Review my startup: Realized - <AUTHOR> http://blog.newforge-tech.com/

<comment><USER2> First off - good for you for trying something. Thanks awesome. Takes a lot of guts and hard work to put something out there so hats off to you for that.

As far as feedback, I think the Take a Tour screen is begging for a picture or something to show me at a glance how it works.

I would try to add more pictures to the site as it is currently all text (at least what I saw). Even it is just a piggy bank or something - show me how I am going to save money. Or make me feel the pain.

But I think a picture would really spruce things up.

Good job though. And good luck!

</comment><comment><USER3> It seems like this is basically a web-based replacement for a spreadsheet. I like the idea of tracking and timing things so as to minimize your capital gains tax. It's not a problem I have in particular, so I can't specifically speak to it being useful to me.

I like the site layout in general and the tour was very helpful.

Good luck. :)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> One peril of cloud computing: an S3 outage is currently affecting Heroku, and Realized is unavailable at the moment.</comment>


Bitbucket: 2014 in review - <AUTHOR> https://blog.bitbucket.org/2015/02/05/bitbucket-2014-in-review/

<comment><USER2> I love that BB gives you unlimited private repos, and I'm glad to see them making progress. There's still plenty of things to improve [1,2].

[1] [https://bitbucket.org/site/master/issue/4222/no-support- for-...](https://bitbucket.org/site/master/issue/4222/no-support-for-ecdsa- keys) [2] [https://bitbucket.org/site/master/issue/6315/relative- urls-i...](https://bitbucket.org/site/master/issue/6315/relative-urls-in- readmemd-files-only-work)

<comment><USER3> Or this one: [https://bitbucket.org/site/master/issue/6315/relative- urls-i...](https://bitbucket.org/site/master/issue/6315/relative-urls-in- readmemd-files-only-work)

<comment><USER4> I think this is a duplicate of [2] in the parent post.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Best for my own use due to unlimited free private repos limited by number of users. Works great for a one or two user work flow.

</comment><comment><USER6> Take a look at the conversation that transpired on the blog post comments.

Here is a copy and paste from the CEO for GitLab:

GitLab B.V. CEO here, as you might know GitLab is an open source project that is similar to GitHub and Bitbucket. Because it is open source some of our 700 contributors have contributed most of the top 5 feature requests you mentioned:

1\. Contributor Statistics [https://bitbucket.org/site/mas..](https://bitbucket.org/site/mas..). => Available on [https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/..](https://gitlab.com/gitlab- org/..).

2\. Group repositories [https://bitbucket.org/site/mas..](https://bitbucket.org/site/mas..). => GitLab has groups [https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/](https://gitlab.com/gitlab- org/)

3\. Search source code [https://bitbucket.org/site/mas..](https://bitbucket.org/site/mas..). => Available in the top bar of every project (uses git grep on the backend) [https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/..](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/..).

4\. Support for 2FA => Still not in GitLab, we would love to see it and we're accepting pull/merge requests for this [http://feedback.gitlab.com/for..](http://feedback.gitlab.com/for..).

5\. Separate permissions for wiki/issue tracker [https://bitbucket.org/site/mas..](https://bitbucket.org/site/mas..). => In GitLab a guest can access the issue tracker but not the source code [https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/...](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/...), this is not the case for the wiki.

You can use GitLab for free on GitLab.com with unlimited (private) repositories and collaborators. Currently we're at 5TB of repo's but it is growing fast. Feel free to reply to this comment if you have any questions.

<comment><USER7> GitLab B.V. Account manager here. I've noticed the links are broken, so here is the same comment as above, but with working links:

Take a look at the conversation that transpired on the blog post comments.

Here is a copy and past from the CEO for GitLab:

GitLab B.V. CEO here, as you might know GitLab is an open source project that is similar to GitHub and Bitbucket. Because it is open source some of our 700 contributors have contributed most of the top 5 feature requests you mentioned:

1\. Contributor Statistics [https://bitbucket.org/site/master/issue/4307/feature- request...](https://bitbucket.org/site/master/issue/4307/feature-request- contributor-statistics-bb) => Available on [https://gitlab.com/gitlab- org/gitlab-ce/graphs/master](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab- ce/graphs/master)

2\. Group repositories [https://bitbucket.org/site/master/issue/2323/create-a- way-to...](https://bitbucket.org/site/master/issue/2323/create-a-way-to-group- repositories) => GitLab has groups [https://gitlab.com/gitlab- org/](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/)

3\. Search source code [https://bitbucket.org/site/master/issue/2874/ability- to-sear...](https://bitbucket.org/site/master/issue/2874/ability-to-search- source-code-bb-39) => Available in the top bar of every project (uses git grep on the backend) [https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab- ce](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce)

4\. Support for 2FA => Still not in GitLab, we would love to see it and we're accepting pull/merge requests for this [http://feedback.gitlab.com/forums/176466-general/suggestions...](http://feedback.gitlab.com/forums/176466-general/suggestions/4516817-implement- two-factor-authentication-2fa)

5\. Separate permissions for wiki/issue tracker [https://bitbucket.org/site/master/issue/2462/allow-admins- to...](https://bitbucket.org/site/master/issue/2462/allow-admins-to-specify- read-write-admin) => In GitLab a guest can access the issue tracker but not the source code [https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab- ce/blob/master/doc/perm...](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab- ce/blob/master/doc/permissions/permissions.md), this is not the case for the wiki.

You can use GitLab for free on GitLab.com with unlimited (private) repositories and collaborators. Currently we're at 5TB of repo's but it is growing fast. Feel free to reply to this comment if you have any questions.

<comment><USER8> What is your business plan if you are allowed unlimited private repositories? (on GitLab.com) Are you only allowed to use them for non-commercial uses?

<comment><USER9> The business plan is GitLab Enterprise Edition: [https://about.gitlab.com/features/#enterprise](https://about.gitlab.com/features/#enterprise)

<comment><USER4> Thanks Douwe, that is indeed how we make most money. Apart from that there is a paid plan for GitLab.com that gets you email support. Otherwise all support is via forums and twitter , see [https://about.gitlab.com/gitlab- com/](https://about.gitlab.com/gitlab-com/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I like tuhtles. I also like Bitbucket. The team size based pricing w/ unlimited repos is what sold us over GitHub.

</comment><comment><USER11> And still no 2 factor authorization ...

<comment><USER3> You can vote for this issue here:[https://bitbucket.org/site/master/issue/5811/support-two- fac...](https://bitbucket.org/site/master/issue/5811/support-two-factor- authentication-bb-7016)

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Bitbucket is great, but also check out SourceTree, their git / Mercurial client [http://www.sourcetreeapp.com/](http://www.sourcetreeapp.com/)

<comment><USER13> Great tool that I use daily.

Interestingly, I recently talked to someone in an interview setting who got asked a question about git, and as soon as the interviewee started saying, "Typically I use SourceTree," the interviewer's demeanor turned sour on asking any further version control questions.

Just because someone uses a GUI for version control doesn't mean they don't understand it... I prefer the way SourceTree makes it very easy and visual to stage portions of a file, and the always-displayed tree makes it very clear how different branching and merging operations are going to happen.

Seemed like some weird attitude against a GUI source control tool... especially one specifically well-designed for a Mercurial or Git workflow.

<comment><USER14> I'm a happy SourceTree user as well. I know how to use Git in the terminal but I find SourceTree quicker to use as it lets me quickly visualise what I need to see.

<comment><USER15> It's interesting to think about. I use SourceTree for 3 things:

\- new branches (I find the syntax tedious for some reason, and I like to see where I am in the tree, so I'm already looking at SourceTree's interface when I'm branching) \- deleting remote branches (see above about syntax) \- awesome diff visualization for past commits and current work

Everything else I do on the command line, because SourceTree requires just a few too many clicks for my liking. It's a shame the terminal can't have a nice diff interface like SourceTree's, otherwise I'd probably be full terminal.

<comment><USER14> Similarly, I find the GUI quicker when I'm invoking commands I don't use often enough to memorise. I prefer cleaning up commits I'm about to make easier with SourceTree as well; I can browse through the diffs, reverse some changes, ignore some files, delete others then make my commit with minimal fuss.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> It's sad they don't promote Mercurial as much as they do Git.

<comment><USER17> For a for-profit shop like Bitbucket, there's probably a business reason for that. I certainly don't have any metrics to back this up, but I can understand how they'd want to primarily appeal to what seems to be a wider git audience.

<comment><USER16> From what I can see, whatever new functionality is being add to the site works equally well for Mercurial and Git (sans obvious differences in Hg/Git branching models). Pull Requests, Branch Permissions, Notifications, possibly something else, -- all work with Hg too. Yet they promote Git like crazy and leave Mercurial behind.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I used to host my own git repos on a VPS but bitbucket (for private repos) and github (for open source repos) provide so many good auxiliary services that self hosting no longer makes sense for me. Great services.

