Ayn Rand - A rational introspection - <AUTHOR> http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand

<comment><USER2> Wow, judging by the narrative I at first though that I ended up on Encyclopedia Dramatica...

Ayn Rand fans should not read this, for they will experience severe butthurt...

<comment><USER3> I second that.

Considering the amount of attention Ayn Rand's ideas have been getting in the news lately, I expect plenty of potshots like these to come along.

<comment><AUTHOR> Given the astonishingly bad reasoning behind those self-same ideas and the damage they have indirectly caused the US domestic economy - I'd say it's a well deserved potshot (compared to some of the vitriol directed at socialists).

<comment><USER2> Fair enough, that is your opinion. But why point to a badly written smear- piece full of "ad hominem" attacks.

Write what exactly do you find wrong with such reasoning.

Or maybe read the other point of view and see if it maybe makes more sense than you originally though...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> The core philosophy of worrying about your own life and not others lives seems to really chide a lot of people here in the communist Republic of HN. If you don't like the idea of Objectivism feel free to follow your own. But for pete's sake stop looking like such wankers when doing so. The wiki post didn't cause butthurt any more than it does when some random dipshit tells you that your programming is crap.

</comment><comment><USER5> People forget Ayn Rand would have been 12 during the Bolshevik revolution. It obviously deeply affected her. While I don't consider Objectivism to be a formal philosophy, I don't see anything wrong with the characters in Atlas Shrugged either. They were simply sick of being the doormats of humanity. Expected to do whatever necessary to make life better for everyone else even as they persist in misery. What I want to know is what kind of person thinks anyone should live like that?

</comment><comment><USER6> Yet again I ask, what is this doing on Hacker News?</comment>


Show HN: Recent Hacktivity - my nascent first web project - <AUTHOR>

Hey! I am in the process of making a super-simple feed aggregate aimed at hackers. It is currently a minimum-viable-web-thingy and in obvious need of some features.
Or maybe not features, But more sites for sure.
If you think you will use it: make suggestions!
Else: keep it to yourself please!
Find it here: jisaacstone.com/hacktivity <comment><USER2> Cool!

<http://www.jisaacstone.com/hacktivity/?hn=jisaacstone>

Doesn't seem to like this one though</comment>


Where did the principle of secrecy in correspondence go? - <AUTHOR> http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/aug/12/where-did-the-principle-of-secrecy-in-correspondence-go <comment><USER2> This was a great article OP. But I think the author misses two critical points.

Privacy and secrecy, in my mind, are questions of agency. In this context we're talking about information. You can, broadly speaking, only do three things with information: create it, retain it, and share it. If you're to have agency -- that is, the ability to independently control your own existence -- in a digital sense, that implies that you must be able to control those three things. And if you think about it in terms of actual physical speech, it seems so intuitive: it would be an extraordinary day indeed if there were widespread physical manipulation of the very words coming out of our mouths, if somehow some third party could magically eavesdrop at will over anything we speak. But we've acclimated ourselves to thinking of digital spaces as somehow separate, as if the perceived triviality of, say, instagramming food pics might also imply that there is any less of a violation of our personal agency. That, for me, is why "private-by-default" is and always has been so vital: without it, you're incapable of exercising any meaningful control over the digital world around you. I'm always sad to see this framing left out, because I think it's a very important perspective to have.

The second, and likely more appropriate point (given that this is HN), is that this isn't just economics and geopolitics. It is a technical failure that allowed third parties to have any control over it in the first place. HTTP doesn't even protect security, much less privacy. HTTPS is a step forward, but if you think it's sufficient in protecting privacy, I would offer Facebook as a counterexample. Protection of data in transit is an insufficient condition for privacy, and therefore an insufficient condition for agency. It's perfectly possible to create a protocol to address this, to afford not just security but agency, and I am absolutely positive that there are people out there working on this (I know, because I'm one of them: [https://github.com/Muterra/doc-muse](https://github.com/Muterra/doc-muse)). But the hard part is overcoming the inertia we already have, and on that front, we are indeed back to economics and politics.

<comment><USER3> Your narrative fails to explain what happened to Skype. Skype was a fully encrypted means of communication, and the only way to listen in on the parties talking to each other was to hack one of their computers. Then the NSA (and possibly other agencies) forced Skype to install a backdoor; this is one of many examples. There is no technological solution to the government compelling cooperation from any developers who venture to protect privacy. What would you do if someone held a gun to your head and ordered you to either give them a backdoor, go to jail, or be shot?

The US government (for example,) has used many rationales to justify this behavior, including third party doctrine, and despite the obvious lack of any enumerated power to spy on citizens and residents at-will. Most other governments never pretended to provide privacy protections for their populations, these people were largely kept safe because of the sheer volume of traffic communications and the high cost of surveillance (before powerful computers and huge national governments).

It seems that the problem is entirely political, as the government(s) will go to any lengths necessary to preserve their ability to look in on citizens. Powers that were once viewed as abhorrent and inherently totalitarian have become accepted through the collective passivity of an ever-more risk-averse populace.

<comment><USER2> I don't buy framing that as a purely political issue; it's exceptionally rare that anything fits so neatly into a box like that. Furthermore, boiling down the deprecation of the original Skype protocol at the hands of post- acquisition Microsoft is pretty far removed by what I'm saying; there's just too much to account for.

Your characterization of a coercive state just isn't how the US political world works. Black suits don't show up at a developer's door with a gun and tell them "you must introduce technical vulnerabilities in your protocol and/or implementation or we're going to kill you". That's Hollywood. In reality, the government puts indirect economic pressure on Microsoft, and this has a measurable impact on the command chain there, and eventually a "favorable" outcome (from the government's perspective) is reached. This may even be internally justified for "performance reasons" (and it was).

The plain fact of the matter is that at the end of the day, a technical vulnerability was implemented somewhere in the Skype protocol + implementation + system chain. That is still a technical deficiency, even if, as I said in my original reply, it is influenced by economic and political factors.

<comment><USER4> _Lavabit was ordered to provide the SSL key in machine readable format by noon, August 5 or face a fine of $5000 per day._

A phone call which from the IRS is defiantly backed up by people with guns even if nobody is directly in your face about it. Suggesting people in Black suits need to show up when

 _I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my decision. I cannot._ [http://www.dailydot.com/news/email-anonymous-hushmail- lavabi...](http://www.dailydot.com/news/email-anonymous-hushmail-lavabit-nsa/)

PS: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavabit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavabit) _The service suspended its operations on August 8, 2013 after US government ordered it to turn over its Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) private keys._ _Levison also stated he has even been banned from sharing some information with his lawyer._ _Levison and his lawyer made two requests to Judge Claude M. Hilton to unseal the records, both of which were denied._

<comment><USER2> > Suggesting people in Black suits need to show up when

But that's exactly what I'm trying to say. I was responding to:

> What would you do if someone held a gun to your head and ordered you to > either give them a backdoor, go to jail, or be shot?

Which is not reality. That's not the kind of coercion you experience. The government applied (in this case direct) economic pressure, and Lavabit made a business decision that a fine of $5000 per day (and potential future legal problems) was an unacceptable operating expense. Goodbye, Lavabit.

And once again, a protocol (like SMTP) that doesn't inherently protect agency is, in my opinion, a technical problem. That email requires SSL for confidentiality is a security vulnerability. You don't fix that by taking on the political system (I mean you could, but good luck). You fix it by engineering a protocol that isn't vulnerable in the first place.

My point is that we need to stop waiting for the politics to change, and solve the problem ourselves. That's going to mean questioning some very entrenched protocols, like SMTP. So be it.

<comment><USER3> When you say he faced "potential legal problems", what you really mean is that they were threatening to send him to jail, or if he failed to cooperate with the brave boys in blue, they would shoot him. Fines are enforced in essentially the same way: either pay, go to the small box, or die. It is unpleasant to describe things this way, but using euphemisms to assuage our consciences does not change the reality of the system we operate in.

<comment><USER5> Is there a federal debtors' prison I'm unaware of? A fine from the government (when e.g. the sentence for a crime is a fine)—which you don't pay—turns into credit-score damage, liens and garnished wages; it does not turn into reduced freedom of movement/association.

<comment><USER6> You can't be imprisoned for being _unable_ to pay a fine, but you _can_ be imprisoned for being _unwilling_ to pay a fine. This goes back to Bearden v. Georgia in which the SCOTUS ruled

>If the probationer has willfully refused to pay the fine or restitution when he has the resources to pay or has failed to make sufficient bona fide efforts to seek employment or borrow money to pay, the State is justified in using imprisonment as a sanction to enforce collection. [0]

So yes, had Levinson refused to pay the fines imposed he could have been facing a prison sentence. You can easily find a plethora of news stories about people being imprisoned for failure to pay fines.

