Ask HN: Which issue tracker / code hosting for an Open Source project? - <AUTHOR> There are tons of options available. Integrated ones (GitHub, GitLab, Launchpad,...) and specific ones (Gerrit, Monorail, RedMine,...).<p>We would like to make it as easy as possible for potential new contributors to jump in. Which option would you recommend? <comment><USER2> If you want to maximize for network effects, it's GitHub. I'm not keen on GitHub issues, and the lack of a mailing list is disappointing as well (which would funnel _actual_ social collaboration), but in terms of popularity is still your best bet.

By experience, GitLab is not worse and the performance and UI is ok despite the critiques here in HN. I do not find it significantly better to justify the switch though. Issues are similarly watered down, and there's no option for a mailing list.

SourceForce's UI is bad, their reputation is tainted, but the functionality is all there.

I'm unsure about launchpad. Their project page is confusing for newcomers, but their issue management is much better than github/gitlab.

I never contributed to bitbucket enough to comment, and do not host any project there.

<comment><USER3> For ppl looking for a better project and issue management with strong SCM capabilities, they can look at Tuleap[1].

[1] [https://www.tuleap.org/features](https://www.tuleap.org/features)

Disclaimer: developer speaking.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> GitHub for sure.</comment>


U.S. debt is losing its appeal in China - <AUTHOR> http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/07/business/yuan.php <comment><USER2> "The second trend is that the combination of a housing bust and a two-thirds fall in the mainland Chinese stock markets over the past year has resulted in moves by many overseas investors - and even some Chinese - to get money quietly out of the country. They are doing so despite China's fairly stringent currency controls, prompting the director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Hu Xiaolian, to warn in a statement Tuesday of 'abnormal' capital flows across China's borders; she provided no statistics."

There is interesting news throughout that article about pressures on China's economy.</comment>


Intel Reports Second-Quarter 2020 Financial Results [pdf] - <AUTHOR> https://s21.q4cdn.com/600692695/files/doc_financials/2020/q2/Q2-2020_Earnings-Release.pdf <comment><USER2> [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23932082](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23932082)

</comment><comment><USER3> Tim Cook and co have got to be cracking open a nice whiskey. I'd call their move prescient, but then I'm only mildly surprised intel is now on track to miss yet another target.

How long has it been since they promised a 7nm CPU?

Does anyone have a good podcast, blogpost, book, article, or other source to do an in depth analysis of where, exactly, intel just lost the plot?

<comment><USER4> i am, uh, permitting myself a small smile for a stake in TSMC i picked up mid- WWDC.

It's not even table stakes by real money standards but it's still fine by me.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Down 10.25% after hours.</comment>


"This is a Poorly Written Article with a Lousy Premise" - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/better-humans/1df69b161f93

<comment><USER2> "...and that's why it's on medium.com"</comment>


Lenovo: Companies working in China may have to install local backdoors - <AUTHOR> https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3062910/lenovo-companies-working-in-china-may-have-to-install-local-backdoors <comment><USER2> Purism is working with coreboot to provide laptops where you can verify the integrity of firmware on your device, within the limits of Intel CPUs.

[https://www.tomshardware.com/news/purism-heads-rootkit- tampe...](https://www.tomshardware.com/news/purism-heads-rootkit-tampering- protection,34128.html)

 _" Purism announced that, after almost a year of testing, it was able to successfully integrate the Heads firmware into its TPM-enabled and Coreboot- running Librem laptops. The open source firmware, which checks if someone has tampered with the laptops, allows users to freely inspect and customize the code. Purism also recently announced that all of its new Librem 13 and 15 laptops now include a TPM by default, so they all come with the Heads firmware by default, too._"

Previously: Google on "Replacing exploit-ridden firmware with a Linux kernel", [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15579592](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15579592)

<comment><USER3> Intel microcode updates are encrypted and signed.

<comment><USER2> Yes, this is about open-source firmware vs OEM (e.g. Lenovo) closed-source firmware.

<comment><USER4> WAT?

<comment><USER2> Open-source firmware: [https://coreboot.org](https://coreboot.org)

Purism/coreboot: [https://puri.sm/posts/category/firmware/](https://puri.sm/posts/category/firmware/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> > Does Lenovo put backdoors in if the Chinese government asks?

> "If they want backdoors globally? We don't provide them. If they want a > backdoor in China, let's just say that every multinational in China does the > same thing.

Even though not a direct answer, close enough. One could only hope to get a similar statement from Apple wrt iCloud so we aren't left with assumptions about lack of privacy.

<comment><USER6> iCloud in China has been hosted by a local licencee for a while. People who care about privacy are at least aware that the backend is no longer secure.

While we are on the topic, Windows 10 binary for Chinese government contracts are compiled by a third party company based in China so certain features could be added/removed at code level without directly giving away the source code. It may only be a matter of time before this practice permeates into retail and OEM markets.

<comment><USER7> How do I, as a US citizen, know that Apple isn't replicating my data to this Chinese datacenter?

I know you will say "you have to trust them", but therein lies the problem. There is no way for consumers to verify anything about their data.

<comment><USER8> Exactly why I simply cannot trust their supposed 'commitment to privacy'. How could you take it seriously when they are willing to play ball with this clear human rights issue? It's madness.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> This is gravely concerning to me.

Privacy is a fundamental human right, and it's needed to fight unjust laws and practice civil disobedience in a safe and comfortable way.

If we had today's surveillance capabilities in the 70's, it would have been impossible for the LGBTQ community to achieve the societal acceptance they now have!

We need a fully open-source hardware ecosystem (with downloadable component blueprints, 3D-printing machines and local co-ops or gumtree-like marketplaces for obtaining free hardware), to bring much-needed democratisation to our society like the Internet did at the software / information access level.

We need a Linux of hardware.

<comment><USER10> Please support librecores. It's a small start. I think one thing we are missing is a Stallman of hardware. Some who is loud, willing to take a stand, and who has enough technical chops to back it all up.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> > "Likewise, if there are countries that want to have access, and there are > more countries than just China, you provide what they're asking."

Seems that it's kind of obvious and infuriating at the same time: companies that sell physical goods don't have much choice, they must meet country regulations for each country they want to sell.

<comment><USER3> Companies that don't sell physical goods don't have much choice too.

> A prototype search engine that Google is designing to meet the scrutiny of > Chinese officials links users' phone numbers to the searches they perform

> This report adds to earlier news, also broken by The Intercept about the > search engine, codenamed "Dragonfly," which eliminates from results a number > of terms and topics, like freedom and democracy.

[http://fortune.com/2018/09/14/google-china-search-engine- lin...](http://fortune.com/2018/09/14/google-china-search-engine-links-phone- numbers/)

<comment><USER12> I think they have plenty of choice. They can say "no", tell these regressive regimes to go to hell, and simply not manufacture/sell their product there, where-ever "there" may be.

<comment><USER13> Do note, that based on those quotes it is not clear that backdoors requested by the US gov are not installed in the US. He just said they don't install any of them globally.

<comment><USER14> You're going to be spied on one way or another. I guess it's a matter of picking the side you want to make life easier for. The one you trust more with your data :).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I miss the early 90s and 2000s when governments were still struggling to understand what the internet was, rather than trying to control it.

<comment><USER16> Did that time ever really exist?

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

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

I also remember writing some (naive) crypto tools as a kid and I had to report it to permit re-export from the US.

Also, the DMCA is from the nineties:

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

<comment><USER17> The ban on the export of cryptography strikes me as a great example of the US Government misunderstanding technology - I don't see how it's remotely possible for a ban on exporting ideas to affect bad actors in any way.

<comment><USER18> This is an example of you misunderstanding the US Government's motives for labeling crypto as a non-exportable weapon. ;)

If they had been able to keep it up, they would have. Unfortunately for them, practicality won over here once it began to threaten corporate profits.

<comment><USER19> And this is an example of a meta-misunderstanding that the motives for labeling crypto as non-exportable with clamorous pleas for backdoors to get the public frightened and then finally reassuringly concede to overwhelming defeat with the eventuality of the practical vision held by academia, industry, and especially prescient revolutionary anarchist-libertarians for ironclad strength of a ubiquitous crypto primitive monoculture praised for its open standards detailing specifically its applicability for hierarchical control, designed by a completely unbiased select group of security researchers whose proposals are judged to consensus, tweaked to optimal security parameters for the benefit of all with lovingly chosen constants that couldn't possibly be related to undisclosed attacks the previous standards that were replaced suffered from requiring update once a few undesirables got wind, who rightly espouse a fundamental belief in the professional exclusivity of implementation and analysis while making sure to mentor the next generation in extensive confidence with complexity conjectures based on buried assumptions, gently redirecting their pupils towards the future away from the glaring history of churned systems, compromised research, and perverse financial/legal/social incentives of keeping the ball rolling gently, are not just two sides of the same coin.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> This is not unique to China. New Zealand has the TICSA requirement that network operators must provide intercept capabilities to security agencies, and all network operator designs must be approved by security agencies before deployment.

