Eye-witness stories from Chernobyl - <AUTHOR> https://ironedcurtains.com/2017/06/07/brilliant-blue-sky-eye-witness-stories-from-chernobyl/ <comment><USER2> Remember watching the evening news with my dad when they finally announced it publicly. They completely downplayed it. In came in as "Oh by the way, an accident at ChAES happened, next up - sports...".

Here I found the 20 seconds blurb: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ouJjaV_NbY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ouJjaV_NbY) (sorry in Russian, obviously).

My dad, a mechanical engineer, also specializing in workplace safety was really concerned and told me. "This is bad. They are probably downplaying the accident who knows who horrible it really is...".

The fact that people knew government lied routinely in cases like that, nobody believed them so all kinds of rumors started to circulate.

My mom kept some flowers on the balcony. She claimed they died that year because of the radiation. I don't really believe that was the cause, but it just explains the anxiety and worry people experienced.

Then there was a call to go help clean up. They promised money, even better apartments for volunteers (housing was government provided). Some went and they came back to a new apartment but they didn't enjoy it for too long. Others told stories of people burned so badly by the radiation their skin and meat was falling off their bones.

Another really sad thing happened when evacuees started streaming to different cities. They were shunned and treated horribly by others. It was paranoia, prejudices and mistrust. Mixed with lots of irrational fear ("Maybe they are still radioactive, I wouldn't get near them". I can remember my uncle saying...). How horrible. Those poor people had to leave everything behind only to be faced by that kind of attitude.

<comment><USER3> To be fair, the lady from TV announcement said that one of the reactors is damaged, which is a really bad thing for nuclear power plant.

<comment><USER4> I think OP's point was that a 20 second blurb, no matter how truthful or accurate, is downplaying the situation.

If an analogous event happened in the US, all entertainment programming would be suspended and there would be continuous news coverage on all the major channels for several days, just like after 9/11.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The interviews are interesting.

I was a kid those days, and my mother keeps telling me that diary products were suddenly put on a sale (before the news release). I live in Eastern- Europe, in the former Warsaw Pact bloc. My father worked in a research institute, so managed to get a hold of the information before the official announcements. He told her not to buy any diary or vegetable for a while.

\----

What troubles me is the contant flow on anti-nuclear-power propaganda to HN. If we accept the fact of global warming, and humanity as its cause, then the fearmongering about nuclear power should stop, as it is a necessary component in reducing CO2 emissions while not giving up too much from our lifestyle. With the lessons learned from the nuclear accidents we have every measure to avoid them in the future, until the fusion technology is ready, and to have reliable, zero-emission power in our energy mix.

<comment><USER6> There are a number of problems with nuclear power.

1\. The world's uranium supply won't actually go that far [1].

2\. A lot of places aren't suitable for nuclear reactors (eg they're seismically active).

3\. We have to trust either corporations or governments to run such plants. Corporations will tend to maximize short term profits at the cost of long term safety. Governments will tend to do the same for budgetary reasons.

4\. We'd create a whole bunch of radioactive slag that we honestly have no good way of dealing with.

So far it seems the best power source we have is hydroelectric. Of course it's only possible in some places. This can devastate certain species (eg salmon) but in terms of cost, risks, environmental impact and power output, hydro is hard to beat if it's an option.

Solar has been on a stellar (pardon the pun) rise for some years simply because the cost of cells has decreased by way more than I ever would've predicted.

Widespread electric vehicles are still hindered by the relative expense and scalability issue of batteries, notably how much lithium we have available as well as the environmental impact of mining the necessary materials. It does seem like we're one big battery breakthrough away from completely changing this landscape however.

Wind has a place but I think will remain a niche energy source.

I increasingly have the view the the economic production of electricity from nuclear fusion is a pipe dream. The temperatures are too high, magnetic containment seems too problematic and, worse, the neutron emissions are a big problem (yes, yes, I know about He3).

This does seem like it's a problem we're going to have to solve this century.

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

<comment><USER7> > in terms of cost, risks, environmental impact and power output, hydro is > hard to beat if it's an option.

The death tolls tell a different story.

You aren't alone in this belief, but I've never really understood it. Banqiao dam bursts and kills 170,000 people: hydro is fine, we should do more. Chernobyl melts down and kills 30: nuclear power is inherently unsafe!

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

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

<comment><USER8> You're not taking into account all the people who didn't die immediately but long before their time because of cancer.

"I know three women my age (between 30–40) who have experienced thyroid cancer. When one of them was surprised to get the diagnosis, her doctor told her they see women our age from the Soviet Union very frequently with the same. Not a coincidence." — Z. K.

<comment><USER9> I think it should be kept in mind that the design of Soviet reactors was incredibly unsafe compared to their western counterparts. Fukushima had four meltdowns with only a few casualties.

<comment><USER5> This is not true in this form. There were unsafe soviet designs, but also there were unsafe western designs. Soviet designs were not all categorically unsafe. The design used at Chernobyl was a problematic design, but still many layers of human error had to be involved to create the accident.

Military reactor designs are generally less safe. Civilian designs were usually OK in the USSR.

<comment><USER10> It's not just the design(s), it is the implementation too.

At Chernobyl the powers at be (accountants?) got involved and decided to use flammable bitumen coverings on the roof of reactor 3, one would assume to save money. Unsurprisingly, the roof of reactor 3 caught fire.

<comment><USER11> This is a good example of one of the failings at Chernobyl, but it took many of them coinciding to make the disaster as bad as it was.

They were required to use another material to build the roof, but they were also required to be finished with construction by a certain time. Soviet central planning led to a shortage of the proper roofing material. I'm sure the decision to use bitumen was either made in ignorance or with the assumption that it wouldn't matter for other reasons. Lots of mistakes were made with the assumption that the rest of the system was safe so it wouldn't matter.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> the OP is a sequence of brief (100 - 500 words) (skillfully edited & translated) vignettes from people who have first-hand memory of the events related to the Chernobyl disaster.

i clicked and began reading the first one; two hours later and i just read the last one. The editor (who compiled, edited and translated these brief accounts) did a remarkable job, but stories themselves are extraordinary and compelling--many deeply sad; many of them provide revealing snapshots of the former USSR.

here's a portion of one from a radiation scientist working in Kiev at the time:

> Both sides of it were lined up with buses. Dozens upon dozens of them, > parked bumper to bumper. People were streaming out of them endlessly. Most > wore house coats, pajamas, tapochki (slippers),…. Very few passengers had as > much as a purse on them....it was almost silent. The trolley had to stop and > I walked all the way to the institute mingling with these unusual and > unwilling passengers. They were evacuees from Pripyat. Their destination was > that same facility I was heading to. Reason: decontamination. It was only > one place that can handle it en-masse. I remember marching with them in a > very solemn procession. Not like a funeral one, rather a trip to a "then > what?" destination. People talked in hush tones, kids didn't jump and yell, > even infants were uncharacteristically quiet."

i'm from southeastern Belarus (Gomel region) but at the time attending Lyceum ("science high school") in Moscow. Like many students, i listened to Voice of America on the radio late in the evenings; at 0800 the next morning, i went to the Lyceum authorities and requested immediate leave to visit my family. The response was not a disposition notice ("approve"/"denied") but an urgent request to meet in an administrator's office. When i was led into her office, she spoke to me in an uncharacteristically gentle voice and told me i should not go in sum because there is absolutely nothing i could do to help my family and because to do so would likely irreparable damage my health. i asked her what she would do if she were in my place. She signed my request, then after a 14-hour wait in the queue at the train station, and a 17-hour journey by train, i was home.

<comment><AUTHOR> Editor here. Thank you for sharing your memories. And, for the note.

Some details about the origin: the vignettes were originally English-language comments in a private Facebook group.

It was a huge team effort to get them all collated, organized, and to check and re-check attribution and consent to share. We are so happy that we are able to share these collective memories and eyewitness testimonies, particularly outside of Facebook's walled garden.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I was five in Estonia when it happened. I remember:

\- being told not to keep water in my cup anymore in kindergarten.

\- dad going to grandparents farm for a few weeks (to hide from mobilisation into cleanup crew).

\- a few frames of TV news about the helicopters flying over the reactor (tho this memory could be from years later).

</comment><comment><USER14> I visited Chernobyl and Pripyat about four years ago; it was a rather sobering experience.

If anyone is interested, my unedited photos can be found here:

[https://plus.google.com/photos/115800995007308025308/album/5...](https://plus.google.com/photos/115800995007308025308/album/5878479734452453425)

[https://plus.google.com/photos/115800995007308025308/album/5...](https://plus.google.com/photos/115800995007308025308/album/5883312026173839569)

<comment><USER15> I find these pictures fascinating!

Would you be willing to share the albums as zip files or such for downloading? Strangely, google photo albums don't seem to have a method to download the complete album for public albums (there is supposed to be a way to do it for your own albums, though - but that doesn't apply here - though if you were willing to create a download file of the albums, you could download them that way to your google drive, then share the drive files publicly).

Regardless - thank you for sharing these!

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> In states near the Nevada test site, senior government officials evacuated before test series, with their families. And Kodak was notified in advance, so they could avoid using fallout-contaminated paper to interleave with their X-ray film.

<comment><USER17> What's even creepier is that the main reason Kodak was notified is because they were able to determine when the testing was occurring based on their manufacturing defects (and it meant they lost a lot of product to sell). They sued to stop the US Govt but got an agreement to know the testing schedule so they wouldn't produce film on those days.

