The Drug Cartels' IT Guy - <AUTHOR> http://motherboard.vice.com/read/radio-silence <comment><USER2> That article is mostly a rehash of a 2011 NPR article.[1] More technical information is available in Popular Science (I know, bad source) [2]. Here's a video of some captured gear.[3]

From the video and descriptions, it looks like they're using walkie talkies with repeaters, like a police radio system. They used some minimal scrambling, just enough to prevent people with scanners from listening in. That's cheap, easily available gear.

[1] [http://www.npr.org/2011/12/09/143442365/mexico-busts-drug- ca...](http://www.npr.org/2011/12/09/143442365/mexico-busts-drug-cartels- private-phone-networks) [2] [http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/radio- tecnico-how-z...](http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/radio-tecnico-how- zetas-cartel-took-over-mexico-walkie-talkies) [3] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT9-dDxkbJc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT9-dDxkbJc)

</comment><comment><USER3> I think the interesting question here is to what extent are the personnel responsible for building this comm infrastructure kidnapped/enslaved/coerced versus being there mostly voluntarily. There's some merit to the argument that it's much riskier and probably more expensive for the cartels to kidnap and hold these people than to pay them enough to work voluntarily. The main argument against that is how many people have disappeared with no contact with their families, and that the families aren't getting any money. But then, we don't know where these people are, what they're doing, and what degree, if any, of coercion is being applied.

The wild card is the Governments' unwillingness to even acknowledge the problem. That suggests that it embarrasses them. What's more embarrassing to the government, though? That the cartels might be powerful enough to kidnap people at will all over their country? Doesn't sound particularly newsworthy or worthy of suppression, considering what else is going on there. How about the extent to which upper-middle class educated people are willingly working with the cartels to build high-end infrastructure? I could see that being very embarrassing indeed. It makes it seem like the cartels are inching closer to being the legitimate government of major parts of the country. That sounds much more like something worth denying and suppressing. I have no idea if there's any truth to it, but the motives seem to line up in that direction.

<comment><USER4> In the case of the cartels there's varying degrees of "voluntarily." Mexican and Colombian cartels have long been able to coerce "voluntary" cooperation from people they need by posing them a choice: _plata o plomo_ , "silver or lead." In other words, you can cooperate with the cartel and be rewarded with cash, or not cooperate and be "rewarded" with bullets. It's your choice! But it's not much of a choice, of course.

What's interesting here (to me, anyway) is the need to physically kidnap and hold the person, rather than just coercing the behavior the cartels want via the _plata o plomo_ approach. The cartels certainly have enough _plata_ to hire talent, if it's needed; and once hired, the threat of the _plomo_ should keep them quiet, right? So what would the cartel gain by enslaving the person? I'm not sure.

<comment><USER5> > plata o plomo, "silver or lead."

Cartels have stopped this. Now there is simply no reward. It is simply just lead. This is especially true with the ultra-violent Zetas cartel where you pay them and do their bidding so that they don't kill you.

The brutality of the Zetas knows no end. All this just a few hours drive from the US.

[https://news.vice.com/article/how-a-mexican-cartel- demolishe...](https://news.vice.com/article/how-a-mexican-cartel-demolished-a- town-incinerated-hundreds-of-victims-and-got-away-with-it)

<comment><USER6> But _why_ are they so uncivilized? The main mission, supplying medicines in the face of oppressive government regulations, is a noble one, one that people can get behind. Just look how the alcohol gangsters of the 20s are idolized.

If they were focused on the core mission of delivering and only killing people as needed, they'd probably have a stack of resumes metres deep. I'm sure Silk Road had its pick of candidates if it needed to hire for a sysadmin position. And you can always remind people you'll kill their families if they snitch.

Is it just a shitty cultural thing? Or is there an actual plan behind being savages and basically making the entire world think they're just untamed animals?

<comment><USER7> > The main mission, supplying medicines in the face of oppressive government > regulations, is a noble one, one that people can get behind.

I think drug prohibition is stupid and wicked, but let's be honest: this is not about supplying medicine to patients but cocaine to users. That use should be lawful, but it's certainly no noble mission.

> Or is there an actual plan behind being savages and basically making the > entire world think they're just untamed animals?

Every law is backed up by fear of violence. The cartels can't go to a legitimate court to enforce their contracts and settle their disputes, so they fall back on raw force. Over time, the sort of people who enjoy that sort of work do better than those who don't. There are evil people in the world who enjoy inflicting pain and suffering, and I daresay they do very well in such organisations.

Genghis Khan annihilated cities which didn't cooperate with him; the Turks raped and murdered for three decades when they conquered Constantinople; what the Russians did in Berlin isn't fit to be printed; what happened in Allende is really no different.

<comment><USER6> > medicine to patients but cocaine to users ... no noble mission

I wouldn't say it's ignoble, though you're right, their case would be far stronger if they were supplying a more varied product.

Your explanation of violence doesn't explain why other groups get by with less violence, and otherwise appear to be respectable members of society. Look at a Chicago Outfit's massacre[1] and the Zeta's[2].

I know, I'm abusing the word massacre, but in one case, notoriety is because of the killing of a few rival criminals. In the Zetas case, they just rape, torture, and murder hundreds of innocent civilians.

That seems very shortsighted and not beneficial to business. Unless it's a tactic to raise the barrier to entry by making the whole area just terrible to work in, overall.

1: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Valentine%27s_Day_Massacr...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Valentine%27s_Day_Massacre) 2: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_San_Fernando_massacre](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_San_Fernando_massacre)

<comment><USER8> > In the Zetas case, they just rape, torture, and murder hundreds of innocent > civilians.

> That seems very shortsighted and not beneficial to business.

An organized crime group that engages in this kind of behavior may, within a reasonable approximation, be rationally focused on maximizing their own experienced utility [0], but even if they are, their utility function may not weight financial returns as highly as, say, yours does.

[0] I should emphasize that I am not _at all_ taking the position that this _is_ the case.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Not only IT professionals.

My family knew a young man who did contracting work on a small town. Very hard working. They took him, and no one has heard about him ever since. The rumor is that they use them to build the facilities they need. He left a young wife with small children. Really tragic.

</comment><comment><USER10> At some point, you'd think we'd have the sense to legalize all these substances that the cartels trade in to cut crime and drain them of their money and power.

<comment><USER11> Too late. As the article says, they're into much more than drugs now. The problem is no longer drugs, it's cartels.

<comment><USER6> Yeah, like Google is into much more than advertising now. Taking out drug money would be a massive crimp in their style. In fact, I'd be surprised if it wouldn't pretty much destroy their style, and suggestions to the contrary are just given by the government to continue the drug war.

<comment><USER12> Should we also legalize protection racket, human trafficking, kidnapping, contract killing?

<comment><USER13> No, of course not. But choosing to smoke a joint is a victimless crime, as is choosing to abuse cocaine or any other substance. Most of the problems with these substances are caused by the fact that they are illegal and are forced into black markets.

We could discuss the social harms of substance abuse all evening, but at the end of the day I'm not harming anyone when I take a puff in the comfort of my own home.

<comment><USER11> > But choosing to smoke a joint is a victimless crime,

Well, except for all the murder involved in growing and shipping it. But except for that, yeah. I guess if you live in a legal or medical state it's possible to get murder-free pot. But I haven't smoked pot for 25 years for this and a small handful of other reasons.

<comment><USER13> > except for all the murder involved in growing and shipping it

Those are artifacts of it _being illegal_ , if it was legal those wouldn't be problems.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> My first thought about the enslavement is that the threat of killing their family would be a powerful disincentive to turn on the cartel. Either way this is tragic, I feel for all those affected by this.

<comment><USER15> I also don't agree with the sentiment that the intellect of these people would lead them to turn the tables on their captors. Are you really going to risk having your whole family eradicated? I think it would only take a couple surveillance pictures of all of their family members for them to cooperate even if they realize there is no way they will make it out alive.

<comment><USER16> Yes - Bunker's commentary (he's the War College professor) seems overly generalized and a bit weird. "Prima donna's"? How does he know know "hacker types" don't function well in captivity? Was there a study?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Have any of the missing people ever been seen alive again? This article and the previous one on the topic posted here both seem to be saying no, the mortality rate is one hundred percent. If that's true, it suggests a personal rule for anyone living in or visiting that area: if the cartels come for you, fight to the death on the spot rather than let yourself be taken.

<comment><USER18> Assuming you only care about your own life. If the two alternatives are (1) be kidnapped, do some work, then murdered vs (2) fight to the death and have your family killed in retaliation, I could see how your suggested personal rule might be suboptimal for a lot of people living in that area.