I would imagine other five eyes countries have or soon will have similar requirements.

<comment><USER21> Wasn't there this announcement recently that the Five Eyes was "asking" vendors to provide backdoors voluntarily, or else?

And all the governments engaging in this kind of behavior are at the same time giving each other excuses, "because every one else is doing it, too". So if China does this, you can be sure other countries will point to China's example and require their own backdoors. Let's just hope all those backdoors are mutually incompatible.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Maybe this will finally make Apple rethink its manufacturing.

It can either be the bastion of freedom in consumer electronics, as it likes to brag, or not. Time to decide.

<comment><USER23> It doesn't seem this would mske a diff: exports outside of China would not be affected (indifferent) imports into China would still require this regardless of mfg origin.

Their only option is to not sell in that market —which seems highly unlikely.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> And apparently also confirmed that they've done it for other countries too, without providing any names.

<comment><USER25> Easier to make a list of countries that don't want backdoors. It's for the children you know, to stop those pesky evildoers.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> Eventually you just won't be able to buy a trustworthy computer.

<comment><USER3> Eventually?

<comment><USER27> My hope is that eventually we would be able to buy a trustworthy computer.

<comment><USER3> To print all the chips on your own mini-fab - maybe. Eventually.

<comment><USER28> But your mini-fab might be backdoored and create chips with backdoors.

<comment><USER3> That's harder thing to do on every iteration down to the first principles. So in theory you maybe could do the hammer, which is made so as to specifically clog nails with a deviation of 5.2 degrees to the left, which leads to the light bulbs distortions in the chip designer room which eventually leads to particular backdoor in the chip he designed - but this is really hard.

<comment><USER29> Isn't this just the physical manifestation of "Trusting Trust" \- the seminal paper on backdooring compilers?

It might be difficult, but who really inspects their own prints at a 100-micron resolution?

[https://www.archive.ece.cmu.edu/~ganger/712.fall02/papers/p7...](https://www.archive.ece.cmu.edu/~ganger/712.fall02/papers/p761-thompson.pdf) \- there's plenty of HN discussions to be found too.

<comment><USER30> The example in Trusting Trust was a very specific case: he modified the C compiler to replace a known bit of code in the login program. Along those same lines, you could possibly set up your minifab such that it inserts a backdoor into a particular RISC-V implementation. However, if I sat down and made my own chip, how would the fab figure out how to insert a backdoor? If you have code which can analyze a processor layout and seamlessly insert a backdoor, please come forward and collect your Turing Award.

<comment><USER31> "made my own chip"

You are aware that making a chip with any reasonable processing power either requires using existing designs, or teams of hundreds of people for several years, yes?

You're back to trusting trust. Or using toy computers.

<comment><USER3> In the traditional world of raw Verilog, gate-level tuning, verification systems with millions of lines of code and all that, that's true. By the way, those hundreds of people will need a bunch of million dollar tools, hardware and software. And a lawyers dealing with the license and patents, if you are going to sell your chips - and of course you are going to sell your chips in traditional hardware world, except you are DoD or NASA.

But maybe the hardware world is not have to be this way and this way only.

> No part of Kami need be trusted beside the formalization of low-level > (Verilog-style) circuit descriptions; all other aspects have end-to-end > correctness proofs checked by Coq. Hardware designs are broken into > separately verified modules, reasoned about with a novel take on labeled > transition systems. Furthermore, Coq provides a natural and expressive > platform for metaprogramming, or building verified circuit generators, as > for a memory caching system autogenerated for a particular shape of cache > hierarchy, or a CPU generated given a number of concurrent cores as input.

> We have been developing a candidate official formal specification for > RISC-V, which stands a good shot at being ratified soon as such by the > RISC-V Foundation. The spec now includes virtual memory and is able to pass > all the official RISC-V machine-code tests that aren't marked as specific to > particular extensions. We should be able to boot Linux on the specification > soon, running as a simulator.

> A verified processor exists providing all that functionality, though we are > still working on debugging the specification, since the current version > isn't quite able to boot an operating system (so the specification must be > out-of-synch with software expectations somehow).

[https://deepspec.org/entry/Project/Kami](https://deepspec.org/entry/Project/Kami)

<comment><USER31> You still extend trust - in this case to the RISC-V foundation. (We're not even scratching the surface on the fact that the Coq proofs do not, IIUC, cover side channels)

At some point, you have to trust somebody - "build from first principles" is really only available for extremely well-funded players.

Also: "the specification must be out-of-synch with software expectations somehow". I see the hardware world hasn't changed at all :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> 08-15 Interesting choice of language there:

" _we_ don't put in backdoors [...] _we_ follow the ethics"

but then

"if there are countries that want to have access [...] _you_ provide what they're asking"

No, Mr. YY, it's _you_ who's providing what "they" are asking, and that makes _you_ evil, not me. ("Them" too, naturally.)

</comment><comment><USER32> I'm sure they have plenty of examples to go by, all they need to do is consult Yahoo, Google or any of the telecoms for good strategies.

I guess on the plus side at least we know now that it is happening despite the lies the Federal government told us. I worry that as bad as it is for whistle blowers in the US what chance does China have?

<comment><USER33> Exactly. HN is great at armchair-quarterbacking the PRC but is too busy fawning over US tech corps to see the parallels.

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> > "Likewise, if there are countries that want to have access, and there are > more countries than just China, you provide what they're asking."

So..the US as well? The UK? I wonder who else is "asking".

</comment><comment><USER35> They are just stealing the concept from US (lawful intercept/CALEA)..

</comment><comment><USER36> May?

It's just now getting official.

</comment><comment><USER33> Meanwhile in the US we also have a long history of monitoring internet traffic, installing backdoors and allowing private third-parties to filter what we see online.

Where do we get off critiquing the PRC? We should clean our own house first.

<comment><USER37> Last I checked, in the EU or the USA you don't disappear in the middle of the night never to be seen again because you are:

-follower of different religion

-saying the word "democracy"

-critisizing a politician/the government

so yes, first things first.

<comment><USER38> Really, does HN deserve that kind of idiotic post?

You can walk around China an say "democracy" all day. You think they don't report on eg elections in the US on TV there? People in China complain about the government and laws all day.

There is a lot wrong with China that they deserve to be called out for, but what's your goal with a post like that? Show the world that you don't have a clue about anything besides tech? It boggles my mind how many people happily buy any FUD that helps them painting a simple black and white image of the world just so they can feel good about their own country.

<comment><USER39> True. It would be a more accurate post if it listed "having a watch set to the wrong time zone" instead (mentioned in the HRW report).

It is unfortunate that there is a lot of misinformation about China out there. Winnie the Pooh isn't banned. The social credit system apparently isn't like how it's commonly reported in the West. But I also chafe at the suggestion that China is little worse than the US on these points. There are few countries on earth that have more control over their population and shape the way they think than China.

[https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/09/09/eradicating- ideologica...](https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/09/09/eradicating-ideological- viruses/chinas-campaign-repression-against-xinjiangs)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER40> Are they telling me other companies in the West are not doing this and only Lenovo in China does it? I would find that hard to believe. You see, the reality is once your opponent has made the move first in an attempt to gain a competitive advantage, no matter how unethical that move is, you are forced to do the same or even more. If not you'll be quickly left so far behind and won't ever have the chance to come back in the race. Despite whatever anyone has told you, that's how the real world works. Our companies may not readily admit what they're doing but in reality they have little choices. It's similar to countries that don't possess nuclear weapons are always second class in the world's power order. The time limit to join first class was gone a long time ago and it will never come back.</comment>


Dan - <AUTHOR> http://blog.dislocatedday.com/dan-760

<comment><USER3> The timing of this is eerily appropriate for me. Some of you may be aware that Andrew Lange, a professor of physics at Caltech, committed suicide last week. (His NY Times obituary is here: <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/science/space/28lange.html>) I taught Physics 1 with Andrew for three years when I was just starting grad school, and knew him not only as a brilliant scientist and excellent teacher but also as an incredibly warm, supportive, and positive person. I would never, in a million years, have guessed that he would someday take his own life.