The article mentioning this was on HN awhile back,

[http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a21382/how- ko...](http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a21382/how-kodak- accidentally-discovered-radioactive-fallout/)

<comment><USER16> Right. And there was no publicity about potential health impacts. Also, results of fallout deposition tests were kept secret for decades. And even after they became public, health impacts, mostly hypothyroidism and thyroid cancer, were bullshitted away. Because they're readily treatable. So there was no need to alarm people.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Chernobyl is the earliest memory I recall. I was less than 1y old, but I can remember staring through the window into the garden not comprehending why I was not allowed to be outside like usual and everyone being in a strange mood.

</comment><comment><USER19> "Everyone who thinks the EPA is not necessary and the regulations on power plants are there to stifle growth and profit should read every comment here… "— Ilya K.

Didn't this catastrophe happen in a communist country with the government in complete control of all aspects? The presence of a government agency regulating the activity is not like some magic amulet that will prevent bad things from occurring.

The EPA has caused its own share of disasters, such as the MBTE fiasco.

</comment><comment><USER20> I got a similar set of stories from a friend who's parents were nearby. She translated them here: [https://whatisnuclear.com/chernobyl/memories.html](https://whatisnuclear.com/chernobyl/memories.html)

</comment><comment><USER21> There's a good lesson to be learned. [http://chernobylgallery.com/chernobyl- disaster/timeline/](http://chernobylgallery.com/chernobyl-disaster/timeline/)

</comment><comment><USER22> If anyone enjoyed this, I can recommend Voices From Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich (who won the Nobel a few years ago). It's basically the same thing, but more and more in depth.

[https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0312425848/ref=as_li_tl?...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0312425848/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0312425848&linkCode=as2&tag=fub07-21&linkId=7eabcc13573fabd9282bcfd5ad48917a)

</comment><comment><USER23> Some people who post comments didn't read the article - thousands of people dying of cancer, children loosing hair, etc. It wasn't just 36 people, it's couple million tragedies, as their families were affected, themselves, children because of the lies of the communists

</comment><comment><USER24> > The biggest man-made environmental disaster in written history.

I stopped reading right there. Now I expected to reach exasperation somewhere in the article, but not at the second sentence. Chernobyl is a wildlife haven, it shelters a sea of fauna and flora that would otherwise have been the typical suburban death zone of humans, cat and dogs and nothing else. The biggest man made disaster has been committed and is being committed as we speak. Billions of tons of CO2 is pumped into the ocean and into the air right this minute. The Chernobyl accident affected a few hundred square kilometers maybe killed 5000 people. Air pollution kills 700 000 people a year.

Please stop propagating this bloody bullshit.

<comment><USER25> Disasters usually refer to isolated, unexpected, incidents. Air pollution is not a disaster.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> Great documentary about Chernobyl can be watched here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezohqY- vg4s&feature=player_e...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezohqY- vg4s&feature=player_embedded)

It touches on all aspects of the accident and cleanup. There are a lot of good interviews and actual footage from the event. The most amazing/sad part to me were the men who did the clean up in 30 second - 1 minute shifts.

</comment><comment><USER27> A family member almost became a liquidator when he was told about a possible way of emigrating from the Soviet Union to Europe as a graduate student. He was told that he'd just have to do some work in Ukraine in between for a month or two.

You wonder how many other liquidators were tricked into doing the job.

</comment><comment><USER28> Any chance there's a Russian version of this somewhere?

<comment><AUTHOR> Editor here. These were originally written in English, so we have plans to translate to Russian, which might take a while since we only have one fully- qualified translator. Help is welcome! Shoot me an email (included in my profile).

<comment><USER28> Oh, interesting. Were the original interviews not done in Russian?

<comment><AUTHOR> No, they were comments on a Facebook post.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I found the comment about "intelligentsia"-phobia interesting; it echos the conservatives slurring of education and "elitists"...

</comment><comment><USER29> [https://xkcd.com/radiation/](https://xkcd.com/radiation/)

</comment><comment><USER30> This really strikes chord with how Fukushima was treated - nothing to be concerned about, citizen, move along and enjoy swimming on a Fukushima beach a year later... One would think this would happen only in communist societies but seeing it happening in Japan and everybody being fine with that was shocking. And then there were people pointing out xkcd and bananas, downplaying the effects and conflating radiation dust effects you can wash away with inhaled/ingested particles that get incorporated to bones and tissues with grim long-term effects.

Comparing to Japan, even USSR behaved in some way more responsibly as they threw a couple of million people at the problem at the cost of waging a war just to clean up what they could. All we got from Japan was there is no issue, TEPCO saying all is fine and then suddenly a big hole in the reactor where all robots stop functioning and who knows how much water continuously being contaminated for a few years already. All because panic is the bigger evil (is it? or just the "fat cats" decided it is?)

<comment><USER31> Well, now that the dust settled, it turned out they were perfectly right, and pretty much all the damage to lives and the region was caused by panic and evacuation.

<comment><USER30> And that's why there is a permanent exclusion zone no one is allowed to enter and the videos posted on YouTube by Japanese themselves showing significantly raised background radiations on certain spots in Tokyo were produced by irresponsible people using uncalibrated unapproved instruments, right? Or reports of metallic taste after first rains since meltdowns etc. It was just a show produced by Hollywood spread by fake news, right?</comment></comment></comment>


Non-Scientific Reasons To Do A PhD In The Netherlands - <AUTHOR> http://www.nextscientist.com/phd-in-the-netherlands/

<comment><USER2> I am the author of the blog post.

I went for a walk and when I came back I found this mess. Excuses to those that could have felt offended by the comments posted by some readers.

Nasty comments have been deleted. Insults and personal fights are not acceptable in the comments section.

Please, feel free to contribute new comments to keep a useful discussion going.

Cheers, Julio

</comment><comment><USER3> Somehow, the article is polluted with islamophobic/racist comments.

But being a foreigner living in the Netherlands, I can say that most of what is said here is true (I would put a few nuances for some points but well, everybody has a different view on things :) )

<comment><USER4> What do you mean? I didn't see anything like that.

<comment><USER5> The comments section below the article.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> And according to the other front-page post on the Netherlands on HN right now[1], because there are 22 American nuclear bombs stored there.

[1] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5853081](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5853081)

</comment><comment><USER7> I'm not convinced that a salaried PhD would be an advantage. Is there not something rather bizarre about the government taxing the money it's giving to you to support your studies?

I'm not sure how it works in the Netherlands, but in the UK you can claim unemployment benefits without having to have been paying taxes (so far as I'm aware). Surely people applying to PhD positions aren't so incapable of managing their finances that they require payment monthly rather than quarterly? That's the only difference I can see between a grant system and a salaried one.

<comment><USER8> > Is there not something rather bizarre about the government taxing the money > it's giving to you to support your studies?

My PhD in the US was funded by NSF dollars, ie public money. I went to a state school. My stipend was taxed like regular income. On top of that, I paid Medicare and Social Security taxes (publicly funded government programs), which as a non-US citizen, I cannot use anyway. When you're making less than $20k a year in downtown Chicago, all this hurts quite a bit.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> As an American student studying for a PhD in Germany, I would say that basically all of the reasons listed here could be applied to Germany as well (except maybe the 30% rule).

<comment><USER10> Any thoughts on Americans studying for MA's and PhD's in Koln/Cologne?

<comment><USER9> I've heard many good things about Cologne, but most of them being more geared to the touristic/cultural side of the city. It's apparently one of the most multi-cultural cities after Berlin I think.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> First time I've read an argument against the lack of language barrier, interesting, and point well made.

</comment><comment><USER12> Let me add a real #12 - restaurant food there is plentiful and fantastic. While I was courting my wife, she did a month in Delft. I was living in Stuttgart at the time and went there every weekend. We repeated only one restaurant in all that time and ate like kings.

<comment><USER13> Having lived in Amsterdam I would strongly deny this. Restaurants in NL are below Western European standards. And a quasi-monopoly by one particular supermarket chain means it's a hassle to find quality ingredients for home cooked meals too. For instance, if I recall correctly, Albert Hein ham has about 60% meat in it and it looks really pale.

<comment><USER3> Oh yes, don't talk to me about the food :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Related: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_the_Netherlands](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_the_Netherlands)

<comment><USER3> I think the so called "30% rule" has been made stricter lately though. So don't count on it as a 100% sure thing.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> They are indeed very open minded and interested in new technology and ideas.

We hope that they will like our tool for PhD students: bohr.launchrock.com

</comment><comment><USER15> They are indeed open minded and interested in new ideas and technologies. We hope they will like our new tool for PhD students: bohr.launchrock.com

</comment><comment><USER4> Another nice fact about being a scientist (well OK, engineer) in the Netherlands is the European Space Agency have an HQ here :)

<comment><USER2> True, it's located near Leiden, where I live. They have excellent research programs, exciting projects and great working conditions (salary and benefits). It's full of international people and close to an international school (for those moving in with a family).

<comment><USER4> I'd love to work there, though it'd be an evil commute for me (I'm in Ede). I'm even subscribed to their jobs mailing list. I haven't seen any software developer jobs come up, though. :(

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Reason 12, I suppose, is the 22 American nuclear bombs stored there? :P</comment>


Don't Automate Technical Administrivia in a Startup - <AUTHOR> http://devblog.ailon.org/devblog/post/2011/08/12/Done28099t-Automate-a-Startup.aspx

<comment><USER3> I disagree, in part. Automation has another huge benefit - avoiding human error.

Any time you do math, automate. There are great business-focused tools out there ranging from spreadsheets to CLI stuff like bc, ledger, or R.

Also, automating forces you think through the business process in an analytical way. This will be very helpful if you need to refactor your process in the future.

What I'd argue for is writing a few small tools that do the mechanical, easy to screw up portions of the job (the math, any complex manipulations) and then reevaluate automation as needed.

<comment><USER4> Also, anything that failing to do will cause problems should be automated. If failure to roll your logs could cause hard drive space to fill crashing your server, it is a strong candidate for automation.

