTHOR> http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/multimedia/2008/02/nano_gallery_jmm <comment><USER2> Most of those images are triumphs of postprocessing, rather than particularly impressive microscopy.

Take the first one, for instance. If you visualize that in the standard way, it'll look like a bunch of light grey dots on a dark grey background. But if you take the data, convert it to a 3D surface plot, grossly exaggerate the vertical axis, choose some pretty colours and a sufficiently dramatic angle, you get something that looks cool enough to publish in Wired.</comment>


.in ccTLD domain name list - over 600k domains listed - <AUTHOR> http://viewdns.info/data/?yin

<comment><USER2> So?</comment>


Ph.D. Bust, Pt. 2: How Bad Is the Job Market For Young American-Born Scientists? - <AUTHOR> http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/02/the-phd-bust-pt-ii-how-bad-is-the-job-market-for-young-american-born-scientists/273377/

<comment><USER2> Did anyone even bother checking the author's numbers or methods?

My biggest problem with this series of articles is that it's largely based on the "No commitment" answer to a questionnaire given to postdoctoral students. His "Nothing" section is actually "No definite commitment for employment or postdoctoral study" ( here <http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/sed/2011/pdf/tab42.pdf> )

which:

"Includes respondents who indicated "other" in all years and respondents who indicated "do not plan to work or study" in 2006 and 2011. Also includes 715 respondents for 2011 who indicated definite plans for "other full-time degree program."

That 715 is 1.5% total, or 25% of the 6% difference between 2006 and 2011.

I spent nearly all my time between 2006 and 2009 around grad students (mostly physics, but bio and engineering too). There was a fundamental shift in thinking in 2008, both for grad students and professors. Professors could keep grad students working after their PhD was conferred, in a position somewhere described as between a postdoc and student for a year or two, a longer holding pattern - because people were having a hard time finding jobs. This goes double for international students.

According to this ( [https://chronicle.com/article/From-Graduate-School- to/131795...](https://chronicle.com/article/From-Graduate-School-to/131795/) ), 23000 more doctoral students are receiving some sort of financial aid from the government than in 2007. Even if those numbers are increasing, the total percentage of people with a masters or higher is only 1.5% of the apparent population.

According to BLS, there's ~3.2 million people with a PhD. That means there was an increase of people, from ~.3% to ~1% of total people applying for aid. (I'm probably off by a little bit because I'm using numbers from different years and estimating, but not by a factor of 2)

So, we had an increase of 20,000 people applying for some sort of aid between 2007 and 2011 with a PhD. Cumulatively, if we were assuming that increase was purely from new grads and accurately portrayed the unemployment of a new grad, that would mean an increase of 5k year over year, or 11% of new graduates. But to say that was all new graduates would be doing quite a disservice: There has been major cuts in research at national labs, universities, and all sorts of other publicly funded institutions.

I'll admit, finding the right job is probably harder and takes longer today than in 2006/2007. I agree that we have much more foreign students who have a harder time figuring out what they will do after graduation, because of problems with visas and money. But at 2.5% unemployment and a median salary 50% higher than a bachelors degree, ( <http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm> ), I think it's hard to argue there's PhD bust.

If I had more time I'd delve into this deeper, but I got to get back to science...

</comment><comment><USER3> Would HN recommend grad school for a friend that just graduated with a biochem degree from a tier 2/3 school?

I ask because he makes it seems like there are hundreds of well paying biotech and pharmaceutical positions that are easy to get in the Boston area. He didn't go to a top science school(Georgetown) and his grades are mediocre, so I imagine he could only get into an ok phd program. But then again what other options are available for undergrad science majors with no interest in programming, even though I tell him it could really separate him from the rest of the biochem pack.

Any insight from ya'll, I don't know anything about east coast research positions.

<comment><USER4> There is also always the possibility of being a lab tech in an academic lab for 2-3 years to boost his application. It typically pays better than grad school, and the close interaction with grad students will give him a better idea of whether that's something he actually wants to do.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> That article is just some graphs almost totally unrelated to the argument. It's been bad for more than ten years in math, physics, and CS. It's intended to be bad. You do a bachelors and some internships or REs depending on field. Then grad school. Then postdoc or private sector again depending on field. Somewhere in there you start at the bottom with lecturer or so. After years you might get to tenured prof. It's a process that selectively weeds-out those that do not have the right mix of dealing with dept BS, funding, writing, reviewing, and advising. It would be very bad if all the PhDs went on in academia and not even remotely many go into it wanting that.

