Elixir deployments on AWS - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/mint-digital/elixir-deployments-on-aws-ee787aa02a9d#.6sl1vuybf <comment><USER2> AWS is a future target for the nanobox.io Elixir project.

update: Ah, Didn't realize it was already released. How quickly things progress! Thanks for the update, folks.

<comment><USER3> I'm part of the core Nanobox team ([https://nanobox.io](https://nanobox.io)). Members of our team were instrumental in introducing releases in Elixir and helped to lay the foundation for exrm.

Elixir deploys are currently functional, but we're working with the Elixir community to really fine-tune the process (including hot-code-reloads).

DigitalOcean has been supported for a few months now. AWS support was just released yesterday.

<comment><USER4> Can someone explain the pricing page? How do i get unlimited servers for $99?

<comment><USER5> Nanobox is a portable "micro" PaaS, we don't provide servers, we integrate with your host of choice and provision servers for you. The cost and number of servers your application needs/uses is between you and your host (AWS, DO, etc).

The $99 you pay to Nanobox is for the use of the Nanobox Dashboard to manage your application on your host (Nanobox Desktop is free).

<comment><USER6> Nanobox is free for developers to use for personal and open source projects.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Anything similar for Digital Ocean? Also, it's my understanding that Elixir/ErlangVM deployments do not require the use of NGINX. Is this true?

<comment><USER8> Correct. Erlang's Cowboy webserver can be included as part of the code base and is actually a built in part of the Phoenix framework.

For what it's worth though, that doesn't mean you shouldn't use nginx. It's easier to configure, very fast, faster than Cowboy for static file serving and small enough that it's usually a good idea to setup nginx as a reverse proxy in front of cowboy. Just let it handle the static files and ssl.

Cowboy can do all of these things, but one of the many lessons of Elixir is that just because you can doesn't mean you should. :-)

<comment><USER9> Could you elaborate on that? How would one accept the tradeoff of having one more piece of software to manage vs performance or other considerations? I've heard cowboy does a pretty solid job serving requests, even static files (although not as good as Nginx).

<comment><USER8> That's basically what it boils down too. Cowboy is more of a pain to configure update and manage so it's less of a choice of managing another piece of software vs choosing which one you want to manage. With Phoenix using Cowboy under the hood you'll never actually touch it.

At that point it just becomes a matter of "do I want to configure nginx or cowboy?"

If you have SSL at the load balancer and you're using a CDN for assets then it's less compelling. If you're looking to deploy a full encapsulated binary (server and all) then avoiding nginx makes sense.

That's basically it though.

<comment><USER10> I disagree. I worked with both Nginx and Cowboy for quite some time, and I don't think that Cowboy is harder to "configure, update and manage." I had opposite impression.

I like Nginx very much, by the way - I was very happy when I switched from Apache to Nginx and I never looked back. Nginx is still my default choice for serving static files, as a frontend for Python (and similar) applications, as a (reverse) proxy, etc. However, I don't feel the need for it when working with Erlang or Elixir, exactly because of Cowboy.

Cowboy is not as fast, but it still is _quite_ performant, even for static files handling. I don't have the numbers, and I can't seem to find a relevant comparison (there's one against Node.js and Tornadoweb here: [http://www.ostinelli.net/a-comparison-between-misultin- mochi...](http://www.ostinelli.net/a-comparison-between-misultin-mochiweb- cowboy-nodejs-and-tornadoweb/)) right now, unfortunately.

However, upgrading and management of Cowboy are either on the same level as Nginx or simpler. The upgrade process has two steps: change version in mixfile and re-fetch deps, done. I know that it's one step more than plain apt-get, but it's not that complicated, either.

As for management, Cowboy has an advantage that you can configure it in a Turing complete language (with clear semantics - recall if or allow/deny semantics in Nginx config), not only by initial configuration but also by writing handlers, where you can do arbitrary processing. It's also runtime configurable and hot-swappable (you can reload Nginx config, you can't (AFAIK) replace the currently running nginx with newer version "in place", you need to restart it).

On the other hand, Cowboy has much less built-in functionalities, which is why I said it's not good for example for being a plain proxy - you'd need to write your own handler module for that, while in Nginx it's a one proxy_pass directive and it will be faster to boot. However, when you have an Elixir app and you want to just serve some static assets in addition to the app itself I think it's completely fine to rely on Cowboy for this.

Of course, the advantage of Turing-complete language disappears if you use OpenResty. It allows you to write your app _inside_ Nginx in Lua. I used it in a few cases and it was quite pleasant experience, however, then the Elixir backend becomes unnecessary...

So, to summarize: I think that you don't need Nginx if you use Erlang/Elixir for your backend and that you gain almost nothing if you do include it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I'm currently using Heroku right now because everything else seemed so hard to setup for me. This is good news to see so much effort poured into improving that part!

<comment><USER12> Have you tried anything besides Heroku?

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> > Not an option on Heroku; Heroku will restart dynos as part of deployment, > again losing state.

Do heroku's custom buildpacks not allow you to prevent restarting the dyno?

<comment><AUTHOR> Not to my knowledge, Heroku claim to restart dynos on any release: [https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/dynos#automatic- dyno-r...](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/dynos#automatic-dyno- restarts)

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Interesting, I was just needing this article... Thank you</comment>


Leakers, privacy activists find new home in Berlin - <AUTHOR> http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/leakers-privacy-activists-find-new-home-in-berlin/2013/11/26/272dc7fc-4e1d-11e3-97f6-ed8e3053083b_story.html <comment><USER2> I can't decide if this is happy or sad. On the one hand, it's great that a country that was once dominated by a totalitarian regime is a hub of new ideas about freedom of information and what government responsibility really means. On the other hand, it's really sad that one of the countries who fought so hard against that totalitarianism is no longer considered safe for these people.

If we weren't fighting for a world where citizens can speak up about the crimes of their governments, what were we fighting for?

<comment> barry-cotter _If we weren 't fighting for a world where citizens can speak up about the crimes of their governments, what were we fighting for?_

The destruction of our enemies, the annihilation of their ideology, the power of our ruling class. Ideals are overwhelmingly window dressing or there would be a hell of a lot more Edward Snowden's. Surely at least one per cent of the people the NSA recruit each year are as close to being raging hippies as you can get while joining the military industrial complex. And Snowden was the second NSA whistle blower, what, ever?

Ideals are window dressing. The Democrats were anti-war, then Obama was elected and the movement evaporated. This is how humans roll. Ideologues mostly get beaten, shot, ignored. A prophet is never hailed in his own land. Look at the vitriol RMS gets when he has been right again and again and again.

<comment><USER3> Who is "RMS"?

Edit: Ah never mind, searched for "who is RMS", got Richard Stallman.

