Rails API is coming to Rails 5 - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/19832 <comment><USER2> Context: [https://rubygems.org/gems/rails- api](https://rubygems.org/gems/rails-api)

This gem was created because this feature was going to be in Rails a few years back, but was pulled out by DHH before release. But, as you can see, he's cool with it now.

<comment><USER3> Why was it pulled before release?

<comment><USER2> It's been a very long time, so I don't remember the specifics, to be honest.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> IMHO this is nice code, nothing against the devs, but I just don't see why its getting added. As someone who has built lots of rails apis, I don't really see any benefit other than perhaps speeding up bootstrapping. But as is, right now its incredibly easy in rails to require the action-X packages you want and setup middleware how you like it. Maybe I'm missing something though...

<comment><USER2> There's a lengthy explanation here: [https://github.com/rails-api/rails- api#why-use-rails-for-jso...](https://github.com/rails-api/rails-api#why-use- rails-for-json-apis)

EDIT: sorry, I mis-read your post. This is just "Why Rails and not Sinatra," not "this is easy enough to do on its own, why bother."

I wasn't directly involved in the decision, so I cant' tell you, to be honest.

<comment><USER5> this justifies the library's existence but does not justify it's inclusion upstream.

<comment><USER6> Because Rails has become bloatware and has been since they lost sight of the future of the web and stagnated on innovating...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This provides some more context: [http://wyeworks.com/blog/2015/4/20/rails- api-is-going-to-be-...](http://wyeworks.com/blog/2015/4/20/rails-api-is-going- to-be-included-in-rails-5/)

</comment><comment><USER8> I love this. I find that Rails-API sometimes does/needs some screwy stuff because it has to be 2nd class citizen. This promotion of it is great news because it will obviously be kept in sync way better.

Regardless, SPAs are fast becoming the best way to develop and this sort of thing (rather than the bandaid of turbolinks) gives me a lot of hope for the future of rails. I can even see rails eventually replacing views with a presenter layer (though something like that would probably wait for 6).

Reminds me of what someone once said about America: "they always do the right thing, after exhausting all other possibilities".

</comment><comment><USER9> There is also sinatra, which has had a stable API for years.

<comment><USER10> Not really: [https://twitter.com/maccaw/status/576437511729221632](https://twitter.com/maccaw/status/576437511729221632)

If you want true stability you probably have to switch to a language with a stronger type system. That Sinatra bug proves that even small codebases can suffer from basic type errors.

<comment><USER11> Actually a good testing suite fixes that issue. It's probably the most bogus "issue" strong type addicts bring up.

<comment><USER12> The only thing better than having tests is not needing tests. That's what a robust type system gives you.

Type systems don't eliminate all testing, but they do eliminate a large swath of possible errors that need to be tested for, like the one that has (had?) been afflicting Sinatra.

<comment><USER13> You might want to watch this talk for some data on this subject: [https://vimeo.com/74354480](https://vimeo.com/74354480)

"Some programming language theorists would have us believe that the one true path to working systems lies in powerful and expressive type systems which allow us to encode rich constraints into programs at the time they are created. If these academic computer scientists would get out more, they would soon discover an increasing incidence of software developed in languages such a Python, Ruby and Clojure which use dynamic, albeit strong, type systems. They would probably be surprised to find that much of this software—in spite of their well-founded type-theoretic hubris—actually works, and is indeed reliable out of all proportion to their expectations."

<comment><USER14> As someone who worked with Ruby since ~1.8.1, has written a ridiculous amount of OSS Ruby and now works mostly in Scala, this is the exact opposite of my experience.

YMMV, but I've never seen the Ruby project that didn't suffer from stupid bugs even the most basic type system would have caught.

One of the biggest advantage of type-systems for me is that they don't suffer from No True Scotsman. If you don't have a test that covered this bug, people are happy to tell you you're doing it wrong. The type-system doesn't have that problem. It doesn't "rot". It expresses only what you tell it to. It enforces maintenance and rigor in a way that tests, as non-integral code, fundamentally can't.

But that's just my opinion man.

<comment><USER9> What's your thought on something like contracts or facebook's flow (for js) ?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Like the concept, but the name is confusing. I get it is coming from a separate gem, but hopefully it is renamed to convey what the intent is.

</comment><comment><USER16> I dont have time for the Video, has anyone written a post on what's coming in Rails 5 yet? ( Apart from Rails API )

</comment><comment><USER17> What is the best Rails solution for javascript modules and package management these days??

<comment><USER18> I'm a huge fan of [https://rails-assets.org/](https://rails-assets.org/). Requests components from the Bower registry and packages them as gems.</comment></comment>


Get real-time email updates on your country's Covid-19 stats - <AUTHOR> http://pavelnichoski.com/covid19/ <comment><AUTHOR> In the recent couple of weeks I've been checking the COVID-19 stats of my country over and over, and with this I don't have to waste time checking. When there's a change, I'll be notified. I made this primarily for myself, and then I thought others might find it useful as well. Feel free to use it if you like. I'll add unsubscribe option in the e-mails tomorrow.</comment>


Facebook fact-check: from Hillary's health to 9/11, the latest lies we read - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/09/facebook-trending-false-news-stories <comment><AUTHOR> _" This week, the company insisted it is a "neutral" platform that needs no editors, even while it censored art, spread false news and deleted a post by Norway's prime minister because it included a Pulitzer-winning photo from the Vietnam war."_

Interesting, probably more transparent example of what happens in print/tv media.</comment>


Best first programming language for a teenager to learn - <AUTHOR>

My son (14) wants to start writing web applications for fun and is debating what program to learn (Ruby, Python, PHP, LISP, etc.) Which one should I steer him towards and why? <comment><USER2> I'm inclined to say javascript, simply because pretty much any web application is going to need at least some JS. And it's not bad choice of language anyway. Maybe not so ideal for the server side but node.js seems to be gaining some traction. Being a node.js adept might even be quite a cunning choice at this point career-wise.

<comment><USER3> But it's JAVASCRIPT. On the SERVER. /s

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Ruby or Python seem to be the best choices. Easy to get started, mature libraries and web development frameworks, powerful enough to get things done, encourage decent programming practices, etc. You'll probably want Javascript too...

</comment><comment><USER5> He wants to write web applications.

If you put aside 'web', I imagine Python to be the best training language - its the new Pascal. I say that as one of the European Turbo Pascal generation that used TP as a stepping stone to assembler. Python offers that same clarity without the dumbing down. Python is as close to pseudo-code as I've seen. Its what I imagine myself introducing my children too just as soon as a I dare let them borrow my computers...

But if he really means web, Haxe might be a good choice. Its javascript-esque, it runs in browsers, and you can do fancy graphics and games and such. I imgaine making flash applets to be far closer to what he might enjoy rather than text-based stuff that more classic web development generates.

The whole making web pages and equating that to programming - sure its a job and all, but is it fun and inspiring?

<comment><USER2> I like the look of Haxe, but the downside is that it's pretty obscure and won't have the same kind of community support or employment prospects as more mainstream options.

<comment><USER5> learning has to be fun.

it doesn't have to be about community.

</comment></comment></comment><comment> saiko-chriskun In terms of ease of use I would definitely go Rails, it pretty much has the largest ecosystem in terms of web development.

In terms of more academically interesting languages, I might recommend Haskell or Clojure.

</comment><comment><USER6> I am going to throw my hat into the ring for a combination of Javascript and PHP or Ruby. This way he can learn both the front and back-end coding structures and be well on his way to making web-applications. Deciding between PHP and Ruby is a peronal choice really, but I would go with PHP, but thats my own inclination because I work far faster and better in PHP than I do in Ruby. That and I feel Ruby is easier to pick up if you have a background in Java while PHP can be easily learned on the fly.

</comment><comment><USER7> From my experience, I think Rails would be a good option. I myself am new to programming (been doing it for less than 3 months) and have found Rails to be relatively easy/ straight forward. Plus there is are so many ressources out there in case he would like to learn more.

Rails for Zombie could be a good starting point.

Side note, when I say I am new to programming, 3 months ago I barely knew what css ment - and have never taken a cs class.

</comment><comment><USER8> Javascript in my opinion. It isn't hard to learn and it has a lot of diverse applications now that node.js is going strong. A couple of easy ways to learn are:

* the basics - <http://www.codecademy.com/#!/exercise/0>

* more advanced - <http://ejohn.org/apps/learn/>

</comment><comment><USER9> In my mind python is the best choice.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you TMK. Is there a particular reason? Is there an argument to be made that the structure of Python programs makes you a better programmer?

<comment> saiko-chriskun I don't really think there's any particular language out there that makes you 'better', although I would suggest learning a variety of different types of languages (i.e. functional vs. imperative, static vs. dynamic, etc.)

