Mac OS X Dock Positions - <AUTHOR> http://brooksreview.net/2010/12/dock-positions/ <comment><USER2> Only marginally related: Why does the website think it should tinker with my browser's font rendering (-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;) when I have configured my system for the best possible font-rendering already.

And why does it think it should mess with my selection color (::selection { background-color: #E12000; color: white}) making my habit of selecting the text as I read it really painful because of the way too flashy color?

I'm all for trying to create good design, but just because you can override sensible OS defaults, it doesn't mean you have to. IMHO, this is CSS doing too much.

<comment><USER3> About antialiased: apparently Apple does it too. And BBC.

I really hate that.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> A top or bottom dock (the default) doesn't make any sense since all screens are 16:9 or 16:10. So you must put it on the sides. Which side? The default is Right, look at any OpenStep screenshot, damned heretics! I didn't even need thinking about it.

<comment><USER5> I keep mine on the bottom and hidden, it works fine. Average pointer travel distance to the bottom is always less than one of the sides in any standard resoution, so you can "fling" the mouse to the bottom quicker (just like the menubar). I also use OSX on a laptop the most, where moving my hand on an imaginary Y-axis of the touchpad is more natural for me than the X axis, which requires more arm movement since my fingers can't curl left and right.

I'm probably not the average Mac user, but for me, the dock is more of a status bar for me to see download progress, which apps are still running, etc, so it doesn't matter what maximizes screen space. I don't use it to store icons to launch apps (Spotlight instead), and when first logging in it only contains the Finder, Trash and Downloads folder.

<comment><USER6> I do pretty much everything you do, except I do have a few applications explicitly in the dock (Chrome, a Gmail SSB, Terminal, and iTunes). The reason being I often use the dock to switch between applications, and it helps for them to always in the same location. And no matter what I'm doing, these applications are always open.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I distrust statistics that show percentages but not frequencies.

does 5% represent 2 people?

</comment><comment><USER8> Using the dock is a smell. Using Launchbar/Google Desktop/Quicksilver (or whatever) is always going to be faster to open things. If I could turn the dock off completely on my mac without hackery I would.

</comment><comment><USER9> I don't auto-hide because I like to be able to see which applications are running at a glance.

<comment><USER5> I know it's not "at a glance" if it requires a key combo, but you can hide and show the dock with Cmd-option-d.

If you're also _just_ wanting to see what's running, Cmd-Tab like you were going to switch apps, but don't cycle it, it shows the running app list.

<comment><USER9> That's an interesting point, and thanks for the key-combo (I didn't know that). But what I like about being able to see the dock is that I often randomly _notice_ that too many apps are running, without specifically looking for it. It's sort of like when you notice the task-bar getting cluttered with windows in Windows... I probably won't remember to hit a button to see how many apps are running, but occasionally I'll just notice the clutter.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I'm on a MBP and I've found that keeping the dock on the right side (I'm right handed) is easier to navigate to, and leaves more space for coding.

</comment><comment><USER11> Magnification is gimmicky - looks nice in demos, but pretty useless in day-to- day usage.

<comment><USER12> I find it useful. It makes it easier to see where your mouse cursor landed from the corner of your eye (my Dock is on the left) when you move the mouse really fast, and it makes the target you're trying to hit bigger.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> When Compiz first came out I had a widescreen laptop with a GNOME panel fixed to the right hand side. With some compiz whizzery I was able to show different panels for different cube sides, so I had my media side, internet side, programming sides and so on.

Why modern operating systems don't do stuff like that I have no idea. It was great.</comment>


Limited promo codes to test out asknative web private beta - <AUTHOR> http://journey.asknative.com/post/67858689013/web-app-is-coming-around and give feedback at email@example.com <comment><USER2> I thought I'd join, just see what's what until the signup form told me this:

password is too long (maximum 12 characters)

<comment><AUTHOR> Not saying this as an excuse, but you have to keep in mind the fact that its a closed beta for a reason. we are releasing a fix tomorrow, i would love if you give it a try.</comment></comment>


What would you do? Acceptance decision by April 16th to Techstars or wait for YComb decision and risk losing the given opportunity? - <AUTHOR>

<comment><AUTHOR> Reading the forum, I noticed a lot of you are applying to Techstars and Y. If you were accepted to Techstars, you will have to give an acceptance decision by April 16th. However, lets say you were given an interview to Y but acceptance is not offered until April 29th. So what would you do?

Take a leap of faith and wait for Y, knowing that you just given up a sure opportunity to be mentored or go for Techstars?

Of course both are great programs

<comment><USER2> We tell people finally on the 22nd, not the 29th. Which is still after the 16th, but only 6 days after.

</comment></comment><comment><USER2> I'm sure techstars would take anyone who made it to the interview stage at YC, regardless of deadlines.

<comment><USER3> I don't get it. If you (YC) choose not to fund a startup after the interview, it's because you think that you will not make money out of it. Why would TechStar fund them? They already tacitly acknowledge that they cannot do any better than you.

<comment><USER2> The seed business is national. Almost everyone who applies to Techstars will apply to YC as well. Since I honestly can't see any reason anyone would prefer them to us, that means their destiny is to fund people we reject. The best startups we reject are the ones that make it to the interview stage.

<comment><USER4> About 300+ teams have applied to TechStars so far. I am guessing for YC the number is at least 500. From this large pool, only about 13 teams will be selected by Y Combinator. So I am sure there will be some good startups even within the ones that are rejected by Y Combinator.

TechStars could also judge their applicants on a criteria different from Y Combinator and catch good startups where YC might not.

The word on the street is that most startups, however, wouldn't choose TechStars over Y Combinator. First, the initial investment is lower. Second, they aren't original nor do they have the reputation that Paul does. In the end, though, it all comes down to which program maximizes success for startups. For that, David had this to say in an e-mail "Our investors have funded several hundred companies over the years, far more than Y Combinator has done. Y Combinator has Reddit to point out. Our founders point at Newsgator, Technorati, Feedburner, Dogster, and tons more as examples of our past experience."

I don't think anyone hates TechStars, but startup's would have had more respect for them if they had at least taken Paul's permission for rewording and copy-pasting the questions :)

<comment><USER2> We don't only accept 13 startups. There just happen to be 13 in the current batch. Our policy is, and always has been, to accept as many as we think are good enough.

And incidentally, that claim about funding hundreds of companies is characteristically bogus. That number must come from all the investments made by VC funds during the time Brad Feld et al worked for them. That's like claiming that because you worked for Microsoft for a while, you wrote millions of lines of code.

And even so the big winners they "point at" are not much more valuable than the companies YC has funded, despite the fact we're only 2 years old.

<comment><USER4> The only reality that counts is what's already in the prospect's mind. Coca- Cola came before Pepsi, so even a century later, it continues to dominate the market. Aside from being displeased, YC shouldn't feel threatened by TechStars; Y Combinator is ahead of its competition by leaps and bounds especially since it was first in their prospect's minds. For startup founders and bloggers, TechStars will always come off as the "clone".

There is understandably some heat between us and the replicant. Wouldn't it be a good idea to just send David an email (David[@]coloradostartups.com) to reach some common ground? This might just be an opportunity to expand Y Combinator beyond Boston or Mountain View.

<comment><USER5> Every market is going to have multiple players (Pepsi vs Coke, Microsoft vs Apple, Goldman Sachs vs Fidelity, Google vs Yahoo); competition is healthy and usually indicative of a solid market. While there may be some heat between YC and TechStars because of the Application Form, they're both great additions to the Venture Capital Field.

Both teams have great members and mentors; PG being at the top of the list for YC, Brad Feld being up there for TS. An aspiring serial entrepreneur will do well to learn and be accepted by either company, of that I'm sure.

<comment><USER6> I'd have to say that currently Y is considered a "brand" now with Mike constantly mentioning the companies on his blog, Y with a strong community, and PG was the first to introduce this concept.

However,if an entrepreneur had the honor of being accepted into either Techstars or Y Combinator, I'm sure he/she would work their butt off not only for themselves but to represent the program he/she is in. Multiple players foster a very healthy competition.

We'll just have to wait and see which program selects the better "animal" entrepreneurs for this round. The success of a startup involves not only the people heading it, but a large part depends on the entrepreneur themselves and the ability to implement or create something useful. How very exciting!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Y acceptance isn't announced till 29th? I thought it was till 22nd?

"# We'll review applications by April 10 and invite the groups that seem most promising to meet us in Mountain View on the weekend of April 21-22. We'll reimburse up to $500 per group for travel expenses.

# We'll decide who to fund that weekend, and tell you by phone on Sunday evening."

</comment><comment><USER8> Are you kidding? The whole reason to go with YC is all the advice and help they give you. What kind of advice, connections, and overall support can these Techstars people give you?

Folks, this is a local Economic Development Committee quasi-government operation. They are there for the good of Colorado, only secondarily to make money by funding successful startups. This is bad because their interests are less aligned with you than the YCs', because they aren't (apparently) putting much of their own money in this, because it's more important for them to make Colorado _look_ good than to actually succeed, and because those picked to run this thing are politically connected first, competent second if at all. One of the main four people is a _politician_ for Pete's sake: <http://jaredpolis.com/> . Run don't walk.

</comment><comment><USER9> Aren't these the dudes that plagiarized YC's application (and maybe entire business model)? Sure you want to do business with them?

</comment><comment><USER10> haven't heard of Techstars before. Any alums I'd know of?