</comment><comment><USER6> Interesting, but I wish the author had considered attrition rates rather than just employment.

A US citizen is free to leave a graduate program without jeopardizing residency rights (and is also free to pursue career paths that are less likely to have visa sponsorship). As a result, unsuccessful American PhD students may be less likely to muddle through and complete a degree (but be difficult to place). I could see this affecting numbers where it comes to placement after the PhD is obtained.

</comment><comment><USER7> One other thing I've been thinking about. At least among the PhDs I've met, many of them are NOT scientists. That is, they play at science for a while, but it's no great tragedy that they aren't being employed in the academic pursuits. One thing I do wonder is how many scientist-PhDs doing solid work are actually going unfunded, and how many of them are guys and gals researching the CS equivalent of how many angels can stand on the head of a pin.

<comment><USER8> In CS/ECE, if there is no application for your research i.e. cannot be commercialized or patented, you will not have funding. There is very little room for theoretical-based research where you play around with math (like counting angels on the head of a pin) to see if it works out with unknown applications. Everything begins with an application in mind --> funding.

<comment><USER9> Theoreticians do get funding, just not much, and most CS researchers are not hardcore theoreticians (theory is a tool to be used occasionally in support of something else).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> The initial motivation for these articles - the government says we need more STEM students, but look how many underemployed PhDs there are! - is flimsy. The US does not necessarily need more graduate students, what it needs is more skilled technical workers, especially in manufacturing.

Few students who go into PhD programs anticipate ending up in industry, unless you goal is R&D. The opportunity cost is so great that you are better off in most cases going straight into industry if that is your ultimate goal. As a current PhD student, my advice to anyone considering it is to not do it unless you are truly passionate about your research field.

<comment><USER6> Couldn't agree more about the need for more general skilled immigration.

But keep in mind, the current legislation in the Senate is about awarding green cards to all recipients of graduate degrees in STEM fields, so the topic here is very relevant to public policy.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> This and the previous article are really about the difficulty of finding tenure track positions for newly minted Phds.

Trying to apply this figures broadly to all hard science education and across all industries is a mistake.

</comment><comment><USER12> The AMS (American Mathematical Society) has done an employment survey for years --- see [http://www.ams.org/profession/data/annual-survey/annual- surv...](http://www.ams.org/profession/data/annual-survey/annual-survey) I'd hope other professional organizations do the same thing, so there should be no need to guess or extrapolate to get pretty good numbers.

</comment><comment><USER13> "Law school is bust", "Wall street is dead", "Dont get a humanities Phd", "There is no meritocracy in Silicon Valley","There is no shortage of engineers"etc ..if every place looks like hell where is heaven?

</comment><comment><USER14> Where's the story here? As education expands all top-tier job markets become more competitive. Science isn't and shouldn't be any different, particularly with the reduced levels of funding available.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> The first part, and associated discussion, is here: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5253747> .

</comment><comment><USER15> It really isn't useful to base discussions on the nonsensical graphs in this series, which seem to be an artifact of how and when people are being surveyed.

<comment><USER16> Indeed. None of these numbers answer the question "How many graduates who wanted a job could not find one?".

<comment><USER12> (From the 2010-2011 final survey done by the American Math. Society, for new Math Ph.D.s, which I linked elsewhere)

Unknown (U.S.): 85 Not seeking employment: 18 Still seeking employment: 53 Unknown (non U.S.): 83

If you count all of these as "unemployed" (which is probably a significant overestimate), that's 239 out of 1653 new Ph.D.'s, or around 14.4%. If you count only "Still seeking employment" as "unemployed", that's around 3.2%. But I don't know how the numbers in the sciences or in engineering would be similar to those in math.</comment></comment></comment>


What constitutes a good product manager and when should we hire one? - <AUTHOR> http://kapuno.com/conversation/aqztofyagnxlk

<comment><USER2> Great article. I think it explains well the role of a product manager.

It seems the opening sentence should read "Product management" and not "Project management".

Incidentally, I was going to comment on that article but it wants too much permissions on my social accounts.

<comment><AUTHOR> LOL, thank you so much @facorreia, such a slip! Kept thinking to myself "product" not "project" and my dyslexia won me over :) Corrected it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> As a student with design and programming experience, what's a good way to get a career started as a product manager?