[0] [http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme- court/461/660.html](http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/461/660.html)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Thomas M. Cooley's 1879 analysis of privacy of telegraphic correspondence (the "hampered by fears" link in the Guardian article) is fascinating: [https://archive.org/details/jstor-3303981/](https://archive.org/details/jstor-3303981/)

<comment><USER8> This is so beautiful... what I was trying to say here: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10384748](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10384748)

      In brief, then, the doctrine that telegraph authorities may be
      required to produce private messages, on the application of third
      persons, is objected to, on the following grounds:--

      1. That it defeats the policy of the law, which invites free com-
      munication, and to the extent that it may discourage correspondence,
      it operates as a restraint upon industry and enterprise, and, what is
      of equal important, upon intimate social and family correspondence.

      2. It violates the confidence which the law undertakes to render
      secure, and makes the promise of the law a deception.

      3. It seeks to reach a species of evidence which, from the very
      course of the business, parties are interested to render blind and
      misleading, and which, therefore, must often present us with error in
      the guise of truth, under circumstances which preclude a discovery
      of the deception.

      4. It renders one of the most important convfeniences of modern life
      susceptible at any moment of being used as an instrument of infinite
      mischiefs in the community. It is not necessary to enumerate these
      mischiefs. Any one can picture to his own mind what would be the
      condition of things in any neighborhood, if its whole correspondence
      were exposed to the public gaze. A single instance, in which the veil
      of confidential secrecy is thrust aside, will introduce some of these
      evils, but it will suggest the possibility that any moment all the others
      may follow.

      Inviolability of Telegraphic Correspondence.
      Supreme Court of the United States.
      Thomas Snell et al. v. The Atlantic Fire and Marine Insurance Company.
      February 1, 1879

<comment><USER7> A minor nit: Thomas Snell et al. v. The Atlantic Fire and Marine Insurance Company is the opinion which _follows_ Thomas M. Cooley's opinion you are quoting here.

<comment><USER8> Oh that's funny, I copied the header text off the scanned page but it's for the next article in the book. Thanks for pointing that out.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> You could easily miss the tiny text on the left where it says:

      Sponsored by:

      Silent Circle

This doesn't necessarily detracts from the article, of course, but it's interesting metadata.

</comment><comment><USER10> Where did it go? From what I've read, it never existed, except as comforting bullshit. Read Bamford's books about the NSA. Read about the British Black Chamber.[0,1]

[0] [http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02684528708431876](http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02684528708431876)

[1] [http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/06/gen...](http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/06/gentlemen- reading-each-others-mail-a-brief-history-of-diplomatic-spying/276940/)

<comment><USER11> The Black Chamber typically refers to an American organization[0] although, to be fair, it was not the only use.

> The term "Black Chamber" predates Yardley's use of it in the title of his > book. Codes and code breakers have been used throughout history, notably by > Sir Francis Walsingham in Elizabethan England. A so-called cabinet noir was > established by King Henry IV of France in 1590 as part of the Poste aux > Lettres.

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

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> _Privacy as a legal construct is relatively recent._

It's as old as the fourth amendment.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, _papers, and effects_ , against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

<comment><USER13> It wasn't called privacy then or analyzed as a right to privacy until 1890, although courts have agreed since then that "privacy" is part of what the fourth amendment protects.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Right_to_Privacy_%28articl...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Right_to_Privacy_%28article%29)

Sometimes courts have thought of the privacy protections in the fourth amendment as very narrow and specific. For example, they've carved out almost everything we do that's intermediated from fourth amendment privacy protections!

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third- party_doctrine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-party_doctrine)</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Does "work hard party harder" works? - <AUTHOR> Today I heard one of the successful person mention that to be very productive and to get very good at something faster, one should work hard at it. This will be easy to do if you are willing to put time and sweat behind it.
However what will not be easy is taking time off to "party harder". People underestimate this. Doing Some kind of activity which engages brain in the same way as it was engaged when you were working hard.
Has anyone experience this ? What would be scientific the reason behind this to work ? <comment><USER2> No. Try to maintain work-life balance. "Work hard, party harder" is stupid statement that you rarely hear outside of college. Anyone still using this statement outside of college is probably not someone you should follow.

<comment><AUTHOR> Already have wok-life balance, do not enjoy it.

<comment><USER2> Please clarify. What do you not enjoy?

<comment><AUTHOR> Career growth has stopped, work-life balance has just made everything subpar. Not living life to the fullest.

<comment><USER2> I've been there. It's up to you to decide what you value in life, regardless of what you see others doing with their lives.

I like hobbies. Photography is one of my favorites.

You have to figure out what motivates you both in your work and home lives. There may be some overlap. For example, I code for a living and also volunteer to code for projects with OpenOakland/Code for America.

As for the career, don't be afraid to change teams or companies.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Facebook Retargeter Perfect Audience (YC S11) Launches API For Agencies, Devs - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/20/perfect-audience-apis/

<comment><USER2> I've been testing out Perfect Audience for a month or two now, and have been really happy with the my results. I really like how easy it is to get started with a campaign, and Brad's always helpful.

My CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) was approximately $0.80 for the test campaign I ran. People noticed the ads, clicked and signed up for a webinar (name and email collected).

Due to the amount of traffic on my site, my retargeting list size is not that big. So, I don't get as many impressions/clicks as I'd like.

At this point, I'll take all the FBX traffic I can get.

This new reporting API is a welcome addition to PA, I'll be integrating it into our ad management software. But, what I'm really looking forward to seeing is the launch of an api for ad creation.

<comment><AUTHOR> "People noticed the ads, clicked and signed up"

Music to our ears!

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I talked with Brad this morning, and these guys know what they are doing. This product is very, very effective, and I recommend it.

Disclaimer: I have never worked with this company, and have no business interests in it.

<comment><USER4> "This product is very, very effective, and I recommend it. Disclaimer: I have never worked with this company, and have no business interests in it."

Did you personally use the service? If so, could you give some more details regarding your experience?

<comment><USER3> I use this kind of re-targeting all of the time. Have not had the opportunity to do so with this company. But they all work in the same practical manner. I have been following them for some time and met one of the founders. Very impressed by how they do things. I will be using it for a future product I'm launching. Honestly, you can't go wrong with it. Sometimes you can just tell by the people behind products. I normally don't speak out like this, but this is one to those products that actually make a difference.

<comment><USER4> "This product is very, very effective, and I recommend it." was the claim you made. "Have not had the opportunity to do so with this company." End of discussion.

I don't doubt that the people behind the product are sharp, but its very very poor form to recommend a product with a claim to product effectiveness without having used it first. And to be clear, I wouldn't have an objection if all you said was that you recommend the product because you were impressed with the people. This not only makes me question your integrity on this claim, it will cast doubt on other recommendations you make in the future.

<comment><USER3> Oh I use this type of product with a lot of campaigns. Have nt used them yet, due to how I have had no choice to pick it. I do think the people behind the product are stand up guys and their trajectory and growth shows that they provide a good value. That for me is enough to say that I reccomend others to look into it. Just like people tell other peoe to buy Toyotas even if they have never owned one. Their reputation stands for itself.

And before you question my integrity publicly, realize that I did not circle around your question. I answered it in a respectful manner and did not obscure any detail. I cod have just ignored it, but your claim was a valid one. I will not change the answer or hide behind anything because I sat d by it.

Your person attack against me does show a rather poor judgement and attitude towards others. No need to disrespect me publicly. A reasonable argument would have been enough. I understand if my personal opinion seems wrong to you, but I do no tolerate the type of attitude showcased in your post.

<comment><USER4> I recommend you go through <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5302116>, which was a discussion in which another person recommended a product. The upshot is that people see HN as a different type of forum compared to other places, and some people may actually read your original post as a personal testimonial (regardless of the disclosure, the phrase "This product is very, very effective" highly suggests you've used the product).

"And before you question my integrity publicly ... Your person attack against me"

If this were any other context, I would accuse you of shilling (and draw an analogy to penny stock pumping). Since this is HN, I take you on your word that you have no financial interest.

<comment><USER3> I understand your point and know that from your point of view it looks scammy. But its not. My interest here is to point out what I think is a good product to use. People are always asking me what tools should they use, and when the chance pops up to point to one I take it. My only interest is to help other business people discover good tools like this one.

I don't have any financial interest in the company. I actually turned down an offer to work with them due to closing another client. Such circumstances gave me the opportunity to talk with one of the founders (the OP). The impression that he left in me is that they are a good place to do business with. That impression also comes from me only hearing good things about them from their customers.

I am a member in a private group of startups founders where we discuss business development and help each other. I'd like for you to drop by our next meeting (online) so that you can get to know me. My hope is that you realize that my focus is to help others grow their businesses, and not scam people out of money. If you are interested, then send me an email. I will make sure to send you the invitation to the group.