<comment><USER11> This is their first batch.</comment></comment>


Snowden nominated for Nobel Peace Prize - <AUTHOR> http://www.voanews.com/content/nsa-leaker-edward-snowden-nominated-for-nobel-peace-prize/1840573.html

<comment><USER2> doesn't norway have an extradition treaty with US ?</comment>


Show HN: Async-iterators (js map, each, reduce for async functions) - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/yknx4/async-iterators <comment><USER2> I don't get it; your scripts generate a bunch of extra promises because typescript and the 'problem' is faster than your solution?</comment>


Facebook Developers And Ad Networks Participating In Race To The Bottom - <AUTHOR> http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/06/facebook-developers-and-ad-networks-participating-in-race-to-the-bottom/ <comment><USER2> He's right and he's wrong. He's right that it's a race to the bottom. He's wrong that developers who choose a moral high ground will do better. They won't. Developers who take the short term money can parlay it into long term money by dumping people off onto their other apps, buying ads, etc.</comment>


How To Become An Open-Source Contractor - <AUTHOR> http://emiller.info/contracting-advice.html

<comment><USER2> It seems every day someone or other discovers this, and the sheer magnitude of money there is to be made (and the bonus: having fun while doing it). I discovered it early this year, when I realized I was only one of two open- source developers in the entire world with my specific expertise... and the other apparently has been rather difficult to hire.

<comment><USER3> Great, congratulation. I'd be curious to hear more about your experiences. ;-)

<comment><USER2> Last summer, I started working on x264, the only open source H.264 video encoder. I knew basically nothing and was experimenting with the simplest things and harassing the only other active developer for explanations.

Slowly but surely, I learned the codebase. Eventually, I got my first major patch in: a modification to the subpixel motion search that improved efficiency a bit. But I still found myself blackboxing most of the code due to lack of understanding. Bit by bit, I made more and more complex changes. I taught myself x86 assembly, and then SIMD assembly. I finally learned the subtleties of C pointers. I finally realized that the best way to learn how things work is to identify some way to improve them, and then go and do it-- the process of doing it will eventually teach you how it works, even if solely by forcing you to ask an enormous number of questions.

By late winter 2007-8, I probably knew the codebase better than anyone else in the world except the main developer, Loren Merritt, who had been the sole maintainer for almost three years. I was still learning new things all the time, of course, and his knowledge vastly eclipsed mine. But this limited knowledge of mine got me a contract from Avail Media, who wanted an adaptive quantization algorithm implemented, primarily to stop the problem of flat textured areas being blurred out (such as grass in football games). Bit by bit I tried various ideas, and finally got a working algorithm in January that did the job tremendously well. This was committed into x264 in April.

I then got another contract from them to improve the VBV compliance (buffering for constant and limited max bitrate encoding), since they're interested in x264 for television broadcast purposes. I worked on this, which was eventually later improved upon by Gabriel (an employee of Joost, a company that uses x264) and turned into a complete overhaul to the buffering system, which resulted in much improved compliance.

Finally, I got hired for a summer internship there at a rather decent salary.

In the meantime, Adobe had released the latest version of Flash 9, which supported H.264 video. Suddenly, thousands upon thousands of websites were interested in switching--the old FLV1 video format was simply awful, and VP6 was only mildly better and, unlike FLV1 and H.264, very expensive to license. There was a massive flood of people looking for assistance integrating x264 into their toolchains--there simply was no practical proprietary alternative for the vast majority of these websites. Most of the low-cost proprietary H.264 encoding apps were non-commercial only (and much inferior to x264) and the higher-cost ones were simply way out of their price range (and arguably mostly inferior too...).

So, as a developer of x264, I was in demand. I knew the application better than almost anyone else. Everyone wanted me to help them. I got contract offers from Criterion Collection, Facebook, and others. There were also loads of smaller sites looking for more minor help, or even just quick guidance on IRC. x264 is now far beyond a tool for DVD backups, anime, and Scene releases; it was a standard tool used far and wide. And again, I am one of only two active developers. Furthermore, after over a year of being involved in development, I basically made myself an expert in both x264 and the H.264 standard, now knowing most of the code backwards and forwards and having read most of the spec at one point in time or another.

And what about the other developers I mentioned?

Well, the main developer was very difficult to motivate. He didn't seem to care much about money, and had a habit of blowing off past contracts. If you can convince him that some of his assembly code is suboptimal though, he'll be right on it ;)

There were many other minor developers--mostly people who submitted bugfixes or worked on one portion of the code. For example, Gabriel worked primarily on ratecontrol and buffering, which was the most important thing given his job.

And thus I was left as the single developer who was willing to take all sorts of contracts, available to do them, and with enough expertise to deal with almost any part of the application, code-wise, algorithm-wise, or simply usage-wise.

<comment><USER4> Thanks for posting that - I found it really inspiring. I'd just like to ask what it was that got you interested in the x264 project in the first place?

<comment><USER2> I found myself using it for encoding game videos of EVE Online, and had noticed that it got _massively_ better quality at the same bitrate as compared to the more popular WMV9--at least on those videos, it could get 2-3x better compression at the same quality. So I promoted and used it, and eventually I decided to learn how it worked and see if I could make it better.

Since then, I've moved on from EVE Online; in fact, I would say the primary cause is I found that x264 development was more interesting (if college itself wasn't enough of a reason!) I still use it for all sorts of video compression, of course, and every once in a while I find myself quite literally improving it because it gave suboptimal results on some video I wanted to post online.

By the way, I didn't note it in my above post, but I'm a sophomore in college (CS major), which puts it quite into perspective, I think.

I always tell people that they don't necessarily need lots of background knowledge or experience to get involved in something as complex, as, say, video encoder development. Almost none of my prior knowledge was at all useful in learning how x264 worked. At most my linear algebra and Fourier knowledge from my education went to some use on a theoretical level, but that's about it, and it was only "nice to have"; I could have done as well without. It seems to be this way with most jobs I've taken, too; 90% of what you need to know ends up being learned on the job. What really matters is your ability to learn and adapt, not your prior knowledge base.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> \- Code exactly what your client wants, not what you think the world wants. -

I had to point this out. Having been a leader on a good amount of projects that involved programming, I have completely lost count of the number of times someone didn't do their job and coded something completely different because they thought they were superman and could save the world by coding something else or coding it differently than what we thought. It turns out when their submission goes to be implemented, it doesn't work at all with the rest of the system.

</comment><comment><USER6> As someone looking to hire people like this, I whole-heartedly agree. The one thing - make sure that you write for both the technical and the suit audiences.

It's my job to find resources and present them to the technical team, who make the final decisions. But they decide from what I present to them. If you can't speak suit, you can't get to the techs, who make the hiring call. (But the check has my signature on it, so make sure that you're nice to both of us.)

</comment><comment><USER7> What areas are ripe for this sort of consulting? (Ignoring the fact that if you go into an area to make money rather than because you're rabidly interested in it, it's probably a bad idea.)

It seems there are two characteristics that would make an area ripe for this -- companies needing it badly, and some (real or perceived) barrier to entry that keeps legions of geeks from learning it.

Any other likely candidates?

</comment><comment><USER8> An inspiring article - so are the comments from darkshikari!

</comment><comment><USER9> Excellent article.

<comment><USER10> I agree, it's an excellent article indeed. And also, note that its advice doesn't apply only for the open source world but to any kind of software contracting.</comment></comment>


Barter Offer: Need designer. - <AUTHOR>

We developed a small app called CinEight (http://cineight.com). I am a coder and my friend is an investment banker, with little to no design sense. This led to our users complaining about the look and feel of the site, and more importantly, bad UX.
CinEight was made to solve a problem which we face regularly. Getting reliable movie recommendations, and managing our movie lists.
For CinEight to be useful, its important that more and more people use it. This would increase the probability of us and other users finding people who have similar taste, people whose recommendation they can trust.
Which again brings us back to the fact that the design is bad. Since this is not a commercial project, we are running the site out of our own pockets, and we are unable to afford a good designer.
So here we are, offering our services in exchange for the services of any of our fellow HNers who can help us make CinEight look and feel better.
I do not know if this makes any sense or not. I hope you guys can point us in some other direction if the idea of bartering services sounds ridiculous to you all.
Apart from CinEight, I have also developed http://lazyzach.com. I can get shit done. I would be able to help with all development needs.
My friend is an investment banker with Merrill Lynch. He can offer finance related advice to people starting up a business. <comment><USER2> I can help you with UX direction and Interface work. I don't need any dev work currently but if I can bank them for future.. then I'm interested.

firstname.lastname@example.com Send me a quick note, I'll forward you my portfolio to help you make a decision.

