The Fall of Open Source - <AUTHOR> https://www.commandprompt.com/blog/the_fall_of_open_source/ <comment><USER3> I agree with the author's concerns. It's a bit unsettling to build upon a closed-source ecosystem, but it's unrealistic to expect the world to work otherwise.

When people have skills, it's natural and totally understandable that they try and market these skills. It's something they're good at, and that they can make a living off of.

I've worked on teams and with groups that use Github and Slack extensively. The reason these services have succeed -- and why they were adopted, at least by the teams I knew -- is because they got their foot in the door early on. Someone was on a payroll, being paid to come up with a good, simple, user interface, a useful feature set, and a decent API. Most OSS projects just don't have the developer base to come up with an idea and develop it to the point where it's a really well-polished piece of software ready for use by even the most tech-illiterate users.

Once all of that was invented, it was trivial for just-as-good OSS and self- hosted alternatives to surface. For Slack and Github, those were Rocket.Chat and Gitlab (and more recently, gogs). There's nothing wrong with these services; they mimic their closed-source counterparts really well, and are sometimes even better than them in some respects. They just didn't come into the market at the right time to get the critical mass of users early enough to dominate the market.

So TL;DR it's less a problem that closed source G-men are trying to take over the market, and more that developers have to choose between having the free time to come up with an idea and to develop a well-polished OSS app, and spending time having a steady source of income.

</comment><comment><USER4> Slack is kind of my litmus test for whether someone understands what's wrong with FOSS. If you do not understand why Slack has grown so much vs. IRC, you don't get it.

User experience is a _huge f 'ing deal_ and FOSS doesn't care about user experience. There are two reasons for this.

One is that UI/UX work is not fun and so programmers generally must be paid to do it. This is an economic model problem and in some cases a management problem. Jamie Zawinsky observed this over a decade ago and not much has changed: [https://www.jwz.org/doc/cadt.html](https://www.jwz.org/doc/cadt.html)

The second is that many in FOSS view mastery of arcane systems as a status symbol and have active contempt for any effort to make systems easier to use or more approachable. This is an elitism problem. FOSS is about freedom and equality among developers, but there's also a mentality among many (but not all) that looks down on non-technical people and resents any attempt to bridge that gap.

IRC lets people message each other and chat on channels, and Slack lets people message each other and chat on channels. The comparison ends there. Try getting a non-technical person on IRC vs. Slack and now try teaching them to really _use_ IRC -- to transfer files, etc. Now try getting IRC working on a phone. Call me in a few days.

Slack is not just warmed-over IRC. All the apparently little things that make Slack so easy to use for so many people took a _huge amount of work_ to implement. UI/UX is _hard_ and _painful_ and requires loads of testing, iteration, and attention to detail. Little things like the fact that when I edit a Slack message it changes everywhere at once reliably are things that took... oh god... I shudder to imagine how much pain.

I do believe that open source can overcome this problem, but step one is actually understanding it. So far almost nobody in FOSS gets it, so I'm not optimistic.

Edit: one more point about user experience...

It's not just about luxury and convenience. It's about cognitive load. Forcing people to learn endless amounts of arcane nonsense to do trivial things that have been done since the 70s is a waste of peoples' time.

In the information age information is cheap but _attention_ is incredibly expensive. If something doesn't work instantly it's broken. If I have to spend time figuring it out it's broken. If I have to learn anything more than I absolutely need to learn to make it work it's broken. That's because there are a billion more new things to learn that are waiting in the queue and most of them are probably more important. Next, next, next!

<comment><USER5> A couple of points here.

1\. Slack is centralized. When you control the hub, you control the protocol. Which makes it easier to modify and change. You don't have to worry about people whining that you broke their client if you change the server. They control the hub and the spokes.

2\. Slack is centralized. (I feel that's important). There are what 1M IRC servers (if you count all the internal company servers) and 20M clients in existence. You can't just change a popular protocol overnight without people complaining that you broke a client.

3\. Slack is ... you guessed it ... centralized. IRC has a peer to peer chat feature (that doesn't go through the server). This is ironically, the way file transfers happen on IRC too. It's also what makes people able to host IRC servers without paying a huge bandwidth bill, nor get sued when their server is used to transmit Game of Thrones.

4\. Slack is ... you heard it .. centralized. Messages must go through slack's servers. For people concerned about privacy, it makes it an easy target for a National Security Letter.

5\. Slack is ... like a broken record ... centralized. Today I was told to not send proprietary information on it, because my company doesn't have an on premises hosted slack. Can any one self host slack?

6\. Why haven't you looked into Mattermost, if you're tired of irc?

You know, it's not that open source devs are elitist, but they have a history of writing code for people that are the 10% technically elite. It's not that they're smugly arrogant, but rather, IRC does the job they need it to. So is there really any reason to change it? No. Just like there's also no need to put a python interpreter in the linux kernel. Would it make things easier for the average user to write a device driver? Possibly, I don't know? Is it worth the headaches of maintaining a python interpreter in the kernel? No.

In fact, the FOSS devs I know could probably care less about this holy war. Yes, slack is a great tool, and in some cases would work better than IRC. In other cases they would say IRC would work better than slack. Oh, did I mention they don't see it as a holy war in the first place?

<comment><USER6> BitTorrent is decentralized with lots of clients and tons of users. Users of GUI clients usually download a Torrent file, see what files they're getting, uncheck any they don't want, hit OK, wait a while, and stop it when finished. Change the download directory in preferences like most of their other apps but has sensible default usually. Opposite of all your points about Slack yet still super-easy-to-use due to good UX.

See how your centralization point was pushing your ideology instead of apparent claim that Slack was only good due to centralization?

"You know, it's not that open source devs are elitist, but they have a history of writing code for people that are the 10% technically elite. It's not that they're smugly arrogant, but rather, IRC does the job they need it to."

Oh no, he's right. Ask them to change anything to something easier. It took quite a while to get the GUI clients that simplified key steps. They were insistent on forcing people to learn and memorize commands instead of menus with obvious options. They certainly could've improved look-ups and had "save to favorites" earlier in usable form. They didn't care because they were elitist.

Now, I'd consider a different explanation if tech people weren't doing same thing for UNIX commands, GUI configuration, installers, incomprehensible-by- default text editors, everything is a command line argument instead of sane menus of text, and so on. The amount of mental load it took to use those systems and apps vs Windows or Mac is a huge chunk of why they dominate the desktop.

I recall the pain of switching to Linux from Windows. Everything that was simple or easy to find just clicking around took thought in Linux. I knew that was unnecessary because my previous supplier made it unnecessary by putting in work. I later saw Apple do the same for network configuration, backups, and getting apps mostly safely. Elitists are still bragging about their commands, ports, and so on while _known_ UX or foundational issues never get fixed.

<comment><USER5> "See how your centralization point was pushing your ideology instead of apparent claim that Slack was only good due to centralization?"

No. I don't have an ideology here. Just facts I'm sharing.

"They didn't care because they were elitist."

Do you have proof of that so called elitism? Maybe they didn't want to get into a holy-war. Maybe they didn't want to break a 30 year old protocol.

I think, they didn't care because they just simply didn't care. Don't confuse elitism for general apathy.

Also, have you looked at Mattermost?

<comment><USER6> "Do you have proof of that so called elitism?"

They get into holy wars, break stuff, and take action regularly. So there goes three reasons. What they will do is call people idiots or lazy if they complain about poor UX. Or remind them how you only do (arcane steps here) to accomplish the task so why the fuss?

It's hard to absolutely prove elitism over all other things that go on in a person's head. However, that kind of behavior resembles elitism. Hell, many such people even made memes like "Elitist Linux Asshat" to rub others' noses in it. Starts to get harder to deny their ego and aire of superiority is involved at that point.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The problem for Free Software advocates, is that they 'won' but that's also brought about a change in 'communities' make-up.

The key quote is in the first sentence "Once upon a time FOSS was about Freedom": this simply isn't the case for many users of FOSS (and I mean people who use code that is under an open source license which covers those that are FSF compliant and others). The winning part if landing up with many more users, and many more creators both personal and in a professional context - <USER2> feels unarguable to me that there's more active FOSS than at any time before.

The user-base has simply changed, everyone can use FOSS not just the technical elite and/or fringe. And FOSS is active in areas I never considered.

But ... if you care about the values/philosophy behind Free Software then you may dislike the fact that the core philosophy hasn't made it across to a substantial (majority?) of users. But, in terms of providing users with the core freedoms (e.g altering/copying) it's certainly a win.

</comment><comment><USER8> And many of these kind-of-free tools are built on top of open source code. I also feel that Open Source movement is changing.

</comment><comment><USER9> I agree with him, but a new movement, stronger will emerge from this, just like free software started. And I bet in #indiewebcamp (Freenode)

<comment><USER5> Have you looked at mattermost?

<comment><USER9> It's not about tool replacement, but awareness enhacement.

<comment><USER5> Right, so I'm making you aware of mattermost.

<comment><USER9> Nice :)</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Pixel Recursive Super Resolution - <AUTHOR> https://arxiv.org/abs/1702.00783 <comment><USER2> Just another [0] example of why you shouldn't blur sensitive info but completely black it out.

[0]: [https://dheera.net/projects/blur](https://dheera.net/projects/blur)</comment>


Ask HN: Anyone else have symptoms similar to Aspergers? - <AUTHOR> I have not been diagnosed but I think I'm smart enough to know I have both ADHD and social anxiety disorder. I found out some of the things I do are actually OCD as well, mostly my thoughts. I was also misdiagnosed with borderline-personality disorder during an ADHD test as a kid. I may have Aspergers or my life growing up as a solo developer messed me up. Does anyone else experience symptoms like these? <comment><USER2> Your fears are not uncommon. There are many of us who feel "different" from "normal people" and it's too easy to over-analyze and label our emotions and mental health.