<comment><USER3> Niggler, I want to publicly apologize for any misunderstanding. Please accept my most sincere apology.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> How do you differ from the other retargeting platforms out there? (adroll etc)

<comment><AUTHOR> Great question:

1\. Instant access to Facebook Exchange and the banner exchanges like Google Ad Exchange.

2\. We let you segment out your audience in lots of fun ways: \--- By URL path \--- By URL querystring \--- By Javascript event (This one's popular: <https://www.perfectaudience.com/docs#javascript_api_autoopen>) \--- By regular expression \--- Using an image pixel

Our customers think that's pretty awesome.

3\. We break out every individual conversion generated into an awesome visual report you can export and compare against first party data. We even show you which ad was clicked on to generate the sale and how much you made.

4\. Our billing and charges are super transparent with slick invoices and receipts that let you track every dollar spent.

5\. Our Facebook retargeting campaign maker is simple, easy, and effective.

6\. We have a reporting API (announced here, so you can get your data out). You can get your data OUT however you like.

7\. Our campaigns perform GREAT. We've got ecommerce customers generating $11-12 in post-click sales for every $1 they spend with us.

8\. Self-service creation of image pixels for e-mail retargeting.

9\. Powerful tag manager so you add just one pixel to your site.

I could go on but those are lots of the highlights! My e-mail's in my signature if you'd like to ask more.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Hey folks! Happy to answer any questions about retargeting or display advertising anytime. We're helping tons of startups acquire new customers efficiently. My e-mail is in my signature if you want to chat!

<comment><USER6> Do you use 3rd party cookies for tracking I suppose? What's your strategy considering the emerging tendency they will not work in recent browsers like Mozilla?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, we do use third party cookies. Yep, very aware of Mozilla's recent announcements. I've been reading those discussions pretty closely.

So, a few thoughts on the issue:

1\. There's ways to work within that environment that delivers ROI and still respects user privacy.

2\. The actual business impact from this change remains to be seen. Firefox has a large share of the browser market, today. But we've seen how quickly things like that change. Also, the browser market share for "marketable impressions" does not line up 1-1 with overall browser marketshare.

So we're watching things closely.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This might just be the missing link I've been searching for to justify spending my ad dollars on facebook.

<comment><AUTHOR> Send over any questions you have. My e-mails in my HN profile.</comment></comment>


Xiki: An amazing shell - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/07/programmer-craig-muth-kickstarts-a-new-version-of-his-arguably-amazing-shell-xiki/?utm_campaign=fb&ncid=fb <comment><USER2> These alternative shells always get me really excited, until I try them out. Then the drawbacks become immediately and very painfully obvious:

\- Some are extremely slow, especially those that rely on complete webservers / node.js / whatever as a backend

\- Memory-hungry. I've got an average of about 30 terminals open at all times. 50 Mb per terminal really is a bit too much. 10 Mb is the upper limit on what a single terminal should ever use.

\- Don't work remote. If it doesn't work remotely without installation (and none do), it's pointless to me.

\- Don't integrate properly. For instance, copy-pasting is suddenly painfully impossible or unicode fails or it doesn't handle ncurses or escape sequences properly.

\- Doesn't add anything that the history and copy-pasting don't already do nearly perfectly.

\- Doesn't follow the "Simple things should be simple, complex things should be possible" philosophy. For example, catting large (10mb) log files or a binary file completely barfs it.

I wonder if Xiki is any different, as I haven't tried it yet. It seems unwieldy to use. Why would I want to physically move the cursor to a previous command 50 lines up when I can just do Ctrl-R <part of the command> and be done with it?

This all sounds a bit negative, which isn't my intention. It's just that I've become quite a skeptic when it comes to "(email|shell|editor|etc) reinvented" claims.

<comment><USER3> Wow, an average of 30 terminals at all times? Just out of curiosity... what for exactly? Real-time monitoring?

<comment><USER4> I always have at least that many too. Not for real-time monitoring, just a large number of projects and threads of thought, many of which last for weeks or months. I do this for everything: I just totalled up all my currently open terminals, browser tabs, documents, etc., and got to over 700, and it's only that low because I've restarted a couple of times recently....

<comment><USER5> I suffer from the same problem of too many terminal windows and browser tabs, and honestly it doesn't seem to help me much. It just dilutes my attention. I always do a logoff or restart at the end of every day now, and that seems to help a fair bit.

To keep track of what I need to do in the short term, I have a simple TODO text file.

<comment><USER6> Unrelated, but if you're using plain old text files for todo lists, you should look at this: [http://todotxt.com/](http://todotxt.com/)

<comment><USER7> Or the Org Mode of Emacs

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> IMO this should link to [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/xiki/xiki-the- command-r...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/xiki/xiki-the-command- revolution) and not one of the most awful, bottom feeder sites out there. I challenge you to find a single bit of information on the TC page that is not on the Kickstarter page.

<comment><USER9> Techcrunch has its gems too: [http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/04/silicon-valley- lost-and-fou...](http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/04/silicon-valley-lost-and- found/) [http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/06/how-i-started- zerocater/](http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/06/how-i-started-zerocater/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> > _"Originally I created Xiki for my own use," said Muth. "When I was supposed > to be doing my boring job as a software dev at banks and insurance companies > in Ohio 13 years ago, I started making this thing that let me run commands > and navigate files directly from my notes. Ever since then I've found myself > unable to resist working on it. I use it for everything."_

Isn't this a bit concerning? It sounds like this was created on employer time with employer resources, yet there is nothing about this in the Kickstarter page itself. It seems like there could be a potential legal issue because of this, but there is no reassurance that either it's already been cleared, or that it's a potential risk.

Seems like a big oversight that might prevent some people who read this from contributing.

<comment><USER11> Maybe he does own the IP outright. He negotiated for the right to create side projects and has paperwork to prove it?

Or maybe he figures it's his because it's not within the scope of his employment. i.e. -- has nothing to do with banks in and of itself.

<comment><USER12> > when I was supposed to be doing my job

No negotiating your way out of that. I know lots of people have done this type of thing at work, but I guarantee you he didn't have anything in his employment agreement that said "If I dick around instead of working and get paid for it like I was working, everything is fine, don't even worry about it."

That's a fire-able offense for any sane employer that doesn't have a 20% time deal or something similar. Hell, most employers specifically address this in the employment agreement.

I've got 15% time at my job, and I still wouldn't do this unless it was going to directly benefit my company, including other people that work here.

<comment><USER11> Well I know I negotiate for the right to keep developing my own projects. Also, I work remote, and to me -- time is fungible -- I work nights/weekends etc. So if I work on a fun project 'during the workday' it is still mine, didn't become my employers suddenly, I just have to make up the worktime.

<comment><USER13> That's a major advantage to WFH. Just don't use company equipment when you do it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Holy freaking crap that's amazing. I love how the video all of the sudden starts to show 9000 features/ways it can be used. Looks like the paradigm adapts well to many different common workflows.

It's really great to see someone really thinking from scratch about the shell -- something that very rarely goes through any meaningful changes like this. I hope this project goes far and becomes the new default.

<comment><USER15> This reminds me of ACME [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acme_(text_editor)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acme_\(text_editor\)). To me it doesn't look like something new at all.

The cool thing about this project is it doesn't interrupt how you use your mouse. Using acme makes you learn how to use a mouse again like going from vim to emacs makes all your keybindings screw up.

Not that i'm saying copying acme is a bad thing, that editor is really underated.

<comment><USER16> I played with Acme the other day and was blown away. The everything as a command idea is really powerful. Definitely underrated, would be great if it got a modern reboot.

For the unfamiliar this video by Russ Cox covers it pretty well. [http://research.swtch.com/acme](http://research.swtch.com/acme)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I quite like fish and have been using it painlessly for nearly 6 months now. I wish fish included an actual programming language that could replace bash scripts, but the sane advice from fish devs is to use a real programming language instead of bash or another shell script. Other than that I've become quite dependent on the nice autocomplete and suggestions from fish. It just works and I never have to deal with any problems once you get over the initial learning curve bump which isn't that big.

<comment><USER18> You can go a long way with bash; it's worth learning because it lets you glue tools written in different "real" languages together very easily, as long as they all talk text. There aren't many other languages specifically designed for process control, orchestration and piping.

I don't like fish because it has almost no features, compared with bash.

<comment><USER19> I've never understood why anyone would inflict oneself with bash scripting. If you really need something portable you should use standard /bin/sh anyway since bash is not installed by default everywhere (I believe many linux distros don't even ship with bash anymore, but a lightweight clone called "dash"?).

And if you don't care about portability out of the box, why not use... Well basically anything else? Perl, python, ruby, lua, scheme, whatever.