</comment><comment><USER3> I'm interested. You can email me at firstname.lastname@example.com You should add your contact info to the main post, or to your HN account.</comment>


Show HN: Use keyboard shortcuts to launch your favorite URLs [Chrome Extension] - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/ShrinathRaje/rapid-links <comment><USER2> Although not as easy to add/remote/edit URLs I make use of Chrome's custom search engines for the same functionality. For example, I have a "search engine" for HN that is just the letter "n" with no query modifiers. If I want to open HN in the current tab I can just press Cmd+L, n, Return and if I want to open it in a new tab I can do Cmd+L, n, Cmd+Return.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> A google Chrome extension to quickly launch your favorite websites or URLs using keyboard shortcuts.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> @dmlittle Oh, I didn't know that. Thanks.</comment>


Why securing investment can be a challenge for female entrepreneurs - <AUTHOR> http://www.theage.com.au/small-business/entrepreneur/why-securing-investment-can-be-a-challenge-for-female-entrepreneurs-20170411-gvj64s.html <comment><USER2> Hopefully, at a macro level, this is changing. Any good investor can ask the right questions to evaluate an idea or plan regardless of who is presenting.</comment>


Microsoft to hook Hyper-V into open source cloud platform - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2011/09/microsoft-to-hook-hyper-v-into-open-source-cloud-platform.ars

<comment><USER2> MS is a bit late to the "virtualized" Linux support, but MS does have such a large Hyper-V Windows market, that it could still take off in the Linux market. read a briefed article on this topic here [http://www.hypervhd.com/lounge-off-topic-f9/microsoft-to- hoo...](http://www.hypervhd.com/lounge-off-topic-f9/microsoft-to-hook-hyper-v- into-open-source-cloud-platform-t1685.html)</comment>


Microsoft is closing all old bug reports they couldn't fix - <AUTHOR> That's a letter I received today:
This notification was generated for feedback item: <...> which you submitted at the Microsoft Connect (http://connect.microsoft.com) site.
Thank you for taking the time to report this problem.  This problem was reported two years ago.  In an effort to focus our resources on the most impactful problems, we are closing old Connect issues.  If this problem is still important to you, please go to https://community.visualstudio.com and follow the instructions there to file a new report. <comment><USER2> It reminds me of an old joke from the Windows95 era:

How many Microsoft engineers you need to change a light bulb? None. Microsoft simply announces darkness the new standard.

* - (please don't take it seriously)

</comment><comment><USER3> Apple does this after every iOS release. Obviously I'm not filing "Radars" (Apple's name for a bug report) anymore.

</comment><comment><USER4> At some point, simply keeping track of these things is more overhead than it is worth. I don't work anywhere near the scale of Microsoft, but at some point, you just have to say, alright, we're not fixing this; it works completely different in version N+1 that you should have upgraded to years ago, and btw, we're actually on N+3 now, so we are not going to fix old, janky code that we already fixed.

<comment><USER5> The bigger issue is that they let it get this bad. In order to get this this point, they would have had to systematically fail triage bugs when they come it, fail to track them as they're fixed, and fail to rectify the problem for over two years.

This is an admission that they probably never gave a damn about your bug reports. But hey: if you'd like to help this multibillion dollar company to triage their bugs and re-file an updated issue they would appreciate it.

<comment><USER6> >> The bigger issue is that they let it get this bad. In order to get this this point, they would have had to systematically fail triage bugs when they come it, fail to track them as they're fixed, and fail to rectify the problem for over two years.

In reality, it's not that easy. There have been times where, in projects that I have been involved, I wanted to fix a certain issue but the time required to setup, reproduce, investigate, fix and test against that and other versions, just adds up to a point where you cannot focus on the other equally important (new development) tasks at hand. So overtime, issues which might look easy to fix or interesting, do get piled up.

<comment><AUTHOR> > time required to setup, reproduce, investigate, fix and test against that > and other versions

And that's not the case again. I already provided all information to reproduce that bug easily.

PS "bugs", actually. They've closed several bugs that I reported, though notified me about one only.

<comment><USER6> I am not denying that many bugs that got closed might still be relevant and reproducible. What I meant in my comment was that this doesn't look like a bad or some kind of "we don't acknowledge or care about these issues" move. Rather this appears to be an attempt at getting the bug reports into a more relevant and manageable state.

<comment><AUTHOR> > getting the bug reports into a more relevant and manageable state

What means that _somebody_ got them into the unmanageable state, in the first place.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Having been part of projects that grew large over time and are composed of too many components, I understand why this is done. It reaches a point where you can't go to each open issue and see whether it's still relevant in the context of all the new and different technical changes that would have gone in during that period.

That mail does seem to point to a place where users can report this afresh if it's still relevant. So, not a bad approach, to get these bug reports to hopefully in a more relevant and manageable state.

<comment><USER7> They do this for bugs that are easily reproducible on all versions of these products as well.

I received a similar response to a bug report a few years back, it had been open for a couple of years without even being acknowledged, then one day they decided to close it with a form letter listing possible reasons. People continued to upvote it, and finally 3 1/2 years after it was filed it finally got fixed. No interaction from anyone at MS other than the form response, and the final status change. I've filed about a dozen bugs reports on connect - and this is one of the few 'success' stories, sadly.

User engagement at MS is very broken.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Some manager received a bonus for closing so many bug reports. Wonder if he took the team out for pizza and beers.

<comment><USER9> Downsized them, rather. Save money on wages too!

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> This fits into the picture with the development culture that was hinted on in these irc chats:

[https://i.imgur.com/y6clspP.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/y6clspP.jpg)

</comment><comment><USER10> Many other large companies do that.

Google did that with Android several times, and another poster mentions Apple does that too.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8803118](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8803118)

</comment><comment><USER11> it's interesting to see that Microsoft is actively adopting Jamie Zawinski's CATD model[0].

0\. [https://www.jwz.org/doc/cadt.html](https://www.jwz.org/doc/cadt.html)</comment>


Tiny Desk Concert: Imogen Heap (feat Mi.mu Gloves Demo from 09:15) - <AUTHOR> https://www.npr.org/2019/06/20/733554054/imogen-heap-tiny-desk-concert <comment><USER2> I'm very excited to read more about the glove-controlled methods employed with their software. It looks familiar to some recent VR audio games and I wonder how similar they are.</comment>


Comparing Heat Shields: Mars Science Lab vs. SpaceX Dragon - <AUTHOR> http://pinehead.tv/space/comparing-heat-shields-mars-science-lab-vs-spacex-dragon/

<comment><USER2> I can't be the only one who continues to be impressed by SpaceX' consistent engineering and business prowess being displayed in these types of articles.

<comment><USER3> As they say, "scarcity breeds clarity." I'm one of the few that think nasa shouldn't have unlimited budget and there needs to be more competition in the industry. My fingers are cross that space mining takes off. That could be a game changer.

<comment><USER4> what makes you think nasa has an unlimited budget? they constantly have less money than they would like.

<comment><USER3> I don't, but many have complained about their recent budget cuts. To me, it seems like it's helping space exploration more than hurting.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Should Newspapers Become Local Blog Networks? - <AUTHOR> http://publishing2.com/2007/07/20/should-newspapers-become-local-blog-networks/ Chicago Tribune just relaunched its website with, of course, more blogs -- A LOT more blogs -- news, entertainment, sports, living, business travel, with multiple blogs in each category. <comment><USER2> The killer-app of newspapers is good journalism and reporting from the scene of something interesting. Newspapers fail to do either well today, and wonder why they suffer so much.

Bloggers can help -- but not for foreign reporting (aside from foreign bloggers). That is where the money behind news rooms actually would have a huge effect.

<comment><USER3> Foreign reporting, incidentally, is where traditional media sucks the most. Judging by your name, you can probably appreciate this yourself, by reading a few articles about Russia in English or American papers (as long as we don't count exile.ru to as an American paper).

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> It seems like the most natural model would be pro-am collaboration. For example, investigative journalists publish research and then let amateurs incorporate this into their own publications. This is basically what is happening already, so with only a few tweaks it would be possible to both greatly increase the quality and also monetize the whole process.

This complicated three-tiered model seems about as workable as the Ptolemaic universe. Much better I think just to give readers the tools to go in the direction they are already taking on their own.

</comment><comment><USER5> No. :-)</comment>


What I Learned Negotiating With Steve Jobs - <AUTHOR> http://heidiroizen.tumblr.com/post/80368150370/what-i-learned-negotiating-with-steve-jobs <comment><USER2> Every time I read something about Jobs I'm struck by how similar he is to various assholes I've worked for over the years.

This scenario, pretty much every nasty behavior described in the Isaacson biography, the recent salary-fixing emails - I've witnessed them all repeated.

It might seem crazy to entertain, but having seen first-hand that these folks can consistently climb and succeed while being what most decent people would consider scumbags - I have to wonder if Steve was just alpha-scum in the right place at the right time.

<comment><USER3> "It might seem crazy to entertain, but having seen first-hand that these folks can consistently climb and succeed while being what most decent people would consider scumbags..."

One of my best friends is a psychiatrist at a large academic hospital. He works with "corporate leaders" and top athletes (college level and above). He says in his 5 years of practice, he has not yet seen a "successful" person who does not exhibit a significant degree of sociopathic behavior. He goes as far as saying that being sociopathic is an asset if you are trying to be successful in any hyper competitive human endeavor (politics, business, sports etc).

<comment><USER4> I think Bill Gates is a good counterexample. Microsoft was not the nicest company around, but as a boss he seems pretty normal, even good. And I'd say he's just as successful as Jobs, if not more. (Also difficult to imagine a sociopath being a philanthropist like Gates).

<comment><USER5> Bill Gates' reviews were notoriously difficult - [http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/06/16.html](http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/06/16.html). I wouldn't call him a "normal" boss either.

<comment><USER4> I guess I meant normal as in not-a-sociopath. As another commenter said, Gates was definitely intense. But then a lot of other people can be similarly described (maybe not to the same degree, but someone like Linus is not exactly known for being mild mannered[1], but he's definitely not a sociopath).

But thanks for the link though, I'll check it out. I must've suppressed all my Gates-criticism for all the good he's doing now.

