Samsung copied Xcode? - <AUTHOR> http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=15445800&postcount=1080 <comment><USER2> _Edit:_ As I said, it's not even Java: <http://www.imaso.co.kr/data/article/15%283%29.png>

_< Edit2>_

Apparently it's made by Samsung. I see some Samsung logo on this website:

[http://www.imaso.co.kr/?doc=bbs/gnuboard.php&bo_table=ar...](http://www.imaso.co.kr/?doc=bbs/gnuboard.php&bo_table=article&keywords=%C0%D0%C0%BB%B0%C5%B8%AE%3B%B5%F0%BA%A7%B7%CE%C6%DB+%C7%C3%B7%AF%BD%BA&page=7&wr_id=38537) From what I understand it's a SDK for Samsung Smart TV's

<http://www.imaso.co.kr/data/article/17(2).png>

 _< /Edit2>_

>Some probably shooped image with a small resolution

>Some asian language

>No proof it's made by Samsung

>2 lines of description posted in a in a mac forum

This sounds totally legit.

I want to remind you guys of the current top post at the front page: [http://day4.se/how-we-screwed-almost-the-whole-apple- communi...](http://day4.se/how-we-screwed-almost-the-whole-apple-community)

Don't believe everything. We do not even know if Samsung made it or if it has anything to do with android.

<comment><USER3> I had to build a couple of Samsung TV apps, and that indeed looks like their IDE. It's Javascript (you can use HTML or Flash). Not much of a threat to Apple though, it is the worst platform I have ever developed for.

Try it for yourself: <http://www.samsungdforum.com/>

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Or maybe they cloned Visual Studio. Or Flash Builder. Or whatever. All of the IDEs with a design surface are largely the same.

Seriously- this is an IDE for televisions.

<comment><USER5> If you've used Xcode before, you'll recognize things they copied that are not the norm in other IDEs. The object library, IB screen, the layout buttons on the toolbar (the entire toolbar, really). Sure, it's just an IDE, but heck if it doesn't look strikingly similar to Xcode.

edit: cmelbye in this thread has a good comparison: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4378379>

<comment><USER6> Other than the placement (but not iconography: those come straight from the 1980's VCR) of the Start/Stop buttons, I'm actually not quite sure that I see much. Can you elaborate? What's an "IB screen" (if it's the visual layout thing, I gotta say you're off by about 15 years trying to attribute that to Apple).

But fair enough: let's say they cloned it. Now what? What corrective action should be taken? What if Eclipse did the same thing (as, of course, Eclipse basically did to VC++)?

You're trying to make some kind of moral point, so it would help your case if you spelled it out.

I'll spell out my position: cloning a UI is fine. There is a long history of this in the technology industry, and we're all richer for it. Condemning someone for cloning your favorite candy maker's recipe is nothing but base fanboism, and hurtful to all of us.

<comment><USER5> Come on, you were going well until you threw around the fanboism argument.

But I'll bite: I do not think cloning a UI is _fine_. I think _drawing inspiration_ from a UI is fine, because indeed, any new thing stands on the shoulders of what came before it. But actually _cloning_ a UI (your words, cited) is making a clone, a copy, whose result is certainly not evolution or innovation. You're making a facsimile, doing no real creative work (or innovative work) to cut corners.

To me, this is less about it being Samsung and Apple, but about cutting corners in a blatant way. It's dumb, it's misguided, and these guys should know better. Just as you shouldn't ever say that cloning a UI is _fine_.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> For comparison...

Samsung's IDE: <http://www.imaso.co.kr/data/article/15%283%29.png>

Xcode: <http://cl.ly/Ijas>

Of course, as Samsung apologists will tell you, this was a pure accident on Samsung's part. Everyone knows there's only one way to design an IDE. Anyone designing one will eventually end up with a carbon-copy of Xcode.

<comment><USER8> As someone who has extensively used Xcode, I can assure you it's not a "carbon copy".

And hey, here's a screenshot of Visual Basic: <http://i.msdn.microsoft.com/dynimg/IC158544.gif>

<comment><USER9> If you think Visual Basic looks anything like Xcode, you're either detail- blind, or you've never used Xcode.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Garbage. Alert, alert, developer modifies his IDE to be cross-platform familiar and become more productive!

        A few minutes ago I snapped this screenshot of what
        the official downloadable TV SDK looked like
        (the Samsung IDE version; not the Eclipse version):

[http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3526...](http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=352612&d=1344741319) [0]

[0] [http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=15447288&post...](http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=15447288&postcount=1091)

</comment><comment><USER11> There are a few similarities, but really a lot of these features that any capable IDE should have

<comment><USER12> Features are one thing - yes, nearly all IDEs have lots of the same features. But that looks like they copied XCode 4's appearance directly. It's a pity the screenshots are so low resolution - hopefully some higher resolution shots of the Samsung software will turn up.

But even in this example it's easy to spot lifted design elements:

* The centered tab selector buttons in the title bar of each pane

* The overall styling of the widget pallet, including the round-rect selection

* The arrangement of the primary toolbar and its assorted option buttons, which clearly mimics XCode.

* The colors and gradients

<comment><USER13> A screenshot of Eclipse that I grabbed off Google Images: [http://img.brothersoft.com/screenshots/softimage/e/eclipse_i...](http://img.brothersoft.com/screenshots/softimage/e/eclipse_ide_for_c-c++_developers-133195-1.jpeg)

I don't use a lot of IDEs, but I honestly can't see any substantial distinctions between any of the three. (And no, I don't consider centering a pane a distinction.)

<comment><USER7> Oh, come on.

<http://i.imgur.com/8uL8M.png> vs <http://cl.ly/IjBC>

<http://i.imgur.com/2Kn4j.png> vs <http://cl.ly/Iiob>

<http://i.imgur.com/RYYv9.png> vs <http://cl.ly/IiWX>

We're not talking similar features here, we're talking lazy carbon-copied user interfaces. You honestly think this was accidental and there's only one way to make an IDE?

EDIT: A few more, now that we have a hi-res screenshot.

<http://i.imgur.com/SYSv2.png> vs <http://cl.ly/IjUP>

<http://i.imgur.com/2nmUn.png> vs <http://i.imgur.com/4NFV6.png>

<http://i.imgur.com/HJ9s4.png> vs <http://i.imgur.com/qgpWc.png> (that bar above "Scheme" is, you guessed it, a drop down)

<comment><USER13> _You honestly think this was accidental and there's only one way to make an IDE?_

I honestly don't know. I don't use any IDE on a regular basis.

Judging by the relative quality of your screenshots, you use XCode -- is it possible that you'd be able to point out such similarities between any two IDEs, given the presumption that one IDE _must be_ copying from another due to a current lawsuit?

<comment><USER12> > is it possible that you'd be able to point out such similarities between any > two IDEs

Not down to the level of design elements that appear to have been copied here. As someone who does use XCode, Visual Studio, IntelliJ, and PyCharm all on a regular basis, I can tell you that they all look very distinct visually. They all have pretty much the same feature set, but they're absolutely distinguishable at a glance visually. It is definitely not inevitable that IDEs look the same.

Interestingly, the Samsung IDE is a Windows application. The standard practice would be to match the look and feel of the native platform the IDE runs on, but that is clearly not the case here.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I cannot see a clear evidence to support the claim (that "samsung copied Xcode"). If you can reach that claim from the screenshot, you can make the same claim for netbeans, eclipse, intellJ,...etc (as the author admits him/herself, any capable IDE looks similar).

If the claim is on the icon design along, the claim could stand stronger; but I guess it's not "catchy" enough to claim "Samsung copied XCode's icon design".