I was nowhere near as close to Andrew as Tom was to Dan, but for the first time I understand, in a small way, the pain and confusion Tom must have endured (and, in diminished form, must still be enduring). Thank you, Tom, for sharing Dan with us.

<comment><USER4> I also lost my friend Sam Roweis: <http://samroweis1972-2010.blogspot.com/>

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> _In November, recovery was a mere hope; now, it is a growing reality._

I'm glad to hear it. Welcome back.

<comment><USER5> Thanks, bud; I'm thrilled to be back!

<comment><USER6> Over the past few months there have been a couple of times I wanted to post something in remembrance but I never really knew quite what to say or how to say it. I never knew Dan. In fact, when he died in September and the HN colors changed for a weekend, I still didn't know who he was. At the time, though, I was knee-deep in learning Django and I had actually come across his blog a number of times - always helpful! In reading through the threads at the time, I felt like I sort of got to know him.

I think sometimes that the internet is always moving forward and despite the huge outpouring of support from this community, it can feel like you're the only one who remembers after a couple of weeks.

My point is this: despite never knowing Dan, I can tell from what you've written, what this community had to say about him, and from his writing, that he was a great founder, a great friend, and a great guy. And I want you to know that you are not the only one poorer for the loss, that even a random guy on the internet that you don't even know remembers and appreciates him.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> For those not aware of the connection, Dan was known and respected around here as fallentimes - <http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=fallentimes>

</comment><comment><USER8> Terrific, heart-felt piece -- I hope writing and publishing it was therapeutic and helpful on the road to recovery. That road has no end, but the further you get, the closer you are to 'normalcy'.

Knowing how much respect and admiration I had for Dan from the dozen or so interactions I had with him, I can't imagine the impact he had on a life-long friend. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I doubt I'll ever encounter anyone as genuine and charismatic as Dan.

Best of luck to you Tom. Though we've never spoken, Dan held you in the highest regard. My thoughts continue to be with you and everyone else Dan left behind.

</comment><comment><USER9> Sorry to hear that. It's such a tragedy when someone close to you dies and worse when they take their own life.

I lost someone dear to me to suicide 1 month ago today, it's difficult to come to grips with just how final death really is and all the things you could or would have done if you'd had known.

He's at peace now, remember that as you move forward.

</comment><comment><USER10> Take care of your friends and loved ones, everyone. Mental illness takes on all forms, and plagues _so_ many people without ever showing to the outside world.

<comment><USER11> It's also worth remembering that people sometimes commit suicide without suffering from any mental illness at all. These people need help too.

<comment><USER12> wouldn't you have to conclude that one who makes such a choice is in some way mentally ill? Excepting terminal illness, I can't see how it makes sense otherwise.

Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm legitimately curious. I have friends who struggle with depression, some of whom clearly have contemplated this terrible 'solution'.

<comment><USER13> Why the scare quotes? It's a bona fide solution. When you kill yourself, the problem goes away. Also, why terrible? It may be terrible for the friends and family, but the person committing suicide certainly has nothing to lose by it. A loss is only a loss if you perceive it as such. You won't perceive anything after you die.

Theory: we'd all be better off if suicide were socially acceptable. The people who commit suicide "out of blue" probably consider talking to someone about it, but they know it will be seen as a cry for help, and met with banal pleas to not do it. Maybe they'd like to have a rational conversation instead, one where their right of choice would be respected. Inability to have such a conversation leads to alienation, which makes them more likely to kill themselves.

<comment><USER14> "Maybe they'd like to have a rational conversation instead, one where their right of choice would be respected. Inability to have such a conversation leads to alienation, which makes them more likely to kill themselves."

This is the part that is important. The only time you get to have this conversation is if you fail and are assigned a psychiatrist. Even then no one else will talk to you about it as they assume that it was just something you were going through and should have got over it by now.

If you raise the topic people panic and assume the worst. So despite the fact that I can now, after nearly 40 years of this, monitor my own state of mind and actually see that I am getting depressed I still can't talk to anyone when I feel it coming on.

I have had depression since I was a teenager, it comes and goes, but each time it is a little harder to cope with, or maybe I'm just getting older. If it was some other physical ailment then I could talk about it, if I was bereaved I could talk about it. But as it's a mental health issue and I appear to be otherwise fine, I have no one I can talk to. But I'm damn good at covering it up! Simply because people don't even want to talk about the weather with someone who is depressed, so to have any conversation at all you have to lock it away.

It sucks not to be able to talk.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Thanks for sharing and glad to hear you're dealing better with your loss. It actually makes me want to work on a loss I haven't been able to deal with after many years.

 _I'll keep treating life as the game it is_

And I find that we should all remember this. We easily get caught up in whatever we're doing, discussing why the iPad is great or a disaster, while, maybe, we should just relax a bit and have people over this week-end…

</comment><comment><USER16> I lost my sister in late September 2008. Your first posting about Dan hit me on the anniversary of her death.

It hurts. And it will for a long time.

<comment><USER17> It must hurt terribly. I'm really sorry.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> A CEO friend of mine in the local tech industry took his own life the day before Dan in Sept.I had never talked to Dan, but enjoyed his posts on Hacker News. I had talked to my friend at length a few days before he died. I had no idea he was depressed. I read your posts and felt - what was going on? Was this some kind of psychic fallout of the economic depression? Or perhaps just circumstance. It made me slow down, focus on my loved ones. At the funeral, the priest said "Look at the hearse outside. It won't be followed by an armored truck and a UHaul, it will be followed by all of you (2000 of us)." That comment echoed in my head then, and it still does today. Thank you for your considerate writing and comforting thoughts.

</comment><comment><USER19> This is beautiful man. I was really sad when I came home after talking to you about this last weekend - I hadn't known. But reading this brought a different kind of tears to my eyes. You're an inspiration.

<comment><USER5> I'm so glad it touched you and that you got something out of it; that's the best compliment my inner writer can receive :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Good luck! Reading this, I feel hopeful and sad for you, but mostly envy at your having had such a wonderful friend in your life. I'm not sure I've had many (any?) friends of that caliber.

</comment><comment><USER21> My good friend Vijay just committed suicide in late December. It's still so fresh. He was a student here, one of the smartest at our ACM student chapter at UIUC.

It seems impossible to do anything sufficient to honor or remember him. I feel for you.

</comment><comment><USER22> I read about this when it happened, and this post was extremely eloquent and thoughtful.

Tom, I'd be happy to join you in whipping some Korean butt come Starcraft 2 launch. Even if you don't take my offer up, know that I'm going to think of Dan when I run my first Zerg rush.

Thank you for sharing this post.

</comment><comment><USER23> The Jack Kerouac quote is so fitting for the piece. Very touching and heartfelt story.

I'm happy to hear you've made peace with this experience and the ghost of your friend.

<comment><USER5> I love that quote; the more I read it the more I'm touched by it. For the record, my girlfriend recommended it for inclusion.

<comment><USER24> How is Dans' family doing?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> _Even if I can't bring him back or comprehend why he left, I can take solace in keeping his spirit alive._

which you do beautifully by inspiring the rest of us with...

 _Brick walls were mere speed bumps to him._

Thank you, Tom. Best wishes on your continuing recovery.

</comment><comment><USER26> Reading this outpouring of sentiment about how awesome a person Dan was makes me sad, mostly because I wonder whether he knew how people felt about him when he was alive.

Receiving heartfelt appreciation from someone you know or love is phenomenally uplifting.

"If you admire somebody, you should go head and tell em' / People never get the flowers, while they can still smell em'." - <USER2>

I'm going to go call some loved ones now and tell them how important they are to me.

</comment><comment><USER27> Who is Dan and where can I learn more about him?

<comment><USER28> * [http://ticketstumbler.com/blogs/new-stuff/2009/10/03/a-terri...](http://ticketstumbler.com/blogs/new-stuff/2009/10/03/a-terrible-tragedy/)

* <http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=fallentimes>

* <http://ycombinator.com/dan.html>

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> This seems like an appropriate place to post this: Another YCombinator founder, Florian Hufsky (Claimspotting, S'08, never launched), committed suicide in December.

