Show HN: A tiny library for managing blocking code in Tornado - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/rabidsnail/tornado-threadpool

<comment><USER2> If you need to use this library, then you shouldn't use Tornado in general... unless most of your code is indeed asynchronous. This technique is slower than a webserver threadpool, so be careful.

<comment><AUTHOR> If most of your code is not asynchronous, why are you using an asynchronous server framework?

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Looks like it's similar to using deferToThread in Twisted (where you get a builtin threadpool implementation): [http://twistedmatrix.com/documents/current/core/howto/thread...](http://twistedmatrix.com/documents/current/core/howto/threading.html)

<comment><AUTHOR> It is similar to defer.deferToThread. The main difference is that this is only about 100 lines of code that depends only on the ioloop, as opposed to twisted.internet.defer, which also has stuff like defer.inlineCallbacks in there.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> The code involved in hooking together the IO loop with the thread completion seems pretty complex. I wrote a library a short while ago to deal with the same problem in gevent, but I opted to use the self-pipe trick; you can see the implementation here: [https://github.com/zacharyvoase/gevent- selfpipe/blob/master/...](https://github.com/zacharyvoase/gevent- selfpipe/blob/master/lib/gevent_selfpipe/__init__.py)

<comment><AUTHOR> How is decorating your function with @in_thread_pool complex? The threads are managed automatically. Unless I'm misunderstanding your question.

<comment><USER4> I'm talking about the implementation, sorry :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> very cool, want lots more examples, especially of them calling each other

e.g. show an example http hander that makes a call to over SOAP, squirts something into a database and returns etc

p.s. mispelled calback in code example

<comment><USER6> I read your blog. Do you mostly program Python these days? If so, do you miss static typing? (I'm giving <http://dropwizard.codahale.com> a try).

<comment><USER5> I sure do: [http://williamedwardscoder.tumblr.com/post/18144725601/my- dr...](http://williamedwardscoder.tumblr.com/post/18144725601/my-dream- programming-language)

dropwizard looks very very interesting to me right now.

<comment><USER6> (I've seen that entry, I agree but its probably very hard to do it).

To me as well, I even started building my service.

But after programming some Python/Clojure, one feels kinda silly when having to write code like

        getId
        getName
        getAge

for all DB columns - since in the dynamic languages its so easy to get a key from a dynamically created dictionary with the database columns:

        (:age row)                     (Clojure)

Perhaps should just stop whining about it and just type the fucking getters/setters.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Fragmentation in the Ruby Community - <AUTHOR> http://hawkins.io/2014/05/fragmentation_in_the_ruby_community/ <comment><USER2> With all due respect, I would strongly disagree here. Rails is big, for sure. But beyond that there is soo much going on at the language level (best example here are the awesome folks working on MRI and Rubinius), Ruby (not Rails) is taught in universities today, we have strong companies backing all sorts of Ruby craziness (check the weekly GitHub newsletter and their staff picks) and last but not least Rails itself is helping the development of core Ruby by its sheer size and it's excellent habit of trying to target the latest Ruby versions with every new release, these days.

Don't get me wrong, there definitively is way to improve and make people more aware of how Ruby can be outside of Rails but I don't think Rails is poisoning our ecosystem, quite to the contrary it is one of Ruby's biggest asset.

Every language has it's chasms. Python seems to split on 2 vs. 3, JS can't decide on a solid tool chain for longer than 3 weeks and Ruby has the big Rails/Ruby divide. Only thing we can do is embrace diversity and create opportunities for those in the other camp to tinker with some of the things we love.</comment>


Hunting for Hackers, N.S.A. Secretly Expands Internet Spying at U.S. Border - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/05/us/hunting-for-hackers-nsa-secretly-expands-internet-spying-at-us-border.html <comment><USER2> If NSA had spent all its resources in increasing the security of internet, they would have a lot less reasons for such spying.

<comment><USER3> I think of this as part of a broader failure of the USA to build, repair, and fortify infrastructure. We have crumbling roads, failing bridges, and, now, telecom and computing services that are rather unimproved since inception, decades ago.

Now, I realize that, as an intelligence agency, NSA's core mission is to spy. But I take issue with the intentional weakening of our infrastructure, e.g., Dual EC DRBG. You don't see DOT going around sabotaging asphalt production.

<comment><USER4> _Now, I realize that, as an intelligence agency, NSA 's core mission is to spy._

Funnily enough, the NSA has a dual mission: spy on their communications, protect ours. Now that everyone uses the same tech, one of those missions has overshadowed the other. Makes their weakening even harder to stomach, eh?

<comment><USER5> Technically (yes, I am being _that guy_ ), their protection mission only extends to the DoD and selected US government agencies. Not to the general public or US business. That's done by NIST and the Department of Commerce. The NSA does occasionally cooperate with NIST on encryption matters, but that's fairly arms-length.

<comment><USER6> > cooperate with NIST on encryption matters, but that's fairly arms-length

Heh, you might want to read up on Dual_EC_DRBG.

Technically you're right, and I think that people who claim that these missions are fundamentally at odds have not fully games out what options the NSA have; where they see fixing bugs as the only way to increase security, but despite their responsibility being technically only to the government, there has been quite a push for the NSA to help defend civilian networks too since they're being routinely targeted by nation state actors too, and the economic damage there is arguably worse.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The media told me that recent historic legislation ended mass surveillance, so I can't imagine there's anything to worry about.

Sections 214 and 217 of the Patriot Act arguably authorize this surveillance. Or maybe FISA 702. But journalists have zero imagination or critical thinking skills and need powerpoint slides directly illustrating things. And they'll immediately forget even what the slides show when Congress promises that a new bill outlaws that.

<comment><USER8> Ironically, the NYT is probably the most guilty of putting this "message" out there that the NSA surveillance was "sharply limited" with the passing of the USA Freedom Act.

[http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/03/us/politics/senate- surveil...](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/03/us/politics/senate-surveillance- bill-passes-hurdle-but-showdown-looms.html)

<comment><USER9> There are some people[1] who believe that the NYT will print (or more specifically not print) nearly anything that comes from a top official in the Whitehouse as a way to maintain access.

[1] [http://www.salon.com/writer/patrick_l_smith/](http://www.salon.com/writer/patrick_l_smith/)

<comment><USER10> Agreed, and it is not just one person pointing this out: [http://www.utne.com/media/us-officials- say.aspx](http://www.utne.com/media/us-officials-say.aspx)

Lot of journalists have been pointing this out about NYT for a long time. (This is not to say NYT _only_ trumpets what us officials say, just maybe, they don't always provide enough context an skepticism.)

Also worth noting that NYT is hardly the only place that does this.

<comment><USER11> It's worse than just publishing what the administration wants. They've also demonstrated that they're willing to kill pieces that the administration wants killed (at least until they realize their reporters are just going to write a book with the story anyway...).

In a recent Frontline episode[1], they do a good job of speaking to some primary sources about an interesting specific instance of story killing related to domestic surveillance, and how that fed into Edward Snowden's decision regarding publication venue for his whistle-blowing leaks. In my eyes, they've fallen a long way since the days of the pentagon papers.

[1] United States secrets, part one.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> This might be less of a popular opinion, but I believe this is exactly when NSA surveillance is rightly placed.

In a world where hacking has left teenage basements and has become weaponized and used by governments around the world - collecting information about foreign hackers is a legitimate use of surveillance powers for Military self defense.

<comment><USER13> I disagree.

> "hacking has left teenage basements and has become weaponized and used by > governments around the world"

Source? Particularly with respect to "weaponized". The worst I saw was North Korea alledgedly being responsible for pirating a crappy movie, and a 10 minute shutdown of github a few months ago.

> "Military self defense."

Who and what are you afraid of? And how does this policy help with that? No truly dangerous information would ever come close to US borders. This, just like massive traffic collection, can only be said to be an invasion of privacy for the average man. The people we'd like to catch were never at risk at all.

I just don't buy into the fear, and I see the consequences as huge.

Terrorism is modern day McCarthyism.

<comment><USER14> > > "hacking has left teenage basements and has become weaponized and used by > governments around the world"

> Source? Particularly with respect to "weaponized". The worst I saw was North > Korea alledgedly being responsible for pirating a crappy movie, and a 10 > minute shutdown of github a few months ago.