[1] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5107495](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5107495)

<comment><USER6> Well, for one he also tried to push his co-founder out of the company while he was sick in hospital. If he wasn't a sociopath at the time, he sure acted like one.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> People are saying that Jobs was being an asshole. I don't know much about the man, but what he's doing here is intelligent negotiation, plain and simple. The bravado of shredding the paper and loudly announcing the desired figure is a dead giveaway that (1) the other details of the contract don't mean much to him, and (2) the 50% figure means an awful lot to whoever else was supposed to hear it.

You have to keep in mind what Jobs is trying to accomplish here. It's like a kid loudly putting stuff away when their mom walks by, "yea mom, just cleaning my room!"

The ruthless part is that Jobs would have no problem if she didn't pick up on that and came back with the same contract and the 50% rate. I think that the lessons in this post are valuable for negotiating with intelligent people.

<comment><USER8> > A bunch of people here are saying that Jobs was being an asshole.

Well ... he was.

> I don't know much about the man, but what he's doing here is intelligent > negotiation, plain and simple.

Jobs had the destructive habit of tearing people down for no reason, preventing them from liking either themselves or him. I knew him personally and I saw this behavior any number of times, behavior that had no possible positive outcome.

In this case, Jobs could simply have said, "This is completely unacceptable, but I'm sure you'll find a way to meet my legitimate requirements. I'm available next Thursday if you think we can come to an agreement." You know -- like a normal person.

In the Isaacson book, Jobs is accurately described as a clinical narcissist, and I can confirm than from personal experience.

To those who think Jobs accomplished what he did _because_ of his behavior, I say he accomplished what he did _in spite of_ his behavior. Obviously we will never know, this cannot be science, but Jobs went through life burning everyone down, filtering out everyone who wasn't a born narcissistic enabler.

<comment><USER4> > filtering out everyone who wasn't a born narcissistic enabler.

Do you mean that there instances where he really listened or liked/respected/etc someone because they had similar narcissistic tendencies? I was under the impression that people like him tend to hate people like themselves -- a narcissist who thinks he's the best is at greatest odds with another narcissist who thinks he's the best.

<comment><USER9> lutusp means the archetypal 'yes-man', the person who openly admires anything you do and only ever agrees with you, reinforcing your self-esteem, 'enabling' your 'narcissism'.

<comment><USER4> Ah, okay, I get it now. I completely misunderstood lutusp's sentence.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> _At first I did not understand Steve's needs_

Yes, because he didn't bother to explain them. _He_ could have been the one to explain the need for the magic 50% - just think how that could have made their meeting productive and useful - but he didn't. It was only through her contact that this was discovered. Basically, Steve Jobs was being an asshole.

<comment><USER11> They might have been in it together. If he got fifty percent gross, that was great for him. If she almost got away, then the other guy goes after her and gets the face-saving fall-back position.

<comment><USER12> Indeed, Steve may have sent him to deliver the message that it needed to "look" like 50%. However, If you read Panic's experience with Steve, you'll see he was generally an asshole when it came to negotiation.

Problem is, that's exactly what Apple needed to deal with the music industry and exactly what it needed to deal with the wireless industry and exactly what it needs now to deal with the cable industry.

Except... he's not here to fight the good fight against the cable industry, and based on the rumors I've heard Apple is having troubles nailing down good terms with the content providers.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> The last item on the list:

>Understand the needs of the other person

Is a really important part of negotiation. Nothing to do with Jobs specifically. Don't assume that needs and desires are symmetrical in a negotiation. Sometimes they basically are. But when they aren't, it opens the possibility for win-win scenarios.

And oldies but goodie (and short) book, "Getting to Yes" talks about this. Well worth the read. (And, when I say short, I really do mean very short.)

<comment><USER14> "Getting to Yes" is researched based and, yes, a quick read. It was one of the required texts for a college class I had on "Negotiating and Conflict and Management." The other was "The Mind and Heart of the Negotiator." It is also research based but much meatier. I highly recommend both.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> The world is full of assholes and yet there is only one Steve Jobs. If you are thinking of emulating him, I say stick to his better sides: understanding the industry, positioning, marketing, branding, public speaking and of course product design.

<comment><USER16> Wholeheartedly agree. After the Isaacson book came out I read story after story of "entrepreneurs" who had decided to emulate him in all the wrong ways. They chose to ignore the fact that in addition to being a complete dick a goodly part of the time he also had the ability to inspire fierce loyalty in people and I'm sure it wasn't by being a dick. If he saw you as valuable (e.g.; Jony Ive) then you got treated better.

That said, in my experience, you'll get WAY more out of people if you treat everyone with respect if and until they do something to cause you to lose that respect. And even then you're better off having a polite but firm attitude.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> "Make it look like fifty percent." That one sentence made all the difference. In one instant, Heidi immediately understood what she had that the other side wanted. In her case, it was an initial app on a new platform. More than the money itself, it was being able to deliver on a previous promise to get a 50-50 split.

It can be difficult to understand your negotiating partner's reasons but having an ally sure helped in this case.

</comment><comment><USER18> so what i learned from this is that the developers did not actually get 50% but something that sounded like 50%.

i know a dev at a startup who was employee number 2 and wanted a certain % of the company ( like 2 or 5 or something like that ). anyhoo, he was haggling with the founder about this and the founder didnt want to give him what he wanted but finally relented. later, when signing paperwork, he found that the % the founder relented to was actually a % of a newly created employee pool, and not the whole company.

needless to say, the dev was pissed and had little trust in the relationship from that point forward.

<comment><USER17> Rookie mistake. Read Venture Deals: [http://www.amazon.com/Venture-Deals- Smarter-Lawyer-Capitalis...](http://www.amazon.com/Venture-Deals-Smarter- Lawyer-Capitalist/dp/1118443616)

<comment><USER19> That venture deals book is about founders negotiating with VCs, and probably mentions the "rookie mistake" of the founders getting stuck with paying for the option pool.

We're talking about something different here - a potential hire joining a company and asking for "X% _of the company_ ". If the company agrees to this, then the legal document better not say you got X% _of the employee option pool_. That kind of shit is obviously going to ruin your employee's trust, because it's extremely fucking shady. I would immediately get the impression that the company/founders are big scammers.

<comment><USER17> The book is about VC period. Authors switch sides in perspective throughout. The rookie mistake, covered at length in the book, was not knowing the difference between the cap table, employee options pool, and fully diluted shares. See, e.g., Appendix A.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Are there any known allegations or just flat-out known instances of Steve Jobs getting physically abusive with any of his employees or in the workplace environment?

It's obvious he was verbally and emotionally abusive person and he was generally an all-around asshole, but I've never heard of him getting physical, and that sort of surprises me.

<comment><USER21> Physical and psychological abuse are morally equivalent.

<comment><USER22> Morals tend to come from a body of ethics. It seems like what you're saying is "I think they should be considered equivalent" and therefore if you were to propose a set of morals that some society would adhere to, being mean to people would constitute property damage or something. Of course, that's bonkers, but you should distinguish between what you think should be the case and what is.

<comment><USER23> Downplaying emotional abuse as "being mean" is disingenuous.

<comment><USER22> I don't think so, it's all mental and non-physical. That's the point.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> It makes you wonder how good his reality distortion field would have been without the vast dick-mitigation cloud that bubbled around it. Jobs owes a lot of his success to some very nice people.

</comment><comment><USER25> Pretty much the MO for dealing with anyone with an inflated ego.

Make them feel like they're right and make them feel like they always get exactly what they want.

<comment><USER26> And then?

<comment> bra-ket F*ck them in the year (c)

<comment><USER26> How?

<comment> bra-ket in the ear

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> > _What I Learned Negotiating With Steve Jobs_

I read the headline and thought, "that he's an asshole?"

Then I read the article. I was right!

</comment><comment><USER28> That wasn't a negotiation, that was a demand. Dan'l did the negotiation. "People are not often as clear as Steve was" \- he wasn't clear at all. He put on a performance for the developers, and Dan'l was the person who had to clarify what Steve wanted.

</comment><comment><USER29> Great lesson here in how to deal with face. If done well this can provide the party unconcerned with saving face a real advantage in the negotiation process.

</comment><comment><USER30> Some people enjoy throwing their weight around and winning even relatively meaningless concessions, which marks them as high status. This can make it easier to win meaningful concessions at the margin, or to turn "not asking for concessions" into "you owe me one".

Robert Ringer has some pretty apt descriptions of this type & how to deal with them in a couple of his more popular books.

<comment><USER13> With all due respect, I think you and others are missing the point here. This wasn't so much about Jobs "throwing his weight around" (abrasive style notwithstanding) but about him having an externally committed number that it was important to him and to others at the company to have met. Structuring the deal in such a way that this objective could be achieved opened a path to a negotiation that could satisfy both sides.

<comment><USER30> You're right, the point of the article was to reflect on her, not on Jobs. But that doesn't mean we can't analyze his behavior.

Presumably the number was "important" in an absolute sense because a number that high represented a fair amount of money, or at least taking margin from the publisher, because of the super-high quality of the software (remember, he made the promise trying to flatter the development team). Instead, the deal was structured strictly worse (less transparent revenue stream, same amount of money - and I'd be surprised if it was actually the same amount of money). Because he made a grand gesture as a status move, first to his team, and then to his vendors.

There's no way in which "make an outrageous promise, make an outrageous demand to fulfil that promise, accept a strictly worse settlement that saves face" reflects well on _his_ end of the negotiation.