Like you, I have ADHD. Like you, I was misdiagnosed with something ( bipolar disorder, at 16yo ). Like you, I've wondered if my idiosyncrasies are attributed to Aspergers.

In the past, I got caught up with these things. I know a few things: a) I have a classic case of ADHD, b) my ADHD meds appear to stabilize my moods, as I was always a cranky and generally bitter person to be around before I took meds. When I take days off of meds now, that part of me re-emerges. Perhaps the medication makes me calmer and more willing to listen to what other people have to say.

If there's one line of advice I have to give, it's that everything is on a spectrum. I once heard a story about a delusional schizophrenic. A man was standing on the atrium in the psych wards. As each person walked by, he said something along the lines of, "Greetings, ladies and gentlemen! Will you be returning for the show this afternoon? CNN, ABC, CBS, all the broadcasters will be here! Don't forget! At 3 o'clock I give a speech! All the world will be watching!"

I would never advise against seeing an expert if you really have problems. But never forget that everything is on a scale and difficult to measure. There are those who are normal, there are those who are perfect, and there are those with terrible afflictions. Most of us fit somewhere in between ;).

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! Very helpful

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Many of the terms used in the psychological self-diagnosis are inconsistent with current clinical standards under DSM-V.

If there are specific areas of concern or behaviors or thought patterns which affect daily life or long term well being, talking to a qualified therapist, such as a psychologist or experienced clinical social worker, might help.

</comment><comment><USER4> yes, lots of us

i recommend exercise, paleo diet, 5-htp and occasional cannabis

also this book is good: [http://www.amazon.com/Aspergers-Syndrome-Mindfulness- Taking-...](http://www.amazon.com/Aspergers-Syndrome-Mindfulness-Taking- Refuge/dp/1843106868)

<comment><AUTHOR> I can have bad eating habits sometimes, but I'm under average weight and unable to gain weight. Should I still consider 5-htp since it's an appetite suppressant?

<comment><USER4> i wouldn't worry about the appetite suppressant effect. Also exercise (and cannabis) will definitely help with appetite.

Can't stress enough the effects of exercise. Makes your body run better, provides confidence, provides a positive routine to orient your life around, makes girls notice, etc. I do 3 sets of pushups ever other day (started doing this when I was 30, now I'm 34), and it has had a massive effect on virtually everything in my life.

Do not take 5-HTP if you are on any other serotonin-related drugs

<comment><AUTHOR> Ah okay, I'm already taking prescription cannabis.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Is there a reason you haven't tried to get a proper diagnosis from a medical professional?

<comment><USER6> Stronger: Is there a reason you haven't tried to get a proper diagnosis from a medical professional, but you're accepting advice from random people on the internet? (It is HN, but still...)</comment></comment>


Octopus tentacle serves as inspiration for gripper - <AUTHOR> https://techxplore.com/news/2017-03-octopus-tentacle-gripper.html <comment><USER2> That seemingly-solid cylinder was misleading</comment>


New Malware Steals Your Bitcoins from Mac OS X - <AUTHOR> http://www.cybernewsalerts.com/2014/02/new-malware-steals-your-bitcoins-from.html

<comment><USER2> don't BTC-e or even Mt.Gox has 2FA auth now ?</comment>


The Black Panther's scientist role models - <AUTHOR> https://www.iafrikan.com/2018/02/09/the-black-panthers-hidden-superpower/ <comment><USER2> I haven't seen the film yet, but I get the impression it might be providing role models who accomplish magical feats effortlessly and confidently. I'm not sure if those sorts of role models are very good preparation for the real world of slow, painful progress and impostor syndrome. I have a suspicion that the popular representation of technology as wizardry might be extra-offputting if you already fear you're somehow not the right kind of person for it.

<comment><USER3> To be fair to the film, much of soft sci-fi does this. Iron Man happening to create an arc reactor in a cave coming to mind.

<comment><USER4> Or a particle accelerator in his basement, generating an element that didn't exist before.

<comment><USER5> Or an AI that is smarter than most humans, and super strong materials and super powerful miniaturized actuators and on and on.

And don't forget being a stone cold killer. He's breezy cool in lots of scenes that follow the deaths of multiple adversaries.

<comment><USER6> A sociopathic, yet brilliant biollionaire? Probably the most realistic part.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The author is also responsible for an excellent graphic novel about science: [https://thedialoguesbook.com/](https://thedialoguesbook.com/)

</comment><comment><USER8> This article's headline doesn't do it justice.

<comment><USER9> Can you explain why not?

Not to imply that I disagree with your sentiment, but comments around these parts are encouraged to contain more substance and create or add to a discussion.

<comment><USER8> The title on HN has since been changed. It was previously the article title: "The Black Panther's Secret Superpower". Which doesn't give any hint as to why that superpower is actually interesting. "Oh, I didn't know that he had x-ray vision" would have been really boring, and I almost didn't click through to read the article because of that.</comment></comment></comment>


"Unprecedented" locust invasion threatens crops in East Africa - <AUTHOR> https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/unprecedented-locust-invasion-approaches-full-blown-crisis/ <comment><USER2> If anyone wonders what happens if a proper airplane tries to fly through a swarm of locust: [http://avherald.com/h?article=4d1de8cc&opt=0](http://avherald.com/h?article=4d1de8cc&opt=0)

> The windscreen wipers were not able to clear the windshield anymore. The > crew went around, climbed to 8500 feet, depressurized the aircraft, opened > the cockpit side window and cleaned the windscreen by hand. The same > happened on second approach to Dire Dawa. The crew again climbed to 8500 > feet, cleaned the windscreen by hand again and diverted to Addis Ababa.

<comment><USER3> HN discussion is here: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22073796](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22073796)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> "Locusts are the swarming phase of certain species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstances become more abundant and change their behaviour and habits, becoming gregarious" [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locust](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locust)

So, in normal circumstances, grasshoppers are benign but under certain conditions, they can form swarms.

<comment><USER5> Yes, been studied and shown it is overcrowding that causes this and you can by rubing the back legs of a grasshopper for about 30 mins(iirc maybe shooter time) and it will start to develop wings and change.

The rubbing of back legs in nature happens when you have high dense populations - overcrowding due to rushing for limited food in an area. Which evolving wings and flying elsewhere would be nature at play.

Real trick would be to curtail grasshopper numbers before they swarm and perhaps a more balanced approach to grasshoppers natural enemies and encouraging habits for those will do well. Chemicals for me are a desperate solution to a problem that got overlooked. Much the same way that ant do wonders with many pests for plants, yet production methods end up curtailing environments that see them thrive in area's that would benefit. So we end up with chemicals for things like aphids when ants will eat them all up for you.

<comment><USER6> > you can by rubing the back legs of a grasshopper for about 30 mins(iirc > maybe shooter time) and it will start to develop wings and change.

If true, this seems very effective for economic terrorism. I wonder why thats not more common.

<comment><USER7> A production rate of 32 locusts per person per 16-hour workday isn't enough to matter unless you have a small army of people rubbing grasshopper legs together all day, I'd think. Though it is a pretty funny image.

<comment><USER8> Most humans have two hands so you're off by at least a factor of 2.

<comment><USER9> If you implement "middle out" grasshopper rubbing, you can triple production

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> The Indian Ocean Dipole event did nobody much good. It's been attributed for the very low rainfall (and bushfires) across Australia in 2019 as well as the higher than usual rainfall (and locusts) in east Africa.

Also an impressive feat of weather modelling, however. This is from May 2019, apparently before the strong IOD event had fully formed, and before the bushfire crisis hit. [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-16/positive-indian- ocean...](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-16/positive-indian-ocean-dipole- bad-news-for-drought-crippled-areas/11120566)

This is from last month and shows what happened with it [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-11/indian-ocean- dipole-v...](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-11/indian-ocean-dipole- values-graph/11788386) And they were right about the effects on rainfall while it was in place.

<comment><USER11> Thank you. Some scientific background, instead of just event reporting.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> There're some entertaining control measures being suggested in the comments. To my knowledge, the best control measure is pesticide application programs that use modeling to suggest optimal treatment locations. If you can develop a better locust population model, FAO would likely be interested.

<comment><USER13> I think genetic modifications could help but it's probably a long shot.

<comment><USER14> Locusts are a solved problem in most parts of the world. Insecticides do work. I understand that this is HN and people are interested in drones, lasers, genetic engineering, etc. but in cases like this it's better to use proven solutions rather than experiment.

<comment><USER15> We only need a way to move Glyphosat from Western Europe to Africa.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> scenes from the local villages,

[https://kenyanlist.net/index.php?threads/how-to-chase- locust...](https://kenyanlist.net/index.php?threads/how-to-chase-locusts-in- kitui.1980/)

<comment><USER17> A giant net and you could at least eat them after they feast on your crops:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locust#As_food](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locust#As_food)

There is no more ferocious predator than humans. If they became a delicacy all over the world they wouldn't stand a chance in hell.

According to the wikipedia article: "Locusts yield about five times more edible protein per unit of fodder than cattle, and produce lower levels of greenhouse gases in the process."

<comment><USER16> Yeah, a good source of protein, with the huge numbers a challenge would be drying and storage

<comment><USER18> You probably already have equipment to dry and store the grain.

Reuse of the same equipment to dry the insects might be doable.

<comment><USER19> And... you have Wuhan v2...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> There was also pictorial from The Guardian a few days ago, "Billions of locusts swarm through Kenya"[1] regarding this.

[https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2020/jan/24/billio...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2020/jan/24/billions- of-locusts-swarm-through-kenya-in-pictures)

<comment><USER21> That's unbelieveable... I can't imagine that there's any real way to control swarms that large, and the idea of burning the entire country clean to starve them out seems a bit counterproductive.