</comment><comment><USER19> Cool stats. I wonder when I'll be able to use my ECDSA key...</comment>


Ways to Make Money - <AUTHOR> http://personalmba.com/10-ways-to-make-money/

<comment><USER2> I like the description of audience aggregation. I've always felt like advertising based services were thinking the wrong way. It's not that you're finding users (audience) and then monetizing them with ads. Your audience is your product. You could build a big product, a niche product, or a well- defined product. Then, you must sell your product. Your audience is not your customer. They are your product. Your advertisers are your customers.

</comment><comment><USER3> Do you know those management courses in college where almost everything the professor "teaches" you is common sense? Somehow this post brought back some memories.

</comment><comment><USER4> WOW! Insightful.</sarcasm></comment>


Ask HN: In Desperate Need of Career Advice - <AUTHOR> Hi, I am currently in 2 years bond with my first company which will end on June 2018. I need help in what to learn which will get me maximum hike on my first switch. As there is limit of 2000 characters so I have written about me and the technologies I already know in below link<p>https://pastebin.com/raw/gEwh393L <comment><USER2> My suggestion is to double down on what you know already (iOS, swift, etc) and do homework on about 10 companies that pay well and have a need for that skillset. Then, a couple months before your bond gets over, approach these companies and start interviewing. If you are good, you will get at least a couple offers and will be in a good position to negotiate.

Note - the key is to approach these candidate companies more or less in parallel, and not serially. If you have multiple offers, you have a much better chance to make much more than what you are making today, compared to learning a new skill at this point.

</comment><comment><USER3> It sounds like you're determined and self motivated, you're off to a great start! Nice work on getting downloads with your Android apps!

Since you seem to have a lot of front end and app knowledge, personally I might suggest getting more familiar with back-end as a service technologies like Firebase, etc. You could then create apps/web-apps that scale without knowing loads of back-end architecture practices.

To get a good spot in a next company, practice explaining your accomplishments to date succinctly, meet people, apply to multiple companies and get multiple offers lined up.</comment>


Are you ready for a paid Twitter? - <AUTHOR> http://gigaom.com/2012/07/13/are-you-ready-for-a-paid-twitter/ <comment><USER2> I'm not sure if this is a good idea, in general. How do you compete with a completely free service? Sure, there are some ads, but is it noticeable in desktop/mobile Twitter apps? Even third party apps that use the Twitter API? The same principal stands for Craigslist - it's hard to compete with free by offering "customer trust." I don't think there's much value in customer trust compared to free software where I know I can't complain if it goes down. Now, if I used App.net professionally in the sense that I cannot ever have my notifications go down, I might do it, but then again, there are so many social networks that the odds of both Facebook and Twitter (the two largest ones in the US that I can think of) will be down at the same time.

Still, good luck to him.</comment>


Dropbox Hires New CTO and GM - <AUTHOR> https://blog.dropbox.com/topics/company/thank-you-quentin--and-welcome-tim-and-bharat <comment><USER2> man what is with this site redesign? It feels awkward and slow.

</comment><comment><USER3> Great news!!

</comment><comment><USER4> I don't know if I just had a good night's sleep but that font seems to be very easy to read for me.</comment>


Citroën introduces a two-seat EV that costs €2,644 and then €19.99 a month - <AUTHOR> https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/27/citroen-introduces-a-two-seat-ev-that-costs-e19-99-a-month/ <comment><USER2> A small, cheap electric car with a 70km range in a dense European city makes a lot of sense to me.

The speed limits in much of Europe are really low. In the USA we're used to driving pretty fast on 2 way roads with wide lanes at over 80kph. That's not much of Europe.

I've driven over 5,000km here in Scotland just this month. The speed limits in most cities are about 60kph, and usually the max is 45kph. It is completely normal here for people to share a single lane road to drive a car, ride a bike, go for a run, and walk their dogs. It's just different than. America where every street is a temple to the car gods and walking on many streets is both weird and dangerous.

When I drove in Denmark in 2017, I would travel around the area outside and of Copenhagen where the speed limits are often 50kph max. For example, from Copenhagen, Denmark to Lyngby while avoiding highways...

[https://maps.app.goo.gl/8e5DtpUDmSQSp31h7](https://maps.app.goo.gl/8e5DtpUDmSQSp31h7)

...takes about 19 minutes (at 6 a.m. Friday, 28 Feb, 2020) to go 13km. You just can't drive that fast in the built-up urban setting.

<comment><USER3> There is quite a difference in how speed limits are enforced in most of Europe vs most of the USA. European authorities are generally _far_ more lenient and reasonable.

<comment><USER4> That's not true at all from my experience, quite the opposite.

For example, in California the speed of traffic on the highway is quite often 80-85mph in a 65mph zone, and not enforced. That wouldn't fly in Germany on any road with a speed limit.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> IMO, this is much closer to the direction we should be heading.

The typical 4-seat, 1600+ kg, to move around one or two people, at a total of ~200kg, is just stupid. Most of the energy is spent just moving the car... very inefficient.

Also, the environmental footprint of manufacturing modern cars is horrible: metals mining and refining, fabrication, waste from manufacturing, the energy to do it all. Making Li-ion batteries is extremely energy intensive; which is one reason they are so expensive.

<comment><USER6> We should live near stuff we use repeatedly. Schools. Work. Shops. Walk there.

This is the only solution with our existing technology.

<comment><USER7> Have you seen the price of rent recently? That's a nice dream but half the people I know can't afford to live within 25 miles of where they work. <$100 a month in gas will save >$750 a month in rent. The economics aren't there, and most people won't act against their own economic self interest.

<comment><USER8> We should invest in excellent public housing, and not require it to fund its own maintenance. Build more units, rent them below market rates.

<comment><USER9> No, we shouldn't. I don't want my tax money being wasted on people getting a better place to live. What's next, loners and the elderly should be outcast to the outskirts?

<comment><USER8> What? Right now people are being forced to the outskirts. Especially the elderly, the poor, etc. A healthy supply of non commodity housing keeps them in the neighborhood.

<comment><USER9> That's just the free market. The same free market that decides a structured bunch of bricks should cost 10x more in SF than Austin.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> These speed limited vehicles which can't go with the flow in a city are a danger because people will be overtaking, cutting in and generally be annoyed by them. This is already a problem with scooters and some motorbikes.

Cheap vehicles which are limited to 45 km/h have always existed, they were never popular in Europe. Make it 60 and it will be usable for city driving.

<comment><USER11> In what city is the flow of traffic more the 28mph?

This is something for San Francisco, not for jetting between its suburbs.

<comment><USER10> This product is for the European market, in pretty much every European city traffic flows at these speeds. Maybe not at rush hour but the day has more hours.

In Europe cities are small on average and traffic flows ok. Big cities like London, Paris and Berlin are the exception and even there you'll have problems if your vehicles speed is capped at 45km/h.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I'm very happy to see this type of vehicles emerge.

I own a twizy (that can go up to 80km/h, and 100km/hour with a software modification, thus needing a licence), and it's the perfect urban vehicle. I live a bit outside the city (15km from the city centre) and it's perfect: you can park anywhere, you go the same speed than others and I even got a (silghtly legal) tow bar for a small trailer.

If I recall correctly, the twizy is no longer produced because it's true that it had some flaws: two seats one behind the other and no real windows (you need gloves and a scarf in winter). So seeing this citroen car is a delight to me. I hope they make a 80km/hour version too.

</comment><comment><USER13> The fact that this doesn't require a driver's license to operate is a big deal given how difficult and expensive (around 1000 euros) it is to get a driver's license in France.

<comment><USER14> That's rather inexpensive. I think in Germany you'll have to pay at least 1500 € nowadays.

<comment><USER15> Neither are inexpensive. Those fees are preposterous.

<comment><USER14> Well, you will get about 30 hours of theoretical training and something like 12 or 15 hours of practical driving training for that. Also there are fees included like costs for the theoretical exams, your driving examiner and the driving license itself.

Costs obviously vary with your driving skills and whether you live in a rural area or in town. I think the later is more expensive...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> This more like a two person Sinclair C5 with a roof than an actual car. It won't be allowed to go on the highway and you may have to ride it on bike paths in some countries next to national roads between towns, which is a real nuisance for the people on actual bicycles.

<comment><USER17> I've had the misfortune of interacting with "vehicles" of this class here in Sweden a few times. (I'm guessing the one's I've seen are crappy PRC imports, legally pretending to be powered bicycles or similar.)

Every single time: They do something insanely stupid and dangerous, on actual roads. (I guess they bought this because they were too stupid to get a driver's license.)

They also tend to drive around 30 km/h at most, on roads meant for 50-80 km/h.

I can't wait until we banish them from the roads.

<comment><USER18> No safe for bicycles!! These aren't safe on either road type.

<comment><USER17> I guess on the road they're mostly a danger to themselves. I can't imagine a real car getting more than a smallish-dent from even a head-on collision with this thing. Lots of bloody carnage though.

Liability though...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> I like the concept. I don't really like that a lot of EVs are moving in the direction of bigger , heavier and more power. For cities these super small cars are the future hopefully and not 2 ton tanks.

<comment><USER20> Depends on the city/country.

Everyone seems to love comfort of SUV's, especially in new world where cities were designed for cars. European cities just can't fit large cars, but move to the country side and you can certainly enjoy utility of larger car (although I'd argue actual 4x4 almost certainly overkill for 95% of roads).