<comment><USER17> True enough. Is that the actual state of affairs?

<comment><USER19> Yes.

[http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/mexican-militiaman- and-h...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/mexican-militiaman-and-his- family-killed-after-speaking- out/2014/06/27/16072be6-3dbb-4076-8da8-9ed0a3c8ccda_story.html)

[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1375578/Drug- cartels...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1375578/Drug-cartels- murder-children-scare-rival-gangs-Mexico.html)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> These "be afraid of the outside world" articles are getting less and less subtle.

> _It's a story that's common across Mexico. People vanish_

Statements like that are so misleading.

More people are killed in NYC and Chicago than Mexico city, but you never see headlines about that.

<comment><USER21> No, its not misleading. These dudes do NOT fuck around.

I live in Pueblo, Colorado. To be exact, I live in the East Side in whats known as a barrio/ghetto/hood. If you google Fearnowville Colorado you'll see my home. I also have a LOT of experience in hospitality and F&B and have had regular personal contact with a wide variety of immigrants. My homie Santos is an illegal from Neuvo Leon. Marianna grew up in Sonora. When I was 18 I went to prison for drug charges and made real friendships with mexican and american criminals of all stripes. I learned about ejidos, jesus malverde, mis animales, and I am intelligent. Now don't get me wrong, I'm clean and totally legit. I got kids and I don't roll with gangsters. I am respected by my peers and I earned that respect. So that's where I'm coming from. Now I gotta say you don't know much more about being a criminal than I do about Haskell. People DO disappear, and it happens a LOT. Here and there both. Here in my small southwestern town of 100,000 I can think of multiple black baggings.... once in the parking lot of a walmart, even. I know there's stats about Mexico DF that look good, but you believe the Mexican feds?

Personal anecdote: my wifes grandpa was a man named Jan Bonte. He was born in .dk, his dad was killed by nazis and he was placed in a camp. He immigrated after the war, first to .nl where he met and married his wife, and then to the US. They had a family in Colorado and after a late-life divorce he moved to Kino in the Sonoran desert for winters and came back to Colorado for summers. Because he routinely crossed the border he was ordered to mule something, and he declined. After a month of no contact we received news he died. We went to clean his remains from his house, which was gruesome after spending October in the sonoran heat after being chopped up by an axe.

Day 1 a duece n half came up with a gaggle of Mexican troops. Green uniforms, M-16s, idk if they were cops or 'cops' or what, but they gave us 3 days to gtfo.

Day 2, we picked up his ashes and had a small ceremony. He had local friends, who told us what happened and who did it.

Day 3, we were on the road

I put so many personal details because seriously: dox it if you'd like. You'll see Jan isn't counted among the victims of the drug war but it doesn't matter. The important thing is "this is how it is" and to hope it never happens to me or mine. Aqui hubo una mano negra

I don't have a point at all, I just feel I see/know an entirely different world from the average HN poster. You see alarmists clutching pearls and spreading tales - part of a bigger trend to spread fear and exagerate dangers. I see people I know and love suffer....and hope that black hand doesn't visit me.

<comment><USER22> So much truth to this. Hang out with enough Mexican immigrants in the US and you realize the danger there is real for civilians in MX and not much of an exaggeration. Members of my wife's family have been drugged and robbed. Last month a friend told me her nephew was kidnapped and they were gathering ransom money for his release stateside (he is safe now). Not that these were cartel related, but the situation in Mexico is much worse and real than say, the scare stories about "bad" neighborhoods in NYC.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> In regards to finding the narco radio stations, wouldn't it be trivial to triangulate their location and destroy them?

<comment><USER24> I thought this too, since as far back as the 1940's the Nazis could put the necessary radio triangulating hardware in a van.

But then I realized that the people tasked with doing the finding are on the payroll of the Cartels, and will therefore go to great lengths to never find any transmitters.

<comment><USER25> I don't think you have to be on the payroll of the cartel to want to never find the cartel.

<comment><USER26> yeah, not wanting to die is probably enough incentive for whoever replaced the last guy who found a cartel.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> When the cartels have state-level resources, at one point do we stop treating them like criminals and start treating them like enemy states?

</comment><comment><USER28> so your'e a Telco guy going into bandit country why the fuck wasn't he escorted by a couple of bricks (fire teams).

From what I know of telecoms during the troubles that is how it worked in the border areas between Eire and NI in no way did one engineer (lineman) drive in his van to a site in the more dangerous parts of the contry

</comment><comment><USER29> There was a guy here who provisioned 'secure phones' to a bunch of gangsters and they shot him when they turned out to be not as secure as advertised.

</comment><comment><USER30> Previously: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8568394](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8568394)

</comment><comment><USER31> Robert Bunker's opinion is the only thing that makes sense in that article.</comment>


Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes? - <AUTHOR> http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/is-the-sec-covering-up-wall-street-crimes-20110817

<comment><USER2> For a shorter article with a not as sharp axe: [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/18/business/sec-illegally- des...](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/18/business/sec-illegally-destroyed- documents-whistle-blower-alleges.html?_r=1&hp)

</comment><comment><USER3> Is there a statute of limitations on white collar crimes like these?

</comment><comment><USER4> Biggest crimes covered up by the SEC:

1) 9/11 Shorting of Airline Stocks

2) S&P Downgrade of US

3) Bernie Madoff

How much more proof do people need? The game is rigged folks.</comment>


Warcraft 3 Reforged Menu Is a Webapp - <AUTHOR> https://mobile.twitter.com/colincornaby/status/1223073101312753664 <comment><AUTHOR> Honestly, the whole thing is a total disaster. Yet another game driven by bottom line profit and trying to save costs on virtually everything related to development.

Hopefully users' actions - boycotts, refunds and review-bombs - will prove useful in improving the situation, though I do not believe any game company will learn anything from the incident.</comment>


1 Product – 70 Repositories - <AUTHOR> http://www.git-tower.com/blog/product-repositories/

<comment><USER2> This is what makes me sad about GitHub's pricing model. I think there's value to having a lot of small repositories, but it quickly gets expensive on GitHub. For example, if all the 70 repositories were private, this would be $200/mo regardless of the size of the repositories or the number of developers. However, scale independence in those second two factors could be great in some scenarios.</comment>


Washington passes bill to become first state to compost human bodies - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/04/26/washington-passes-bill-become-first-state-compost-human-bodies/ <comment><USER2> Soylent Mulch</comment>


Create your own DIY accelerator for your startup (new book) - <AUTHOR> http://www.speedupyourstartup.com/

<comment><AUTHOR> This book was worked on as "DIY Accelerator: How Startups Can Accelerate Themselves for 0% Equity". I changed the name to appeal to a broader audience, but the working title might tell Hacker News audience a bit more about what the goal of the book is.

</comment><comment><USER2> Congrats Mikko on the book, going to read it on my flight back home:)

</comment><comment><USER3> Awesome!

</comment><comment><USER4> Congratulation Mikko!

</comment><comment><USER5> Good work Mikko.</comment>


Is computer gaming really sport? - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zygq2hv

<comment><USER2> "An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment." Definition of sport says yes... yes it is.

<comment><USER3> Physical exertion? How big is that bag of Doritos you're munching on?

<comment><USER4> Hey man, sore thumbs are no joke.

<comment><USER5> and eyes hurts after looking for my targets. Isn't it like Archery sports.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Mrklt, Kindle-style highlights bookmarklet for the web - <AUTHOR>

http://mrklt.herokuapp.com/
A friend and I threw this together a while ago and I recently decided to get it to a "releasble" state.
We'd appreciate feedback. <comment><USER2> Twitter signup fails on redirect with a "sorry that page doesn't exist".

Url is [https://api.twitter.com/oauth/mrklt.herokuapp.com/session?oa...](https://api.twitter.com/oauth/mrklt.herokuapp.com/session?oauth_token=<somebigtoken>);

<comment><AUTHOR> Doh. Broke a Heroku environment variable. It works now. Thank's for catching it.

<comment><USER2> Thanks for fixing it :)

The app itself is really nice. Seems to do exactly what I'd expect. Nice and simple.

Good work.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> There are tons and tons of "web annoation" tools and services, but none have ever caught on. What makes yours different, and who is your audience?

<comment><AUTHOR> There are quite a few, but all that I've found suck. Cruise this the list[1] and see. They all require a browser extension for highlighting.

My audience is anyone who reads in the same way I do. I often want to snip a paragraph from an article or paper and have a quick way to browse through my recent snippets to refresh my memory on what I've read.