"He wanted to be able to tell everyone he got what he wanted."

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> This article has another story from Heidi Roizen which may offer some perspective (seventh story "A Friend In Need"):

[http://www.forbes.com/sites/connieguglielmo/2012/10/03/untol...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/connieguglielmo/2012/10/03/untold- stories-about-steve-jobs-friends-and-colleagues-share-their-memories/)

</comment><comment><USER32> Is it just me or does it seem like the new cool thing to do is talk about how much of a prick Steve was and how amazing Woz is?

No one is perfect.

<comment><USER8> > Is it just me or does it seem like the new cool thing to do is talk about > how much of a prick Steve was and how amazing Woz is?

It's now new for me -- I've been saying it for years. After a brief exposure to Jobs in the late 1970s when Apple was a new company, I refused to work with him thereafter. I turned down a number of job offers from Apple over the years because I knew I would have to work with Jobs, or near him, or some approximation thereof. Unacceptable.

Some people found it possible to work with him, but IMHO that marked them as born narcissistic enablers.

<comment><USER32> Oh. Well that's fair. You actually met him. So you can make a judgment. I'm sorry to hear that.

I just find it a bit annoying how people that never met him find it cool to dog him. I've found that among people that actually met him they either looked up to him and saw him as a bold and charismatic character or they hated him with a passion.

<comment><USER8> > I've found that among people that actually met him they either looked up to > him and saw him as a bold and charismatic character or they hated him with a > passion.

That's a common description of how people react to a narcissist. Consider Jim Jones (the French Guyana Jim Jones, the poisoned Kool-Aid Jim Jones) -- his followers thought he was the greatest, and it seemed as though they would die for him. Oh, wait, they did die for him. But others saw him as dangerous.

Consider David Koresh. Same blind devotion among his followers and complete disgust elsewhere.

My point is that a narcissistic enabler is as deeply twisted as a narcissist, but with a different focus.

More here: [http://arachnoid.com/ChildrenOfNarcissus](http://arachnoid.com/ChildrenOfNarcissus)

<comment><USER33> Not saying you're not correct, it sounds like from your, and many other stories this is generally pretty accurate.

However, for this particular story? I honestly would have loved to work with/for someone who would just cut the bullshit, stop with the nice words, and just tell you exactly where you stand. If that means tearing up a contract and swearing at me, that sounds wonderful - it would not hurt my feelings in the least. If it did, I'd quickly get over it unless it was obviously personal vs. business.

Can that be done without being an asshole? Yes, of course. However, I haven't really seen it in action. I've generally either been around 'assholes' who seem to get things done via a blunt style I enjoy, or 'nice guys' who get steamrolled and thus churn out a shit product as they are more concerned with feelings than results.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER34> Wow, I'd forgotten how bad the economics of boxed software were.

<comment><USER35> The irony here is that Steve would eventually go on to put the final nail in the coffin of the boxed software world with the App Store. Sure people were starting to use web based software and yes other stores existed before the app store but he created the tipping point.

<comment><USER36> This is slightly revisionist. The App Store is really just a centralized portal for software purchase and download. People were purchasing software online and downloading it well before the App Store.

<comment><USER34> IIRC, it had become the standard for high-end, engineering, server, unix software by around 2002, but App Store really did do a pretty good job of replacing boxed software in the $20-300 range outside gaming (which Steam probably did first).

<comment><USER37> You mean "App Store did a really good job copying a standard practice in the software world to a specific domain that Steam was doing a really good job in already, and though brand and lock-in, managed to survive where on pure merit, it wouldn't have".

<comment><USER34> No, Steam was never doing a good job of selling apps outside gaming, and still doesn't.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> _I had to make the business make sense financially. I just needed to make my 15% look like his 50%. To do so, I reduced the nut to split by first deducting the cost of packaging, of technical support, the salaries for some developers on my side of the business to implement fixes, and when I still couldn't get the math to pencil out, I added a $6 per unit_

Out of curiosity, is there an example contract text that demonstrates how to do this? Is it as simple as saying "You get 50% of the gross, but I'll deduct this, this and that from your share"?

<comment><USER39> Check out Hollywood Accounting.

[http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/09/how- holl...](http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/09/how-hollywood- accounting-can-make-a-450-million-movie-unprofitable/245134/)</comment></comment>


Perl6 Logo - <AUTHOR> http://www.wall.org/~larry/camelia.pdf

<comment><AUTHOR> Seeing there is a new Arc logo (<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=637464>) I thought this submission might be of interest.

Logo comes from this thread: [http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl6.language/2009/03/m...](http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl6.language/2009/03/msg31260.html)

Oh and the Ruby community have kindly produced a Perl6 alternative logo ;-)

* <http://static.destiney.com/perl6_logo.png>

* [http://groups.google.com/group/ruby-talk-google/msg/acb17fb9...](http://groups.google.com/group/ruby-talk-google/msg/acb17fb9a9bf0d84)

<comment><USER2> This just seems to indicate that language designers should never be allowed near graphics programs. Even language designers that are also painters.

<comment><AUTHOR> Its certainly whimsical ;-)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Really?

<comment><AUTHOR> Its was produced by Larry Wall so who knows!

Here are some more "likely" ideas from the Rakudo website: <http://www.rakudo.org/some-rakudo-logo-ideas>

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> At least it doesn't use gradients.</comment>


Inmate secretly films for years in Florida prison showing its danger, squalor - <AUTHOR> https://www.miamiherald.com/news/special-reports/florida-prisons/article235623292.html <comment><USER2> The only impression I get from this video is that it's dangerous and in squalor because of the way inmates treat it and each other.

Which isn't surprising. Ya know, they're probably in prison for a reason.

<comment><USER3> If inmates are allowed to live in squalor and treat each other badly, its the fault of prison staff. I've been in state and federal prisons and numerous jails. Where staff maintain control, conditions for inmates are decent.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: What are your coding/working ethics? - <AUTHOR> I've always had this very strong attitude that if I am responsible for something - a task in a project management system, a service, a domain, a class, whatever - I own it and understand the problem and chase what's needed in case it needs some clarification. I'll dig the code to find what's needed to be modified/added/removed and apply the changes, usually submitting the change for review and wait for feedback.
I am not fond of the idea of another team member making changes that are related to what I'm working on - i.e. submitting code on a task that I explicitly asked for review. I don't do that and I find disrespectful.
Instead I much prefer to have the team member sit with me so we can work together and change whatever was deemed necessary or missing.
I also try to be as approachable and open as possible towards other team members but never offering advice where not required and also don't really like eavesdropping - I think it's disrespectful but, at times, it can be useful.
Totally understand and agree that code bases have a shared responsibility but keen to hear what other people are doing and how you work with other team members.
edit: title <comment><USER3> Is this a humble brag? What kind of answers are you expecting? What problem are you trying to solve?

<comment><AUTHOR> Fair question. Not a humble brag, no.

I guess I'm trying to understand what the modern IT office looks like. I have close to 20 years of experience and used to do things a certain way and accountability - of my own tasks and keeping my boss accountable as well - <USER2> high on my list of values.

When I changed jobs I'm now confronted with a new environment where people do things differently, which is totally fair.

But I don't believe working on top of other people's tasks without talking to them first is a good practice. To be honest I think it's quite rude.

That's what prompted me to ask this question. What are people doing? Do you use PR's? Do you commit on other peoples PR's? Do you talk to people? Is everything nowadays that Slack is the norm and talking is overrated?

<comment><USER3> Fair enough. I too find culture change jarring. Also, I understand your original intention now. Hopefully you understand now why you didn't get any traction.

If you haven't done it already done it, I bet a reworded (and shorter) version of your question will get a better response.

Just leave out anything personal, anything that could seem like you're patting yourself on the back. Right?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> cool story bro</comment>


Chicago-based non-profit news org shuts down, to return as for-profit - <AUTHOR> http://www.chitowndailynews.org/blogs/Ravings_from_the_editor/Some_news_about_the_Daily_News,32359

<comment><AUTHOR> Chicago news nerds are talking about this over on the Citizen: [http://www.windycitizen.com/chicago/news/2009/09/11/chi- town...](http://www.windycitizen.com/chicago/news/2009/09/11/chi-town-daily- news-folds)

The ChiTown Daily News received over $700,000 in grant funds over the last three years and has employed up to 5 full-time employees at a time. It was founded by an ex-Chicago Tribune investigative reporter as a citizen journalism operation in 2006. They've received a ton of press from the likes of the New Yorker, PBS and others. You can see the most recent clips here: <http://www.chitowndailynews.org/about/press>

My friends on staff are telling me they just ran out of money.

Posters over on my site are wondering how the same team's supposed to make a for-profit version of this simply by raising more money, this time from people who expect results. I'm wondering the same.</comment>


A single line assignment filled with epic fail - <AUTHOR> http://www.jgc.org/blog/2009/01/single-line-assignment-filled-with-epic.html

<comment><USER2> Doesn't bug #4 eliminate supposed bugs #2 and #3? The intent for the author of the code would have produced bugs #2 & #3, however since that isn't the case, there are only really 3 bugs.

Either way, this rant doesn't really offer any insight on the programs context, and what the author should have done. Nothing to learn here folks.

PS - Can we stop using "epic fail" and other internet-fanboy like colloquialisms in our titles please?