</comment><comment><USER30> :(</comment>


Why Some Wars Get More Attention Than Others - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/world/why-some-wars-like-syrias-get-more-attention-than-others-like-yemens.html <comment><USER2> Because of you, NY Times, because of you and your friends. You're literally the creators of attention to stuff, so please explain to us, why you chose to cover one war, and ignore another?

<comment><USER3> Isn't this pretty much _exactly_ what the author is trying to talk about and explain? Note this quote:

> Conflicts gain sustained American attention only when they provide a > compelling story line that appeals to both the public and political actors, > and for reasons beyond the human toll

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> > You know what I've noticed? Nobody panics when things go "according to > plan." Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, > like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown > up, nobody panics, because it's all "part of the plan". But when I say that > one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds!

\- The Joker, _The Dark Knight_

Wars in some backwater country we've never heard of, or in somewhere that we've always thought of as 'one of those bad places that have wars'? That's not news, that's all in the script. Wars in somewhere we care about? Wars in our own back yard? They get attention because they're _not in the script_.

</comment><comment><USER5> Saudi Arabia, Qatar et al. are able to hire high roller lobbyists and spread "wealth" to power brokers in DC. That much attention is given Syria with lot of propaganda on Twitter by PR agencies hired by Saudi et al. These same groups are also spreading "wealth" to suppress news about Yemen.

</comment><comment><USER6> Wikipedia on Yemeni war:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemeni_Civil_War_(2015%E2%80%9...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemeni_Civil_War_\(2015%E2%80%93present\))

There are three major sides in the war:

\- Houthi, basically Shia Muslims

\- Hadi, supported by Saudi Arabia (Sunnis) and the US

\- al-Qaeda, ISIS etc.

"The Houthis have long been accused of being proxies for Iran, since they both follow Shia Islam. (Although the Iranians are Twelve-Imam Shias and the Houthis are Five-Imam Shias.) The United States and Saudi Arabia have alleged that the Houthis receive weapons and training from Iran.[87] The Houthis and Iranian government have denied any affiliation.[88]"

Detailed map:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Yemeni_Civil_War_deta...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Yemeni_Civil_War_detailed_map)

"A coalition led by Saudi Arabia[6] launched military operations by using airstrikes to restore the former Yemeni government and the United States provided intelligence and logistical support for the campaign.[4] According to the UN, from March 2015 to August 2016, over 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen, _including 3,799 civilians._ [58]"

<comment><USER7> So its like Syria. Its not a civil war at all. Its part of the larger regional conflict between the US and its allies and its enemies such as Iran and Russia.

<comment><USER8> It's a civil war just like Syria is civil war.

The larger regional conflict is attached to the regional conflict. The issues Houthis or Syrian Sunni majority had before the war did not come from outside.

<comment><USER6> "a civil war just like Syria is civil war"

Because, as you say, "the issues" "did not come from outside?"

Syria, CNN Dec. 2006:

[http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1571751,00...](http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1571751,00.html)

"The Bush Administration has been quietly nurturing individuals and parties opposed to the Syrian government in an effort to undermine the regime of President Bashar Assad."

The cable of the US ambassador in Syria, December 2006 via Wikileaks:

[https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/06DAMASCUS5399_a.html](https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/06DAMASCUS5399_a.html)

cryoshon quoted CIA director William Casey recently:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12597168](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12597168)

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false."

"said by CIA Director William Casey at an early February 1981 meeting of the newly elected President Reagan with his new cabinet secretaries"

<comment><USER8> Outside forces have been messing with them, but the issues that created the civil war were not created by outside forces.

Assad's family and Alawite minority were ruling Syria and Sunni majority was oppressed. It was just question of time when something happens.

<comment><USER6> Without the weapons and the logistic support provided from the outside, it wouldn't even be a war at all.

It is a proxy war

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

with at least 7 million refugees now.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> No wars "get attention". The media, who makes money by manipulating the masses, puts them on screen and on paper. So the people talk about them. So they get attention. NYTimes should ask himself and its competitors, how they pick the wars they report about.

</comment><comment><USER10> I think it's because American's media. They like viewership. Some stupid war gets coverage than other.

</comment><comment><USER11> _" Search SUBSCRIBELOG INWorld

Why Some Wars (Like Syria's) Get More Attention Than Others (Like Yemen's)

Damage in a house after a Saudi-led airstrike last month in Yemen, whose war has not gotten much attention. MOHAMED AL-SAYAGHI / REUTERS OCTOBER 1, 2016 The Interpreter By AMANDA TAUB It is a truth universally acknowledged by every war correspondent, humanitarian aid worker and Western diplomat: Some wars, like Syria's, receive tremendous public attention, which can translate into pressure for resolution. But many others, like Yemen's still raging but much ignored conflict, do not.

Some of the reasons are obvious; the scale of Syria's war is catastrophic and much worse than Yemen's. But attention is about more than numbers. The conflict in eastern Congo, for instance, killed millions of people and displaced millions more, but received little global attention.

Every country in the world has its own version of that dynamic, but it is uniquely significant in the United States.

The United States is the world's sole remaining superpower, but Americans often seem so inward-looking as to be almost provincial. Foreigners often express wonder that American television news, for instance, spends fewer minutes covering the rest of the world than the rest of the world's news shows spend covering America.

A result is that American attention seems both vitally important and frustratingly elusive.

But when the world asks why America has forgotten Yemen and other conflicts like it, that has the situation backward. The truth is that inattention is the default, not the exception.

Conflicts gain sustained American attention only when they provide a compelling story line that appeals to both the public and political actors, and for reasons beyond the human toll. That often requires some combination of immediate relevance to American interests, resonance with American political debates or cultural issues, and, perhaps most of all, an emotionally engaging frame of clearly identifiable good guys and bad guys.

Most wars — including those in South Sudan, Sri Lanka and, yes, Yemen — do not, and so go ignored. Syria is a rare exception, and for reasons beyond its severity.

The war is now putting United States' interests at risk, including the lives of its citizens, giving Americans a direct stake in it. The Islamic State has murdered American hostages and committed terrorist attacks in the West.

And the war offers a compelling tale of innocent victims and dastardly villains. The Islamic State is a terrorist organization with a penchant for crucifixions and beheadings. President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and his patrons in Iran are hostile to the United States and responsible for terrible atrocities. And now Russia, which is at best America's frenemy, is fighting on their side as well.

The Obama administration's refusal to bomb Syria in 2013, and subsequently to intervene more fully, has also made this a domestic political dispute, giving politicians on both sides an incentive to dig in. This provided an appealing focal point for election-year political debates over Mr. Obama's foreign policy and for how to assign blame for the Middle East's collapse. Those debates have sharpened and sustained domestic attention on Syria, giving both the public and politicians reason to emphasize the war's importance.

But it is rare for so many stars to align.

Yemen's death toll is lower than Syria's, and although Al Qaeda does operate there, Yemen's conflict has not had the kind of impact on American and European interests that Syria's has. There is no obvious good-versus-evil story to tell there: The country is being torn apart by a variety of warring factions on the ground and pummeled from the air by Saudi Arabia, an American ally. There is no camera-ready villain for Americans to root against.

A woman and child after an airstrike in Syria on Friday. AMER ALMOHIBANY / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES The war's narrative is less appealing to American political interests. Yemen's Houthi rebels pose little direct threat that American politicians might rally against. On the other side of the conflict are Saudi airstrikes that are killing civilians and targeting hospitals and aid workers, at times with United States support.

No American politician has much incentive to call attention to this war, which would require either criticizing the United States and an American ally, or else playing up the threat from an obscure Yemeni rebel group. It is little wonder that, when several senators recently tried to push a bill to block arms sales to Saudi Arabia over its conduct in Yemen, they found only a few sponsors and the motion was tabled in a 71-to-27 vote."_

In a democracy, we're all morally culpable for what our government is doing. In this case, the idea that our government is using our tax dollars to arm an ally that is intentionally targeting hospitals and aid workers, is extremely concerning. As the holocaust has shown, pleading ignorance is no defense against such crimes against humanity. I can only wonder what future generations will think about us when they look back on our apathy and implicit acceptance of such abominable behavior.

<comment><USER12> _But when the world asks why America has forgotten Yemen and other conflicts like it, that has the situation backward. The truth is that inattention is the default, not the exception._

It's backward, but for a completely different reason. When has USA "attention" ever helped a war situation? "The world" should be careful what they wish for.

<comment><USER13> \- When has USA "attention" ever helped a war situation?