Why don't people make such claims on open-source projects? Is it because open- source project has no money for other people to sue off?

</comment><comment><USER15> Next pundits will say even MATLAB copied Xcode...

No, I'm pretty sure Samsung did not explicitly copy Xcode there. Although it's a pretty stupid move to create their own IDE in my opinion. I think the standard these days is to build on top of Eclipse.

</comment><comment><USER16> What's with a lot of fanboism posts lately??? Heck the linked post doesn't even offer a clear picture of either of the IDE's. IDE's often look similar and its no secret. This is because developers often have to use different IDEs for different tasks and relearning a drastically different IDE is just a waste of time and resource. If I have to be in OP's shoes, I would find even Xcode to be a direct clone of Visual Basic's IDE!!!

</comment><comment><USER17> About every IDE that support dockable panels can be customized to look like this. They can also be reorganized to look entirely different.

Quick, find the patent for dockable panels and sue everyone!

<comment><USER18> Well, since you mention it.. this happened back in 2000 when Adobe sued Macromedia over "copied" IDE elements (before eventually buying them out..).

[http://www.pcworld.com/article/18000/adobe_sues_macromedia.h...](http://www.pcworld.com/article/18000/adobe_sues_macromedia.html)

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> It is really sad to see Samsung throw away any brand capital it had as an innovative company. People respect you trying to innovate even if it might not be the best solution. People want to associate themselves with innovators.

Disappointing.

<comment><USER20> This is Samsung's raison d'être.

They've been doing this with the Japanese companies (Sony, Panasonic, Sharp) for years now and have now set their sights on Apple.

It's a bad reflection on South Korea itself as between Samsung, Hyundai and the cultural copying they have the reputation as wannabe Japanese. Which is a real shame as it is a wonderful country with plenty of home grown talent.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Funny, I have seen this forum layout somewhere...OMG! Macrumours has copied PhpBB!!

</comment><comment><USER22> Hey Samsung!

Why don't you guys get rid of those copy machines and hire some talented people?

I'm sure that would be a lot cheaper that what you'll have to pay for Apple. ;-)

</comment><comment><USER23> Man, XCode looks a lot like Eclipse.

<comment><USER20> I take it you've never used XCode or Eclipse. If you did you would know that they are world's apart as far as IDEs are concerned.

<comment><USER23> Actually, used both quite a bit. But the UI and project layout (the subject of this post) are very similar, as they are with most IDEs.

Case in point: <http://ostatic.com/files/images/JUnit-[2].png>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Samsung is clearly addicted to copying Apple. And I say that as someone who doesn't like Apple.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4353925>

</comment><comment><USER25> Indeed there's a Samsung IDE:

<http://www.samsungdforum.com/Devtools/Sdkdownload>

(they offer SDK Download for Eclipse, and SDK Download for Samsung IDE).

I haven't downloaded it but I'm assuming it's the one in the screenshot.

</comment><comment><USER9> The amount of detail-blindness I'm seeing here is astounding.

No wonder so many UIs are terrible.

</comment><comment><USER26> I think this is just a prank.

</comment><comment><USER27> I think if there were patents in relation to Xcode Apple Legal would have acted on it. If the UI layout isn't patented then is there really an issue?

</comment><comment><USER28> Honestly, I saw that and thought visual studio. The example code colors are very visual studio like.

</comment><comment><USER29> Enough is enough.

Samsung: I'm willing to go to all _thermonucular_ over this.

</comment><comment><USER30> Silly apple fanboys :/

</comment><comment><USER31> It's funny that there are a lot of people who think doing the below is okay, but copying some GUI elements is not.

[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p5akC0fNzZQ/Tfdnlsy7e0I/AAAAAAAAAY...](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p5akC0fNzZQ/Tfdnlsy7e0I/AAAAAAAAAY8/wtWWMeAtwI4/s1600/ReactOS_0.3_-_9%255B1%255D.jpg)

<comment><USER7> Who specifically are you referring to? I haven't seen anyone endorse ReactOS yet at the same time vilify Samsung.</comment></comment>


Scaleway's data centre in the catacombs, 26 metres under Paris - <AUTHOR> https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/06/19/underground_datacentre/ <comment><USER2> If you want to see more than 2 pictures (one of which is of a small drainage channel), there's a detailed blog post about the construction: [https://blog.scaleway.com/2016/c14-story-part-1-meet-our- nuc...](https://blog.scaleway.com/2016/c14-story-part-1-meet-our-nuclear- fallout-shelter/)

<comment><USER3> Really interesting read, thanks. But I have to wonder... why? Was all of that effort worth it?

<comment><USER4> Probably mostly marketing. This would be one place that data archives might survive nuclear and small to medium asteroid impacts, assuming it is water tight and really strong submarine doors. I did not see any bar (pressure) ratings.

There are a handful of companies that have underground data-centers, but I think it's mostly hype. Creating functional (real) bunkers at that scale is very expensive. When I look at bunkers, the first things I look for is how many bars of pressure they are rated for. A nuclear bunker must be rated for at least 8 bars. Getting permits for underground generators and fuel tanks is also very expensive.

<comment><USER5> The bunker was already dug though? That seems at least to make the cost a bit less absurd.

<comment><USER3> The bunker was dug, but they had to go through a ton of work to reinforce it, pour a foundation capable of holding server racks without disturbing the existing structure, waterproof it, and more.

Maybe the seemingly advanced building techniques they described in the blog post are also required to build an above-ground datacenter. Or the cost of doing it (and doing it below ground) isn't drastically greater.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I came to Scaleway from Linode since they had very competitive pricing and generally always thought they were pretty nice.

That is, of-course, until they decided to up the price on my tier by almost 60% with very short notice. Same box I'd been running for years, no upgrades or nothing aside from a shiny new price tag...

<comment><USER7> What did they say when you contacted their support?

<comment><USER6> No info apart from confirming, that yes, that would indeed be the new price going forward.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Scaleway has been hosting large scale SIP attacks for the past few years: [https://badpackets.net/ongoing-large-scale-sip-attack- campai...](https://badpackets.net/ongoing-large-scale-sip-attack-campaign- coming-from-online-sas-as12876/)

</comment><comment><USER9> The title is kind of clickbait. The article says this is near the catacombs, not in them, which makes sense since the catacombs are ossuaries.

better title: "Scaleway's data centre in a bunker, 26 meters under Paris"

<comment><USER10> In Paris the word "catacombs" is used in a larger sense than ossuaries. It also covers the huge network of old quarries, mostly on the left bank. They pretty popular with urban explorers ("cataphiles"). The data center is built in one of these quarries turned into a shelter.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> If you like this sort of thing, I'll gladly dig a hole and put a Raspberry Pi in it.

<comment><USER12> There's probably a market for single low-powered servers in physically hard- to-reach locations.

<comment><USER13> Try Cyberbunker :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I've wanted to use Scaleway as their prices seem way better than DigitalOcean/Vultr for larger/bare metal servers, but they just lack ... everything from their API. It's one of most poorly documented VM APIs I've ever seen.

They also have no managed DNS! You've got to setup your own DNS servers!

The server setup does seem tool though. Also, how did a Register link get through? I thought that site was banned on HN.

<comment><USER15> > how did a Register link get through? I thought that site was banned on HN

Oh deary me, why should that be? Just because the journos are snarky and sarcastic, or because it's pretending to be a red-top?

... or is it because it's mostly written in Perl?

<comment><USER16> What's a red-top in this context?