I don't really care about "social" or seeing community highlights. I just want something to help me digest material faster.

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


Why I turned down investor money for my company - <AUTHOR> http://blog.voicebunny.com/2013/04/24/why-i-turned-down-investor-money-for-voicebunny-and-voice123/

<comment><USER2> I really love Valve's story as a bootstrapping company, nevertheless Gabe Newell had a deep pocket after he abandoned Microsoft. Love to read the story of their early days.</comment>


Twitter Reschedules Maintenance Around #IranElection Controversy - <AUTHOR> http://mashable.com/2009/06/15/twitter-iran-election/ <comment><USER2> Here's a good illustration of what happened:

[http://twist.flaptor.com/?span=24&gram=nomaintenance%2C+...](http://twist.flaptor.com/?span=24&gram=nomaintenance%2C+iranelection)

</comment><comment><USER3> Twitter's impact is mind boggling, although post-Google I should be used to how much and how quickly software can make an impact. You think the developers realized 3 years ago they were creating something that would affect the political situation in Iran? :)

</comment><comment><USER4> #IranElection brings up a few interesting things in my mind and is an example of how no matter how legitimate an election may be (I have no documentation of election fraud), if there is no trust in the system, people will demand change. Plus, it's interesting that Obama is staying away, as are other arab nations when everyone has been isolated by the current President's regime. Also, I heard comparisons to the beginnings of the Velvet Revolution. On top of this, Iran is supposed to be one of the more democratically liberal nations of the Middle East and the outrage is there. (versus Saudi Arabia, Dubai, etc.)

Ignoring the politics, I'm trying to understand historical significance.

</comment><comment><USER5> how many times have SF companies planned their maintenance windows around Iran's day... That's got to be a first.

</comment><comment><USER6> Funny that twitter hasn't been blocked by Iran's government. I wonder if the popularity of twitter's API had any impact on that decision. Because of the API, it'd be almost impossible to completely block the service. There's no shortage of 3rd party URLs that display twitter feeds.

<comment><USER7> It has been blocked, but the users are using proxies..

<comment><USER8> It's going to be interesting to see what happens in these stone age regimes when a communications technology or Internet advancement (this may be quite a bit down the road) emerges that cannot be easily or really blocked at all.

<comment> brown9-2 They've learned to block facebook, flicker, friendfeed, and text messaging, haven't they? I'm sure they'll learn to block this too.

But by then hopefully technology and people will have moved onto the next new thing...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Interesting to note that in the '79 revolution, people were already finding creative ways to secretly copy and distribute revolutionary literature throughout Iran through spreading the leaders' speeches through letters, phone, cassette tapes etc. Every generation finds some way...

</comment><comment><USER10> not really surprising, stuff like this is pretty much the only way Twitter can appeal to mainstream.

I even see people calling it the twitter revolution.

<comment><USER11> I think technology is getting too much credit for this uprising

<comment><USER12> You're right in that technology hasn't done much to fuel the uprising itself, but with mainstream media outlets utterly failing to do their job, blogs and Twitter have proven to be pretty useful for disseminating information and making the world aware of what's happening.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> This shows that Twitter is gaining too much power, isn't it?</comment>


Is there an easy way to add email template support? - <AUTHOR>

hey guys,
a tool I'm working on is a webinar tool and I'd like my customers to easily be able to create custom email templates/messaging (or perhaps use their own) to send out.
It should be some kind of WYSISWG editor -  I don't see the point in reinventing the wheel.  Is there a tool/api that already does this or makes it easier to integrate my customers' existing mailchimp/campaign monitor templates?
any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks,
-- 24x7 <comment><USER2> We have a button for this in Appointment Reminder. If I recall correctly, the implementation pops a modal and says "Sure thing, we can get any email template you want set up for you. Send it to support@ and we'll get it ready within a day or so."

I've done this a grand total of once, so didn't spent 3 months building out the rest of the feature.

I use the same trick for doing data import. I'd love to get that working in an actually automated fashion, because it does get used pretty frequently, but unfortunately arbitrary column-to-column mapping UIs are hard to do well.

<comment><AUTHOR> hey, it's been great listening to your talks online at microconf! any chance you could detail this some more? do you end up asking for their mailchimp credentials? what if they want to make changes to the page?

<comment><USER2> Although I'm not opposed to that in principle, "forward me any email you've ever sent and I'll make ours look like that" seems like it is easier for all parties.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> SendWithUs.com is exactly what you're looking for

<comment><AUTHOR> hmmm, I looked into sendwithus earlier as they are local to me.

The twist to my challenge is that I'd like my customers to be able to access their OWN mandrill/mailchimp/campaign monitor accounts and use the existing templates/workflows they already have.

Is there a way this can be done with sendwithus that I might have missed?</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Building a startup as a part time non technical person? - <AUTHOR>

What advice would you give to a non technical (non coder) who is currently working full time looking to build a startup?
Should you look for a coder to start the process? Or do as much independently, considering out sourcing early development?
Can you work evenings and weekends to build the plan?
How would you approach potential team members?
Has anyone had experience with making this transition? <comment><USER2> There have been several posts that made it to the front page the past few months where someone in exactly your position learned to code and built their app, at least their prototype themselves. Very inspiring. I don't the bandwidth to dig them up at the moment but try some searches. Here's one to get you started:

[https://www.google.com/#q=site:news.ycombinator.com+learned+...](https://www.google.com/#q=site:news.ycombinator.com+learned+to+code+built+my+startup)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. Seen a few stories successful non technical startup stories. Certainly good starting points.

I was thinking of the benefits of getting involved with developers sooner in the process - Maybe allow me to provide benefit elsewhere rather than struggling to code something?

<comment><USER2> Some random thoughts in no particular order (3am, just back from poker night, brain fuzz)...

A non-technical founder who takes the time to learn rudimentary coding and actually puts something together is much more attractive to potential technical co-founders.

Not because they expect you to actually do any of the real coding work, but because it shows you're willing to dig in, step way the fuck out of your comfort zone, and do the really hard work required to succeed at the startup.

The devil is in the details, be it the code itself, figuring out the business processes that you're abstracting and implementing in the code, the legal nitty gritty, fundraising, etc.

It's not uncommon for non-technical cofounders to inadvertently signal that they intend to the be the high-level idea guy and hire other people to figure out how to make their ideas work, starting with their technical co-founder. But that's a big turnoff to good engineers.

Having said that, you should probably do both. There's a shortage of engineers right now and it will probably take a while to find one, so definitely better to start sooner in the process. Spend half your time networking and looking for a co-founder.

However, it could take a long time to find one, and it would probably behoove you to learn and build during that time, even something rudimentary. Start with HTML + CSS + Javascript + Node.js, which is probably the easiest web stack to get started with (only one actual programming langauge to learn, Javascript, which you can use both in the browser and an in Node.js on the server).

... Hmm, had more, but it's slipped my mind, drawing a blank now. Will continue if/when I remember it.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. Some good suggestions.

Already familiar with HTML, CSS, JS. Just felt quicker to get someone involved who knew what they were doing.

<comment><USER2> It would definitely be quicker if you could get someone like that on board right away. It's just not a given that that's possible. Depends on how compelling your idea is, etc.

But if you're already familiar with the trio, that's all you need to get started. Try to go ahead and build your prototype with Express.js, a Node.js web framework.

Server-side/backend:

<http://expressjs.com/>

<http://nodejs.org/>

Client-side/browser/frontend frameworks:

<http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/>

<http://ajkochanowicz.github.com/Kickstrap/>

<http://html5boilerplate.com/>

Tutorials for HTML5 Rich Web Apps:

<http://www.html5rocks.com/en/>

<comment><AUTHOR> I am planning to spend the next month or so getting up to speed on the following:

JavaScript + NodeJS (Given how widely supported and used it is)

Twitter Bootstrap (Really easy to build front end)

I have considered Ruby/Python however think that the learning curve is too great at the moment. I just want to know enough to build a good looking site that has basic functionality.

HTML5 is attractive but will have to wait for now.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Without knowing much about you or your expertise, my first impression is you're about to undertake a project that may be too much to handle.

Before you consider launching any startup, you need to find at least a few people who believe enough in your idea to help you. If you don't have that network at this point, start with a small project and see who will help.