<comment><USER3> _Can we stop using "epic fail" and other internet-fanboy like colloquialisms in our titles please?_

It's not _our_ title. That is the title of the post. So for example, if Joel's next article is entitled "The Cat Pictures Were an Epic Win For Suzie's New Startup", then that's a completely valid HN submission title.

<comment><USER4> Of course, in this case, the author of the post was also the submitter, so it truly was _his_ title, but in general, sure.

<comment><USER3> Ah, gotcha.

... But it really _was_ epic just how horribly that line of code failed, though. 5 bugs in just 48 characters; or 1 bug every 9.6 chars. The rest of the system was probably equally epic.

<comment><USER5> May I suggest that _epic_ is not synonymous with _severe_. Epic suggests scale in both time and place. To me, an epic bug would affect a large number of people over a very long period of time. Perhaps something to do with IE security would be epic by virtue of its world-wide and decade-long impact.

On a smaller scale, epic might describe something that brings an entire company down, perhaps (if you believe some of the rants) the decision to rewrite the Netscape browser from the ground up.

JM2C on "epic"...

<comment><USER3> Since your reply may possibly reshape the way in which "epic" is used on the internet, affecting a large number of people over a long period of time, would you consider it to be an "epic reply"? And if so, does that imply we're currently in an "epic debate"?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I disagree with the quintuple counting...it's not really an epic fail. It seems relatively minor to me. Consider this: if the program is running as a user that doesn't own that directory, it can't change the permissions on it. This dude is saying it's okay if the OS is giving the program the access to change the permissions on the directory, but it's not okay to use that power to write to a directory. "Imagine if it were My Documents" is silly- don't run the program as root...

In any case, the polite hacker thing to do would be to set the permissions back to what they used to be after you write the file. That's why they invented the variable name temp.

</comment><comment><USER7> One good thing, which in principle, makes up for all of that. They included the source.

</comment><comment><USER8> That line was just _evil_.

</comment><comment><USER9> I must say that's one of the most scary one line of code I have seen. I'd be hard pressed to come up with a more scary single assign statement.

Any volunteers?

<comment><USER10> In C#..

public string SomeProperty { get { SomeOtherProperty.Something = whatever; return someProperty; } }

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Would be interesting to see the line in it's context

<comment><USER12> I bet the rest of the program is almost as bad.</comment></comment>


Why Pilots Make Great Entrepreneurs - <AUTHOR> http://www.earthclassmail.com/blog/2008/01/24/the-skys-the-limit-why-pilots-make-great-start-up-employees-and-why-so-many-are-entrepreneurs/

<comment><USER2> It's funny, but my career of choice was being a pilot. I even flew about 10 hours before it got too expensive for me. I was even accepted into Embry- Riddle Aeronautical University (pretty much the top aviation school there is). It's unfortunate that it has to be so expensive to fly.

Anyways, if you've already exited your startup and have money to spend, or are interested in aviation at all, I would certainly recommend it. It's one of the best things I've done my entire life.

Believe me, there are plenty of startup opportunities in the aviation industry. A lot of it is broken right now, and people who fix it stand to reap a huge reward.

Go check out <http://www.erau.edu/> if you're interested in the college. It's about $40,000/year with the flight training.

<comment><AUTHOR> For $70,000, in 150 days, you can go from no experience whatsoever to being a certified airline pilot. Includes housing. [http://www.atpflightschool.com/airline_training_programs/pri...](http://www.atpflightschool.com/airline_training_programs/private_pilot_program/index.html)

A private pilot license costs $6,000 - $10,000, supposedly.

<comment><USER2> That's $466 per day to go from 0 to airline pilot certificate.

Airline pilots make good money, but leaving one of those schools you really won't have enough experience to get a job as an airline pilot, and if you do, you'll start low (1st officer) and it will take a while before you earn enough to make that back. The big metric in the pilot industry is flight time, and in 150 days you can't get enough flight time to compete with the lifelong pilots.

A good course for many people is to go right into instruction. That way you make some money while building flight time on someone else's dime. This is actually how it works at ERAU. The Juniors and Seniors train the others.

Also, a private license is closer to $10,000 now, mostly because of fuel prices. It used to be a cool $6000 though.

To go from 0 to being able to earn money flying (commercial license) will cost about $20,000 last I checked.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I thought the article applied to me in a funny way. I soloed and got to ~20h before I ran out of capital. Does that qualify me as having startup experience? ;-)

</comment><comment><USER4> I guess I find the "Why $MyOtherPassion Make Great Entrepreneurs" a little tiresome. It's amazing how it works for painters, rock climbers, actors, pilots, family men, and so on. You know what I find it a lot like? Open Source. Guess why? Can't we just accept that having the drive to do stuff is transferable and move on?</comment>


Where did Flash go wrong? - <AUTHOR> http://asserttrue.blogspot.com/2010/05/where-did-flash-go-wrong.html

<comment><USER2> I think it was when they chose "Queen" to do the theme song of the movie.</comment>


America is losing the stomach to fight Covid-19 - <AUTHOR> https://www.ft.com/content/b223f1cb-a6ed-4c40-8352-4a065ff084fb <comment><USER2> This article mostly ignores the larger picture. Winning the COVID-19 fight by itself is not "winning". The real win is to minimize the total number of deaths (or perhaps adjusted life years) and general misery.

We have a lot more information now with which to project the benefits and costs of locking down to various degrees. It's all a guess, of course, but it's becoming clear that the costs of locking down are quite harsh, in terms of collateral deaths, etc.

Being smart is not "losing one's stomach to fight".

<comment><USER3> We need to look at the costs of social distancing, sure.

We also need to look at how a lack of centralized response means the good work done to socially distance was wasted in part because as a country the US never took this seriously at the same time.

Look at the comments in here. People are saying a virus that has killed over a hundred thousand people in three months was "overblown". We didn't stop the spread, we don't have a good plan to go forwards, and we're going to keep seeing second waves.

The US lost it's nerve to fight, and opened up businesses early. Not allowed visits from grandparents early, opened up businesses early. That's more than enough to undo the work we've done. We're fucking up.

<comment><USER2> The fact that the virus (directly) killed 100K people doesn't tell you much of anything about the quality of our response. It ignores two crucial questions: (1) How many people were _indirectly_ killed? And (2) How much better could we have done in terms of _total_ damage with an available alternative?

The answer to (1) is starting to look like "a lot". And most tragically, it could be that a large number of those were due to well-intended actions like locking down.

It's within the realm of possibility that the right thing to do was pretty much "nothing". As in, the basic health procedures specified for flu season, etc.

Reams of papers and probably shelves of books will be written studying this, so perhaps eventually we'll have some idea.

In any case, as others have pointed out, the protests have pretty much wiped out the idea of locking down. The economic costs (think: people who will go broke and die from it) even more so.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> If I understood it correctly, the risk of "exhaustion" was one of th drivers of the strategy here in Sweden. Apart from the fact that ordering a lockdown would have been impossible. Yes, the possibility was explored, but it was found to be without legal support.

There is much I don't agree with concerning our handling of Covid-19, far from all having to with the actual strategy, which I find questionable this far mostly based on the lack of any discernable scientific consensus regarding a strategy touted as scientifically sound.

I however do agree that considering an exhaustion/psychological adaption scenario, is something you have to do in a situation like this.

One strategy I've seen referred to as effective is essentially periodically altering the level of lockdown, but the high virulence in conjunction with the long latencies in the feedback looks seems to make it really hard to employ for Covid-19, as the necessary period still seems to be on the order of months.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Edited to add: Original FT piece syndicated in the Irish Times, no paywall:

[https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/us/the-united- states-h...](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/us/the-united-states-has- lost-the-stomach-for-the-coronavirus-fight-1.4276520)

Non-paywalled article based on the linked FT piece:

The US is losing the 'discipline' to fight coronavirus and is 'leaving the battlefield before the war is over'

[https://www.rawstory.com/2020/06/the-us-is-losing-the- discip...](https://www.rawstory.com/2020/06/the-us-is-losing-the-discipline- to-fight-coronavirus-and-is-leaving-the-battlefield-before-the-war-is-over/)

</comment><comment><USER5> Honestly I think this was inevitable despite any politics.

It's been over 2 months now since the lockdowns began and and a lot of people who were told 'flatten the curve' are asking when the curve will be flat enough.

> Mission accomplished only works when there is a vaccine, which is at least a > year away.

A year with little if any time spent with family and friends? A year where a trip to the market means putting on your virus armor? A year where our kids get little education, little outdoor play, little social contact?

There's obviously concern about the economic damage of the lockdown, but with some justification there's also a mental health concern. What is the risk of covid vs. the risk of 'normalizing' isolation? When we all get out - can we pick up where we left off?

I'm starting to wonder when I just give up. My spouse is a virologist so we are a lot more stringent than most - but I see the neighborhood kids out playing basketball everyday and I can't fail to notice that they are all doing fine. Maybe they are going to prove to be the smart ones.

<comment><USER6> "Maybe they are going to prove to be the smart ones."

I'm glad you have the humility about potentially being wrong that the math- illiterate journalists don't. Instead, they have doubled down on their initial freakout.

Most people, I think, treat this like poker. You get a few new data points, and you shift your chips to locking down. You get more data points, you start taking them out. Reasonable.

The journalist crowd, and some of my relatives, went all in on the lockdown. They could either look at the new data, and chill out and admit they overreacted for 2 months, OR they can just try to shame me for not wearing a mask when I'm riding my bike on a trail in a massive, empty wildlife refuge.