<comment><USER22> Aside from pesticides, nets. Some places where bugs eat produce if not protected have nets covering and enclosing the whole farm.

<comment><USER23> If the swarm is 960 square miles, and travels quickly, how much netting do you need?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> "The swarms increase in size twentyfold with each successive generation and could reach _India_ by June."

India? Am I missing something or is this is an error in the text?

<comment><USER25> There was a horrendous locust swarms few months ago in Punjab already before the winter.

The same megaswarm was in Saudi Arabia a year ago.

It seems that the swarm has since split, with one swarm going back to Africa

<comment><USER26> Getting real 40k Tyranid vibes

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> > The U.S. Agency for International Development says it released $800,000 to > support FAO's response in eastern Africa.

That's enough to send a couple diplomats down there to give the locals the middle finger, not including airfare.

</comment><comment><USER16> The kenyan government is unprepared to handle this incident despite earlier warnings, the local minister cited a lack of an effective chemical in the local market, adding that the fight against the insect has been slowed down by the long procurement and import bureaucracies.

[https://kenyanlist.net/index.php?threads/munya-says-that- the...](https://kenyanlist.net/index.php?threads/munya-says-that-the-state- needs-atleast-six-months-to-eradicate-locusts.2080/)

</comment><comment><USER28> When the article says its the worst in 25 years, does that mean the historical record only goes back 25 years or that a worse invasion happened in 1995? From what I can see Wikipedia has an article for an infestation in 2004 and mentions 1989 as a previously notably bad situation in western Africa.

<comment><USER29> Considerably more than 25 years.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagues_of_Egypt#8._Locusts:_E...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagues_of_Egypt#8._Locusts:_Ex._10:1–20)

More recently, the UN FAO tracks outbreaks.

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/desert-locust-project- final-r...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/desert-locust-project-final-report- on-the-united-nations-development-program-desert-locust-project/oclc/30276478)

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> So my guess for deterring these pests would be a setup with high-intensity mid-ultraviolet LEDs (200-300 nm) pointed upwards, which should render large proportions of the exposed population sterile if not dead (sterile might be better than dead if it inhibits effective mating). 300 nm is about the limit for ionizing DNA. Humans can be advised to avoid the lamps.

<comment><USER31> The inverse square law being what it is, I think the power requirements alone of such a solution would render it impossible, and the LEDs would need to be insanely high intensity (I doubt they actually exist).

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Given Locusts have an exoskeleton, would some kinds of focused sound weapon have a viable use in bringing down such swarms?

<comment><USER32> Imagine the source of protein you'd get! While probably not super handy (as it only happens during swarming times) and maybe even ecosystem-disruptive, turning them in to food would be useful.

<comment><USER5> Wouldn't look at this as a farming avenue, more a way to respond to such scaled issues using tools that may very well already exist or be modified to cater for such needs.

Certainly aware of crowd control sound weapons, I'd be supprised if the militaries of the world didn't have there own more powerful flavours begging for a PR test opportunity like this.

<comment><USER32> Now I wonder if there is a single resonant frequency that would work on all of them. The individual differences alone would be hard. Perhaps a general microwave type of weapon/harvester would work better?

<comment><USER21> Wow, we're approaching "Mars Attacks!" territory here. That could be a viable tactic though

<comment><USER33> Phased array microwave beams could cause enough instantaneous local heating to kill them, could optical detection to steer the beam.

<comment><USER34> And, if you keep a history of where the beam went, you know where go to to harvest the carcasses for protein.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> So much protein flying through air.. If only we have a way to capture them and turn into bars.

</comment><comment><USER29> The swarms follow the wind, seek food, and signal necessary movement with pheromones.

Seems curbing food downwind (tillage, fire?), prompting movement, and starving the swarm, might be a control method.

Something like how wildfire is controlled.

<comment><USER36> Synthesize the pheromones, carpet spray them, and they'll keep moving non-stop until they die of exhaustion!

(Might have to do some due diligence eco-research to check, for instance, if the synthetic pheromone is specific enough)

<comment><USER29> Something like that. Or maneuver them into a narrow valley or canyon or to a too-long water crossing (shades of lemmings).

Or use the Mormon defence: seagulls.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> Use drones with nets to catch them and turn them into food.

<comment><USER37> On that note, grasshoppers were a primary staple for many Native American tribes:

[http://www.native-languages.org/legends-grasshopper.htm](http://www.native- languages.org/legends-grasshopper.htm)

[http://www.hollowtop.com/finl_html/amerindians.htm](http://www.hollowtop.com/finl_html/amerindians.htm)

I'm having trouble finding articles, but basically they used to weave large nets and string them along places where insects gathered. It was basically land fishing.

I think people might be surprised to learn just how easy it was to thrive in hunter-gatherer societies. Salmon and shellfish were effectively unlimited, so if you knew which native plants to eat (like wild onions, carrots and especially camas where I'm from), you could meet all of your daily macronutrient and vitamin/mineral needs on 2 hours of work per day.

Edit: here's also a concise list of edible plants and herbs with their effects:

[https://www.legendsofamerica.com/na- herbs/9/](https://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-herbs/9/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> Eat locusts instead of grain then xD they contain high amounts of protein and water and taste like chicken when fried. Add lots of butter if you can

</comment><comment><USER39> Maybe we should all take up eating locusts? Creating more demand may help these farmers leverage this otherwise bad situation.

Anyone else up for a locust protein bar?

</comment><comment><USER40> Couldn't they do something like stick up big electrified nets at the crop areas?

Locusts fly into them and get buzzed? Or something similar

<comment><USER41> Not sure where to being with this, but locust swarms like this are a force of nature. Maybe you could save your backyard garden with nets or cover, _maybe_. But not acres and acres of farmland.

<comment><USER15> Monsanto would like to disagree.

<comment><USER31> What does Monsanto have to do with covering farmland with nets?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER42> We just need to find a way to eat them. Locust cakes could be a worldwide smash and great source of protein.

</comment><comment><USER43> Why don't people eat the locusts? I mean... good protein, right?

<comment><USER44> Sure, would you like to be the first?

<comment><USER17> Lots of people already do. Think of it as a shrimp on land.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER45> Will fuel-air incendiary work on insect swarms?

<comment><USER21> Probably as well as on all the vegetation and populace...

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I wonder how drones would fair flying thru this, as on scale a locust in relation to the engines upon a drone is large in relation of a bird to an aeroplane engine.

<comment><USER46> It seems a bit tone-deaf to worry about drones when this could trigger severe food shortages.

<comment><USER5> Thank you for asking that and my apologies for not initially providing a context and by that poor omission opening up the very valid and fair possibility that I was being callous and uncaring. Also thank you for taking the time to raise that question instead of blindly judging and running with the worst case presumption, thank you.

I was thinking along the lines of fishing them as a food resources and drones with nets, but before I ran with that was wondering how well a drone would cope with such swarms and not something that the net did not offerup as a clear answer, either.

[EDIT ADD first paragraph ]

<comment><USER47> I think something more like a kite rig [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kite_rig](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kite_rig), but a net would be good. if they could be "thrown" up in the air quickly, have a sort of sticky inside so locust would be caught better, as they filled the net the net would become heavy and be brought down. The net should then be easily detachable somehow, attach another, throw up into the swarm.

Swarm passes by, the kite netters have a couple tons of locusts netted, a good harvest.

on edit: personally like because has such a 50s sci-fi feel to it.

<comment><USER33> Big fabric rotors, like those used on old windmills or a VAWT could scoop them out of the sky.

<comment><USER5> I just had a dig into what altitude they fly at and 2,000 meter ceiling would make things more complicated.

Hot air balloons dropping nets, or some weather balloons - again tethered. Though would probably want to run with hydrogen for costs, just safety and training go up, so greater initial costs there. So many details.

Kinda gets down to sky versions of submarine nets in predictable flight paths into crop area's as being the best spots to set such trapping nets up.

Though if it turns out you just need to lay down football sized green carpet and that attracts them - well that opens up other avenues in trapping or indeed - zapping them once they touch down.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER48> obligatory locust economy link (2013) [https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2013/04/03/the-locust- economy/](https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2013/04/03/the-locust-economy/)

</comment><comment><USER49> Return the slab, or suffer my curse.

</comment><comment><USER50> Napalm needed.</comment>


Ask HN: What does currently not have an API but should? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> most public data on government websites in the US</comment>


Towing is Extortion - <AUTHOR> http://notes.brianmayer.com/towing-is-extortion

<comment><USER2> I think some people are missing the key points of your argument - "If we are going to make towing the purview of municipal government, then the government has to actually step in and clear the roads, and those should be the only costs that people pay. If the city contracts out to a private monopoly, it is doing nothing more than creating a giant corporate subsidy."

You also mention that the fees are very large, especially for those who are not particularly well off. I think that's VERY to the point.

I also think that this penalty will hit the poor much harder than the rich. If you get a speeding ticket or other similar law infraction, the penalty you get is set by law. If you get towed, the penalty is set by the tow company and may end up being more than the cost of the car.

If you don't get it out of impound, and they auction it off and the value they get is less than the fees they have charged you, then they will attempt to extract the extra fees from you as well.

If you don't have 520 dollars on the first day it's towed, and you net less than 56 dollars / day (part time worker? High living expenses?) then every day goes by you're losing money and your car.

With most law violations, penalties can be appealed to a judge. In this case, they cannot - it's a private debt to a private agency. It's treated as though you asked for this 'service' and they delivered so you're required to pay them for it, even though this is patently ridiculous.

The end result is that someone who is poor or down on their luck or otherwise unable to scrape together several hundred dollars is penalized much more than a wealthy individual who can pay the fees immediately. This is a fundamental inequality in the way the law is enforced.