I do agree that any code that gets written should be decided based on business needs and not some sense of alphageekdom.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> There's certainly a plus side to doing administrivia, if it can provide you with implicit feedback in how your doing.

With your logs, if you fully automated everything, you might not spot a problem with the server that you otherwise may not have noticed for weeks.

Let's say you have one task to complete upon each signup to your product - <USER2> least you get a real sense of the rate of signups.

(Although in discussing these thing I get the feeling of being pedantic, as I don't know how important they really are - a feeling I get a lot while reading HN.)

<comment><USER6> Of course, it makes sense to know your tool chain as well. This is a problem that could have been solved in 5 minutes with log rotate. Know your tools!

<comment><AUTHOR> It's not a web server log.

<comment><USER7> logrotate will work with any text file.

<comment><AUTHOR> It's not a text file and it's not the point. The specific task doesn't matter. And even if someone spent 6 hours only because he/she didn't know of some tool that might accomplish the task faster it's still 6 hours :)</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


SciDB – relational daddy answers Google, Hadoop, NoSQL - <AUTHOR> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/13/michael_stonebraker_interview/

<comment><USER2> I've been designing and developing systems for over twenty years and in the last few months I've been using "NoSQL" databases a fair bit (CouchDB on the server and implementing my own lightweight one within JavaScript on the iPhone/iPad/...) and it's made me admit to a guilty secret: I hate SQL. In fact, I've always hated SQL - I just never admitted it to anyone.

Very few applications I've ever designed ever seemed like a good fit when mapped to a relational data model - they always looked ugly to me and the resulting contortions required to map to and from in-memory objects pretty much always made me wish there was a better way (ORMs seemed to help initially but always became problematic in the long term).

The most common reaction from colleagues when I mention document oriented databases is "they will become a mess over time". Sorry, _every_ large commercial application that I have seen that uses SQL databases is already a mess. Look at your average production ERP data model - they are usually things of Lovecraftian nightmares.

If he is amazed that Facebook can run with MySQL "40,000" ways, then I'm equally amazed that SAP can run at all! However, both seem to work fairly happily - just because you don't personally like a technology doesn't mean that others can't be perfectly happy with it.

<comment><USER3> Can you imagine an ERP running on a non-relational database? The complexity of the ERP SQL database does not reflect a failure of the relational model more than the insanely complicated nature of the problem being solved.

Interestingly, I started my career on NoSQL databases in the 80's. We just didn't call them that at the time.

<comment><USER2> I don't see why not - ERP concepts probably predate relational databases. The biggest problem would probably be reporting - but you could have a NoSQL database for operational entities and a link to either a relational or dedicated OLAP database for reporting.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Getting through that article was quite difficult, numerous typos. What happened to 'editors'? Basically Stonebraker, who should generally be read, is saying don't count ACID out just yet.

<comment><USER3> > What happened to 'editors'?

The ad blockers killed them...

<comment><USER5> And it was the abusive use of flickering, garish ads that brought them into popularity.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Single page view: [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/13/michael_stonebraker_...](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/13/michael_stonebraker_interview/print.html)

</comment><comment><USER7> That is an interesting article, but sloppy writing.</comment>


Google Defends YouTube Restrictions on PragerU's Educational Videos in Court - <AUTHOR> https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/08/27/google-defends-youtube-restrictions-on-pragerus-educational-videos-in-federal-court/ <comment><USER2> Pretty charitable to call them educational videos.</comment>


Ask HN: Engineering Manager Interview Process - <AUTHOR> I am seeing that almost all companies have copied engineering interview process from BigTechCo and looking to imitate them by focusing on LeetCode.
I work for one giant company and completely loath that we have to subject candidates to this.
Why is everyone focusing on Leetcode now-a-days? I went through process for a couple and everyone is now asking Leetcode (or Hackerrank) even for Engineering Manager roles. I spoke with my friends who are Engineering Managers or Director. None of them are coding on a day-to-day basis. A lot time is spent on project, program, people management and enabling/empowering people for technical/architectural decisions.
I have not written code in last 4-5 years now. I do participate in design discussions though and I feel that I have good handle on System Design.
Are there any companies who don't subject candidates to this brutal process of LeetCode? Please share below if you know any. <comment><USER2> My company might put a developer candidate through a code screen where they build a fizz-bang type app in the interview. They don't use LeetCode or anything like that. I can't mention the name since I am critical of their actions, but it's a large financial company.</comment>


Linux: Using goto In Kernel Code - <AUTHOR> http://kerneltrap.org/node/553/2131

<comment><USER2> i agree with linus. i find it particular useful for a common bail-out or error-handling at the end of a method. you just jump there and are good. no unnecessary indention or duplication required. but that is about the only place i found the usefullness outweigh the danger...</comment>


Windows 8 is a huge ad platform - <AUTHOR> http://community.advertising.microsoft.com/msa/en/global/b/blog/archive/2012/10/01/windows-8-ads-in-apps-concepts-agency-partners-advertising-week-2012.aspx

<comment><USER2> I suspect the knee-jerk reaction to this is that it is a horrible thing, but if you look at the examples, these are mostly content 'apps' web-pages where you would normally have ads anyway.

It is up to the publisher/developer if they are going to put ads in their apps. There are places where ads belong, and where they don't. The publisher/developer needs to take into consideration their target market, and if ads are acceptable.

Placing ads in my video-editor is likely not a good idea. I need the screen real-estate, and I'm in a highly focused state. The advertisers likely don't want to be there anyway. Same with when I'm building a powerpoint. But when I'm watching a video, looking at my calendar, etc. etc. Ads can be beneficial.

And no, I'm not in advertising.</comment>


How Exhaustion Became a Status Symbol - <AUTHOR> https://newrepublic.com/article/135468/exhaustion-became-status-symbol <comment> m-i-l Exhaustion might have become a status symbol for workers, but according to [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11821629](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11821629) ([http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jun/01/sleep- ha...](http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jun/01/sleep-habits-eight- hours-health-wellness-arianna-huffington) ) getting a good night's sleep is apparently the new status symbol for the elite.

<comment><USER2> Sometimes it just seems to uncannily perfect for the ruling classes.

<comment><USER3> I am not rich, just a regular person. I've slept as much as I've wanted all my life. Haven't used an alarm in over 10 yrs ( except when I've had to a catch a flight ect) .

It has constantly puzzled my why people are sleep deprived. why?

<comment><USER4> I suspect a considerable portion can be attributed to FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Whether it's that new Netflix show, some snapchat celebrity, watching the news, getting stuck in a Wikipedia hole, or going out with people after working 11 hours. People will burn hours a day on these things.

My wife is guilty of the Netflix and News descriptors mentioned above. I avoid the news and prefer to read but I still get stuck in the "one more chapter" hole.

I am curious to know the breakdown of sleeping habits based on some simple personality distinguishers like introvert vs extrovert.

<comment><USER5> I'm very introverted. I just go to bed when I'm tired.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I honestly think this is changing, it seems that people are becoming better at letting others know that they need/want to reduce their workload to avoid exhaustion or burnout.

When I talk to people about wanting to work reduced hours, take a teaching job, or whatever is required to lower my stress level, I get nothing but encouragement. Working one self into the ground is starting to be seen as something stupid people do. Being able to take action before becoming exhausted is what smart and empowered people do. At least that's the impression that I get.

Where I see the remaining issue it the lack of accountability for businesses. If a company push employees to exhaustion that should have hard repercussions than just gaining a reputation as a horrible place to work.

<comment><USER7> I'd love to reduce my workload and avoid exhaustion and burnout. But the simple fact is, for me, and I would assume most workers, doing so would mean inevitably slipping out of the middle class. My 50-60 hour weeks barely let me afford to live a 2-hour commute away from work. I don't know where I'd even live if I worked/made less.

I know people who aren't working to burnout levels. They're not doing great. Living paycheck to paycheck and in tiny cramped apartments. Not ready for that lifestyle, myself.

<comment><USER6> Are you making enough to pay your rent if you have to stay home or quit your job completely if you burnout? I understand the problem, I really do, but no one is going to reward you for working yourself into the ground.

If you have 60 hours a week, plus 4 hours of transport everyday, you have 16 work day. I feel bad for you, I really do, because those kinds of hours makes people sink or kills them. Some people handle it better than other of cause, but you can't have much of a life with those kinds of hours.

I'm not in anyway qualified to advise people like you. Personally though, I'd quit my job and move. But I'm in a welfare state, there's someone that will look after me if I'm unemployed, I won't end up without a roof over my head.

I really hope you'll be okay. No one should work themself to exhaustion, and waste their life like that.

<comment><USER7> Thanks I guess, but my comment was not a cry for help or a solicitation of advise--it was simply an example to put forward against the article's (presumed) central premise:

> To say that you're exhausted is to telegraph that you're important, in > demand, and successful. It's akin to the humblebrag of ruefully describing > yourself as "so busy"

I don't think exhaustion telegraphs any such thing. It's not something people are proud of and want to sustain. Instead, it's unfortunate normalcy for workers in 2016. People would gladly give up their exhaustion if they could.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Sometimes I suspect if this is not planned by media and corporations to get more from their employees....

I mean how can you defend the point of burnout and depression as a status symbol?

I read here that on Facebook if you work after 5pm you have to do it hidden away from others.. because it means something is not ok, either the estimation, you are not communicating problems or VP/board/president/whoever want to exploit you.

<comment><USER9> With the amount of people who come in at noon I highly doubt that is the case.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Janis Buck has been kind enough to share his experiences with burnout is shedding light on a rarely talked about problem. I applaud him and encourage every hard working human to heed his advice.