<comment><USER10> Well, maybe not the basic syntax elements of a language, but there are idioms and techniques, some of which are quite language specific (or, are native or naturally expressed in some languages) and learning them will actually make you better.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> The most important part of the learning process is to have access to a good mentor. So I recommend you the HtDP book[1], and just use whatever language you are good at.

Happy hacking.

[1] <http://www.htdp.org/>

</comment><comment><USER12> I disagree with everyone. The best language to learn first is BASIC. You can probably find some emulator that's web based. After that, you can learn whatever floats your boat.

<comment><USER6> Ah I had forgotten about that one, that is a good starter language. Though I would recommend that more if he wanted to write more OS-based applications rather than web-based.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Scheme</comment>


Show HN: my new app is fast user switching for the iPad (sort-of) - <AUTHOR> http://mechanicalteeth.com/

<comment><USER2> "Ever get nervous leaving iPad around with your email account logged in?"

Please don't use Apple's insufferable house style of ditching articles and possessives when mentioning the physical device.

Thankfully you use "an iPad" and "your iPad" elsewhere, you just need to be consistent.

<comment><USER3> Where does Apple do that??

<comment><USER4> everywhere. examples from apple.com/ipad

iPad Opens Up New Worlds for Autistic Children

Archaeologist Steven Ellis and his team use iPad with apps from the App Store to capture invaluable historical data in the trenches at Pompeii

Apps on iPad look...

...specifically designed for iPad

Stories are even more immersive thanks to iPad capabilities

...9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS display on iPad...

you get the idea

<comment><USER5> I never noticed that. I think subconsciously I wrote it off as OK when they are speaking about the platform, and not a specific device.

No one would ever say "grab iPad and visit a website" but they might say "does your app work on iPad?"

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> The website could really use some work for those users trying to browse it on an iPad. The paging indicators imply that the user should be able to swipe, but in actuality, the user must wait for the timed change, or try to hit one of the extremely small pips (well, extremely small for mobile browsing)

Creating a positive web experience for actual users of the device you're selling to is critical.

</comment><comment><USER7> I think you should add app icon and/or some kind of logo on the website.

Now it's a bit confusing:

> Switch lets different people ...

And people start thinking: Switch? What is Switch?

\---

Take a look at: <http://www.apple.com/ipad/> See? iPad. The biggest text on the page.

By the way Switch is a very cool name for an app so use it a lot :-)

</comment><comment><USER8> Love the idea...I think that its important people know its about web browsing...perhaps a tweak to the App icon to indicate this?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! You're right - the icon does need work. I wanted to avoid using a globe, but maybe clarity > everything.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I'd lose the "mechanical teeth" branding unless it actually has something to do with anything - and even in that case, put in a corner somewhere.

You appear to have something usable as "porn mode"; have you looked into keywords like "ipad private browsing"? I'm not sure you want the business, but...

<comment><AUTHOR> I like the name but tbh it means nothing without a logo and it's obviously distracting so I've changed the site for now. How do you think it looks now?

<comment><USER9> Pretty nice. Some comments:

* the url should probably be something like mechanicalteeth.com/switch. Or throw some keywords in the URL for SEO purposes (/ipad/switch-multi-user-web-browser/).

* the "coffer" graphic breaks consistency with the rest of your graphics. Not everything needs to be a screenshot, but if everything else already is...

* the dark bar should always be at the same height on the page.

* I'm not sure I like the moving (as you from page to page) "available on the App Store" graphic.

* Your headings look a bit plain next to your header, and next to Apple's (over)-slick websites.

* I'd add some more space about the tilde (~) in the header, especially to the right.

* The contrast between your gray page and white form is rather large.

* I was not actually aware that there was a form until a minute ago.

* The feedburner link throws a 404.

* The purpose of the form isn't very clear to me - you have no blog that I can see, almost no content on Twitter. Are you trying to build an audience (you'll need more content), is this a support channel, or..?

Notwithstanding the above, I think it does look nice and may be useful to the iPad-using part of humanity. Good luck with it!

<comment><AUTHOR> That's awesome feedback, thanks! I agree with pretty much everything - my plan is to have a lot more on the site (which is based on a theme I bought), but I also wanted to release early and iterate.

Sounds like I have some iterating to do, but it's nice to be busy :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Here's the sort-of: it's a multi-user web browser rather than full fast-user switching but (at least for me), that's 90% the same thing.

It's implemented with some nice UI and cookie swapping.

<comment><USER10> It looks really nice. I think that you should make it clear that Switch is a 'multi-user web browser', because the description on your website/app page is a bit confusing (at least for me). Also, the name 'Switch' is hardly mentioned on your site (and this HN submission).

My 2 cents.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the suggestions! I've changed the main heading on the page. I'll have to look into making the name more prominent too.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Out of interest, do you have any plans to launch for other iOS devices too? If not, what are the issues? I understand there would be some UI work involved, and I can see its strongest pull would be on the iPad, but I think it could carve a niche on other iOS devices too.

(As an aside, it's interesting how natural "iOS" sounds these days. "iPad" too.)

<comment><AUTHOR> I've thought about it -- it's not difficult to port iPad apps to other iOS devices -- I guess it depends on demand.

People are more likely to share iPads of course, but for hackers the other things you can use Switch for (juggling site logins, testing without cookies) are just as relevant on the iPhone.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Atomic Browser has a private browsing mode and PIN protection, but not user switching. That probably means they could add user switching reasonably easily and be a direct competitor.

But they also add tabs, gestures and so on.

Do you add any other features to mobile Safari, or do you plan to?

<comment><AUTHOR> I add an awesome bar and I have more stuff in the pipeline.

Atomic is a more complicated browser than Switch or Safari. It's a great app, but not for everyone.</comment></comment>


Google's Weakness: User Experience - <AUTHOR> http://fpgacomputing.blogspot.com/

<comment><USER2> I also have similar problems with Google, but I think it is dangerous to extrapolate from a sample of us. Most people are not going to have multiple accounts in the first place.

However I had assumed that almost all Google employees would have multiple accounts - a personal one a work one - and would be experiencing this pain. Maybe Google employees don't actually use their own products like the public and customers do?

The user feedback thing is what will lead to Google's demise. I was absolutely shocked that I could I could actually submit an electronic issue for Android Market issues (the pagination doesn't work, any app ever installed even if uninstalled a few minutes later is shown forever). However the resulting support was the standard thing you get when it has been outsourced to the lowest bidder - your text is parsed for the closest match to the 10 canned answers they have which doesn't help, and then you get a 'satisfaction' survey where it is obvious what metrics they are measured on.

Android is not quite as bad, but still problematic. A public bug tracker where issues are ignored for years, and Google+ hangouts which of course require using G+ and participating at an exact time. I still want some very misleading text on the Google Analytics for Android page to be addressed: [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9694639/more-than-one- bro...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9694639/more-than-one- broadcastreceiver-for-the-same-intent-with-contradictory-doc-and-p)

Seth Godin has some good wisdom on the whole issue. I like his description of companies having "a stall, deny and avoid policy when it comes to customer interaction".

[http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/03/reorganizing...](http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/03/reorganizing- the-economics-and-attitude-of-customer-service.html)

<comment><USER3> I think two accounts is pretty common even outside geekdom. Lots of non- techies have gmail as their personal email (even my parents do). And lots of companies and schools are using Google apps for business email.

The intersection of the two must include a reasonable number of non-techies...

Agree with the rest of your point too, it is really strange that you literally can't get support on google products, even if you pay for them as a business.

<comment><USER4> My mother's school system just switched to Google Apps. Some ensuing confusion -- amongst other things, with Google's/Gmail's repeated GUI rearrangements, she'd lost track of and forgotten about the sign-out command in her personal Gmail account.

I've similarly watched and helped her and others struggle with unintuitive controls e.g. in Google Calendar.

Google may worry tons "about a shade of blue". But their real user experience seems to depend upon individual projects and perhaps individuals. The original search results page and early Gmail were high points. Some other items have languished or declined under counter-productive development.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> One day, Google Plus's suggestions for "friends" I should add to circles included 2 people I'd already circled, 2 versions of another person, and even another version of myself!

So, yes, multi-account Google stuff is painful. I don't know why they don't see that and fix it.

<comment><USER5> Be careful what you wish for.

I used to wish for better integration between Google's various products. Now we have what we have, and I don't use Google anymore. Ironically, G+ was the service I was most excited about from any vendor in recent memory, and their management of that was what finally pushed me out of the nest. At this point they're only a backup account, like Yahoo used to be before they dropped me for inactivity.

So yeah, Google could decide to integrate your multiple accounts, but I expect their implementation of that to piss off a lot of people.</comment></comment>


Gold-Nuggeting: find outstanding network devices on large NMAP scans using ML - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/delvelabs/batea <comment> blaser-waffle I read the whitepaper that was linked in the github __but I 'm still not totally sure what makes a network device "interesting". I'm still sort of curious, but I don't feel like digging through the code.