<comment><USER15> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabloid_journalism#Red_tops](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabloid_journalism#Red_tops)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> This is very cool, but it wont be as fun when water starts to drop on electrical equipment. And cooling will probably be an issue too. But I guess it's worth it if you get a central location in a major city.</comment>


Ask HN: Do you take anti-depressants? - <AUTHOR> If you take anti-depressants, what has their biggest impact been on your life? Have they made you more productive? Have you experienced any drawbacks?<p>(I am considering seeing a doctor about depression. I am not sure if what I experience is really depression. I have been wondering, maybe I have never experienced 'normal' as other people do. I wonder if they will help me focus better and be more productive, esp. in my spare time.) <comment><USER4> First, stop considering and see your doctor. Make an appointment now. You may be treatable as depressed, or the two of you may conclude that some other treatment is appropriate.

I'm in my late 50s. I've been taking an SSRI, generic Citalopram (Celexa) for a few months. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citalopram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citalopram)

The biggest impact on my life may be that I'm still alive, that I no longer want to or feel that I need to kill myself, that I no longer wake up every day wondering if this should be the day. This was my life just a few months ago.

I wish I'd done something about this years ago.

More productive? Yeah, maybe. I was still functioning when I was untreated, but I was miserable, and would obsess over any setback, real or constructed. So I'm not doing that anymore, and so I'm probably spending more time producing.

Possibly more productive in the sense that I bother trying to accomplish things in my personal life that I previously discarded as impossible for me. "That'll never work."

However, that's my story, not yours. We're all individuals, with our own genes and experience and environment.

Drawbacks? No, not really. My libido is somewhat less distracting. Some people report no libido, some no difference. If that becomes an issue you can consult with your doctor and adjust things.

I'm not more energetic, I'm not more lazy. I am still exactly who I was before. However, I'm certain that I'm more pleasant to be around. I think often depression is perceived by others as someone generally being an asshole. I used to very often find myself riding the trainwreck of an interaction, and powerless to stop it.

Personally, my biggest fear was not being able to think if I took antidepressants. If anything, I think better, because I don't waste my brain on unproductive, irrational thinking. I'm not smarter, and I'm not stupider, I just don't have as many obstacles as I used to.

Bottom line: you're not a doctor. You aren't going to a doctor to receive antidepressants, you're going to treat your possible depression. That treatment _may_ include antidepressants, and/or something else.

Go make your appointment.

</comment><comment><USER5> I took Lexapro (Escitalopram) around 2010, for 6 months. It's an SSRI, like Prozac, Zoloft or Paxil.

My experience was an "evening out" of my emotions. If my normal emotional range was 1-10, Lexapro put me between 3 and 8 all the time. Gone were the 1's and 2's (the very low/depressed feelings) but so were the 9's and 10's (the elation / joy). Everything in my life was "okay". Not great, not terrible, just okay.

I don't think it effected my productivity at all, one way or the other. The only drawback I experienced (besides losing joy), was that it somehow screwed up my ability to sense fullness/satiety, so I gained a bunch of weight.

If you think you might be depressed, definitely talk to a professional. Remember (and this is key): the drugs don't actually solve anything. You're still going to have to learn how to deal with whatever issues you have. The drugs just stabilize you so that it's possible for that hard work to begin; but that's really just the beginning of the journey. They're not a long term solution.

</comment><comment><USER6> I took anti-depressants for about a year, bridging my last year of college and first year of work. The anti-depressants numbed me -- suppressed feeling sad or glad. They covered up the problem (spiritual travail) without handling it. Getting enough sleep, exercise, good diet and effective counseling (that had me look at the source of the pain and discharge it) was more effective for me than taking anti-depressants.

<comment><USER7> >> They covered up the problem without handling it.

Exactly. Taking anti-depressants lifelong for depression is like taking painkiller lifelong for toothache. Unfortunately healing is not as profitable as selling drugs. Because of this it can be really hard to find a doctor who is interesed in healing you instead of in your money.

Edit: I forgot to write about the alternative solutions. Two of them are discussed in the followig books:

\- A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine

\- How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World by Harry Browne

<comment><USER8> I think this view is dangerously close to further stigmatizing mental illness, which is a big problem in the US. Or at least it's a really bad simile.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I was on Prozac for a few months and while it did reduce anxiety, the effect was fairly mild. The problem was that it _destroyed_ my sex drive. Even worse because of the way it hammers down on emotional extremes, I even started questioning my relationship with my girlfriend like I didn't care one way or the other about her. I stopped using it and went back to depressed normalcy within 3 weeks. That was when I decided to try cardio and dietary improvements. After a month of that, I felt less depressed than ever and haven't looked back.

</comment><comment><USER8> I hope some of the more informed comments here can help you start the process of actively trying things to improve your life.

I do not believe I suffer from depression, but I was recently wondering whether I might perhaps have attention-deficit disorder. It led me down a similar line of questioning, and I realized that if I did have ADHD or something similar, there might be a lot of stigma surrounding that illness and the treatment. I think this stigma of mental illness is a huge problem in our country.

To get to your point, according to Andrew Solomon's INCREDIBLE book about depression _The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression_ there are only two things that have been proven to help with depression: medication and exercise.

I would also suggest that you talk to a psychologist, I have found it incredibly helpful in my own life. They can also reflect very well on this type of question.

Finally, if you are interested particularly in this question towards developers the NodeUp podcast recently had an episode on developer mental health:

[http://nodeup.com/eighty](http://nodeup.com/eighty)

</comment><comment><USER10> I've been on several SSRI/SRNIs. These shitty drugs made everything only worse to me (Paroxetine, Venlafaxine, Escital, etc.)

From top of my head: \- Constant diarrhea \- Heightened anxiety \- Trembling hands \- Gastrointestinal problems \- Inability to concentrate \- Anorgasmia

I quit this junk at some point. I also quit my corporate job and forgot about doctors. Exercise, cutting down stress, drinking tea and enjoying simple things now. I feel like I'm living again. I spent whole day sitting at park with book today, watching my daughter play and I'm very content.

It might sound like cliché, but that's how it works for me now.

Honestly, I regret that I've ever touched these silly pills.

From my current seasoned POV: depression is just a symptom that tells you that you aren't doing something right in your personal life.

</comment><comment><USER11> It will change your life. Do it.

Identify the problems you want to solve, and then go to a Psychiatrist. Don't go to some random doc in the box type place. You want somebody that really understands brain chemistry.

<comment><USER4> Assuming that the problem is something treatable by that specialist.

I'd consider going to your primary care physician. It's good to have someone who is concerned with and aware of your entire profile. If necessary he can refer to an appropriate specialist.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> If you go on antidepressants, make sure you're open to trying different types. They're not one size fits all and people can have horrible side effects from one while another makes their life much better. Make sure you have a follow-up scheduled with your doctor about a month into a new prescription. Good luck!

(Anecdotally, my experience was that SSRIs had bad side effects and a general dulling of life, but Wellbutrin did much better. I've heard others report the exact opposite though.)

</comment><comment><USER13> My cocktail: 100mg Pristiq, 70mg Vyvanse, 80mg Propranolol.

I don't think I need the Pristiq anymore. It was more for anxiety when I was younger (16-20) and it's balanced itself out very well. The Propranolol, however, is probably helping quite a bit as it slows things down.

Yes, you can argue that Vyvanse will speed things up, but it levels me out a great degree — though, not along anxiety lines.

</comment><comment><USER14> septerr - if you feel down and thinking about antidepressants, you should go to doctor. Not always it is needed to use antidepressants per se (this is very wide definition). But only a psychiatrist can tell which is suited for your condition.