<comment><USER4> [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stallman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stallman)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Speaking of privacy and Berlin, if you're interested in the former and located in the latter, next weekend: [http://www.boell.de/en/whatever-happened- privacy](http://www.boell.de/en/whatever-happened-privacy)

<comment><USER6> Any idea on the number of attendees? i.e. is this expected to be just a very small local meetup? Interested but would need to make extensive travel arrangements asap.</comment></comment>


Free website, domain, donation support, email list for BLM organizers - <AUTHOR> https://empowerment.tools <comment><AUTHOR> We're making Universe Pro free for all organizers, groups, & grassroots movements to support the Black Lives Matter movement. Activists can create a website, take donations, link their social media accounts, and keep an email list. Details here: [http://empowerment.tools](http://empowerment.tools)

For those who don't know about Universe: we're an iOS-based website builder. You can download the app here: [http://apple.co/Universe](http://apple.co/Universe)</comment>


Fugitive spammer dies in murder-suicide - <AUTHOR> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25840140/

<comment><USER2> I think this is the first time reading an article where I honestly don't know what to say.

No poetic justice. Not even the hatred towards the dregs of society that I usually feel in gorey cases.

I don't think I've ever thought of spammers as human. It's odd.

</comment><comment><USER3> spam makes me wanna kill myself sometimes too...

<comment><USER4> I don't think the killer who committed the murder-suicide know who Edward Edison was.</comment></comment>


Make investments for your kids via our app, commission free - <AUTHOR> Hey guys, my team and I are working on an app for parents to invest and build their kids an investment portfolio that educates. We are looking for some beta testers. Please sign up to our waiting list if you're interested - www.loved.com or message me your email, Thanks <comment><USER2> might want to change this to include "Show HN:" so it appears on the show hn page: [https://news.ycombinator.com/show](https://news.ycombinator.com/show)

It'll stay there longer because it wont needto compete with news articles.

Also, you have a typo on your custodial page.. "anyime"

<comment><USER3> Unfortunately, this project doesn't seem to meet the requirements for Show HN:

" _Show HN is for something you 've made that other people can play with. HN users can try it out, give you feedback, and ask questions in the thread.

A Show HN needn't be complicated or look slick. The community is comfortable with work that's at an early stage.

If your work isn't ready for people to try out yet, please don't do a Show HN. Once it's ready, come back and do it then._"

[https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html)

If there's a waiting list to sign up for, it's not really something that people can play around with yet.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks will repost in a few days with an app store link</comment></comment></comment>


Poland has the world's best programmers – and here's proof - <AUTHOR> http://www.web.gov.pl/eng/news/671_4509.html

<comment><USER2> Nice, way to go Poland :).

<comment><AUTHOR> yes, actually polish developers are one of the best!</comment></comment>


OpenStack spins out its Zuul open source CI/CD platform - <AUTHOR> https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/21/openstack-spins-out-its-zuul-open-source-ci-cd-platform/ <comment><USER2> I'm confused. Why is this article talking about it being a CI/CD platform when this Medium article [1] talks about it like an API Gateway with routing features. Surely it's not both?

[1]: [https://medium.com/netflix-techblog/open-sourcing- zuul-2-82e...](https://medium.com/netflix-techblog/open-sourcing- zuul-2-82ea476cb2b3)

Further, the TC article is about Zuul v3, whereas the Netflix blog post from today is announcing Zuul v2? I feel like I must be missing something?

Edit: Just a matter of crazy timing and name conflicts. It appears that they're entirely separate things.

<comment><USER3> They're two different projects: [https://landscape.cncf.io/grouping=landscape&landscape=servi...](https://landscape.cncf.io/grouping=landscape&landscape=service- management,ci-cd&organization=netflix,open-stack)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Link doesn't work for me. I tried using Zuul + Jenkins before as a multi- master Jenkins solution, it was easy to set up but the lack of synchronized build numbers between masters made it a no-go.</comment>


Ask HN: Any good audio podcasts? - <AUTHOR> Many of my favorite tech podcasts seem to be vanishing. What are your favorites and why? <comment><USER2> I'm a big podcast fan. Here are my favorite tech podcasts:

* ATP: [http://atp.fm](http://atp.fm)

* Giant Robots: [http://podcasts.thoughtbot.com/giantrobots](http://podcasts.thoughtbot.com/giantrobots)

* The Changelog: [http://thechangelog.com](http://thechangelog.com) (disclaimer: co-host)

* Ruby Rogues: [http://rubyrogues.com](http://rubyrogues.com)

* Debug: [http://www.imore.com/debug](http://www.imore.com/debug)

Non-tech but also lovely:

* We Have Concerns: [http://wehaveconcerns.com](http://wehaveconcerns.com)

* The New Disruptors: [http://newdisrupt.org](http://newdisrupt.org)

* The Incomparable: [http://www.theincomparable.com](http://www.theincomparable.com)

* IRL Talk: [http://www.irltalk.com](http://www.irltalk.com)

<comment><USER3> What is "We Have Concerns" about, I can't find an About page anywhere on their site. Looks interesting though!

<comment><USER4> From their Patreon page:

 _It 's called We Have Concerns and it's a mix of science, philosophy, and improv comedy. It's also where we get all of our weird out._

[http://www.patreon.com/wehaveconcerns](http://www.patreon.com/wehaveconcerns)

<comment><USER3> Gah, thanks. That kinda stuff should be on the front page though. Subscribed!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> 99% Invisible - [http://99percentinvisible.org/](http://99percentinvisible.org/) You Are Not So Smart - [http://youarenotsosmart.com/](http://youarenotsosmart.com/) NPR Planet Money - [http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/](http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/)

<comment><USER6> 99% invisible has shot up to the highest priority in my playlist. highly recommended

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> In terms of light entertainment I enjoy Merlin Mann's stuff:

Roderick on the line: [http://www.merlinmann.com/roderick/](http://www.merlinmann.com/roderick/)

Back to Work: [http://5by5.tv/b2w](http://5by5.tv/b2w)

<comment><USER8> Thanks for these links! I will have to check them out. This week I have been listening to all the old episodes of "you look nice today" [http://youlooknicetoday.com](http://youlooknicetoday.com)

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Pragmatic: [http://techdistortion.com/podcasts/pragmatic](http://techdistortion.com/podcasts/pragmatic) (nothing to do with the defunct Pragmatic Programmers podcast, straight technology talk; professionally produced; replaced Ruby Rogues as my favorite podcast)

Infinite Monkey Cage: [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00snr0w](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00snr0w) (science, brilliant! no interspersed advertisements)

Hardcore History: [http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/hh](http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/hh) (when I need to get away from technology and science; professionally produced, no interspersed advertisements)

<comment><USER10> Seconding Hardcore History by Dan Carlin. I'm currently going through the Blueprint for Armageddon series, where he gives a passionate and compelling telling of the events leading up to and surrounding World War One.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> These aren't really technical, but they're some of my favourite podcasts.