[https://m.signalvnoise.com/avoiding-the- trap-8df59e718f3e#.f...](https://m.signalvnoise.com/avoiding-the- trap-8df59e718f3e#.fwlbhkvy0)

<comment><USER11> It's a problem that you think it's a rarely talked-about problem. You can't go two weeks on HN without a post from a founder or startup employee "breaking the silence" on their burnout, getting up-voted to the front page and getting hundreds of "me too" replies.

Why do we continue to think burnout and depression are unique problems? Why do we keep letting it happen to ourselves? We style ourselves as so smart, yet we continue to make the same mistakes, over and over again, and act like it's a new problem each time.

<comment><USER12> >>Why do we continue to think burnout and depression are unique problems? Why do we keep letting it happen to ourselves?

The answer is very simple: productivity + youthful optimism.

The fact of the matter is that productivity — that feeling of "getting shit done" — feels good. Being smart doesn't help. On the contrary, it makes things worse, because smart people find clever ways to multiply their productivity, and their sense of pride for doing so contributes to the pleasure and satisfaction they get from their work.

Now combine this with the fact that software engineers tend to be young. Young people can endure longer work hours — they tend to not have families and kids to worry about and their bodies can take more punishment. They also tend to be idealists and really optimistic about their chances of actually making a difference in the world. These two factors can cause them to justify insane work hours, even if they are aware of the dangers of burnout and depression.

<comment><USER13> I think the problem is even a little more subtle. The thing a programmer should ultimately aim for is to automate themselves out. But there are two strong disincentives to doing so. One is economic - they don't participate as a stakeholder equally unless they're cofounders.

The other is a disincentive to improve. By this I mean that becoming a better programmer means taking on deeper challenges and solving increasingly obscure concerns and constantly reaching a point where no IRC channel nor Stack Overflow thread can help you. This takes you out of flow. It's not fun to work right up at the limit of your ability, you have no hope of bullshitting through that level of difficulty in crunch mode, and developing those skills alienates other programmers who are not burdened by the demons you have fought. Plus the majority of software businesses have arranged themselves around making some use of fresh, mediocre coding talent, so going too deep and too specialized can make you less hireable!.

So it works out that prevention with good engineering can grow discouraged in favor of all nighters.

<comment><USER14> > he thing a programmer should ultimately aim for is to automate themselves > out.

This is something I ferociously agree and disagree on at the same time.

1\. Yes automating labour inputs is the key to growth. Always has been. That is the point in your favour.

2\. But paradoxically once you have automated your labour input you grok no further efficiency gains. Why would you when you've reached '100%' efficiency?

This is a bit counterintuitive. Here is a toy example; suppose I manufacture hammers at HammerCo Corp. One day I manage to automate all labour relating to the manufacture of hammers. I am rich and successful as competitors die off.

Then suddenly I myself go bankrupt because a new competitor introduces hydraulic or pneumatic hammers onto the marketplace in which I had my niche. I have no expertise to counter the move and cannot defend against it. You don't comprehend you were in a local maxima.

When a worker closely observes a technological process he or she is involved in they might notice details (or going the other way, general rules) that would not be noticed by causal observers. This leads to creative insight that coupled with capital can allow the invention of new designs and ultimately technologies.

I guess the same thing is true of programming. If you abstract too much (something we've been doing for some time now with frameworks/libraries etc) you lose the thread.

I'm sure somebody else has thought of this before and given it a name.

> Plus the majority of software businesses have arranged themselves around > making some use of fresh, mediocre coding talent, so going too deep and too > specialized can make you less hireable!.

So many people get institutionalized into mediocrity. If they don't get you at school, they'll get you at work. Very few people manage to escape those traps.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Recipe for burnout is inverse of recipe for success: [https://imgur.com/a/5yrMm](https://imgur.com/a/5yrMm)

Understanding Burnout [0] by Christina Maslach [1].

[0] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kLPyV8lBbs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kLPyV8lBbs)

[1] [http://psychology.berkeley.edu/people/christina- maslach](http://psychology.berkeley.edu/people/christina-maslach)

</comment><comment><USER16> I was hoping they would explore the karooshi phenomenon and how that came about and how it affects worker expectations.</comment>


Ask HN: When Did It Become Professionally Acceptable to Spam? - <AUTHOR>

Recently, I've been getting a ton of e-mails from "legitimate" companies. These are usually sales reps trying to sell some online service (TriNet, Gigya, etc.), and they invariably ask you for "15 minutes". They get your contact info as a business owner from some DB in the ether.
I get that they're just making a living, but the thing is, they don't give up. They just keep e-mailing with meeting requests, etc. and some even act annoyed that you aren't responding--as if you know them and you're the one who's being unprofessional.
Did I miss something? When did this become cool? <comment><USER2> I have no problem with anyone e-mailing me. It's highly professional of them to solicit my business -- really! However, most of these aren't compliant with CANSPAM and I have a big problem with that, because even the most personal, friendly e-mail from a company to me is something that should come with an unsubscribe mechanism.

I find in practice that replying with a quick, "no thanks," gets rid of most of the unwanted e-mails. There are some who ask if they can follow-up, and I either say yes or no as I like and my wishes are almost always followed. Again, most of these people are professionals. The repeat offenders who don't listen to me, or those obviously mass-emailing, I send to the spam folder, and I find those messages were the least professional in the beginning.

<comment><AUTHOR> I think I could deal with a single email from each vendor. Maybe even two if the second catches me on a good day.

But, this incessant, "we will force you to reply and act increasingly irritated if you don't" bit is out of control. Like I owe them my time? It also doesn't give me much confidence that they will actually stop.

My gripe is why should I be forced to make an effort to get someone to stop bugging me?

<comment><USER2> It's a good question, but it's simply the nature of human communication that one party can initiate it and the other party needs to communicate back to prevent future initiations. E-mail just makes it easier for more parties to initiate communication with you.

I think a B2B do-not-solicit database will never happen, but it would be quite useful to have a database of businesses that promise to report to spam anybody who does not meet a certain standard of conduct.

<comment><AUTHOR> Except that a non-reply _is_ a form of communication, especially in this context.

Sorry, I'm just not buying that it's acceptable human behavior to bug the heck out of someone because you want something from them, then act as if they owe you.

<comment><USER2> What I actually said is it's okay to send an email if it's CAN-SPAM compliant and the sender complies with a quick, "no thanks."

<comment><AUTHOR> Right. I'm saying that choosing not to reply is a form of response and that should be sufficient to prevent future communications in this context.

That, rather than me exercising my right and preference to _not_ spend my time trying to determine who is CANSPAM compliant, replying, etc. devolving into harrassment.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> The worst I have experienced is from the Duke MBA program. I took the GMAT which is where they got my email from... now I get 3 emails a week despite completing the MBA at another school over a year ago. Their emails do not have an unsubscribe. I tried responding and requesting to be taken off the list... nothing. I even tried calling but their office appears to be open only between the hours of 2:30 - 3:30 EST. I have marked it as spam but every once in a while they change up the email and it sneaks through.

It's incredibly annoying but a bit funny at the same time.

<comment><AUTHOR> Ha! Funny how effortless it is for them to bug the heck out of you.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Report all these emails as spam. One click.

Telemarketing phone calls are best treated by putting spammer on an infinite hold in expectation of sale. Their time is valuable and they'll absolutely hate wasting it unproductively. Rinse and repeat.

</comment><comment><USER5> Its only been a recent experience for me (last 12 months).

The ones that grate on me the most are where their one core product is completely irrelevant to me - and some basic research on their part would have revealed this.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yep. It's definitely picked up for me in the last 12 months or so.

That's why it seems like there's some new edict for SaaS providers only that says, "Spamming is now proper business etiquette. Go forth now, and spam with impunity".

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Spam has always been from big companies. Check your spam folder a lot will take you to AT&T, Amazon, best buy, eBay and so on.

<comment><AUTHOR> Some I get from companies because I've done business with them. That's OK (as long as they let me opt out). For instance, I've not really had a problem with any of those you listed above.

It's the business-oriented SaaS providers in particular that are suddenly out of control. They spam relentlessly and refuse to be ignored.</comment></comment>


TSA searches valet-parked car - <AUTHOR> http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S3101080.shtml?cat=566

<comment><USER2>
      > Iacuzza said she doesn't mind the security measure.
      > She just wants to be told if her car is getting searched.

vs.

      > 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.

IANAL, but it seems like there is so much precedent against vehicle searches that it's staggering that TSA thinks this is acceptable. Every case I've read related to vehicles indicates that probable cause is required for a car search. Due to mobility, car searches are often exempt from requiring warrants, but even in cases where a person is arrested for a crime unrelated to their vehicle a car search can be considered unreasonable

If the TSA was really concerned with cars being parked for extended periods, it seems the more reasonable thing to do would be to move the valet parking drop off. My feeling, however, is they were just excited to get easy access to a lot of cars.

<comment><USER3> IANAL either, but there's a obvious difference between a vehicle search without your knowledge and you knowingly handing your vehicle to someone who acts as an agent of the government in performing a search:

> We also noticed a large sign that alerts customers that their vehicle will > be inspected.

I think the reasonableness of these actions basically boils down to:

> Iacuzza says it [the sign] was not there when she dropped off her car.

<comment><USER4> > _" knowingly handing your vehicle to someone who acts as an agent of the > government in performing a search"_

That's the part I really don't understand about this: [1]

Is the TSA hiring and managing valet attendants now? Or do they have some authority to direct arbitrary airport staff to perform 'security' tasks?

What are the odds these valet attendants receive any training in identifying potential explosive devices, let alone methodical search?

And what's next? Are the janitors going to start poking through the trash bins looking for bombs as part of their regular duties? Are the curb-side check-in attendants going to start rifling through luggage? (those bags can linger at least as long as a car) And if not those things, why valet attendants?