I'd certainly love more heavy machinery to move to electric. Buses and trucks are just so loud, benefit most from the torque and are heavily utilised meaning much faster payback than sedan that sits 99% idle.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> 6000 EURO starting purchase price.

Pretty good for a daily commuter in Europe. Especially considering how narrow the streets are in Spain. Sounds like it's ripe for that market. Can't really take this sucker outside the city though, but at that price, I'd certainly consider it for a daily driver.

</comment><comment><USER22> This is going to be furiously popular around the EU. We have old, dense cities, very limited parking, restrictions on emissions, expensive fuel.

This fixes all of those, for cheap. 45mph limit isn't an issue when your limits are 20-40mph.

I don't live in a city. I live in a relatively rural county in the UK but I work from home and most of my journeys are <5 miles. Shops and school runs. This makes sense for me, and will for a lot of people doing similar journeys.

</comment><comment><USER23> > _The Ami is not classified as a motor vehicle. As such, operators do not > need a license and can be as young as 14 in France and 16 in other European > countries._

Interesting. How did they get around that classification, and for something that operates on the street?

<comment><USER24> France has a special low power category for vehicles

<comment><USER25> I would say all Europe has the same concept, or at least France, Spain and Italy for sure. For gasoline vehicles they just need to be less then 50cc and max speed less then 50km/h. They've been existing for years.

<comment><USER16> Typically they run on small, very dirty one cylinder diesels.

<comment><USER26> and they are extremely noisy and must be exterminated.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> Please, please bring this to Canada.

Nah, will never happen. People here are buying bigger and bigger cars. Is much so that even mini vans are being discontinued.

</comment><comment><USER28> Cool idea but the orignal Ami 6 looked way cooler. I remember those from my childhood. [http://www.citroenorigins.co.uk/en/cars/ami-6](http://www.citroenorigins.co.uk/en/cars/ami-6)

<comment><USER29> I've never seen an Ami 6 on road. But there were a few Ami 8 cars in my neighborhood when I was a child: [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Citroen_Ami_8_Februa...](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Citroen_Ami_8_February_1973_mfd_1972_602cc.jpg) .

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> This is amazing. Finally, a well-priced non-polluting urban mobility solution.

I can't believe on HN this has only 160 upvotes in 10 hrs. HN audience seems climate-conscious. But if it's not a Tesla solution, you don't care. Sigh.

<comment><USER31> > Finally, a well-priced non-polluting urban mobility solution.

Bicycles have been around for a hundred years. But if its not an electric car you don't care. Sigh.

<comment><USER30> Bicycles don't protect you from bad weather. I have a bike.

<comment><USER32> Some do:

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

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> Applaud for trying. For urban areas this seems like a no brainer. A ton of people use big cars for no reason, struggle to park..

Maybe it will fail but kudos for putting it out there.

</comment><comment><USER34> Range is 70 km (45 miles), according to French media.

</comment><comment><USER35> As the world moves to "super e-bikes" (40kph, 200km range) a lot about urban transportation will be transformed. We haven't hit the inflection point yet, maybe ten years from now. Currently the market is moving so fast though, you can see the writing on the wall.

<comment><USER36> I think many people still worry about safety issues with bicycling, especially at higher e-boosted speeds. Technological advancements would have to include things like airbag helmets.

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> > The Ami is available for purchase from €6,000 (including VAT).

That's way cheaper than the €14.995 Estrima Biro [1] that it will be competing with here in the Netherlands.

[1] [https://biro.nl/en/model/biro-urban/](https://biro.nl/en/model/biro- urban/)

<comment><USER38> Is it not similar to the Renault Twizy? That one starts at €7,350 according to wikipedia.

<comment><USER12> It's more or less the same. But the Twizy can go up to 80 km/hour (well, the model needing a licence).

I love my twizy, it's the perfect city vehicle

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER39> Ils auraient pu l'appeler la 2CE!

</comment><comment><USER40> The list of advertising partners on Techcrunch is virtually endless, and the "founding partners" cannot be disabled directly, which (after 2-3 clicks) is revealed to consist of Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, DataXtrade and more...

that link is gonna remain blue.

</comment><comment><USER41> I wonder if it will be regulated like a golf cart.

Unlike bicycles/scooters, it's still going to take up parking spaces.

Without licensing, I wonder if it will introduce a new class of drivers who won't know the rules of the road and introduce more unpredictability into driving.

<comment><USER42> They already exist, microcars like Aixam are pretty popular with people who don't have a license (in general teenagers over 14/16, or drivers with suspended licenses).

<comment><USER41> Interesting -- how do drivers/pedestrians perceive them in France?

<comment><USER43> They are not a subject for pedestrians, they are just cars.

As far as other drivers are concerned, the only problem is that over the years they started looking more and more like 'regular' cars, so 'regular' drivers coming behind are surprised because they wrongly estimate their speed (well in fact they don't estimate anything, they have the mental model that cars always drive around 80 km/h, and bicycle around 15 km/h, so they are surprised both ways when a car or bicycle goes around 40 km/h).

But drivers must be reminded that normal roads are not a space reserved for cars, motorbikes and lorries cruising all the time near the speed limit, but can be rightfully used by any kind of vehicles (tractors with or without trailers, bicycles, horse-drawn carriages and so on), and that they can be encountered moving at any speed in ]0, speed limit] for a good reason.

<comment><USER41> Thanks for that. To what extent do these drivers know to follow the the more complex rules of the road, say left turns, four way stops, roundabout etiquette etc. without having gone through any licensing?

I want to say the same issue applies to cyclists, but then the compliance rate of cyclists is not high. The only consolation is that cyclists loo sufficiently different from cars that drivers give them a wide berth.

<comment><USER44> > without having gone through any licensing?

You actually need an AM license, which is a 1 day training.

<comment><USER41> Fascinating

 _Voitures sans permis (VSPs) can be driven by anyone aged 14 and up and are limited to 45 kph—just 28 mph. VSPs can't be driven on expressways or highways, since a 28-mph top speed and, well, you get it. Drivers must only acquire what's known as an AM category license, which requires a seven-hour training course, of which only four hours are spent driving on roads. Those born before 1988 require no license at all._

[https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15345640/an-aixam-to- grin...](https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15345640/an-aixam-to-grind-a-sub- class-of-tiny-french-cars-that-caters-to-drunks-the-elderly-and-kids/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER45> The problem I think will be how it will fit in the streets. Bicycles that are slower than regular traffic are easy to overtake. But this probably not as easy. At the same time, I would not want to share bicycle lanes with this vehicle if I am cycling.

<comment><USER46> Most people who have this kind of vehicles drives in cities. It's rare to see those on roads outside and overtaking thise is still easier than a tractor. On highways this category of car is, for obvious reasons, not allowed.

</comment></comment><comment><USER47> [https://outline.com/k6padz](https://outline.com/k6padz)

I can't understand why anyone still shares TechCrunch links. It's inaccessible without accepting their cookies.

</comment><comment><USER48> As a motorcyclist this fills me with dread.

There are enough bad drivers here _despite_ our quite tough licenses - a metal box at 28mph with a battery on board will still ruin my entire day.

</comment><comment><USER49> This looks cool!

I wonder if it would be feasible/worth it to incorporate a pedal assist system to lengthen the range.

Also I would love a convertible version.

What about safety? Especially rolling? Would this work in the US from a regulatory standpoint?

<comment><USER50> At a maximum speed of 28mpg it might classify as an electric bicycle, just like for instance the ELF: [https://organictransit.com/](https://organictransit.com/) Some states however define a bicycle as having a maximum of 3 wheels, so that might be an issue.

</comment></comment><comment><USER51> Better link in French

[https://www.citroen.fr/ami/duree-1-an-et- plus.html](https://www.citroen.fr/ami/duree-1-an-et-plus.html)

</comment><comment><USER52> The car doesn't use its left turn signal in the demo video. Good thing the child wasn't been any slower exiting the crosswalk, or the car could have hit them.

<comment><USER53> Oh, now I know why American car ads have those warnings that an ad is made under different conditions than normal driving.

</comment></comment><comment><USER54> Does anyone know if something like this would fly in Australia, road law wise?

<comment><USER55> If it is not a car I suppose you will have to wear a helmet inside ;)

Not sure if I would want to drive this in Australia though. Coming from Europe the size of your roads here is crazy. Lots of 2-3 lane inner city roads with a speedlimit of 60. You'd be a sitting duck in an Ami..

</comment></comment><comment><USER56> So something that looks like a car, that takes up the space of a car, that goes at car speeds and that can be driven on public roads by someone without a licence... expect a quick change to the law after the first few fatalities...

<comment><USER57> This is no different than most of the existing, _" voiture sans permis"_ available in France, that have been allowed since 1947. Except this actually seems a ton safer than most existing, "voiture sans permis" that I've actually seen throughout France.

And yes, existing _" voiture sans permis"_ are not known to be anywhere near as safe as a full size car (or high-end quadricycles like the Aixam). Yet like them, this is dirt in terms of cost, and far better than most of the existing options that have been around for over 70 years.