I'm on antidepressants for over ten years. During that time I've been using SSRIs and SNRI is what I take currently. Each of those have side effects - <USER2> every one of them depends on individual conditions. In my case - <USER3> productivity is lowered to the point I sometimes feel like I do only what I have to do. Before I started - I wrote story a week, each day I made some new scripts testing this or that. Currently - I struggle with writing stories, I lost interest in solving intelectual puzzles. Well, I do draw a bit more than I used to.

From my point of view - I dont shake with fear and panic every moment of the day, but then again I dont create as many things I used to. Everyday cosyness at the price of productivity/creativity.

</comment><comment><USER15> if you're considering talking to Dr., you should follow through. Different meds affect different people in different ways, so don't read too much into what you're hearing here, but there's a good chance you and your MD can find something that will improve things.

</comment><comment><USER16> I personally take exercise and a healthy, balanced diet. It seems to work very well.

<comment><USER4> Lucky that you (presumably, I'm no doctor) have the healthy neural circuitry necessary to take advantage of those things.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> I've taken them a couple of times, an overall positive experience.

Definitely go see a doctor, just getting a pamphlet that totally described what I was feeling made me feel better, as it became obvious that it's a normal human thing.

I'd recommend exercise, sleep, spending time with friends/family and CBT as good general solutions, I also like propanalol for dealing with anxiety.

As far as I could tell, the science is ambivalent on SSRIs, but I liked the way they made me feel, and the daily pill was a reminder to myself to go easy on myself as I was I'll.

</comment><comment><USER18> My wife does, and it's 100% necessary for her to be functional.

</comment><comment><USER19> TLDR; be extremely cautious of anhedonia

I started on Bupropion (Wellbutrin) a few years ago because I was feeling low + irritable, and thought meds might have a positive impact. The general groupthink at the time was that taking SS(n)RIs was a solid "not super serious" option for tackling anxiety and depression... that you could just "try it out". Initially I didn`t feel any difference. A little stomach upset, but nothing especially positive or negative. People around me said they`d noticed my mood was uplifted, so I thought "what the heck, may as well continue on with it". Over the months I found myself slipping further and further away from goals, connections, and general "get up and go". But because I still experienced ups and downs (some days were still great, I wasn't completely flat), I just thought I had to "make some positive life changes". To put that in perspective, my life wasn't/isn't anything to complain about: good friends, supportive family, understanding job with good pay, and I'm in good health/fit and work out regularly. But it FELT like nothing was "clicking", that everything I did was meaningless. It really felt like nothing was ever enough, and I would become frustrated that there was no reward in anything I liked doing. Small things could ruin an otherwise great day because my bar was so low. It felt like I was running on empty, in regards to fulfillment. I asked my doctor (who had superscribed me the Bupropion in the first place) if it was safe for me to continue on with it. He said "there was no harm", and suggested it was a benign drug. I took that to heart and continued to believe that my issues with motivation were due to an increasingly severe bout of depression or personal failing. It was only when I confessed to my partner that I had difficulty finding reasons to continue on with life that I started to consider it might not be ME/my brain causing the issue. It wasn't just a bad day that would make me contemplate ending it anymore, it was normal days, days which were nothing special. "Well, this is unimpressive... may as well just end it" was becoming a very blasé everyday thought, and yet I was so detached that I didn't think that was odd, and had no hesitation revealing it. My partner was horrified, naturally, and started looking up the side-effects of Bup. It'd been so long since I'd been on it, that it wasn't an immediately obvious cause and effect, but that was definitely the source of the anhedonia. Within two weeks of ceasing the meds, I feel more and more connected to the world, finding everyday things fulfilling again. It's no longer like scrabbling at little moments of joy: I can actually just sit back and feel good, without a constant barrage of interesting/pleasurable things. Looking back, it's obvious I was having issues, but seeing them from within the very specific brand of null emotion Bupropion created, was impossible. I can still clearly remember that feeling of "everything is pointless" and thinking right after "I better just try harder to find a point" rather than assessing that there might have been something wrong. The fact I could still have really good days/fun times threw me for a real loop. At any rate, that was rambly (side effect #2 = less sharp cognitively, and I'm still regaining my acuity) but hopefully I got the feeling across of losing yourself in the meds.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you for this.</comment></comment>


Remember them more honestly - never-the-bride https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/november-2019/remember-them-more-honestly/ <comment><AUTHOR> _It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind.

Armistice Day has become Veterans' Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans' Day is not.

So I will throw Veterans' Day over my shoulder. Armistice Day I will keep. I don't want to throw away any sacred things.

What else is sacred? Oh, Romeo and Juliet, for instance.

And all music is._

Vonnegut, 1973

<comment><USER2> And then they did it again not even 30 years later and would have done it again if it wasn't for the threat of mutual nuclear annihilation.

Remember that when people talk about the superiority of western civilization.

<comment><USER3> All that we have is a product of the west, there are arguments about why that is, but the fact remains

<comment><USER4> You can't really believe this, as it's so obviously wrong.

It is also a contention that has pretty racist adherents; Charles Murray's _Human Accomplishment_ book comes to mind. This isn't a coincidence, as suggesting that non-western peoples have contribute nothing of value to this "we" is pure western chauvinism, which is racism's non-identical twin brother.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I have attended Sunday Remembrence at a cenotaph (in whichever town I resided that year) every year since I turned 18.

In each place it is somewhat different.

In my home town it was a small affair. Barely attended and some straightforward words. No depth of literature or political will; it isn't as relevant to them.

In my university town it was a diverse affair. Many ages, many creeds, many worlds. It was oddly right but oddly political.

In my current town. A military town if there ever was one; it is a despairingly religious event.

I don't feel any of these have been honest.

</comment><comment><USER5> A small point of interest:

The author takes issue with a line in the song/poem "I vow to thee my country". The line is "the love that asks no questions".

Firstly, I confess to this being one of my favourite - if not my favourite - poems. And in that I must confess to have a different take on it; what the lyrics mean to me if you will.

I take a non-religious, but not strictly incompatible, reading. One where "another country" is an ideal to strive for.

I read the "the love that asks no questions" to be the unconditional love of a person for their country, and not an unconditional acceptance of their governement or a surrendering of will. Whether this is the original intention I do not know or really care.

It is in that line that these lyrics give me great strength. In a career where I can easily emigrate, having few living ties, I could very easily blame the country for all that I see as wrong and leave it.

But that of course doesn't help anyone but me - and likely only myself in the short term. My love for my country shouldn't be strictly conditional on the state those I disagree with have put it in. I have to recognise I am of my country. I have to recognise that it is my responsibility.</comment>


IBM Mail Next - <AUTHOR> http://www.ibm.com/design/blog-page.shtml?inbox-meet-ibm-mail-next

<comment><USER2> > Kramer promises you'll be able to "focus on work, not your inbox," as his > team works to satisfy two mandates:

>1\. Deliver a place in which we love working 10+ hours each day.

Sounds like IBM is habitually understaffing its workers by 20%.

</comment><comment><USER3> Now, "IBM Verse"

[http://www.ibm.com/social-business/us/en/newway/](http://www.ibm.com/social- business/us/en/newway/)</comment>


Dh-virtualenv: Debian packaging for Python virtualenvs - <AUTHOR> http://labs.spotify.com/2013/10/10/packaging-in-your-packaging-dh-virtualenv/

<comment><USER2> This is cool, but how does spotify configure the pre/post install/remove hooks of the debian package?

also, did spotify look into using fpm? If so, what were it's drawbacks that lead to making a new tool?</comment>


Mobile Frameworks Comparison Chart - <AUTHOR> http://www.markus-falk.com/mobile-frameworks-comparison-chart/ <comment><USER2> "Feature Supported" isn't well defined here. jQuery Mobile's persistant footers are anything but persistant on iOS. That's a big feature for most UIs, and something Sencha Touch got right a long time ago. That poor support for viewport manipulations is lost in the rankings.