[1] That the TSA would seek to ratchet up their presence and staff in response to essentially arbitrary hypothetical threats is, sadly, unsurprising.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> > Iacuzza's car was inspected by valet attendants on orders from the TSA.

They are turning ordinary citizens into spies and informers. Soon we won't be able to trust the person next to us in a line. Or look our neighbors in the face without suspecting them of something.

<comment><USER6> This is the sad foundation of "If you see something, say something" as well.

<comment><USER4> I thought that was more about making people aware of the bystander effect and urging them to err on the side of being the fifth person to report a strange bag, rather than assume someone else will get it?

Notably "if you see something, say something" isn't encouraging anyone to pro- actively rifle through any and all unsecured items within reach, as is being done here by the TSA and valet attendants.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> It's bizarre that they're using valets to search cars.

i) People aren't allowed to take some items onto a plane. One option is to leave those items in their car. What happens when valets find inert hand- grenades or training knives or whatnot? (Legal items that can't go on a plane)

ii) What happens if the valets find illegal items? Do they then call police? Isn't this the kind of thing that US defense lawyers love?

<comment><USER8> Bizarre indeed, they're even less professional security people ( _no_ training) than the TSA.

And what happens when you give a valet the, er, _valet_ key, the one that won't open the trunk? Do they break in? If not, what's the point?

<comment><USER9> It stands to reason that they follow the same policies that apply to law- enforcement agents -- they are compelled to break in and you are on the hook for any damages resulting from this 'lawful' search.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> "So if security feels it is necessary to search some cars in the name of safety, why not search all of them?"

This is exactly the question they want people to ask, then TSA will come back, that they will. Maybe they will cry and moan about how they don't have keys to other cars and force the auto industry to provide them with a way to unlock any car. We should stop asking why not search all of them, but why are they even searching valet cars?

</comment><comment><USER11> The entire premise of this is ridiculous to its core. The reason for suspension of the 4th amendment before boarding a plane is that the plane itself could be used as a weapon to cause disproportionate damage, like on 9/11.

The reason for 4th amendment suspension on airport premises is... what? The parking area in front of an airport is no more or less vulnerable than any other parking lot in front of any other building. I suspect that the real reason is "because we can".

<comment><USER12> > "The parking area in front of an airport is no more or less vulnerable than > any other parking lot in front of any other building."

Careful, you might give them ideas. The way things are going I wouldn't be surprised if some variant of this argument was used to expand powers/reach further. Maybe starting with schools ("think of the children!").

What should worry us more is the number of people who seem to be _okay_ with things like this. _That 's_ terrifying.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> This is pretty incredible. Why are they doing this? Even if there's a bomb in a parked car, does it really pose a safety threat? Who is going to bomb an empty valet parking lot?

Obviously the answer is "because they can". There is no grounds for suspicion, just their assumption that they might find some kind of contraband, etc.. This is 100% pure inexcusable overreach.

<comment><AUTHOR> "Even if there's a bomb in a parked car"

Is a valet driver qualified to deal with that situation even if they found something like this?

<comment><USER13> I just don't see why anybody would bomb a valet-parked car. It would not make for very good terrorism.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> What happens if you lock the trunk and glove box and then give them the valet key? Do they break the locks?

<comment><USER15> You must have something to hide! If you're innocent, why not let them check?

[http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/06/why-i-have-nothing- to-h...](http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/06/why-i-have-nothing-to-hide-is- the-wrong-way-to-think-about-surveillance/)

<comment><USER14> It's true... I _do_ carry subversive materials in the trunk of my car: books on Bayesian reasoning and risk management. If they found a chapter on prior and posterior probabilities they might well question their purpose in life.

<comment><USER16> Those are some very dangerous materials, I hope you take the proper precautions.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I am confused... Valet attendants are bomb searching experts now?

Assuming they got a nice pay raise for this new job responsibility.

<comment><USER18> I have a friend who works as a valet to this Airport, and I can confirm there was no pay jump for this. Just a surprise extra duty

<comment><USER17> I should have used the sarcasm tag on that...

<comment><USER18> Well considering he already practically works on only tips, I do think its messed up that he has to do the NSA's bidding for free

<comment><USER19> I think you meant TSA

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> and who is responsible to ensure nothing of value leaves the car during inspection? I do not believe the car should be subject to inspection without the owner being on hand.

Are there details on how they conduct a search? Are we crossing the 4th again?

What is next, having to show up for your flight another half hour earlier so your car can be frisked?

<comment><USER21> Presumably, since it's the valet doing the search not a TSA officer, the 4th doesn't come into it.

Pretty sure the police (for example) can't just stop cars and search them without probable cause, but the standard for vehicles is lower.

<comment><AUTHOR> "Iacuzza's car was inspected by valet attendants on orders from the TSA."

United States v. Jacobsen, 466 U.S. 109 (1984): "This Court has ... consistently construed this protection as proscribing only governmental action; it is wholly inapplicable to a search or seizure, even an unreasonable one, effected by a private individual not acting as an agent of the Government or with the participation or knowledge of any governmental official.".

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Amendment_to_the_United_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#cite_note-17)

Wouldn't the 4th still apply since the valet attendants are acting on the direction of government agents?

The flip side of the argument is that the vehicle's owner has already consented to provide access to the valet driver - and it's the valet driver that has abused that consent.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Coming up next: TSA searches homes of everyone who books a coach ticket before they're allowed to depart for the airport.

</comment><comment><USER23> Coming from the UK, where we had a long history of car bombs (and even bicycle bombs) I can understand this.

However, I'd expect the TSA guys to be able to report a cause for why they searched a vehicle (EG low on axles suggesting carrying a large weight, alerted a sniffer dog, etc) and not just search all cars.

</comment><comment><USER24> What really surprises me about all this, is given the sign, what person would possibly use valet parking, over the less expensive and no searching lots farther from the airport, if they had anything to hide.

</comment><comment><USER25> How do they "scan" I hope they're not using those ADE 651s?

</comment><comment> at-fates-hands I remember seeing a Dateline episode where they went around showing all the huge holes in airport security. One of them was were you could go to the top of a parking ramp which overlooked the tarmac. The "consultant" said it would be easy for any terrorist to lob grenades or launch an RPG at one or several planes parked on the tarmac.

My point here is most of these holes existed pre-9/11, but now trying to close these loopholes isn't so easy. I mean, how do you move an entire parking ramp? While I think the searching of vehicles is sketchy, I believe a lot of these places are doing their best to mitigate threats and close some of these huge security holes.

</comment><comment><USER26> land of the free (tm)

</comment><comment><USER27> Yet another manufactured "security" controversy. Valets abuse cars regardless of the TSA.

<comment><USER28> So because valets sometimes "abuse cars," a government agency forcing private citizens to unlawfully search private vehicles is "manufactured?"

There is no rigorous or coherent logic in what you've posted.

<comment><USER27> Exactly. If a manic depressive is holding drag races with your car, or shagging his underage girlfriend in the back seat, the TSA is not an issue. In fact, the involvement of a valet would create serious problems with a prosecution, owing to their unreliability, total disrespect for documentation, and confused chain of custody.

<comment><USER29> And those people are not bound by a little thing we call 'the bill of rights'. Moreover, if you find out that happens, you can quit using that valet service. You can tell others that that valet service is crap, and they too, will quit using it. There is a generally easy 'opt-out' of the valet service. Not so much with your country.

<comment><USER27> You cannot opt out of crazy valets at airports. One company captures the parking concession, hires the cheapest (i.e., crappiest) valets they can find, and said valets do appalling things with/to your car.

So now after they finish joyriding, if they are not too hungover to remember, they leave a TSA card to keep their boss from bitching at them. Theoretically that card is an incremental infringement of your liberty, but in practice you have already been reamed out so hard by the valets that you won't notice.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Space Gremlin, my christmas project just accepted for the Mac App Store - <AUTHOR> http://www.spacegremlinapp.com/

<comment><AUTHOR> Some technical info.

I'm using a technique called Squarified Treemaps outlined here: <http://www.win.tue.nl/~vanwijk/stm.pdf> The algorithm is tuned for speed right now but I really want to get it parallelised in a future update. I spent a lot of time getting the visualization as readable as possible.

Submitting to the app store is still a worrying process. You've got everything ready to go and you're excited to be done developing and then you sit for 15 days wondering if you'll be rejected or not. But overall I'm really happy not to have to build my own payment system.

</comment><comment><USER2> Here is what I noticed, feel free to take any of this however serious you want to:

The app feels like a proper Mac application. I like its look, similar apps tend to look much worse. (Except for, I'm sorry, the icon.)

I don't like the keyboard shortcut for zooming out, backspace just feels wrong and always seems to be so far away from my fingers. Other shortcuts are missing altogether.

Since your users won't be typing anything you could use keyboard shortcuts without modifiers across the board. I would use + and - for zooming in and out, command+arrow for moving through the history and the arrow keys for moving the selection. (At the moment the arrow keys just do nothing.) You should also throw in shortcuts for showing files or folders in the Finder and for moving files or folders to the Trash. (Are there any good reasons why it is currently not possible to directly move files or folders to the Trash from your app?) Whatever you do, add plenty of logical and easy to remember keyboard shortcuts.

Besides a better keyboard shortcut for zooming out, you maybe also need some sort of mouse-centric way of quickly zooming out. Moving all the way up to a toolbar button to zoom out feels clunky in the age of Google Maps. I don't know what would be a good solution in your case, others use gestures or scrolling. You might want to look into that.

Zooming out needs to animate. Currently there is no indication which folder the user just zoomed out of which confused me many times. Animating zooming out would provide users at least with a hint of their place. You could also automatically select the folder the user just zoomed out of.

I don't know how hard that would be, but QuickLook and file previews would be nice additional features.