From there, start another, slightly larger project. Keep progressing. Eventually and ideally, you'll develop the resources to launch a startup.</comment>


Bulambuli Valley – 9367 Miles from Silicon Valley - <AUTHOR> https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/bulambuli-valley-9367-miles-from-silicon-valley--3#/ <comment><AUTHOR> Entrepreneurs don't only exist in Silicon Valley or East London, the people in Bulambuli Valley need some help to start their own businesses like: Chicken™ (egg 3D printer) or Chair&Co (personal charging station).</comment>


Should I jump on learning OO PHP or try the old school PHP? - <AUTHOR>

I am a web designer, not that great but still a designer nevertheless. I have been hoping to create some web apps for some time and since I can't really afford to get them made from some developer I thought I should start learning some development of my own. As I already know the dead-simple basics of PHP I am thinking of exploring that further. What'd you hackers think?<p>Try not to make it a war between ROR, Java and PHP here. <comment><USER2> I'm not sure what "old school PHP" is, since I'm only 3 years in the industry. But what I can tell you, is that when I learned OOP - first in AS3, and then in PHP - I was able to pick up other languages MUCH quicker.

I'm not entirely certain, but I can't think of a single disadvantage to learning OOP. I'd actually be interested to know if there where some.

I'd also add.. Learning PHP as a first language slowed me down a bit when exploring other languages. PHP is very forgiving. If you're just learning to learn.. Maybe you should consider starting with a language that's much more strict; Python or Perl in my case. This way you focus on the concepts instead of the practices. PHP is one of those.. "more than one way to skin a cat" languages. Or at least more than most (from my experience).

<comment><AUTHOR> As far as I know OO PHP has only two disadvantages, one that it is sometimes slower than the normal method. The second being that it is not recommend for projects that are just about 3-4 pages of code. OO PHP saves time when your code is gonna be really lengthy otherwise you end up writing more code if the app you are making is a very simple one.

Thanks for your inputs.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I was a PHP programmer between 1999 and 2008 (and have dabbled in it since then), and I never quite figured out what OO PHP was good for, other than writing your own half-baked database wrapper.

If you're using OO PHP for basic web apps it will probably be in the form of someone else's more-fully-baked database wrapper (CodeIgniter, CakePHP, etc.) but you don't actually need to know much OOP to use them.</comment>


In about 20 years, half the population will live in eight states (2018) - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/07/12/in-about-20-years-half-the-population-will-live-in-eight-states/ <comment><USER2> Which means half the population will cast votes which have less value than those of their fellow citizens, thanks to the Electoral College.

<comment><USER3> Only for Presidential elections, which, to be fair, isn't the most important one for the federal government. Congressional elections are more important.

<comment><USER4> > Only for Presidential elections, which, to be fair, isn't the most important > one for the federal government. Congressional elections are more important.

The Presidential election is the single most important election in the US federal system, but in any case, he skew in the electoral college is less than, and mostly a a side effect of, the skew in the upper house of Congress (there is skew of a smaller scale in the lower house do to granularity effects, which also impacts the electoral college, but the skew in the upper house is a much bigger issue.)

<comment><USER3> > The Presidential election is the single most important election in the US > federal system

The Presidential election decides the most important single seat in government. However, Congress is, by design and intention, the more powerful federal body and so congressional elections collectively are more important.

<comment><USER4> Sure. But, again, the central point is that unequal voting power isn't unique to Presidential elections, indeed, the unequal voting power there is a direct consequences of the unequal voting power in Congress, particularly (but not exclusively) the Senate, which is also house with the most power in restraining the executive (the Senate confirms principal executive officers and judges, ratifies treaties, and adjudicates impeachments of impeachable officers, most relevantly here executive officers.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I don't see any comments regarding the bigger picture. The main reason that this is bad is that the more rural / red states will be able to block ANY federal judicial nominee which it doesn't agree with. This means that no matter how liberal the country might become, that political philosophy will NOT be realized in the court system.

The tyranny of the majority is a concern, but the tyranny of a small minority is more of a concern.

One way to mitigate this would be to increase the size of the house to around 700 members. (But that isn't going to happen either.)

Eventually, we will have to have another constitutional convention to correct the imbalance. Heaven help us then.

<comment><USER6> "tyranny of the majority" is an oxy-moron. It makes zero sense. Of course the majority gets to decide what happens, that how government works.

Only in America do we think that the party that won the election shouldnt be able to actually run the government.

<comment><USER7> Parties do not win elections, people do.

<comment><USER8> Disagree; parties win elections, people lose them.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Previous discussion 2 years ago: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17529987](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17529987)

</comment><comment><USER3> I checked if my state was one of the eight and breathed a huge sigh of relief that it wasn't.

</comment><comment><USER10> Can you link a snapshot behind the paywall?

<comment><USER11> The source for this article is here:

[http://statchatva.org/2019/02/11/national-population- project...](http://statchatva.org/2019/02/11/national-population- projections-2020-2030-2040/)

What is interesting is that despite their prediction of half the population living in 8 states, their prediction is that half of those states will have either lost population or have gained less than 200,000 people within the next 20 years (Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan)!

Edit, I am sorry, but I misinterpreted. The 4 states I mentioned are in their prediction of the 10 states with the highest population. Only Pennsylvania and Illinois are predicted to be among the 8 most populous states.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> This will only exacerbate the housing problem, quite distopian if you ask me. it doesn't make sense to have everyone crowded into areas that didn't want to grow in the first place.

I think the fed should give companies incentives to move to unpopulated states that actually want to grow, instead of handing out tax cuts like free candy.

<comment><AUTHOR> These states still have a lot of land area, so I don't find this specific statistic so troubling from a housing perspective.

I find it very, very scary however in terms of what it means for our political system. If half of the US population controls only 16 senate seats, and the other half controls _84_ seats, how does the senate have any democratic legitimacy at all?

<comment><USER13> _The Senate isn 't supposed to be a democratic institution._ Once you understand that, you can quit being scared by the situation.

<comment><USER14> Whether or not you're okay about this says a lot about you.

<comment><USER13> Perhaps, and not in the direction you think.

We don't need the Senate to be the House. We already have the House for that.

If you think that the Senate is the problem, that more House-like behavior is what we need, then what it says about you is that you don't understand the point behind the American system of government. The point was to not have too much direct democracy. If you don't understand _why_ that was the point, yes, that says something about you.

<comment><USER14> Oh I understand perfectly well the reason why the Senate and the Electoral College and superdelegates in e.g. the Democratic Party were created. It was because the founders were afraid of actual democracy and they wanted to ensure their own positions. It has had the effect that a certain constituency (rich white men) are privileged above all others. There is a disconnect between the narrative we have told ourselves about democracy and the actual system we have. I would like to change the system so that it better serves our entire population and not just rich white men.

<comment><USER13> There was a _bit_ more to the founders' opposition to direct democracy than merely "wanting to ensure their own positions"...</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Notable Quotables (2007) - <AUTHOR> http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/02/19/notable-quotables <comment><USER2> > The philosopher Sidney Morgenbesser, whose offhand remarks were celebrated > enough to have been collected, is here only for his famous retort to a > speaker who had said that although there are many cases in which two > negatives make a positive, he knew of no case in which two positives made a > negative ("Yeah yeah").

So, that was the clever clogs. OK, sold, I have only half a dozen anthological quotation books, seems I have another one to fish for. Seems a bit noughties dated, but superbly scrubbed down.

Good piece, wringing out the juiciest bits.

<comment><USER3> I thought it was "yeah, right".</comment></comment>


1.15 * 100 = 149.99999999999999 except in Ruby - <AUTHOR>

All I've tried (Haskell (GHC), Python, Erlang, Clojure, Ruby) except Ruby give 149.99999999999999. What IEEE floating point (double/single precision) standard is causing this :) and why doesn't it happen in Ruby?

  $ ghic
  Prelude> 1.15 * 100
  114.99999999999999

  $ python
  >>> 1.15 * 100
  114.99999999999999

  $ erl
  1> 1.15 * 100.
  114.99999999999999

  $ irb
  >> 1.15 * 100
  => 115.0
 <comment><USER2> It's all about the infinite numbers of bits that get lost as soon as the decimal fraction is converted in binary. See <http://babbage.cs.qc.edu/IEEE-754/>

Enter 1.15 and marvel how mantissa is represented:

1.0010011001100110011001100110011001100110011001100110

The whole FP number in hex is: 3ff2666666666666

if there were more bits, 1100 would still continue to repeat. But you have to store that number in fixed number of bits. _Whichever fixed number of bits you select, you'll miss the infinite piece of repeats!_ Modern CPUs and languages represent the whole number in 8 bytes, using _binary_ base, taking a few bits for the exponent. The above number is

      3ff2666666666666

So now you multiply that with decimal 100. The result is still a series of repeats:

      405cbfffffffffff

Whereas exact 115 would be:

      405cc00000000000

Why do we get one bit difference? Because we started from the finite _binary_ representation of "1.15" that is not equivalent to your decimal "1.15".