<comment><AUTHOR> I'll answer this, but, honestly, there are a lot of ways. Here's two paths.

//-- //

1\. The traditional path

Product management is generally a role that you should take after you have some professional development under you belt. The best product managers I've met were at one time in the engineering/development pit.

That said, the simplest way is to get a job doing design/programming and make sure your employer knows that you'd like to move in that direction and agree that you'll be there in X years. Shadow and work with the PM's at the company.

If they don't move you in to a PM in the time, you can look elsewhere and with a few years of development under your belt you'd have a better chance of getting the management hire.

The key is that you make sure whatever you do, you show leadership and the fact that you're a self-starter.

//--//

2\. The startup path

Go work (found) a startup and basically act as the project manager. If the org grows (which is a big if) you'll slowly become that role and hire people around you. If not, you'll have to try again. It's more risky but potentially could get you to a PM role faster.

In the end, I'd recommend you pick up Marty Cagan's "Inspired" [http://www.amazon.com/Inspired-Create-Products-Customers- Lov...](http://www.amazon.com/Inspired-Create-Products-Customers- Love/dp/0981690408) \-- it discusses product management in much more detail.</comment></comment>


Why Breast Milk Ice-Cream Disappeared - <AUTHOR> http://www.thememo.com/2016/06/21/whatever-happened-to-breast-milk-ice-cream/ <comment><USER2> Not sure about everybody else, but the title answered the question for me.

<comment><USER3> I thought it would be because it seemed weird, but in reality it was regulation, supply issues, and lawsuits from Lady Gaga that did them in.

It actually seems to have been popular.</comment></comment>


The Internet is pushing the American news business to New York and the coasts - <AUTHOR> http://www.niemanlab.org/2016/03/the-game-of-concentration-the-internet-is-pushing-the-american-news-business-to-new-york-and-the-coasts/ <comment><USER2> Even without reading the article, aren't most populous areas along the coasts? I mean even if you count Chicago, as being "on a coast" (a Great Lake) --- what I find interesting is the thousands of years long tradition of using water as the symbol for thought...</comment>


CS90SI – CS+Social Good is being taught at Stanford starting September 2015 - <AUTHOR>

Although Stanford is renowned across the world for being a center of technology and innovation, never has there been a unified and coordinated effort at Stanford to organize and connect students to take action and collaborate on the world's most pressing problems. We're here to change that – CS+Social Good is Stanford's first student group focusing on the intersection of computer science and social impact.
We realized that many students would love to contribute to social good projects, but may not have the guidance or technical knowledge to do so. After seeing how much interest and demand existed surrounding tech for good on Stanford's campus and outside, we're offering a new class – CS+Social Good: Using Web Technologies to Change the World. This class, CS90SI, will be taught at Stanford by our team this fall and will be a unique environment where students can learn web technologies by working on real world projects focused on creating positive social change.
Project partners like Google, LaborVoices, SIRUM and Delhi Government will support students as they work on small teams to implement high-impact projects. From creating 'aha' learning moments for students to matching pharmacies with surplus medications, students will learn and leverage technology to truly build for good and impact hundreds of millions of people. Amazing speakers, social entrepreneurs, and humanitarians like Jane Coyne, a board member of Doctors without Borders, Laura Arrillaga Andreessen, one of the world's most famous philanthropists, will visit the class to share their inspiring stories.
You can learn more about the class at cs90si.stanford.edu. Videos of the class will also be put online on the website. You can keep a tab of our updates on our updates page at cs90si.stanford.edu/blog/index.html and follow us on Twitter at @cs90si
Thanks, Manu Chopra (Class Instructor) <comment><AUTHOR> Videos of the class will be put online. Would love to hear more feedback on the class and better ideas to use CS for social good :)

<comment><USER2> Love the idea of students working on these projects. How do you make sure what students build actually gets used in the real world? My assumption is that a lot of this work sounds great but rarely gets used by the target audience.

Looking forward to seeing the videos!

<comment><AUTHOR> That's an excellent point. We intentionally partnered with organizations who are in the field and releasing products. Be it Delhi Government or Google, They all have a lot of experience of releasing these products. Students in the class will help our project partners in the technical aspect of the project instead of designing completely new projects (which would take a lot more time and research). Students will also be meeting the partners every week to discuss their progress.