Arguably it has been "weaponized" by the NSA and their allies. See, stuxnet and related threats. There is good reason to believe other nation state actors also have "weaponized" threats. For instance the recent "man-on-the-side" DDOS attack via the great firewall on github. There is also a healthy business for buying and selling vulnerabilities and exploits and the .gov organizations are known buyers.

So yes, I think it is fair to say that "hacking has left teenage basements". That part of the statement the gp's statement it obviously true when you look at say sophisticated carder rings.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I wonder how long authorities will be able to preface awful things with "Hunting for Hackers," before people get fed up.

<comment><USER16> "Irishmen," "Germans," "Communists," "Terrorists," "Pedophiles," "Terrorists" (again), and now "Hackers." Just add it to the list of justifications the government uses to impede people's freedoms (or to generally act immorally).

Soon I'm sure they will find another moral hazard to use to justification whatever overreaching powers they want this week.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Oh, sure - BILLIONS for "foreign hacker threats" that probably don't matter much, but NOTHING to track down "Anne from Cardholder Services".

That's my takeaway. The US executive branch is letting the NSA and FBI, spy on its own citizens, but doesn't do anything that would practically reduce real problems.

<comment><USER18> Solving _real_ problems is tough.

Monitoring a relatively docile citizenry to ensure it doesn't create a threat to those in power is much easier, especially if you can scare them into it with the terrorism boogeyman.

I'm sure there are individuals and even small groups within the NSA and FBI doing legitimate work to track down and neutralize real threats to the United States. I suspect, however, that they and their budgets are greatly overshadowed by the Keith Alexander types who see their organizations as an authoritarian playground and a stage for creating further personal private- sector opportunities.

There was a time when working in such agencies, if acknowledged, was a badge of honor. Now, it should be a mark of shame.

<comment><USER17> The _real_ problem I want them to solve, that they are in a unique position to solve, is that of the super-annoying robocallers like "Anne" or "Rachel" or "Barbara", that claim to be from a credit card organization, and claim to be able to lower your credit card rate. I'm pretty sure that these companies are using hacked PBXs to do their work, but at the very least, they're spoofing caller ID information, and doing things that verge on fraud. Oh, and calling numbers on the "Do Not Call" list.

The FTC seems powerless to stop Cardholder Services, or perhaps is actually in cahoots with them. None of the phone companies care, they're still getting their monthly payments for your cell phone, so they'd almost rather have "Anne" robocall you. It's up to someone outside of the telecom system, and it's captive regulatory apparatus, to stop Cardholder Services. Who better than the NSA and their domestic tools, the FBI? They can find the hacked PBXs, track the boiler rooms, and send in SWAT teams to make sure the boiler rooms are shut down, and salt is plowed into the ground there. That would be a real problem they could deal with, and not even reveal their Sekrit Teknolgie!

<comment><USER19> The FCC doesn't care. If they cared, they would end up killing fake callers and robodiallers very quickly. Only the most stupid and flagrant offenders get fined.

The FCC just needs to start handing out fines, tracing the liability up. So if little VoipCo signs up some guy from XX and lets him set any calling number without verification or lets him make a high rate of calls, bam, fine VoipCo.

It's easy and the FCC could clean it up in a couple of months. They choose not to.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> What if we had an agency that was dedicated to finding an eradicating vulns, and creating tools to secure data from all threats?

You get what you allocate your resources toward having. For now, security is a sideline, a hobby.

<comment><USER8> We could even put "Security" in that agency's name. That would surely do the trick.

I'm not sure how we can change the government's (executive mostly) mind on this. Right now it thinks more offensive capabilities + more surveillance = cybersecurity. Just like with the War on Terror, they're using "cyber terror" to give themselves even more power, instead of _actually solving the problem_.

Thanks to the Iraq war, the USA set in action what led to the creation of ISIS, and with its war on strong security and encryption, it's making all of us less secure, and therefore _more open to cyber attacks_.

So it's worse than "not having a real solution" to these problems. They are actually exponentially making the situation _worse_ with their "solutions".

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Geezzz, I'm kicking myself now for changing my occupation from "engineer" to "hacker" on my 1040. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

</comment><comment><USER22> Honestly, at this point, the _only_ solution I can see is to end the NSA altogether. It is clear that it cannot be in check. It is also clear that it mocks rule of law. If the US still likes to call itself a country ruled by law, this is one of many necessary steps at this point. Otherwise, let's call the situation as it is: we do not live under rule by law. It seems that the ambiguous wrath one faces when pissing off the king (NSA, gov't, big corps) today is no different today than it was under feudalism and that in fact, while other countries actually make an effort and succeed at being ruled by law, the US is not even making an effort. And we have the gall to call out other countries on their human rights abuses. What a disgusting, primitive, uncivilized, and sick country the US is these days.

<comment><USER23> >What a disgusting, primitive, uncivilized, and sick country the US is these days

Plus it is hard to get a visa.

<comment><USER2> None of the people I know got selected for H1-B this year. Getting a work visa in the US definitely sucks.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Well, now we know what they do with that cloud Amazon runs for them.

</comment><comment><USER8> I guess this is part of Obama's "surveillance reform" for which he has been calling "for years"?</comment>


Shipping Const Generics in 2020 - <AUTHOR> https://without.boats/blog/shipping-const-generics/ <comment><USER2> For a second, I thought this said "Shipping cost" and was talking about generic drugs.

</comment><comment><USER3> > Based on the pattern passed to the map function, the compiler figures out > that the first call to array_chunks should chunk the data into an iterator > of arrays with length 2, and in the second call it should be an iterator of > arrays with length 3. It's so cool!

Cool, but bit too implicit to my taste. But regardless, const generics are definitely one of the biggest features I've been looking forwards to (more so than e.g. async stuff that got all the hype), so glad to see stuff landing even with the restrictions.

<comment><USER4> To be clear, that pattern more or less falls out naturally from stuff that the typechecker already has to do to make const generics work in the type system. It's not so much a special feature as it is just the interaction of plain old type inference with const generics.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> @dang Can we add [Rust] to the title?

<comment><USER6> That's not a thing we do here.

<comment><USER7> (I am someone who clicked on this mostly to find out what language it was for and was disappointed it was Rust.) My solution to this problem--which I consider to be pretty serious: the best title for your blog is one that elides any context assumed by all of your posts, but then it is difficult to get Hacker News to appreciate a post about it due to the _insane_ "exactly match the title" rule (which I one time caused serious problems for as I posted an article on Google+, which didn't have titles, and submitted the article myself here with a title, and no one even knew what to do)--is the next time I publish an article I am going to special case people coming from Hacker News and just give them a different website with a different title. (But the fact that I have to do that is ridiculous, and only works because Hacker News is so popular that it can one-offed.)

<comment><USER6> "Exactly match the title" is not in fact the rule on HN.

<comment><USER7> And yet adding "[Rust]" is "not a thing we do here", so you are (as usual) being needlessly pedantic (and curt) with the goal of being correct, but unhelpful.

<comment><USER6> I don't see the connection between the two statements. We very deliberately don't tag posts with categories; "non-siloed" is part of the ethos of the site. Meanwhile: dogged adherence to original titles is not the rule, nor is it the spirit of the rule; the spirit of the rule is "the submitter of an article has no privilege to editorialize; submissions are community property". So the rule is "please use original titles, unless they're misleading or linkbait". And, indeed, you'll see stories here that don't use the <title> all the time.

<comment><USER8> You could have done a much better job in your original comment saying that explicit categorization is what "we don't do here," not the changing of titles.

<comment><USER6> Eh, I think we all did fine.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Oh yessss.

Will this allow for the much wanted "move iterator on arrays" ?

<comment><USER10> Yes: [https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/65819](https://github.com/rust- lang/rust/pull/65819)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> This is very nice!</comment>


A NY School District Defies State, Plans To Proceed With Facial Recognition Test - <AUTHOR> https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/daveyalba/lockport-school-district-defies-new-york-education <comment><USER3> I'm so glad I grew up during a time when you didn't have to worry about every single second of your life potentially being captured on video and used for some nefarious purpose.

I can't imagine being a kid in this type of environment. Then again, many of the kids who will be unwillingly subjected to this probably aren't informed enough to understand the potential long-term consequences of pervasive surveillance, which makes it all the more evil.

It's appalling that they spent $1.4 million (so far) on this rather than putting the money towards more useful things like teacher salaries or after- school programs. Maybe if they improved the overall school experience they wouldn't need to monitor the kids like prisoners?