Like what does this give me over a few nmap -O | grep ssh or similar oneliners?

 __[http://delvesecurity.com/wp- content/uploads/2019/10/Automati...](http://delvesecurity.com/wp- content/uploads/2019/10/Automating-Intuition-Batea-WP.pdf)

<comment><AUTHOR> First, it starts with the hypothesis that you don't know exactly what you are looking for in advance, so an "interesting" asset would pop out as an unusual combination of these grep lookups (ssh, http, mysql, ftp, rdp, smb, etc...) or other features (hostnames, os type). It means you would have to look for all possible combinations of these oneliners?

Second, on an enterprise network, you could easily have 5k or 50k devices to grep, which would make it unfeasible to combine simple greps.

The reason we use machine learning is because it is targetted for large amount of data, i.e. enterprise networks.</comment></comment>


Anonymity - <AUTHOR> http://blog.samaltman.com/anonymity <comment><USER2> This is completely and utterly wrong, and only furthers my belief that nobody in Silicon Valley actually "gets" anonymity.

I'll try to write a real response tonight on my blog ([http://chrishateswriting.com](http://chrishateswriting.com))

<comment><USER3> > _This is completely and utterly wrong .._

If you're going to make such a strong statement, it would make sense to at least put out a tl;dr; of your argument. Otherwise, your comment just functions as an advertisement for your blog post. (I'm sure that wasn't your intention).

<comment><USER4> Given that he founded one of the most famous anonymous web forums on the planet, I'm liable to be interested in his reasons. People being jerks seems to be a really common thing on the internet, so I'm quite curious of his counterpoint.

I take his link less as a blog-advertisement, and more of a "I'm more likely to update that than edit my comment on HN". I'd love it if, after he writes his blog post, he were to summarize it in an edit to his HN comment.

<comment><USER5> FWIW, I have no idea who moot is, and lacking that context, it's much easier to interpret this as mere self-promotion.

<comment><USER6> He's the dude behind 4chan, an image board which allows/encourages anonymous posting.

<comment><USER7> *requires anonymous posting

<comment><USER8> Most boards on 4chan allow you to enter a name or pseudonym, if you're so inclined.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I've been taking a deeper look at reddit in the last couple of weeks and I'd say real-name social networks decay in a different direction. My Facebook wall is an extremely shallow stream self-promotion, one-liners, and food pics -- very little actual discussion. As the OP notes, it is very rare that anyone says anything remotely controversial (or interesting).

Reddit, on the other hand feels very much alive. People talk about their feelings, confide in each other, ask interesting questions. Not sure if it's just the anonymity, it also has to do with the fact that the community is much bigger so you can ask anything and someone will have an answer. However, the anonymity certainly allows for that large group to come together for (often) coherent conversations.

<comment><USER10> _Not sure if it 's just the anonymity, it also has to do with the fact that the community is much bigger_

Without anonymity, the larger the social-surface area, the greater the attack surface is. This is why as facebook grows, it becomes less useful. And why, when it was started, it was successful based on its "exclusiveness" (.edu), and not the other way around.

The "real reason" people wan't to eliminante online anonymity are two fold: (1) money; and (2) power.

Advertising and fascism both require manipulative social leverage, and having data-sets with non-anonymous correlations provides the tools to fight the old wars of the 20th century.

The forces at work are dark and powerful and likely to win. They run through Silicon Valley and its establishment just like they do the east coast. Becuase at this stage, the one is just spending the money of the other...deep symbiotic linkages mean the one cannot do without the other.

<comment><USER5> What did you read that gave you these ideas? It seems like a genuinely interesting hypothesis and I'd like to find out more.

<comment><USER11> First of all, I apologise in advance if this comment does not actually apply to you. Obviously I don't know what you were really thinking, but I see a lot of comments here with the form: xyz seems genuinely interesting, please elaborate. I often surmise that the poster really disagrees and just intends to set up a line of attack using a disingenuous first approach. Especially where, as in this case, the parent seems unreasoning. Whether or not that was your intent, at least some people might read comments of this form as being disingenuous.

<comment><USER5> Nope not being pedantic. Actually interested.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> If 4chan.org has taught the world anything, the first thing that people will do with total anonymity is decay into the behaviours that they WANT to express, but society deems unacceptable. That forbidden fruit of being able to shit-talk without consequence will never stop tasting sweet, but I think that it speaks more to the character of the shit-talker than medium.

Thus, I think that the "solution" to these sorts of nasty gossip apps is what Mr. Altman has done: simply refusing to be party to the gossip. You may miss out on juicy deets of who's done what with whom, but some things are more important than two minutes of entertainment. It's really up to potential users to decide if they want to get sucked into this sort of negative attention funnel.

edit: I see moot is going to be writing a response to this; I look forward to what he has to say. He is, in my opinion, the foremost expert on internet anonymity (or at least he's on 4chan a lot) so I think that his perspective should be considered highly.

<comment><USER13> 4chan is like any subculture that gets popular enough to be noticed. Most people condemning it have not experienced it enough to come to an informed opinion.

<comment><USER12> I hate to derail this topic to talk about 4chan, but I think that 4chan is many-faceted (and, indeed, the level of anonymity has varied across time and from board to board on the website) so I'm not certain an informed opinion could ever be COMPLETELY informed. Certainly, somebody lurking on /b/ for a few months might have something to say, but they're missing out on the sub- boards, which have their own board cultures and memes in microcosm. Again, moot goes to 4chan a lot, so I'm waiting to see what he has to say.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> My account will probably soon be killed on HN - like many before them. They all die around the 30 karma mark, presumably because of the many downvotes by feminists. I tend to be outspoken on feminist topics, which have become rather frequent on HN.

My point is: nasty things are not the only things you can only say in anonymity. It's also required for opinions that are not aligned with the mainstream. I come from Germany - we have learned here that the mainstream is not always right.

I keep considering to write about feminism in my blog, but I am actually worried about crazy people on the internet targeting me. I don't really hide - I've voiced my opinion with my real name as well. But I don't feel very confident about it.

Real names are perhaps fine for tech bloggers, but there are too many subjects where they really hamper honest discussion.

<comment><USER15> Funny this theme cropped up, I just watched a production of Ibsen's _An Enemy of the People_ [1], where he makes a strong argument against the wisdom of the crowds.

That said, HN is really not the best place for honest discussion about controversial topics; the community is incapable of dealing with them and the software strongly discourages them. As someone who enjoys discussing any viewpoint, even those I strongly oppose, I find it somewhat disturbing how easily people censor what they dislike.

[1] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Enemy_of_the_People](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Enemy_of_the_People)

<comment><USER14> Thanks for the reading advice, I'll download it to my kindle :-)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> > In fact, the closer to real identity internet forums get, the less they seem > to decay.

Wow, I had no idea 4chan is so irrelevant. Someone should tell them.

<comment><USER17> It's quite clear from his context that he meant "decay" as in "become mean and nasty", not "become unpopular."

In that sense, yes, 4chan is absolutely a perfect example.

<comment><USER2> Also wrong.

<comment><USER17> Which part?

I know you're the creator of 4chan, and are necessarily going to see it "at its best", but surely even you must agree that many parts of it (especially /b/) behave badly?

<comment><USER18> Less anonymity = discussion tends towards staid, boring, repetitive, meaningless, dishonest, inoffensive

More anonymity = discussion tends towards thought provoking, creative, honest, offensive

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I also deleted the app pretty quickly .. but mainly because of its annoying push notifications sent _every time_ "someone I knew" posted something. There was only one nasty personal attack that I saw during my brief use, and it was about a fairly well known CEO by a putative (and potentially disgruntled) employee.

As to Sam's argument, it's certainly important to consider the ramifications of anonymity on civility: as users of HN we know how quickly things can degenerate.

In an app like Secret, it could get even worse. Since the posts you see are from either contacts or contacts of contacts, it's not hard to deduce whether a scandalous rumor is realistic. Thus, revelations can be much more damaging and with the attendant network effects, function like high school bullying.

We shouldn't forget, however, that anonymity has great benefits as well: the ability to say things you really think without the fear of social & political persecution, similarly whistleblowing. Confessing your mistakes anonymously may take a load of your back and let you move on to better things.

Ideally, I want to live in a society where people _say what they mean_ , and _mean what they say_. Where free speech is not merely _theory_ but _practice_. I also want to live in a society where we treat each other with the respect that human beings deserve.

Part of the respect that human beings deserve is the respect for their right to speak freely without threat of persecution. As a practical matter, this means the right to speak under their own name _as well as the right to speak anonymously_.

</comment><comment><USER19> I should clarify what I meant by "decay"\--services can continue to grow, but if the quality (defined loosely) goes below a certain point, I think it's hard to make them into really valuable businesses.