You are absolutely right when you say that a lot of this work rarely gets used by the target audience. We are hoping to change that :)</comment></comment></comment>


27+ Nonprofit Blogs That You Should Read - <AUTHOR> http://www.pagewiz.com/blog/social-media/nonprofit-blogs-that-you-should-read

<comment><AUTHOR> Nonprofits use blogs to tell stories that inspire people to become involved with the purposes of the group. They share information about unique individuals who have overcome difficulties through the help of the organization, and how community support is needed.</comment>


Stablish.me – A better way to get endorsed - <AUTHOR> http://startcup.in/stablish-me-a-better-way-to-get-endorsed/ <comment><USER2> LinkedIn already does this. Fiona's beautiful eyes are worth a visit to the site though.

I love the way that @mottled hasn't linked to stablished.me directly. More mouse clicks make me happy though. Maybe a good 'startup' would be a short-url site that makes you click through 20 pages of non-content before finally getting at the end goal.</comment>


Good Haskell source to read and learn from - <AUTHOR> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6398996/good-haskell-source-to-read-and-learn-from

<comment><USER2> Haskell might be the strangest community of programmers (in a good way?). There's different styles depending on what grad. school you went to?

Can anyone elaborate on "why" this is, and why it isn't true (or is substantially less true) for other languages?

<comment><USER3> Flexibility of the language I imagine.

Function application: point free or not? Control flow: Monadic? Continuation passing style? Do you prefer to use Functors and fmap or list comprehensions to build lists? etc etc.

In Haskell it's natural to define new functions which embody the control flow you want to express. This means that the way you prefer to solve programming problems tends to be reflected in the structure of your programs in a much more obvious way. It's a bit like Lisp in that sense: consider that in lisp, you might write appropriate macros to structure the solution to your problem, and your choice of solution will then show up in the syntax of the code you write in a more obvious fashion than if you were writing in a curly-brace language, where the fundamental atoms of code remain the same regardless of your style of programming.

<comment><USER4> To add to your comment: laziness also enables much of this flexibility.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I'd have to disagree with the recommendation for Darcs. I haven't seen any pretty code in Darcs, and some of it is incredibly hairy (the HTTP download module using Curl is pretty horrific).

</comment><comment><USER6> you might call me crazy, but I get physically excited reading some of that code :D</comment>


From Vimperator to Tridactyl (2018) - <AUTHOR> https://nullprogram.com/blog/2018/09/20/ <comment><USER2> If only we had a plugin/extension called Meta-x. When the user typed the Meta-x key combination a mini-buffer would be presented at the bottom of the browser and the user could then run any command they wanted.

This plugin could ship with an initial set of commands like show-bookmarks, search-page, etc.. The plugin would also provide a facility for easily adding commands written in JS and installing 3rd party commands.

The user community could also share their custom commands in a central location.

I guess the big question would be, does it make more sense to add this plugin to Firefox, upgrade Conkeror to not require XUL or add Gecko to Emacs.

<comment><USER3> What's the difference between this and Tridactyl? Completeness of commands? The central location?

Otherwise it will do 90% of what you're asking.

<comment><USER2> I can't speak to Tridactyl but some time back I looked at extending one of the other plugins, can't remember if it was Vimperator or Pentadactyl, but when I looked at adding my own custom scripts for extension it failed the 10 minute rule so I moved on. Perhaps the ecosystem and/or documentation has been enhanced with Tridactyl.

But you're right, there's really no difference between typing Meta-x and colon; It's the same concept.

<comment><USER3> You can rebind it to Meta-x, too.

The documentation last time I checked was roughly novella length, and it could definitely do with some work. You currently can't escape line breaks in our scripts which limits their complexity.

If you install Tridactyl, the `:tutorial` is the best place to start. Maybe we should add a page on adding your own commands.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I should probably use this bully pulpit to let Tridactyl users know that they might be stuck on an old version of Tridactyl [1]. Check the hamburger menu in the top right for a small yellow exclamation mark, click it and decide whether to give us more permissions.

The extra permission is just so we can include a new (unbound by default) find mode that uses a Mozilla API.

[1] [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tridactyl- vim...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tridactyl- vim/statistics/usage/versions/)

</comment><comment><USER4> I loved Vimperator and switched to Tridactyl as soon as Firefox forced me to.

It's great, but I am currently missing 2 features. First, in Vimperator you could tab complete URLs with the open command _and_ then edit the URL. Second, you could build lots useful commands with Vimperator. I had one for flipping the proxy to a SOCKS one, and another command to do site-specific searches with tab completion. That is, type s, write and/or tab complete a URL and type the search. I would then submit a query to Google with the appropriate site:url operator.