<comment><USER4> Paul Graham has an essay on how (US) school is mostly used as a prison

<comment><USER5> "Mostly used as a prison" is a mischaracterization of that essay. The paper identified analogues between prison social behavior and school social behavior, and hypothesized that this shows that these patterns happen whenever a population is put in a society without their choice.

<comment><USER4> He literally call schools prisons:

"What bothers me is not that the kids are kept in prisons, but that (a) they aren't told about it, and (b) the prisons are run mostly by the inmates."

Source: [http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html)

<comment><USER6> Public Schools force you to deal with a wide cross-section of society, especially compared to private schools (mainly mid to upper crust society) and colleges (people are there by choice, often after being part of the workforce and deciding to further themselves).

In many ways K-12 schools are run like prisons, with administrators playing god and throwing fits when challenged about their petty actions, students trapped in an environment not of their choosing, and society enforcing this structure.

I wish there were more diverse options for schooling, as I would've been much more interested in K-12 school had I been encouraged to dive into a subject, then asked to prove my knowledge, without the distraction of other subjects splitting my focus. College definitely offers much more flexibility in this regard, which has made for a much better experience.

<comment><USER7> Depends on where you went to public school. My southern Bay Area public schools consisted almost exclusively of well off students because of housing prices.

<comment><USER6> Sounds like an extreme outlier, areas with such concentrated wealth which has crowded out the working class and lower-middle class are rare, most students will never attend a school like that.

<comment><USER7> It's an outlier, but not really an extreme one: I don't think my school differs significantly from the several dozen that are present in gentrified neighborhoods across the state.

<comment><USER6> There are nearly 1000 high schools in California, few students will ever be in the gentrified schools you speak of: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_high_schools_in_Califo...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_high_schools_in_California)

45% of students in California are poor or slightly above poor: [https://www.ppic.org/publication/child-poverty-in- california...](https://www.ppic.org/publication/child-poverty-in-california/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> The stated aims of the system are easily covertly expanded (and there is _ample_ history to indicate that will happen) to turn the school into a panopticon, building a social graph and personality profile of kids as they grow up.

To me this looks like an openly hostile act.

<comment><USER9> If it allows the school to accurately identify the most promising students it's worth it. How many kids with potential fall through the cracks now?

<comment><USER10> All[1] of them. All the kids. They all have the potential for fulfilling lives that contribute to society.

[1] Fine, almost all, there will be exceptions, but the goals of the education system should include making exceptions as rare as possible. At the very least I'll claim a belief that achieving a low enough rate of exceptions so as to make them negligible in practice.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I look forward to hordes of teenagers pushing back against this - <USER2> hats, burkas, sunglasses, excessive makeup etc. etc.

At least, I sure hope they will.

<comment><USER12> It's already against the rules to cover your face in many schools. Besides, if the system can't recognize you, you will be marked as absent - so the punishment for defeating the surveillance system is the same as the punishment for breaking the rule it's intended to enforce. Those teenagers are dependent on the civic involvement of adults, they can't save themselves.

<comment><USER13> In the 90s/2000s we were taunted with a nefarious "permanent record" that recorded all our evil deeds. Do they still use that on students? It even came up in a few Simpson's episodes.

Somehow I haven't seen anyone actually be negatively affected by this supposed record.

<comment><USER9> 'Internet' replaced the permanent record' and now kids who act up enough to get news coverage end up with a permanent record of whatever they did.

<comment><USER13> One minor difference: The permanent record was an official document. Twitter mobbing is a failing of our private citizens.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Because children and adolescents aren't people, they often have surveillance and control technologies tested on them. And when the surveillance and control technologies significantly increase school violence (can you name a school shooting at a school that didn't have cameras?), they conclude that more technology is needed to surveil and control. I imagine it's a booming business.

</comment><comment><USER15> I am reminded of the absurd threat in the film "Rock and Roll High School" that "This will go on your _permanent record_ "

Nowadays it will.

</comment><comment><USER16> A bit incomplete title then. They are also testing legal boundaries, population reaction, and few other things that are morally objectionable.

<comment><USER17> We need to invent a category of property rights for the results of such testing against non-consenting populations. That would create an economic incentive for lawyers to do what they do best.

We already have legal precedent for paying reparations for undisclosed tests against civilians.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Lockport is an old factory town on the Erie Canal, not far from Buffalo and Niagara Falls. The population is about 20,000 people. North of the city is orchards and farmland, south are the outer suburbs of Buffalo. It's not a place known for high tech, nor is it known for high municipal spending.

The backstory of how this came about would surely be interesting.

<comment><USER19> A plausible story is that Lockport is the county seat of Niagara County, NY, which has three land (bridge) crossings with Canada, and therefore has significant USCIS presence throughout the county. I can imagine a joint task force involving county law enforcement and USCIS. Most schools in NY State have armed police ("school resource officer") present. They probably all go to the same sporting events, drink at the same pubs.

Nothing like a refreshing beverage and discussing pervasive surveillance technology for the youth of America.

<comment><USER20> Lockport is not the county seat of Niagara County. It's a dilapidated, failing school district that's experiencing a huge amount of wealth flight as it's situated ~10 mins from two quite prominent school districts.

<comment><USER19> I won't argue the challenges of the school district, but Lockport, NY is most certainly the county seat of Niagara County, NY.

[https://data.ny.gov/widgets/4xc7-bukh](https://data.ny.gov/widgets/4xc7-bukh)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Parents.

The time has come to teach your chilluns the virtues of laser pointers, spray paint, and civil disobedience.

It won't take long, I guarantee you.

</comment><comment><USER22> Slightly confusing how although the article's opening paragraph currently says "...an explicit order" from the state education department, it goes on to quote it later where it can be seen to be just a recommendation.

</comment><comment><USER23> Fun Fact: Chris Sacca is from Lockport and graduated from Lockport High School. Timothy McVeigh is also from there.

</comment><comment><USER24> Did the parents approve the use of the photos by a 3rd party? Were the parents advised of the policies around data retention and data destruction? Will this data remain in the system after the children are adults?

</comment><comment><USER25> No problems from me. NY schools already have a security guard on duty that watches everyone coming and going through the front door. Its not always easy job, anything that can help them would be great.

<comment><USER20> > NY schools already have a security guard on duty that watches everyone > coming and going through the front door.

Nope.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> Why don't schools concentrate on education?

</comment><comment><USER27> Yet another reason to avoid public schools, if you can.

</comment><comment><USER28> Good gravy. I'd go into hiding if there was anywhere left to go. Wish I was religious so I could try to join a monestary.

<comment><USER29> If you're under 25 you could join the Kaua'i Hindu Monastery. [https://www.himalayanacademy.com/livespiritually/monastic- li...](https://www.himalayanacademy.com/livespiritually/monastic-life/how-to)</comment></comment>


How the human got his paintbrush - <AUTHOR> https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/arts-and-books/how-the-human-got-his-paintbrush <comment><USER2> The article isn't about paintbrushes at all. This article is about the debate about did evolution create art or not. If you are looking for how paintbrushes where made you will not find it here sadly.</comment>


Ask HN: The most pleasant code documentation you've ever worked with - <AUTHOR> I'm an aspiring Python ML engineer and most of the time I encounter Google Material docs (if that's the thing) which is somewhat consistent throughout Google products, readthedocs.io and Flask-ish docs, though I don't know what the origin is, but hope you got the idea.
All of them are ok in terms of usability after spending some time, and generally they aren't shy of spitting out poorly navigatable mesh of classes, methods and examples. But recently I stumbled upon spaCy [1] docs, and this just blew me away. For example, progress bar acting as scrollbar, but placed more conveniently, easily distinguishable class headers, the separate column for code snippets, wonderful method signature overview.
I thought it would be a nice idea to share well executed docs, and any hacker could've been pick up something for their docs or grasp what makes one comfortable to use.
[1] https://spacy.io/api/dependencyparser <comment><USER2> You can easily achieve same with:

[https://vuepress.vuejs.org/guide/#how-it- works](https://vuepress.vuejs.org/guide/#how-it-works)

[https://docsify.js.org/#/](https://docsify.js.org/#/)

(or thousands of similar generators..)