<comment><AUTHOR> Great feedback, I know what you're saying about the icon, I've cobbled all of the design elements together myself, but I'm no designer.

The tree view could use from better zoom logic, and I agree that a seamless neverending zoom in zoom out would be perfect, but right now rendering is very expensive. I keep thinking this app might be a good excuse to dive into OpenGL.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> A few comments for a future version:

1\. When you are scanning a disk and you minimize of hide the app, put a progress indicator running in the dock and maybe bounce the icon when the scan is done. Think XCode when you are doing a long compile and you hide it.

2\. Maybe color code sparse bundles a different color than blue? When I scanned the app showed me that 216gb was being used by my Time Machine .sparsebundle....maybe other users would have been very quick to remove it before they realized what was going on. Example /users/.jtsm/.jtsm.sparsebundle would be the path.

3\. Bug: When I launched Space Gremlins the FIRST time no Volumes showed up for me, but quitting out of the app and going back in a second time Volumes showed up for me.

4\. Bug: In Popular Places as I scroll right I have Music, Then a blank space, the Pictures. If I click the blank space is shows the silhouette of a folder icon with a label and nothing else. When I click on the blank space it brings up an empty scan window that says Location:Label Scan Rate: Label, Total Scanned: Label

contact me and I can sent you screen shots if you want.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the info. 1 is a great idea and I'll definitely incorporate it. 2\. I need to learn more about sparsebundles, the default mac file enumerator trips up on certain files. 3\. Weird, no idea about that. 4\. The empty space between should be ~/Movies/ but I just realized I don't actually verify if the user has that folder, I just assume they do. I'll add that to the 1.1 before it gets uploaded to Apple.

Thank you very much for the feedback.

<comment><USER3> I have ~/Movies, but it is empty! Maybe that is part of the issue.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> How does it compare to other similar programs, e.g. <http://www.daisydiskapp.com>?

<comment><USER5> And what advantages does it provide over comparable free apps (namely, <http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net>)?

<comment><USER6> Last time I checked, GrandPerspective was pretty busted on Snow Leopard.

<comment><USER5> In what way? Seems alright to me, but I don't use it that often.

<comment><USER6> It could be better now. I seem to recall using it around the Snow Leopard launch and experiencing lots of crashes.

But like I said, it could be better now.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Handy. Sifting through du output is never fun when you have 1000's of (badly named) files.

</comment><comment><USER8> This is very useful.

I have been using a similar program for Windows for ages : SequoiaView [http://w3.win.tue.nl/nl/onderzoek/onderzoek_informatica/visu...](http://w3.win.tue.nl/nl/onderzoek/onderzoek_informatica/visualization/sequoiaview//)

It seems that it has been written by the folks who wrote the paper that you referred to.

The first analysis can take some time, though. How fast is your implementation for Mac ?

<comment><AUTHOR> The speed really depends on the size of the view and the depth of the objects. The pixel dimensions of a folder determine whether to render it's children. I'm normally able to live resize the window without too much chugging, but as you hit higher resolutions the speed drops.

At some point I hope to get it into Grand Central Dispatch and see what effect that has, the nature of the visualization makes it perfect for being parallelized.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I like it (I used treemap viewers on Windows and have been looking for a Mac replacement) but what about some colour-coding? It would add another dimension to the data and allow the user to easily see which areas are photos, movies, documents, applications, or misc files. It's much much easier to see colours than it is to read the folder names.

Please, please, please tell me you've got this planned!

<comment><AUTHOR> Color coding is in the roadmap, right now I have a 1.1 update that improves scan speed, memory usage, and a handful of bugs, but I've got to wait 15 days for apple to approve it.

Coloring is something I want to approach very carefully. I had colors in the beginning and the app turned in to a visual mess. I want to make sure the colors can convey meaningful information without subtracting from the readability.

<comment><USER3> I bought this morning, when do you anticipate 1.1? When did you submit the update? I thought that updates were generally processed a bit faster than brand new app submissions...

<comment><AUTHOR> The are and they aren't. General updates still take 15 days to review. The only fastracking is if they reject it for an easily fixable problem. I'm submitting 1.1 at the end of today depending on any extra bug reports that come in that I'm not aware of.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> There's also this from the guys that did omnioutliner and omnigraffle and its free

<http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnidisksweeper/>

<comment><USER3> Free, YES but not quite in the same league as Space Gremlin. I think that Space Gremlin will have a lot going for it where people will pay for the app.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> There's a free (though probably less featureful) app for Windows I've used for years called Windirstat that does a similar job, albeit while looking much uglier.

</comment><comment><USER12> I wonder if this was inspired by <http://neugierig.org/software/chromium/bloat/> ?

<comment><USER13> These programs have been around for years. Spacemonger for Windows (<http://www.sixty-five.cc/sm/>), Disk Inventory X for OS X (<http://www.derlien.com/>), and a particularly groovy one for Linux with a 3D treemap circa 2001 (<http://fsv.sourceforge.net/screenshots/>).

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Well done! I just deleted the "third down" thing on my "to code" list.

Have you tried scanning with parallel threads? I suspect having 4 or so threads would allow the disk to internally schedule the seeks better for a speedup. (For bonus points, track your lookup rate and dynamically tune the thread count.)

<comment><AUTHOR> Honestly I hadn't thought about that. I assumed a single enumerator was the best but I really don't know much about how reads are scheduled. I do know that as of the 1.1 update I have planned, the scan rate is 10% faster the Grand Perspective and only a couple seconds faster then Daisy Disk.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Wow, very cool and I just bought it. One comment....I associate Gremlins as brown not green! Congrats. If you want to chat about OS X file system stuff, hit me up. I have a few disk utility apps I have written over the last few years.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the purchase and feedback. I may hit you up about that sparse bundle issue, time machine backups are causing a headache right now.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Anybody remember 'pig' from the DOS days?</comment>


Everything in this 1991 Radioshack ad is now in your pocket - <AUTHOR> http://www.trendingbuffalo.com/life/uncle-steves-buffalo/everything-from-1991-radio-shack-ad-now/

<comment><USER2> ...except the CB radio, the police scanner, and the subwoofer</comment>


GraphQL Authentication - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@robjampar/authentication-with-graphql-f206823380e0 <comment><AUTHOR> Authentication with GraphQL can be done in loads of different ways. I've created an example of one way that I like.

If anyone is interested, I have used my own GraphQL Server library for Python. This meant the entire implementation is less than 500 lines. You can check it out here:

[https://gitlab.com/kiwi-ninja/objectql](https://gitlab.com/kiwi- ninja/objectql)

I also have made a few other GraphQL examples which you can check out here:

[https://gitlab.com/kiwi-ninja/example-projects](https://gitlab.com/kiwi- ninja/example-projects)</comment>


Judge: Prenda lawyer must sell condo, liquidate assets to pay $2.5M debt - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/12/judge-prenda-lawyer-must-sell-condo-liquidate-assets-to-pay-2-5m-debt/ <comment><USER2> Oh, that's some good news. Great that this judge saw through the plan and immediately put a stop to it. Let's hope it discourages copy cats from trying this sort of stuff ever again.</comment>


Mechanical Turkers Consider Alternative Platforms - <AUTHOR> https://www.wired.com/story/amazons-turker-crowd-has-had-enough/ <comment><USER2> The premise is interesting, but the article reads like an ad for a specific alternative service.</comment>


ZMorph's Hybrid 3D Printer Is an All-in-One Manufacturing Tool - <AUTHOR> http://www.engineering.com/3DPrinting/3DPrintingArticles/ArticleID/11703/ZMorphs-Hybrid-3D-Printer-Is-an-All-in-One-Manufacturing-Tool.aspx <comment><USER2> We need something like the x-prize for automated micro-manufacturing. A goal could be to build a calculator from raw materials without human intervention.

</comment><comment><USER3> Getting closer. Can't wait until someone invents an all in one circuit printer, mill, pick & place and printer combo.</comment>


When you can't (and shouldn't) unit test - <AUTHOR> https://atilaoncode.blog/2019/03/21/when-you-cant-and-shouldnt-unit-test/ <comment><AUTHOR> I, a unit test aficionado, posit that sometimes unit testing is a bad choice for your code. AMA.</comment>


Question that Harvard Students Get Wrong - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessinsider.com/question-that-harvard-students-get-wrong-2012-12

<comment><USER2> Huh, I got it wrong, and I didn't go to any of the schools mentioned in the article, maybe I just stupid?</comment>


Das Referenz: Wikipedia Redesigned for iPad - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@raureif/65af999b576d <comment><USER2> If the creators of this project are reading this thread, I hope you don't take the criticisms here too personally. I don't know why nearly every new project on HN gets completely ripped apart nowadays unless it's some clever hack or backed by a popular/famous creator.

I think the app looks great and compared to the desktop/mobile versions of the Wikipedia website, it is a significant improvement when it comes to readability. So what if it doesn't do justify or support editing content. Justify is a minor setting that can be easily implemented and editing could be a v2.0 feature if the project gains traction.

I love reading Kindle and iBooks on my iPad and it's fantastic that I can now access Wikipedia with the same readability features. You should definitely continue to make improvements, from tables to justification. Keep adding more integration with Wikidata. Maybe allow users to treat any Wikipedia article like an e-book by enabling notes, bookmarking, highlighting etc. I know it's hard to deal with ever changing content but maybe let the user save a specific version with highlight/notes to the iPad (and enable cloud sync).

<comment><USER3> It's just so much easier and safer to nit-pick than to take the time to explain what you love about something.

But hey, on the plus side nit-picks can be useful to a project creator too, if only to help them anticipate people's objections better.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> > it was clear from the beginning that using Wikipedia means reading articles,

> The most important use case for Wikipedia is filling the search field and > choosing the correct search result.