<comment><USER20> Reddit is anonymous, one of the fastest growing sites on the Internet, and Bill Gates is doing a QA on it as we speak. Seems like a site's culture/ranking algorithms determine quality rather than whether or not a site's anonymous.

<comment><USER21> Reddit is pseudonymous; the difference is important, as if it were truly anonymous Gates would not be able to do an AMA

<comment><USER3> It's more correct to say that Reddit (like HN) is a hybrid of anonymity and identity. It _can_ be truly anonymous (you can quickly create a throwaway account) or you can "prove" to the admins that you are who you say you are (like Bill Gates).

<comment><USER21> That sounds like a definition of "pseudonymous" to me. Particularly since moot has claimed for a while that part of what makes 4chan works is that you _can 't_ maintain an identity.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> vezzy-fnord _In fact, the closer to real identity internet forums get, the less they seem to decay._

Define decay. People voicing strong opinions or even being assholes to a certain degree doesn't count. It's a normal part of every community. Usenet was full of legendary flame wars, yet the level of discourse was still very high, and most people used real names to identify themselves.

Otherwise, all you get is a hugbox echo chamber where people with personality disorders and brittle egos thrive in a mutual self-affirmation, eradicating all discourse.

</comment><comment><USER22> I haven't used it, but from what I understand it's an app where people tell secrets about something or someone. So that may be the first reason you may not like it, especially if it's about you. It doesn't have much to do with anonymity, but with the fact that it's supposed to be a community around divulging people's secrets. So even though it's "anonymous", it's actually _anti-privacy_.

Second, I'm anonymous on HN and I'm anonymous on Reddit. This should prove that what you need is not to ban anonymity, but to have good enough voting and filtering mechanisms, and a decent culture inside the community.

I'm also not entirely sure Twitter is getting better. If it is, it's only because you chose to follow certain people. But I imagine with Twitter growing its audience, a lot more of the "normal people", who may not be as educated, join Twitter and say a lot of nasty stuff online, much like they would offline.

As for Facebook, again, it may have gotten "better" for you because of its filtering mechanism, and because in time it learned to show you only certain types of posts.

So from your point of view, I think the main problems are with the type of community this is in the first place, and the "etiquette" for that community, and with Secret.ly being a new app and the founders not having enough time to polish things up.

</comment><comment><USER23> This person seems to be confusing anonymity with lack of accountability. Back in the day, when people didn't use their real names on websites, communities relied on accountability to maintain good behavior. Some ways this is done are through reputation systems or moderation tools. Your real name wasn't known, but if you wanted to participate in any community you had to follow the community rules. Anonymity wasn't a hindrance to good behavior.

Facebook and other social networks don't usually have much accountability built in. You can be an ass on Facebook and not face any consequences. So Facebook actually only maintains "good behavior" by allowing closed communities (All my friends are well behaved, so all I see on Facebook is good behavior. If I behave badly my friends will react negatively, etc.). If you were able to look outside your own well-behaved bubble, you would see that real-name social networks aren't able to enforce good social norms. They just reinforce the social norms that are already dominant in your friend group.

An issue with the forced-identity aspect of social networks is you are only allowed one identity. You are discouraged from activities/communities/discussions that are sensitive or embarrassing or not accepted by your dominant peer group.

Not to say there is nothing good about these real-name social networks. They would have never reached such a broad cross-section of people with everyone registering via pseudo-anonymous handles. Using real names makes things more palatable and manageable for non-technically minded people.

</comment><comment><USER24> This probably says a lot more about the author's need for anonymity than anything else. Yeah, persecuted Iranian journalists only need anonymity to "be mean". Derp. Yeah, Chinese dissidents only need it when they want to say something naughty. Living in a bubble is all comfy but let's not imagine that everyone in the world operates from the same luxurious position when deciding who needs anonymity and why...especially when your premise is based on scanning 4chan or Reddit.

<comment><USER19> these are examples of real need for anonymity, but something like secret would be a bad platform for it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> I think the author had a negative emotional reaction to Secret and jumped too quickly to what he thought was a rational analysis of the theme.

He grabbed a few top of mind examples that supported his theory and tried to guess what was wrong with Secret, then extrapolated to anonymity in general. Had he slept on the text or sent to a few friends to review it, I could bet it would become different on the conclusions.

</comment><comment><USER26> This reminded me of an excellent post the other day about an anonymous messaging network ("Rumor Monger") that ran inside Apple until management shut it down:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7204558](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7204558)

It got very little discussion, so if you didn't see it, I recommend it.

</comment><comment><USER27> Anonymity is a tradeoff, and in my opinion it is hopelessly incorrect to focus on only one side of the tradeoff. It's like saying oxygen is bad because it's corrosive -- true, but it also happens to be essential to life.

There are times when anonymity can help people who are really in danger or who hope to call attention to broken systems. But you're never going to see that if you're focused on grousing about people being jerks. (I suspect that people do this as a way of elevating themselves above the muck, so to speak, but that is another topic entirely.)

</comment><comment><USER28> Translation: Silicon Valley big shots don't like people criticizing them at will, ergo this will fail.

</comment><comment><USER29> Shii's essay on the strengths of anonymous communities is still the best I've read on the topic. It comes off as somewhat naive, being written in 2004 and updated in 2006, before 4chan had really exploded in popularity and set in stone what people think about when they hear the word "anonymous," but I think his assessment is still valid even in the 4chan of today. Forcing users to check their vanity at the door really does cut down on the superfluous garbage and keeps the conversation _about the topic_ (or wherever the topic meanders) and not _about the people having the conversation._

If I could add a postscript to that essay, I'd say that it's 4chan's _lax administrative policies,_ _distaste for moderation and censorship_ , and the incredible _size_ of the community that give it its unruly flavor, not the fact that the posters are anonymous. In the smaller, more carefully moderated anonymous communities I've been a part of, things are much closer to the ideals shii describes.

[http://wakaba.c3.cx/shii/shiichan](http://wakaba.c3.cx/shii/shiichan)

</comment><comment><USER30> > Anonymity breeds meanness

Only if the users aren't invested in their identity. It has also been shown that positive anonymous communities can be built.

</comment><comment><USER31> I can see Secret becoming popular. I've obsessed with the topic of anonymity online. I created dmtri.com in order to foster anonymity online. I believe that people long to be honest with themselves, but the avenues of doing so is extremely limited and difficult. I hope that Secret will be one of few outlets for people like that.

The problem I have with Secret is that, in order to be marketable to marketers and VCs, Secret weakened the purpose of anonymity online. Straight honesty. Without the ability to be honest with yourself and others, anonymity online is only half good. The community rules they have are destructive to people who want to be honest with themselves.

</comment><comment><USER32> You don't need a more extreme example like dissidents or protesters to make a case for anonymity. Pseudonyms have been used by people to spark intellectual and political debate for hundreds (thousands?) of years.

When people feel like they are the only one that espouses an idea, they are less likely to share it publicly for fear of shame. When they are given anonymity, they can share freely and potentially find that their idea is actually commonly shared.

</comment><comment><USER33> Anonymity isn't as black and white as everyone keeps portraying it. Take HN for example - we all have usernames, some of which are our real names. Sites like 4Chan and LikeALittle - all harbor true anonymity. I agree with Sam that those sites decay over time. However, sites like Reddit and HN that are built around pseudo-anonymity and voting have been able to produce thoughtful discussion

</comment><comment><USER34> It might have been helpful to distinguish between anonymity within small groups (Secret) vs anonymity in large groups (4chan).

In 4chan, particularly on /b/, there are so many anonymous participants that it's very unlikely that one person would recognize another. Someone could write something personal about another person, and it seems unlikely that anyone would care, and certainly no-one would remember. There are few real- world consequences. (I found a fun paper on anonymity in 4chan by merely searching for "studies on anonymity" [http://projects.csail.mit.edu/chanthropology/4chan.pdf](http://projects.csail.mit.edu/chanthropology/4chan.pdf))

But in Secret, part of the point is to exchange information about the real world. This seems to be much more likely to have ill effects, possibly like the ones gruesome referred to in the "Rumor Monger" software at Apple that he mentioned elsewhere in this thread.

Has anyone found anything interesting about small group anonymity? Is that a useful distinction?

</comment><comment><USER35> Anonymity, and the effectiveness of anonymity has a lot to do with how the site, or product is structured. With secret, you have the app directly plugged into your friends-list, and while the content is 'anonymous', it's a watered down version of true anonymity. All apps like this serve to do is breed insecurity and malcontent amongst our peers.

Now imagine another version of Secret, where you truly anonymize message sends. Instead of seeing content from your friends lists, you see content from the world-over. Instead of some sort of petty, mean-girls-esque hate journal, it could be a modern, 21'st century version of the confessional (not that I'm a fan of the confessional, but you gotta admit there's something rather tantalizing in the concept).