Depends on what side you are on. Abstractly, I would say WWII was a fairly widespread net benefit, though a strong case could be made for the Korean war and several other more recent conflicts. Though, considering this stuff was before I was born that's tricky.

<comment><USER12> You're right, various situations from the 1950s and before might well qualify. The distance of decades makes it difficult to judge.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> They are obviously not isolated wars, and the reasons they give are transparently fake.

Look at a map. [https://www.google.com/maps/vt/data=RfCSdfNZ0LFPrHSm0ublXdzh...](https://www.google.com/maps/vt/data=RfCSdfNZ0LFPrHSm0ublXdzhdrDFhtmHhN1u-gM,pL0mV_uZko0XFcCb- ZKTC0GGq1s49s2Dg0jpXtX33gfxo1392UgbDiqDvjvkBECr3UUUfJLxgayP51JHoJwLJm5rbmHg818-iwduLHcCsZP7Bo20fZiWabGmkjGbXyH2vwSJLZCuLJCagSq5g57Cl48CokT1bou4CMPobmokWX7px0tJhFB3biDzNbg2piiChLlW4QO3g6YY5Q)

Yemen is a choke point.

Syria is in an extremely strategically important position both in terms of territory and it is an ally to Iran.

Iraq and Afghanistan are on each side of Iran.

Egypt was blocking the Libya invasion. That was a cyber-intelligence coup, not a 'democratic revolution'.

All of these are part of an extended military campaign that goes back decades. Or centuries. Or thousands of years, depending on how you count it.

It is amazing that people don't see the connection between ISIS -- a supposedly Muslim enemy that (currently) somehow all of our enemies conveniently fall under the umbrella of, and the other ones that came before it -- Al Qaeda.. all the way back to the Crusades.

Anyway, I am going to take an image of this comment. If it is deleted or flagged or something, that is how you know that Hacker News is also part of the propaganda party.

<comment><USER14> ISIS is created by Russia to raise prices of oil and natural gas.

<comment><USER15> Then why the US is helping them killing syrian soldiers and bombing bridges?

[http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/10/syria-bombing-us-backs- isis...](http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/10/syria-bombing-us-backs-isis- again.html)

<comment><USER14> Why you think that stopping Russians will help ISIL?

My conversations with Russian agents in Ukraine shows that they are using ISIL and anti-Christian propaganda to control Muslims. I cannot tell in details, of course, because of war with Russia.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


The sky's gone dark: On Kessler Syndrome - <AUTHOR> http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2015/09/the-skys-gone-dark.html <comment><USER2> I'm not read enough to understand exactly how the Kessler Syndrome scenario cstross proposes would interact with GPS, but significantly naval spending by the Superpowers is the big powers is the major effect I can easily see. When you have to protect undersea communication lines for military command and control (assuming the Kessler Syndrome would be a convenient way for hostile nations to launch attacks against other nation's orbital assets), meaning drone warfare becomes untenable outside a direct LOS engagement if undersea lines are not secured.

I also think there would be a major issue with weather satellites and prediction, causing a significant investment to be made in weather radar and alternative weather prediction and monitoring strategies.</comment>


YC, Thiel and Trump – 100 Shades of Gray - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@paulbiggar/100-shades-of-gray-ff2f383082be <comment><USER2> I am so thankful for my employees of our small company:

I'm a very religious Christian man, and I have two employees that are very left of center and another employee that is gay.

That we can work together, learn from each other, and respect each other despite our sincerely held convictions means a lot to me especially during these witch-hunting times.

I hope that I show them the same respect and consideration they have shown me.

</comment><comment><USER3> Some people think that reality (at least political and social reality) can never be pinned down, it's always shrouded in contradictions and fog. There's just way too many factoids slinging around; you'll never be able to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Some people think that at the end of the day, there's so much back and forth in politics and in the mediasphere that it's impossible to tell what's what, or who's on first. Let alone who's right or who's wrong. Like it's all must a matter of... he said, she said.

But this isn't one of those situations.

And in fact sometimes it's really not that hard to make a solid judgement call. It's just a matter of telling from wheat from chaff.

Which in this case -- given the multitude of statements from women on the receiving of his aggressive (and in some cases, likely criminal) behavior; and from his own words on the Billy Bush tape, which by this point everyone at least knows the salient facts of (and most likely has listened to directly, several times, already) -- just isn't that hard.

 _" You can do anything you want. You can grab them by the ..._

</comment><comment><USER4> While it's important to recognize context and nuance, there _are_ actual facts in the world and it serves no one to put "some people believe" in front of them as this piece does in many instances just to appear neutral.

Engaging in that sort of knowledge nihilism makes it impossible to have honest, rational debates because it doesn't allow for participants to agree on even the most basic of facts.

<comment><USER5> I think what the author was trying to get at with 'some people believe' is that most of the 'reasons' people fall back on to support their positions are in fact simply personal opinions. Or opinions reinforced by there social group or social media 'friends'.

Extreme polarisation is one of the results of segregation. The media and now academia with 'safe spaces' are pandering to segregationist impulses. People who are never challenged with opinions that they disagree with are much more likely to believe there opinions are facts. Or even that they simply they do not need to even consider opinions that disagree with there own and never develop the social skills to constructive deal with a diverse world of ideas and opinions.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> A nice (if long-winded) reminder that things aren't black and white. But what is a person supposed to do with a list of complex, nuanced facts? That's why we talk about things, right? To make sense of them? Isn't that's why we invent simple (sometimes overly simple) ideas? Nobody can hold all the complexities of the world in their head at once. Our black and white ideas serve an important purpose, even when they don't describe reality exactly as it is.

</comment><comment><USER7> Political positions are not necessarily opinions. Opinions and preferences are not facts. Pretending they are is either stupid or disingenuous. Where did this attitude originate?</comment>


On why I'm going back to Windows - <AUTHOR> http://vistafromubuntu.blogspot.com/

<comment><USER2> This looks suspiciously like an astro-turfing campaign to me.

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm not sure what astro-turfing is, but I'm pretty sure its not. I don't have a blog, but I figured that I'd share this with you guys anyways. Hence the first post on a new blog.

<comment><USER3> The suspicion comes from the fact that you created a brand new account on hacker news to post a link to a brand new blog, both named after the single post on that blog. All of this just to troll a stale platform flame war (I mean, seriously: "linux won't work with my wireless card" ... that's the best you could come up with?)</comment></comment></comment>


Attention Orange County hackers..I need two co-founders - <AUTHOR>

<comment><AUTHOR> Great hackers know that they can build anything; what they don't know is what they should be building. My problem is the opposite. I know what to build because I have customers who are clamoring for it, but I don't have the right people to build it.

Your skills: Database guru, VB6 tinkerer (not a typo!), browser-to-hardware connectivity hacker, RoR lover.

One co-founder can complement the other, so you don't have to have all the skills.

My background: 10 years in ecommerce at founder/ceo level. Have developed a working app by hiring coders, and even have paying customers, but ran out of money and went back to investment banking. But the entrepreneural bug bites, and bites real bad. Meanwhile, the app continues to run and generate revenue. A month ago, I came across PG's writings and this forum, and now I am convinced that I was doing it wrong - instead of paying unmotivated coders, I should have brought on two hackers as my partners and co-founders.

Ideally, you should be based in Orange County CA where I am, so we can fully develop the core system in the next few months. We will then apply to YC's fall program, so you must be willing to move to the Bay Area.

While I am confident that YC will accept us (PG's Viaweb experience will create tremendous leverage), there are two other routes we can take - <USER2> for Charles River's $100k-$250K program, or completely bootstrap this and not seek any outside capital.

Your equity is fully negotiable. If you are a true hacker, I need you and you need me. This Steve Jobs is seeking two Wozniaks!

Send me your background info to: me.jobs.r.u.woz at gee male dott comm.

<comment><USER3> With VB6 your chance of finding a good hacker diminishes quite a bit. May I inquire why do you need VB? What do you use it for?

<comment><AUTHOR> The user-facing part of the system is currently a VB client app. It's horrendous, but guess what - users love it because it meshes with the rest of their work environment, which is hardware devices connected to their PCs as well as other VB apps. The reason I would like at least one of my co-founders to know VB well is that when migrating this app to a web based equivalent, we want to preserve the essence of what is working. That delicate transplant surgery can be successful only when the team is well versed in web technologies as well as VB.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Sorry, but saying you're a Jobs doesn't make you one. There's more to Steve Jobs than being "non-technical" with "business experience." While he wasn't a programmer, Steve Jobs is a bona fide hacker in the bigger picture.