If you don't want such things to happen, you should use:

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

We write only decimal representations, and such representation used internally would always provide the "expected" results.

Currently no Intel processor supports such numbers in hardware, therefore such numbers are seldom present in languages.

As far as I know only IBM processors have hardware implementation of such numbers:

[http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/hpccentral/H...](http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/hpccentral/How+to+Leverage+Decimal+Floating- Point+unit+on+POWER6+for+Linux)

Your Ruby executable just rounds the binary represented result before displaying as decimal. It depends on the conversion libraries used and default rounding limits.

</comment><comment><USER3>
      $ irb
      >> 115.0 - 1.15 * 100
      => 1.4210854715202e-14

The result is the same; irb just prints the number to lower precision than the other shells.

<comment><USER4> how come that come ?

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> The problem is that the decimal numbers in IEEE-754 are approximated by fractions where the denominator is a power of 2. So

      1.15 =~ 5179139571476070 / 2**52
           =  5179139571476070 / 4503599627370496
           =~ 1.1499999999999999111821580299875...

And then

      1.15*100 =~ (5179139571476070 / 2**52) * 100
               =  5179139571476070 / 4503599627370496 *100
               =~ 114.99999999999999111821580299875...

You can read a more detailed analysis of how .1 is represented in Python in: <http://docs.python.org/tutorial/floatingpoint.html>

</comment><comment><USER6> That happened to me in Ruby, too: <http://cl.ly/3x391Q1X2N3k3R030N03>

<comment><AUTHOR> Weird, I'm on

      $ irb --version
      irb 0.9.5(05/04/13)

and it gives 115.0: <http://i.imgur.com/gGLAd.png>

<comment><USER7>
      C:\Projects>irb -v
      irb 0.9.6(09/06/30)

      C:\Projects>irb
      irb(main):001:0> 1.15*100
      => 114.99999999999999

I don't believe it's a standards issue so much as it is just a facet of floating point math in binary. Since you can't actually store 1.15, you can just store your series of fractions which sum up to something very close to 1.15, I don't have much knowledge of floating point but I'd assume it stops at some value within epsilon of 1.15. When you multiply that value by 100 that sub epsilon value is now large enough to no longer allow the language to automatically round it for display.

      irb(main):020:0> 1.15*100 > 115-Float::EPSILON
      => false
      irb(main):021:0> 1.15*100 > 115-(Float::EPSILON*100)
      => true

I'm assuming older IRB just had a wider acceptance range than epsilon perhaps.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> The "mindless" paper from William Kahan has a nice discussion of roundoff errors: <http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~wkahan/Mindless.pdf> The ~wkahan path has more papers.

</comment><comment><USER9> Here's bc:

        bc 1.06
        Copyright 1991-1994, 1997, 1998, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
        This is free software with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
        For details type `warranty'.
        1.15 * 100
        115.00

</comment><comment><USER10> There are other languages where the result is the expected, like Smalltalk/X: <http://i.imgur.com/5pKAt.png>

</comment><comment><USER11> ECMAScript has this as well as Java. Of course, using BigDecimal (or just using Groovy) or using strictfp in Java prevents this issue but slows performance.

</comment><comment><USER12> sbcl does it right:

* (* 1.15 100) 115.0

</comment><comment><USER9> And C#: <http://i.imgur.com/Eo2Vw.png>

</comment><comment><USER13> FWIW, using CLISP 2.49 REPL

      [1]> (* 1.15 100)
      115.0

</comment><comment><USER14> PHP 5.x gives 115 too :)

</comment><comment><USER4> how come this come ?</comment>


How Google handle leap seconds - <AUTHOR> http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/time-technology-and-leaping-seconds.html

<comment><USER2> Does anyone know what the original reasoning was for Unix timestamps to _not_ account for leap seconds? So that one timestamp can actually point to two physical times a second apart?

I mean, I know leap seconds aren't scheduled, and it's convenient to find a day by dividing by 86400, but it really seems like "physical seconds since the epoch" is the "fundamental" amount of time, as opposed to physical days, and the function that calculates datetimes (including time zones and DST) could just handle the leap seconds too.

It's obviously not changing now, was just wondering about the historical context of it. It seems like Unix time and leap seconds both come from the beginning of the 1970's... was Unix time defined before the concept of leap seconds were?

<comment><USER3> From the Wikipedia article on Leap Seconds:

> Because the Earth's rotation speed varies in response to climatic and > geological events, UTC leap seconds are irregularly spaced and > unpredictable. Insertion of each UTC leap second is usually decided about > six months in advance by the International Earth Rotation and Reference > Systems Service (IERS)

I don't see how applications could make unix second <-> day conversions without downloading a map from the IERS, if leap seconds were included.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> The real solution is not to use broken NTP: <http://cr.yp.to/proto/utctai.html>

<comment><USER5> I was disappointed to read that their solution didn't involve switching to TAI. The kernel should use seconds since epoch and leap seconds should be a user space issue, just like timezones.

<comment><USER6> This method lets you isolate the changes to this level of the stack; everything up top can make the convenient, if slightly incorrect assumptions about time.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER2> How is handling a leap second any different from dealing with Daylight Savings Time, when a whole hour can skip or repeat itself? Wouldn't you just use the same logic?

Or is it the fact that servers tend to ignore DST, being set to GMT and using timezone+DST only for datetime rendering/parsing, like Unix timstamps? While leap seconds actually affect the clock itself?

<comment><USER7> Yep, it's the latter. Leap seconds actually affect time_t values, whereas daylight savings does not.

I think it's simpler to think of time_t (or "unix time") as independent of any time zone. It's the number of seconds since an arbitrary "epoch" that happened simultaneously everywhere in the world. It so happens that the epoch happened at midnight GMT.

Of course it's not literally the number of seconds since the epoch because of leap seconds.

<comment><USER8> It _is_ literally the number of seconds _because of leap seconds_ :)

<comment><USER7> Huh? When a leap second is added, a day has 86401 seconds, but time_t says it has only 86400. So the true number of seconds since the epoch drifts from time_t every time a leap second is added.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Former discussion: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3002009>

A much longer discussion, but on different link, we had 16 days ago: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4112002>

</comment><comment><USER10> There is a dead link in the blog entry to the Chubby paper; it's available at <http://research.google.com/archive/chubby.html>

</comment><comment><USER11> Markus Kuhn proposed something similiar:

"UTC with Smoothed Leap Seconds (UTC-SLS)": <http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/time/utc-sls/>

</comment><comment><USER12> I hate that the header stays fixed, takes up like half the screen

<comment><USER13> Yeah, I never thought I'd see the day I'd have to view -> page style -> no style on a Google site.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> It seems to me that the problem is in all kinds of code that relies on time to do some critical operation when it really should not. Time is for people.

Computers should use a separate "time", that only moves forward. A numbered pulse.

</comment><comment><USER15> I wonder why it's a cosine-based formula, rather than linear.

<comment><USER16> For smoothness, I presume, to avoid a sudden change in the rate of time passage at the start and end of the day.

<comment><USER15> I don't follow -- wouldn't a linear approach yield a maximally even rate of adjustment?

<comment><USER17> No, there would be continuity breaks at the beginning and end of the window where the smear occurs if purely linear. I think the goal here is a kind of "ease-in-out" transition.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Is that part of google's "TrueTime" project? I heard about it at a Google Spanner presentation. They use GPS receivers in their DCs to get an exact time.

</comment><comment><USER19> Has this been contributed back to the community?

<comment><USER20> yes, I don't know about code but it's available in the form of an article that is detailed enough to implement it in any system.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> (2011)

</comment><comment><USER22> smart. Spoiler/summary: they use a "leap smear" to keep code logic from breaking.

Instead of making code encounter the same second twice or not encounter a certain second, they smear the extra second over several hours beforehand through the central time server; by the time the leap second comes you're already sufficiently ahead/behind. ( _My comment: This works because the granulatiy of the time isn't that low anyway, so obviously no code can rely on it. Therefore, if code is correct without the smear it will be correct with the smear._ )</comment>


Using Google Voice To Track Performance of Online Ads - <AUTHOR> http://mattmaroon.com/2009/11/17/using-google-voice-to-track-performance-of-online-ads/

<comment><USER2> A little bird told me that Matt Maroon is making between $1000 and $10.000 a day (fluctuating) from adverts on his facebook games. So I guess he knows.