You admit you broke the law and that you were punished. Most other posters seem to think that's the main point. I think your main point is that the punishment should fit the crime. Running a red light or speeding by 20 mph may cause people to die, and both crimes carry a few hundred dollar fine. Your crime causes no chance of physical bodily harm to anyone, and carries a greater penalty, including potentially the immediate forfeiture of ones vehicle depending on whether one is wealthy enough.

*edited to include comparisons to other vehicle-based crimes.

<comment><USER3> This is a great point. Obviously a city needs towing, city workers need to be paid, and tow companies need to be paid. There's no problem with that but the fees are clearly outrageous and a form of hidden taxation, very regressive taxation. The towing company is obviously paying a fee to the city so they get a monopoly on vehicle tows.

Those posters calling the author a "douchebag" for complaining should understand that $520 + $100 is a form of regressive hidden taxation. Many workers in the bay area make less than that a week. A $600 surprise will literally break them and their families.

These hidden taxes disproportionately affect the poor, especially the working poor, who for example don't have driveways or who might wait a month or two on an inspection sticker.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Towing is a service that is provided to the city, not to you. It is provided to the city in order that they may conveniently and cost-effectively enforce the laws on the books. You took a calculated risk (which you admit), and you lost. I don't think $520 is unreasonable at all for someone who broke a law because he was (admittedly) too lazy / tired to care.

The city (unlike the mafia) does provide protection (a real police force and much more!) as well as many many many other services and benefits. One of those is having clear streets with available parking, and usable, clear private driveways for those who own property and pay taxes to the city.

Your self-described actions and your reaction to the situation strike me as incredibly... douchebaggy.

<comment><USER5> Agreed. If the penalty were cheaper, then you'd have people (such as OP) breaking parking laws more often.

<comment><AUTHOR> The problem is the regressive nature of the fee. It's really not something that a normal person can afford to pay, which is scary considering how much people rely on their cars and how life-changing a one-time parking mistake can be to most people.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> > _But let me ask you a question: isn't $520 a ridiculously exorbitant fee to > pay to get your own car back? ... the $520 tow fee, plus the $100 parking > ticket, plus the $20 cab ride to get to the car lot before the $56.50 daily > fee kicked in._

You answered your own question. You calculated it was worth risking a tow. Now, after getting bit, when you do the math, will the math be the same? I guess it depends whether you feel you can afford it.

</comment><comment><USER7> > And the fact that the $520 towers showed up 4 minutes after the city gave me > a $100 parking ticket–two punishments for the same crime–only makes me more > sure that there is a close cooperation happening here.

Its not two punishments for the same crime. The $100 parking ticket is the punishment. Towing is just _removing the problem_ that you have caused that the parking ticket punishes.

The fee to get your car back is paying, well, to get your car back after the city was forced to have it towed to fix the problem that you caused by parking where you weren't allowed to.

</comment><comment><USER8> I'm stunned. Is the standard tow fee in SF really $520? I think if I ever had to pay that to get my property back I would pack up and leave the city. And I thought the $125 fee in my Texas city was exorbitant.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes. Ref: [http://www.sfmta.com/services/permits-citations/booting- towi...](http://www.sfmta.com/services/permits-citations/booting-towing). Although this says $472, they tacked on an extra $50 as a "service fee."</comment></comment>


Can You Ever Really Know an Extraterrestrial? (2014) - <AUTHOR> http://nautil.us/issue/17/big-bangs/can-you-ever-really-know-an-extraterrestrial <comment><USER2> I don't think knowledge of aliens would significantly impact most peoples lives at all.

A large proportion of the world already believe (erroneously in my opinion ) that aliens visit us, and they mostly manage to get on with their lives.</comment>


A new mathematical model can cut jet-lagged time in half, study says - wes-exp http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-jet-lag-entrainment-app-20140410,0,1771735.story

<comment><AUTHOR> _" Our schedule takes what could be 12 days of adjusting down to four."_

I've been flying overseas (+7 hour jump east) with my children since they were newborns. They've never needed 4 days to acclimate, much less 12. Everyone is on the new clock in 1-2 days eastbound and 2-3 days westbound. Where are these researchers getting their subjects?

</comment><comment><USER2> You can reduce jet-lag by eating at certain times. [https://www.sciencemag.org/content/320/5879/1074.abstract](https://www.sciencemag.org/content/320/5879/1074.abstract) The Science magazine page has a link to the podcast.

</comment><comment><USER3> Interesting idea, but from their demo video, this looks way too complicated. I'm supposed to control the light and dark I'm exposed to for two days? Is that what this is telling me?</comment>


1 in 5 corporations say China has stolen their IP within the last year - <AUTHOR> https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/28/1-in-5-companies-say-china-stole-their-ip-within-the-last-year-cnbc.html <comment><USER2> CNBC surveyed 23 companies to come up with this statistic. So this is quite a generalization from very limited data.

There is also not much explanation or security insight on how the IP was stolen, or how it was known China (or even which people in China) did it.

Further, there is no discussion of what the IP was or what the impact of it being stolen is. "IP" covers a broad range. E.x. stealing trade secrets in email is different from stealing images and text on a marketing website.

I'm not denying there isn't a problem with China's stance on IP theft, however this article does a terrible job at framing the problem.

<comment><USER3> One would expect a massive underestimate. If a spy does well, the victim will be completely unaware.</comment></comment>


A Google Skype Buy Makes a True Data Phone Possible - <AUTHOR> http://www.i4u.com/46429/google-skype-buy-makes-true-data-phone-possible

<comment><USER2> Nice to think about. Let's get rid of those nasty "middlemen" carriers. Except those "middlemen" built the hundreds of thousands of radio towers and the massive infrastructure that carries the traffic.

How does Google/Skype get around that, short of building their own radio network?

<comment><USER3> Exactly, the author of the article apparently doesn't realise that if everyone switched to data-only usage, they would still be getting billed by the same carriers, who would alter pricing so that the data fees bring them the required levels of revenue.

Obviously this can definitely change in the future, whether it's a new type of technology, or Google funding wide-ranging WiFi networks, or some other option. But frankly that's a _far_ bigger barrier than "but Google's VOIP services aren't as good as they could be".

<comment><USER2> The whitespace initiative might be the best viable option going forward. Still, someone with a ton of cash would need to start building out the network.</comment></comment></comment>


Coming to Windows – Dark Theme in File Explorer - <AUTHOR> https://insider.windows.com/en-us/community-news/dark-theme-in-file-explorer <comment><AUTHOR> Based on the post, it's looking pretty good!

Not currently available (hence the title) but it's coming in the "next major release"!</comment>


Ask HN: Devs who don't use GitHub, what do you use to share your portfolio? - <AUTHOR>

Something like Dribbble or Behance for developers.. <comment><USER2> The main fallacy here is assuming I need a portfolio at all. It's quite easy to get work without bothering with that. Or a resume. Or playing footsie with HR. You filter out some opportunities, yes. But have you SEEN the market for even decently competent programmers lately?

I put code on GitHub on the off chance someone else will find it useful or informative. Between the user base, platform usability, and the fact that I use git anyway, it's convenient for that. But "portfolio" isn't really a consideration.

If, for some reason, you want a portfolio anyway: my recommendation would be private website + GitHub. Preferably, in the form of writing an article demonstrating why a given project on GitHub is novel or interesting or useful. If you go that way, any off-the-shelf blogging tool should work (e.g. Jekyll / Octopress + GitHub Pages), and it will tend to be more useful to the community as large (which increases the odds of other devs explicitly being interested in working with you).

<comment><USER3> It pains me to read a comment such as this. I've been programming for 15 years (python, js, c - based out of the US west coast) and have been out of work for most of 2014. The reason appears to be the 2 years I took off to stay at home with the kids when my wife became sick (she's fine now). I've kept up with tech changes and what not, but employers just can't see past it. So no, I can't say I've seen the market for decently competent programmers.

<comment><USER4> I think a strong portfolio would be more necessary in this case.

It appears you have a good skillset--I hope everything works out.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> When you say "Github" do you mean it as a synecdoche to include the other well-known site hosts like Bitbucket, Gitorius and the venerable Sourceforge?

Or, to reference an old magazine cover, is it more of a "View of the World from 9th Avenue" thing? FWIW, all of my code is on Bitbucket.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, the title has a character limit.. VCS is a way to share projects but i think it is missing something to be the go-to web page for developers..

<comment><USER6> Well, there is [https://geekli.st/](https://geekli.st/) and [https://coderwall.com/welcome](https://coderwall.com/welcome) not sure what would be the use case for something that github cannot do.

<comment><AUTHOR> Geeklist is more for bragging than useful project showcasing. Coderwall seems interesting.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution - <AUTHOR> http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/scientist/snow_two_cultures.html <comment><AUTHOR> This is quite related to the discussion on the Farm Hall accounts. Politics vs. science.

In his speech Snow suggested that western societies typically had ruling classes composed principally of humanities graduates who were effectively ill- equipped to appreciate what science had to offer. Snow identified three key menaces arising from the existence of nuclear weapons, over-population, and the gap between rich and poor nations as pressing instances of where "literary intellectuals" who in Snow's view were "natural luddites" failed to see that solutions might come from "natural scientists" who, again in Snow's view, held "the future in their bones"</comment>


WhatsApp's chief business officer is leaving - <AUTHOR> https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/26/whatsapps-chief-business-officer-is-leaving/ <comment><USER2> Can anybody tell the real reason behind this as the official reason doesn't seem to be the good one.</comment>


Why we needed Redux in the past, and don't any more - <AUTHOR> https://hackernoon.com/goodbye-redux-26e6a27b3a0b <comment><USER2> Honestly, when I read this kind of thing, I have absolutely no idea what would compel someone to throw away the MVC framework of their choice to logarithmically ramp up the complexity of their apps. Most things that people build don't need anything like this. It is of great concern that code bootcamps are now teaching JS frameworks as the default expectation.