And comparing most hackers to Woz is like trying to compare professional basketball players with Michael Jordan.

<comment><AUTHOR> chill, bro...it's just a silly metaphor to grab some attention :-)

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> _'... Steve Jobs is seeking two Wozniaks ...'_

I'd say you're out by a factor of two taking into account the _'reality distortion field'_ ~ <http://tinyurl.com/2qznlq>

<comment><AUTHOR> A good one :-)

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I suggest that you start teaching yourself to code while you wait for a wozniak. You need to know your program inside out and the best way is to learn code to assist your programmer to do minor tasks.

<comment><USER7> Leonidas is 100% right. Learn by poking around, google things or read books, thats one way you will be able to guide programmers. Sometimes it so happens that whatever you want may not be done with the tech u r using, so its better you also get technically sound ... think on those lines and advice/guide people to approach things

<comment><USER6> Mukund explained what I was trying to say much better.

Learning the code will allow you to better understand and communicate with your programmer. Besides, if there are minor things like registration problems or design issues, you can do it yourself as opposed to bugging the programmer who is handling the major programming parts. Can you imagine the 'business' co-founder bugging the hell out of the programmer to take ONE word out of a category title while the programmer is trying to go through hundreds of lines to fix a major bug that is much more important than a category title?

I know everyone keeps saying "Wozniak needs a Jobs" and vice versa ...but in 'Wozniak' I bet there was a little 'Jobs' and in "Jobs" there was a little 'Wozniak'. Otherwise, there would be no way in hell they would have gotten along and worked together successfully.

<comment><AUTHOR> Mukund and Leonidas, I have a reasonable understanding of programming; I designed and helped build a significant part of the code. I did not mean to appear as if I have no knowledge of, or desire to, learn code. But the opportunity I am talking about is to complete the transformation of the current app at hyper speed, so that we can fill the need right now, not in 12 months or longer. Surely, if the demand is as great as I am saying, someone will fill the gap very soon.

<comment><USER7> hey dont take it seriously, i was just kidding on the programming part. I was giving what worst could happen. So if you have built and designed things then its better. We dont know what you are so we just assumed you to be like another manager guy

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey, no prob.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> The problem with posts like this is that a lot of hackers here see themselves more like an all coding, all designing Steve Jobs rather than just Wozes who need a Steve.

<comment><USER9> ...but not all of us. There must be a bunch of hackers here who'd rather not deal with people, but feel forced to because, well, who else is going to?

By the way, Steve Jobs is more of a design critic and salesman than designer. It takes different skills to do well at being a novelist vs. a book critic.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> You might get alot greater response with some kind of presentation/video/plan on what you actually want to accomplish.

<comment><AUTHOR> You are right of course; I am somewhat hesitant to provide more details about it here. Judging from the handful of emails I have received, this is a good way to get the word out, and the real discussions can take place offline.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> So YC becoming hot bed of talent search? Good for everyone :D</comment>


I'm 85 and I Learned To Code. You Should Too. - <AUTHOR> http://blog.codehs.com/post/37288742720/im-85-and-i-learned-to-code-you-should-too <comment><USER2> Coding is good for the brain, it keeps you thinking and on your toes. I hope I live long enough to get to 85 and am still coding. This was inspiring, if an 85 year old can learn Javascript maybe I can learn other languages I've been putting off learning because I felt as though they were too hard.

<comment><USER3> No! that's piano playing and not coding

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> In case you're curious about this 85 year old:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucFB9tk8zQc>

</comment><comment><USER5> 10 days left to support CodeHS, by the way:

<http://www.indiegogo.com/csinhs>

</comment><comment><USER6> Fantastic. That flashing, pulsating roulette wheel is wild. ;) I hope I'm (still) coding when I'm 85. Keep going!

</comment><comment><USER7> Seizure warning.

Anyway, very impressive stuff. Too often, people seem to give up on learning new stuff at an older age. Usually around 30.

<comment><USER8> I think when I run a company, instead of targeting only young people (on the assumption that they can learn new stuff faster) I'm going to give a bump to people who are 35+ and are _still_ learning new stuff.

It's the same theory as is behind choosing an attractive older person. You know that the good-looking 35-year-old has started to age and is still taking care of him- or herself; the good-looking 20-year-old could fall apart in a few years once the metabolism slows down.

Everyone's curious at 22. I want the people who had enough of an insubordinate/rebellious streak to protect their creativity and curiosity through their 20s, despite their corporate masters' attempts to destroy it.

<comment><USER9> Why do you think creativity and curiosity require protection through insubordination and rebellion?

<comment><USER10> Because "fitting in" means exactly that - you fit in space that is just big enough to allow you to work and not much else. Creativity and curiosity require wandering around.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> We are making CodeHS to be as accessible as possible. We've had students of all ages, and it would be great to get feedback from everyone.

<comment><USER12> FYI, the "Please support our crowdfunding campaign CS in HS." link from that blog post doesn't work. Just a heads up.

<comment><AUTHOR> whoah, thanks. should be fixed now.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> The comments on the article itself (not here) make me sad. It almost immediately devolves into a language war. Why is it that some people _always_ have to find something to complain about?

I bet a conversation with the author of this article would be very interesting. With the attitude he demonstrated here, he probably has a lot to teach.

<comment><USER14> People have a need to feel superior to other people. I mean, I get it, you're super smart because you're able to critique programming languages. But at the end of the day, this guy was trying to learn a little about coding and did. And that's pretty cool.

People have lost their sense of wonder, and it's been replaced with cynicism and egomania. C'est la vie.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Nice story.

I believe anyone can learn anything, regardless the age.

And I agree with the author, know how to program is a useful knowledge in a world where computers are everywhere. And it also helps to improve the logical thinking. But I'm not among those who think that everybody must to learn programming.

</comment><comment><USER16> The idea that your brain turns to mush at 30 is completely ridiculous anyway. Good for him!

</comment><comment><USER17> Here is the code he wrote (with help of tutors): <http://pastebin.com/93548yF7>

</comment><comment><USER18> I tried a few times, even with colors only, and didn't win once... Now I have to stick to it as a matter of principle :)

</comment><comment><USER19> but... [http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/05/please-dont- learn-t...](http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/05/please-dont-learn-to- code.html)

<comment><USER20> I'm free to do whatever I want. I chose to learn informatics for the fat paycheck mostly. So what? I happened to like programming, nowadays I spend a lot of my free time building stuff for no reason, and have fun doing that. But in the end, if I were rich, I'm not sure I would be doing any of this. I would probably be playing ping pong all day long, or travelling around the world, or investing in space exploration, or learning astrophysics.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> we need to get this guy on the guiness book of world record for becoming the oldest coder!

</comment><comment><USER22> Should I what? Be 85, or learn to code? I so hate people telling me what I should or shouldn't do without even knowing me.</comment>


Front-line programmers default to insecure methods - <AUTHOR> https://boingboing.net/2019/03/27/neither-is-md5.html/ <comment><USER2> > The researchers hired 43 freelance Java programmers through Freelancer.com > and asked them to develop a registration system for an imaginary social > network the researchers claimed to be starting. Half the devs were paid €100 > and half were paid €200 for the job; half of each of the two pay-groups were > given explicit instructions to use secure password storage and half were > left to their own devices.

That sounds like an hourly rate. What did they expect?

<comment><AUTHOR> From the study itself (n.b. the context is a description of a pilot study, not the final study) :

> Fifteen developers made an application for the project. Their compensation > proposals ranged from €55 to €166 and the expected working time ranged from > 1 to 15 days

So best case scenario these are freelancers with a day rate of €11 (???) - €166. Assuming these are workers in countries with low costs of living... These are still ridiculously low sums. But, these are people who make their living writing software. Ergo, lots of software actually gets written by people like this. Easy to forget that when working with 'proper' developers.</comment></comment>


Humor HN: Site footer: Best viewed with Open Eyes :) - <AUTHOR>

Something suddenly reminded of what I had seen displayed in a (random) site footer long ago.
It said: Best viewed with open eyes
The subtle humour - the abrupt violation of expectation - hit me so hard, I remember staying amused by it for many days.
What is the funniest thing you have found/put on a web site? Please share your treasures. <comment><USER2> Comment in a CSS file: "If you're reading this, you probably need to get laid"

<comment><AUTHOR> ROTFL - LMAO ;-))

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> In the JavaScript file for jQTouch the following comment gave me a good laugh: // Private touch functions (TODO: insert dirty joke)

There's also an array of items to be put in the head of an HTML page:

if (hairextensions) $head.append(hairextensions);

</comment><comment><USER4> #define TRUE FALSE //Happy debugging suckers

<http://stackoverflow.com/questions/184618?tab=votes#tab-top></comment>


Popcorn Computer's Pocket P.C. Open Sourced - <AUTHOR> https://blog.popcorncomputer.com/2020/08/05/pocket-p-c-open-sourced/ <comment><USER2> > Our goal is to ensure that we get all aspects of our products mainlined so > that custom kernels will not be required.