<comment><USER58> A.k.a "pots d'yaourt".

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER59> Top speed 45 km/h. That is too low for most cities.

</comment><comment><USER60> Still useless if you pay €7,50 per hour for parking

</comment><comment><USER60> So it's a biro?

</comment><comment><USER61> That revolting site breaks the back button.

</comment><comment><USER62> > _It can be rented long term at a cost of €19.99 (including VAT) per month > with an initial payment of €2,644._

Seems like a bit of a stretch to call that €19.99/mo when you also need to pay the equivalent of 11 years of rent up front.

<comment><USER63> Yes, I'd say a title change is in order.

<comment><USER64> Ok, we've added €2,644 to the cost above.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER65> Seems a little misleading that it's €19.99/mo after a €2644.00 down payment. Still cheap, but not THAT cheap.

</comment><comment><USER66> "It can be rented long term at a cost of €19.99 (including VAT) per month with an initial payment of €2,644 (including VAT). The Ami can be rented through a car-sharing service for up to a day at a rate of €0.26 per min..."

Looks like it costs €2,644 initial payment + €19.99 a month.

</comment><comment><USER67> Great, but no way in this timeline you will be able to get on a road with this without a license. Even if that's the case it will change in an instant.

<comment><USER46> There's already plenty of cars that can be driven without licence in France. That's not new: [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadricycle_(EU_vehicle_clas...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadricycle_\(EU_vehicle_classification\))

<comment><USER42> They are actually very popular in many countries among drivers who have their license suspended but depend on having a vehicle. There are even rental companies that basically work exclusively with this type of scenario.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER68> >It's electric, cheap and doesn't require a license. In short, it's less of a car and more of an electric scooter with two seats, doors and a heater...The Ami is not classified as a motor vehicle.

This just screams safety issues to me. I'm not sure I would want to drive down some city streets in one of these.

<comment><USER69> It's not designed for the US market where SUVs and Truck are the most popular vehicle. It's classified as a quadrocycle which is a lightweight vehicle distinction in France and other EU countries.</comment></comment>


The Docker Book - <AUTHOR> https://leanpub.com/thedockerbook

<comment><USER2> > I'm sorry, but that book does not exist.

That's Ok, because if it did, it would be out of date already.

</comment><comment><USER3> Invalid link.</comment>


How the Apocalypse Will Bring Out the Best in People - <AUTHOR> https://psmag.com/how-the-apocalypse-will-bring-out-the-best-in-people-56f51136e770#.oegshdfkk <comment><USER2> There's a user on Metafilter.com, Dee Xtrovert,( [https://www.metafilter.com/user/45778](https://www.metafilter.com/user/45778) ) who lived through the siege in Sarajevo.

Their stories of what it's like are so vastly different than what you would expect. Do yourself a favor: dig in and read.

"Well, unlike the majority of you (I assume), I actually lived several years in a period of savagery and killing, during which nothing - food, water, electricity, phone, clothing, sense of safety, school, the ability to go out in public, etc - was available, except during totally unpredictable, brief and sporadic occasions. "

A collection: [https://www.metafilter.com/137458/In-war-not-everyone-is- a-s...](https://www.metafilter.com/137458/In-war-not-everyone-is-a- soldier#5461243)

My Favorite: [https://www.metafilter.com/78669/What-if-things-just-keep- ge...](https://www.metafilter.com/78669/What-if-things-just-keep-getting- worse#2430771)

<comment><USER3> "Ferfal" lived in Argentina during its economic collapse at the turn of the century and has a similar unique perspective. He's now has a blog but some of his early posts are here:

[http://www.rapidtrends.com/surving-argentinas-economic- colla...](http://www.rapidtrends.com/surving-argentinas-economic-collapse- part-1-3/)

<comment><USER4> Those are excellent, and presumably are included in his book: [http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Survival-Manual-Surviving- Econo...](http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Survival-Manual-Surviving- Economic/dp/9870563457/) (which I've bought but not yet read).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I live in a rural area in tornado alley. We also live on a major fault line, so there are a few potential "big ones" that could affect my area.

I spent quite a bit of time thinking about that, trying to figure out what to do in order to be prepared for a realistic disaster. What I ended up deciding was that I can afford to help my neighbors (and whoever else may show up). I have an extensive first-aid setup, stuff to purify water, tons of trash bags, and some easy-to-prepare food. If we have a major disaster in my area, I plan to distribute as much of that as I can. For a fairly small investment I have enough stuff to keep everyone on my street healthy and fed for about a month even if their pantries are empty. No Mad Max necessary.

As an interesting side note, as part of that process I did some calculating on relative costs and discovered that you can buy enough storable basic calories (white flour, stabilized cooking oil, and sugar - no health food here) to feed about 100 people for a month for less than it costs to get a single mid-grade rifle with no ammunition (about $1000). To me, that's the best answer to the idea that being prepared means getting armed to the teeth and fighting off the ravening hordes.

I may be wrong, but I agree with the thesis of this article that people tend to band together and try to help each other in a disaster, so I built a plan around that assumption.

<comment><USER4> That's a thesis that noted survivialist Bruce Clayton developed in the early '80s or so, although he went with whole wheat, and add some salt and powdered milk for the Mormon Four plus the oil, which is needed by children for them to thrive (see more details in _Nuclear War Survival Skills_ if interested, which Clayton recommended before any of his books).

In my world view, you're better off with "A kind word _and_ a gun", food etc. plus the ability to restrain bad actors, should any turn up. Some just might, as seen when an EF-5 tornado roared through my home town of Joplin, MO, but tornadoes, at least, have very limited effects, you don't have to walk far to get out of the areas of destruction. If the New Madrid fault goes you've very much want such preparations already in place.

<comment><USER5> Thanks for the pointer to Bruce Clayton, I'll have to look him up. I don't mean to come across as being against having the gun - I actually agree with your "kind word and gun" idea. I just wanted to get the point out about how much relief can be accomplished with that money because I think it gets missed in a lot of discussions, and of the two it seems a lot more likely to be relevant in a real disaster to me.

<comment><USER4> Here's my recommendations from the classic era of survivalism (mid-late-70s through the '80s):

 _Nuclear War Survival Skills_ , get a PDF to see if it's interesting to you (e.g. [http://www.oism.org/nwss/](http://www.oism.org/nwss/)), get the green softcover for when the lights go out and for accurate patterns for the Kearny Fallout Meter: [http://www.amazon.com/Nuclear-War-Survival-Skills- Expanded/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Nuclear-War-Survival-Skills- Expanded/dp/094248701X) (it says something about the times that Amazon is keeping it in stock, they didn't a few years ago) or from the publisher (previous link).

This is the bible of expedient nuclear war survival, everything from quick to build shelters to sprouting wheat to avoid vitamin deficiency diseases, based on many years of serious research at Oak Ridge, _and tested_ , they'd go so far as to hand a copy of shelter plans to average American families, and then videotape them following the plan, and improve the design based on that. Vs. too many of those classic Civil Defense shelter plans drawn up by bureaucrats in the Beltway that would kill their inhabitants due to too little ventilation to remove heat and humidity.

Maybe then check out his recently published _Jungle Snafus ... and Remedies_ , his hardcore work on survival started in WWII, and he started thinking about nuclear war survival in the mid-late '30s (sic) after learning about the idea of nuclear weapons while at Princeton (quite a few people thought and wrote about it before the details were worked out after E=mc^2 and all that, see e.g. the SF of the pre-end of WWII era).

Then Bruce Clayton's magnum opus, _Life After Doomsday_ , get the Dial Press paperback which has annotations and comments made after the first edition: [http://www.amazon.com/Life-after-doomsday-survivalist- disast...](http://www.amazon.com/Life-after-doomsday-survivalist- disasters/dp/0803747527/) And perhaps check out some of his other works, the food for others concept was not, as I recall, originally published in _Thinking About Survival_ [http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-About-Survival- Bruce-Clayton/...](http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-About-Survival-Bruce- Clayton/dp/0873642937/) but you'll find it there (probably originally published in an issue of the hard to find Mel Tappan _Personal Survival Letter_ ).

The other two major intellectuals of the era were Jerry Pournelle, see his two relevant novels coauthored with Larry Niven, _Lucifer 's Hammer_ and _Footfall_ , and Mel Tappan, start with his _Tappan on Survival_ : [http://www.amazon.com/Tappan-Survival- Mel/dp/1581605099/](http://www.amazon.com/Tappan-Survival-Mel/dp/1581605099/)

The obscure and now very expensive used _Bad Times Primer_ by C. G. Cobb had insighs, especially on survival on a budget, I didn't find anywhere else at the time (there is of course the new wave of "prepper" thought and literature that's no doubt worth checking out that might cover things like that): [http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Times-Primer-Complete- Survival/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Times-Primer-Complete- Survival/dp/0960660801/)

Finally, _Total Resistance_ [http://www.amazon.com/Total-Resistance-H-Von- Dach/dp/0873640...](http://www.amazon.com/Total-Resistance-H-Von- Dach/dp/0873640217/) is _the_ manual on _sane_ armed resistance and such, commissioned by the Swiss Non-commissioned Officer's Association, very Swiss vs. USSR invasion and '50s-ish, it's not written by wild eye idiots. Much updating and thought is required, of course, but I would start with that foundation, and for best reading quality, track down the original hardback, I think the publisher reproduced the paperback edition from it.