* Trivia: Good Job, Brain! [http://www.goodjobbrain.com/](http://www.goodjobbrain.com/)

* Video games: Idle Thumbs [https://www.idlethumbs.net/](https://www.idlethumbs.net/) \-- they also had a book club that was fun

* Poetry Magazine podcast: [http://www.poetryfoundation.org/features/audio?show=The%20Po...](http://www.poetryfoundation.org/features/audio?show=The%20Poetry%20Magazine%20Podcast)

* New Yorker podcasts: [http://www.newyorker.com/podcasts](http://www.newyorker.com/podcasts)

</comment><comment><USER12> [http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/](http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/) has lots of good advice. Most importantly, it has a transcript, for those of us who are _not_ fans of audio.

</comment><comment><USER13> My top 5 (in no order):

ted radio hour [http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio- hour/](http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/)

radiolab [http://www.radiolab.org/](http://www.radiolab.org/)

linux outlaws [http://sixgun.org/linuxoutlaws](http://sixgun.org/linuxoutlaws)

techzing [http://techzinglive.com/](http://techzinglive.com/)

accidental tech podcast [http://atp.fm/](http://atp.fm/)

</comment><comment><USER14> \- [http://techzinglive.com](http://techzinglive.com)

\- [http://rocketship.fm/podcast/](http://rocketship.fm/podcast/)

\- [http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/](http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/)

\- [http://www.2600.com/offthehook/archive_ra.html](http://www.2600.com/offthehook/archive_ra.html)

\- [http://bootstrapped.fm/](http://bootstrapped.fm/)

</comment><comment><USER15> Some I listen to regularly: 99 percent invisible, planet money, radiolab, the occasional Nerdist podcast, this american life, Dan Carlin's Hardcore History, Dirtbag Diaries

<comment><USER16> Love Radiolab I would add 1\. Startalk ([http://www.startalkradio.net/](http://www.startalkradio.net/) ) 2\. How stuff works ( [http://www.howstuffworks.com/hsw- podcast.htm](http://www.howstuffworks.com/hsw-podcast.htm) )

to the list

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> There's some interesting Tech podcasts that i'll give a try this week.

Some people might still enjoy some Non-Tech ones below:

* NoAgenda [http://feed.nashownotes.com/rss.xml](http://feed.nashownotes.com/rss.xml)

* The Smartest Man in the World - [http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheSmartest?format=xml](http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheSmartest?format=xml)

<comment><USER18> In the morning! I second No Agenda! I've been listening for _years_. Here are some others (non-tech):

\- Let's Drink About It: [http://www.letsdrinkabout.it/](http://www.letsdrinkabout.it/)

\- The Morning Stream: Geeky morning show, four days a week [http://frogpants.com/tms/](http://frogpants.com/tms/)

\- Back to Work: Merlin Mann (Need I say more?) [http://5by5.tv/b2w](http://5by5.tv/b2w)

\- Ear Biscuits: An interesting look at YouTubers and "new media" folks. Their stories, etc. [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ear- biscuits/id717407884...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ear- biscuits/id717407884?mt=2)

Also, a shameless plug: I've been interviewing developers ranging from Mark Shuttleworth of Canonical to Frederico Knabben of CKEditor. I want to learn from experience. How'd they start their businesses and what knowledge have they accumulated over time? So far, I've racked up 10 interviews. Highlights include:

\- Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical

\- Mitchell Hashimoto, HashiCorp

\- Jeff Haynie, Appcelerator

\- John O'Nolan, Ghost

Here's the latest show: [http://www.binpress.com/blog/2014/09/09/binpress- podcast-epi...](http://www.binpress.com/blog/2014/09/09/binpress-podcast- episode-10-mitchell-hashimoto-hashicorp/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Search for these in your favorite podcast app.

\- Rich Roll Podcast (Lots of life inspiration & healthy eating advice)

\- Tim Ferriss Podcast (Interesting random people and perspectives)

\- An occasional episode of Joe Rogan Experience. I don't find Joe all that highly-intelligent, but I find his views, questions, and interviews interesting and thought-provoking.

\- The Nerdist (Good, informal interviews)

\- Trail Runner Nation

\- Zencast (Everything by Gil Fronsdal)

I don't really listen to any tech podcasts anymore. I'll catch ATP on occasion, but for me they're all a bit of a waste of time, immersed in minutiae. I can catch all of the important bits I want with a 5 minute glance at my Twitter stream, or Techmeme or The Verge or wherever.

I also don't listen to every episode of the above podcasts. The only time I have for podcasts is during commuting and I take frequent breaks from any podcasts/music as a form of commuting meditation, left alone with my thoughts. That happens at least one day a week, and I've gone as long as 3 weeks of commuting in silence, with nothing playing.

</comment><comment><USER20> Techzing: [http://techzinglive.com/](http://techzinglive.com/)

</comment><comment><USER21> Tim Ferriss Show -> [http://fourhourworkweek.com/category/the-tim-ferriss- show/](http://fourhourworkweek.com/category/the-tim-ferriss-show/)

I like Tim's style, very insightful and I think he gets some great guests.

</comment><comment><USER22> I listen to:

bsdtalk: [http://bsdtalk.blogspot.co.uk/](http://bsdtalk.blogspot.co.uk/)

FLOSS Weekly: [http://twit.tv/show/floss-weekly](http://twit.tv/show/floss- weekly)

Tech Weekly: [http://www.theguardian.com/technology/series/techweekly](http://www.theguardian.com/technology/series/techweekly)

Linux Voice: [http://www.linuxvoice.com/category/podcasts/](http://www.linuxvoice.com/category/podcasts/)

Ubuntu UK: [http://podcast.ubuntu-uk.org/](http://podcast.ubuntu-uk.org/)

</comment><comment><USER23> If you're into comedy, I'd recommend Joe Rogan Experience (sometime's gets tech guys), Fighter and the Kid, Monday Morning Podcast with Bill Burr, WTF with Mark Maron.

I find a good laugh important after a long day at work!

<comment><USER24> I second JRE, great podcast and guests. Some of the guests on JRE have their own great podcasts. My preferences are:

\- Duncan Trussell Family hour : duncantrussell.com

\- Chris Ryan - Tangentially speaking : chrisryanphd.com

\- Psychedelic Salon By Lorenzo

<comment><USER23> if you haven't checked out the fighter and the kid, you should. Brenden Schaub (UFC heavyweight) and Bryan Callen. Hilarious

</comment></comment></comment><comment> Xavierf- Unfortunately not exactly tech, but Hello Internet is extremely enjoyable and it's made by some pretty awesome guys.

[http://www.hellointernet.fm/](http://www.hellointernet.fm/)

</comment><comment><USER25> In addition to several of the ones already mentioned by others, I'd include Free as in Freedom - [http://faif.us/](http://faif.us/) \- It covers legal and policy issues in technology (particularly FOSS), rather than technology directly, but I think it fits your question. I find it provides some good depth on issues that aren't covered as fully or as often as on other podcasts, if you are interested in legal issues.