The docs are based on markdown

[https://github.com/explosion/spaCy/tree/master/website/docs](https://github.com/explosion/spaCy/tree/master/website/docs)

<comment><AUTHOR> That's the point - given relatively low level of effort required to build docs I mentioned, many prefer just to _pip install_ something that creates html pages from docstrings (in Python case) and we get another readthedocs fork, which I repeat are not bad and serves an important purpose of unifying interface to documentation, but there's always room for improvement, right?</comment></comment>


45-foot paper airplane glides over Arizona desert  - <AUTHOR> http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-45-foot-paper-airplane-glides-over-arizona-desert-20120323,0,7676956.story <comment><USER2> that was a bit short, strange cut of on the movie, love the idea tho, makes me want to build a plane.

</comment><comment><USER3> why was this experiment done?

<comment><USER4> > It was built as part of the museum's Giant Paper Airplane Project, designed > to get kids psyched about aviation and engineering.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Isn't the crash 'on tape'?</comment>


Free calls using Facebook via Messenger app - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-messenger-app-calling-2013-1

<comment><AUTHOR> This will greatly contribute to the decline of GSM and the rise of mobile data. Great move and good job by Facebook. I'm excited to try this and see what will happen.</comment>


Pricing Changes – Serverpilot - <AUTHOR> https://serverpilot.io/blog/2018/06/08/pricing-changes.html <comment><USER2> They are insane.

They should be finding a way to compete with RunCloud's far better product and pricing (unlimited servers), not committing business suicide by charging for every domain you use on your server.

Under their new pricing, the plan that comes close to the features of RunCloud's $10 plan costs $10 per server and $1 per domain per month. They expect their customers to pay more for each domain than they already pay for domain registration every year.

Just to be clear, the RunCloud $10 not only has better features, it also allows unlimited servers and unlimited domains.

The only way ServerPilot works out cheaper is if you are willing to use the more basic $5 plan and will never have more than one server and 9 domains.

<comment><USER3> RunCloud now announced their new pricing :-)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> The company that started with (It's free and always will be) now offers no free plans.</comment>


On Getting Wasted - <AUTHOR> http://harpers.org/blog/2014/10/on-getting-wasted/ <comment><USER2> I had to clean up a hoarder house on multiple occasions (somewhat like the author I got a brief, one-time job cleaning a few out); I've got a pretty high tolerance for the filth in one, so the black mold and decaying clothes didn't bother me much.

What bothered me on a much more existential level was the insanity. The madness in the minds of the hoarder (whom I had to interact with) that could not be reasoned with. Madness is terrifying because you're just helpless to do anything for them once it sets in. It's like dealing with a mule who refuses to get out of a danger it can't comprehend - because you're robbed of the essential human ability of explanation. You no longer have that _human_ connection to them; you just have to helplessly hope they'll find their own way out.

<comment><USER3> That's when in the interest of communication and the task at hand you become mad yourself. Indulge in insanity then you will have a common ground from which to reason or appeal to their emotions. If you stand resolute as an ambassador of polite diligent civility you become just another enemy of their way of life.

<comment><USER4> A little vague. Do you have any sources to further explain this communication technique?

It is my experience that "madness" adds a layer of abstraction that is almost unique to the single person, and when that person expresses anything through that lens it is nearly completely incompatible with my brain. How would convoluting my reasoning through an additional abstraction help my communication with a "mad" person?

<comment><USER3> Yes, there are certainly many different types of "madness". The "layer of abstraction" that the specific variety of madness imparts on the holder is their own reality. The hypothetical accepted objective true reality is irrelevant to them. While this true reality is the standard with which to measure the conduct of people's behavior, if you are to preserve the emotional well being of the suffer of madness it would be helpful to communicate and act in a way which is consistent with their own subjective reality. By delving into their madness you can understand their behavior and actions more than understanding it from an outside perspective. If the goal is to simply enforce external standards this empathy is a waste of resources. But if preserving their emotional well being is a concern empathy can be a useful tool to both understand their perspective and guide you in your interactions with the sufferer.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw)

At the very least I think it would have been nice if the hoarder in this story was taken away to alternate accommodations for the duration of the clean up. Terrible that she had to witness the event.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> enahs-sf Probably going to get downvoted for this, but I was pleasantly surprised by the deceiving title. I thought this article was going to be about the endemic alcoholism in the startup community and it's positive/negative effects on software development.

The article was well-crafted and I particularly enjoyed the WWII soldier's advice:

Don't swing first unless he has twenty pounds on you.

<comment><USER5> After reading that, I cracked up reading the second to last paragraph. It's sad, but I found the way it was stated amusing.

"I've had my life threatened by a man with senile dementia. He sat in his armchair, cane at his side, bronchial tube jutting from his neck, and said he'd taken down bigger fellas before. I had at least twenty pounds on him."

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Beautifully written article. Is everything in Harper's generally this good? Considering subscribing if so.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes...Harper's is a fantastic magazines. I've been a subscriber for years.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> For three years I worked for a second hand store, using the companies box truck to both deliver purchases, and pick up donated materials from peoples homes.

This article reminds me of some of the hoarder houses I came across during that time. Sometimes it was my job to help clean up junk, but usually when I came across a hoarder it was because they found something in our store that they just couldn't live without and wanted it delivered for them. It was always a bit unsettling to come to a hoarders house with more junk for them to pile up and realize that I was contributing to an already out of control mess.

I've seen houses that were so packed with crap that the owner literally had to carve out walkways so that they could move from room to room. The rest of the space was stacked with boxes, books, furniture, etc. and was inaccessible.

I met a few fanatic collectors as well that I would consider hoarders. One guy had so many toy trains and so little livable space, that he was moving boxes off his bed every night so that he could get to sleep, and then stacking them up again in the morning so that he could get around. He was very proud of his train collection.

The strangest to me was an older woman who had worked out a deal with my manager to get all the boxes of Christmas knicknacks we had leftover from the holiday season. There was a good 20-30 boxes. She lived alone in a big old Victorian fully decorated with Christmas things. Her living space wasn't really out of control, just over the top tacky. She then showed me the barn where she wanted me to unload the truck, which was packed with more Christmas memorabilia than I've ever seen in one place. I asked her why she thought she needed any more stuff and she said that she just really loved Christmas. She too was very excited about her collection and felt proud to have gathered so much. It was kind of sad...

Now, the coolest collection I got to see was from an aging computer repair guy. This guy wasn't really a hoarder though, just an enthusiast. He had a room in his house where he was storing old machines and called me in to help him get rid of them. There were a good 2-3 hundred computers in his collection. He had been collecting them since the 70's and for years wanted to open up a computer museum. Old Commador PETs, Radio shack TSR-80s, all kinds of neat stuff and most of it was still working. When he contacted me, his health was failing and he just wanted to clear it out. I tried to save as much of the older machines as I could for resale, but most of it ended up being recycled.

</comment><comment><USER8> I am better now that I prefer faster hard drives, but in the past I suffered from hoarding computer files. I still have TV quality files in addition to my blu ray dvd's and my hdtv downloads. It's like any file that I could find I would think to myself, if I on a remote island I would watch/use that!

Honestly coming to grips with it is terrifying and I wish I had every file I have ever come across to this day, but I don't and there are too many more to get to be worried about the ones I had.

<comment><USER9> The nice thing about files is that they don't take up (much) physical space. I still have all my files going back to 1993 when I built my first PC. The process is easy: wait for disk sizes to double, copy old disk image to new disk, repeat.

<comment><USER10> Your hoarding problem is more socially acceptable than the one in the article.

<comment><USER11> It's also physically healthier and more affordable.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Do you guys think hoarding has something to do with the consumerist culture we live in today?

What's with the downvote? It was merely a question to spark discussion about the topic at hand. I am really interested in people's opinion on this. Is that really offensive or counterproductive or not on topic to ask a question and solicit opinions? If you think the answer to the question is "no" then just say so. If you find this comment unproductive, please explain why.

<comment><USER13> > Do you guys think hoarding has something to do with the consumerist culture > we live in today?

I think this is hard to answer because of the staggering increase in per- capita income over the past 4 centuries or so: at most points in history, only the most wealthy people would even hope to physically accumulate anything close to what a hoarder might.