<comment><USER3> I do have quite a bit of experience with purchasing/monetizing internet advertising, having gotten into the affiliate CPC marketing game in the very early days, but none for a b&m establishment yet. Something I'd actually like to try at some point as I feel there's a lot left to be done there.

<comment><USER4> Way to avoid the probing sneak into your finances ;-)

That's straight out of 48 Laws of Power (crappy Pop-sych book with excellent chapter titles):

"Law 30:

Make Your Accomplishments Seem Effortless

Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease. All the toil and practice that go into them, and also all the clever tricks, must be concealed. When you act, act effortlessly, as if you could do much more. Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you work— it only raises questions. Teach no one your tricks or they will be used against you."

In jest, of course :-P

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is similar to the idea of Yext (<http://www.yext.com/>) from TC50.

</comment><comment><USER6> AFAIK, Google Voice does not allow commercial use. But one could definitely use Skype, ribbit, Twilio, etc for the same purpose. Its a pretty good idea.

<comment><USER7> Using any of these "web 2.0" services is a bad idea. You should use whatever these use as their backend, where you can buy phone numbers for 10 cents a year or whatever.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> How does Bob get Google Voice accounts? Is it open to all users now? and can users get more than one account?</comment>


Ask HN: Getting a job abroad - <AUTHOR>

Hey Everyone!
I have been working with server engineering and administration on high-demand environments for almost 6 years now - and I'm happy with my job, but not with the place where I live. I'm in Brazil, and I wish to move to somewhere else, preferably Europe (but I'm considering oher places). I have a decent english and a good german, and obviously native portuguese.
Now, what do you think that would be the best way to go? Sending resumes from here, traveling to another country and visiting some companies, try to join a big international company and hope for expatriation?
Thank you! <comment><USER2> Do some research on where your skills or interests are concentrated, then visit/vacation in some of those places.

At the same time, research requirements for working immigration in the places you would want to move to.

<comment><AUTHOR> About the immigration, I filed for a german citizenship. I don't know if it is going to be accepted, but with the documentation I've sent this is hard not to succeed.

And I will visit some places on my next vacations.. but I'm not sure about the reception I'm going to have. Any tips on where to go / how to contact the companies?</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Anyone else get "pixel vision"? - <AUTHOR> I've been a software developer for years, and even prior, as a kid spent many many man-hours in front of a monitor.<p>I'm wondering from the HN crowd if others experience this self-dubbed "pixel vision", where when you look at a distance or don't focus your eyes on anything particular it seems like there are still RGB pixels twinkling at you. It's hard to describe sometimes because it's not an in-your-face, immediately-obvious-all-the-time thing. It's like a "soft filter" put over the world. <comment><USER2> I've experienced the same thing, especially after many hours staring into a monitor. My guess it may be a neurological thing of the eyes/brain adjusting to the ever changing pixel flickering through out the day, similar to after- images and retinal fatigue.

</comment><comment><USER3> Sounds like entoptics? [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entoptic_phenomenon](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entoptic_phenomenon)

</comment><comment> aaron-santos Is this a perceptual change similar to the Tetris effect or one I have personally experienced, The Witness effect? Or something else?

</comment><comment><USER4> Have you asked an optometrist about it?</comment>


The Gondola web framework - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/rainycape/gondola

<comment><USER2> Seems good and I like the sound of a batteries included web framework. However right now the samples/tutorials are pretty lacking. They don't touch on any of the features that you tout on the homepage.

</comment><comment><USER3> There are a lot of web (micro-)framework or tools on Go right now and it seems there is a new one each day that i lost count. On top of my head: revel, beego, martini, gin, web.go, gorilla.

Have any of HN folks tried it all? Any comparison or review? I personally have only tried martini.

<comment><USER4> I have had a lot of fun with Negroni and Gorilla. As someone who used to work with Flask, the switch was natural. In fact, the author of Martini had posted a criticism of his own opus and ended up writing Negroni instead.

[http://blog.codegangsta.io/blog/2014/05/19/my-thoughts-on- ma...](http://blog.codegangsta.io/blog/2014/05/19/my-thoughts-on-martini/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Just had a quick look at the api, and i just love the blobstore part. Decoupling the api from the backend provider is such an obvious thing to do. Yet it seems that it's the first time i've seen it stated so clearly. Once you've totally decoupled blobstore and relational store, it seems like cloud deployment _really_ becomes nothing more than a matter of conf file.

</comment><comment><USER6> Wanted to check this - please put up a "Getting Started" documentation. Good job btw :)

<comment><AUTHOR> They don't have much, but they have this: [http://gondolaweb.com/tutorials/](http://gondolaweb.com/tutorials/)</comment></comment>


Linear algebra toolbox 2 - <AUTHOR> http://fgiesen.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/linear-algebra-toolbox-2/

<comment><USER2> Looks interesting. Just a note: This is unreadable for me under Chrome unless I zoom out all the way. The right side of text gets clipped away otherwise.</comment>


HN: Who are your favorite Tech World bloggers? - <AUTHOR>

Recently I've realized that I've learned so much from blogs, especially from some of the top ones, such as Paul Graham's Essays, Fred Wilson's AVC, and Guy Kawasaki always makes legendary entries.<p>I was wondering who are some of your top
insightful bloggers that you follow? I was hoping that HN can recommend some best kept secret on the web =) <comment><AUTHOR> I think Mark Suster and Both Sides of The Table is Really good</comment>


Why "Just Store the App Data on Dropbox" won't work for RSS readers - <AUTHOR> http://inessential.com/2011/10/25/why_just_store_the_app_data_on_dropbo

<comment><AUTHOR> After all the hoopla following the announcement of google reader's eol, I was thinking about possible replacements. As a very regular user, I use it on multiple computers and devices during the day. Any replacement would either have to be hosted remotely (like GR) to provide synchronization, or leverage something like dropbox for the synchronization. I assumed the latter would be straightforward and something that someone had already done but found this article when I did some googling. It's obviously a pretty complex problem to solve. My thinking now is that it should be possible to maintain a filesystem database using something like <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maildir> to avoid the locking issues.

</comment><comment><USER2> There is an old add-on from Firefox called Brief. It takes your Live Bookmarks (RSS feeds) and wraps a nice GUI around it so you can use your Live Bookmarks effectively like how other RSS readers behave.

Firefox syncs all of your bookmarks which would include your Live Bookmarks/RSS feeds. Assuming (I have not tested it yet) that this sync process retains the state of your read/un-read items, this could potentially be a hybrid solution where you are using a locally installed feed reader, while at the same time you can sync your data without loosing its attributes.

Does this make any sense? I'm not a developer, just a reader.</comment>


ZeniMax Media Acquires id Software - <AUTHOR> http://www.idsoftware.com/ Mein Leben! <comment><USER2> Hm. And I thought id would remain independent. (I haven't played even one of their games, just admired them.)

</comment><comment><USER3> Does this mean that Carmack is going to completely stop working on 3D engines in order to focus on rocketry or whatever he's into now?

<comment><USER4> From the article:

"id Software will continue to operate as a studio under the direction of its founder, John Carmack. No changes will be made in the operations of id Software in the development of its games. All the principals at id Software have signed long-term employment contracts, assuring they will continue in their roles developing games at the studio.

"This puts id Software in a wonderful position going forward," said John Carmack, who will continue to serve in his current role as Technical Director."

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> "mein leben!"

</comment><comment><USER5> Ah, id software. A relic from the time when PC gaming was exciting and relevant.

<comment><USER6> When it stopped to be exciting or relevant?</comment></comment>


Browser Speed Tests: iPhone's Mobile Safari vs. Opera Mini - <AUTHOR> http://lifehacker.com/5516038/browser-speed-tests-iphones-mobile-safari-vs-opera-mini

<comment><USER2> The speed is awesome but some of the UI elements really bug me. For example, there is no elastic scrolling unlike other all other iPhone apps. Although, somebody pointed out that Apple has a patent on "elastic scrolling" which may be a reason for Opera leaving it out. I bet you can't implement it outside of what the SDK provides you.

Also the multi-touch isn't as smooth as mobile safari.