<comment><USER5> Unfortunately the scientists are still pretty pro-lockdown too.

[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/08/upshot/when-e...](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/08/upshot/when- epidemiologists-will-do-everyday-things-coronavirus.html)

In my own home I think the difference is becoming stark ( and hopefully doesn't come to a head ). My spouse has worked with deadly viruses and sees risk risk risk.

I'm the engineer, I'm the pragmatists, I look backwards and extrapolate from what has already happened. What are the chances of getting the virus during a barbecue with friends vs. the chances of dying in a car crash during the drive over? Can I believe that the virus "might" spread on surfaces without seeing a lot more cases than I'd expect? Healthy living doesn't just boil down to "not infected".

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I mean let's be at least a little real here, and I identify as Left, but for a lot of people the protests and upheaval were a cure for boredom, conveniently packaged in a morally indignant reply to "What about the viral pandemic we have no cure to?".

I really don't see much difference in people going after direct Right wing protest to the lockdown itself and people saying the lockdown is somehow superseded by moral virtue: in either case you are saying some higher principle overrides your duty to your fellow human beings (in keeping the curve low...). This "letter of the law over all"/legalism is, in my experience, the basis for modern all American ethical negotiation and it has to be changed.

Just earlier this week the CDC chose not to admonish protesters for the worthiness of their cause: that should be orthogonal to the CDC's duty!

<comment><USER8> Agreed. Doctors and scientists should be disseminating knowledge about the spread of coronavirus. Instead they're offering policy endorsements about political activity.

The whole "racism is about public health" line is blatantly dogmatic political activity and I shudder to think of what this would look like on the right.

<comment><USER9> From what I've seen of those on the right, they see it as ideological capture of core institutions by the left. I can't really refute that.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Articles that discuss the USA as a monolith are immediately problematic. There are 50 states, and 50 different philosophies on fighting the virus.

Also, this: "Mission accomplished only works when there is a vaccine, which is at least a year away."

No, we didn't sign up for a lockdown until a vaccine exists.

Has anyone wondered why we don't hear about Wisconsin in the news? The Wisconsin lockdown was ended a month ago by the courts, against the state government's will. There isn't a spike in cases a month later. Why is that? Why isn't that being reported? In the US, I no longer hear about Sweden on the news either.

What I do know is that the US media was vehemently against people congregating outdoors a few weeks ago, and then decided that the risk was worth it when people began to protest for a righteous cause they happened to agree with. They were acting like the world was going to end a week before when a bunch of rednecks were swimming together at the Lake of the Ozarks. Specifically, they talked about covid spreading like wild-fire at choir practices due to the nature of people yelling and projecting moisture droplets. They were totally cool with the yelling protesters though. (I support the protests and think they were right to ignore the virus while exercising their rights.)

It's summer time, and my friends and neighbors just don't think it's worth it to not live their lives. It might be a dumb decision in the long run. We shall see. But the media is invested in an apocalyptic narrative. They report bad news, ignore good news. Their reporters, like the vast majority of journalists, are essentially mathematically illiterate, Nate Silver and his like aside. Twitter is filled with opinionated morons who I wouldn't trust to walk my dog, and these journalists are part of that club. Not listening to them anymore. From now on, I just look at the data.

Edit: Ah yes, commence the down-voting by the fearful for not endorsing their strategy of pretending to be agoraphobic for 2 months. I might be wrong, and I admit it. But are any of you who are wiping down every package that comes into your house willing to admit you MIGHT be overreacting?

<comment><USER10> If your look for news articles about Sweden, recent ones are about how the government is admitting it made a mistake.

This is evident if you compare Sweden's mortality rate to it's neighbors (10x higher).

> What I do know is that the US media was vehemently against people > congregating outdoors a few weeks ago, and then decided that the risk was > worth it when people began to protest for a righteous cause they happened to > agree with.

There's differences between going out in crowds without masks and with masks. There's also differences between just causes and mediocre causes.

And as to your last point about Wisconsin: most places aren't Wisconsin. Socal, Florida, Texas and other major population centers are back over their early peaks. And these increases predated the protesting this past week. Things were on the upswing already.</comment></comment>


Awesome Browser Extensions - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/vamshisuram/awesome-browser-extensions

<comment><AUTHOR> It's been an honour to have used, experienced open source works of many people. This is my first input to the world of open source, on sharing and collaborating on works with collective experience and innovation.

Having observed curated lists on various technologies (like awesome-react, awesome-angular etc..), I thought a collection of best browser extensions that can be helpful to everybody, would be a good option to work on. I am not quite experienced to judge which ones are best but I made a list of extensions which I felt quite helpful.

Please checkout the project and feel free to suggest or raise issues. I will be happy to receive pull requests.

</comment><comment><USER2> Nice collection.. (y)

<comment><AUTHOR> thanks.. appreciate it..</comment></comment>


Linus Renames 2.6.40 Kernel To Linux 3.0, Announces Release Candidate - <AUTHOR> http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTUwMg

<comment><USER2> Man, this takes me back to 1998 when I first started seriously dabbling in Linux and the ability to compile your own kernel was the mark of a serious user. Now I cnsider myself much more serious and knowledgeable about Linux and UNIX in general, but I haven't needed or wanted to compile a Linux kernel in years, and only recently did so in OpenBSD for the first time since somewhen around 2004.

I'm not sure what that says about the progress of the platform, but I tend to think that it's a positive sign when anyone still /can/ but almost nobody outside developers even /needs/ to do so.

<comment><USER3> When I first started out with Linux, I thought "Man! Some people compile their own kernel! Wow! And then some build their system from the ground up! Some summer, I hope to be able to do Linux From Scratch. That would be so varsity."

Now I think, "They want to compile their own kernel? Fine. I can go from nothing except the internet and a CD burner to a fully configured system in <90 minutes. Then do you know what I can do? Programming. Web browsing. Work."

If the platform gets out of your way and just lets you do what needs to be done...then excellent. Excellent.

<comment><USER4> I don't even have a CD burner hooked up anymore. When I install Linux these days I do it either directly from the network or with an USB stick. Yeah it's really easy nowadays.

Compiling the kernel yourself is really only useful for embedded devices and if you have hardware not supported by the stock one. Or if you are a kernel developer, of course.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> earlier discussion <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2598100>

</comment><comment><USER6> Obviously, Linus may (and will) do whatever he wants.

But personally, I believe this is pointless, because this removes almost all of semantics from version numbers. The only thing's left is ordering, i.e. 3.0 is newer than 2.6.x.

</comment><comment><USER7> i wonder why they don't just go to a date based approach. 2.2 and 2.4 were different, 2.4 and 2.6 were different, but within the minor 2.6 versions they've made some (what i would consider) pretty big changes without bumping the version number accordingly.

they seem to have abandoned odds/evens branch structure in favor of something a little more continuous, which is great, i just wonder why they don't ditch the old numbering scheme as well.</comment>


The Rise of Victimhood Culture - <AUTHOR> http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/the-rise-of-victimhood-culture/404794/?single_page=true <comment><USER2> See also this article, also in The Atlantic: [http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the- codd...](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of- the-american-mind/399356/)

As for larger conclusions: I blame post-modernism. No, really.

Post-modernism taught that statements are only true or false within a community, not true or false in any larger sense. It also taught that all speech is really about power, not about truth. These college students are living that out. Seeing if I'm going to play soccer? That's really a power play, not a request for information.

And it must really stink to have to live like that. Choose not to play soccer for a semester because somebody used the wrong word in an email asking if you were playing? Enjoy your nice sense of victimhood, because that's about all you're going to have. You aren't going to have much of a social life, or much of an open mind, or much peace and contentment...

</comment><comment> vezzy-fnord What strikes me is the overbearing sense of nativism and ethnonationalism that the Hispanic student embodies. Hispanic is instantly equated with non-white and thus all aspects of Hispanic culture, including the Spanish language and minutiae like how sports are played, are considered sacred aspects of heritage being infringed by the white "hordes".

With a little _reductio ad absurdum_ , it's easy to make her words indistinguishable from a sympathizer to an organization like the Ku Klux Klan.

</comment><comment><USER3> The only sensible response to either side of this debate is to ignore it. Both parties are seeking attention, without which, the debate would be extinguished.

<comment><USER4> Both parties? No only one according to the article.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> To drag this into the Australian sporting arena. There is an Australian Rules Footballer here named Adam Goodes, (its not rugby, soccer, or NFL its only played in Australia). He is a very good and very famous footballer. He has won the Brownlow medal not once but twice (MVP) for the league and last year he was honored as Australian of the year by the Prime minister. But most importantly for this discussion recently he has been booed every time he gets the ball and he is an Aboriginal. During his year as Australian of the year he was outspoken about racism and Aboriginal issues. Which are numerous, health care, incarceration rates, prison deaths, violence, alcohol etc and have never been successfully addressed.

He called the booing racism and took a week out of the game, there was a lot of support for him but also a large negative reaction. And part of this reaction seems to be a reaction to the culture of victim hood. Other players have been booed before mercilessly, he is a good player, other good players get booed. Particularly high profile ones.

Is he a victim of racism? partly. Are supporters just booing the other sides good player? partly. Has he made himself a target with some of his speeches? Probably.