</comment><comment><USER26> TropicalMBA for startup business talk. Nathan Barry Show and Kalzumeus for inspiring, actionable content. Seth Godin's Startup School series is pretty timeless as well.

</comment><comment><USER27> Kinsella on Liberty: [http://www.stephankinsella.com/kinsella-on-liberty- podcast/](http://www.stephankinsella.com/kinsella-on-liberty-podcast/) (often talks about intellectual property in the context of technology)

MKBHD: [https://www.youtube.com/user/marquesbrownlee](https://www.youtube.com/user/marquesbrownlee) (reviews Android phones and talks about various tech news)

</comment><comment><USER28> I'm a big fan of the Daily Tech News Show ([http://www.dailytechnewsshow.com/](http://www.dailytechnewsshow.com/)), and I present a digital startup show that focuses on stories for product-led web and mobile startups, which is called Bootsector ([http://poddle.io/bootsector/](http://poddle.io/bootsector/)).

</comment><comment><USER29> Daily independent news: Democracy Now! <[http://www.democracynow.org/podcast.xml>](http://www.democracynow.org/podcast.xml>)

Entrepreneurship: Stanford's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders lecture series <[http://ecorner.stanford.edu/podcasts.html>](http://ecorner.stanford.edu/podcasts.html>)

</comment><comment><USER30> Bad Voltage: [http://www.badvoltage.org/](http://www.badvoltage.org/)

"Every two weeks Bad Voltage delivers an amusing take on technology, Open Source, politics, music, and anything else we think is interesting, as well as interviews and reviews. The show is presented by Jono Bacon, Jeremy Garcia, Stuart Langridge, and Bryan Lunduke."

</comment><comment><USER31> I've made a site just for this purpose:

[http://www.programmingpodcasts.com](http://www.programmingpodcasts.com)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> To start, one I try not to miss is FLOSS Weekly, which always brings in some interesting free/open source project. There is also the NPR Hourly News Summary and the WSJ Tech News Briefing (which are fairly short), Steve Blank's Customer Development for Startups (always valuable lessons) and Grady Booch's On Computing (always deep).

</comment><comment><USER32> Software Engineering Radio: www.se-radio.net

</comment><comment><USER33> * OWASP Podcast: [https://www.owasp.org/index.php/OWASP_Podcast](https://www.owasp.org/index.php/OWASP_Podcast)

* Security Now: [http://twit.tv/sn](http://twit.tv/sn)

Something you can listen while jogging or cycling, when reading is practically not an option.

</comment><comment><USER34> My regulars:

\- Forever Jobless

\- Mad Marketing with Marcus Sheridan

\- Smart Passive Income with Pat Flynn

\- Empire Flippers

\- The Nathan Berry Show

\- Kalzemus Podcast (like twice a year there is a new ep.)

Those are the ones I haven't got tired of yet.

I used to like Startups For The Rest Of Us and The Foolish Adventure, but I sort of grew out of both of those as they got repetitive or I started to dislike the hosts (familiarity breeds contempt).

<comment><USER35> Thanks for the Empire Flippers shout, Brian. Glad to hear you dig the show.

</comment></comment><comment><USER36> The new Relay.fm podcast network has some good stuff on it, particularly Analogue.

Rich Roll Podcast - Cool if you're into endurance sports, health, spirituality in a general sense.

MTNmeister - Outdoor related podcast (backpacking, climbing, etc.)

Enormocast - Rock climbing podcast, interview style.

BS Report with Bill Simmons - Sports focused.

Debug - Tech related.

DLC - Gaming related (video and tabletop)

</comment><comment><USER37> * Sound Opinions: [http://www.soundopinions.org](http://www.soundopinions.org) \- best music podcast on the web

* All Songs Considered: [http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/](http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/) \- another good music podcast

</comment><comment><USER38> I currently follow The Java Posse and Android Developers Backstage. Both have great hosts and are newish.

[http://www.javaposse.com/](http://www.javaposse.com/) [http://androidbackstage.blogspot.com/](http://androidbackstage.blogspot.com/)

</comment><comment><USER39> Radiolab: [http://www.radiolab.org/](http://www.radiolab.org/)

</comment><comment><USER40> Revolutions by Mike Duncan, who also did The History of Rome.

[http://www.revolutionspodcast.com/](http://www.revolutionspodcast.com/)

[http://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/](http://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/)

</comment><comment><USER41> Two of my routine podcasts include > APM Marketplace > BBC's from our own correspondent - [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qjlq](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qjlq)

</comment><comment><USER42> Not exactly tech, but Found this few days ago.

This is a series about what happens when someone who knows nothing about business starts one. It's called StartUp.

[http://hearstartup.com/](http://hearstartup.com/)

</comment><comment><USER43> * stuff you should know * the daily show podcast * product people * the changelog

</comment><comment><USER44> I highly recommend "History of Philosophy without any gaps": [http://www.historyofphilosophy.net/all- episodes](http://www.historyofphilosophy.net/all-episodes)

</comment><comment><USER45> NodeUp [http://nodeup.com/](http://nodeup.com/)

I use node regularly for side projects and this podcast is both educational in Node's history and use, as well as inspirational.

</comment><comment><USER46> [http://thisweekinstartups.com](http://thisweekinstartups.com) from @jason .. extremely good. Not techy though. I'd say it's more of a business podcast.

</comment><comment><USER47> I would biased-ly recommend javapubhouse.com (I host it). Is a tech dive on a Java topic that you can listen while on the radio/threadmill (you can close your eyes and follow the code) :)

</comment><comment><USER48> This week in TWiT (TWiT.tv) hosted by Leo Laporte on Sundays is a good panel show and they cover a broad range of topics. I listen to thw audio version but it is technically a video netcast.

</comment><comment><USER49> Alex Blumberg (This American Life & Planet Money) - StartUp podcast - [http://www.hearstartup.com](http://www.hearstartup.com)

</comment><comment><USER50> A similar question has been asked two months ago:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8041789](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8041789)

</comment><comment><USER51> [http://backspace.fm/](http://backspace.fm/) is a tech podcast in Japanese, in case anyone speaks or learns this language.

</comment><comment><USER52> Not a tech podcast, but a bunch of 25 minutes music slices designed for pomodoros: [http://tech.no.com](http://tech.no.com)

</comment><comment><USER53> I've been listing to dev-hell[1] and I'm really enjoying it.

[1][http://devhell.info/](http://devhell.info/)

</comment><comment><USER54> I'm an avid podcast listener, and here are some of my favourites off the top of my head:

Radio Lab (science) -- [http://www.radiolab.org/](http://www.radiolab.org/)

THE science show to listen to. If you're going to listen to anything from this list, this is the show to listen to. It's very well produced and always interesting. Their most controversial show was Yellow Rain ([http://www.radiolab.org/story/239549-yellow- rain/](http://www.radiolab.org/story/239549-yellow-rain/)).

</comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment>===

Freakonomics (science/economics) -- [http://freakonomics.com/](http://freakonomics.com/)

I often consider this show to be Radio Lab's counterpart. Their headline is "exploring the hidden side of everything". Every single episode is fascinating (here is the show "Cobra Effect" to get you started: [http://freakonomics.com/2012/10/11/the-cobra-effect-a-new- fr...](http://freakonomics.com/2012/10/11/the-cobra-effect-a-new-freakonomics- radio-podcast/)). The shows all lean toward a very economist-like way of looking at things, so unless you're in the field, you'll enjoy much of the insights that come about because of this.

</comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment>===

Planet Money (economics) -- [http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/](http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/)

Just a well-produced podcast about money and its long-reaching tendrils. Shows usually focus on interesting stories about money/finance that are in the "background" and go otherwise unnoticed by the population at large.

</comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment>===

TED Radio Hour (everything) -- [http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio- hour/](http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/)

Basically a radio version of TED talks. However! It's very well produced and every show is basically _made_ for radio. It's not just TED talks with the video part stripped out.

</comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment>===

This American Life (everything) -- [http://www.thisamericanlife.org/](http://www.thisamericanlife.org/)

The most downloaded podcast for a reason.

</comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment>===

The Irrelevant Show (comedy) -- [http://www.cbc.ca/irrelevantshow/](http://www.cbc.ca/irrelevantshow/)

Fantastic comedy sketch group from Canada. Their most famous cast member is probably Mark Meer (Shepard's voice actor in the Mass Effect games). While some of their sketches can fall flat, more often than not they make me smile. Their humour has a very Canadian slant, so unless you're living in Canada, sketches about, say, Canadian law and politics, might be a little more difficult to decipher. :)

</comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment>===

Wait Wait Don't Tell Me (comedy) -- [http://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait- dont-tell-me/](http://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/)

The only show that actually manages to consistently make me laugh out loud in public. It's a news trivia show with a panel of well-established comedians and writers that participate in the game. Highly recommended.

</comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment>===

Honourable mentions include:

To the Best of Our Knowledge -- [http://www.ttbook.org/](http://www.ttbook.org/)

Snap Judgement -- [http://snapjudgment.org/](http://snapjudgment.org/)

Intelligence Squared -- [http://www.intelligencesquared.com/](http://www.intelligencesquared.com/)

Science Friday -- [http://www.sciencefriday.com/](http://www.sciencefriday.com/)

Ask Me Another -- [http://www.npr.org/programs/ask-me- another/](http://www.npr.org/programs/ask-me-another/)

</comment><comment><USER55> I have been a listener of Red Bar for a couple years now - www.redbarradio.net

Give it three episodes because you'll hate it after one.

</comment><comment><USER56> Philosophy Walks - light-hearted but clever and intelligent intros to philsophers

Great Lives - 20 minute biographies of famous dead people

</comment><comment><USER4> Personally, I find most tech podcasts annoying. The ones I still follow are the Java Posse, Hanselminutes and SE Radio.

</comment><comment><USER57> Great Microsoft podcast - [http://msdevshow.com/](http://msdevshow.com/)

</comment><comment><USER58> BBC World Service _._ BBC Radio 4 _._

Those two alone are more than sufficient to fill your time and fill your brain.

</comment><comment><USER59> Accidental Tech Podcast - [http://atp.fm](http://atp.fm)

</comment><comment><USER60> ATP Radiolab Occasionally, iPhreaks (although quality has gotten iffy since it started)

</comment><comment><USER43> * stuff you should know * the daily show podcast * product people

</comment><comment><USER61> It's not technical like the many posted here but as the name suggests, it's quite interesting:

[http://www.damninteresting.com/damn- audio/](http://www.damninteresting.com/damn-audio/)

</comment><comment><USER62> My three favourite podcasts are:

* Startups for the rest of us

* Bootstrapped with kids

* Freakonomics

</comment><comment><USER63> I like a lot of the Jupiter Broadcasting lineup. TechSnap

Linux Action Show

Unfilter

Coder-Radio

...etc.</comment>


The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/magazine/the-lawyer-who-became-duponts-worst-nightmare.html <comment><USER3> The title of this piece does not reflect its contents. So far, according to the article, DuPont has been forced to pay less than $100 million in damages for a chemical that resulted in $1 billion plus annual profits. Personal injury suits are ongoing, but "At the rate of four trials a year, DuPont would continue to fight PFOA cases until the year 2890."

The lawyer sounds incredibly and understandably frustrated with the situation:

"The thought that DuPont could get away with this for this long," Bilott says, his tone landing halfway between wonder and rage, "that they could keep making a profit off it, then get the agreement of the governmental agencies to slowly phase it out, only to replace it with an alternative with unknown human effects — we told the agencies about this in 2001, and they've essentially done nothing."

A better title would be: "Through effective legal strategy, DuPont delays outlays for pollution effects"

<comment><USER4> that wouldn't have been a catchy enough title to make me read the story.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I did an undergraduate in Chemistry, and I occasionally get the question of, "Is X bad for me," or "Will Y give me cancer?" My response is always that our modern world is bad for you. There are millions (maybe billions) of chemicals produced by thousands of companies. Most are probably harmless. But it only takes one or two being really bad for you to get sick. PFOA is one more to add to this list of shit that's not good for you. Most people are lucky enough to not be Wilbur Tennant and live right next to a chemical dump that poisons their water. But most people do get low doses of chemicals like PFOA. And they probably get low doses of another thousand things that are just as deadly, but unknown. We live in a poisoned world, but its not poisoned enough to kill the people that make the decisions, yet.

<comment><USER6> "My response is always that our modern world is bad for you."

Is there any other place or time that would be less bad? Going back through history:

\- In the 20th century, factories were far dirtier than today; the gasoline was still full of lead; London had its infamous killer smogs ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog);](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog\);) rivers routinely caught on fire from industrial waste ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuyahoga_River);](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuyahoga_River\);) etc.

\- In the 19th century, all kinds of common products (especially medicines) were hideously toxic. Mercury was used to make hats, so people became "mad as a hatter" from heavy metal poisoning. Famous artists painted with arsenic paint ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_green](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_green)). Abraham Lincoln's doctors gave him mercury poisoning ([http://www3.uah.es/farmamol/The%20Pharmaceutical%20Century/C...](http://www3.uah.es/farmamol/The%20Pharmaceutical%20Century/Ch1.html)). There's a history book called "The Arsenic Century: How Victorian Britain Was Poisoned at Home, Work, & Play" ([http://www.amazon.com/The-Arsenic-Century- Victorian-Poisoned...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Arsenic-Century-Victorian- Poisoned/dp/0199605998)).

\- In the 16th century, the popularity of pale skin lead women to use lead- based pale makeup, with accompanying lead poisoning and skin damage ([http://www.elizabethancostume.net/makeup.html](http://www.elizabethancostume.net/makeup.html)).