The only shell scripts I ever write are basically a list of command to execute sequentially. If I need something more complex (control flow, user input, proper error handling, nontrivial string manipulation) I switch to some other programming language, it's just not worth the pain.

<comment><USER20> Many Linux distros ship with /bin/sh being dash, but they also come with /bin/bash. A lot of scripts obviously depend on bash, so distro maintainers have had to either fix them to depend only on POSIXy "sh" or just put #!/bin/bash at the top.

The reason to use dash instead of bash is speed and to a lesser extent memory usage. The goal isn't to stop needing bash, it's to speed up boot times etc. Or at least it was five years ago when this transition was happening.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> The whole bash shell is built around input/output. A command generates output. Which might be input for another program. This forces commands to be non- interactive, and just plaint text. But it comes with the immense power of building great programs using functional composition. It looks like Xiki breaks that in its core, and provides "UIX" ouputs to programs. I'm not sure i like that complexity. I'd prefer the simplicity that bash provides.

</comment><comment><USER22> > "When I was supposed to be doing my boring job as a software dev at banks > and insurance companies in Ohio 13 years ago, I started making this thing > that let me run commands and navigate files directly from my notes."

With all the stories of disgruntled developers complaining that their employer took ownership of something they'd worked on in their _spare time_ , I wouldn't be surprised if his old employers came a knocking.

If it wasn't for that, I'd likely already be backing the new version, it feels very good to use. The video is very slick, there are some companies out there making good money producing these things!

<comment><USER23> He would have to be very unlucky for that to happen, but admitting it online was perhaps not the best move.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Installed, started. xiki status says it's running but I'm back in my usual shell and nothing works any different. No mouse interaction like in the video. Maybe I'm missing something obvious, maybe the tutorial (Where is it?) or is it an OSX only thing? I'm on Linux.

I started the web interface, used it to hook xiki to emacs, restarted emacs and run into the unfixed "error: el4r-instance is dead" bug.

I stopped using xiki. Maybe I'll give it a try when I'll have time to investigate but it's 2014. There are too many tools battling for mindshare and if something doesn't have a good tutorial and doesn't work out of the box isn't giving a good signal.

<comment><USER25> With all due respect, this looks like an early-stage project. If everyone adopts such a dismissive attitude, Show HN might as well not exist.

<comment><USER24> The first commit in git is from 2008. [https://github.com/trogdoro/xiki/commits/master?page=17](https://github.com/trogdoro/xiki/commits/master?page=17) From [http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/778419-meet-xiki-the- re...](http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/778419-meet-xiki-the- revolutionary-command-shell-for-linux-and-mac-os-x) it turns out than "Craig Muth, has been working on Xiki for ten years". Maybe not a mature project but not an early stage one.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> I actually like my shell as it is. I like the old fashion with no mouse interaction except for scrolling. Is it just me? But I have to say the interactive search is appealing.

<comment><USER27> My approach to CLI is basically: if I wanted to use the mouse, I wouldn't be in the terminal. Having to reach for the mouse is a huge waste of time and I only do it if I need to scroll (rare) or copy+paste (relatively common).

Although since I use OS X (Darwin) I don't always need the mouse to copy+paste (ie. pbcopy -> cmd+V).

<comment><USER26> Yes! I agree completely.

There's also one more situation where we need the mouse: selecting a specific text on the console to copy & paste.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> Speaking of shells, I wish there were a shell inspired by python, able to conveniently use python libraries (perhaps even auto-import them), but with the convenience features of common shells. I can never remember the ghastly syntax of bash.

<comment><USER29> Maybe the now defunct pysh profile of ipython [1] is close to what you want. (It's defunct because it is mostly unneccesary in recent versions of ipython, that page shows how to get most (all?) of the functionality it used to provide.)

For Perl instead of Python there are psh [2] and zoidberg [3].

[1] [http://ipython.org/ipython- doc/dev/interactive/shell.html](http://ipython.org/ipython- doc/dev/interactive/shell.html)

[2] [http://gnp.github.io/psh/](http://gnp.github.io/psh/)

[3] [https://github.com/jberger/Zoidberg](https://github.com/jberger/Zoidberg)

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> This feels very like what iPython notebooks provides, but applied to shell commands rather than code.

It's a cute video, but I can't quite help feeling this is going to be far less useful in practice than it's made out to be.

<comment><USER31> I tend to agree. The biggest leap for me was switching to oh-my-zsh (near life changing). :-)

<comment><USER5> I love oh-my-zsh as well, but I ended up switching to prezto ([https://github.com/sorin-ionescu/prezto](https://github.com/sorin- ionescu/prezto)), which is extremely similar but has less code and is considerably faster. Shell sessions were taking more than a few seconds to start up, and I'm using the latest MacBook Air.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> The fact that this shell has Twitter functionality is a signal, and I can't decide if it's a negative signal or not. I've worked very hard to avoid a Twitter capable refrigerator.

<comment><USER33> I think the means you can use it to script twitter functionality via twitter's REST API.

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> umm, lot of these _can_ (which is the operative word here) be made to work together with plan9's acme...

<comment><USER35> A lot of these also works quite similar to Emacs (M-x shell).

</comment></comment><comment><USER36> Seems like a lot of ideas from GNU Emacs and Plan 9 (such as interactive text and evaluating within text buffers) rolled into one, so in that sense it isn't anything revolutionary. Of course it could end up being something nice, but the way the Kickstarter video rubs off on me makes me doubt it.

</comment><comment><USER37> Sorry but the cognitive load for this shell is just too darn high. I understand the power, I even get close to grok'ing the 'why', but I just don't see how I can intuit all the various features from the app. Do I need to spend a few hours doing a tutorial first? If so: forget it. I don't have time to do that, not for a shell, no matter how fancy it is .. however, if there is a neat and easy and fast way to learn these powerful features built-in, I'll give it a chance. As it stands though, the video just makes me glaze over about 1/5th of the way into it .. I'm impressed by the awesome power, but the load is just too high.

</comment><comment><USER38> There's at least one use case I want this for: Interactive documentation of shell based programs. As a start, imagine a git tutorial with this thing - beautiful.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> The most revolutionist change to a shell. The feature i found very much interesting is "in xiki commands can be run from the notes"

<comment><USER39> We used to call them shell scripts... I mean, it's not particularly new, only now you have to ctrl+enter each individual command.

<comment><USER40> I think the OP video's demonstrated use-case makes xiki preferable to creating a shell script.

With a shell script if I want to run some copy-pasta from a blog post or somesuch then I need to edit to remove non-script parts, then I'm flitting between shells to make edits that will work. Then I use the script, and remove it. All just to run a few commands; copy paste, edit in place and ctrl+enter to execute seems far slicker to me (but haven't used it yet).

Xiki looks great for navigation too.

Currently I use bash/dash (Kubuntu) and the greatest change to me has been discovering ctrl+R (surprisingly recently!) and a couple of scripts that I made/modified following a post on HN that make an archive of input commands and enable me to grep it easily.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER41> The visual file navigation looks like it would be a real step down. If I already know the directory I'm navigating to, it would almost certainly be less keystrokes to cd [first letter of first directory]<tab>/[first letter of second]<tab>, etc. If I wanted to visually navigate files, I'd use Finder.

</comment><comment><USER42> It looks like a good solution to a lot of tedious problems, especially considering navigation.

On the other hand, it seems like there's no boundaries for what problems Xiki should solve.

Where do you draw the line? I would for instance never expect my shell to be able to manage my database. It just doesn't make sense to delegate that job to the shell.

</comment><comment><USER43> Most recent discussion here: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7869246](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7869246), and previously here: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4512928](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4512928).

</comment><comment><USER44> I'm personally keeping my eye on the oh shell [0]. It adds some scheme goodness to the shell without throwing familiarity to the wind.

[0]: [https://github.com/michaelmacinnis/oh](https://github.com/michaelmacinnis/oh)

</comment><comment><USER45> It's cool, but I can't imagine it making my life any better over a Unix prompt. What I really want is a Windows shell that acts exactly like my OSX Unix shell. I did a little look but didn't see anything satisfactory.

</comment><comment><USER46> Really cool!

A few months ago, I started to use vim mode in shell, for the raw way is not convenient. Furthermore, I have formed an similar idea of "interactive shell", whereas I have to finish my GRE firstly...

</comment><comment><USER47> Supporting 2 new text editors or IDEs: 4 months (likely Vim and Sublime, but it depends on what everyone votes for - also which one is implemented first depends on the votes)

\--> Please all vote for Vim :)

</comment><comment><USER45> For some reason I think I saw some of this in Smalltalk and Oberon.

</comment><comment><USER48> I like that it can "run" things beside programs. eg URLs, phone numbers. That seems like a good idea other shells could do.