Are any of these possible in Tridactyl right now? I haven't been able to reproduce any.

It's also annoying that lots of special Firefox pages, like unable to connect, steal the focus from Tridactyl and you need to use actual shortcuts from Firefox to find your way out. It kind of breaks the flow, but I understand this is a limitation imposed by Firefox with their new plugin architecture.

<comment><USER3> For editing a URL - press space to fill the command line with a highlighted completion.

Custom commands are possible with `alias`, `js -p`, and `composite`. All are documented with `help [command]`, but there's probably room for improvement.

We haven't bothered to integrate proxy controls but I think it's possible. No- one has asked.

<comment><USER5> I haven't been able to figure out how to do keymaps with fixed arguments for commands. What I specifically want to do is to have something like f/F (open hinted URLs) and/or t/T for opening URLs in specific containers. A lot of times when I open a link I have a couple of containers that I often want to open the link in.

<comment><USER3> You probably want `bind t fillcmdline tabopen -c [mycontainer]`, and `bind F hint -W tabopen -c [mycontainer]`, with hopefully obvious equivalents for T and f. You can always do `bind [key-sequence]` with no argument to find out what something is bound to.

<comment><USER5> Thanks, going to try this :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I first heard of Tridactyl because it was listed on [https://suckless.org/rocks/](https://suckless.org/rocks/) page. It filled huge gap left from Vimperator and no complaints on my side. Works well.

</comment><comment><USER7> I'm a cranky old man. I'm still on FF52 and pentadactyl. Tridactyl is still missing a modeline and has janky smooth scroll.

<comment><USER8> I am using Waterfox,it can use all XUL extensions,and keep update with latest security fixes.

I love Firefox because all its old extensions,can't living without those great things.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Has anyone figured out how to pass multiple arguments to js?

I want ":pocket my-tag" to trigger a bookmarklet with current url and the tag, but I think the piping only ever passes 1 parameter. I guess JS_VAR could be an array(?), but I wouldn't know how to fill it.

I guess I could just use one optional tag and get the url myself in js (window.location.href).

This worked in pentadactyl (also this is a functioning, non documented bookmarklet for pocket :) ):

        function(){window.open('https://getpocket.com/edit?url='+escape(window.location.href)+'&tags=<args>', '_self');}

<comment><USER3> JS_ARG is a string. If you want an array, just split it on space or some other character of your choosing.

E.g, `:alias only_first js -p window.alert(JS_ARG.split('|')[0])` `:only_first this bit | not this`.

NB: untested, posted from 'phone.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Tridactyl has something missing from a lot of its competitor extensions (latest generation vimperator remakes): a native component that allows you to run native commands, such as running mpv or youtube-dl on a hint-selected url.

</comment><comment><USER11> So it says that Tridactyl is built on WebExtensions API, which is kind of W3C draft, which is kind of supported by Chrome. So.... Can Tridactyl be built for Chrome?

<comment><USER3> We use some Firefox-only APIs, but it's totally possible to port most of it, if anyone cares. You'd need to use a polyfill, and have more graceful fallbacks for the missing APIs - opening tabs is an obvious problem area as we (can) use Firefox containers.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Timing of this article is perfect in the sense that I am in the market for such a plugin. Has anyone tried this? Good? Anything better? Thanks!

<comment><USER13> I use vimium on Chrome. Love it - can barely use a browser without it these days. It's worth using alone just for the ability to easily click links without ever touching the mouse.

<comment><USER14> fwiw one can use the '(single quote character) in firefox to easily find and visit links without using the mouse. Quite handy and available out of the box

[https://blog.mozilla.org/theden/2012/12/20/quick_find/](https://blog.mozilla.org/theden/2012/12/20/quick_find/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> > Edit any text input using a real text editor

Does anyone know if you can do something similar in vimium on Chrome? That sounds absolutely awesome.

<comment><USER3> E.g, [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ghosttext/godiecgf...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ghosttext/godiecgffnchndlihlpaajjcplehddca)

(Edited to fix link)

<comment><USER13> Awesome - thank you! That link didn't work for me, but this works: [https://github.com/GhostText/GhostText](https://github.com/GhostText/GhostText)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Would anyone know how this compares to Vimium? I hadn't heard of Tridactyl before. I was using Firemacs before WebExtensions.</comment>