SV seems to be stuck in a mire where product has to revolve around one's social group. What happened to the days of good old voyeurism?

</comment><comment><USER36> "Give a man a mask and he'll show his true face."

<comment><USER37> "You must discover whose face lies behind this mask, but you must _never_ know my face. Is that quite clear?"

— V

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> High school all over again...

</comment><comment><USER39> > they need anonymity for mean things and things they are embarrassed about

In my mind, it's the "embarrassed about" point that makes such an app interesting.

Facebook, twitter, etc, is all cleaned up - the things you aren't exactly proud of, the dark moments, etc, are removed.

Which leads to a whole lot feeling like everyone on Facebook is doing better than you. It's nice to see the darker side of people, sometimes.

</comment><comment><USER40> So long for people in danger, in need of health information, that are LGBT and need support, etc...

How can such a troll article get so high?!

</comment><comment><USER41> There are some individuals that _SHOULD_ have negative things said about them. I'm not trying to be controversial but why do we insist that everyone deserves sugary platitudes? It would be interesting to tally positive, neutral and negative comment counts for each person mentioned.

</comment><comment><USER42> Usually people share a link to the app of piece of content they are denigrating. Might someone share a link to this "Secret" app he speaks about.

</comment><comment><USER43> [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/3/19/](http://www.penny- arcade.com/comic/2004/3/19/)

</comment><comment><USER44> " Anonymous social networks have been (thus far, anyway) in the category of services that get worse as they get bigger--unlike services like Facebook or Twitter that get better as they get bigger"

<comment><USER45> your point here?</comment></comment>


Hacker News, say hello to the Flagging Bury Brigades - <AUTHOR> I have to say, it's really disappointing to see the flagging functionality being abused in this way.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2438002 , which has had 47 points in 1 hour (despite being flagged by a number of individuals) is exactly on-topic for HN, It concerns a product that is relevant to HN, it is built by an active HN member, it has been upvoted by a good number of HNers despite its unnaturally low placement (due to the flagging), it is written by an active HNer (me), and it is on a blog which is popular with HN.
It's hard to think of a more on-topic post.
And yet, at least 4 people have flagged it, possibly 5, thus lowering its placement by a lot. Flagging is supposed to be reserved for egregiously off-topic and spam posts.
If this is what happens to on-topic posts, one thing is clear:
Flagging is totally broken.
Why? I suspect too many people have access to flags, so flags have become indiscriminate. Simultaneously, pg made flags have a very large effect on story position (effectively, one flag is worth maybe 5-10 downvotes, no matter who applies the flag).
I have long since learned not to try to coerce pg into doing anything, but I really think this is strong evidence of broken functionality. If you want to introduce downvotes for stories, let's have downvotes for stories. But let's not have mega-downvotes in the sneaky form of flags that are supposed to be for spam.
I'll add that this is not the first time I've seen this happen, though it's the first time I see a perfectly legitimate article get quite that many flags. Is HN skipping the Reddit step and going straight to the Digg graveyard? <comment><USER2> No one flagged it. It set off the voting ring detector.

This is probably why: <http://twitter.com/swombat/statuses/57853143689601024>

<comment><USER3> The logical follow up question is: assuming swombat isn't part of a secret cabal, how does he avoid setting it off in the future?

You probably can't answer that, but I know I like tweeting about my HN posts and inviting folks over to HN to participate. If that's a bad thing, we need to know that and not do it anymore.

EDIT: Is there is a prohibition against tweeting submissions?

EDIT2: Happy to abide by whatever rules there are, but without knowing them I can see where it could get very frustrating for a lot of folks. A couple of my submissions I was sure were being flagged, but now I'm guessing it's because I shared the link with folks. That's an extremely non-intuitive system response.

<comment><AUTHOR> If tweeting about your posts and getting them exposure is a bad thing, this is no forum for entrepreneurs.

<comment><USER4> This isn't a forum for entrepreneurs: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2403868>

<comment><AUTHOR> Sad. I've told numerous people that this was the best online community of entrepreneurs bar none. I guess we need a new one.

<comment><USER5> Whoa, same here. I guess I will direct my referrals elsewhere from now on.

On that note. Where is the best online community for entrepreneurs then?

<comment><USER6> > On that note. Where is the best online community for entrepreneurs then?

That's easy. Check out Hacker News. Oh wait...</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Is it Better to be Smart, or Get Good Grades? - <AUTHOR> http://devblog.presstartgames.com/post/3381258704/is-it-better-to-be-smart-or-get-good-grades <comment><USER2> Schools are designed to provide education for the masses, just like jobs are designed to reward workers' efforts with money. Such schemes remove the low / high extremes (slackers / highly gifted people) by conforming them to a pattern which is proven to increase, in time, the average performance of people participating in them.

Was Bill Gates better off as an entrepreneur and a drop-out? Yes, he's a highly gifted individual -- for him the freedom to focus on what he does best allowed him to shine and get from life huge returns when compared to what the 'system' would have reserved for him. But for a significant part of the more average folks, we could have trouble stating similar things.

The question in the title is nothing more than a matter of risks and insurances against them: do you want to take the chance of dropping out of school and pursuing your raw intelligence/dreams or you want the overhead of an administrative process in order to get at the end some lose guarantees about your hire-ability and your skills... It's not an easy question and it depends too much of everyone's personal situation (parents support, wealth savings etc) to be addressed generally.

</comment><comment><USER3> My grandfather once told me "I went to college and got a degree. I went back 10 years later and got an education".

</comment><comment><USER4> One of the smartest people I know -- he now works on the CMS at CERN, and can explain everyone else's work as well as his own -- got kind of crappy grades when we were in college. He was simply interested in other things.

He had a cartoon on his door, at one point. A figure walking down the street in the city. All the signage around him displaying "Lies". I thought it was excessively cynical, at the time. Over the intervening some decades, I've come to understand his point of view.

It's better to _understand the system_. Then make your own, informed choices. If you like doing something, do it. If you're doing it because someone told you there's an eventual payoff, beware.

</comment><comment><USER5> Better for society: good grades. Means you might be productive.

Better for you: smart. You will be happier, or at least know the reasons you are unhappy.

<comment><USER6> I appreciate your use of "might" in the first statement.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Well, at least I know the meaning of proactive, so personally I think smart.

You can't be proactive to solve the unknown.

Also the opposite of reactive is not proactive.

Apart from being pedantic about the word proactive, I also totally disagree with the premise of the article, some of the most inventive problem solvers I've met are lazy as hell.

<comment><USER8> Proactivity does not make one busy by definition. I think it means, when one is challenged by an interesting problem, he/she does everything and more to tackle it. A side effect may be that proactive people generally care far less about boring problems, thus making them appear lazy.

<comment><USER7> It doesn't mean that either!

It's anticipatory action to deal with a known future event.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I think employers reliance on grade and qualifications are more about eliminating the really bad hires than finding the best hires. It is good in a way though, just like having a body of work to show, a hiring process that comes down to how you solve a few problems in an interview can be really hit and miss and is hard to show your full abilities.

<comment><USER10> If people meet the minimum, then it's a success. If they're substantially above average, that's a nice bonus, but not enough to justify risking a bad hire.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> In addition to execution, earning good grades require particular kinds of intelligence - among them recognizing the bounds of systems and social relationships.

Being smart isn't an achievement and hard work won't get you there. It is merely potential and without execution, it eventually becomes "wasted potential."

<comment><USER5> The demographic of Mensa is "underachievers".

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> It's best to become a member of a close group that is not only smart, but which has good values and is well connected to reality.

So long as you get a 3.5 GPA or above, you can, in the words of a fellow alum's mom, "pretty much do what you want." But what you want to do may not even involve that kind of GPA signaling.

If you really are smart, then you can figure out how to generate the right sort of signal for your purposes. You'll also figure out that you're not infallible and that there are others out there who are smarter than yourself. From this, it follows that durable signals need to be based on real underlying value.

</comment><comment><USER13> A not too smart "go getter" will always be able to do well at something. There's always a place for such people, and it's easy for management to understand how someone like that can bring value.

OTOH, a personal story:

In school, I got excellent grades up until lots of effort was required. At that point my grades went down drastically. This is what comes from being praised as smart, separate from results.

It took me a good while after I was out of school to really come to grips with things, and it's still a bit of a struggle. However, I _have_ managed to make a career of programming. I try to play to my strengths, solving tricky problems that don't yield easily to hard work _alone_. This makes me fairly valuable, though I have to work hard to find employment where management realizes that there are roles for people like me. Currently I develop software in support of the science team on an active NASA space mission. If I can pat myself on the back a bit, that's not bad for someone who took an extra semester to graduate high school and never went to college.

So someone smart can learn to work harder and be results oriented, but without help from parents and school I think it's a lot harder and brings delays. What could I have done if I'd been praised for results rather than "being smart?" I don't obsess about that, but it comes to mind these days as I raise my child.