</comment><comment><USER49> To be honest, a lot of these functionalities really don't seem to fit into a shell but into some sort of a GUI file manager.

</comment><comment><USER50> This reminds me of the TempleOS HolyC shell.

</comment><comment><USER51> The first part (filtering/searching/expansion) is pretty similar to emacs's helm/anything.

</comment><comment><USER52> I need it. Anything similar already available?

<comment> vertex-four Native Oberon.

No, I'm kidding, but Native Oberon is pretty much this as a (research) operating system; the interface is a bunch of text editor panes, you type out commands and run them by middle-clicking on them, commands tend to produce output in the form of further commands you can run, and you can save these panes as files at any time.

It's almost like a generalised version of the core operating system shown in The Mother Of All Demos.

</comment></comment><comment><USER53> The video is amazing.

</comment><comment><USER54> looks like the vim browser with a bash file that can be commented (and run and given to friends).

</comment><comment><USER55> Great.. Wake me up when it hits 1.0.

<comment><USER56> It is already at v1.0 ([https://github.com/trogdoro/xiki/tree/master](https://github.com/trogdoro/xiki/tree/master)). It has been under development for over 10 years.

<comment><USER39> This comment makes me wonder why he suddenly needs money for it now. Many huge projects started without kickstarter, even if they receive lots of contributions and donations nowadays, they never used to need it.

Hmm, and I remember some post on HN a few months ago about why open source projects should not ask for money/donations in the first place. The crux of it was that they basically become a company then: they work for money. People will expect something for that money, and A) features might be made simply because the developer feels he needs to do _something_ in return for they money he's getting and B) people who donate a lot (i.e. have a lot of money) get a huge say in the project even if their ideas turn out to be horrible in practice.

<comment><USER24> The TC post includes this quote from Xiki's author. "If this campaign succeeds, the money will let me dedicate the time needed to bring this next, drastically improved, version of Xiki to the world."

Apparently he's looking for about one year's worth of money to work full time on Xiki. Why he didn't do that before, I don't know and it doesn't matter much. But using Kickstarter he's able to be very specific about what one should expect to get as a reward. Example: 35 $ buy a t-shirt and 10 votes for vim or sublime support, no specific features. 2k $ buy a command for your company. He writes "See the Twilio command in the video for an example". So it's true that if you donate a lot you get more. If only companies from a specific domain fund Xiki it could turn out to be a very domain specific shell. However being strong on a vertical market could be a nice strategy. Unfortunately it's out of Xiki's control.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


iPhone 7 bursts into flames, destroys vehicle - <AUTHOR> https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/32960624/iphone-7-catches-fire-destroys-vehicle/#page1 <comment><USER2> From March of this year:

Apple, FAA Investigating After iPhone Catches Fire Mid-Flight [http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/apple-faa- investigatin...](http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/apple-faa- investigating-after-iphone-catches-fire-mid-flight-n543516)

 _Spring-break-bound sophomore Anna Crail was watching a movie on Thursday when her iPhone spontaneously caught fire over the Pacific. "All of a sudden there was like 8-inch flames coming out of my phone," she told KOMO News. The teen panicked, telling KOMO that she thought the plane "was going down." "I flipped it off onto the ground, and it got under someone's seat, and the flames were just getting higher, and a bunch of people stood up," she said._

<comment><USER3> Considering that any device with a LiPo battery in it is potentially a bomb they really do need better procedures for dealing with these sorts of things.

RC groups have "LiPo Guard" bags or containers on hand in case of a fire: [http://thedronegirl.com/2015/02/07/lipo- battery/](http://thedronegirl.com/2015/02/07/lipo-battery/) I've even seen some with a contraption you can throw your burning battery into to contain the fire.

Why aren't these mandatory on planes? Ash-trays are legally mandated, it's hilarious, but nothing for phones.

<comment><USER4> The airlines have started taking additional precautions.

From [http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/airlines-add- fire-c...](http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/airlines-add-fire- containment-bags-overheating-phones-42790266)

"At least three U.S. airlines are adding new fire-suppression equipment to fleets in case a cellphone or laptop battery overheats, catches on fire and can't be extinguished"

<comment><USER3> This is good since sometimes the plane's own batteries have caught on fire.

Having some kind of flame-proof, reinforced steel box they can drop dangerous devices in wouldn't be a bad idea either, as in the case of some idiot with shoe-bombs they could wrestle the device off the person and chuck it in there to be contained.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I think there's a market opportunity for a small, sturdy fireproof box that could prevent an exploding or spontaneously igniting smartphone from injuring someone or igniting objects nearby. And bonus points if the phone could still receive calls/texts and be charged while inside it.

</comment><comment><USER6> Man leaves small metal object with volatile electrical connection in tightly enclosed space receiving direct sunlight on a hot day, blames metal object for ensuing damage.

<comment><USER7> That is the correct reaction.. The only time when you can't blame the phone is when it is duct taped to a grenade..

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Even when it comes to blowing up, Apple beats Samsung, hands down!</comment>


Update HN: Reverse Marriage Proposal - She said yes - <AUTHOR> http://krmmalik.posterous.com/41421929

<comment><USER2>
      If i get:-

        * $500 in donations, i'm willing to put together a blog
      post outlining the specifics of what i did differently to
      what i would normally do , and will respond to all
      comments on the blog post
        * $1000 in donations, im willing to put together a 20
      to 30 minute audio outlining what i have learned
        * $2000 in donations i'll put together an actual video
      and upload to YouTube. (Im saying this one rather
      reluctantly. Im quite a shy fella)

Huh! what is this ? some kind of a marriage proposal porn ?

<comment><USER3> Flagged.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> My account is apparently too new for me to submit this, which I guess answers my question as to how to post it (on its own or as a reply):

<http://www.novemberwest.com/blog/?p=136>

Perhaps this will foster a little conversation here.

<comment><USER5> Whatever problem you had posting, it wasn't because your account is too new. It's all too common to see submissions from accounts that are like ten seconds old.

<comment><USER4> I got a message saying something like "You are posting too fast. Please slow down." And my post did not show up. (I thought it was the most lovely rejection I've ever seen. And I write polite letters of that sort as part of my job.)

Perhaps my inference is incorrect. Or perhaps policy recently changed. <shrug>

<comment><USER5> Uh oh. That's what happens when the site suspects abuse. Accounts that have been hell-banned for bad behavior get that message, for example.

You are not hell-banned, because I can read and reply to your messages, but perhaps it's something similar. Have you had an account here before? Has somebody in your house had one? I'm not exactly sure how it works, but the site could have your IP address flagged or something.

<comment><USER4> Thanks for the heads up.

I do have another account, in good standing. I don't want this website associated with that account, so I created a second one. It isn't intended as "spam" at all. But I realize there are challenges in trying to keep the two things separate and not have this account look like spam. I've thought a lot about whether and how to develop this new site and keep it separate from other stuff I am doing and I don't really have any good answers. I imagine in the long run it will probably not remain separate. For now, I want it to blossom on its own.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> I can understand people may not agree with my idea to raise finance for the wedding this way. I can totally understand and appreciate that, but i expected people to be a little more civil in their objection.

For the lady that wrote the blog post. Interestingly you make a very valid point and i agree completely that the man pursuing the woman is a failed paradigm.

As for the eloping suggestion. Believe you, me. I would love to do that. I have seriously considered it.

Unfortunately, i come from a very traditional culture, and so does she. It would be considered very taboo. I dont want to upset her or her family in any way.

<comment><USER4> I think there are ways to monetize this information but I think you are going about it all wrong. You don't want your families to disapprove or be upset but you seem oblivious to the way you are alienating the business community/your audience. Ask around. Find a more above-board means to make money off this. Win-win.

As for tradition and family: I generally feel they are allowed to set expectations if they are willing to help make it happen. If the expectation is that all the money comes out of your pocket, I don't feel they have any say. But I realize I come from a different culture.

FWIW: My family was upset when they learned of my elopement. My marriage lasted longer than either of my siblings. I think I did the right thing.

<comment><AUTHOR> PS - Time is of the essence PPS - It would take me way too long and spin-off a whole new conversation to explain the dynamics of my culture and background.

<comment><USER4> And it would take me too long to explain why I disagree with a great many things about how things are currently handled and see no reason to go along with them -- which is why I started this blog: So I can pontificate at length, partly in hopes of helping others get a bit more free of such burdens.

Again: Best of luck.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Where's the reverse donation button?