See ? That's why your redesign will never _ever_ be even considered by the Wikimedia team: _The most important use case for Wikipedia is editing content_.

Wikipedia has become what it is and lives because every single human can bring its knowledge and share it with other humans. The Wikimedia (and Wikipedia) team isn't involved in editing content: it "merely" hosts the application. It's up to us, the humans from everywhere, to fill Wikipedia with our knowledge, and it's up to you, the UX/UI designers, to make sure we have the best experience while doing it, so it doesn't feel clunky/difficult/unpleasant. If you remove the _edit_ ability, you effectively kill Wikipedia.

Please stop this. (At least we agree on one point: there are too many attempts at redesigns, and too little work done on actually important projects[0])

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

<comment><USER5> I guess it depends on your definitions. I agree that the _most important_ use case for Wikipedia is editing, but the _primary_ use case is reading. Out of stereotypical 100 users, only 1 creates and only a further 9 edit on wikipedia, apparently (from a few years ago). They might instead consider that the primary use is the most important?

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> If you like to use German names, please observe that "Das Referenz" is not correct German (for native German "Das Referenz" sounds like the German spoken by less able Turkish immigrants, especially when combined with an accent). "Referenz" is a female noun - thus "Die Referenz" is correct German.

<comment><USER7> Maybe to keep it gender neutral?

<comment><USER8> It's not about male or female people, but about a linguistic feature where certain words are _syntactically_ "masculine" or "feminine". [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_gender#Correlation...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_gender#Correlation_between_gender_and_the_form_of_a_noun)

<comment><USER7> I meant an extreme form of gender-neutral planned language.

Another reason might be that "Die" clashes with the English verb "to die".

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Apparently the app lays down ads on Wikipedia's content unless you cough up $3 or $5.

That sounds questionable at best to me.

<comment><USER10> Why? From a legal standpoint, it's obviously permitted under either the GFDL or the CC-BY-SA license. From an ethical standpoint, the developers of the app have obviously invested time in this; it's not even like it's a zero-effort shell around the website. I can't see any problem with releasing an ad- supported version.

<comment><USER11> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Advertisements](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Advertisements)

Including advertisements in a research resource lends itself to all sorts of moral problems, and quite frankly completely obliterates and chance of increased usefulness of the redesign.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> _> Let's get this straight: UI-wise, Wikipedia teleports its audience into the year 2004._

Yep, and it feels _wonderful._

<comment><USER13> Agreed. Wikipedia doesn't need a redesign, it's fine as it is. I have some issues with its markup language, but other than that, it's easy to use for reading and editing.

Wikipedia: please don't change. I'm not sold on the cult of Newer Is Better.

<comment><USER3> Isn't what you're saying in essence replacing the cult of "Newer Is Better" by the cult of "Newer Is Worse"?

You can't know that Wikipedia doesn't need a redesign until you _see_ that redesign. People 7 years ago thought their phones were just fine, until they saw the iPhone.

<comment><USER13> I admit I'm a bit conservative, technologically speaking. But no, I don't subscribe to the cult of Newer Is Worse either. Mostly, I reject the notion that saying "Wikipedia teleports its audience into the year 2004" is valid criticism of its UI.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> model-m I'm getting tired of young designers who use things like "this feels so 2004" as an insult, and then proceed to reinvent the mistakes of the past.

</comment><comment><USER14> What's this thing of using German words or expressions wrongly lately? No, it's not uuuuber. It's Über. And hell no it's not 'Das Referenz' either, it's 'Die Referent'. And while I'm at it, a Wiener Schnitzel surely isn't a hot dog (hello American fast food chain!). Might as well call a chicken soup 'hamburger' while you're at it...

</comment><comment><USER15> Besides the terrible and pointless abuse of "Das", i find myself amazed that these people purport to be interested in typography, use the article about Gutenberg as their header, and then fail to use "text-align: justify;" as the default for paragraphs.

Edit: On reading further, i find that they did consider it, but decided against providing something that looks great and is helpful to the reader in 99.99999% of all cases, because the remaining 0.00001% don't look perfect. Instead they opt for a solution that is decidedly mediocre² in _all_ cases. Brilliant.

² Note how in the header, Buchprodukti-on is hyphened very awkwardly, while Buchdrucks, a prime candidate, isn't at all.

<comment><USER12> I'm not a fan of this project either (see my other comment), but I totally agree with them on this one. Justified text is _really_ hard to get right, even with TeX, InDesign and the like, and simply placing "text-align: justify;" in your CSS _will_ worsen the quality and therefore the readability: Gaps will occur between all words in every other line, which doesn't only look ugly, but also destroys the flow of reading.

Left justification is always preferable over _bad_ full justification; I don't know many (read: any) typographers who would disagree.

The first of Tschichold's _Penguin Composition Rules_ (always worth reading - [http://s3.amazonaws.com/tsch/compositionrules.html](http://s3.amazonaws.com/tsch/compositionrules.html)) says: _" All text composition should be as closely word-spaced as possible."_ By relying on automatic full justification, you violate that rule in cruel ways. _" Wide spaces should be strictly avoided."_

<comment><USER15> You'll be hard-pressed to find any wikipedia article that looks bad with it, unless you zoom in to something like 6 words per line on average.

Edit to your edit: I don't particularly care for your appeal to authority when experience has borne out for me that wildly varying line lenghts hinder reading considerably more than occasional gaps. Besides, your authority doesn't even mention justification or alignment, as such i question your binding his statement to that matter.

<comment><USER12> Actually, the first line of the first article that I F12'ed looked horrible. (Despite 18 words per line.) Typography is a really subtle craft.

<comment><USER15> Your claims would hold more weight if you actually demonstrated them. Also it would be nice if you actually marked your copious edits into your post as edits.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Looks awesome! Not sure I love the colour scheme, but overall a huge improvement. Unfortunately I'm an Android user. Hope to see this come there sometime soon :)

<comment><USER17> I think the Wikipedia app on Android actually looks pretty good, especially on my 7 inch Nexus tablet.

I'm looking forward for this one to be ported someday. I'd pay a couple bucks for it even.

<comment><USER18> Wikimedia just released the new Wikipedia Beta on the Play store yesterday, if you haven't checked it out.

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.wikipedia....](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.wikipedia.beta)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Wikipedia is a tool not an app. Tools are designed to be useful not beautiful. Wikipedia extremely useful as is. Any significant change must be a large leap in usefulness to overcome the burden of having to re-teach hundreds of millions of people how to use the tool. Having a specific platform with a unique interface is counter productive at best.

Wikipedia is not stuck in 2004, it's not stuck anywhere. It continues to grow, flourish and be useful to hundreds of millions of people over all sorts of connections and on all sorts of devices.

Thinking how much better wikipedia would be if it were beautiful is like thinking how much better your hammer would be if it were beautiful.

<comment><USER19> thats a shitty analogy.

Also wikipedia has more technical dept than the worst govmnt project.

Just look at the php backend shit. The parser alone makes people blind. There does not exist a grammar.

You cannot process the content properly, because only their current php thing parses tge wkitext as the author intended, and it consists of 65% quirks and hacks.

The layout/ html rendering is 10y in the past. I can think of a dozen helpful things the html pages could do, but its not possible because of the rottten backend that literally takes minutes to render some articles.

And that with millions of donations. Wikimedia sucks so hard its almost like they purposefully want to wikipedia from evolving.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Whats with the Obsession for the German word "Das"? It's also wrong in this case.

<comment><USER21> Yeah.. If you're gonna give your app a name from a foreign language, at least look it up in a dictionary. "Die Referenz" would be correct.

<comment><USER22> Even worse, it's a german company. So they're probably screwing us on purpose.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Am I the only one who immediately thought of vas deferens upon reading the name?

</comment><comment><USER7> [https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/1200/1*YDjL7m1JuPW...](https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/1200/1*YDjL7m1JuPWqa-k1JnVO4w.png)

I consider that as a feature. I don't mind text in 7pt on a small screen if it allows me to find more quickly what I'm looking for.

</comment><comment><USER24> Every Wikipedia "redesigns" miss the essence of Wikipedia. Of course a better reading experience is desirable. But the goal of Wikipedia is to allow people to share their knowledge by contributing. If a redesign fails to address both sides of the experience, it is probably not a good redesign.

</comment><comment><USER25> Apps feel so 2008 ;) I was slightly interested until I realised that this project is an iOS app, not a web page. Isn't one of Wikipedia's most powerful ideas to make knowledge available to everyone? Other then that, yeah, the least thing Wikipedia needs is a hipster redesign.

</comment><comment><USER26> Is there edit functionality? If not, it's not even remotely "Wikipedia redesigned". More like a personal wikicontent bot.

That said, if it does, I want it. Please port to everywhere.

<comment><USER27> At least from the screenshots, I couldn't see links to such options (including discussion and history). While most people would consider these unimportant, I was quite surprised to see that I simply couldn't find them on the official mobile app (not even behind a hidden menu). While most people just want to read content, hiding the features that, (it could be argued) define wikipedia, isn't what I'd call the best design. At the same time, you have to start somewhere, and they may plan to add those features later.

Besides all that, I think it's a good bit of work. Well done devs.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> Is this just a WebView with a custom UserScript loaded? I don't have an iPad to test it out.</comment>


Codecademy Fellowship - <AUTHOR> http://www.codecademy.com/fellowship

<comment><USER2> "While your peers were content using MATLAB, you were off building things with NodeJS and learning Ruby on Rails."

How can people who promote tinkering with NodeJS to build yet another web app instead of, say, studying machine learning algorithms in Matlab, teach computer science?

<comment><USER3> They never claim to teach computer science, only software engineering. I agree with you, though; the Codecademy guys are barely 2 years out of school (and one of them dropped out). Perhaps they aren't the best mentors one could find.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> that's a job not a fellowship

and an abuse of the word fellowship. folks like Gosling, Rossum, Torvalds get fellowships.