I love these kinds of projects, but after being burned by the PocketCHIP, who also said this but never made it there, this is isn't somewhere I want to go again.

<comment><USER3> Yeah, ditto. Why can't mainline Linux support come first? Then they could sell a working product.

Crazy, I know. Investing in difficult R&D problems to produce a quality product is not a good business model. It's so much easier to churn out a working devkit and ask for pull requests.

Sorry for the snark and pessimism, but that's what happens when you keep getting burned. This statement does _not_ inspire confidence:

>Finally, to ensure that Pocket P.C. has great software support out of the box, we have requested embedded development help from the community.

Why is software always an afterthought with these projects? Especially a project like this, which has clearly seen an enormous amount of effort put into the hardware design.

<comment><USER4> The only example I have is the LibreComputer S905X based board - it took _years_ of work with a small team to get the kernel changes upstreamed. Hell, look at the Raspberry Pi - I think mainline support is pretty recent.

<comment><USER5> This project shows a lot of promise.

> TRYING TO BUILD THE ULTIMATE RASPBERRY PI COMPUTER (ZERO TERMINAL V3)

[https://n-o-d-e.net/zeroterminal3.html](https://n-o- d-e.net/zeroterminal3.html)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiJqUWfR90I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiJqUWfR90I)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Looking at the circuit board is reminding me if a thought experiment I entertain from time to time: we keep trying to make the single purpose keyboard smaller so we have room for everything else in a compact device.

What if we didn't? Instead of removing the volume, can we put something in it? Take this one for instance. How many layers does a keyboard trace need? 2? 3? How many things can you stuff on the backside of the keyboard? Between? Under?

</comment><comment><USER7> What are some interesting use-cases for this?

I can imagine sys admins would like this for remote admin.

I can't think off the top of my head why general hackers would keep this in their pockets most of the time.

<comment><USER8> It's got integrated LoRa, so I assume they're targeting a lot of hackers or people working on IOT stuff "in the field", as it were.

Well and I'm not one of those, but I'm still seriously considering getting it - or rather, the cheaper version without LoRa. I can't really tell you anything from the top of my head, but back when I had my N900, it found so many unexpected uses constantly. Having a full-blown Linux machine in your pocket is a seriously different game than any of the current gen of smartphones.

<comment><USER9> I just want someone to take _this_ form factor[1] (and crucially _build quality_ )

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Series_5#/media/File:200...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Series_5#/media/File:2005-04-16_Psion_Serie_5mx_PRO_24MB_beschn_unscharf_scharf.JPG)

and shove modern hardware/screen into it running stock gnu/linux.

<comment><USER10> this may right up your ally! [https://www.www3.planetcom.co.uk/gemini- pda](https://www.www3.planetcom.co.uk/gemini-pda)

As far as I can tell, it can dualboot linux and android (or even sailfish OS!)

<comment><USER11> Yes it dual boots, I have one. The issue is that only last week they got the modem to work under Linux and there are still many open issues. I wish they opened their development including Android as there are issues that the community could fix much faster.

As for use cause. I don't know. Nice to have a keyboard but I'm carrying two phones around now which is kind of stupid. The front display it total garbage, slow ui and useless.

Their next model seems more practical as the screen is on the outside allowing use without having to fold open the keyboard which is kind of annoying on the gemini.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> All I can say about this is 'Raspberry Pi 4 8GB @75$US' and available right now.

</comment><comment><USER13> what can i do woth it, its twice as expensive as a flipper

<comment><USER14> It runs Linux, has a keyboard and has a 1080p screen. I doubt the flipper even has a MMU.

<comment><USER3> Some Flippers have an i.MX6 running Kali Linux, but they do seem like completely different products.

Many more radios, but many fewer buttons and pixels.

It's nice that we have so many options for tiny computers these days, but sooner or later, someone is going to have to find something useful to do with them.

The UI and developer experience has never gotten quite good enough to drive a market the size of smartphones or laptops, so...what are we doing here? Is it time to acknowledge that the masses don't particularly want general-purpose computing machines? That there isn't much of a market for anything that isn't plug-and-play? That's a depressing thought.

<comment><USER15> > someone is going to have to find something useful to do with them

Looking at that pocket pc website... If that usb c port could drive a display it might be interesting to dock that thing and get a full desktop experience. Then take your work with you when you are ready to go mobile. On buses and trains or other places where it might be clumsy to use a laptop.

I guess this was a thing many people have fantasized about for a long time but nobody has really made practical. I guess laptops, phones and tablets being separate entities is good enough.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Just out of curiosity, what kind of resources would be needed to be able to develop something like this with a risc-v processor? I know the architecture is in its infancy, but it would be awesome to have stuff like the popcorn pc or even a raspberry pi on a risc-v architecture for tinkering with.

<comment> Const-me You can't render anything complex on a FullHD screen with a low-power CPU. Need a GPU. Risc-V doesn't have it yet, Pocket P.C. does. ARM Mali ain't nVidia or Apple, but still, it's not too bad for a mobile device, and orders of magnitude faster than rendering stuff on CPU.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Holy cow look at that silkscreen. Five-digit component numbers? Populating this board is like Where's Waldo...

<comment><USER3> And the PCB has 10 layers! They must have had fun designing it.

<comment><USER18> Kinda does beg the question whether ten layers were really necessary, but I'm not a board designer.

<comment><USER19> I see a pretty fine-pitch BGA on there, so I'm guessing it is (but also not a designer)

<comment><USER17> BGA isn't usually the reason for 10 layers, it's high speed signals like SDRAM that need isolation and timing.

<comment><USER20> Not sure why you're getting downvoted, you're dead on.

I just finished routing an LPDDR4 bus (high speed + low voltage => worst case signal integrity) between two BGAs with signals routed on only 3 layers. The catch is that you need each high speed bus to be comfortably sandwiched between solid copper planes. Layers dedicated to reference planes start to add up quite quickly when you've got RAM, eMMC, ethernet, wifi, camera input, display output, SD card, etc all crossing over and through each other.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I wish there was a video on the website. What are the use cases?

</comment><comment><USER22> Confusing name but not related to Microsoft's obsolete Pocket PC platform

<comment><USER23> That was immediately where I went. I loved my little iPAQ back in high school.

<comment><USER24> I could only afford a Handspring Vizor. iPAQs were so high-end.

<comment> kube-system I could only afford an iPAQ but I really wanted a Jornada.

<comment><USER25> I wanted a Sharp Zaurus. They had a pretty good Japanese hacking community.

<comment><USER26> I had an iPaq and a Zaurus: the quality difference was miles removed: the Zaurus was so much better at everything (for me) but the iPaq and gprs so that was a reason to hold onto it. Zaurus is still working and running Linux today, iPaqs, multiple, are all dead even though used less. Build quality was robust even though it had a swivel screen (which was also great).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> According to Wikipedia, Palm copied the "Pocket PC" from the PDA, who knew. Or was it Microsoft first named the "Pocket PC" the "Palm PC". So as to render confusion in the public mind and steal market share. That's probably when Palm became "a newer entrant into the Pocket PC market"

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

<comment><USER28> Sharp may have predated that around 1980. They were called pocket computers but the model name was PC-nnn surely implying it was a PC.

[https://sharppocketcomputers.com/](https://sharppocketcomputers.com/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> I would buy something with slightly different specs and design.

\- square screen, possibily of higher resolution \- high quality tactile switch keyboard, optimized for thumb typing \- useable in bare PCB form (maybe with a two PCB sandwich) \- similar design aesthetics as the pocket operators from Teenage Engineering, but built as a powerful full featured pocket computer for hackers

<comment><USER30> That was the Blackberry Passport hardware-wise.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: What current startups are totally distributed workspaces? - <AUTHOR>

I'm curious 1) because I'm looking for a cool job and 2) because of the recent debate about Yahoo! and remote work. <comment><USER2> For what it's worth, I just launched <http://remojobo.com> this weekend. It's a remote job board for web nerds. You might find it helpful.