</comment><comment><USER14> "Education is what is left after you've forgotten everything you've learned." -> Albert Einstein

</comment><comment><USER15> The most worthless, stupid people I know got straight A's their entire life.

<comment><USER16> Smart people can get A's too, and tend to find it even easier than stupid people do.

<comment><USER6> Smart people can also find grade school to not provide enough challenge and complexity and thus they tend to find other ways to occupy their time. In college the scene changes because you pursue what you want and most professors recognize true interest over mere putting in time to complete a class for credit. The moment you find a professor who recognizes your interests, keep a close relation because they can help you in more ways then you can imagine.

<comment><USER15> Sadly college still does not provide enough of the "real world" to make much a difference. The college I went to, at least, seemed to be more interested in grooming me to be a researcher which is why I found most of the CS classes to be extremely boring.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Funny, earlier on HN was a headline that said to praise your children for their effort and NOT their intelligence.

Grades are a sign of effort. Effort wins most of the time.

What really surprises me about the wildly successful people I meet is that most of them aren't brilliant. But all of them work their asses off. Non-stop. I haven't met one who was brilliant and had a good work/life balance. Unsurprisingly, these habits often (but not always!) start early... Most of these successful people went to great schools and got great grades.

</comment><comment><USER18> Has anyone actually run the numbers? Does GPA predict founder success? Do SAT scores? Does IQ? How much does each matter? Is there a negative correlation?

</comment><comment><USER19> I'm sure people will say it in various ways, but one's path in life is (far) smoother if they have a track record - something people can see and relate to. It might be serial startups, it might be open-source success, it might be commercial success. Starting out, it's a transcript.

There's gobs of people out there. Differentiate yourself, so that people actually care when you talk to them.

</comment><comment><USER20> That's why I'm doing a Master's degree. You get no grades, just the degree.

[Edit] A friend tells me it's pass or distinction. Oh well.

</comment><comment><USER21> It's time for the author to brush up on his argumentation and rhetoric. It makes no sense. But it is provocative.

</comment><comment><USER22> This is great fodder for thinking about how I'm going to explain my average- ish GPA on law school apps.

</comment><comment><USER23> I read the thing and didn't understand the word of what the author is trying to say. Maybe I am fumbled up in vocabulary or something. Anyways, if any random person were to ask this to me I would definitely go for "good grades if you want to lead a happy peaceful life and smarts if you want to live like hell but have a shot at being happy as heaven".</comment>


Amazing 2 for 1 movie special "hack", courtesy of Regal Entertainment Group - <AUTHOR> http://www.zacharyburt.com/2010/05/amazing-2-for-1-movie-special-courtesy-of-regal-entertainment-group/

<comment><USER2> Not sure if I want to upvote this and draw attention considering "a friend" of mine might want to use it in the future, but what the hell. Cool hack.

</comment><comment><USER3> You got lucky. Every sane ticket-taking venue, especially in New York, scans the barcodes. I am rather surprised that that particular venue accepts a printed sheet of paper at its word.

<comment><AUTHOR> Someone should forward this to the management of Regal Union, and get them to change their policy. They definitely don't scan, and I've been there 5 or 6 times, so I've observed this across high-traffic as well as low-traffic.</comment></comment>


Traffic app Waze to alert L.A. drivers of kidnappings and hit-and-runs - <AUTHOR> http://thestack.com/traffic-app-waze-alert-la-kidnappings-hit-and-run-220415

<comment><USER2> I use Waze every day to negotiate a typically 90-120min (one way) work commute, but it depresses me greatly that humankind has degenerated to the point where Waze would need to alert people to kidnappings and hit-and-runs because they're prevalent enough to need alerting.

</comment><comment><USER3> I really love Waze, here in Madrid (Spain) is a compulsory app if dont want to be fined by velocity police radar.</comment>


Cloudsurf with olyfe.com's new html5 pre-launch page - <AUTHOR> http://www.olyfe.com

<comment><USER2> If you want an unobstructed view - <http://mrdoob.com/131/Clouds>

<comment><USER3> Also implemented here by Mr.doob: <http://www.ro.me/></comment></comment>


Apple Human Interface Guidelines - <AUTHOR> http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/OSXHIGuidelines/XHIGIntro/chapter_1_section_1.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30000894-TP6

<comment><USER2> Ironically the site itself is a usability disaster, with the text chopped up into small bits that require lots of clicking to get around, insufficiently large margins, and frames.

It would be interesting to see how it would look redesigned by John Gruber.

<comment><AUTHOR> I actually considered uploading the pdf version to Scribd for submission, but was worried it would break terms of use.</comment></comment>


The Secret of Raising Money - <AUTHOR> http://www.thesecretofraisingmoney.com

<comment><USER2> Downloaded the free chapter, lots of interesting info in there.If you're an entrepreneur looking to raise cash, check this out.

</comment><comment><USER3> Looking forward to read it to master fundraising tactics! Thx guys!

</comment><comment><USER4> seriously great info in the free chapters. can't wait to read the rest.</comment>


Git implementation for Plan 9 - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/oridb/git9 <comment><USER2> > The most obvious difference is that Git's index is a bit boneheaded, so I'm > ignoring it.

I use the git index nearly every day. I suppose it is possible to implement something like git without it but I would find it quite a bit less useful.</comment>


Jury finds patent on "look and feel" for online stores valid, infringed - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/10/jury-finds-patent-on-look-and-feel-for-online-stores-valid-infringed/ <comment><USER2> "automatically at a server of the outsource provider, in response to activation, by a web browser of a computer user, of a link displayed by one of a plurality of first web pages, recognizing as the source page the one of the first web pages on which the link has been activated; (i) wherein each of the first web pages belongs to one of a plurality of web page owners; (ii) wherein each of the first web pages displays at least one active link associated with a commerce object associated with a buying opportunity of a selected one of a plurality of merchants; and (iii) wherein the selected merchant, the outsource provider, and the owner of the first web page are each third parties with respect to one other; (b) automatically retrieving from a storage coupled to the server pre-stored data associated with the source page; and then (c) automatically with the server computer-generating and transmitting to the web browser a second web page that includes: (i) information associated with the commerce object associated with the link that has been activated, and (ii) a plurality of visually perceptible elements derived from the retrieved pre- stored data and visually corresponding to the source page."

Did they just patent a link that points to an online product?

</comment><comment><USER3> This stuff worries me big time, but I'm hoping someone's going to fix it somehow. It's like one of those waking nightmares!

</comment><comment><USER4> Another ridiculous patent ... the system truly is collapsing!</comment>


All dating sites were banned from advertising on yahoo. No more direct sales. - <AUTHOR> http://plentyoffish.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/mobile-scams/

<comment><USER2> Guy seems to know a lot about analytics, CTR, and such for someone who only works 1 hour a week. Just writing that blog post surely took up at least 1/3 of his total work allotment for this week.

[http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090101/and-the-money-comes- rol...](http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090101/and-the-money-comes-rolling- in.html)

<comment><USER3> It is prudent to create a sufficiently interesting image to attract media attention. The I'm rich and don't give a fuck image seems to play pretty well.

<comment><USER2> Yeah, I know. It just irritates me how the media eats that shit up and regurgitates it to young wannabe entrepreneurs who aren't as cynical as me.</comment></comment></comment>


Do Not Debase Science: Don't Call On It To Settle Your Medieval Disputes - Richard Feynman - <AUTHOR> http://www.collectedthoughts.com/quote.aspx?id=11302 <comment><USER2> Nice story.

Not by any means to pick on the Jewish faith, but aren't Rabbis notorious for detailed, obscure, nit-picking arguments that go on forever? Seems like I remember stories of medieval rabbis getting into the oddest debates.

<comment><USER3> Yes, that's true. There is a discussion in the talmud about the implications (for Shabbat) of having a floating city (in the sky, not water).

Judaism is a very logically oriented religion. It's not obvious but every single rules is very logically determined. Except for a specific list that is termed "rules from Sinai". (I don't remember the exact count of how many things are termed so.) Those are like the 'axioms' everything else follows logically from there.

It is said that by starting with those rules, the text of the torah, and nothing else, you can regenerate the entire set of laws.

<comment><USER4> There is a prohibition on floating cities? So adherents cannot live on "seasteads?" Can they work on oil rigs? What about Geoffrey Landis' proposal to colonize the upper atmosphere of Venus by building aerostat habitats there? What about ocean liners with shopping malls and ferris wheels in them?

<comment><USER3> >There is a prohibition on floating cities?

What? Hu? Where in the world did I say that? Or even anything close? I said the "implications".

Just so it's clear: there is no prohibition for floating cities.

The issues discussed were pretty technical, but had to do with public vs. private land on the city.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is a long excerpt from Surely You're Joking. Is this even legal?