For modern works, I'll only note _The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse_ [http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Survival-Manual-Surviving- Econo...](http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Survival-Manual-Surviving- Economic/dp/9870563457/) since it's written from the author's experience of a less than total collapse in Argentina. See also people's writeups of the much worse collapse and warfare in post-Cold War Yugoslavia.

<comment><USER5> Thanks again, this looks like a lot of good stuff. I've actually read Lucifer's Hammer (several times if I'm totally honest), I had no idea he was involved in that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Living in the Yukon we sometimes talk about what would happen to most "city folk" if their world fell apart with no supermarket and electricity.

Most of us hunt our own meat, grow our own vegetables, build our own cabins and get our own firewood. Tons of people up here are already living entirely off-grid.

We all agree, our biggest problem would be lack of gasoline to run chainsaws, and none of us really has a solution to that. Cutting firewood by hand would be doable, though it would be a full time job to get enough for the winter. A decent size house will burn through roughly 10 cords in a single winter.

<comment><USER7> On the flip side, things like this[1] play out in severely rural areas. It always annoys me when people in rural areas paint a picture of how much "better" it is to be living there.

[1]: [https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/when-a-woman-is- raped...](https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/when-a-woman-is-raped-in- rural-alaska-does-anyone-care)

<comment><USER8> lol. Really? People really think this is common? I just don't know what to say. It's not like that at all.

Look, generally speaking, people are decent and have morals. The vast majority do. Shocker I know, but it's true. Most people aren't racist, homophobe, rapist assholes. Doesn't matter where they live.

<comment><USER9> > People really think this is common?

Rape and sexual violence are pretty common.

You might want to find a trustworthy source of numbers. Here's one for England and Wales: [http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandj...](http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingdecember2015)

<comment><USER8> I was talking about it being significantly more common in rural areas.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> The one thing this article misses, I think, is that all of these scenarios are temporary and local. If an area is devastated by an earthquake, there's still a food supply chain in the outside world, aid supplies and workers will eventually start trickling in, and generally you will have _some_ support (if limited and fragmentary) to help you pull yourself back up to a "modern" living standard over weeks and months.

If a complete societal breakdown should occur--the traditional global-nuclear- war apocalypse, a major governmental/infrastructural collapse in a large, developed nation, etc.--things get rougher. People may start off being civil and helpful, but modern urban society is utterly dependent on food grown on farms spread across thousands of miles and distributed via high-tech infrastructure. If that stops for long enough, in a large enough area, then people start to get hungry, and things start to get really bad.

I still find the article heartening in general. Disasters on that scale are not terribly likely in the modern world. Still, it's worth considering.

<comment><USER11> Alarmingly, one of the biggest breakdowns in ancient times, at the end of the Bronze age, now seems to have given rise to the 'sea people', a band of refugees that roamed and pillaged. There was a chain reaction of famine, revolution, refugees spilling over to neighbors who also had a poor crop, more famine, more revolution. In an expanding circle of fire, most known civilizations fell in just a few years and produced an enormous army of armed refugees. They only stopped when Egypt armed everybody and killed them all. Even then Egyptian society was so disrupted (by arming civilians, seeing their god-kings bleed, fragmentation and slow rebuilding) that it took a century to have a unified government again.

I see some parallels in our modern world. We have a slash-and-burn air-assault style of war that leaves millions homeless and infrastructure in ruins. Refugees are mounting alarmingly. At some point, they'll become 'sea people' and we'll all have a hard decision to make.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> When I think of "Apocalypse" I'm thinking something a little more permanent than an earthquake. As long as there's an end in sight (i.e., it will eventually be going back to normal) people are going to act a lot differently. It's when it truly looks hopeless that I'd expect to see the movie style looting and violence.

<comment><USER13> One summer in the early 2000s there was a blackout along the whole west coast, I was in Palm Springs where the temperatures that time of year regularly exceed 110F. The water filtration shut off so all the city's water was declared possibly contaminated and the gas pumps were off so if you needed gas to get to water there was none. People realized the last clean source of water was bagged ice and started forming mobs banging on the locked doors of convenience stores. I saw people siphoning other people's gas. Basically all hell broke loose. The kicker? The power was only out for 6 hours. When people are scared it doesn't take long.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I think an apocalypse[1] will bring out what's in people not their best or worst just what they really are. I think of the apocalypse as being the big dark[2] that allows you to see people's true character.

As to survival kits, I tend to think that combining the standard survival kit for winter in the northland with the basics a person would take deer hunting and fishing would probably go a long way.

1) short term disasters are a bit different but a lot of madness tends to hit - see all the rioting in mini-disaster scenarios

2) Character is what you are in the dark. - Dwight L. Moody

</comment><comment><USER15> Having to redo my 72 hour bag recently I ended up on a bunch of survivalist websites. (Mostly [http://offgridsurvival.com/](http://offgridsurvival.com/) ) They all have this tendency to start reasonable, and then go off the rails into crazy town. You'll have some good reviews of legitimate things you'd want like flashlights solar power radios, cooking stoves, knives, multitools, stableized food and the like, and then it goes into gasmasks, trauma kits for your "everyday carry" and of course guns. Lots and lots of guns, oh and bullets in common calibers for "ballistic wampum".

The subculture paints a world of black helicopters, and roving gangs of George Soros funded Black Lives Matter cannibals, ISIS EMP attacks, Supervolcanos, and so we're going to have to secretly leave cities by shooting our way out to our hidden mountain cabin ("Never tell anyone where your redoubt is. That's basic opsec.") Oh and along the way you'll may want to hand over boxes of ammunition to strangers for needed supplies.

The thing is though, I totally get it. It's a problem. How long can you hold out with resupplies? How can you pack this better? How can you reduce weight? It's an engineering problem. The right wing conspiracy theories and and that up it neighbor is just waiting for the right moment to kill, eat you, and your skin into a jaunty hat is just absurd wish fulfillment fantasy.

<comment><USER16> Yeah, it's unfortunate that the (clinically) paranoid survivalists, that honestly have good information to share from a survival perspective, often have paranoid political beliefs.

Just like anything in life, you need to separate the good information from the bad... thank god for people that are "different". :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Of course most people will be civil. Its not 'most people' that would be at issue in an apocalypse. In the examples given, the 20,000 soldiers had 'little to do'. In part because the presence of 20,000 soldiers is a calming influence?

Initial looting isn't the only public order issue. Its desperate people when supplies run low, taking what they need to survive from other desperate people.

</comment><comment><USER17> What about situations like the last plane out of a war zone with a limited number of seats? I think people tend to become less charitable then? Or if scarcity really hits?

<comment><USER18> I think there's a fundamental difference between man made catastrophes and natural disasters in people's minds.

If it's man made, they will want to blame someone, so people will be more aggressive towards anyone else.

If it's a natural disaster, everyone accepts that everyone else around is in the same situation and will help as much as they can right away...

<comment><USER17> I remember specifically an issue in Europe a couple of years back where a series of snow avalanches was destroying hotels and killing people (in the alpes, I think - hotels had been built in illegal places). Roads were blocked and the only way out were helicopters. Supposedly there were some ugly displays of selfishness around getting on the helicopter first.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> There is a book, Einstein's Dreams, by Alan Lightman that describes this phenomena beautifully. It's a short and wonderful book.

</comment><comment><USER20> in "attack on titan" (fiction), apocalypse happens and humanity is hit the hardest.

but no, it does not bring any good. instead people do atrocious and horrible deeds in the name of greater good.

So, I would say, "No, apocalypse can destroy humans but not change them."</comment>


Harvard study: Interviewers prize style over substance - <AUTHOR> http://www.fins.com/Finance/Articles/SB128879675869353379/Eloquence-in-an-Interview-Is-Better-Than-Accuracy-Says-Study?Type=4

<comment><USER2> I'm confused; should this be surprising?

The most important thing I learned from debate in HS was that how you say something matters much more than what you actually say. If you say something true or persuasive but do not communicate that well, you stand little chance against the smooth-talking liars without strong logic.

This being said, I aspire very much to be both eloquent, truthful, and full of substance when communicating and when interviewing. Whatever my strategy may be, it has certainly been successful in all the interviews I've done this fall recruiting round; how you say things really does matter.

I think that schools should force people to practice their public speaking somehow.

</comment><comment><USER3> "Reaction time is a factor in this, so please pay attention."</comment>


Ask HN: How does a C++ developer use Docker? - <AUTHOR>

OS X, C++ developer that writes OS X, Windows, Linux apps. I use VM's to accomplish this. It's always worked ok for me.<p>But, reading about Docker, I can't wrap my head around how I would really use it. I've googled around and I just can't see how it replaces my VM's. Can anyone help me understand? <comment><USER2> For me, a C++ developer can use this to:

1\. isolate build issues to specific plugins/libraries/tools

2\. linux-based building on VM (if you're using a different host OS)

3\. help setup devenv by using simple scripts or docker images (if the docker image is made available, all other developers can simply build that same image, or just reuse the same image made by someone else)

Really, in all aspects, it can be of great help.