<comment><AUTHOR> Haha. Too funny. Touche!</comment></comment>


Rookie Manager Mistakes (2018) - <AUTHOR> https://hiring.workopolis.com/article/4-rookie-manager-mistakes/ <comment><USER2> "Rookie mistake #1: Creating a blanket policy for one bad apple" made me laugh because the CEO of a 50 person tech company I worked for many years was famous for such policies. It was funny because the company had a high trust workforce, but the CEO would flip out over a situation and then bring in a draconian rule to deal with it and slowly over time it went from a great place to work to a more mediocre one.</comment>


Engineering the Architecture Behind Uber's New Rider App - <AUTHOR> https://eng.uber.com/new-rider-app/ <comment><USER2> It would be great to see a sample project implementing the architecture described here. I agree with the criticisms of MVC and how it scales. I believe you can make the same critiques of MVP. Speaking as an android developer, it would be great to have some simpler (minimum lifecycle hooks), more flexible (shared element transitions), and bug-free (avoid unexpected asynchronous calls) navigation components. Fragments and Activity offer neither of these.

Where I am lost is how Uber makes the jump from MVP to Router, View Controller, Presenter, Builder, Component, Interactor. An example use case with code would be interesting to look at.</comment>


Preventing impossible game levels using cryptography - <AUTHOR> https://robertheaton.com/preventing-impossible-game-levels-using-cryptography/ <comment><USER2> I had to skim down 3500 words to figure out that this article was just trying to explain PKI and isn't actually interesting to me as I already know how asymmetric encryption and signatures work.

The title is meant to be fun, I get that, but a subtitle a la "Explaining public-key infrastructure with a game example" would have clued me in and saved everyone some time...

The story is also a bit, idk. First spend three screenfuls of text walls and diagrams explaining what public key encryption is and then have another participant say "but we knew that already". It might have something to do with the cynical voice in my head going "you don't say", but it also makes me wonder why they didn't cut the explaining person off after the first two sentences. The story doesn't really seem to work.</comment>


Ask HN: Obsessive Asian Parents - <AUTHOR>

This isn't meant as a rant. This is also meant to be on topic.
From personal experience (as someone raised in an Asian culture), it appears that there is a strong tendency to take a "stable" route in life (i.e. doctor / engineer / lawyer). In the case of CS majors, this maps to "work at google / yahoo / microsoft" ... or "go to grad school and get a PhD", with startups looked down upon.
If you are in this category, or know of people that are in this category ... how did you break out of this (and deal with the opinions of parents / culture you were raised in) to pursue your startups? <comment><USER2> My parents fit this category. I am an American born Chinese, my parents came here to do their PhDs & postdoc, but attended college in China.

They are also very "conservative". My mom pushed my sister to attend MIT over Princeton so that she would take the engineering route instead of something like liberal arts (even though she's fond of writing). I was pushed in that same direction as well... you could say we are a family of engineers (except for my mom who is a professor). After my sister graduated with a degree in material science, she now wants to become a writer or do something as far away from science as possible... much to the chagrin of my mom. (her marks in material science were all stellar so the decision was not academic) She's still doing her PhD at MIT but has been actively applying for non-science jobs for the past 12 months or so. She's totally an extrovert, I just couldn't see her becoming a professor anyway.

The first time I had to deal with "breaking out" of the mold was when I told my parents I was leaving Atlanta to live in the Bay Area without first landing a job. They were pretty mad and the argument left with my mom in tears. Even though I was pretty frugal and saved enough from my first job to live 8-12 months without a job, they still wanted assurance of stability.

I succumbed to their plea and did a little job hunting. I picked the employer that would pay for my entire move just to please my parents. I quit the job 4 months later. (they even let me keep my big signing bonus) When my parents found out I quit, they flew out to San Francisco just to yell at me, the argument ended in tears yet again (I think my mom is a little too emotional). But I was steadfast, I knew I was capable and I could always pick up random contracting jobs if necessary.

This is almost my 3rd year out in the Bay Area and I've contracted directly with so many startup founders that if my startup ever fails, they would hire me on the spot. The opportunities in the Valley are really amazing -- especially if you know your stuff and can demonstrate it to other startup founders. I did some pro-bono work for one of the Linkedin cofounders and later on he practically begged me to help him out on one of his projects.

My mom has learned to deal with my unstable cash flow and there are no more arguments (thank god!). So for a typical Asian raised from a very conservative family culture, it's very possible to break out of the mold as long as you stay focused on the light at the end of the tunnel :-).

<comment><USER3> This intrigues me, because your parents have worked in the US since before you were born. I have always kind of assumed that Asian parents who seem obsessed with stability don't understand the American system. They want their kids to pursue things that would ensure personal stability in their home country (such as marriage and a job), not understanding that things are different in the US. In the US, a job doesn't offer much stability; stability comes from things that get you a _new_ job (experience, credentials, and work contacts) after your old job evaporates.

Obviously this doesn't apply to your parents, since they had long experience with the American system. Maybe their fear was moral? Were they afraid that your lack of concern at being "unemployed" meant you were becoming a lazy American? I would be curious to know what form your arguments took and how your parents were eventually reassured.

<comment><USER4> _In the US, a job doesn't offer much stability;_

The jobs obsessive parents push their kids into are usually quite stable. Doctors, teachers, lawyers, etc. Even software is relatively stable if you're good and you're working at a Microsoft or Google.

<comment><USER3> Teaching is stable, but doctors and lawyers only have stability through their credentials. Clinics fail; firms contract; hospitals eliminate positions. I don't know about the past, but these days law firms are quick to expand to take advantage of new demand and new markets. Surely sometimes they make mistakes. Microsoft and Google seem stable now, but who can predict the future? Plenty of "stable" companies have laid people off, closed research labs, and sold unprofitable pieces to new owners that had no intention of keeping them running.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I wish your title were "Obsessive Parents" or "Obsessive Immigrant Parents". I am Asian. I am an immigrant. I am a parent. I am also a son with Asian parent. But I was also a Professor at UCLA for nine years so I had met quite a few students with Asian parents, Jewish parents, Iranian parents, any kind of immigrant parents or just plain parents. My observation is that your predicament is not unique. Irrespective of race and culture, every parent tries to learn from their mistakes or try to compensate for their own limitation. The world is changing too fast for all of us. Parents might act like we know the answers, putting pressure and expectation on our kids. In realty, we are scare of the future just like everyone else. This is true for any parent, especially immigrant parents.

<comment><USER3> Is the process of "leaving the nest" different for immigrant families, or Asian families? My parents (who are not immigrants) stopped interfering by the time I was 26 or 27. They're still happy to offer an opinion about everything I do, but if I disagree with them, they don't make a big emotional deal about trying to change my mind. I have read that in Asian families, parents expect to retain their authority until they are elderly. Is this true? How does it play out in the US, where children often live far away?

<comment><USER5> It is not really a question of authority. I don't try to exert authority over my kids and I certainly did not grow up feeling that my parents have exerted control over me. On the other hand, Asian family (and perhaps true also with other immigrant family) tend to have a tighter social network by comparison so perhaps that could be mis-interpreted. The point of my original comment is that it is really more an issue of communication. Parents have a hard time understanding children as well. It is a two-way mirror.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Just between you and me, stability is a myth, its a freaking jungle out there, and if you don't adapt to that reality you're tiger-food. However, that never flew with my mom, either.

a) Business skills give me an excellent fall-back option to $SAFE_CHOICE if the business thing doesn't work out early in my career. (Where early is "age plus five years" and updated accordingly.)

b) I considered going to graduate school but I was worried that going into debt for it wouldn't be financially prudent, so I decided to better myself by hard work and independent study. You can appreciate the value of hard work and independent study to avoid debt, right?

c) Microsoft et al would scarcely consider hiring someone who didn't have experience doing this. After all, they'd be seen as someone who had insufficient drive to do the work. I'm just looking out for my future.

(I'm not Asian, I'm just a Japanese salaryman.)

</comment><comment><USER7> I am an Asian American CS major from a good university. I am working full-time with 3 other Asian American engineers on our first startup straight out of college.

My parents are super liberal and I am truly thankful for the opportunity that I was given growing up. They saved up enough for me to go to a private school, but I chose to go to a public one instead. I used that difference to do my first startup, and I am happy to say that we're 4 full-time employees at ramen-profitability 2 months after graduation.

My advice is that doing a startup full-time is probably the hardest thing you will do in your life. But if you love what you do, and I do, you will forget about what your parents and peers are going to tell you to do and just do it. You live for yourself, and I'm sure that when you make it big your parents will accept your choices.

<comment><USER8> Couldn't agree more. Just talk to them, tell them this is exactly what you want to do. They will understand, hopefully. If they don't then tell them that you just want their support :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Maybe the key is convincing them that you know better? I knew one girl born in South Korea whose father (still living in Korea) was totally hands-off, with an attitude of, "Whoa, you understand the USA way better than I do; I'm out of my depth here; do what you think is best." She said it was night and day compared to how he had behaved when she first moved to the US, but she didn't say what had changed his mind. However, I know she had survived some really bad shit that her father was totally powerless to help her with, so maybe that experience of helplessness convinced him, or maybe watching her handle it gave him respect for her. Either way, not very helpful for you, I guess.