There weren't hoarders back then because no-one could _afford_ to be a hoarder. Newspapers? Dear by the sheet of paper. Knick-knacks? You don't have any money left over after food and rent. Clothes? You could only afford 1 or 2 outfits, and if you somehow had more, you'd be forced to sell all your excess to the local mercer or ragpicker the next time you got into financial trouble. You can see this in the occasional inventory or will: even nobles had shockingly small numbers of goods. (I think sometimes of Shakespeare willing his second-best bed to his wife; who would even mention any bed, much less the second-best one, in their will these days?)

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Former deceased estates "furniture removalist" here.

The horders I dealt with during my tour of duty had already passed to the next world, but you still had to protect yourself mentally each morning lest you go crazy/question existence/get depressed/etc (happened to a couple of people I worked with, although I don't rule out the possibility that crazy is attracted to this kind of work). For each item in every bedside table, every piece of furniture, every picture, every computer, you had to put aside the memories the deceased person may have had, the reason the deceased held onto the item until the end, the data contained within and make a split-second decision: box or barrel.

Barrels were massive rusted oil drums that we used for collecting garbage. Boxes were used to transport the salable "smalls" for auction. If you were caught considering the saleability of an item for too long you'd soon hear your boss's voice from across the room, "barrel it!"

One time I came across a pair of filing cabinets filled to the brim with research and lecture notes on Egypt and the hieroglyphics. I had already pieced together parts of this person's life to form an image of them - old- money spinster who traveled the world lecturing and having adventures, including sneaking in to China from Hong Kong in 1976 - and their life work was contained in these filing cabinets.

"We can probably get fifty bucks a piece for the filing cabinets; barrel the rest"

For a team of three, two hours per room was budgeted, so everything that was dear to a person over the course of their 70-year life would usually be processed within two days.

Regarding hoarders, the main differences between a dead hoarder and a living one are 1) the fact that you don't have to deal with the emotion as per the OP, and 2) there is no superficial "cleanup" the day before the cleaners arrive. The house is exactly as the hoarder left it as no-one thinks the day before they die, "If I were to die tomorrow I'd be _aghast_ if they found this!"

I know this sounds ridiculous but I would expect a living hoarder would at least manage to dispose of the bucket of feces and used tampons next to the couch if they knew some cleaners were coming. Even hoarders have pride, y'know.

The house with the bucket of tampons was the stuff of legend. Even today, 15 years later, if I were to contact my former boss for a beer it wouldn't be long before the story of that place came up. Along with the tampon-and-poo bucket, the final defacation of the former resident in the sweat-crusted outline on the green velvet couch where the they had spent their final moments is still a vivid memory. The stench, using shovels to scrape up the person's life from where it was stuck to the carpet and fill barrel after barrel, my boss's sense of humour ("whaddaya suppose she used _this_ for?!"), how quiet everyone was on the ride back to the office, showering for an hour afterwards.

Understandably, after working this job for a while I went through an extremely minimalist phase. Even now I pause before most non-consumable purchases. I keep nothing that I wouldn't want someone finding when I die.

I think while many hoarders fear the memories of the past being forgotten, HNers tend to fear being forgotten themselves.

Of course as per the OP, there were good parts to this job too! The pay, for starters, was decent. And discovering some bondage equipment or some naked polaroids of the former resident and their girlfriend was always good for a chuckle and a reminder to stop taking yourself so seriously and enjoy life a bit more.

<comment><USER15> It seems like there should be a service for the interesting documents to go to historians or something. Then they can take their time going through it to see what has historical value and what does not, and make a non-split-second decision.

<comment><USER11> I recall a minor plot point of Rainbows End where an entire library was being scanned in by being put through a shredder, and the resulting stream-of- confetti being photographed at a very high frame rate and resolution, to be later stitched back together into a set of coherent documents.

If that technology existed and was good enough, it would be an interim solution. Grab the data, pulp the paper.

<comment><USER16> Seems like a travel scanner or something attached to the top of a shredder (differing speeds notwithstanding) to image the paper _before_ it got turned into itty bitty pieces would be a little easier.

Really, given how cheap and easy it is to store large amounts of information digitally I'm surprised that something like this isn't common for a lot of cases to reduce storage costs.

How many businesses have rooms full of accounting records and receipts going back decades that could instead be taking up a bit of space in a rack? Toss a copy in Amazon Glacier for a penny a gigabyte so you have something off-site and call it a day.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> One quick point for the young among the readership: an American can accumulate a hell of a lot without being a hoarder. I married into an extremely tidy family--no dust on the tabletops, let alone piles of stuff on the floor. But when I helped clean out a couple of houses, it was still a big task.

<comment><USER18> In order to avoid buildup, it really does take a minimalist outlook, only purchasing things that you truly need, and constantly getting rid of things that are not useful anymore.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Here's a nice documentary delving more into the psyche of a hoarder:

[http://vimeo.com/603058](http://vimeo.com/603058)

</comment><comment><USER19> I loved this line: "Junk hauling is the best job for writers. Writers are not necessarily the best junk haulers."

</comment><comment><USER20> Can someone please explain how this works? Is the younger Mrs. B is paying them to remove everything? Why? Do they just throw it all away?

<comment><USER21> There's plenty of details left out but it sounded like Mrs. B was paying the bills, but wasn't happy about it. There was a hint that Mrs. B was "sick" so perhaps she was under doctor's orders to remove the mold/animal feces/garbage/vermin/etc that may be present in her home. Alternatively, sometimes people are ordered by home inspectors to clear out their homes enough to bring them up to code or face condemnation.

The actual process is, by and large, taking everything to the dump. There do exist some hoarders who keep clean homes and for whom an estate sale could make sense, but many/most have homes that are pretty much garbage pits.

Source: a close relative of mine was a hoarder, and I've watched way too many hoarding shows.

<comment><USER22> The risk of sickness, in these cases, can be a serious concern. My next door neighbor was a hoarder, or so the neighborhood found out upon his death. He was allowing wild animals to live in his house; along with a dog that was located in the mess almost a week after he died.

His nephew, who ended up taking care of the cleaning and refinishing, told me he contracted Toxoplasmosis from the accumulated animal feces. I accidentally let that fact slip to the first cleaning crew that was working in the house (without masks) and I didn't see them return after that.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> My English are poor, however I feel that the author can _play with words_ well enough to be a writer. He surely knows how to write an article. He would be a good writer IMHO.

<comment><USER24> Being published in Harpers is a kind of a big deal in the writing community ;)

<comment><USER23> Oops, sorry had no idea!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> A fascinating short story on the author's early year and look into the life a hoarder. The ironic ending is delicious.</comment>


If you tax the rich, they won't leave - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/nov/20/if-you-tax-the-rich-they-wont-leave-us-data-contradicts-millionaires-threats <comment><USER3> I did. Virgin Islands (U.S.). Paid 4% in taxes and saved over $800k in taxes over 2 years. Others are doing the same via Puerto Rico. I'm lucky in that I got out before this hurricane season destroyed everything though.

<comment><USER4> Exactly. The cost to move off-shore is only getting lower and its knowledge becoming more wide-spread -- what this means is you no longer require "high" net-worth to access these "special" services.

<comment><USER5> True. But it I think it misses the root crux of the issue. That is, you can now leave the USA and enjoy the same (read: close enough) "amenities" for a lower personal investment.

That said, it might not be a brain drain per se but without infrastructure the mighty machine for printing money (often refereed to at the USA) becomes less and less effective.

C'est Le Capitalism, isn't it? Money first, all else - including country - <USER2> distance second.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> And even if they do leave, so what? Actually, that sounds kind of great! Reverse-gentrification. The fewer multimillionaires in my neighborhood distorting demand, the more affordable everything will be for the rest of us. I'd offer to buy them a one-way plane ticket but I'm sure they can afford it.

<comment><USER7> When I hear someone say "I'm going to leave the country because of taxes" I say, don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

<comment><USER5> Ditto. If they're not here to help and stick it out with the rest of us let them go. As the saying goes: "If you're not part of the solution then you're part of the problem."

The truth is, they (i.e., the ultra wealthy) need us more than we need need them. A Kickstarter to buy them one-way tickets out might be the best collective investment we'll ever make :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> > People with high levels of education have very high mobility – but only for > a short period after finishing their education. ... Migration is a young > person's game, and moving overwhelmingly occurs when people are starting > their careers.

> If millionaires were mostly college-going twentysomethings not yet tied to > place by career or family responsibilities, place-based income tax systems > would face serious challenges.