For Build Systems, Docker can be used to have local builds that run the same way as the Build Servers.

For migration, a simple change in the Dockerfile can help you test whether or not your environment will work well with newer toolkits/tools/systems.

For development environments, if you have the right infrastructure you can easily deploy Dev Env images so new developers don't have to figure out how to set the whole thing up.

For release management or deployment, it can be used to deliver a webservice through the delivery of an image/container, and a Dockerfile can be created simply to generate and test packages that will be released to your customers/clients.</comment>


Ask HN: What are you using as an Angular backend? - <AUTHOR>

Interested in what people who are doing medium to large-ish Angular apps are using on their server side? I'm about to embark on a medium sized project and making the it seems like using Rails or Django (the two frameworks I'm most familiar with) are a bit of an overkill given I don't actually need all the routing/templating/viewing gumph that is built in. What do you find is working well for you? <comment><USER2> I use Scala, Play, Postgres for backend API. I started with checking Flask and learning Rails, but then I just switched back to the stack I am comfortable with as I don't want to learn both new backend and frontend (Angular.js) stuff on the project and focus on delivering. Frontend and backend code are kept separately for now and I use Yeomen for assisting frontend development and it works fine.

If you go with Rails you can strip it down and check [http://api.rubyonrails.org/](http://api.rubyonrails.org/) for APIs. There's similar project for APIs in Django.

<comment><AUTHOR> haven't actually used the rails api - I'll take a look cheers.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I'm using Sinatra - little overhead, simple code. I used node.js/express.js in the past, but the callback hell made me dislike it a bit, although admittedly I'm not experienced with node, so there might be a way to avoid that.

I had a look at Firebase and my main problem with it is having to rely on 3rd party service and storing data on their servers + portability if I was to decide to leave them in the future.

</comment><comment><USER4> NodeJS + Express.

I've had some good mileage out of SailsJS ( [http://sailsjs.com/](http://sailsjs.com/) ) recently, essentially it is a NodeJS + Express stack with Socket.io and prebuilt ORM/blueprints. Up and running in a matter of minutes and behind the scenes it is still just NodeJS/Express

<comment><AUTHOR> great - not seen sailjs before - I'll give it a look see - thanks.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I use Django and Tastypie. If you don't need Django's routing, templating, views, etc. then don't use them! Code that is never run doesn't cost you anything.

Tastypie lets you build APIs quickly, and the Django admin lets you browse your data without having to write any code at all. For the kinds of apps I build, things can't get easier than this. YMMV, of course.

<comment><USER6> Have you looked at django-rest-framework? As somebody who has contributed to tastypie, I feel that django-rest-framework is more django-like.

<comment><USER5> It's on my TODO list of things to try out.

I have had some minor issues with Tastypie, but my current project is too far along at the moment to switch to another framework.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I am using Flask(Python) with PostgreSQL DB for my recent project

</comment><comment><USER8> Firebase added bindings for Angular a few months ago.

<comment><AUTHOR> great reminder - I tinkered with firebase a bit a while ago - I'm not sure about the security implications of it though - it seems like (though I haven't actually tried) that anyone could grab your firebase url and start randomly writing objects to it. I know they have some authentication, but I haven't looked too closely into it yet - thanks for the reminder.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> We're switching to it on an existing project so the back-end will continue to be Java with Spring.

</comment><comment><USER10> Clojure + Ring/Compojure + MongoDB (super terse code, easy to test)

</comment><comment><USER11> Tornado when using Python. SpringMVC/Jetty when using Java.

</comment><comment><USER12> I'm using Flask with Flask-Restless for an API.

</comment><comment><USER13> I am going to be using Go and Mongo.

</comment><comment><USER14> Flask + MongoDB

</comment><comment> antonio-R Hey, NodeJS with MongoDB are a combokill combination.</comment>


The Compact Merkle Multiproof - <AUTHOR> https://arxiv.org/abs/2002.07648 <comment><USER3> Huh. I think I created this independently about a year ago. My implementation also works in streaming fashion, so you can compute proofs without holding all of the data in memory. I didn't think it was novel enough to write a paper about. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Maybe I should publish a paper about the "diff proofs" I also came up with, for proving arbitrary modifications to a Merkle tree?

[https://gitlab.com/NebulousLabs/merkletree/-/commit/bae5b547...](https://gitlab.com/NebulousLabs/merkletree/-/commit/bae5b547495f9dddbd4ddeecfdcb00cb89d99d76)

<comment><AUTHOR> I don't want to be rude, but after checking your code I can say that what you did is most definitely not the same thing as the compact Merkle multiproof idea..

<comment><USER3> Can you elaborate? Like yours, my proofs verify the presence of k arbitrary leaves within a tree, and require only the indices of those k leaves.

Here's a test case illustrating such a proof: [https://gitlab.com/NebulousLabs/merkletree/-/blob/bae5b54749...](https://gitlab.com/NebulousLabs/merkletree/-/blob/bae5b547495f9dddbd4ddeecfdcb00cb89d99d76/range_test.go#L205)

<comment><AUTHOR> You son of a gun, good job. I initially looked at the wrong part of the code, my apologies. This part describes it very well: [https://gitlab.com/NebulousLabs/merkletree/-/blob/master/ran...](https://gitlab.com/NebulousLabs/merkletree/-/blob/master/range.go#L197) It's basically the same thing. Implementation wise it's slightly different, but it's the same idea.

During the upcoming days I'll add to the paper that you were the first to propose this algorithm.

<comment><USER3> Ha, thanks. Our algorithms differ slightly in that mine deals with ranges (rather than individual leaves) and processes the tree "left to right" rather than "bottom to top". As such, your algorithm is probably better suited to generic trees, whereas mine was specifically designed for "complete" binary trees. But otherwise, they are quite similar. :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> _Compact Sparse Merkle Trees (CSMT)_ [1] is an already existing scheme for shorter proofs, which introduces the new CSMT data structure and was also posted on HN a while ago.[2]

This[3] is the implementation(in Elixir) of the above paper by the author for those interested.

Also, here [4] is an interesting discussion between the author of Compact Sparse Merkle Trees and Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum on their research forum.

I have posted these links because it seems disingenuous at best and malicious at worst, to not cite this original work which has been extensively discussed and documented before, anywhere in the current paper.

[1] [https://eprint.iacr.org/2018/955.pdf](https://eprint.iacr.org/2018/955.pdf) [2] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18166298](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18166298) [3] [https://github.com/ZanjeerPlatform/csmt](https://github.com/ZanjeerPlatform/csmt) [4] [https://ethresear.ch/t/compact-sparse-merkle- trees/3741](https://ethresear.ch/t/compact-sparse-merkle-trees/3741)

<comment><AUTHOR> One of the authors of the paper here. We did not cite this work, because it has nothing to do with what we're proposing. One should not confuse Merkle multiproofs with sparse Merkle trees. We mentioned that in the paper as well. I do know that Vitalik once proposed the idea of sparse Merkle multiproofs somewhere informally, and we would love to cite that if someone could provide a link to that. But regarding the compact sparse Merkle tree, just because this paper shares some words in the title, does not make it the same thing.

<comment><USER5> I vaguely remember Vitalik mentioning multiproofs in the context of stateless clients for Ethereum 2.0, but this is what I could find: [https://ethresear.ch/t/open-research-questions-for- phases-0-...](https://ethresear.ch/t/open-research-questions-for- phases-0-to-2/5871/2) and the code: [https://github.com/ethereum/research/tree/master/merkle_tree](https://github.com/ethereum/research/tree/master/merkle_tree)

I also found a good article introducing multiproofs from Jim McDonald here: [https://www.wealdtech.com/articles/understanding-sparse- merk...](https://www.wealdtech.com/articles/understanding-sparse-merkle- multiproofs/)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you for the links, I will try and edit the paper in the upcoming days to include Vitalik's mentioning. Jim McDonald's article is also wonderful, we referenced it multiple times and experimented quite a lot with his Merkle tree repo: [https://github.com/wealdtech/go- merkletree](https://github.com/wealdtech/go-merkletree)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> My two cents:

1\. That seems to work for complete binary Merkle trees only.

2\. Authors mention "significantly reducing the size of multiproofs" while not providing any data. Assuming using 256-bit hashes, a tree with 2^63 leafs would be needed to claim 20% reduce in size (64-bit indices, so droping them saves at most 64/(64 + 256)%). That's assuming storing hashes for proved leafs, but disregarding them wouldn't change much - as there are much more non-proved hashes to be stored.

<comment><AUTHOR> About the second point: I think you misunderstood something.

Imagine that we have a tree with 1000 leaves and we want to have a Merkle proof that can prove the presence of, let's say 5 elements. The sparse Merkle multiproof will require an index for every non-leaf hash, so worst case around 30-40 indices (that's just an estimate, as every multiproof can have different sizes, depending on the location of the leaves). The compact Merkle multiproof on the other hand requires only 5 indices.