Instead of a Green/Orange/Red score for each platform, I think a letter grade or percentage of supported features would be better. Someone who hasn't developed with jQuery Mobile will think that since it has a green ranking for iOS, that they'll actually be able to make things that look like iOS apps. They won't (although iOS 5 should fix that issue).

</comment><comment><USER3> This is somewhat misleading because it makes the false impression that these frameworks are mutually exclusive.

PhoneGap, for example, could be combined with Sencha Touch to get native functionality.

<comment><USER4> Came here to say this. PhoneGap in particular differs greatly from most of these frameworks.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Conclusion: They all suck.

We need a mobile framework that focuses on compatibility _first_ and features _second._ Not a million clones of, "We can make HTML elements look like a shitty iOS!"

Most of these aren't frameworks. They are libraries of interface widgets that barely work.

</comment><comment><USER6> The lack of MonoTouch/MonoDroid is the first thing that I noticed. While c# may not be everyone's cup of tea, it can be used to develop across iOS/Android/WP

</comment><comment><USER7> This would be infinitely more helpful if it would also list the platform you can develop on - ie Linux, Mac, Windows.

</comment><comment><USER8> I checked all the checkboxes and got the whole chart. In fact the entire site could be replaced by that chart?</comment>


Surgical Assistant's Presence During Knee Repair Leads to a Costly Surprise Bill - <AUTHOR> https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/07/22/891909610/knee-repairs-use-of-surgical-assistant-leads-to-a-costly-surprise-bill <comment><USER2> It's getting where you need your lawyer involved with the hospital administration to negotiate terms before surgery, such as: no out of network procedures, no out of network diagnostics, no out of network pharmaceuticals, and no out of network staff, 3rd parties, or professionals of any kind involved . . .

I had ObamaCare 2 years ago, urologist diagnosed me with double hernias (old age, not injury).

I was referred to surgeon who was "in network", we set up hospital to be "in network".

A close friend explained in more detail the hazards:

You have to call and determine if EVERYONE who might be involved is in "in network".

Turned out the anesthesiologists had a mafia grip on that particular hospital and they were not in network.

I called and had everything shut down and rescheduled for another better hospital whom had an anesthesiologists group that also had a mafia grip on their hospital - - - but they were in network.

In the end I legally obtained ~$55,000 worth of hernia surgery for about $450 in copay.</comment>


Found: The World's Favorite Number - <AUTHOR> http://nautil.us/blog/-found-the-worlds-favorite-number <comment><USER2> OK, I'm confused by this. This exact article was posted on Nautilus[0] on Apr 08, 2014, by the same author. It was also submitted[1] by dnetesn 786 days ago.

The same story was posted[2] 2073 days ago, although from a different source[3].

But my confusion is why there's a different date on apparently the exact same story from nautil.us[4].

Then I see the extra "-" in the URL. Did you see it?

So nautil.us is recycling exact copies of earlier stories, but changing the URL minutely, and putting a new date on it to pretend it's new.

I didn't know they did that.

</comment><comment>==

[0] [http://nautil.us/blog/found-the-worlds-favorite- number](http://nautil.us/blog/found-the-worlds-favorite-number)

[1] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8979719](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8979719)

[2] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2802672](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2802672)

[3] [http://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2011/07/22/138493147/wh...](http://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2011/07/22/138493147/what- s-your-favorite-number-world-wide-survey-v1)

[4] [http://nautil.us/blog/-found-the-worlds-favorite- number](http://nautil.us/blog/-found-the-worlds-favorite-number)</comment>


Self-compiling Android application - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/Tribler/self-compile-Android <comment><USER2> Forgive me for asking, but how does this differ in capability from, say, a WebView application that offers a) a text field, b) a button that eval()s the text, and c) stores that text such that it can be invoked again on app load?

<comment><USER3> It writes new code in the Java runtime and can therefore improve its own capabilities. It's more like a Webview app that could add features to the Webview binary itself. Webview apps cannot have self-modifying code.

<comment><USER2> _> Webview apps cannot have self-modifying code._

JavaScript is eminently (almost too much so) able to modify its own running code.

It's true that it's limited to whatever APIs the WebView exposes. Then again, this thing (yours?) is limited to whatever API the OS exposes. The ultimate, I suppose, would be to have a self-modifying OS - and then your thing is limited by whatever the hardware exposes.

All applications only take input from hardware sensors and then have (screen, storage, network) side-effects. That's all a program ever is. That's Facebook and Google and WoW and Angry Birds and Wolfram Alpha, and so on. You can try to bust out of each layer (OS, JVM, Browser) but that in no sense requires "self-modifying code". Self-modificaton with a compiled language on a mobile device is a neat trick, but it's self-modification is no more or less profound than that provided by a browser, modulo performance.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Android would be a much more interesting is if the source for everything was included and could be compiled on the phone.

</comment><comment><USER5> Skynet is alive!</comment>


Show HN: FitIt - multiplayer puzzle game - <AUTHOR>

	I went to the ADVANCE Hackathon in Cologne, Germany last weekend and this is a project I created together with @snnd and @newmetl. We used node.js and socket.io in the backend and HTML5 + JS in the frontend. The rules are simple: Make your and your teammates' gaming pieces fit into the highlighted area without talking to your mates.
The levels are generated randomly, so they might be too easy or too hard from time to time. I'd like to emphasize that this game has been created within less than 24 hours!
http://fititgame.com/ http://hackathon.advance-conference.com/
Feedback and criticism are appreciated! :) <comment><USER2> I enter my name, hit enter and it just refreshes the page. Can't play it and I've tried every browser I have (Chrome, FF, IE) :(

Or am I just retarded?

Edit: I opened Chrome's resource window to see if anything failed to load and I can see that your socket.io backend uses port 8080 and this request fails. I think it's being blocked by company firewalls. If you could perhaps run your backend on a subdomain instead of on another port it would most likely fix this.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yup, that's because we connect to port 8080 directly (that's the port the server is running on internally, see <http://fititgame.com:8080>). But unfortunately, we can't fix this right now since nginx isn't able to forward websockets, yet (AFAIK, correct me if I'm wrong)

<comment><USER2> If you're running on a single server with nginx I guess the only way you could fix this is by getting a second IP address from your host to point on your server and binding nginx to one IP and node on the other IP.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Hey this is great! :D I loved the idea of No communication puzzle game! It has nice twist to it! Port it for Android/iPhone.

Suggestion, You might want to emphasis somewhere that flipping (F) is also a button! One time, rest of us got it right, 4th guy didn't know he could flip and we all were waiting for him to flip and fit it! :p

Awesome stuff!

</comment><comment><USER4> It's interesting that most puzzles got solved faster than if one person tried it alone. And that's without an option to talk to each other. Seems that you're tapping into some kind of "swarm intelligence" that humans use rarely, but animals like ants use all the time. Interesting to be part of such a thing for a short while. Fascinating stuff.

<comment><USER5> I think perhaps it gets solved faster than if one person was trying, but you're putting 4 work-seconds into every real second of time. Sure there are some overheads while others work out what the first person to solve the problem is doing, but once one person has solved it and put their block into place, most of the time it becomes obvious.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Honest question... When someone make projects like this as a public git repo, and there's no obvious licence visible (unless I'm missing something), what are the ramifications (or what's stopping someone) from taking the project, modifying and releasing on iOS/Facebook/Android and making some money?