The data does suggest that, to a degree, but it may be better explained by a combination of age plus education and careers rather than single-focused career-mindedness.

It's just an anecdote, but in my experience 40-year-olds stay put because of their kids and homes, not because they couldn't find a career somewhere else. Someone a few years out of college with no kids can pack up their apartment into a few bags and try out something new on a whim. That gets more difficult with age and additional connections to an area.

</comment><comment><USER9> Flagging this article because you disagree with the data presented or its conclusion seems to violate the spirit of Hacker News.

</comment><comment><USER10> Yeah, it's the guardian. Don't think this isn't an editorial piece pushing an agenda

<comment><USER11> I came here to rant that "Never thought I'd see the day The Guardian was a top posts on HN"

<comment><USER12> As one of the uninitiated... why?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> The state of Connecticut disagrees.

<comment><USER14> Not trying to troll, but do you have data for Connecticut that contradicts the data presented in the article?

<comment><USER15> Not proof but a strong anecdote. My parents have lived in Connecticut for their entire life (they are in their 70's) and are thinking of leaving. The primary reason they cite is taxes. And that is personal income, sales, property and estate tax, and my parents are middle class not rich.

Many people I know are doing the same thing.

But I'm not sure it is all taxes. A lot of jobs are leaving CT for the business powerhouses of New York City and Boston. So there are few jobs and very little incentive for young people to stay because there is nothing for them in the state.

I left CT for Boston MA for college when I turned 18. I will never move back to that state in a billion years even with family still there.

<comment><USER16> Connecticut's estate tax only applies to estates worth over $2,000,000. Either that doesn't apply to your parents' estate, or they're probably doing better than middle class.

Connecticut's income tax ranges from 3%-6.7%, which is pretty decent. The upper percentage is almost the same as my state's lowest! Admittedly, my state has higher than average income tax rates.

<comment><USER15> I misspoke, I should have included sales and property tax. When you take sales tax into consideration Connecticut has a much higher burden than just considering income alone. Edited my post accordingly.

> Connecticut's estate tax only applies to estates worth over $2,000,000. > Either that doesn't apply to your parents' estate, or they're probably doing > better than middle class.

There is a third option. He actually saved what the retirement planners recommend you save. Never went on vacations, never bought any luxuries, and was generally very frugal.

My father literally put every penny he had past food and shelter into retirement savings... add 60 years of interest, dividends, and market gains and $2M is not so crazy.

It also helps that he bought his house for $50k 40 years ago and it is now worth quite a bit more.

When he was working he was upper middle class for sure but still firmly in the middle class. He was also upper middle because he worked a blue collar job with plenty of overtime options and literally worked close to 40 hours of overtime a week for 50 years. The truly upper class don't need to work 80 hours a week.

Is he typical? No way. Would I even want to lie like that? No way either. But it is how he is able to be effected by estate tax and still be middle class.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I'm not sure this article is accurate. I started here:

[https://mises.org/blog/california-illinois-and-new-york- keep...](https://mises.org/blog/california-illinois-and-new-york-keep-losing- people-other-states)

>This is why places with highly progressive income taxes –

>such as New York and California – still thrive as centres

>for talent and elite economic success.

It it tax policy, or is it the thriving academic|tech|financial mass that accumulated due to historical events, an attractive climate, and defense related spending? I'm pretty sure its not tax policy.

>Migration is a young person's game, and moving

>overwhelmingly occurs when people are starting

>their careers. By the time people hit their early forties, PhDs, college grads and high

>school drop-outs all show the same low rate of migration.

Is it primarily young people migrating? I ask because two generations of cold climate dwellers have migrated to Florida, Arizona, North Carolin and California. This has left many of their former states with high taxes and declining populations.

And according to the Tax Foundation: "Between 1999 and 2010, high-tax New York, New Jersey, and California lost about 1.2 million individual taxpayers and more than $97 billion of personal income. This does not include the corporate losses. Meanwhile, low-tax Nevada, Wyoming, and South Dakota –not known for their magnificent climates – gained about 172 thousand individual taxpayers and $15 billion of personal income during the same period, again not including corporate losses. People are moving to these states and their money is following. Certainly this trend is not a coincidence."

</comment><comment><USER18> The millionaires may not physically relocate, but what about their money? I would guess they stay where they are but use more elaborate tax planning.

There is a reason why the Laffer Curve exists. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve)

<comment><USER19> Not just their money, but their businesses. Here in Illinois, business of all types are relocating to Indiana, Iowa, etc. The jobs go with them, even if the rich owners still reside in IL. I have many personal anecdotes confirming this trend.

There's even a political ad running now where governors of neighboring states thank the inept Illinois Assembly leadership for all the new jobs and tax base in recent years.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> How does taxing the rich matter ? The 0.1% on top you can't tax. Just won't work. And to boot, won't matter in the budget.

Then the 0.1% - 1% doesn't matter if you tax them, since they mostly (>50%) get money from taxpayers in the first place. I mean, I love the rightist "make money go round" argument, but what's the point. Obviously these people will simply demand more money from the government and judging by past performance doing that, they will succeed at this.

I don't know what the solution is, but outright increasing taxes will make the problem worse.

<comment><USER21> If we think about this as a wealth pyramid (a quite narrow one), then perhaps the answer is taxing progressively up the pyramid until the very top is reached. Otherwise, I agree, there's no clear solution to this, unfortunately.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Anecdotal, but I have one multi-millionaire friend who left California strictly because of taxes. It takes a certain type of personality to just up and do it and he exemplifies whatever personality trait that is.

Millionaires are established, and the article goes into reasons why they don't move around. However, what potential effect does higher taxes have on people starting businesses or thinking about starting one?

<comment><USER4> I would argue that their wealth composition determines their capacity to move around -- or, more to the point, how liquid their assets are. Real-estate owners are obviously anchored to the land that their property occupies, naturally.

One potential effect is that earned income (ie: wages and salaries) would precipitously fall much faster than cost of living, resulting in the drying up of credit and causing a credit crunch/housing crisis.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> There are literally billboards on 101 in Palo Alto inviting people to leave California, and they will, if taxes, regulation, and zoning do not lighten.

<comment><USER24> The local U-Haul place had "Free Gas to California".

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> They won't, because they can't. Where else are they going to go?

<comment><USER26> The rich are the most capable of leaving. Even if they don't leave, they can have their money leave by playing silly games with corporate structuring or whatever, which they are the most capable of doing.</comment></comment>


These table tops are the same shape and size - <AUTHOR> http://digg.com/2017/shepards-table-illusion <comment><AUTHOR> Better link: [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3485780/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3485780/)</comment>


The modern drug war started with Arnold Rothstein - <AUTHOR> http://www.salon.com/2015/03/01/meet_americas_first_drug_dealer_arnold_rothsteins_wild_real_life_1920s_sopranos_story/

<comment><USER2> > _" Every copy of his wife's memoir seemed to have disappeared. Even the copy > at the New York Public Library had vanished sometime in the 1970s. I > eventually tracked down what seems to be the only remaining copy, in the > Library of Congress, ..."_

Assuming it hasn't already been digitized, this seems like a minor historical emergency.

<comment><USER3> He married Caroline Greenwold [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FFT4-FVG](https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FFT4-FVG) .

[https://books.google.com/books?id=qLXytSDc5YIC&pg=PA202&lpg=...](https://books.google.com/books?id=qLXytSDc5YIC&pg=PA202&lpg=PA202&dq=Caroline+Rothstein+memoir&source=bl&ots=UfS3VOTGO5&sig=ooKuwGESAJAiRlLD9sviTX- FTU8&hl=sv&sa=X&ei=hAf0VJemO-X5yQPjyYGgBQ&ved=0CD4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Caroline%20Rothstein%20memoir&f=false) says the memoir was published in 1934. ("Black Sox in the Courtroom: The Grand Jury, Criminal Trial and Civil Litigation" by Lamb.)