<comment><USER6> You still need one hash for every non-leaf node, so 30-40 hashes of 256 bits each. What this algorithm saves is 30-40 indices, which is 11 bits each for a 1000-leaf tree. Even aligning to 16 bits it's doesn't seem a great optimization.

Unless I misunderstood something and we are not trying to minimize the size of whole proof, but just its structure - but I see no reason why it could be useful. But I can see there are two other papers: one on distributed Bloom filters [1] and the other on Bloom trees [2], maybe these can shed some light on it, I'll check later today.

[1] [https://arxiv.org/pdf/1910.07782.pdf](https://arxiv.org/pdf/1910.07782.pdf)

[2] [https://arxiv.org/pdf/2002.03057.pdf](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2002.03057.pdf)

EDIT: I haven't noticed you are one of the authors! I liked the paper, it is very clear and visualizes how Merkle (multi)proofs work in a nice way. The only thing that worries me is claim of significant reduce in the size without providing any hard data in that topic.

<comment><AUTHOR> I am glad that you liked our paper :) (the distributed bloom filter paper requires serious editing though).

Current sparse Merkle multiproofs require an index and a hash inside the proof. So in our hypothetical example that would be 30-40 indices and 30-40 hashes. Only then can a recipient of the proof perform the operations in the right order to recreate the original merkle root. With our proposal on the other hand, for this hypothetical example, we would need 30-40 hashes, and only 5 indices for a recipient to be able to recreate the correct Merkle root.

Here's by the way a great repo that can create sparse Merkle multiproofs [https://github.com/wealdtech/go-merkletree](https://github.com/wealdtech/go- merkletree)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I work in the blockchain space (the blockchain I work on doesn't use Merkle trees) and I still don't understand why there is so much hype around Merkle trees. My understanding is that they allow you to quickly check if an element is part of a potentially large set? Isn't this 'fast lookup' problem already solved by database indexing?

Can anyone actually explain this? I don't think I've ever heard a single good explanation yet.

For example, a node can see if a transaction exists by simply fetching it from the database using the transaction ID since there is an index on the ID field? Indexing already provides O(log n) lookup speed. Why do I need a Merkle proof to do this check? Especially if each block contains the hash of the previous block...

What is the use case which Merkle trees solve which is not solved by indexing?

At first, I thought maybe it allows you to verify the validity of a transaction without having the full record of all transactions, but my understanding is that the Merkle Proof still requires multiple transaction IDs to be known by the verifying node; but in order to be able to verify ANY ARBITRARY transaction reliably, the verifying node would end up needing to have a record of all transactions anyway? Because the proof will be different for each transaction... So the aggregated proof of all transactions ends up spanning the entire set... So why not just rely on the original set and just use DB indexing instead??

<comment><AUTHOR> I see your confusion, from that perspective, you're absolutely right. But the usefulness of Merkle trees isn't in its 'fast lookup', it is rather in its bandwidth efficient way to prove that something remained unaltered.

<comment><USER7> I still don't get it. For example, if each block contains the hash of the previous block (including the hash of all its transactions), then it's already possible to verify if a block was illegally substituted for another (e.g. secretly behind the scenes) because the following block hash would become inconsistent. The verification step would be O(1) time complexity because you just need to check the block hash and the hash of its two neighbors which is faster than Merkle Proof which is O(log n).

<comment><USER6> The clue is in "all transitions" part. If you have n blocks adding values, you have to verify O(n) blocks on average to check, that the value is in the chain leading to the current head.

With Merkle tree you just need a path from leaf to the root - so O(log n) hashes required.

<comment><USER7> Is it related to Bitcoin's design with input and output transactions and the double spend problem?

It still seems that the problem can be solved by including a hash of the previous record as part of each new record. Then to verify the validity of any given record, you just fetch that record, its predecessor and its successor. If the record's hash cannot be computed using the predecessor's hash plus the hash of the current record's transactions (in a way that it's consistent with the successor's hash), then you know the current record is invalid.

<comment><USER6> It's about anchoring your knowledge/trust. If you start with zero data, you're saying that it's enough to just fetch that record. How to do that? You need to query full nodes specifically for the block that contains your record. But how do you know it is part of the "real" blockchain? They could provide you fake block - even faking whole history, just to fake your record is there.

That is not possible when you are querying many full nodes for current node, without telling them what you are looking for. They cannot return different results based on your query. You can trust that one piece of information - newest block.

In order to verify validity of the record, you need the block containing that result and checking that it is in history of the current block. That requires fetching O(n) blocks. Keep in mind that you need to trust just the head - <USER2> if someone wanted to provide you fake history, they are not able to, as it is infeasible to create block matching specific hash.

But instead of having linear block chain (corresponding to list datatype) you can have a Merkle tree (corresponding to tree datatype), where it is possible to compute hash of each node having just its two children. You can anchor your knowledge in the hash of the root (e.g. by having all nodes provide you the same value). Than anyone can prove you in a trustless way, that the tree contains specific leaf: by providing way to verify the hash of all nodes on the path from the leaf to the root. That requires O(log n) data, compared to O(n) in linear blockchain.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> The Bitcoin p2p protocol has used compact merkle multiproofs since ~2012: [https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/commit/4bedfa9223d38bbc32...](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/commit/4bedfa9223d38bbc322d19e28ca03417c216700b)

(Other bitcoin things/proposals have had efficient multiproof encodings for non-complete tree too. Also signaling/index free encodings for non-multiproof merkle multisets.)

<comment><AUTHOR> Very clever design. It's not exactly like our proposal, or the one implemented by @nemo1618 a year ago, but it's just as legit. I will edit the paper and cite your work properly.</comment></comment>


Why Stack Exchange performs so well under incredible load - <AUTHOR> http://highscalability.com/blog/2011/10/24/stackexchange-architecture-updates-running-smoothly-amazon-4.html <comment><USER2> Please don't use URL shorteners when submitting.

URL = [http://highscalability.com/blog/2011/10/24/stackexchange- arc...](http://highscalability.com/blog/2011/10/24/stackexchange-architecture- updates-running-smoothly-amazon-4.html)

I am nervous that this has 8 upvotes already with a shortened link...

</comment><comment><USER3> What blows my mind is SE runs on Windows and IIs

[http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/10369/which-tools- an...](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/10369/which-tools-and- technologies-build-the-stack-exchange-network#10370)

They basically did an end-run around the $10k SQL Server license.

<comment><USER4> > _They basically did an end-run around the $10k SQL Server license._

Could you elaborate on that? I have utterly no idea what it means based on that post, and Microsoft's semi-functional site is not enlightening me, either.

<comment><USER5> I am assuming he means the BizSpark program: [http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/03/stack-overflow-and- biz...](http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/03/stack-overflow-and-bizspark/)

That's not so much an end-run as a delay, though, IMO.

<comment><USER6> It is a little more complicated than that. The bizspark program lets you continue using the software you have installed without buying the licenses at the end of the program - as long as your use falls within certain parameters. Namely, this "gift" is based off of something like 2 windows standard servers and 1 SQL standard server. We are way beyond that and will have to pay for our licensing at the end of the program. But for a lot of startups that haven't gotten our funding it is a great boon.

<comment><USER3> The Microsoft "gift" is a balloon payment that could potentially slaughter some startups.

What happens if you are a year in development and then the service is not profitable yet after two years post-launch?

Does the SQL server just stop running?</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Coffee Drinkers Need Cancer Warning, California Judge Rules - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/business/coffee-cancer-warning.html <comment><USER2> Proposition 65 is insane. They even put a sign about it at Disneyland [0], and at fast food places that sells fries [1] because of the potatoes in it.

This video is a good short explainer of the law: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fun9BVEPP5E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fun9BVEPP5E)

Yet another reason to avoid doing business in California. California's regulations is like starting a business in a foreign country, even though they are still part of the US.

I think these warnings are insane and seeing them so often if you live in California you probably would just ignore them. I first found out about it when I noticed a label on the shovel in the shed mentioning cancer. I was like wtf, how can a shovel cause cancer. So looked it up and found out about this law.

Companies put these labels on it to be on the safe side, and since usually one factory making items for the whole US then people who live outside of California sees this label too. Plus testing your items and stuff can be complicated, so many companies just slab the label on everything even if it doesn't contain a item on the list because as long as they have the label they are covered legally.

Sounds like a bunch of other organizations disagree with California. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRv75LWOX2k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRv75LWOX2k)

If I owned a coffee business I'd just charge people in California 50% more. If they want these insane labels, charge them a premium for it!

[0] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_65_(198...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_65_\(1986\)#/media/File:Disneyland_Prop_65_Warning_crop.jpg)

[1] [https://us-east-1.tchyn.io/snopes- production/uploads/images/...](https://us-east-1.tchyn.io/snopes- production/uploads/images/photos/food/graphics/mcwarning.jpg?resize=500,375)</comment>


San Francisco Is Losing Its Great, Inexpensive Restaurants - <AUTHOR> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-05/michelin-guide-san-francisco-is-losing-inexpensive-restaurants <comment><USER2> Who in their right mind moves out to SV anymore for less than a quarter million in compensation?

If you have a family, your costs are astronomical. Mortgage, daycare, multiple cars, school-related fees.