<comment><USER4> _its only played in Australia_

It's also played in Ireland, they call it Gaelic Rules there. I can't believe you'd unvalidate a whole culture like that, you monster :-p

<comment> barry-cotter Australian rules football and Gaelic Football are not the same thing although there used to be an international rules series every year between Ireland and Australia.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> The discussion between these two students is youthful and stupid. That said, it's good that things are out in the open and discussed. It's too bad that it's now a permanent record tied to their identities. Her words are clearly racist though. Racism, when not physically threatening, always strikes me as being foppish. Maybe anything exclusion-oriented is this way.

</comment><comment><USER7> The victimhood culture began in the US with the victim's rights movement during the Regan Revolution. Victims of crimes became more under the law than ordinary citizens. On this of all days, it is fitting to leave recognizing the scars of its evolution on the American psyche as an exercise for the reader.

</comment><comment><USER4> It is worth noting that Spanish for "foot" is "pie" and for "ball" is "balon". So by calling it "futbol" and not "piebalon" who is actually culturally appropriating whom eh?</comment>


The US was just demoted from "full democracy" to "flawed democracy" - <AUTHOR> https://mic.com/articles/166629/the-us-was-just-demoted-from-full-democracy-to-flawed-democracy#.I50f6cmlk <comment><USER2> Not a terrible thing considering the burden of that democratic yoke hanging around the neck of all soveriegn free people when set to full</comment>


Faster Test Development with Optimizely-CLI - <AUTHOR> http://www.funnelenvy.com/optimizely-cli/

<comment><USER2> We'll done! The intro paragraph says it all.

We've been doing testing for years, writing it mostly in JS (as HTML replacement will clobber any existing scripted interactivity), but hate doing it because CodeMirror and other testing UIs are _horrible_ for rapid development.

This solves the need quite well, and we may find ourselves switching services as a result!</comment>


Show HN: BestRuby – Ruby Tricks, Idioms, Refactorings and Best Practices - <AUTHOR> http://www.best-ruby.com <comment><USER2> There is also fast-ruby: [https://github.com/JuanitoFatas/fast- ruby](https://github.com/JuanitoFatas/fast-ruby)

</comment><comment><USER3> Just wanted to let you know clicking on section headings[1] in the sidebar doesn't show all the subitems on the landing page. I'm not sure whether this was intended behavior or not. Either way, awesome collection. Thanks for sharing!

[1] [http://best-ruby.com/idiomatic_ruby.html](http://best- ruby.com/idiomatic_ruby.html)

</comment><comment><USER4> Getting 404 errors on some of the files. Just FYI. The "refactoring to hashes" one specifically did that for me.

</comment><comment><USER5> Under 2.8 FixNum#times, the 'use' and the 'rather than' should be swapped.

<comment><USER6> While this is a constructive comment, why not just raise a PR?

[https://github.com/franzejr/best- ruby/pull/35](https://github.com/franzejr/best-ruby/pull/35)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> AWESOMENESS

<comment><AUTHOR> (Y)</comment></comment>


Inner city black, latino kids learning to code need help - <AUTHOR> http://venturebeat.com/2013/10/21/urban-txt-helps-at-risk-kids-learn-to-code-avoid-gangs-stay-in-school/

<comment><USER2> I'm a little curious why venturebeat has gone with the neutral 'teens' and 'kids' everywhere when UrbanTxt is explicitly a program for boys [[http://www.urbantxt.com/about](http://www.urbantxt.com/about)]. And of course I'm also curious why it is just for boys.

<comment><USER3> Maybe boys have a higher tendency to join a gang or choose a life of crime than girls?</comment></comment>


Show HN: Expert as a Service - <AUTHOR> http://buzzrant.com/

<comment><AUTHOR> "Want to be the expert in your hobby or skill set but have a real job to focus on?" We will curate, write (in collaboration) then post and share" on your topic.

</comment><comment><USER2> Why would I want you to help me be the expert when I'm the expert?

<comment><AUTHOR> A few reasons... 1) When you're the expert, you're usually busy with more work than you can handle. We help you document and publicize your knowledge to get your more visibility,business leads & opps. 2) It takes a lot of work to stay ahead of the curve, so we help you do that so you can better use your time. 3) It really helps you to bring in future opportunities (jobs, customers, income) as content draws SEO and eyeballs.</comment></comment>


A recipe for App Store profit: Take game idea from small devs  iOS  profit. - <AUTHOR> http://www.next-gen.biz/features/friday-game-radical-fishing

<comment><AUTHOR> The original eveloper response here: <http://www.vlambeer.com/2011/08/08/encouragement/>

and there's a storm brewing about it on twitter if you look for Gamenauts (<http://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%22gamenauts%22>)

or #NinjaFishing (<http://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%22ninja%20fishing%22>).

</comment><comment><USER2> _Certainly, Gamenauts gets a design that has already proved popular with audiences, but is that really enough incentive to destroy your reputation?_

I think he's overestimating how much people in general care about clones. Sure, in indie game developer circles, their reputation is stained. But most people are not aware, and even if they are, most don't give a shit. Ninja Fishing is now the top #13 paid app on the App Store.

That said, maybe with this backlash the press and distribution channels will start giving a fuck.

<comment><AUTHOR> It's actually #7 right now, ahead of Tiny Wings and one of the Angry Birds variations.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> There are so many games that wouldn't exist today if people couldn't use the same idea... I just can't imagine ANY game developer getting their panties in a wad over it. So long as you don't use any copyrighted materials, it's all fair game. That's what competition is. Deal with it.

<comment><USER4> When does it cross a line? A certain IOS developer has made money hand over first 100% copying Ragdoll Cannon ([http://www.kongregate.com/games/Johnny_K/ragdoll-cannon- rema...](http://www.kongregate.com/games/Johnny_K/ragdoll-cannon-remake)) into a game that was so popular, it spawned a sequel.

Is that ok?

The original developer saw $0 from that as far as I know.

<comment><USER5> Why didn't the original developer make his own iOS version? Can he really complain?

<comment><USER4> This was pretty early on... 2008 I think.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This type of activity occurs in physical products as well. If company A has excellent distribution and company B has limited distribution, but a great product, company A will replicate it and sell it across their distribution network.

Engineers and shareholders at company B will have a similar reaction that we do here in that it feels unconfortable, but it is legal (or at least no financially feasibly legal to go after) and the practice will continue.

The lesson here is that there is a lot of value in your distribution network and you should focus time there while innovating great games.

</comment><comment><USER2> More coverage: [http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2011/07/21/radical-fishing- an...](http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2011/07/21/radical-fishing-and-the-case- of-the-app-store-clone/)

Quote: _Moral of the story: If you want to support creative, independent developers, avoid "Ninja Fishing" and wait for "Ridiculous Fishing." The only way to discourage this sort of action is to hurt copycats in the wallet, so make your voice heard._

</comment><comment><USER7> I think the canonical example of this would be how Rovio found the inspiration for "Angry Birds" in the flash game "Crush the Castle".

<comment><USER8> Meh, launching objects at structures to collapse them is a pretty common concept. Catching fish, throwing them in the air and shooting them is a bit different I guess.

I find it very strange that in this crazy age of software patent mutual destruction, cloning games is such an open field.

<comment><USER9> And vice versa, that the same crowd that is violently anti-patent (in the majority) is also perpetually upset (in the majority) when a game of lovable developer X,Y,Z gets copied.

<comment><USER8> Agreed. Although I have to admit, I also find the idea of someones creative concept being copied far more offensive than setting out to solve a common problem and adopting the same solution as someone else.

<comment><USER9> How so? Game design is not inherently more creative than e.g. developing algorithms.

<comment><USER8> I'd agree with you if it were a case of literally taking the source code from someone else's creative algorithm and copying it. So in the same way people find it offensive to copy someone else's fish shooting concept it would be offensive to straight copy the RSA algorithm and claim it as your own.

But it seems like 99% of software patent issues are about two people sitting down to solve the same common problem and independently writing their own algorithms that achieve a similar solution.

A case of people simultaneously converging on the optimum solution to a problem and implementing that solution themselves seems like a complete non- issue and what progress looks like to me but that's what most the current fuss seems to be about.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Bokeh 1.0 Released - <AUTHOR> https://bokeh.github.io/blog/2018/10/24/release-1-0-0/ <comment><USER2> After 5 years and 40 releases, the Bokeh plotting library for Python has reached version 1.0 API stability.</comment>


Offer HN: Free logo design for hackers - <AUTHOR>

Hey guys,
I recently launched my humble portfolio www.heynico.com and as part of the celebration (?) I'm offering free branding design for 3 startups. Yeah. I will fully design your logo for 0$. This will work on first come, first serve basis.
To participate you just need to upvote this and leave a message here.
Also, I would be taking clients for User Interface and Branding design with an über discount to those who mention Hacker News on the mail.
So, check out my portfolio and drop me a line. <comment><USER2> I'm interested. I understand there isn't any compromise - I mean, your design can be or not the definitive used. I'll email you with more details!

</comment><comment><USER3> Hello Nico, I'd be interested in your services. I'll shoot you an email.

</comment><comment><USER4> I'm interested! Portfolio is amazing, I've just sent you an email.

</comment><comment><USER5> Hi there, I'm interested. Emailed you.

</comment><comment><USER6> We at filepicker.io are interested

</comment><comment><USER7> Hey Nico, sent you an email

</comment><comment><USER8> Awesome emailing.

</comment><comment><USER9> Hate that I missed it, but good luck Niico.

The new site is gorgeous, FYI. Also, it got me to look at your updated Dribbble. I see you've been busy. Grats all around!</comment>