<comment><USER9> I found this post refreshing. The Asian parent tendency to declare themselves practically omniscient to their kids is a big way that they shoot themselves in the foot. Is your average American kid really going to buy the argument that you should trust someone to know the right answer to everything, when that someone has a hard time telling the difference between the ads and the TV shows? (This probably dates me. I was born in the late 60s)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I have Jewish parents that value stability over risk. The pressure gets tough, sometimes. Ultimately, this isn't even a question of starting a business, but a question of a much deeper choice. Painters, musicians, writers, monks, soldiers, priests, boxers, swimmers, and many other people from all walks of life are forced to make this choice. Do you want to settle into a comfortable rhythm of people that surround you (working 9-5, watching Lost DVDs, and doing whatever comfy thing your neighbors are doing), or do you want to get out of your comfort zone and try to make your dreams come true? There is nothing wrong with settling for the traditional lifestyle, lots of people choose to do that and live perfectly happy lives. But there are lots of other people that choose not to live that way. The question is, what will make you truly happy?

If living in ticky-tacky houses really won't make you happy, you'll know it. It will eat at you from the inside, and thinking about it will consume a huge chunk of your conscious and subconscious life. At times, it'll drive you crazy. It's a natural process, so let it be.

At some point you will see that if you choose to live a different life, to a large extent it'll always be an uphill battle. Until you succeed, there will always be people who will laugh, or give you dirty looks, or lecture you. If you ever succeed and become rich (or famous, or whatever it is you're looking to do), there will always be people who treat you like you have some sort of skin disease - they'll feel uncomfortable around you. And if you never succeed, there will always be people that will point and laugh.

Let the fire burn inside you. At some point, you'll know which side of you will win. Either you'll say "the hell with all of them, let's go!", or you'll settle for a more standard walk of life, and go back to watching Lost. Either way is fine, but I doubt you can help this process with some sort of conscious effort. The fact that you're trying, though, is a good sign. Just let the fire keep burning and see what happens.

For me, Buddhism (and specifically Alan Watts) helped. "How To Get Rich" by Felix Dennis helped (a great book with a terrible name - he's an artist, an entrepreneur, and a philosopher, now a snake oil salesman). Thinking about this day and night until I finally made a decision for myself helped.

Whatever you do, just don't be under the illusion that your parents will change their mind any time soon (and even if they do, there will always be other people that matter to you who won't). This is the burden every creative person who was ever born on this planet has to carry. It's a perfectly natural part of the creative process and of psychological development. Carl Jung talked about it. Alan Watts talked about it. Konstantin Stanislavski talked about it. Let this process be and see where it takes you.

[1] <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONEYGU_7EqU>

</comment><comment><USER11> Most parents are wrong about their kids. Infact, they're compensating for their own failures. Do whatever the hell you want to do. Mostly, you'll need to try out different things.

It also depends on your personal inclinations. Are you a creative type ? Then why would you want to be a lawyer or a doctor ... or any professional job. When parents push you to go to MIT etc. just for the sake of it they're motivated by the status it'll give them and the bragging rights. Not if you screw the most important 4-5 years or your life.

When parents react, they're much more worried about how they'll be looked upon by their friends depending upon what their kids are doing. They're less worried about your well being. They also panic much faster -- especially if you have other routes. e.g. your startup would need 2-3 years to stabilize, it is entirely possible that your parents keep nagging you to leave that and go to school -- or keep reminding you how you could've become a (fu __ing) lawyer or a doctor. Asian parents will be extremely status conscious especially if you take a dip to do a startup and its got nothing to do with your ability to succeed.

Don't listen to your MOM !!! Women in general think things very different from men and are more status conscious (remember the lipstick and the makeup). Men are driven towards risk. In any case, if you ever want to do a startup you'll need a pretty thick skin and tons of persistence.

The other thing--is that when parents push you too much, it results in lack of self-acceptance. Not good. Will make you unhappy in the long run. Its much easier to survive these days than it was 50 years back.

Finally, it is entirely up to you to decide what will ultimately define your life. Will it be the same shit over and over again e.g lawyer, doctor, whatever. Or it'll be something new, something that you created. What's the fun in getting something every tenth person has got already. There's no challenge in that. There is however lots of value in being a researcher at a top university. I learnt the most ever at my first semester at MIT. But go to these places cause you really want to learn from the best and surround yourself with great people, not cause you want to gain status or bragging rights from that. Actually as long as you have the right mindset, you can probably learn a lot of stuff from opencourseware. If you have genuine interest in doing research, PhD is great, by I didn't find a lot of people over at MIT who were just mad passionate about the kind of work they were doing. I think a lot of people are able to attend MIT cause they were very conformist with their studies and undergrad research and eventually got lucky.

Oh, and get laid. Pls. More important than the phd.

</comment><comment><USER12> i'm an asian and i am not in your category

my parents were born in 1930s, due to wwii they didn't even finish high school.

my father (even so my mom) was very poor, he worked for a while for relatives but later for his own. he's good in business -- none of his children amasses comparable wealth though; however, none takes (or forced to take) 'stable' route (everyone works for self)

they are very hands-off on education. all but one receives bachelor degree though. i picked the school i wanted to go and majored in engineering -- never was forced.

my grades were always low. each year, pincipal always called my mom to discuss it. grades were never important to our family anyway and she's happy that i passed each :D

maybe it's just my parents. they survived one of the most tumultous era and without schooling or external help managed to do extremely well

so perhaps they expect as much for the children _shrug_

\--- from reading others in this thread, i got the impression that [highly academic] parents with stable income (linear growth, not exponential) tend to be pushy

maybe because the formula worked for them. that formula would have steered my parents into slavery (and very high chance that i now am plowing a field instead of hacking lisp)

<comment><USER13> This was discussed in this thread, but this tends to be more of a trait of immigrant parents rather than Asian parents. I grew up in places like New York and California which was full of first-generation immigrants (mostly Asian and Middle Eastern) who had come to the U.S. to kick ass and take names academically and they were the hardest on their kids. However, if you meet second-, third-, or fourth-generation Asian-Americans in places like Hawaii or the Japanese or Cantonese-speaking parts of the Bay Area, they tend to fit the profile you describe.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I'm not asian, but I have a number of asian friends. In fact, my first cofounder and my current cofounder are both from Hong Kong.

I think the "stable" pressure is present in Europe too. It's not just an asian thing. I'd argue that asians actually have it easier than europeans, because at least asia (well, China in any case) has a strong tradition of commerce and entrepreneurialism. In fact, I think that if it wasn't for my asian friends, I probably would have stuck with the normal, thing, to get a steady, stable career...

</comment><comment><USER15> I started off as a pre-med with guaranteed admission to medical school through Northwestern University's HPME.

I'm currently a Junior, majoring in Computer Science, Economics and a minor in Business. Oh, and I'm also battling uphill to rebuild my resume/GPA.

I sat down with my parents and explained to them what I needed to do in order to be personally satisfied, and explained what my best options would be. I was surprised at how readily they accepted my words and allowed me to move.

Just gotta try and talk. Eventually they'll realize they can't control your destiny in the long-run (beyond the habits they've given you and the influence they've had on you).

Good luck.

</comment><comment><USER16> The main thing you need to do is to show them what startup is about. Tell them why, how and what for startup. You must tell them the reason, how much you love your ideas and the potential in your ideas.

It is also cool to compare startup to other choices. Remember to let them understand the difference between working with passion and without it. Most people from last generation would be happy with any job. You need to understand them and let them know the world is different for you now.

I think most reasonable parents want their kids to be mature enough to make decisions. So be responsible and let your action and lifestyle speak. :-)

</comment><comment><USER17> I went to grad school first. Now, time for a startup. ;-)

Actually, my parents have been very supportive of whatever I want to do. I think yours will be too -- just speak from your heart. Try to convince them how you feel about things. Most parents only want what's good for their child. However, often this leads to making/forcing decisions on the child -- but only if they feel the child may be directionless. State your goals succinctly. Back your reasoning vigorously. You may be pleasantly surprised.

<comment><USER18> You are right. I am an international student in US. So, to work in a startup, it is actually harder(visa, etc). I still remembered that (few days back) when I told my dad that I am putting my school on hold for my startup, he supported what I am going to do without any hesitation at all. So, now, I have nothing to worry at all anymore. Try to speak out and convince them.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> I have an asian mom and a jewish dad, and they don't mind if I go the "alternative" route and start a company. They don't mind if I never work for a company. In fact, they encourage that I follow my entrepreneurial instincts.

But only as long as I get my college degree. Having a degree would be the one thing that validates my (minimal) intelligence.