\- In Roman times, lead was ubiquitous. Of course, lead was used for the plumbing which carried the water supply. But just in case that wasn't enough, they would boil juice in lead pots to create "sugar of lead", which was used as a sweetener in cooking ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead(II)_acetate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead\(II\)_acetate)).

\- Even in hunter-gatherer times, all kinds of naturally occurring substances would have been toxic. Poisonous plants were ubiquitous, as were poisonous substances in the water (drunk straight from the river or pond, remember). "Clostridia bacteria, for example, live in the soil but infect humans in a variety of nasty ways. These germs will grow on food, leaving the toxins that cause botulism".

<comment><USER7> You missed by far the biggest one: wood cook fires / hearths (or animal dung, or whatever).

The vast majority of all people who ever lived (including a great number still today across the developing world) dealt with much worse air pollution, in the form of wood smoke, than the worst cigarette cloud you'll ever find in a bar, or the worst smog you'll ever find in a coal-powered city.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> _PFOA was only one of more than 60,000 synthetic chemicals that companies produced and released into the world without regulatory oversight. ... Under the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, the E.P.A. can test chemicals only when it has been provided evidence of harm. This arrangement, which largely allows chemical companies to regulate themselves, is the reason that the E.P.A. has restricted only five chemicals, out of tens of thousands on the market, in the last 40 years._

Staggering. This is regulatory theater that makes the TSA version look like a pre-school play.

<comment><USER9> My company is regulated by the EPA, so I was surprised by this statement and sent it to my lawyer to ask why the EPA often asks for tests for my products which are also regulated by TSCA but for which they have no evidence of harm. Turns out it's highly misleading as this statement only applies to chemicals in use before the EPA was setup in the 1970's. Those and naturally occurring chemicals were automatically added to the TSCA inventory (about 70,000 on the list). New chemicals do have to get approved for use. Clearly duponts cover up is egregious, but another way to read the fact that only five have been restricted is that many of the others are safe for their intended use. I can testify that EPA testing is pretty thorough, at least for small companies like mine.

<comment><USER10> I hate to be that cynic but it sounds like you need better conections like Dupont. You are probably not contributing political donations to the right people...etc. etc.

<comment><USER9> Sadly I don't think your cynicism is misplaced. I'm just back from a trip to Washington where the advice we got was essentially setup an industry group and hire a lobbyist. Am curious to see if it makes things easier.

<comment><USER11> Setting up and industry group and hiring a lobbyist is not at all the same thing as making wink wink campaign donations.

Having done work in the environmental space, I do think the cynicism is misplaced. EPA isn't constrained because of well placed campaign donations. It's constrained because a huge part of the country believes that God literally gave us the earth to use up and considers any environmental regulation to be unamerican. Not to mention that every attempt at regulation is met with the same response: "it'll kill jobs."

Do big chemical companies have lots of lobbyists? Sure. Their job is to point out to Congresscritters every bit of uncertainty in the science (of which there is a lot), to reinforce what they already believed. Those companies don't need to make big donations to get their way--they just have to tell Congresspeople how many good blue collar factory jobs they create in their district. It's the environmental groups that really benefit from lobbying.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Rob Bilott is indeed a hero.

But damn, "PFOA was only one of more than 60,000 synthetic chemicals that companies produced and released into the world without regulatory oversight".

Consider breast cancer. One of the risk factors is nulliparity (having borne no children). There's also an inverse association between breast cancer risk and parity (number of children). One of the mechanisms for that, it seems, is that lipophilic organic pollutants are mobilized from womens' fat during pregnancy and lactation. People are born with ~20% of typical lifetime doses of such pollutants.

Human breast milk cannot be sold commercially. One reason is that it's too contaminated with organic pollutants. Life is funny.

</comment><comment><USER13> Out of the article, I was most impressed by the tenacity of the lawyer in question, Bilott, and his law firm, Taft, for their willingness to keep him as a partner.

Thank you. A few good men, indeed.

</comment><comment><USER14> It makes me really sad how big corporations use the power they have to cover, fight and (sometimes) get away with practices that translate into money for them at the expense of everything else. We have been told since always how we humans will once destroy earth, how one day clean air will be sold as a luxury. Now we can see it happening everywhere, I remember have read that the most contamination California gets it is from China. China effectively destroyed the environment for making money. And then you are remembered how this money doesn't go to the everyday Joe, but to the 1%, who doesn't pay taxes (which are by definition a way of wealth redistribution) therefore destroying preventing Joe again for getting a better life, who also has a worst life because his environment has been destroyed.

<comment><USER15> All true. Just don't forget that Joe is complicit each time he chooses that "roll-back" at Walmart and saves a buck over the more responsibly produced item(1).

(1) Of course you could argue that Joe can't tell the difference and is too bad off financially for it to matter anyway.

<comment><USER16> We're just as much to blame every time we whip out or iPhone -- ([http://www.cnet.com/news/riots-suicides-and-other-issues- in-...](http://www.cnet.com/news/riots-suicides-and-other-issues-in-foxconns- iphone-factories/)) not only involves working conditions so bad that people are driven to literally jump off the roof of the building so frequently that managers placed a net down, but the production of semi-conductors involves tons of rare-earth metals like yttrium.

One could argue a cabin-style zero-impact lifestyle would be the ethically sound thing to do, but the land you purchase to till was the result of systemic genocide and internment of tons of Native Americans (modern estimates between 76 million down to less than a quarter million over 4 centuries - obviously not all by the sword but those are still Stalin-esque numbers) over the course of a few centuries which makes the loss WW2 genocide look like a joke.

I really can't blame China for doing what any nation does as they progress into an industrialized 'first world' society. Travesties occur on all sorts of level in the pursuit of 'national progress' set by the agenda of a few tens of thousands of people. The populace isn't any more guilty than you and I are of the half a million deaths in Iraq. And I don't think those who are polluting are doing anything different than what the US did as we Manifest-Destiny'd our way through the country, reaping coal, oil, timber, tobacco, and cotton, without which our nation wouldn't have had the funding to progress into what we are (for better or worse..)

<comment><USER17> > We're just as much to blame every time we whip out or iPhone -- > ([http://www.cnet.com/news/riots-suicides-and-other-issues- > in-...](http://www.cnet.com/news/riots-suicides-and-other-issues-in-...)) > not only involves working conditions so bad that people are driven to > literally jump off the roof of the building

But it's not clear that the suicide rate is higher than the rest of the population.

> so frequently that managers placed a net down

That's a good thing. Restricting access to means and methods is a mainstream bit of suicide prevention. For tall buildings this means putting the telephone number for suicide prevention helplines around, and putting fences up, and installing nets if fences can't be put in place.

Of course, that's only the beginning, so if you're complaining that that's all they do then I agree, they need to do more.

But putting nets up is more than many places do. How many multistory car parks do you see that have easy access - no fencing, no netting?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> So the total amount paid by DuPont was less than $100 million? Even with thousand of personal-injury cases pending this sounds like pocket change to a company with over $30 billions in revenues. How is this supposed to deter others?