I guess it'll be more project work for those who get brought in to bail these projects out.

<comment><USER3>
        Most things that people build
        don't need anything like this.

True. It would be great to show examples of websites that benefit from the complexity of an extra library to handle client side state. I would think less then 1% do.

For example, lets look at how HN handles state syncing. Function "toggle" in this file handles collapsing/expanding threads:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/hn.js](https://news.ycombinator.com/hn.js)

        function toggle (ev, id) {
          var on = !afind($(id), collapsed());
          (on ? addClass : remClass)($(id), 'coll');
          recoll();
          if ($('logout')) {
            new Image().src = 'collapse?id=' + id + (on ? '' : '&un=true');
          }
          ev.stopPropagation();
          return false;
        }

How would the react+redux approach look like? Is it really worth it?

<comment><USER4> React+redux (or just react) doesn't add much to websites. Maybe Vue.js would be a better fit when some complexity is needed in a website.

I see React as a tool for building web applications, not websites. Using it for something like hacker news is not needed nor worth it, except for learning purposes or for the sake of using your favorite tech (which has its pros and cons).

Edit: I use React a lot, and really like it. It's just not the perfect tool for everything, and by no means a necessary one (at least when you don't have much complexity); even if it is a good one in many cases.

In the case of HN, seeing the current js [1] I find it pretty obvious that no "big tool" like React is necessary. It doesn't mean using React for a HN clone is a bad thing, one just don't have to.

[1]: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17915560&goto=news](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17915560&goto=news)

<comment><USER3> In my book, "website" and "web application" are equivalent.

How do you define those terms?

<comment><USER4> I don't define them precisely either. I'll borrow an answer from stack overflow [1]:

This is totally personal and subjective, but I'd say that a website is defined by its content, while a web application is defined by its interaction with the user. That is, a website can plausibly consist of a static content repository that's dealt out to all visitors, while a web application depends on interaction and requires programmatic user input and data processing.

For example, a news site would be a "website", but a spreadsheet or a collaborative calendar would be web "applications". The news site shows essentially the same information to all visitors, while the calendar processes individual data.

Practically, most websites with quickly changing content will also rely on a sophisticated programmatic (and/or database) backend, but at least in principle they're only defined by their output. The web application on the other hand is essentially a program that runs remotely, and it depends fundamentally on a processing and a data storage backend.

[1]: [https://stackoverflow.com/a/8694944/7510753](https://stackoverflow.com/a/8694944/7510753)

<comment><USER5> Most web applications don't need a JS framework either, so the distinction's actually worthless.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Why would a client/server query protocol replace the need to manage client- side state? No matter how you build your client/server syncing there is inevitably going to be client-side state that needs to be managed. You can't just assume that any action will be atomically and instantly synced to the server when you are operating over an (unreliable) network.

<comment><USER7> From what I've seen it's just that clients like Apollo cache already requested properties so there's less unnecessary fetching. Not that compelling IMO.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> GraphQL is actually pushing all the complexity to the server; to make a joke using the words in the article, it reduces the frontend coding time to 4 hours while making backend to take 32 hours.

Actually, I also tried to move to GraphQL and still haven't a good fit yet. GraphQL queries are hard to translate to efficient SQL, and there are additional problems to tackle like authorization which is much complicated than the REST model.

<comment><USER9> I see GraphQL queries at work and some of them are almost 100 lines long because we're asking for/receiving almost all of the available data fields.

So what would be a 1 line request in REST format is now 100x longer and complex and why? It's an internal service so we weren't worried about reducing bandwidth costs (the problem FB was presumably trying to solve). I assume it was adopted because it's sexy and/or the developer wanted an excuse to use it.

I also wonder about the performance benefits if your data is in a SQL db...if you're running a no-SQL db then you can specify only the fields you want but I'm guessing a SQL db is likely to lock and read the entire row/record, even if it's only returning a subset of values.

If you're building a big, public-facing API or if people will only want a small subset of available data fields exposed by the API, GraphQL makes sense, but I feel like devs are swapping out easier-to-implement and use REST APIs just because GraphQL sounds cool.

<comment><USER10> If you are only reading from a table I don't think any relational database implementing MVCC would lock anything.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> For everybody who is tired of the 10-step redux program I cannot recommend Mobx enough. With mobx, the 10 steps simply become:

1: update a field in your model.

1b: the views that depend on exactly that data are automatically rerendered.

<comment><USER12> After using Redux for about a year on a few different projects I still generally hate it. I fantasize about an alternative timeline where the stars didn't align to couple Redux with React in so many peoples minds. I'd love to see/hear more about MobX when React comes up.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I'm not a big fan of Redux, it's often fairly complex for simple things, but I don't think the author has any compelling arguments in his article.

And I have to say, I'm not so fan of this peppy-feel-good-emoji way of writing I see more and more often. Especially if it's just hiding lack of substance.

</comment><comment><USER14> Clickbait much? This doesn't even go into the real developments within React to allow direct use of connective functions vs. using Redux. And there's been articles by the React team saying even that is not meant to be a replacement for Redux, just another tool in your arsenal.

<comment><USER15> All articles on hackernoon I've seen are clickbait with very little in-depth content. I stopped opening their articles a while ago.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> What ? How can redux be replaced by graphql ? How would you handle multi form pages where you have to maintain state ?

<comment><USER17> There is probably half a dozen way of maintaining state to handle multi-form pages without Redux and GraphQL (both on client-side or server-side, or a combination of both).

I guess one of the point the author was trying to make is that using GraphQL makes it easier to handle the state on the server, and it has multiple advantages (what if you fill a form half-way through on your desktop and want to resume on another device).

GraphQL also makes Http requests "cheaper", you only ask for what you need and reduce payloads in general.

<comment><USER16> Right, but you don't always want to or need to go to server to maintain state.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> The author apparently has no clue what he is talking about as he is stating that a client/server protocol is obsoleting client state management library.

</comment><comment><USER19> Sometimes I wonder if these framework astronauts have ever done a little Java Swing or VB GUI or the like. A user interface is not the greatest problem of our time...it's not supposed to be this hard...

<comment><USER20> Yep, I started out doing java swing and awt UIs in the nineties. That stuff was a walk in the park compared to the craptastic react garbage that passes for software engineering these days. Looking at the JS landscape right now, it feels like we are running backwards in a hurry. Back in the day you could drag and drop simple uis together in minutes in range of IDEs for several languages. Any idiot could do it. In fact there were lots of idiots being productive in stuff like VB. The pros would do it programmatically in basically not a lot more time and end up with something that was easy to maintain and evolve.

You'd struggle to replicate most of that stuff in javascript even if you had days/weeks to do it. You'd be reinventing off the shelf components along the way that were completely bog standard 25 years ago; hand crafting event handling mechanisms; dealing with hard layout and positioning issues; etc.

That style of development seems to have died out for no good reason that I can think of other than that Javascript has been the only thing that actually works in a browser for the last 20 years. There's no other good reason for people to tolerate that.

Looking forward to WASM fixing that problem over the next few years. I might even get back to doing some frontend stuff.

<comment><USER21> So on one hand, this this this. I left web dev 10 years ago for data precisely because I saw that I was being asked to learn complexity for complexity's sake and no notable benefit to my users.

On the other hand, the rise of cross-browser and cross-OS compatibility is really the root cause that drove a lot of this complexity from jQuery to React to even WASM, so you can't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> _The way Redux works is that it essentially stores all the dynamic information of an app in a single JavaScript object._

This is the temptation when starting with Redux/Mobx/GraphQL/etc. You can't simply relegate reasoning through your application architecture to a single library or because some big company solved a problem with it.

Redux is a fantastic way to organise some of your app state & GraphQL is also great at a lot of stuff! Absolute no need to play the all-your-eggs-in-one- basket game.

</comment><comment><USER23> TLDR: You don't need to manage state in the client now; manage state in the server by making more API requests. And GraphQL makes that a bit easier. Oh and you still need to manage state in the client.

<comment><USER24> Right? I fail to see how I can keep components all in sync across different parts of my app with GraphQL.

I'm already using Firebase, most of my operations are already unique API calls. I typically dispatch an update to my store and to firebase simultaneously in one thunk action. I typically dispatch the thunk directly from a connected component or from it's connected parent container. Seems like GraphQL solves literally no problems for me

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> Today for my React state management I use just a plain vanilla JS class (ES2015, to be precice). I have immutable state and PureComponent classes, like all the cool guys. I could, in principle, maintain the immutable state myself using a lot of Object.assign() calls, but there is a nice little library called "icepick" that does it for you. The library is just a set of pure functions that return standard JavaScript frozen objects.

This way I have all the advantages of Redux, but with very terse BS-free code.

</comment><comment><USER26> So he says most of the functionality is maintained in the frontend now thanks to these frameworks and then complains he spent 32 hours in frontend coding as opposed to 4 hours backend - what split was he considering should have been adequate?

<comment><USER27> He's missing the point entirely. User interface programming is _hard_. And time-consuming. The discussion about client Vs server side is simply talking about where to shift this burden.

<comment><USER26> right that's my point, he's moved the burden around and then is surprised that the burden on one side is really big now.</comment></comment></comment>


Analysis of the Backdoored Backdoor - <AUTHOR> https://rpw.sh/blog/2015/12/21/the-backdoored-backdoor/ <comment><AUTHOR> The plot thickens: Willem Pinckaers suggested on Twitter that the code as presented doesn't in fact pass Dual_EC's output through the 3DES DRBG at all, but rather (in _both_ versions) directly exposes the output of Dual_EC.

[https://twitter.com/_dvorak_/status/679109591708205056](https://twitter.com/_dvorak_/status/679109591708205056)

<comment><USER2> So is there any plausible reason for using Dual_EC besides "the NSA is paying us off" and "we heard its security is based on the ECDLP so it maybe is harder to break"? From what I understand, it's slower and gives poorer randomness than most other well-established CSPRNGs.