<comment><USER6> I get the feeling Feynman would have licensed it with Creative Commons, given the chance.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> The problem with organized religion of all kinds is that it tends to obsess over a concept of eternal and immutable truth, rather than accepting the possibility (and likelihood) of a multitude of paths to truth and liberation. This leads to a sort of legalism that detracts from the original purpose of the religion.

The original purpose of Shabbat in Judaism and Christianity is to devote one day out of seven to meditation and prayer, as well as to simulate the sinless state, in which there was no need for work, that existed before the Fall. There's nothing special about Saturday (or Sunday) as opposed to any other day, aside from the desire to have all observers recognize it on the same day. Before the modern era, the most common distraction from the meditative life was work, and hence the activities that are prohibited are those that were considered part of the "work" sphere in biblical times.

Organized religion tends to calcify, leading to strict rules that allow no exceptions. Hence, the question asked is not, "Will using electricity distract from the meditative purpose of Shabbat?" but "Does electricity 'count' as a fire?" Of course, one can't single out Judaism here, because significant components of all the major religions devolve into the same debates.

<comment><USER3> a: There is no "meditative purpose of Shabbat".

b: The rule was never: forbid things that are work. Work is a poor translation of the hebrew concept. Things that are forbidden are things that create things, or modify them. Like burning something, or building. The idea is to emulate God - God stopped creating the world on the 7th day, so we too should not create things on the 7th day. What counts as creating for God and for us are different, but the idea is the same.

c: There is something special about the particular 7th day: it's the same day that was seventh after creation. The weeks have been counted continuously for a good many thousands of years.

So to ask '"Will using electricity distract from the meditative purpose of Shabbat?" instead of "Does electricity 'count' as a fire?"' completely misses the point of Shabbat.

You think you are catching the point, but instead you missed it.

And BTW the answer to the question is: yes it counts as fire because using electricity causes a fire in the power plant to be increased. But the electricity itself is not fire.

<comment><USER8> Actual questions asked a a building site my dad was at in Israel.

1) Is a regenerative break in an elevator doing work, even if the power is not fed back into the grid? Accepted answer: No, as long as its not fed back, but wasted as heat instead in a large resistor. Solution : A special system was constructed to divert the regenerative power into a large nickel-chromium element and not fed back into the grid for just that day. This heat was vented outside so that it wouldn't accidentally do work by heating the building in winter.

2) Does energy created in the power plant (from burning coal) count if its stored in a battery and then removed during Shabbat? Answer: No, as long as the fire part happened some other day. Solution: Large batteries were installed with inverters to feed critical systems during this day and were only charged during the week.

Of course, as mentioned, non Jews were hired to press buttons, open doors, and perform other actions during this time as well. The moral of the story is that it cost a lot more, and takes a lot longer to build a building like this!

I believe in God, and I don't want to disparage any man's religion but I think personally that God is not overly impressed by storing the energy in a battery so we can use it guilt free on the holy day...

<comment><USER3> First: Not all jews would agree with those answers as being OK.

Second: you need to understand that the main thing going on here is that non jews (who do not need to keep shabbos) are pressing the buttons, etc.

And normally that would be enough - no need for batteries and resistors.

But it's in israel, and in israel non-observant jews run the power plants, so what happens is that by going in the elevator the jew is causing another jew (in the power plant) to violate the shabbos, and that's a huge problem. (I suppose it's actually the non-jew who is causing it. That's not a problem for the non-jew, but a jew should not use an elevator knowing it's going to cause someone to violate the shabbos.)

That's why they added all the batteries and stuff, and that's also why it's not simply a joke. The "loophole" if you will is the non-jew pressing the buttons, and that's fine. Non-jews are not required to keep shabbos, and you'd be all set. But the jew must not cause another jew to violate the shabbos, hence disconnecting from the grid.

You might ask: what about lights and stuff that are left on? And indeed there are those who run on batteries all shabbos. But the majority say that the jew is not doing any action by leaving the light on, and it's only actions that are a problem. For example: everyone agrees that it's ok to leave a fire running on shabbos, as long as you don't make it larger or smaller, same with the lights.

<comment><USER8> Interesting. Complicated issue indeed. I'd have guessed exactly the opposite about the lights. The light being on incrementally and continuously requires more fuel for the fire. The longer its on, the "bigger" the fire.

Does this mean that by inaction, its ok cause work to be done, even if by reasonable action, one could have prevented it?

Could the elevators simply move by themselves, stopping at every floor. Would it be permitted to ride them since they were simply "left on" and you wouldn't have to press any buttons, and they would have made the trip anyway?

<comment><USER9> The restrictions of Shabbat apply to Jews, not utensils owned by Jews; therefore, generally speaking, it's OK to set things up before Shabbat so that things will happen without any intervention. The most common example of this is setting a mechanical timer or an X10 system to turn lights on and off. And one common form of the "Shabbat elevator" is, indeed, to set up the elevator so that it will automatically stop at every floor.

(This is all according to the traditions recognized as authoritative by Orthodox Jews. The Kera'ites, a dissident sect going back at least to medieval times, interprets the Bible differently; they think you're not just allowed to _ignite_ a fire on Shabbat, you're also not allowed to _leave a fire burning_ over Shabbat. If you're a Kera'ite you should probably not live any place where there are cold winters.)</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


PyNES: Write NES Games in Python - <AUTHOR> http://gutomaia.net/pyNES/ <comment><USER2> Is the name a deliberate attempt to sound like "penis"? I'm asking because it reminds me of the first NES emulator I ever used, which went by the name of NESticle!

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

<comment><USER3> The name of that emulator coinciding with the word testicle was on purpose right?

I'm just glad I wasn't the only one who thought this back then.

<comment><USER4> A Google Images search for "nesticle icon" should clear up any doubt.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> [https://github.com/gutomaia/pyNES/wiki](https://github.com/gutomaia/pyNES/wiki)

Non existant docs.

IMHO one of the first steps of starting a project is to write a README.

Though, at least there are few examples: [https://github.com/gutomaia/pyNES/tree/0.1.x/pynes/examples](https://github.com/gutomaia/pyNES/tree/0.1.x/pynes/examples)

<comment><USER6> Yes, lamentable, but we all know the fun part is writing the code, not the docs, and obviously this was a for-fun project.

Maybe someone else can document it if the creator doesn't have time.

At any rate, I'm happy it exists, getting a toy game running on actual hardware will be hilariously fun for me, if it works. I don't mind using the code as the documentation for something this obscure if docs aren't available. Better than having to spend time learning 6502 assembly just for screwing around with NES games (or NES demoscene, hmm... it's probably cheating but it'll be fun.)

<comment><USER7> Thanks. Sorry for the lack of documentation. The first version (Branch 0.1.x) was more focused as a proof of concept. Despite the examples, after some time I found several limitations. That lead to a branch (kill_the_baby), witch i've restarted the project. Well, lack of documentation first started due the constant changes over the time. pyNES 0.2.x will have a more mature API and a DOC.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I was hoping this was an update to this project; bugfixes, or more examples, or docs. Very cool that this exists though.

@emodendroket "Isn't the fun of writing NES software basically doing it like guys would have done in the 80s?" \- I did stuff in the 80s, there was nothing fun about having to leave comments out of your code for the lack of memory, or using a clumsy compiler and/or editor. Cross-compiling is the way to go! Just making these old systems do things is the point, and keeping them alive.

</comment><comment><USER9> I semicompleted a game in NES in C, and even I was hitting walls constantly when it comes program size or performance. I have my doubts for python.

Here is the library I used. [http://shiru.untergrund.net/articles/programming_nes_games_i...](http://shiru.untergrund.net/articles/programming_nes_games_in_c.htm) It is pretty simple but you will need some about how NES works.

<comment><USER10> I think it uses Python as frontend and compiles 6502 assembler from the code. Generated assembly can be easily edited to overcome problems.

<comment><USER11> It could be edited yes, but I'd assume once you change some Python code and recompile you'd lose your assembly tweaks. Not the end of the world I guess, but annoying if you're really trying to tweak things for maximum performance. All part of the trade off when using a high-level language for an extremely resource limited system such as the NES I suppose.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I forgot what is the name of using one language like that to emit other (DSL like). For example writing Lisp (or Python) to actually write C programs or asm. I think GOAL was used like that? Any resources (existing projects) about that? I'm not talking about 'compiling' from one language to another where you get to handle the baggage of the originating language as well through extra code, but more like fancy macro text processing.

<comment><USER13> Are you thinking of (a version of) Metaprogramming? As opposed to Transpiling.

<comment><USER12> Indeed, albeit at compile time and not run time.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> There's also javagrinder [https://www.mikekohn.net/micro/java_grinder.php](https://www.mikekohn.net/micro/java_grinder.php) which can run some java code on the TI-99/4a, C64, and Sega Genesis by translation of java class files to equivalent platform machine code.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I think is an amazingly absurd project, in a good way :)

<comment><USER15> What is absurd about it?