</comment><comment><USER7> Nice work :)

1) Would be good if it remembered my player name: having to input it every time is annoying...

2) Took me a few seconds to work out the aim. Perhaps a short text description / tutorial to show how the game works?

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Clickable: <http://fititgame.com/>

</comment><comment><USER8> Would be better with Levels, once you finish a game, the next level should start, even if it is the same it could be timed with a scoreboard for each team.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yup, that was our idea at first actually, but we didn't have enough time to implement that. But I guess we will keep on working on it from time to time, so this feature will definitely come!

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Perfect idea for a hack-a-thon and also executed really well! Love the Japanese theme

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you! :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> its a good game

ran into too many idiots needs more instructions for some people..

Also maybe text communication for said idiots?

<comment><AUTHOR> I guess that with text communication, it would be too easy, right? The gameplay will change within the next days... like more levels in a row with the same team and stuff like that.

<comment><USER11> What if the text communication became available after ~1 minute? It would take some of the frustration away if you could instruct someone after a while (or call him names).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> this game makes me lose hope in humanity...

<comment><AUTHOR> Yea I guess we need some more instructions for some people. Sad but true story!

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> yeah i like that game. thanks for the fun! can you implement invitations for friends please? :)

</comment><comment><USER13> lost 46 mins of my life - thanks.

</comment><comment><USER14> like it :)</comment>


Thoughts on Ember.js - <AUTHOR> http://bengillies.tiddlyspace.com/Thoughts%20on%20Ember.js

<comment><USER2> Since reading about <http://roca-style.org>, I've really come to understand the errors of our ways: client-side processing is great, but these things _massively_ abuse that opportunity.</comment>


Trying to improve buffet lines using simulations - <AUTHOR> https://erikbern.com/2019/10/16/buffet-lines-are-terrible.html <comment><USER2> _> Writing the simulation in Python was probably a bad idea in retrospect: it turns out to be incredibly slow to run Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm on a large grid._

Dijkstra's algorithm is the completely wrong approach for this problem. First of all, the cost to enter any grid square is the same, so Dijkstra's priority queue is needless overhead. When all edges have the same weight Dijkstra's behaves identically to breadth-first search.

BFS is obviously a poor approach for a mostly open grid like you have here. It will explore _every single_ open vertex whose distance is less than the distance to the goal. Imagine the person standing in the center of a circular room with the food at the edge. With DFS, the pathfinder will look at every single vertex in that room.

What you want is A-star, which is no harder to implement than Dijkstra's. Even better would be something like jump-point search that handles open spaces better. But just A-star alone will yield a _massive_ improvement for problems like this.

<comment><USER3> I wrote the code and you're wrong :)

1\. Diagonal moves have a slightly higher weight. 2\. I have an edge weight of 100 to go through another person. This makes it possible to go _towards_ the right direction even though there is no path 3\. For the perpendicular lines method, the distance is modified to 1e-3 4\. A* doesn't work because the heuristic becomes pretty useless when you have moves that are very "cheap": you need a lower bound that's pretty much zero

So for all those reasons, I just went with plain old Dijkstra!

<comment><USER2> > A* doesn't work because the heuristic becomes pretty useless when you have > moves that are very "cheap"

I don't see where you have cheap moves. If your move costs are unit for straight lines, slightly longer for diagonal (i.e. probably close to sqrt(2)), and much longer for obstacle, then A* will work fine. The lower bound is just the usual Cartesian or Manhattan (depending on your diagonal cost) distance.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Alas, this post suffers from mathematician syndrome ("first, assume cows are spherical..."). Actual buffet queues can't be modeled like this; because of the physical constraints, they should be modeled as particle flows and hence take into account that one person cannot occupy the same space as another, and the overhead of routing, blocking etc.

While I agree that the 'default' buffet queue is inefficient, I don't agree with the proposed methodology of finding an improvement.

(also, I missed a literature study - there is so so so much research on this already)

<comment><USER5> I read a study done some time after the deaths at a Pearl Jam concert in Roskilde, Denmark. If I recall correctly (I can't seem to find the paper now) they posited that crowds could be simulated by way of particles in a fluid dynamics system, and that a common property of concert accidents such as Roskilde was the lack of pressure release "valves" for lack of a better word. If you only have one exit from the mosh pit, then pressure will mount at that choke point, possibly causing further accidents, and making it harder for emergency services to reach the injured parties. With multiple exits acting as release valves this problem is alleviated, and they used simulations of particles to prove this. Or something like that.

Point is, your comment on particle flows dug this reference up from somewhere deep in the back of my mind. It was a really interesting study, I'll try to find a link.

<comment><USER4> Yes there is lots of research on this, years ago I was in a project with a group (CASA) at UCL (Leeds) where this is one of their main topics of study - [https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/casa/](https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/casa/) . If you google e.g. 'agent based simulation pedestrian' you'll find 100's of papers doing this at various scales, as well as dedicated software packages to simulate for studies of shopping mall layout, sports stadium layout etc.

Years ago I entertained starting a business in this field - it was essentially exactly what you say, doing analysis for events as part of their risk assessment to see if event locations are safe under various patterns of (aggregate) visitor movement. At the time (15ish years ago?) that wasn't really done for anything but the largest events. The idea never really went anywhere but it's an interesting topic I still think about every now and then.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I recently visited the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. My ticket had an entry time printed on it. I arrived at the entrance a few minutes before that time.

There was a long line. I asked a few people to see their tickets. All of them had entry times after mine. When my time was on the display, I asked the person in the front of the queue to see his ticket. He still had a few minutes to go. So I pointed at the time on my ticket and entered before him. He felt cheated, but as we together wondered through the museum, he agreed with my logic.

My point is that online booking systems can make many lines obsolete.

This article though touches on a more difficult problem, namely congestion.

<comment><USER7> Disney parks do this with their fast-pass technique: show up early to a ride, get a ticket for a later time and vastly reduced wait time. This allows patrons to have more manageable waiting times, but also allows the park to make more money since people will buy things as they wait instead of just waiting in a line.

IIRC park passes with this ability cost more, so Disney has already selected for people with expendable income.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Back in college, I remember waiting in a buffet line and there were, what I gathered to be, two of the cafeteria managers in front of me.

They were chatting about the efficiency of buffet lines and one of them mentioned "It's well known that a buffet line with a server is 30% faster than a line with no server."

Made total sense at the time because in a self service line, people have to:

\- stop

\- pick up the utensil

\- some people then take a while deciding which piece of food is the best

\- grab the food

\- put the utensil down and move on etc

With a food server, it goes so much quicker if only because the server isn't waiting around to pick the best piece for you.

<comment><USER9> I wonder if there's some psychological factor of a person standing there waiting to put food on your plate, making you more conscious about how much time you're taking to make a decision

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> If your workplace ever has a big pizza lunch, take a few boxes and just walk somewhere else to open them. Turn an O(n) problem into O(1) with just a few people helping.

<comment><USER11> When all pizzas are the same (or maybe of two types), that works. When there are 10+ different types of pizzas ordered, this algorithm turns it into a likely worse search problem.

<comment><USER12> ...so if there are _x_ tables, each with _y_ different pizzas, unknown to you at the start, and you have a mental algorithm that assigns each pizzas a score between 0 and 1, how many tables do you need to visit before you are confident you are selecting a pizza that is in the 90th percentile of available pizzas, if we assume you're not allowed to return to a table after dismissing it..?