<comment><USER19> The (very low) cost of doing business.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> This is worst that the situation with asbestos. My grand father died by a lung cancer, probably related to asbestos. He worked on a factory, many years, using it without any kind of protective suit. Far as I know, nearly all co- workes that he had, has been dying like flys this lasts decades.

I hope that DuPont's get sued to the oblivion.

</comment><comment><USER21> Here's a great clip of Milton Friedman answering a question from a young Michael Moore about a similar issue, the exploding Ford Pinto debacle. The uploader put a childish title, but the video itself is good. [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VdyKAIhLdNs](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VdyKAIhLdNs)

It's not a directly analogous situation, but it's easy to forget that there _is_ a level of toxins that we prefer, over paying a lot more or not being able to have certain goods at all. Trying to deceive the public about the risks, however, is inexcusable.

<comment><USER22> >but it's easy to forget that there is a level of toxins that we prefer, over paying a lot more or not being able to have certain goods at all //

Profit motive is the part you've missed out there. Often we could have the goods, with less toxic effluent produced, at the same price but with less profit to the capital holders. So yes whilst the poor could forgo more "luxuries" it would in general be far easier for those who are richer to forgo relatively extreme luxuries. The greatest impact is probably made from the top end. I can refuse to buy Nestle products forever but it doesn't make a difference to Nestles terrible production and marketing practices at all - <USER2> if one major shareholder takes the same stand then the ethics of the company can be changed rapidly.

In the UK we've seen some companies who appeared to be acting not only for profit taken over by larger international corporations that seem to seek nothing else - I'm thinking Cadbury taken over by Kraft - with [my perception being:] an immediate reduction in quality of produce, apparent manipulation of product weights (thinner bars of chocolate look the same size on the shelf; differently moulded bars have less chocolate but look the same size), apparent reduction in use of Fairtrade ingredients, increased prices. None of that needed to happen, Cadbury were profitable already. It's not _just_ down to the consumer; Kraft have after all reduced consumer choice with their takeover.

In general if companies with poor ethics get more profit (eg by abusing the environment) then those companies can forceably takeover companies with better ethics.

<comment><USER21> A company that's willing to make a product for a 20% margin might not be willing to make that same product for a 5% margin. Would you put all of your savings in an account with 1% interest and zero-risk? The opportunity cost is important too. Also, remember that your pay as an employee depends on the success of the company, just as much as the dividends for the owners do. Not to mention that the owners include just about all of society, through mutual funds, pension funds, and retirement accounts. The more you raise burdens to business and profit, the poorer your society gets.

That's not to say we shouldn't regulate pollution, but we can't ignore the trade-offs involved. It's not just a matter of the rich taking less of a cut; that's not how it works.

<comment><USER22> >A company that's willing to make a product for a 20% margin might not be willing to make that same product for a 5% margin. //

Generally those doing the actual manufacture are probably perfectly happy to do it if they get the same wage. The share-holders perhaps won't want to invest, but then we're back to profit motive.

A company can in theory continue to pay all the employees and make zero profit, it can succeed in all it's goals except in paying out a large return for investors.

<comment><USER21> Even if, in theory, you can have a static society by forcing everyone to keep doing what they're currently doing--which you can't, because many peoples' business is providing services to new or closing businesses, and any unexpected events will cause cascading effects that your static society can't accommodate--I don't see how that's at all desirable or relevant to real economic issues.

And of course the profit motive is central. It's the whole reason why anyone makes products in the first place.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Related story and comments, 5 months ago: _The Teflon Toxin (firstlook.org)_ [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10045156](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10045156)

<comment><USER24> The real article (that this was ripped from): [https://theintercept.com/2015/08/11/dupont-chemistry- decepti...](https://theintercept.com/2015/08/11/dupont-chemistry-deception/)

<comment><USER25> Not a rip; theintercept.com and firstlook.org are the same organization.

<comment><USER24> I know, the NYTimes article is a rip. But any additional exposure is good. So I would not hold it against them.

<comment><USER25> Ah, I see what you meant now. Scoping ambiguity of "this" :)

<comment><USER24> .bind(NYTimes)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> There are a lot of things in this world that we have because somewhere a big sacrifice is being made. This case with DuPont is one of many, where chemical companies have taken the liberty to sacrifice something they don't have to right to, so that they can profit but also so things can be made. So many of the products we use everyday are most likely tainted in hidden scandals. Just google what Unilever has been doing in India with mercury. We have to make these companies accountable and stop using there products until better methods to produce it are developed. Its equivalent to me saying "Hey give up oil, it damages everything."

<comment><USER18> What if instead DuPont followed proper disposal practices like recommended by the supplier of the chemical?

> Though PFOA was not classified by the government as a hazardous substance, > 3M sent DuPont recommendations on how to dispose of it. It was to be > incinerated or sent to chemical-waste facilities. DuPont's own instructions > specified that it was not to be flushed into surface water or sewers.

There's nothing noble here, just a company being greedy. We could still have those things you are referring to but without the costs to the public.

<comment><USER27> And 3M people made the chemical without caring if it would be handled safely.

<comment><USER28> 3M also had the wherewithal to stop making the chemical when the effects became official, so DuPont went out and started making it themselves. Nice work, DuPont.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> Meanwhile the European Commission dropped plans to regulate endocrine- disrupting substances after corporate pressure.

<comment><USER30> Interesting, got a source?

<comment><USER29> There was a documentary on the subject entitled _Endocrination_.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> This is quite interesting next to the kind of exposure that VW is getting and the kind of fines involved there.

<comment><USER19> That's because VW explicitly bypassed regulations that the government is allowed to place on vehicle emissions. How we got to a place where chemical regulations are near impossible to create and enforce is the maddening part.

<comment><USER31> Exhaust gases are chemistry.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> Fascinating read - long, but worth it. It's always interesting to see how far people are willing to go for financial gain.

</comment><comment><USER33> What I found interesting with this article is the payout from the class action suit. The lawyers received $21.7 million dollars, while 70,000 plaintiffs all received $400 a piece. 70,000 * 400 is 28 million dollars. So out of approximately $50 million dollars, the lawyers kept over 40% and split the rest 70,000 ways resulting in each plaintiff getting just a little over a week's worth of work at minimum wage.

</comment><comment><USER34> Corporations are notional entities, granted rights by a government. The government owes them little in the way of human rights, so how is it so difficult for a government to impose sanctions on a misbehaving corporation?

The US is in poor company as a country that has a death penalty for humans, where is the list of corporate offences that justify a dissolution of this notional entity? Only Bankruptcy?