</comment><comment><USER5> I'm guessing that the use of the word "fellowship" is to make it more enticing for not only mom and dad to agree to let you take a year off from school but to make it sound like you are doing something truly special.

Colleges of course do this already and it called by different names such as Drexel's coop program which has been around since 1919:

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

<comment><USER6> Like Northeastern's coop program as well. They build the 6-months to 1 year off into their degree. Not sure if any student's make 80K but they do make a decent amount for an intern

<http://www.ccs.neu.edu/co-op/employers/index.html#salaries>

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Considering there target audience they should be looking for those who have done n% of there site or some kind of contest.

</comment><comment><USER8> Seems like they are more looking for a straight out of college graduate with a resume to match a 3 year industry vet. I'm sure they will get one - I know I did CodeAcademy over the last year to learn basic JS while I was bored in my senior year of CS, and most of my peers at least know what it is.</comment>


Show HN: AddCharts – Add Analytics Charts to Intercom.io - <AUTHOR> http://addcharts.com

<comment><USER2> This is epic.

I really hope you are able to get events down from their API soon as well.</comment>


Ask HN: How do you use Kanban at work? - <AUTHOR> How do you use Kanban? How do you prioritise items on a Kanban board? What is the criteria for items to make it to the board? How do you release finished tickets? How does your Kanban process fit with the team's calendar in terms of frequency of releases, standups, meetings ... etc? <comment><USER3> I know this isn't what you're asking, but I want to give a shout-out to personal kanban. My husband and I use a post-it+whiteboard Kanban board at home for household/personal tasks, and it revolutionized our life. We have five categories: Backlog, To do, In progress, Blocked, and Done.

We jokingly do retros every couple weeks to clear everything off the Done column and give each other feedback like "I really like how you insulated those pipes, keep it up!" The retros are completely unnecessary (except for fun), but the kanban board is life-changing: we don't have to nag each other anymore, because you can just look at the board to see what's queued up to get done. It completely eliminated a lot of unnecessary friction between us.

<comment><USER4> Me and my wife are trying for something like this, but we're using Notion.so instead of post-its since we already use it for a bunch of other stuff. It's lightweight and the Android client is pretty good.

<comment><USER5> Notion.so looks great, thanks for the discovery!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> If you use Asana, or are thinking of using it, the Board view allows you to implement Kanban. Asana use was pretty low before I started at my job, but once I introduced Board view + Kanban, adoption increased significantly.

A couple specific tips:

* Use a backlog/ideas/to do eventually column to store tasks whose time has not come. It's a great place to brain dump * Make tasks bite-sized with actionable titles. More tasks completed = more dopamine hits = higher adoption = better tracking * Review open tasks with your direct reports regularly. I do 1x/week

</comment><comment><USER7> We have 4 columns:

* Proposed * ToDo * In Progress * Done

As a developer we mostly care about all but the first (though we drop random stuff in the first). The ToDo is always ordered with respect to priority but is generally irrelevant while one has work in-flight. That allows us to, without having to really notice, always grab the most important thing when we are free again.

As you can imagine the proposed is the ungroomed/vague/random idea list that is roughly ordered toward whatever the PO (or developers for us since we don't have product) views as a road map - discussed every week or so.

Everything has labels and generally ties to the concept of an epic or bug.

<comment><USER8> We organize our columns in Trello around our scrum process. Our Proposed column is called the Wish Heap. It's where stories go before they're groomed (titled as user story, acceptance criteria defined, sized) and added to the Backlog column (or To Do) ready for work.

First rule I try to get everyone in the org to follow: all work done by devs has a card. A dev gets approached by a manager who just needs one quick thing done, shouldn't take more than 5 minutes: "That's great. Can you throw it on the Wish Heap or talk to the scrum master?"

<comment><USER9> Whilst I agree in general, but depending on your internal clientele, I think it can be useful having someone dealing with those 5 minute jobs - if you can save someone a couple of hours work by writing an SQL query for them, you should. It'll improve your relationship with other teams.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> It totally depends on the team and work. We apply Scrum or Kanban separately. For example Ops team almost exclusively executes Kanban method, yet Dev teams probably use Scrum.

For the columns on Jira: we have 4 - 5 columns; Backlog - To Do - In Progress - Blocked - Testing(sometimes) - Done. I do believe this is more than plenty, although in some customers I have consulted to might have ~10 columns which some of them reads like code review, test on staging, test on prod.

Ticket scoping is the most important thing if you want to execute a Kanban/Scrum method. It shouldn't be too broad (i.e. fix all the bugs) or it shouldn't be too focused (i.e. write tests for this function). Each story/ticket must be an independent deployable feature or function written with a business level understanding with clear acceptance criteria. _Clear acceptance criteria in bullet point form is very important!_ (repeated for emphasis)

Backlog is prioritized by business value and urgency, and transferred to the To Do column by a business/product owner or a PM to make sure no one is ticket-starved.

Depending on your work or infrastructure capability, you can release each ticket as a separate deployment or you can create weekly or bi-weekly release packages that are well tested on a staging environment. Any code change that has stayed unreleased more than 2 weeks probably needs a fresh look.

</comment><comment><USER11> We use Kanban for several departments because our Tool Zenkit is not only a Kanban Board. You can work with multiple data views, for example, a Calendar. In Marketing, we use it for task management. Prioritization can be used via due dates, the order of the items or by setting labels with "high", "medium" or "low". We add almost everything to the board to have a good overview of the workload or we add checklists to an item where we can see what to do within this task.

Everyone can move his items to "Done" and I get informed or we use the column "need confirmation" to check if the task is all done. And with the Calendar view, a team calendar isn´t a problem anymore.

More Infos about Zenkit: [https://zenkit.com](https://zenkit.com)

</comment><comment><USER12> At the risk of....

We use it to work out when inventory needs moving and re-ordering...

I know it means 'coloured badge' so I can see why it could describe post-it notes, but since it is so well understood to mean 'when inventory levels get to the (usually virtual) coloured badge, trigger a re-plenishment,' in the Toyota manufacturing method I still (as a multidisciplinary person) find its use in PM really annoying. Especially as the Toyota method is so ubiquitous in inventory control. Two entirely different uses for the same esoteric word.

I use Trello by the way, but I much prefer the real post-it board if your team is in one place. Todo》Doing》Done for me. For certain workflows a QA stage is helpful

</comment><comment><USER13> We use Github's projects AKA kanban. It's nice to tie in directly to the repository features sure as milestones, labels, pull requests, issues, etc.

We have a board per platform. All boards have the same 5 columns:

Backlog - not in current sprint but can be added if spent complete Current Sprint - can be picked up by anyone if not assigned In progress - <USER2> working on it Testing - Completed issues / pull requests that get assigned to a coworker to review Done - once reviewed moved here

</comment><comment><USER14> If you need a personal Kanban tool that integrates with Google Tasks & GMail, check out Kanbanly: [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/kanbanly/oinopeelp...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/kanbanly/oinopeelpidbddmdhhllmpifaohjdkom)

</comment><comment><USER15> Our team uses Kanban just as a way to keep track of all the tasks we have and see what anyone of us is working at a given time. It's then up to the project manager to distill that info and distribute it to whoever needs to know. As a developer, I don't do anything but switch what I'm working on

<comment><USER16> What I would give to have exactly this instead of all the scrum nonsense.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> We use different Trello Boards for different projects.

We use it in very minimalistic way:

3 Lists - To Do, Doing, Done.

I manage projects so I add tickets and tag the person who has to do it.

If needed I add due date.

I put a watch on 'Done' list and once something is there I review it out.

</comment><comment><USER18> anyone know a decent replacement for trello now that atlassian has bought them

</comment><comment><USER19> We dont. I wish we did.

<comment><USER20> Same here.

In my opinion, kanban tool should have taken off in popular usage, instead of tools like Slack.

If one is in a big org and using tools like Slack, you're most likely looking at yourself as a gigantic mess.

Kanban methodology in potential gives a better canopy style hierarchy to break out big into small chunks. I say potential because ultimately, none of this matters if there's no proper delegation and care at the top (let too many people create slack or groups or whatever, you're looking at chaos down the road).

<comment><USER9> I don't think Slack is replacing proper project management; it's a tool for impromptu communication and help.

<comment><USER20> Yes, but what purpose does any work-related communication serve? The communication almost always is (and should be) around the tasks, activities, projects etc. Tools like Slack do not provide hierarchy and organization. Tools like kanban on the other hand, do.

<comment><USER21> * Slack is for general conversations.

* Kanban is for task management.

* Wiki pages are for knowledge storage.

* Mind maps are for topic organization.

You pretty much can use any of these tools to do any of the others' jobs, but each one is best at its own kind.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Google CEO Talks Of Good, Evil And Monopoly Fears - NYTimes.com - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-google.html?_r=1&oref=slogin <comment><USER2> _Schmidt said "Don't be evil" is meant to provoke internal debate over what constitutes ethical corporate behavior, rather than representing an absolute moral position._

Having acquired the legal rights and protections of a person, the question arises - what kind of person is the corporation?

To determine the kind of personality that drives the corporation to behave like an externalising machine, we can analyse it like a psychiatrist would a patient. We can even formulate a diagnosis, on the basis of typical case histories of harm it has inflicted on others selected from a universe of corporate activity.

Corporations were given the rights of immortal persons. But then special kinds of persons, persons who had no moral conscience. These are a special kind of persons, which are designed by law, to be concerned only for their stockholders. And not, say, what are sometimes called their stakeholders, like the community or the work force or whatever.

The Corporation[1] comes to mind.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corporation></comment>