[https://books.google.com/books?id=6nSAnkWiy_IC&pg=PA103&lpg=...](https://books.google.com/books?id=6nSAnkWiy_IC&pg=PA103&lpg=PA103&dq=Caroline+Rothstein+memoir&source=bl&ots=nM0Dxl- maT&sig=PfrqHWMcWJaXr9l7zJtgqagawek&hl=sv&sa=X&ei=hAf0VJemO-X5yQPjyYGgBQ&ved=0CEMQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Caroline%20Rothstein%20memoir&f=false) has an excerpt from the memoir. ("Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series" by David Pietrusza)

[https://books.google.com/books?id=b-uFZl4g8ZkC&pg=PT234&lpg=...](https://books.google.com/books?id=b-uFZl4g8ZkC&pg=PT234&lpg=PT234&dq=Caroline+Rothstein+memoir&source=bl&ots=UzlRbaq7fw&sig=c9hI7YGpmfnl229vcuSONO3JPYg&hl=sv&sa=X&ei=hAf0VJemO-X5yQPjyYGgBQ&ved=0CFoQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=%20memoir&f=false) says "As Mrs. Carolyn Rothstein Behar, she granted Fox Film a $2,500 option on the rights to a memoir she proposed to write on her life with the man Damon Runyon dubbed "The Brain."" ("Spencer Tracy", by James Curtis)

However, despite all that information, I am unable to find that memoir in the Library of Congress or Worldcat.

On the list of historical emergencies, this is very low.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I'm in the process of reading this book, and am well past the excerpted part. I think this headline is very misleading.

Rothstein didn't start anything -- he _responded_ to a situation created by Harry Anslinger. Anslinger created the situation out of a need to secure funding for his operation, and what appears, to my reading, to be a healthy dose of both racism and religious fervor.

<comment><USER5> Since you've read more of the material, can you please suggest an accurate and neutral title?

<comment><USER4> A shortened version of the title at Salon would be, to me, more accurate and neutral: "America's First Drug Dealer: Arnold Rothstein"

I don't particularly care for Salon's subtitle, though. It paints a picture of the drug war as being started by the drug dealers, as does the headline on HN. It was certainly not: It took the US Congress to outlaw narcotics in the first place, and Anslinger's involvement to scare the public to the point that a war was truly begun. The criminal element that moved into this newly created environment were clearly opportunists who seemingly didn't realize there was a war at all.

Truly, it's a tragic story. If addiction has touched your life in any way, this book is a worthwhile read.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> > And I was going to see that, like Rothstein, Harry Anslinger is reincarnated > in ever-tougher forms, too. Before this war is over, his successors were > going to be deploying gunships along the coasts of America, imprisoning more > people than any other society in human history, and spraying poisons from > the air across foreign countries thousands of miles away from home to kill > their drug crops. The key players in the war continue to be either > Anslingers or Rothsteins—the prohibitionist and the gangster, locked > together in a tango unto the far horizon. The policy of prohibition summoned > these characters into existence, because it needs them. So long as it lives, > they live.

I wonder why this message is so hard for policy-makers to understand

</comment><comment><USER7> It's an interesting writeup by salon.com for sure... I enjoyed it so much that I read the entire Wikipedia article on Rothstein as well, which reads very differently than the article.

He wasn't randomly shot because of his gangsterism prowess, he lost $320,000 in a supposedly crooked poker game and refused to pay up.

His nickname "the brain" was one of his many, apparently.

I find the salon article to be outlandish in the many claims it makes, which based solely on one man's interpretation of Rothstein's wife's memoir.

Still a fun read, though.

</comment><comment><USER8> Rothstein was a classic psychopath. All the tell-tale attributes are there. The article is confused, in wondering how he got "this" way - he was born that way.

"I learned that when he laughed the laughter was a surface demonstration, a combination of the movement of face muscles synchronized with a sound, counterfeiting, but not partaking of, hilarity"

"His father—who had witnessed his toddler son standing over his sleeping brother with a knife"</comment>


Emacs Zen Coding - Write markup quickly - <AUTHOR> http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/ZenCoding#toc2

<comment><USER2> This is pretty neat, but I'm not sure it's really practical. I don't want to learn a new syntax just to save a few keystrokes. When I use JQuery, it's nice that it cuts down on some typing, but the reason I use it is because it abstracts away things like animations.

Is how fast I can write mark-up really bound by how many characters I have to type? For me at least, it's more bound by thinking, so I don't want to do anymore of that. And I don't even type that fast.

<comment><USER3> This isn't really a new syntax, though -- it mostly just uses standard CSS selectors (.class, sibling+sibling, parent>child, etc).

<comment><USER4> Wow, you're right: <http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-selectors/#child-combinators>

It also reminds me of HAML (discussed recently): <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=925573>

Looking at one aspect: The idea of abstracting the verbosity of HTML/XML by just stating the element name once (instead of both open and close tags) is not new. Many people have implemented this idea, but it doesn't seem to catch on. It could be that that very verbosity is a significant factor in the success of HTML and XML (both have widespread adoption).

SGML (the common ancestor of both HTML and XML) allowed a "</>" close tag, which goes part-way towards reducing verbosity, but it was deliberately omitted from HTML and XML. Both have been much more successful than SGML. Though it's hard to know what impact that particular omission had, greater abstraction is harder to read for newcomers, and therefore probably decreases adoptability...

Perhaps it's the Abstraction vs. Verbosity being played out in another forum e.g. Lisp abstraction being more powerful but Java verbosity being more popular.

<comment><USER5> Yeah, but the SGML declaration for HTML contains SHORTTAG, so

      Bar

is actually shorthand for the invalid

      barindex.html>Bar

Good luck reading real world HTML with a browser that implements that correctly. (And that is why the W3C validator so often complains about a closing A tag that is not open (or at least used to do). )

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> How about a command for closing whatever tag is open where the cursor is? For repeating the last closed tag? For wrapping a tag in another tag?

I'm an emacs noob but it seems like the tools for actually working with existing markup are impoverished. You only write markup once; you have to maintain it forever.

<comment><USER7> > How about a command for closing whatever tag is open where the cursor is?

Try `C-h m` to find out what commands your HTML editing mode provides. In HTML Mode, `C-c /` closes the current element, and in nxml mode, `C-c C-f` does the same thing. Even better, in nxml mode, when `nxml-slash-auto-complete-flag` is non-nil the current element is automatically closed when you type a "/".

The nice thing about Emacs is that it's pretty trivial to write a little elisp code to add the other functionality you're looking for.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Ahh the power and fun of Emacs :) Good stuff.

</comment><comment><USER9> What's the advantage of this over Haml?

<comment><USER10> That it isn't compiled but is immediately transformed. (In regards to Emacs)</comment></comment>


Netromancy - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/20/magazine/netromancy.html?ref=technology <comment><USER2> "There isn't a procedural way to live your life, and that might be inspiring people to think mystically for guidance,"

Well, herp derp, then i guess i'll just have to go ahead and live my life declaratively... This article actually gives me a sense of perverse optimism, that perhaps i have a fighting chance in life if at least some of my potential competition eschews logic :)

</comment><comment><USER3> Exorcise hardware - shades of the Laundry files :-)</comment>


Which World Figures Should Be on the 2014 TIME 100? - <AUTHOR> http://time.com/55769/time-100-2014-poll-world/ <comment><USER2> Narendra Modi

</comment><comment><USER3> moot.</comment>


Attitudes towards work.  Can't? Or won't? - <AUTHOR> http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13032515&fsrc=rss

<comment><USER2> I'd like to know more about the psychology involved. If, due to better benefits, a worker spends less time and energy worrying about their job (and whether it will continue, and whether they feel trapped in it), does this promote a better attitude towards that work or work in general?

Also, I seem to recall reading that psychological studies have found that a significant factor in one's happiness is based in comparing oneself to others, particularly to one's contemporaries. In a society where disparities are not so great, does a larger portion of the population as a result feel happier? Would that have an influence on one's happiness with one's work?

I'm sorry that I only have questions, and not answers. But my news browsing over the years has left me with the impression that some of our (say, in the U.S., for example) accepted doctrine as to what motivates productivity and a good work experience, is indeed doctrine rather than theory grounded in up-to- date and thorough research.</comment>


Rollup for multiple fields in MySQL - <AUTHOR>

I am able to run rollup for single field but unable to do for multiple fields in MySQL.
Any idea how can we do rollup on multiple fields <comment><USER2> I have no idea what this even means.

Try asking on <http://dba.stackexchange.com> if this is a database administration question, or on <http://stackoverflow.com> if it is a programming question.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. I am looking it up at various places. Rollup is a db command

<comment><USER3> > rollup is a db command

You need to read "How to ask questions the smart way".