Because, from here, it looks an awful lot like Juniper put their own backdoor in, and the hacker just changed it to let them use it instead. The use of Dual_EC alone, maybe, could be overlooked... but with an implementation bug that just so happens to reveal Dual_EC output directly... something's fishy.

<comment><AUTHOR> Depends on what you mean by "any plausible reason".

There were cryptographers who could have given you a _plausible_ reason to use Dual_EC --- all of them would have recommended against doing so, though.

But there's no practical reason.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I think the most informative part of this writeup is this:

 _Niels Ferguson and Dan Shumow demonstrated that if the points are not randomly generated, but carefully chosen in advance, the security of Dual_EC DRBG can be subverted by the party doing the choosing; effectively backdooring the PRNG. Namely if one chooses P, Q such that Q=P_ e holds for a value e that is kept secret, it will allow the party that generated said P, Q to recover the internal state of the PRNG from observed output in a computationally "cheap fashion" – hence instances of Dual_EC PRNG for which the provenance of the points P and Q is unknown are susceptible to having been backdoored.*

What assurance is there that the Q chosen by Juniper isn't subject to that type of backdoor vulernability? Why is Juniper using Dual_EC DRBG anyways? Aren't there other PRNG that are considered more robust?

<comment><USER4> > Why is Juniper using Dual_EC DRBG anyways?

As a follow-on question: was NetScreen using Dual_EC_DRBG before Juniper bought them (and with it ScreenOS?) If so, it might be good to scrutinize the original NetScreen owners and where they are now (hint: They now run Fortinet and Palo Alto Networks. Are they at risk of interesting, compromised security choices, now, too?)

And you're right. Juniper could still have their own e, which renders the security pointless.</comment></comment>


Fullproof - A javascript fulltext search engine library - <AUTHOR> http://kornr.net/prez/paris.js22/

<comment><USER2> What is the motivation? Adding search functionality to sites that have no dynamic backend?

How would I build an index? Are tools included for that, or is it just reading an index? Is it building the index each time the page is loaded, or in advance, or is both possible?

While the slides explain, what a search engine is, they seem not really to explain, how I can use this particular search engine, which is a pitty, since this looks like a cool project.

This is the project page, but I cannot find such information there as well: <https://github.com/reyesr/fullproof>

<comment><USER3> I am working on a project which is, essentially, fully client-side. We decided to use the browser's built in search function to handle searching until we could implement a better search method. We also have tagging in place because that's how we handle our most basic of searching. Having a fulltext search library that was would allow us to search through our data more effectively. Now to test this on the mobile browser.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Forget fulltext search, I'd like to know how he pulled off that 3d cube scrolling! *Found it: <http://lab.hakim.se/reveal-js>

<comment> J-H While we are on the topic, you should check out some of Hakim's other work. Meny and Forkit in particular are two really cool scripts.

Forkit: <http://lab.hakim.se/forkit-js/>

Meny: <http://lab.hakim.se/meny/>

<comment><USER4> Wow, thanks

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Nice idea, but how do you get around storing and retrieving large amounts of data?

<comment><USER6> in-browser databases (syncing with server) like pouchdb might take care of this: <http://pouchdb.com/>

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> A bit off topic. I FUCKING HATE this new 3D navigation shit that some websites started doing. It's slow, it jumps through pages sometimes, it's absolutely not clear where you are.

<comment><USER8> New? This tacky crap has been around forever ;)

<http://desk3d.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php>

<comment><USER9> The difference is that it was kinda cool as a way to browse between desktops (and apps, to an extent.) But for browsing a stream of continuous information it sucks. There is no easy way to fast-forward/rewind to a specific point, etc.

Might work for a short presentation/tutorial form, which is what I think this site is trying to do.</comment></comment></comment>


DIY Raspberry Pi AirPlay speaker for less than 70€ - <AUTHOR> http://svay.com/blog/diy-raspberry-pi-airplay-speaker-for-less-than-70euro/

<comment><USER2> 2 tiny (or is that tinny) speakers pushed through the side of a plastic box - thats going to sound pretty bad - lots of rattle rasp and a complete lack of fidelity.

Why waste the time and the pi?</comment>


Ubuntu switches back to Google as default search engine - <AUTHOR> https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2010-April/030589.html

<comment><USER2> Totally called this one:

 _I don't think it's an accident that this announcement comes far away enough from the next release for there to be time for Google to make them a better offer. Even if that doesn't happen in the next release, this may be Canonical's way of showing their hand._

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1079909>

<comment><USER3> Interestingly, there was now "Why?" section to this new note. I'm surprised that Ubuntu has enough of an installed base for Google to have made a counter- offer.

Also, isn't Bing powering Yahoo's search these days anyway?

<comment> Tuna-Fish Based on the amount of people downloading updates, Canonical recently guessed that there are about 12 million Ubuntu users worldwide.

<comment><USER3> Right - and there's about 350 million Firefox users in all, so that 12 million is <5%, which is what made me wonder.

Via: <http://blog.mozilla.com/blog/2010/01/21/firefox-3-6-release/>

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> A couple of years ago Ubuntu went to Google asking for a revenue sharing deal, Google refused, even though they had done it many times before. Search was going to be Ubuntu's primary income in the netbook space. At the time Google probably thought they owned search. Its amazing what a little competition will do.

I would love to see Firefox and Safari change their default search to Bing (I would still use Google). Who knows, Google might start getting serious about things like privacy.

<comment><USER5> Google does a good job with marketing against Apple with "Open", it would do wonders for MS to market against Google with "Privacy".

<comment><USER6> Why does anyone think Microsoft protects your privacy any better than Google does?

FFS, Google was the ONLY search engine which went to court to protect your searches from collection under COPA: <http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-146420.html>

Microsoft, Yahoo etc just handed their logs over.

Gmail's still the only webmail provider which uses SSL by default.

There are numerous similar cases.

Microsoft can't use "Privacy" to market against Google because they do less to protect your privacy that Google do.

(They could argue "we are less competent than Google are at doing things with the information we also collect, so you are less likely to get freaked out when our services appear to read your mind". However, I'm unconvinced that lack-of-competence is a winning marketing strategy. But hey.. it seems to be working for Sarah Palin, so what do I know...)

<comment><USER7> I think this is a game of 'what if'.

If providing tools to manage privacy gave MS an advantage, I could imagine there's at least a possibility they might supply them.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I was wondering why they chose to switch to Yahoo in the first place. The answer is at [[https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu- desktop/2010-Januar...](https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu- desktop/2010-January/002396.html)]:

"I am pursuing this change because Canonical has negotiated a revenue sharing deal with Yahoo! and this revenue will help Canonical to provide developers and resources to continue the open development of Ubuntu and the Ubuntu Platform."

<comment><USER9> It seems, in the end, Google offered a sweeter deal.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> <http://duckduckgo.com> would have been a much better choice!

<comment><USER11> This looks like a sock puppet account astroturfing for duckduckgo. I wouldn't expect them to resort to tactics like that.

<comment><USER12> There are technologies awesome enough for people to want to evangelize for them.

DuckDuckGo is one of them--it doesn't need sock puppets.

<comment><USER13> But it does seem a bit odd that the only participation in HN by this user has been posting comments praising DuckDuckGo!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Now they just need to replace Firefox with Chrome as the default browser.

</comment><comment><USER15> Let's recap why they first changed from Google to Yahoo!: "factors such as user experience, user preferences", really? Since when did Yahoo had better user anything than Google?????

</comment><comment><USER16> The page seems to give no real reason. I wonder what happened to transparency in open source.

<comment><USER17> Nothing. It's right there in the code base.

This was a business decision by Canonical. I too would have liked to have seen an explanation as to why the change was made but at the end of the day, it's the code and not the organisation that's open source.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> It was ridiculous to ship Ubuntu with a default search engine that basically is or will be powered by windows when the superior alternative is powered by Linux, but I suppose the bluff worked.</comment>


Interview with Tipjoy's Ivan Kirigin on starting a new venture with a spouse - <AUTHOR> http://zzzanders.blogspot.com/2009/02/interview-with-tipjoys-ivan-kirigan.html <comment><USER2> My wife Erin came to work for Matasano a couple years ago, and while she might express some reservations, I'd say it's been an unalloyed positive in our relationship and for the business.

For the relationship, working with Erin has I think made long hours and at- times-fanatical devotion to the company more bearable. For instance, she is "by default" included in the happenings of the company and in the work (Erin develops and consults with us); before she joined up, it was too easy to clam up about what I was working on, because who wants to explain the details of a long, tedious, crappy day?

For the company, the win is that we get a strong technical resource with huge flexibility in compensation and scheduling. We take a tax-advantaged joint income from the company. And we can switch-hit taking care of the kids; since we're both working on the same thing, there's less tension working out who's staying home when one of them gets sick or when they have a day off from school.

Apparently this is a well-known minefield, and so I'm hesitant to write all this stuff up knowing that it could all blow up in our faces down the road. But it's been a couple years now, and while I can't say they've been drama- free, I'm think the decision has vindicated itself.

</comment><comment><USER3> It very much depends... I've been in this position once and it worked out great for the business but our personal relation definitely suffered because of it.

Being both spouse and business partner is hard, and you'll only find out just how hard it is once you're doing it.

Speaking for myself, I think it was a mistake.

</comment><comment><USER4> I co-founded a company with my husband. Pretty much the same ideas as mentioned in the article: complimentary skills are good; time flexibility is good; too much tech talk needs to be balanced with non-work adventures.

It was hard at first: the boundary between work and personal disagreements is harsh, especially because your spouse is otherwise your best supporter and level-minded advisor. The joyful adventures of being together were replaced by work and stress.