<comment><USER3> Why is there nothing between the text and the background? The Background is cool looking, and the website seems really useful, but the text being directly on the background makes it difficult to read (and distracting).

<comment><USER2> Yeah, that's a good point. I'm making the photo darker right now, to hopefully increase the contrast.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> A lot of startups are contacting me to put up job listings and they're fine with remote workers.

You can start seeing the jobs as I post them up: <http://blog.goodsense.io/jobs-and-projects>

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, just subscribed.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Sorry to be competing with charliepark, above :-) I also just launched a remote job board at <http://hirethere.com>. I think we're pulling in some of the same posts, tho.

<comment><AUTHOR> Just saw you on front page, very timely, thanks.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I would like to know too. I'd like to work on interesting tech projects, but right now I'm stuck in a country whose tech scene is the opposite of vibrant.

Message me if there are any remote Python opportunities :)

</comment><comment><USER7> if you're not a cofounder and it's totally distributed you should probably be a little nervous... I'm totally against banning remote work (I'm a remote worker now) but there is definite value in a central nexus.</comment>


Firefox Makes Flash Player Obsolete, as Mozilla Launches Project Shumway - <AUTHOR> http://news.softpedia.com/news/Firefox-Makes-Flash-Player-Obsolete-as-Mozilla-Launches-Project-Shumway-473234.shtml

<comment><USER2> First, flash player has been deprecated for a long time now; obsolence predates the deprecation imho. Having said that, second, shumway isn't feature-complete yet. Not only does shumway not currently run on all platforms, but it doesn't work generally (only in specific cases).

Don't get me wrong, I love what shumway is doing and every inch closer to death Flash moves is worth celebration; but, this title isn't quite accurate.</comment>


How the man who challenged Tesla went bankrupt - <AUTHOR> https://www.businessinsider.com/jia-yueting-faraday-future-tesla-rival-bankrupt-2020-1 <comment><USER2> The only reason Tesla didn't go bust, and Uber didn't go bust (yet), is the sheer quantity of capital pumped into the machine. It would be incorrect to describe it as a success story, because the story is not yet over.

<comment><USER3> > is the sheer quantity of capital pumped into the machine.

Can you elaborate?

> It would be incorrect to describe it as a success story, because the story > is not yet over.

Tesla seems to be pretty successful now. Plenty of cash in bank, (finally) profitable and a good amount of growth.

<comment><USER2> The point I am making is the same point you are making with your parenthetical "(finally)". The fact that something can become profitable after nearly 20 years of unprofitability is not a testament to its success; it's a testament to how the only way to accrue wealth is to _start_ with wealth.

<comment><USER3> I think at this point it's pretty hard to start a successful mass market car company with _any_ amount of funding.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> He should have raised $20 billion in the public markets like Tesla.</comment>


Announcing Handlebars.js (A Mustache Superset) - <AUTHOR> http://yehudakatz.com/2010/09/09/announcing-handlebars-js/

<comment><USER2> Heh, I've already used the name Handlebars for a Mustache-related project: <http://github.com/judofyr/handlebars>. It's basically a JIT for Mustache which speeds up rendering. Nobody uses it, though, so I don't mind.

BTW: I've written major parts of the current Mustache implementation, do you want some help on a Ruby port?

<comment><AUTHOR> That'd be great. Can you email me? (email@example.com)

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> What's the saying again... any time you start building a template engine you'll end up inventing django templates... ?

This looks great. I love mustache and use it on one of my projects. A bit more added syntax power would be nice, but it could easily begin to violate the rule of not being code.

<comment><AUTHOR> One of my guiding principles with Handlebars was explicitly to avoid adding any new features in the template itself that were not ways to reference a part of the JS. Normal Mustache gives you one simple way to reference a key in the current context--handlebars adds an extended path syntax and a mechanism for passing a context to lambdas (which already exist in Mustache).

<comment><USER3> Interesting. I'd actually like to see Mustache go in the direction of being a bit more like django templates by adding filters, which I think are no more likely to confuse a designer than plain old mustache tags.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> To be a core-contributor to both rails and jquery seems very impressive -- switching between the two projects must be difficult?

<comment><AUTHOR> To be fair, Alan did most of the hard work after my initial prototype :)

<comment><USER4> +1 for modesty.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Can I ask why you created a new project rather than contributing back to mustache?

</comment><comment><USER6> <http://github.com/getify/HandlebarJS> oops!

<comment><AUTHOR> Yipes. Maybe I can take solace in the fact that mine is "handlebars.js" (plural)?

<comment><USER7> One could, at a minimum, do a Github search before naming their project.

<comment><USER8> One of them is even an extension of Mustache: <http://github.com/leeoniya/handlebar.js>

Naming projects is the worst.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Twitter Founder Wants to Make Service More Mainstream - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/03/29/twitter-founder-wants-to-make-service-more-mainstream/

<comment><AUTHOR> Key quote:

 _The best part about Twitter is that it allows you to do things like following "what's happening in Egypt right now. That's the value, not the brand 'Twitter.' So we need to refocus on that value," [Jack Dorsey] said. "That's my goal in the next few months."_

</comment><comment><USER2> The thing is, that twitter successfully bridges between news source, RSS, stream of thought, push notification, friend feed, gossip channel, marketing tool and rant box.

It has the critical mass in its user base.

I can only see that @jack will focus on how to make it easier to tap the data flow you're interested in.

If you use the cable tv analogy - you need a goot way to flip between all the different channels.

I can imagine Twitter trying to work harder at being integrated into the core of the OS.

This is where they say they want to be the plumbing; be the plumbing of both human-to-human messaging, machine-to-human, and machine-to-machine messaging.

A ticker that runs along the bottom of every screen, color coded tweets telling you meta-context of the stream. Any one of which clickable for more context...</comment>


Ask HN: No-Code (Or Low-Code) Email App Templates? - <AUTHOR> Hi,
I've noticed the significant growth in no-code or low-code platforms lately (AirTable, Bubble.io) that can act as stand-alone applications or as a way to get to MVP quickly.
I specifically had an email app idea, but have had a tough time finding templates that could fit the "no-code / low-code" paradigm to test out my idea.
I'm reluctant to do more serious development too early, as I've seen that email apps can be hairy very quickly.
Any thoughts / guidance? <comment><USER2> What are you looking for exactly ? We develop a no-code platform that can let you send nice custom emails using your own templates (built from MailChimp exports for example). Would this kind of feature be of any interest for you ? You can have a look at our nocode solution hereafter : [https://www.hackeet.com/](https://www.hackeet.com/)</comment>


Ask HN: What not to talk to acquirer about? - <AUTHOR> I was recently approached by a PE firm that is gobbling up companies in my space at pretty insane clip. I have a call scheduled with one of their lower level folks. I've read about these kinds of fishing expeditions but never been the subject of one. Can anyone offer some advice on the parameters for the discussion? What topics, if any, should I consider off-limits? <comment><USER2> There are a couple things you should know going in, or at least by the end of the first call:

1) What is this PE firms model? Google them, cold call founders of companies they've bought, etc. Some will want to buy you to integrate with existing entities. Others want to accelerate your growth, based on their operating model. If you don't have time to figure this out, you need to know all of these details by the end of your first call.

2) What do you want out of the deal? Ever entrepreneur should have a number or a vision, or both. You need to know what gets a deal done for you.

3) Why are they reaching out to you? Is it exploratory or already vetted and strategic. Before you say anything of substance, you should understand where they are at in the process. Oftentimes the level of the person you are speaking with dictates the seriousness of the conversation / interest level.

4) Are they winners? Funds can't help but brag about their successes. Who are their big exists? What do they return to their investors? How many funds have they closed (and when)?

If you have any additional questions, my email is in my profile.

</comment><comment><USER3> I was extremely open with my acquirer, even saying things like us not planning to work there after the acquisition and pointing out every single thing that sucked about the company.

They were happy enough that they bought it for 3x what we actually wanted.

<comment><USER4> I think you make a good point which is being honest is the best approach. Unless you are giving away the company secrets there is no reason not to be honest.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Don't give out your secret sauce. Let them taste it but not "how" it is done. So just tell them the "what" and not the "how".</comment>