</comment><comment><USER20> Good question. As a tangent to this question I'm a white parent with a Chinese (as in from China, not American) wife who has her PhD. and is as hard working and focused as you might imagine so we sort of split the middle with our kids (her being the stricter one and me being the more relaxed one). We are still pretty much in agreement on raising them, it's just that my yang balances out her yin (heh), so to speak. Seems to work pretty well in that they do extremely well in school but are also socially happy and well adjusted.

More to your question, we know quite a few Chinese couples (pretty much all of the ones we know, in fact) who seem more like the parents you are describing. I think it would be a tough situation to deal with, as a kid.

</comment><comment><USER21> Well, I think its mixed.

I would think my parent(s) qualifies as having the traditional asian mind-set. But the general consensus I find among them is that starting your own business and being your own boss gives you more security\freedom than working at a big company. However that varies greatly depending on what type of person you are.

In my family, those that did some kind of engineering or medicine are generally thought of as being smart and capable of rising in any company but not really the type to go out and start their own business. However those that tended to do more business\arts related streams are encouraged to start something on their own rather than get employed somewhere.

Or maybe my family just has weird stereotypes.

</comment><comment><USER22> Related (though it was on here so you might've already seen it): <http://en.chinaelections.org/NewsInfo.asp?NewsID=19911>

</comment><comment><USER23> just talk to them.

express to them what you want, how you plan to get it, and what you're sacrificing (both short-term and long-term) for it.

you'd be shocked how supportive they might be.

<comment><USER2> You might also be shocked at how unsupportive they might be as well. At least my parents didn't support my decision to leave a stable job... YMMV.

Sometimes I feel it's almost like the Indian girl trying to escape an arranged marriage.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> All parents, not just Asian ones, are in no position to make _rational_ decisions about their kids. The emotional bonds involved are just too strong.

You can't convince your parents of anything, ever. All you can do is love them.

</comment><comment><USER24> Just stop communicating with them.

</comment><comment><USER25> Look, if you can't sell your startup to your parents how can you expect to sell it to others?

<comment><USER26> Your parents are seldom a representative sample of the population.</comment></comment>


Shorty-rs: simple gRPC-based URL shortener in Rust - nevi-me https://github.com/MovingGauteng/shorty-rs <comment> nevi-me Hi HN!

I'm submitting this in case it's of interest to anyone, and a comparison of the JS and Rust repos might be of use to someone currently using NodeJS and wishing to try Rust out.</comment>


Trump Proposes an Advocate of Mass Public Surveillance as CIA Chief - <AUTHOR> https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-proposes-an-advocate-of-mass-public-surveillance-as-cia-chief/ <comment><USER2> _Mike Pompeo wants to collect bulk data for detailed profiles of anyone who uses the Internet_

Ask HN: So what's the state of currently (or soon-to-be) available countermeasures against such a program?</comment>


Spotify API (libspotify, metadata API) - <AUTHOR> http://developer.spotify.com/en/

<comment><AUTHOR> Now that Spotify is available in the US, this might be worth reposting.

Also stuff at: <https://github.com/spotify></comment>


Show HN: No more 12-word seed phrases - <AUTHOR> https://www.simpleid.xyz/?s=hn&t=hn1 <comment><AUTHOR> I'm one of the founders of SimpleID. As a Web3 app developer, I have first hand experience hand holding users through the complicated on-boarding process. I built Graphite, a popular dApp, using traditional Web3 auth and I just recently cracked 10K users after 2 years...

The status quo today expects users to navigate pop-ups, install extensions, and of course manage their 12-word key phrase! What I've learned is that people don't really care about decentralization. They should, but they don't — at least not yet. What people do care about is protecting their data privacy and convenience.

Therefore, we built SimpleID, a suite of developer tools that lets you easily on-board users to Web3 apps. If your users are tech-savvy and want a 100% truly decentralized solution, you're probably not going to be very interested in SimpleID. And that's OK. We want the other 98% of people to actually use dApps, and have that "ah ha" moment about what data ownership truly means.

Our solution is all about choice — we don't force you into any specific blockchain, identity, or storage provider. At login, users automatically get wallets (Ethereum, Bitcoin), DID (ENS, Blockstack), and storage (IPFS, GAIA). We also plan on supporting other protocols, and more importantly hope to get rid of passwords all together!

[1] Demo: [https://www.simpleid.xyz/#examples](https://www.simpleid.xyz/#examples)

[2] Sign up for free: [https://www.simpleid.xyz/#app](https://www.simpleid.xyz/#app)

<comment><USER2> It looks like similar functionality to Hedgehog but with hosting as a service, and extra functions added.

Or is that off base? How would you contrast your security and functional approaches to what they're doing?

[https://hedgehog.audius.co/](https://hedgehog.audius.co/)

<comment><USER3> Love what hedgehog is doing! However, we are cross-platform and never expose the users master private keys to the developer. When a user logs in to an app, only the app specific key pair is delivered on auth.

Let me know if you have any other questions :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I've been using blockstack and your app, graphite, sometimes. But I've allways thought creating a Blockstack-Id is too 'nerdy' for normal friends of mine so they cannot use a whole list of good apps based on blockstack.

I hope the more apps will use your SimpleID sign-on the more non-technical friends of mine can use blockstack-based apps.

Thanks.

<comment><USER3> Thanks Jonathan for the kind words, we hope more people can start using the amazing apps being built on Ethereum, Blockstack, EOS, etc.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Web 3.0 and its complex nature of on-boarding the non tech savvy ones. A tool like this is indeed needed.

I just remembered I saw this once on steemhunt too, a Steem based product curation platform.

<comment><AUTHOR> Steem is such a cool project. That's definitely high up on the priority list for us to support!

<comment><USER5> Wow. So good to hear that an this just rekindles my faith on the steem blockchain. And it will really be awesome having simpleid support steem.

If you don't mind, you could do a review campaign of simpleid on steemhunt for proper awareness to the steem community. A review that could reach over 9 million followers of various channels.

You can learn more about it [https://review.hunt.town/i/106](https://review.hunt.town/i/106)

<comment><AUTHOR> Awesome! Will do. Thanks for this, and sorry for the slow reply!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Nice site and solution. I clicked 'run' on the Examples page and at first I thought it was broken but then after about 20s it produced output--might want to drop some initial output that tells users to wait or something.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! And totally agree. We talked about this leading up to this launch and went back and forth with it. The runkit example you see on the site is using the actual production Node SDK because we want developers to literally be able to copy and paste the code. So we also want to make sure the console output is appropriate for all environments. We'll find a balance though.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> And a second thought since recently a lot of discussion about 2FA / two factor authentication has happened:

Are there any plans to support a second factor during login process, for example a one time token?

<comment><USER3> Yes! This is one of the top things on our priority list. We will be completely removing the need for passwords and switch to one time use passwords and 2FA.

You can sign up for our slack on our website and we'll keep you updated :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I like the convenience .. and that you can still use your account on other services that support bip39.

Maybe you want to collaborate with arkane.network for payment/wallets.

<comment><USER3> Thanks Friedger, do you have a person we can talk to there? Would love to start a conversation with them!

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Pretty cool idea, but does this solution _actually_ give users ownership of their identity?

<comment><AUTHOR> It absolutely does. All we store is an encrypted version of the user's master keychain (the 12-word seed phrase we're trying to eliminate). We can't access that keychain without the user's consent. The user is emailed a copy of this encrypted keychain and can take it with them to any service that supports bip39 seed phrases.

Try getting Google to let you do that ;)

<comment><USER9> > All we store is an encrypted version of the user's master keychain

Is the seed created and encrypted on the client or the server?

<comment><AUTHOR> We chose this method because it requires trust of just one entity (the lambda end point we provide) rather than trust of each app that might interact with SimpleID's SDK. If the seed phrase is generated client-side within an app, that developer could hold onto that seed and use it maliciously.

Identities created through SimpleID can be used across multiple apps, so it's important to us that developers are only able to access data specific to their app (i.e. app-specific encryption keys).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Didn't see this on your site, but is there a roadmap for future support (i.e. EOS or others)?

<comment><USER3> We've been moving fast trying to get SimpleID in as many hands as possible, but we absolutely want to support other blockchains. More in-depth Ethereum support is next up, then we want to look at adding support for blockchains like EOS, Steem, and more. It'd be great to get feedback from others on what blockchains to support!

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Great looking stuff :)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! Here's hoping it can take off and help introduce people to web3.

</comment></comment><comment> morten-oddvar FAQ is saying " You are automatically GDPR compliant". Explaining more can you this?

<comment><AUTHOR> Sure! SimpleID is giving developers access to protocols that let users store their data and control their data. When you do this, you are not managing the data on behalf of the user, they are managing it themselves. That is inherently compliant.</comment></comment>