<comment><USER16> Well, to start with, it targets a long-dead platform. It also skips multiple steps, allowing a system that was always programmed in an extremely low level language (assembler) to be programmed in one of the highest-level languages in common use (Python).

For the record I love the idea.

<comment><USER17> Python may be high level in terms of relative distance to the hardware but it's not particularly high level in terms of the abstractions available. If you watch the video on the site linked you'll see that the programming style is not all that different from what you'd see if you were programming the NES in C.

<comment><USER18> The idea of programming the NES in C is still a little out there. People have made plenty of efforts in that area but it never seems to "stick."

Seems to me like it makes the most sense to just go with 6502 if one is serious about fooling around with the NES.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Isn't the fun of writing NES software basically doing it like guys would have done in the 80s? If you want to do something modern why even target a platform that hasn't been manufactured for decades?

<comment><USER20> Getting stuff working in a low-level environment is one kind of fun and working in a high-level language where you only have to think about the logic is another kind of fun. Every programmer should get to experience both kinds of fun in their career. And they can decide which one they like better and want to focus on.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> I would love this so much if I could figure it out. I'm a javascript programmer, but haven't done much with Python. I'd like to write a small, arcade-style game with python though. Does anyone know anything else like this? Is PyGame fun to work with?

<comment><USER18> Pygame is very fun to work with and it's so easy. I stopped using it for game development (switched to web-based HTML5 stuff) but it is still an amazing wrapper over SDL. I recently used it to write a quick version of an image evolver. (an example of what I'm talking about: [http://alteredqualia.com/visualization/evolve/](http://alteredqualia.com/visualization/evolve/))

If I ever want to bust out a quick graphical/audio application I use Pygame.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> The presentation gutomaia did on PyNES at PythonBrasil had a slide deck written using this tool.

</comment><comment><USER23> Thanks! I've always wanted to write a NES game and I guess it's easier to begin once you have some code written. This is a nice first step for beginners.

</comment><comment><USER24> Obligatory Ruby cousin [https://github.com/remore/burn](https://github.com/remore/burn)

</comment><comment><USER25> Awesome, does it work in shedskin ?

I remember them using a C64 emulator as one of the examples.

</comment><comment><USER26> It's so nice project!!

</comment><comment><USER27> wish I could do this for the original Sony Playstation 1</comment>


Raphaël 1.5 - <AUTHOR> http://dmitry.baranovskiy.com/post/raphael-1.5

<comment><USER2> This is kind of old...version 2.0 of raphael is currently in development at <https://github.com/DmitryBaranovskiy/raphael/tree/2.0> and the current stable version is 1.5.2.

<comment><AUTHOR> _"... This is kind of old... ..."_

it is the latest blog post by Dmitry & highlights some interesting points browsing the source code does not. Code doesn't always reveal intention or hints.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> For those new to the scene, Raphael is a vector graphics API that works across almost all major browsers. Except Android's webkit for now, irksome.

Raphael has a simple, jQuery-like API. It is compatible with SVG and VML, which means pretty great IE6-8 support. The main alternative is SVG Web, which uses Flash 10 to target IE6-8/Android and native SVG for everything else.

Android team, please support SVG. Don't make us optimize our iOS experiences to spite you.

</comment><comment><USER4> Article is from August 10, 2010. Current version is 1.5.2 from the website: <http://raphaeljs.com/></comment>


Association of Coffee Drinking with Mortality - T-A https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2686145 <comment><AUTHOR> I'm going to be immortal.</comment>


Hubble finds far-away planet vanishing at record speed - <AUTHOR> https://phys.org/news/2018-12-hubble-far-away-planet.html <comment><USER2> I would replace 'vanishing' with 'evaporating' in the headline.

<comment><USER3> It is ambiguous – my first thought was that a record redshift had been measured.

<comment><USER4> I was hoping we had spotted planet X entering it's far orbit!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Link to the paper: [http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hvi/uploads/science_paper/file_...](http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hvi/uploads/science_paper/file_attachment/360/article_GJ3470b.pdf)

Story on Hubblesite: [http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2018-52](http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2018-52)

</comment><comment><USER6> That's exactly what I think happens to Pandora after the end of Avatar.

</comment><comment><USER7> destroyed by death star?

<comment><USER8> I mean, kind of, yeah.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> >In only a few billion years, half the planet may be gone.

Is that really record speed?

</comment><comment><USER10> This could be an Onion headline with a doctored "Hubble photo" of Earth.

</comment><comment><USER11> PSA: That site brought my Debian VM to its knees. Two cores at >90%, 3GB RAM, and swap at a few hundred MB, and growing fast. This is with Firefox 60.3.0esr(64-bit). Had to kill the process and swapoff/swapon.

After setting "Minimize Memory Usage" at "about:memory",[0] it still does it. Albeit more slowly.

So maybe I need to lose Quantum.

0) [https://support.mozilla.org/en- US/questions/1223605](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1223605)

<comment><USER12> I'm on a similar system, albeit running on hardware as opposed to a VM. Browsing with uBlock Origin I have no problems on that site in Firefox. I did not try in a different browser, nor did I try to disable uBlock.

<comment><USER11> OK, it's some useless script that phys.org runs.[0]

If I create a custom NoScript rule, which blocks scripts (and webgl, which I block by default) phys.org sites render just fine.

But damn, I am curious what scripts phys.org is running that use so much RAM. Maybe it's a DoS against ad-blockers ;)

0) [https://mozilla.logbot.info/firefox/20180907](https://mozilla.logbot.info/firefox/20180907)</comment></comment></comment>


Survey maps global variations in ethics for programming autonomous vehicles - <AUTHOR> https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07135-0 <comment><USER2> This discussion is honestly becoming a bit tiring. A non-deterministic system would still be more eyhical than humans (which will always choose "preserve self"). Furthermore, and it sucks to admit it, we are easily more than a decade away from self-driving cars and far, far, more years away from AI that can make whatever ethical choices we decide it should make because that requires foresight, which amounts to GAI, and we can't even emulate common sense yet.

When we have sufficiently advanced AI, will road infrastructure resemble our current infrastructure in any way? Even if it didn't change at all, pedestrians would learn how to predict what a car will do in common situations; e.g. how I currently put one foot on the road to signal drivers to slow down. There may be no trolley to worry about.

It just seems like a lot of talk about a reality that we couldn't possibly comprehend. The vast majority of current opinions, which sound _very_ smart, will probably end up being irrelevant - save the one that somehow won the opinion lottery.

It's a big and wasteful distraction from issues that occur within this century. How about we see if we can actually pull off self-driving cars and GAI, first.</comment>


'Fake fingerprint' Chinese woman fools Japan controls - <AUTHOR> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8400222.stm

<comment><USER2> I'm surprised that actually worked. They have separate databases for the right and left hands and only search one or the other based on which hand is being used? That seems very dumb.

Maybe they'll just move to retinal scan now. That should be pretty hard to fake without blinding someone.</comment>


The days are getting longer – but very, very slowly - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jun/04/the-days-are-getting-longer-but-very-very-slowly <comment><USER2> ...hence the need for leap seconds some years.</comment>


Ask HN: Do you use easter eggs in your websites/software/etc? - <AUTHOR>

Do you guys add easter eggs to your websites/web apps/software/etc?<p>* if you go on my personal website and search my projects for certain keywords ("about", "hello", my name and some others), you will see a little description of my site<p>* at my previous job I created some JavaScript automation tools which had a few easter eggs, for example this one product search tool would open a random Youtube video from a list of songs that I liked if you searched for my name<p>* another "app" I made used code names based on names of artists, musicians, political activists etc; if you clicked a specific "empty" area in the toolbar, a website would open that explained where the code name comes from, for example My Awesome Toolbar v2.0 - Emma would open a Google search for Emma Goldman or MAT v4.2 - Kim would open a Youtube page with a Pixies song (Kim as in Kim Deal)<p>I don't think any of my colleagues ever discovered the easter eggs, but it was still fun adding them. <comment><USER2> If you're basket of features is full, then add easter eggs. It's all about expected value. Most adults don't care about things like easter eggs, they just want a high quality product/service that ~tickles~ them well.

Relatively speaking, easter eggs go better and are more par for the course with less serious products like games, google Carmack easter eggs for some good reading :-)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Here's an interesting idea:

"I'm a big fan of the Konami code jQuery plugin. On my site, when you put it in you get a better deal on your VPS."

Not sure if I should include the guy's website, but I'm keeping this in mind for the next time I'll be ordering something online.

</comment><comment><USER3> Not really my project, but racket, specifically DrRacket has a handful of easter eggs for various holidays and the birthdays of core developers.</comment>