<comment><USER3> I read about that comment (elastic scrolling patent) on DaringFireball. But Apple provides a scrolling pane that has that capability in their API.</comment></comment>


Microsoft Patents Infinite Hybrid Cloud Data Storage - <AUTHOR> http://www.conceivablytech.com/9201/business/microsoft-patents-infinite-hybrid-cloud-data-storage

<comment><USER2> I've worked as a patent lawyer. If this patent worries you, take a look at the claims (Ctrl+F for "claims")

[http://patft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph- Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Se...](http://patft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph- Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=8,010,498.PN.&OS=PN/8,010,498&RS=PN/8,010,498)

In order to directly infringe a patent, you have to do _everything_ in a claim. Now look at Claim 1. It is very long, with lots of clauses. That is a sign that the PTO pushed back hard against the lawyer writing the patent, making him add more and more clauses to the claim, until it was so long that no one will ever infringe it by doing all these things.

Why would a company spend $10k+ to get such a patent? Is this what Thomas Jefferson had in mind? Companies get patents like this to add to their "patent portfolio", which is both a club and a shield in patent litigation with other companies. This patent by itself is worthless, but when you sue somebody, you cam dump 500 patents in their (lawyer's) lap, and it will take a few hours for some associate billing $300+/hr. to figure out it's worthless. This drives up their litigation costs and encourages them to settle. It's a terrible system, it hurts innovation, it hurts small companies at the expense of big ones, and society would be better off without it.</comment>


Illegal drones ground water-dropping helicopters in Maria fire battle - <AUTHOR> https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-11-01/maria-fire-drone-hinders-firefighting-efforts-as-blaze-doubles-in-size-overnight <comment><USER2> I hope DJI responds with a firmware update preventing flight in temporary no- fly zones. Right now they respect static no fly zones, but when temporary ones get put up you can still fly inside them.

It's a real shame that large ready-to-fly drones aren't required by law to prevent arming in no-fly zones. About half of the DJI pilots I know actively prevent their firmware from being upgraded to the one that will respect static no-fly zones.

<comment><USER3> The sort of arrogant self-absorbed people who would fly a drone over a wildfire are the same sort of arrogant self-absorbed people who would flash their drone with hacked firmware to bypass any restrictions.

Rules are for other people.

<comment><USER4> Hmm, maybe when I own the device, I should be able to use it without interference ( and suffer the appropriate consequences ). I wonder if you be posting the same thing if say.. your automaker made your car refuse to enter Boston, as it was just designated a no drive zone. Rules matter and should be enforced. Just not via limiting my ownership rights.

<comment><USER5> Your car however carries registration, which has a strong papertrail that leads directly to you, which can easily be observed from a distance.

Drones on the other hand may not carry registration requirements at all (depending on jurisdiction, power and weight), and building one yourself doesn't require more-than-hobbyist level knowledge of engineering.

A technical solution probably is required, but what that technical solution is I can't say.

<comment><USER6> in the US, any drone above 250g must be registered with the FAA. there are very few drones below this weight that can hover in place or be controlled at all from more than 100 feet away away. the new DJI mavic mini is a notable exception.

I know it's tempting to essentially say "fuck them, just _force_ them to comply" when people partaking in an activity you don't really care about cause problems, but imo this is not the best solution for a free society. if you believe car registration creates an effective deterrent, why not advocate for stricter registration requirements for drones? if you believe drone enthusiasts are ignorant, why not require an exam?

> building one yourself doesn't require more-than-hobbyist level knowledge of > engineering

this seems like a red herring in your argument. the DIY crowd is not likely to bother implementing no-fly-zone enforcement in their own project.

<comment><USER5> I don't think you've really grasped what I'm saying at all.

I do care about drones, I've built several myself.

A technical solution doesn't come without regulation, so yes, this area does need better regulation, so that people can't ruin a hobby with terrible behaviour such as getting in the way of fire-fighting. (I'm Australian, bushfires are one of our hot-button issues.)

The regulation can be used to enforce the technical solution, so that the DIY crowd knows there is a hurdle to entry they need to comply with. Some won't, but you'll have significantly less unknown drones in serious danger areas.

I don't have a significant answer, and I've already said that.

<comment><USER6> based on the original comment you were responding to, I assumed you were arguing in favor of software controls. my apologies, I should have read your post more carefully.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Lets not forget "Air tanker drops in wildfires are often just for show" [https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me- wildfires29-2008jul29-st...](https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me- wildfires29-2008jul29-story.html)

"To professional firefighters, though, it was a prime example of a "political air show," the high-profile use of expensive aircraft to appease elected officials."

"CNN drops."

<comment><USER8> So what would be an effective way to fight wildfires then? Just clear brush, better fire resistant structure...or?

<comment><USER9> It's not that aerial drops aren't effective. But the way they are used is sometimes more political than practical.

<comment><USER10> It may be a practically effective way to get news coverage, important for getting the public to move their ass out of the dangerous area. Not to mention a visible symbol requiring funding.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Startup idea: an accurate weapon for destroying drones that are flying in places they shouldn't be. Has anyone tried doing something like this?

<comment><USER12> It's relatively easy to shoot down a drone, you can do it with birdshot. The problem would be falling debris and the safety hazard that represents. Might be a moot point in cases of fire, but in general that would be a pretty specialized startup around a task that a basic shotgun would already excel at.

<comment><USER13> DO NOT DO THIS.

1: Missed bullets/shot may kill your friends and neighbors [0]. Especially in densely populated sub/urban environments.

2: Many drones use LiPo batteries. When punctured, LiPo batteries may catch fire [1]. You stand a good chance of starting even more fires if you shoot at drones.

Congrats, you have likely made things worse.

If you are thinking of shooting at a drone: STOP.

Put down the firearm and pick up the phone.

Call the police. Then call your state and local representatives[2]. Then call your neighbors. Organize and vote.

Pass laws, not ammo.

[0] [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928000018/http://ats.ctsnet...](https://web.archive.org/web/20070928000018/http://ats.ctsnetjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/83/1/283)

[1] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUFxlf4fXjo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUFxlf4fXjo)

[2] [https://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/](https://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/)

<comment><USER14> Surely it goes without saying that private citizens should not discharge firearms aimed at another person's property? I mean literally there is no need to say it, as it's extraordinarily unlikely that the person you're responding to or anyone else on this site is foolish enough to do that. Yeah, there is a YouTube video here and there of some idiot shooting at a drone. But it seems unlikely that this is a rampant phenomenon, seeing as how it's illegal and probably a felony in most places. E.g. I don't know if a drone counts as an "aircraft" under NY state law, but it's a class E felony to discharge a firearm at an unoccupied aircraft here (1 1/2-4 years in prison).

Edit: oops, 18 USC 32 imposes a maximum of twenty years for sabotage of an aircraft anywhere in the USA, and apparently the USG has been interpreting this to include drones. Note that this law also applies to local and state law enforcement. Only the feds are allowed to deploy anti-aircraft technology.

[https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/88696-before- you-p...](https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/88696-before-you-pull-the- trigger-the-legal-implications-of-shooting-down-a-drone)

<comment><USER13> To be fair, the person that I was replying to literally advocates using firearms to take down drones as a viable solution. I agree with you, it is a insane thing to do. It seems that for drones, the laws may need to extend to state and local law enforcement, not just federal.

<comment><USER12> I didn't advocate shooting down drones. It should not be done under normal circumstances due to the falling debris hazard. But of all the ways to shoot down a drone (assuming it were necessary to protect public safety), using a shotgun is probably the safest, and I agree this should be done by police. Unless perhaps you're a firefighter trying to dump a helicopter full of water on a fire, and then I think most reasonable people would make an exception there too.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> The article mentioned people may be operating drones to film footage for social media or to sell to TV stations.

If this was really the case then it shouldn't be too hard to track these kinds of folks down.

</comment><comment><USER16> Duplicate of [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21426012](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21426012) (14h ago)

</comment><comment><USER17> Time for firefighters to keep a few shotguns in the equipment with bird shot. They already have clearance to destroy property to stop a fire.

<comment><USER18> I'd imagine things are not as simple as that in large forest fires.

What if they shoot this stuff down, and start more fires?

They have to think about all that probably.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Is there not anything similar to a cell phone jammer for RC?

Would also be cool if they can send out an overriding "return to home" signal that will make the drones return to their starting position. This is something that would need to be in the hardware or firmware or to where the device would be bricked if removed from there or software.

<comment><USER20> GPS jamming would be more effective. The flight computer relies on it heavily.

<comment><USER21> For older consumer products yes. For new ones or military purpose, nah. Optical flow + vSLAM + IMU is now the primary localisation system. GPS is just there to stay on track for long paths.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Just throwing this out there, but can this issue be tackled with licensing? Similar to a HAM radio operator license. The drones would also have to be registered and identified with the operator license number. I feel like it is likely where this is heading anyway.