<comment><USER6> The US sanctions corporations all the time, by levying fines and imposing restrictions. Dissolving DuPont would mean firing 60,000 people - most of whom did nothing wrong - as well as screwing every manufacturer which relies on a DuPont product, most of which are safe when relevant handling guidelines are followed. DuPont makes a huge number of things; from Wikipedia, it's the inventor of "Vespel, neoprene, nylon, Corian, Teflon, Mylar, Kevlar, Zemdrain, M5 fiber, Nomex, Tyvek, Sorona and Lycra", and I'm sure a ton of other stuff.

<comment><USER34> I didn't mean to suggest calling for their dissolution, apologies; but the possibility of it should be a factor in the risk-management and risk/reward decisions the executives make.

<comment><USER12> I do think that there should be a "death penalty" for corporations. Back in the day, before the railroads etc bought off the Supreme Court, incorporation required demonstration of public benefit. Violation of corporate charter was grounds for dissolution.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> Another great reason to buy from small, local companies. Keep it simple, be wary of over-specialization.</comment>


You Need a Password Manager. Yes, You - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/27/smarter-living/wirecutter/why-you-need-a-password-manager-yes-you.html <comment><USER2> I remember unique passwords that are like "ImGoingToThe Beach" and not "ggiid4798hg58ve69htui7tg".

Considering my passwords are usually stolen from websites who aren't very good at security, I don't understand the point of a password manager for my basic use-case.

<comment><AUTHOR> I use a password manager for a couple of reasons.

1\. Can generate crazy long and random passwords and I only have to remember the master password.

2\. One central place for all authentication data. So if I need to change a set of passwords, I can go to my manager and know all the sites I need to change. If I need to remember the password for a site I haven't touched in a while.

3\. More metadata. Things like username, website, email address, security questions, etc. These can all be stored in one location.</comment></comment>


Which platform I must prefer for new startup (RoR, Python, Php, .NetCore)!! - <AUTHOR> I planning a new startup, build cloud based SaaS
1. Database oriented business application forms/grids/reports etc..
2. news aggregation/curation and some NLP; web + mobile (iOS/andoid) app for Media Monitoring
3. Remote learning platform for K12/University (Database, video streaming etc)
I could not decide to start with RubyonRails / PythonDjango / PhpLavarel / DotNetCore?? any ideas? <comment><USER2> None of the tools are going away any time soon, so use what you are already familiar with, but consider ecosystem of libraries for the tasks you'll be facing. Eg. if there are no NLP libraries for PHP, then don't go with that one.</comment>


Two years, 100k wells: Can the movement help solve Bangalore's water crisis? - <AUTHOR> https://bengaluru.citizenmatters.in/million-recharge-wells-biome-friends-of-lakes-rainwater-harvesting-43978 <comment><USER2> Hope Bangalore restores it's lakes as well, it would be nice to have a state/national level policy to ensure that we don't endanger our water bodies and reserves.</comment>


Chinese-owned pork producer getting US bailout to protect it from Chinas tariffs - <AUTHOR> http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-smithfield-china-tariffs-20181109-story.html <comment><USER2> Getting finished ham products for _less than $2 /pound_ is hardly a "bailout".</comment>


The cities of the future are people-friendly cities - <AUTHOR> http://denmark.dk/en/green-living/bicycle-culture/the-cities-of-the-future-are-people-friendly-cities <comment><USER2> By his logic, "cities of the future" are cities of childless families, set exclusively in temperate climate, on flat terrain.

Bicycles are environmentally friendly (BTW, so are electric cars), but they are ultimately a statement of "edge cases are someone else's problem".

Kid sick and needs to be picked up from school couple hills away in 1/2 hour? Depend on someone else with a car. Three toddlers to deliver to childcare and be on time at work? Depend on someone else with a car. Need to get to an older parent that is not feeling well half a city away in the middle of the night? Depend on, yes, someone else with a car (mass transit basically does not work at night even in large cities). Need to have enough groceries for a weekend getaway for a family of five - good luck with your bicycle (or depend on delivery company, or on someone else with a car).

I have to disagree with OP. Cities of the future are cities with abundant personal transportation set over non-planar infrastructure (i.e. many grades, not 2-3 max today) with grade separations for all intersections - or flying cars, powered by non-polluting energy sources.

Until we all get there, let's be mindful that preaching niche transportation options needs to consider real life scenarios, with all their ugly cases, and not only the best case fantasy of their author.

<comment><USER3> You read an article about how nice it is to live in a city where you can get around without a car, and your first thought is "screw that; flying cars"?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> To see this in action I recommend visiting Copenhagen!

I've had many moments in which I thought that it's the most futuristic AND chilled-out city I've ever visited.

<comment><USER5> _I 've had many moments in which I thought that it's the most futuristic AND chilled-out city I've ever visited._

Where are you from and what specifically was it that caught your attention? I've visited Copenhagen many times and to me it seems just like any other nice enough large city.

<comment><USER4> Hi - I'm living in London right now and from Australia.

Mostly what stands out about Copenhagen is the ridiculously extensive cycling infrastructure. Dedicated lanes, signage, signalling, parking...it's amazing. Also the entire culture is about the bike. People looked at me like I was a bit crazy when I didn't (yet) have a bike to get from one venue to another.

Cycling in Australian cities is nothing like it. It would also be impossible to implement it to the same extent in London.

The public transport is also excellent, the education opportunities and nice, open spaces. :)

<comment><USER6> I recommend you visit Finland! We have amasing bike paths also. :)

I think most of the Nordic countries share this trait.

<comment><USER7> Not Norway.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Adsense Guard, how to protect your income - <AUTHOR> http://adsenseguard.com/

<comment><USER2> Genius. If they detect fraud, remove google adds and substite others so you can continue to make money from false clicks while protecting your google revenue. I don't think this will last very long, it will just encourage other add sellers to put measures in place to ban you with little reason.</comment>


Adobe wants you to pay them 40% for iOS Apps - <AUTHOR> http://9to5mac.com/2013/02/13/adobe-taking-10-of-earnings-from-ios-apps-published-using-director-12-is-this-a-bad-trend/

<comment><USER2> Back in the day I made many CD-ROMs with Macromedia Director and it was THE tool of its day. Then Adobe purchased them and like so many other products they didn't invest in it. I'm frankly shocked that they updated Director since most of the Lingo programmers either retired or moved on to ActionScript and Flash.

What's sad is that there's a real market for making apps that can be done with scripting, but this makes me feel uncomfortable trusting Adobe.

</comment><comment><USER3> Title change to "Adobe taking 10 percent of earnings from iOS apps published using Director 12"</comment>


The unexpected impact of Facebook's "seamless sharing" on newspaper sites - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.ft.com/fttechhub/2011/11/unexpected-impact-facebook-newspaper-sites/

<comment><USER2> One consequence for me is that when I see a Guardian or Independent news story in a friend's feed, I no longer click on it, because I know that I can't see it unless I agree to give the paper access to my Facebook account (wtf?) and agree to the "terms of service". At least in the Guardian's case, the catch 22 is that you can't look at the terms of service until you sign up with them. If the story looks interesting enough I'll just google it.</comment>