<comment><USER13> I do think that's mathematically interesting, but practically I think you can just take pizza from the first table since all pizza is good.

<comment><USER14> Ok, you get the tuna-pineapple-anchovies pizza.

<comment><USER13> Yum!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> the buffet problem (long lines) is due to head of line blocking by actors who take very long time at a station.

the simplest solution is 1 entrance line and N parallel buffet rows.

<comment><USER16> This is like the microwave problem at work though.

My food only needs 30 seconds to microwave, but Slow Joe brought thanksgiving to work and needs to use the microwave for 4 minutes. We have 2 microwaves M1-2.

With your system this is what happens:

\- Slow Joe blocks M1 with a 4 minute meal

\- Several 30-60 second users cycle through M2

\- Another Slow Joe blocks M2

\- The queue grows until M1 is free

\- The feedback loop gets worse the next iteration

Basically, you need a dedicated "express lane" for quick people to use. If there are no quick people in the queue, then a slow joe can use it. Otherwise you need to increase N such that there is always at least one unblocked lane, which might not be viable.

<comment><USER17> Indeed the main problem, counter to queuing theory, is that the individuals are not pushed anymore from behind, hence they take their time, slowly without feeling any pressure.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I did a similar analysis with a nearly-identical model but without the assumption of a constant stream of people coming from the left. In my analysis, the best model depends heavily on the assumptions: [http://blog.maxshinnpotential.com/2019/03/02/are-buffets- eff...](http://blog.maxshinnpotential.com/2019/03/02/are-buffets- efficient.html)

</comment><comment><USER19> I think there are two additional drawbacks of the "classical" method that the simulation does not cover.

1\. Ordering of the food does not matter in the classical method (you always have a bottleneck at the most popular option), whereas in practice some buffet options will be more popular than others, and spreading them out will help in the rogue and don't go backwards models. 2\. In the classical model you have to wait for each food, so you might as well take everything (or at least more options), in the other options there is a market-based mechanism to discourage people to get the more popular option (because they would have to spend more time queueing), that could help spread people more evenly across the buffet.

</comment><comment><USER20> There are some obvious problems. While we can argue about whether Dijkstra is efficient, the real problem is it's unnecessary. The queue can, and should, be fully defined, not dynamic. There is no reason to let each individual actor search for the best location to go. If we are looking for an optimal solution, then there is no need for individual decision making.

Consider: Imagine every parallel queue, but with a "gap" every 3 people to allow others to pass by. In real life, humans wouldn't walk all the way around the queue, they'd find someone who would step momentarily aside to let them pass. Representing this by forcing the individual queues to not be fully solid would allow that behavior to be represented.

Anyway, this work doesn't even get to some of the more interesting aspects of buffet design, like handling multiple tables, popular items, correlated items, etc.

</comment><comment><USER21> I expect you can model this analytically as well to some extent.

IIRC queueing theory suggests that a single line feeding into two sides of multiple buffet tables would work reasonably well.

In practice this also seems to work well, although head of line blocking can occur on each table side.

</comment><comment><USER22> The best large-scale buffet option I've seen is how they do it at AWS re:Invent (at least last time I was there a few years ago). They have a large number of identical buffet stations, with catering employees directing attendees on which line to join. As soon as one buffet line is full (maximum length is still pretty short), they start directing new arrivals to the next line, and so on. It's not perfect, but it's quite an impressive operation and I have never had a significant wait for food there (though sometimes it's a bit of a walk because the dining hall is MASSIVE and you might end up getting sent to a buffet line at the far end).

<comment><USER21> Single queue, multiple server seems to work well in theory and in practice.

I'm often disappointed at computing or networking conferences or meetings of some sort where the buffet is strictly serialized with head-of-line blocking, resulting in massive, slow queues that waste most of the lunch break time.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> I eat at buffets probably more than I should, and in my experience, the biggest slowdown are people that walk up to an item, stare at it for a minute, then decide to grab the utensil and serve themselves, put the utensil down, then stand there for another minute contemplating what they just did before getting the hell out of the way.

It's especially bad on large cruise ships where the average age of the clientele is probably 90 years old.

</comment><comment><USER24> PDQ is useful open source software to model queues.

[http://www.perfdynamics.com/Tools/PDQ.html](http://www.perfdynamics.com/Tools/PDQ.html)

<comment><USER25> I've used simmer (r library) and SimPy (python library) for this purpose and they were both excellent.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> The best buffet organizations I have seen are circular. I wonder how they compare to the double side accessible solution given in the article.

</comment><comment><USER27> In the backwards method, did you account for people potentially colliding?

</comment><comment><USER28> Of course there is the wonderful hygiene of the buffet, the sneezing, the coughing, the tasting off the serving spoon, dropping the serving spoon on the floor and putting it back into the food. Let's not forget all the wasted food, and the encouraged gluttony.

<comment><USER29> I'll need a million USD grant to simulate that.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: What features would you add in a computer language? - <AUTHOR> I was having a discussion with my co-workers about cool features to add in a computer language. I want to know what features would you guys add in a computer language?
I would add:
* traits * PHP's magic functions * coroutine * C/C++ family syntax * Java's OOP * Erlang/Elixir's concurrent model * Elixir's pattern matching * C++'s templates * C++'s operator overload * python's slice * Erlang/Elixir's preemptive green threads * package manager * C#'s property * async/await
What about you guys? <comment><USER2> Assertions, pre and post conditions,invariants, strong typing, lots of self checking features, design by contract. Features to make it easier to write correct programs.

</comment><comment><USER3> c++ static_if but for class members:

template<class Type> class A {

if constexpr (std::is_same<Type, int>::value) { int a; }

}</comment>


Why Are Maker Schedules So Rare? - <AUTHOR> http://calnewport.com/blog/2017/04/05/why-are-maker-schedules-so-rare <comment><USER2> Cal Newport's essays are great. PG's essays are also great. It is no coincidence seeing Cal quoting and dialoguing with PG's ideas.</comment>


Show HN: Find maintained forks of your favorite GitHub repos - <AUTHOR> http://forked.yannick.io/tensorflow/models <comment><USER2> A user emailed us to complain about this title saying "Show HN" when it isn't the submitter's work. That's an abuse of "Show HN", which is intended to share work that you yourself have made. Please (re-)read the rules:

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

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm sorry. I thought the "Show HN" was for projects people could try out. Will not use it for something I have not made again.

<comment><USER2> Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> This is cool, but one thing that may be useful is a "last commit" instead of "Last Update". Explaining what is looked at for "last update" that would be great too. Some repos that I follow that are very dead have a very recent "last update" as they are still hammered by people due to being high up in search engine results and linked to from lots of places.

<comment><USER4> I think that the most important missing feature is number of commits of the fork

<comment><USER5> number of commits on the fork is irrelevant to the stated coal "find MAINTAINED forks..." if you had 400 extra commits, but they were 6 years ago i don't care. it's very unlikely to be a "maintained" fork.

<comment><USER6> What you'd want is consistency over time together with the most recent commit.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I've been using this extension for a while now which shows similar information inline with the page: [https://github.com/musically-ut/lovely- forks](https://github.com/musically-ut/lovely-forks)

Makes it pretty easy to see at a glance when a project has another fork which is better maintained.

</comment><comment><USER8> Thanks man, this is something github really doesn't do well. Your contribution may help a lot of projects :)

</comment><comment><USER6> That's pretty cool. A full-fledged open source project is really about people and communication and sharing ideas, not just pressing a 'fork' button. You need a mailing list, and maybe some kind of chat thing (IRC) as well as what github offers.