These problems aren't caused by there being something inherently troublesome about spouses working together. That situation just provides some increase in stress and decrease in decompress than more standard setups.

Thus, it's a really useful scenario to explore! In our case, it helped us develop better communication skills, both professionally and personally. I am so glad we took this opportunity and ran with it.

</comment><comment><USER5> It depends. I never could have had a business with my ex-wife. But I enjoy helping my SO getting her career and business as a painter and photographer going. A lot depends on personalities. (Who gets the blame for problems.failures.) I think success is more likely if levels of abilities and contributions are equivalent. Good points in the article.</comment>


Russia to act against Google if Sputnik, RT get lower search rankings: official - <AUTHOR> https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alphabet-russia/russia-to-act-against-google-if-sputnik-rt-get-lower-search-rankings-official-idUSKBN1DL2MA <comment><AUTHOR> Techmeme summary: _Reuters: Russia says it could act against Google if Sputnik, RT get lower search rankings, after Eric Schmidt said "those kinds of websites" should have less prominence_</comment>


Aristotle's (apocryphal) advice to Alexander the Great on Persian elites (2013) - <AUTHOR> http://purplemotes.net/2013/10/13/aristotle-advice-alexander-persia/ <comment><USER3> Here is another piece of story that is not in the article.

When Alexander tried to enter Afghanistan he was met with fierce resistance. Didn't matter what he did, he couldn't quench the uprisings and could not conquer the country. After losing a lot of men, he wrote to Aristotle for advise. Aristotle asked Alexander for a sample of Afghan soil to be shipped to him. Upon receipt of the soil samples, Aristotle laid them under the Court carpet and very soon started noticing that men of the court started fighting and killing each other. They became defiant to authority and that led Aristotle to the conclusion, that there is something unique and bizarre w/ the Afghan soil that makes men fight to the end ... and in a way .. remain as an unconquerable nation. He wrote back to Alexander to with draw from Afghanistan, and which he did.

To this day, from Alexander to British to Russia .. Afghanistan has remained pretty defiant to foreign occupation. We will see how long the US will stay there.

[note: The above story was passed onto us Afghans for generations and other than referencing my grandpa who is no longer w/ us, I unfortunately can't provide any references. So take it w/ a grain of salt.]

<comment><USER4> I do not know a lot of countries which have not been defiants to foreign occupation. I'll put it harshly but it sounds a lot like propaganda. And as you can see on this map [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great#/media/Fil...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great#/media/File:Diadochen1.png), he did invade Afghanistan, and even a part of today India.

<comment><USER5> I'd hardly call it propaganda, it's merely a folk tale that reflects the cultural context within which it was developed. Sort of like the founding of Rome.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I just finished a Biography on Alexander the Great (Titled: Alexander the Great, The Hunt for a New Past. by Paul Cartledge), which I found to be very good because the author delves into the various sources of information on Alexander, which I found to be surprisingly scant as much has been lost and much has been handed down to us second hand in summarized form (such as through Plutarch). Alexander had his own personal biographer (who accompanied him on his campaign), Callisthenes put to death.

A great quote from the book: "The situation we are faced with can be summed up roughly as followes. Inspired by the example of Theopompus and his pioneering Philippica (a history of Greece written around the career of Philip II of Macedon, Alexander's father), more than twenty contemporaries wrote histories or other kinds of work on Alexander. Not one of these histories survives in the original. Of the many letters ascribed to Alexander, just one extract of one of them has a better than average claim to being genuine. The earliest surviving connected narrative account of Alexander's campaigns was composed in the first century BCE, some three hundred years after the events it relates; it is, besides, only incompletely preserved. Thus the sole connected narrative to have survived complete is a third century CE epitome, or abrigment, of a first-century BCE work in Latin by a Romanized Gaul. Finally, what is generally today accounted the best of the more or less completely surviving histories of Alexander was written by a Greek philosopher-statesman in the second century CE, probably during the reigh of the philhellinic emperor Hadrian. In short, 'it is as if the history of Tudor England could only be recovered from Macaulay's essays and the histories of Hume the philospher' (Robin Lane Fox)."

I'll admit, being an American I don't quite grasp the full context of that quote but you can get the gist. Basically, I wouldn't take this letter for actually being true (which the title rightly states as being apocryphal) and rather read take it in its own context of someone, probably a much later Arabic (edit: or Persian) writer using the story of Alexander as a means of conveying their thoughts.

<comment><USER7> It's fascinating how _little_ documents we have of people who were incredibly famous and powerful while they lived.

Often, some claim that Jesus of Nazareth didn't exist because we have no documented evidence of him from his lifetime. But Alexander was viewed (in his time) as conquring the whole world, and we still don't have written evidence from his life.

<comment><USER8> > as conquring the whole world

Unless it's a matter of speech, he conquered about 3.5% of the world's land mass and about a third of the (estimated) population, neither of which put you in the top 3 and couldn't be considered the 'whole world' either. By land mass it's not even in the top 20 largest empires ever. He was unique not for the greatest empire but rather for being so primely responsible for the massive empire he did create and in doing it all in about 12 years, the British empire for example by comparison has no single persons who were so primely responsible with many leaders emerging over hundreds of years, combined with his personal role in battles, all of which ending in victory, makes him the stuff of legends.

<comment><USER9> He conquered the "known world", I believe is how it goes.

<comment><USER8> Well he factually didn't even from the perspective of 'his known world', Alexander both turned back from on campaign, and had planned another campaign he didn't live to initiate.

But regardless it strikes me as a pretty ridiculous claim to make, (especially today) when an estimated 70% of the world population lived in places (they obviously know) that weren't conquered by Alexander. After all there is no 'the' known world. You can find many millions of people who have not a clue of the world beyond a few miles away and you'll thereby find many different people who each rule their known world.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> No data for the following. One important "fact" people do not know is much of the western philosophical works (and other disciplines) we know today (from Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, etc...) are from Arabic writings. Apparently when the Muslim Arabs decided to go and conquer the West, they would take down libraries and rewrite all the knowledge in one language (Arabic). They sent out paid emissaries to the "Four corners of the world" to gather all human knowledge. To that end, Greek works were translated into Arabic and saved in their libraries in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.

<comment><USER11> According to Wikipedia, at least the writings of Plato seem to have come to the west during the middle ages from byzantine (i.e. Greek) sources. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato#Textual_sources_and_hist...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato#Textual_sources_and_history)

<comment><USER12> Yup. It feels strange to completely dismiss the one link between Antiquity and the Renaissance: the Roman Empire, or Byzantium as we now know it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> It's interesting that this isn't a larger part of what people think about when they think about 'winnning' in the context of competition with other people. (I blame sports)

Losing- failing to get your way or being destroyed, is an obvious state.

What we call winning, which amounts to getting your way (often at the expense of others) is actually a shitty compromise.

Conversion of the 'enemy' is the real best outcome. Not only do you get your way, but you have more momentum, cooperation, ideas and resources working for your objective afterwards. This should always be your goal when you're "fighting" with other people, and anything else is a sort of failure.

<comment><USER14> I dunno, the whole thing seems straight out of _The Art of War_ , best is to win without fighting ... worst to besiege his cities.

<comment><USER15> As a supplement to this; if you do besiege his cities, always leave a narrow path of escape. A city without hope will fight to the death.

I'm fairly sure that is also in the Art of War too.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I must be reading something incorrectly. Certainly I didn't hear about these exchanges before. But is it correct that most of the exchanges can be boiled down to "be nice to people"? I always thought politics was based on keeping control of import political powers like media, military, law, food, and money while replacing people in high positions who don't work for you with people that you improved to these positions so that they will follow your rule. In some regard that's nice, at least to the people you improved, but in another regard it's also a selfish business. Can one go to another country, declare oneself as their leader and then just lead by being nice?

<comment><USER17> "Can one go to another country, declare oneself as their leader and then just lead by being nice?"

The thing is that Alexander's biggest proportion of conquests were the former Persian Empire's - lands of various people which all their life lived under some foreign rule. So there was a change in power, now here's this new ambitious and charismatic leader offering some of the most nicest conditions imaginable if you just submit. Considering Alexander's record of winnings and therefore - the chances of a revolt against him, is it that hard to believe that people preferred to stay put?

<comment><USER16> For most people you are right. But in every group large enough there are a few who always want more and who don't think as much about the risk. I'd argue that Alexander himself also was such a person. If you offered him nice conditions for his submission and a low chance to succeed by fighting, do you think he would have submitted?

And what about days when not everything is well and nice? Drought, famines, storms, sickness. When something irritating happens people tend to blame leaders. Suddenly the situation doesn't feel nice, no matter what you do as a leader. What do you do then? Go home and stop leading?

Just think about us. We probably live in the richest, most peacefully, culturally most widely developed time of human history, yet we don't feel happy about it. Many people would argue that another leader might be better for them than the current one. So I would argue that even if one lives a happy, good life, one is not so happy about it to fully trust the leader.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I'm confused, Alexander the Great was an Arab?

<comment><USER19> He was Macedonian.

<comment><USER20> Possibly 1/2 Macedonian, 1/2 "Lion-Snake": [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/L...](http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Alexander*/3.html) ... ;-)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> this is perhaps the finest pakistani canard I have read in months.

</comment><comment><USER22> Wow, is this some sort of religious propaganda because it got too religious too quick (I stopped after reading the story about the Jew being bad and the Zoroastrian being a good Muslim). This is a classical example of confirmation bias - the author is seeking to confirm his theory about the supeemacy of one religion over others and finds positive evidence wherr se deems fit.

This is not to say that one religion is truly better than other - <USER2> religions are equally unprovable so dont bother. Hacketnews is about computer science, not religious propaganda.