<comment><USER23> I think this would take care of a lot of low hanging fruit, but probably not much more. Just like in HAM it is hard to find someone abusing the airwaves unless they are constantly broadcasting (and you can go on a fox hunt. But it is a hunt). So you get the people that are just flying to see the fire and you can ring them up or knock on their door.

The real problem though is that this doesn't fix the major concerns with drone DOS attacks. It is not hard to set up a repeater to control the drone (adding an extra level of difficulty to your fox hunt) or by just programming the drone to take certain actions (even basic AI can do some disastrous things). That seems, to me, to be more what the FAA is after and why more effort is being put in to take down drones instead of tracking the operators. This also has the effect of stopping the DOS attack immediately instead of just fining the person later. This being much more important considering that peoples' lives are at risk.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Would it be possible to triangulate the remote? Maybe even from the helicopter?

<comment><USER25> In theory it's possible. But accurate triangulation requires multiple passes with specialized equipment not carried on firefighting aircraft.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> it seems like the only realistic solution to these asshats is to mount jammers on all the police and fire aircraft. You could tax drone sales to pay for it.

</comment><comment><USER27> morons

</comment><comment><USER28> In the case of continued deadlock, the water-dropping helicopters will have to become unmanned. (which may even make sense on its own given lowered risk to human pilot)

there may even be a load of upshots: the tyranny of the helicopter equation, mass deployment of firefighting drones from other regions not currently facing fires (without needing to temporarily house pilots from far away), ...

there will always be a trade-off between risk to the firefighter and potential reward for risky moves. with unmanned vehicles the fire might be more effectively fought without needing to take into account the loss of pilots, thus allowing more effective fire fighting moves to be taken.

<comment><USER29> What type of risky maneuvers are you imagining are required to drop some water on a fire? And how many $30-100 million dollar planes would you throw away to do it?

It's risky enough as it is, I doubt anyone wants to increase that risk.. and it seems to me they're perfectly capable of fighting fires without the multiple $100m losses you think might be "effective". It isn't like these fire depts have that kind of money to throw away.

And they would still want to clear unauthorized drones from the area... It would be a big loss if one of these crashed because of someones hobby drone. And unpiloted or not, a plane that big and heavy won't be capable of moving out of the way of a small drone that gets in its way.

<comment><USER30> Where are you seeing $30-100 million dollars? The largest firefighting plane in operation today cost [about $10 million]([https://www.outsideonline.com/2079591/can-10-million- firefig...](https://www.outsideonline.com/2079591/can-10-million-firefighting- machine-actually-stop-fires)) to purchase and outfit.

<comment><USER29> That's an old converted plane. It was a passenger plane, then a cargo plane, then sat on a lot for a couple of years.. so they got it cheap.

A new CL-415 is $35m: [https://www.rand.org/blog/2013/12/investing-in- firefighting....](https://www.rand.org/blog/2013/12/investing-in- firefighting.html) And that's not a particularly large plane.

It does look like a lot of water bombers are old converted planes.. so you're probably closer to the correct number than the number I posted.

I don't think this changes my point though.. they're still expensive planes.

<comment><AUTHOR> $100m lol. Don't think these cost as much as a fighter jet.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> > While the unmanned aerial vehicles are small, drones can wreak incredible > havoc. A collision with a wing, engine or any part of a larger aircraft can > cause severe damage.

How so? Which part of a helicopter is so sensitive to the impact of a drone? They are not fast and they are not heavy.

> "A bird collision with a plane can cause a plane to go down," said Jessica > Gardetto, a spokesperson for the National Interagency Fire Center. "These > are hard plastic items."

Different scenario. Planes crash into birds with a huge speed, and they can get into the turbines, which obviously can damage them.

<comment><USER32> This is seriously your argument? Alright, hold my red bull, it's math time.

Let's assume they're using a Boeing Vertol 234, a civilian model of the Chinook commonly used for firefighting. They're double rotor, and as such the rotors are slower than most single rotor helicopters, at around 225 RPM [1] at full throttle.

The rotors on a chinook are 60ft in diameter [2]. This means that the edge of the blade is traveling about 188.5 ft per revolution. At 225 RPM, that's 706.8 feet per second, or ~481 miles per hour, on par with a commercial aircraft at cruising speed.

So yeah, smacking a drone into a relatively thin and lightweight rotor blade at over 400 miles an hour may cause a wee bit of damage.

[1] [http://www.chinook- helicopter.com/standards/areas/blade.html](http://www.chinook- helicopter.com/standards/areas/blade.html) [2] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_CH-47_Chinook#Specifica...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_CH-47_Chinook#Specifications_\(CH-47F\))

<comment><USER31> Just to be clear, I think the people flying drones are assholes. I'm not saying "don't make a such a big deal out of it". I'm just wondering what the actual danger is. Are the blades really that sensitive? I'd assume they would easily shred a drone to pieces and not be harmed in the process, because they already need to be quite tough to not tear apart under the centrifugal force during normal operation. But I have no idea, thats just my intuition.

<comment><USER33> The issue is a drone, or debris from a drone, getting sucked into the engine intake. This debris can effectively turn the engine into a large amount of shrapnel, crippling the aircraft and its mission.

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

<comment><USER31> First good reply, no hand-waving, with real proof, thanks. Theres an actual picture of the possible damage a small bolt can cause on a helicopter turbine.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Make Things Now - Pragmatic FP with Haskell by Don Stewart - <AUTHOR> https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://code.haskell.org/~dons/talks/padl-keynote-2012-01-24.pdf

<comment><USER2> Previous submission by dons: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3512495></comment>


The AppleCare story - <AUTHOR> http://gnufied.org/2011/08/30/the-applecare-story/

<comment><USER2> Apple - the only company where angry, disgruntled customers who are waiting for their equipment to be repaired simply purchase another machine.

</comment><comment><USER3> I bought a laptop last saturday with a failing hard-drive too. Brought it back to the shop and got a new one on monday.

Why is this kind of story deemed interesting?</comment>


Climate Grief [video] - <AUTHOR> https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CqCx9xU_-Fw <comment><USER2> Revelation 7:16 references scortching heat Revelation 11:18 "The nations were angry, and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small— and for destroying those who destroy the earth."

So it is like the video says, an apocalypse

<comment><AUTHOR> My aunt is in a cult (was) that believed that the USA will perish because she worships a guy called William M. Branham. She has photos of him in her small apartment when i visited her. I don't talk to my family because of this</comment></comment>


Winklevoss twins end legal row with Facebook - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13886534

<comment><USER2> Their reputation has been tarnished. Yes, they got some money out of it, but it's not like they were exactly poor to begin with. I'm not sure they exit the ordeal victorious.

<comment><USER3> They live in a world where Mark was just an employee that stole their idea and started another company. If only he stayed on as their employee they would own facebook. They don't understand that you can't have it both ways. You can't have a badass employee that understands your business and gets a lot done, and at the same time expect that employee to happily do most of the work while you supervise and make the profits. If Mark was the kind of person who just wanted to code and get a paycheck he wouldn't have even been doing a side project. He would have got decent grades at harvard and then easily got a 100k+ coding job at a big company working 30 hours a week

<comment><USER4> No, what happened was they hired a tech person to implement their idea and that person betrayed them. It's not that he just copied their idea for his own project. Personally I'm not a believer in non-compete clauses. What he _actually_ did was to slow down their own works so his would release first. Now _that_ is dirty and immoral. I can't believe all the startup hopefuls on this site would root for someone who behaves like that. Zuckerberg is the anti-role model for what we should all aspire to.

<comment><USER3> Mark is NOT a role model. Millions of people get duped into sharing information they think will remain private every day. He has screwed over a lot of people in the process.

'Idea people' that hire 'tech people' don't get it. Lots of people have ideas for companies. The twins were not the first people to think of creating a friendster for colleges. They don't get to own 50% of another company because their company was delayed by a few months.

<comment><USER4> >They don't get to own 50% of another company because their company was delayed by a few months.

I think they should get Mark's shares. It's not that their company was delayed a few months, it's that the founder of another company came in and sabotaged their company long enough to gain critical mass. In fact, I'm surprised what Mark's did isn't illegal.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> If I were the judge I would have reversed prior judgements (<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2555569>). I'd never do business with either of those guys.

<comment><USER4> Either of those guys? Do you mean the twins or do you mean "either of those parties"?

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Looks like they extracted their pound of flesh.</comment>


Engineers: Right Wing Terror; Humanities: Left Wing Terror? - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/magazine/12FOB-IdeaLab-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&pagewanted=print

<comment><USER2> A point I didn't see: it's probably a lot easier to get funding to come to the US to study engineering.</comment>