I wish github would make it easier to have some kind of "leader election" or something to point out which one is the actual project.

I hate it when I find some project with 192030 forks and 0 coordination of them, it always feels like such a wasted opportunity.

</comment><comment><USER9> What makes this a fit for Show HN today? This site has been around for a while. Did you make some updates to it or something?

From the Show HN rules [1]:

> New features and upgrades ("Foo 1.3.1 is out") generally aren't substantive > enough to be Show HNs. A major overhaul is probably ok.

I haven't figured out what the new changes are, if any.

Are you the same as user yann_ck who originally posted this, or just working with him on it? [2]

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

[2]: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6739269](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6739269)

</comment><comment><USER10> Really cool. If you have popular projects it's great to see what the community is doing with them. [http://forked.yannick.io/andreis/interview](http://forked.yannick.io/andreis/interview)

</comment><comment><USER11> On Bitbucket a fork of a Mercurial repo is non publishing by default. It would be neat to see all of the publishing forks which are basically trying to be "maintained forks".

</comment><comment><USER12> When I enter a repository that has been renamed (e.g. docker/docker or tomaka/glium), I get: "Woops, that developer can't code...". Why so?

</comment><comment><USER13> karma-runner/karma is still the top result. Doesn't help.

</comment><comment><USER14> Whoops reading HN without my glasses again— saw "Find marinated forks of your favorite GH repos."</comment>


Five trends reshaping the global economy - mauricio-OH http://alvaro-duran.com/blog/2014/2/15/five-trends-reshaping-the-global-economy

<comment><AUTHOR> Interesting! I really think that there is only one trend, and that is Silicon Valley.</comment>


Ancient DNA reveals staying power of early people of the Andes - <AUTHOR> https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/ancient-dna-reveals-staying-power-early-people-andes# <comment><USER2> Some nice trivia about the Tawantinsuyo or 4 regions (also known as Inca empire):

\- It sustained a population of 10,000,000 people. They did not use currency.

\- The Spanish estimated that Inca warehouses (Qollqa) contained a surplus of food capable of maintaining the empire fed for 10 years.

\- Their society was structured as a system of self-sufficient family clans (Ayllus).

\- The Inca road system (Qhapaq Ñan) was possibly the most efficient form of communications infrastructure of its time.

\- Their aqueducts (Puquios) used wind to pump water.

\- "Ama sua, ama llulla, ama quella" ("Do not be lazy, do not lie, do not steal") was the Inca moral code.

\- They used 2 languages, the commoners language (Runa simi) and the noble language (Qhapaq simi). The family of languages known today as Quechua are the Runa simi language. The Qhapaq simi language is extinct.

\- They had an accounting system based on knotted strings called Quipus. It is unclear if quipus contained anything other than accounting information.

\- Most modern potatoes descend from the ones cultivated by the Inca and their predecessors. Potatoes are one of the most efficient crops in terms of land use and nutrition. European population grew substantially after the introduction of the potato, prior to that, the staple crop was wheat.

\- After Sapa Inca Huayna Capac died, his 2 sons waged a war of succession. The prevailing son, Atahuallpa, initiated a purge the Inca nobility, effectively decapitating the Inca empire. The fall of the Inca empire took place when Pizarro forces encountered Atahuallpa at Cajamarca during a Spiritual retreat that took place after the purge. The event is known as the "Battle" of Cajamarca, although it was more like an ambush since the Inca side was not expecting a battle and were not in fighting gear. The "battle" ended when Atahuallpa was took hostage, an idea that Pizarro took from Hernan Cortes.

<comment><USER3> The final bit is chilling when you read the contemporary account. They were able to defeat a much larger force, and kill at least 2000 incans. It's actually one of the most cruel, and horrifying acts of the Spanish conquest.

<comment><USER4> The Inca also practiced ritualized child sacrifice, which might partially explain why the Spanish reacted the way they did upon encountering them.

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

<comment><USER2> Let's deconstruct the concept of human sacrifice a little bit:

1) A religious motivation.

2) A religious ritual.

3) Someone is killed in order to gain the favor of a deity.

The executions during the inquisition also fit this description. And while there are differences, my point is that it is straightforward to talk trash about other cultures without taking an honest look at our own.

And that is not all. There are historical accounts from the Spanish themselves describing children being killed in brutal ways, such as grabbing infants by their legs and smashing them against rocks. Compared to that Qhapaq hucha is a trip to Disneyland.

Pizarro himself as well as his men took children as prisoners and abused them sexually, including the direct family of the Sapa Inca. The king sent him a letter saying he should not have done that because the Sapa Inca was a monarch.

Today, some people claim those historical accounts belong to what is known as "The Black Legend", a smear campaign against the Spanish empire. That is a very convenient thing to believe if your country benefited from brutally- executed exploitation colonialism.

The "human sacrifice" card is often played by people trying to present colonization as something legitimate and moral. It was not.

Other poor excuses for colonialism often used include: they were supersticious, they did not effectively use their land, they did not have the concept of property, they were oppressed by their monarchs, etc. All of them excuses.

The purpose of the Spanish colonization of the Americas was not only to grow their economy, and expand their religion and territory. It was to suppress every culture, language, religion in the Americas, and some conquistadors took it even further: extermination.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Interesting, because what happened to Clovis in N.A. is a big question. Heading south because of a much colder climate (13ka-12ka) would explain a lot.

"Ancient DNA reveals two unknown migrations from North to South America"

[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181108142421.h...](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181108142421.htm)

</comment><comment><USER6> Is there any actual evidence that Machu Picchu was built by Incas? There are very different qualities of the old, megalithic construction from what we actually know the Incas built.

I don't doubt that many of the structures on Machu Picchu are Inca, but I wonder if they didn't inherit most of it.</comment>


Amazon Introduces CloudSearch, Scalable Full-Text Search - <AUTHOR> http://aws.amazon.com/cloudsearch/

<comment><USER2> Interesting. However, I always thought that custom search engines were more profitable if they weren't hosted online. Big companies (hence big $) would definitely not trust you with all of their data just so you could search it up for them. Then again, I don't think Google search appliance did very well either.</comment>


Learn Lisp in One Video - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymSq4wHrqyU

<comment><USER2> It seems OK, but it would have been better if it was made by someone with more familiarity and experience with the language.</comment>


Too Many Jobs Feel Meaningless Because They Are - <AUTHOR> https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-08-01/too-many-jobs-feel-meaningless-because-they-are <comment><USER2> So is the U.S. really even a mixed economy? Every channel to make money is locked down by regulations. Why compete if you can create legislation to block competition? Just throw up a wall of insurance liabilities, financial and property requirements, and enough minutiae to sap the energy of any potential competitors.

Meanwhile if you are on the fortunate side of all this what incentive is there to innovate or even stay modern? It seems like a recipe for disaster.

</comment><comment><USER3> Kinda cool for HN - wasn't HN one of the places where that original esssay on BS jobs (i think it was the same guy?) Found purchase? Sometimes I feel bad about HN but other times I feel like it's the only place where some of the most important things get discussed at large.</comment>


EU Unveils Standing Border Force That Will Act "Even If a Government Objects" - <AUTHOR> http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/463ca298-9f5c-11e5-beba-5e33e2b79e46.html <comment><USER2> Paywalled. Care to summarize the article?

<comment><USER3> [https://archive.is/CabIl](https://archive.is/CabIl)</comment></comment>


An Occupation - <AUTHOR> http://www.tnl.net/blog/2011/10/16/an-occupation/

<comment><USER2> Is the OWS movement an Internet outgrowth? Seems so...</comment>