<comment><USER17> I continued reading and found this: "This didactic story probably wasn't meant to teach that Jews are evil. The ethics ascribed to the Jew are practical ethics undoubtedly common across human tribal groups."

<comment><USER23> This defamatory story _probably_ wasn't meant to be defamatory.</comment></comment></comment>


Newspapers That Aren't Dying  - <AUTHOR> http://theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/06/newspapers-that-arent-dying/373492/

<comment><USER2> When I did an information economics paper inside Google I pointed out that understanding the value of the information in the context of its delivery system was key (there was an ongoing discussion about ereaders at the time). For many people (and as far as I could tell every single product manager inside G at that time :-) the notion that information delivery on _anything_ other than a smartphone was both poorly conceived, and doomed to imminent failure (ie as soon as the smartphone/app version came out). No amount of data could break down that closely held belief.

I'm still convinced that at the right price point and feature set (which at one time I had hoped Plastic Logic could provide), the notion of a cheap (but reasonably large format and nearly indestructible) ereader could be the eco- system for this kind of thing.

<comment><USER3> There's like two Japanese newspapers in NYC, printed weekly, and it's free. They're usually found where japanese diaspora shop, eat and gather. Great price, great distribution, great visibility.

<comment><USER4> Incidentally, weekly+free is actually a really good approach from the newspaper's perspective, not just for the readers. The weekly run keeps production costs down, and revenue from purchases is generally pretty low compared to the ad money, so for an operation like that it's easier just to optimize for eyeballs.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> It doesn't actually seem like the Urdu Times is really "thriving".

It manages to employ one person, and keeps all the writers as freelancers. This is one of the symptoms cited of the decline of traditional print media.

</comment><comment><USER6> Funny that they mention the Urdu Times as an example of a thriving non-digital newspaper -- HN just had a post referring to how those who speak Urdu are fiercely protective of their script and underserved digitally due to the difficulty of rendering the typeface.

So keep in mind that that headlining success story is likely a misleading represenntation, as it's a newspaper that is restricted from going digital.

</comment><comment><USER7> In the end, one of the main reasons newspapers is dying in the United States because of competition, which is something we can take for granted. There are dozens of newspapers covering the same stories and reproducing the same AP bylines every day, most of them for free online. Would I buy a printed out copy of that the next day? Of course not. Why would I?

But If I spoke Urdu (a language that's very difficult to render on-screen), it would probably be a different story. Where would you even go to get the news? That's the interesting dichotemy of the news (and I say this as someone working on a news startup); there's an almost-fundamental need held by everyone to understand what is happening in the world, so why can't producing that make money? Because news is a very, very crowded space. It's all about supply/demand.

</comment><comment><USER8> Along similar lines: [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/19/nyregion/an-unusual- media-...](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/19/nyregion/an-unusual-media-start- up-a-local-newspaper.html?_r=1)

</comment><comment><USER9> Very interesting, but does it generalise? People like to remain connected to their local languages once they've emigrated; they have shared tastes in thing such as food that help advertisiers to target the publications; and the shared experiences of an ex-patriate community help to combat the lack of focus that makes it hard for newspapers to compete with the Web.

Does that mean the only successful newspapers of the future will be for ex-pat and immigrant communities? Or is it just that printing articles on paper only makes sense in huge cities _and_ with a targeted demographic?

</comment><comment><USER10> I like it!</comment>


About the benefits of a good C, C++ coding style and static code analysis - PVS-Studio http://www.viva64.com/en/b/0391/ <comment> PVS-Studio 1\. Don't do the compiler's job

2\. Larger than 0 does not mean 1

3\. Copy once, check twice

4\. Beware of the ?: operator and enclose it in parentheses

5\. Use available tools to analyze your code

6\. Check all the fragments where a pointer is explicitly cast to integer types

7\. Do not call the alloca() function inside loops

8\. Remember that an exception in the destructor is dangerous.

9\. Use the '\0' literal for the terminal null character

10\. Avoid using multiple small #ifdef blocks

11\. Don't try to squeeze as many operations as possible in one line

12\. When using Copy-Paste, be especially careful with the last lines

13\. Table-style formatting

14\. A good compiler and coding style aren't always enough

15\. Start using enum class in your code, if possible

16\. "Look what I can do!" \- Unacceptable in programming

17\. Use dedicated functions to clear private data

18\. The knowledge you have, working with one language isn't always applicable to another language

19\. How to properly call one constructor from another

20\. The End-of-file (EOF) check may not be enough

21\. Check that the end-of-file character is reached correctly (EOF)

22\. Do not use #pragma warning(default:X)

23\. Evaluate the string literal length automatically

24\. Override and final specifiers should become your new friends.

25\. Do not compare 'this' to nullptr anymore

26\. Insidious VARIANT_BOOL

27\. Guileful BSTR strings

28\. Avoid using a macro if you can use a simple function

29\. Use a prefix increment operator (++i) in iterators instead of a postfix (i++) operator

30\. Visual C++ and wprintf() function

31\. In C and C++ arrays are not passed by value

32\. Dangerous printf

33\. Never dereference null pointers

34\. Undefined behavior is closer than you think

35\. Adding a new constant to enum don't forget to correct switch operators

36\. If something strange is happening to your PC, check its memory.

37\. Beware of the 'continue' operator inside do {...} while (...)

38\. Use nullptr instead of NULL from now on

39\. Why incorrect code works

40\. Start using static code analysis

41\. Avoid adding a new library to the project.

42\. Don't use function names with "empty"</comment>


Ask HN: Chrome OS Notebook - <AUTHOR>

I am thinking of picking up one of the new Samsung Series 5 ChromeOS notebooks instead of a tablet.I wanted to get a few opinions from the HN community before converting over. <comment><USER2> I actually did this. I was using an iPad for blogging on the go but got sick of the virtual keyboard and cursor placement hijinks. The Chromebook's build quality is pretty darn nice. Good keyboard and screen, battery lasts forever, built-in 3G Verizon connection -- and I have not had any track pad problems that some complain about. You can always wait 6 months and get something better but today's Chromebook is pretty sweet hardware-wise.

Then there's the OS. The one huge failing in my mind is the lack of offline capability. No Internet = useless brick. That is supposedly coming this summer.

But what software/activities are you planning to use? I can give more detailed thoughts. It's great for light writing, blogging, web browsing etc. Easy to post photos via the SD card slot though less great for photo editing.

<comment><USER3> I'm curious if you have run into out-of-memory errors? It has happened to me 2-3 times and I don't think I stressed it that much.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I've been using a Chromebook (Samsung) for the past few days. I keep it next to the iPads in the living room and have been experimenting to see which one I go to the most for basic browsing tasks. I don't have a strong opinion either way as of yet. I got a few out-of-memory errors on <10 tabs. This surprised me as I usually work with 30-40 tabs open.

In your case, it seems to be an either-or trade-off. I'd recommend an iPad 2 ... great games and apps, decent web browsing experience, pretty good for note-taking. I was worried about the on-screen keyboard myself. However, the larger screen real-estate makes the keyboard very usable (at least for me).

</comment><comment><USER4> Right now the Chromebooks seem good, but as they are the first version out of beta I think they can still do a lot better. I think that the 500$ price tag is really too much for the relatively cheap hardware that is in those Chromebooks. The only good thing really is the battery life, but I'm not sure if this is because the battery costs a lot and is excellent or because the OS is really optimized for this. I am certain that if you wait 6 months or a year before purchasing a Chromebook you will have a LOT more for your money.

</comment><comment><USER5> Couple of good places to discuss Chrome OS and Chromebooks here: <http://www.chromeosforums.net/> <http://www.thechromebookforum.com/>

</comment><comment><USER6> It would really depend on what you want to use it for. (My experience is with the CR-48, so I can't speak to the commercial iterations of the ChromeOS notebooks.) I throw the CR-48 in my bag when I'm headed to the lake or on a trip and just need simple email/web access. Its also become great in the kitchen for recipes, in the living room for adding to my Netflix instant queue, and on the boat dock for looking up random stuff (always something that needs to be fixed, examined or researched on a boat dock).

In summary, its a very useful tool, but absolutely not a replacement for my MBP or T400.

</comment><comment><USER7> Considering a used iPad can be bought for about the same as a Chromebook, I can't think of a single reason why you would choose a Chromebook.

</comment><comment><USER8> I would wait for Chromebooks to be based on the quad core 1.5 Ghz Tegra 3. They will probably have better battery life and be cheaper. We might see one or two of them by the end of the year. Nvidia said they have 5 PC manufacturers and 5 phone manufacturers as customers for Tegra 3. I'm sure most of the designs wins are for Android tablets and notebooks, but I think a couple of them might be for Chrome OS.

</comment><comment><USER9> I cannot understand why anyone would you buy a Chromebook instead of something like a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge. At their current price, Chromebooks seem like a really bad idea to me. They are more expensive and less capable than low end laptops and, unlike tablets, offer no new benefits.

Can someone please tell me if I'm mistaken?</comment>


Ask HN: How to hire (remote) developers - <AUTHOR> I'm looking to hire an Android and iOs developer to continue developing the beta versions of an app for a radio station in Trinidad and Tobago. The app combines three functions: listening to radio, participating in a chatroom environment to live-comment the track on air, and reading local news.
This is very general, but please get in touch to discuss the details.
Thanks! <comment><USER2> Usually referrals or remote job boards.

> This is very general, but please get in touch to discuss the details.

You don't have any contact info in your profile.

</comment><comment><USER3> Put an ad on a couple job boards and specify that the position is open to remote workers.

</comment><comment><USER4> I would suggest posting your requirements on freelancer.com or guru.com.</comment>


Show HN: Fork the Quote – Create, Share and Fork Quotes. Flutter and Serverless - <AUTHOR> https://forkthequote.com <comment><USER2> Do you have a case study about how you implemented this application?</comment>