If you're single, you're dealing both with the gender-imbalanced dating market (the imbalance hurting both men and women), as well as the difficulty of saving for a SV mortgage. If you plan ahead of time, coming into SV, that you're going to leave SV eventually because of the high cost of living, then that future move is going to come at the cost of most of the professional and personal networking that you built up and will have to say goodbye to, and build all over again after you move.

Sure, SV is the mecca for professional networking and VC funding, but a) you don't _need_ to be in SV to be successful (counter-examples abound) and b) is it really worth it?

The death of cheap eats in the Bay Area is just a symptom. You're either making enough money not to care, or you're wondering anyway whether it's worth it to live there.

<comment><USER3> > the gender-imbalanced dating market (the imbalance hurting both men and > women)

I'm curious about how an excess of men can hurt women in the dating market.

<comment><USER4> Agreed. If there are more men in the city, women should have more selection.

However, the diversity of men may be limited (e.g. they are all software engineers...). It would be like going to Baskin-Robbins and all they had was various types of strawberry ice cream.

<comment><USER5> The old saying women have about dating at a technical university or engineering school still rings true: 'the odds are good but the goods are odd'

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Mildly offtopic:

Why does everything perfectly ordinary and expected in any other city have to become "Great" in an American city?

Across the world, restaurants, from the very basic to the very high end, arise around every agglomeration of people but here Bloomberg headlines these SFOs restaurants "Great". What makes them "great" that a decades old Irani restaurant in Mumbai cannot hope to match?

I can think of only one other place where "great" gets applied to very very ordinary things - Great Asian Cities when referring to Asian mega cities like Mumbai or Manila.

<comment><USER7> The English word great has two distinct senses when describing a quality:

1\. One of the best, truly magnificent (Michelangelo was a _great_ artist.)

2\. Better than something you would describe as "good". (How are you doing, Bob? - I am doing _great_ , what about you?)

In modern American culture, "good" is often seen as normal and expected. Which means "great" turns into merely better than normal or expected. I think that is the sense in which the word is used in the article.

In some other cultures or languages, the same notion might be described as "not bad".

<comment><USER6> For want of a better description, the American vernacular lends itself to clickbait?

<comment><USER8> Or perhaps the American vernacular has been long shaped by the advertising and news trends that have lead us to the world of clickbait?

For a class project once I was encouraged to skim advertisings from the late part of the 19th Century through the early 20th Century and there certainly is a case to be made that American media have been drowning in hyperbole and fantastic claims for a long time now.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I miss Sam Wo's, which had excellent food, was open late at night till 3:00 AM, was quite inexpensive, and had extremely insulting and abusive staff. It was the home of Edsel Ford Fong, the world's rudest waiter, and was featured in Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City. Kids love the Sam Wo Mystery Room. And there's absolutely no fortune cookie!!!

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

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

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnrs6Hzp6Kg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnrs6Hzp6Kg)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es0-GnG8qGs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es0-GnG8qGs)

[https://tinyurl.com/ybuwn5jn](https://tinyurl.com/ybuwn5jn)

At least the Tamale Lady is still delivering her scrumptious blessings to late night denizens.

[https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-tamale-lady-san- francisco](https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-tamale-lady-san-francisco)

<comment><USER10> You didn't hear they re-opened Sam Wo in a different location? I've been once, it doesn't have the same charm as the old place, but it's alright. Still cheap!

[http://www.sfchronicle.com/restaurants/diningout/article/Res...](http://www.sfchronicle.com/restaurants/diningout/article/Resurrected- improved-Sam-Wo-serves-Chinatown-6730163.php)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> It is always amusing to read pieces like this or comments by those who either cannot understand or dislike it.

Here's the simple truth: there should be no such thing as an excellent, inexpensive restaurant for more than a flash in a pan. Why? Because if a restaurant is excellent and is inexpensive, then it underpricing its offerings the same way as an excellent software developer making $50k a year should not exist in Bay Area for longer than a flash in a pan because that software developer is underpricing his offerings.

Say I have a successful restaurant. For the sake of the argument it seats 40 people and does fixed price brunch and is only open between 11am and 4pm on Sunday. Brunch costs $20. It is amazing. I have a line out of the door. People wait for hours for tables. What should I do? Well, it is simple, I am going to raise a price for $30. Am I still packed? Are people still waiting? $50 it is! Holy crap, still a line? $100! I'm charging a hundred. Oh look, the line is smaller but I'm still doing the same number of covers I did before. $150! I really have no line but the number of covers now is right around what I can do. Excellent. $150 it is.

What does it mean? It means that before my restaurant was excellent, inexpensive and mispriced. Now it is just excellent and priced correctly.

Lets try it again: same setup. $20, i have a line and a wait list, and people outside clamoring for the brunch. Ok, I raise price to $30. Line is gone. I'm doing as many covers as before but there's no real line. I decide to hold at 30. Two months later I have half of the tables empty because people moved on. I drop prices to $20 and nothing changes. Still half of the tables are empty. What happened? I discovered I did not have an excellent and inexpensive restaurant, I just had an inexpensive restaurant and as soon as it tripped into not so inexpensive category it was over.

P.S. There are tons of cheap eats in Bay Area and SF. They are just not the kind of "cheap eats" that the people who make $150k/year like to eat.

P.P.S. Comment of the owner of the restaurant that tech companies are taking away the talent because they pay more, give full benefits and have 9-5 schedule is pure gold: pay. more. money. That will solve the problem. The owner do not deserve to make money for her services any more than Jack The Dishwasher deserves to make money for his.

<comment><USER12> _People wait for hours for tables. What should I do?_

Or you could do what the restaurant down the road from me did when they found themselves in a similar situation. Buy out the place next door, build a huge outside patio area, quadruple the number of tables you have, have the quality of your food and service completely collapse under the strain of trying to serve this many guests and lose your reputation is a great restaurant.

<comment><USER11> That's the quickest way to go out of business.

<comment><USER12> 'Fortunately' they're in a fairly tourist dense area so they seem to have managed to limp along.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Just visited San Francisco. There's over 7000 restaurants.

The 67 restaurants on the list this year hardly seems to touch the surface of what's available.

Breakfast or lunch seemed to be about $30-40 for two. Evening meals were easily double if not triple that, depending where you go.

If you go fancy, you'll get a fancy bill too.

LA was no different.

</comment><comment> d--b > "The issue is that the tech companies have million-dollar kitchens and > budgets, they're taking all the great talent and offering benefits and > 9-to-5 hours. Meanwhile, the restaurant business is a grind, and the cost of > doing business is insane in the Bay Area. Independent operators are getting > pushed out. I cook accessible food, and you have to charge accessible prices > for that."

Wow, I wasn't expecting the restaurant business being affected by tech companies running their own canteens.

<comment><USER14> The usual rule of thumb for a restaurant: lunch pays your rent, dinner pays for labor and profit.

If you don't have any lunch business because everyone eats at work, you're done.

If your dinner seatings are empty before 8PM because nobody leaves work until 6:30 and the traffic is terrible, you're done.

If the rent keeps going up because the real estate market says so, you're done.

What survives: takeout, with low service overhead, small footprints and fast turnaround. High-end, where the money from a few tables each night pays for everything.

I think SV and SF are heading for a Shoe Event Horizon.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> You can't have cheap food in expensive real estate. The rent for the floor area of chair and table occupied by the diner becomes prohibitive.

</comment><comment><USER16> Cafe Zitouna on Sutter and Polk falls into this category. It's a family owned Tunisian/Moroccan restaurant. It's inexpensive and the food is top notch. It's been in the neighborhood forever. Go check it out and order a Breakfast Falafel Wrap, before it turns into a condo building.

[https://www.yelp.com/biz/cafe-zitouna-san- francisco](https://www.yelp.com/biz/cafe-zitouna-san-francisco)

</comment><comment><USER17> I have thought this since I moved here. If you want great and inexpensive, San Diego is the city to go to.

<comment><USER18> LOLWHUT? San Diego is _horrible_ for this. San Diego has a massive number of overpriced, aggressively mediocre restaurants. Yes, you _can_ dig your way through the Chinese and Mexican restaurants to find good, cheap ones, but it requires real persistence.

For people coming from Pittsburgh, Chicago, or Houston, the San Diego selection in cheap food is laughable.

Houston Chinese food used to be _terrifyingly_ cheap--we would hit our favorite dumpling house with something like a dozen people and the bill would be less than $40 for an absolutely enormous quantity of great food. Once we all graduated and were earning money from jobs, we would go back and we would leave tips of double, triple or more of the bill just because we never wanted them to go out of business.

<comment><USER19> >Yes, you can dig your way through the Chinese and Mexican restaurants to find good, cheap ones, but it requires real persistence.

Or, you know, just talking to a local who has already done the legwork

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> You can get cheap dim sum on Clement. Half the reason I moved to the Inner Richmond. lol</comment>


Is this the creepiest startup team page on the internet? - <AUTHOR> https://www.tawk.to/team <comment><USER2> This submission breaks the HN rule about not editorializing story titles. It also seems kind of mean.

</comment><comment><USER3> I do not see what is creepy about the whole page. Rather it is great art work I see.</comment>