A quick google suggests "rollup" is used with grouped-queries, so it is a modifier to an SQL select operation, not a db-command as such.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for correcting

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I am not sure if I get your question. I think this query should work

"select country, state, city, SUM(sales), SUM(profit) from foo group by country, state, city with rollup;"

for a table with country, state, city, sales, profit as columns

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. Had tried this way taking multiple fields but it didnt work. Will try again and update you. Once again thanks for the inputs, really appreciate</comment></comment>


HDMI 2.1 is here with 10K and Dynamic HDR support - <AUTHOR> https://www.engadget.com/2017/11/28/hdmi-2-1-specification-is-now-available-with-10k/ <comment><AUTHOR> Techmeme summary: _Swapna Krishna / Engadget: HDMI 2.1 spec released with support for 48 Gbps bandwidth, 120fps 4K, 60fps 8K, Variable Refresh Rate for smoother gameplay, Dynamic HDR, and 10K resolution_</comment>


How Baidu Won China - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/10_47/b4204060242597.htm

<comment><USER2> Didn't Baidu basically win China because they were the only search engine willing to play ball right from the beginning with regards to censorship? It seems that plus the fact that they were homegrown got the playing field tilted pretty heavily in their direction.

<comment><USER3> Did you read the article?

It was more about how Baidu beat other _Chinese_ -companies than how it beat Google. The other Chinese companies were (a) playing ball on censorship and (b) homegrown, too.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> in china big companies are usually in close yet undisclosed contact with the govt. it would supprise me if baidu was an exception.

when i was in china i found that all google services where extremely flaky: dropped packets, super long roundtrips, meager throughput and often unreachable for a few minutes. in my opinion they where almost unusable for 'business'.

at the same time websites like slashdot or our beloveth hn were just doing fine. while baidu.com, qq.com, taobao.com (all super popular sites in china) were all blazing fast.

i know i am suggesting something without providing proper proof. but for me it is quite clear what drives the success behind baidu -- its the lousy access the chinese have to the world's leading alternative to it.

just my 2 rupees.

<comment><USER5> Most google services are unreachable, e.g. all spreadsheets...

[http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/traffic/?r=CN&l...](http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/traffic/?r=CN&l=SPREADSHEETS&csd=1230796800000&ced=1289635200000)

<comment><USER4> wow! i didn't know this status overview was keeping history aswell!

amazing to see how internet --the one network for us all-- can end up meaning something entirely different within the borders of some countries.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Knowing China intimately and having a family with multiple businesses in the countries has given me an unique understanding of the business world in the country (they own factories in southern china that produce clothing for American companies like armani exchange and RL and are constantly required to deal with the government in regards to labor, customs and etc).

The main reason why every American company will fail in China is because of cultural differences. American companies lack the ability to understand the Chinese mindset and often that leads to misunderstandings that wont be easily forgiven.

American companies that truly want to succeed in China need to readjust their business model. You cant bring an American company to China, you need to invest and develop organically a Chinese company that is substantially owned by an American company so that the citizenry and the state will allow and appreciate its existence.

As for competition among the Chinese companies, it is often the case that developing a relationship with the government is vital. But, developing a relationship or "guanxi" is a very different concept in Asian culture compared to American culture. Giving a "red envelope" is considered a necessary sign of respect and acknowledgment of their status, but in the US its a straight out bribe.

To curry favor with the people is simple, just give lots and lots of free data, products or whatever the people want. Whether that data is copyrighted, patented or otherwise. That's how baidu did it, thats how youku did it and thats how the next big thing is going to do it.

China's next big wave is going to be to develop its own silicon valley of sorts because its very popular to copy American startups and put an Asian spin on the idea to create a NEW multi-billion dollar company.

<comment><USER7> I think it can be simpler than that. It's just about how products are made for China. Honeywell has an amazing success story in China, and I got to hear their top Asia executive this year at the APCAC 2010 Conference in Beijing, organized by the China chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce. He noted that China proved that Honeywell couldn't just waltz in with their products, localize a bit, and succeed. When they tried that approach, they got decimated by numerous copycats because Honeywell products were too expensive and too feature-rich for what China needed. He said Honeywell's Chinese copycat competitors often said, "Honeywell created the market and the demand, but we had to provide the supply."

So Honeywell changed tactics and set up R&D centres in China to deeply understand why Chinese companies were buying imitation products instead of Honeywell products, and then create products that were better suited for the Chinese market. They got a lot more intimate knowledge of the market and for the first time were making major global product design decisions outside of the USA. Then with their new R&D centres, they were able to make better products at an acceptable price point to the Chinese. They dominated. Today, only a few of those copycat competitors remain and are considered a real threat by Honeywell, whereas in the past, there were almost a hundred of them.

The approach was so successful, it became Honeywell's blueprint for how they want to enter all emerging markets from now on. His main point is that you can't expect an emerging market to lap up western products just because they're western. You need a hardcore local presence doing hardcore local product development, because the market needs will often be unique. Fascinating story. He's writing a book about everything he learned, and I'm definitely buying it when it gets released. I'd put the guy's name down, but I can't remember his name off-hand; have it at home in an APCAC 2010 program somewhere.

No doubt local presence helps with guanxi and all that, but I do bet you that as the Chinese economy and market gets more and more sophisticated, guanxi will matter less and less compared to product and service quality.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Irony in the whole setup. Baidu is chinese government controlled company - traded and financed in US markets.

It is surprising to me that these companies which get traded with SEC requirements, yet they are allowed to do whatever it is considered illegal here and still get away with it. It pisses me off that there are no regulations/jurisdiction about such shortcuts companies take. There is gotta be a solution.

</comment><comment><USER9> Many Asian countries do this and they back companies that are home grown. For example Samsung basically is run by the South Korean government. In China, it is no different, look at all the big companies that were built and raised in China, and they are backed by the government.

</comment><comment><USER10> Baidu has won China simply because it is a more relevant search engine for China's needs.

Go to <http://video.baidu.com/> and search for a TV show you want to watch, you will find the whole episode. With Google video you will get 3 minute clips. Baidu also has an excellent mp3 search. Looking for a movie to watch?

Google has made plenty of mistakes in China. For starters most of Googles documentation is blocked in China thanks to the way China and Google have set the network.</comment>


irs.gov SSL is broken - <AUTHOR> https://www.irs.gov/

<comment><USER2> This is normal. IRS does not run the SSL site on that domain.

You get the same error at [https://www.whitehouse.gov/](https://www.whitehouse.gov/) for example.

<comment><USER3> Normal? Why would a server "... identifying itself as a248.e.akamai.net" handle that traffic?

<comment><USER4> That part of the IRS site is not on Akamai's secure network. Its for HTTP-only sites that don't care if a user gets a scary browser warning before clicking through it, and getting to the site with a mismatched cert.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I attempted to find a online form, and was directed to [https://sa1.www4.irs.gov/irfof/lang/en/eiaTPstatus.jsp](https://sa1.www4.irs.gov/irfof/lang/en/eiaTPstatus.jsp).

It looks like www.irs.gov is not used for secure connections.</comment>


Scaling Your Clouds - <AUTHOR> http://justcramer.com/2012/06/03/scaling-your-clouds/

<comment><USER2> > There are many amazing systems out there that are built on the notion of > distributed data with the goal of some level of horizontal scalability > (Riak, Cassandra). _They also do not allow youto spin up more servers and > gain more capacity immediately._

I thought that was exactly what cassandra _does_? I haven't used it myself, but I am investigating it, and I'd love to hear more on this point...

<comment><AUTHOR> Cassandra, Riak, et all, are basic distributed systems with the notion of easing horizontal scalability. That said, they do not provide instant (or even close to instant) turnaround on bringing new nodes online. Even more so, you're still limited in how you structure your data.

It may sound like I'm criticizing them, but they're still amazing, and IMO where the future of distributed datastores are going.

<comment><USER3> Right, for example when you introduce a new server into a MongoDB replica set, it won't instantly become active if you have a lot of data, it needs to sync everything before it becomes active. The key with these systems is too scale early, before the load gets out of hand. Also, MongoDB replica sets can only have a maximum of 12 members.</comment></comment></comment>


Startup Idea: Exchange Itunes movies/songs - <AUTHOR>

<comment><AUTHOR> Itunes allows you to play the downloaded movies and songs on upto 5 computers (and you can reset them once a year). So how about a service that'll allow people (friends) to share movies and songs.

So it'll be fesible to have people who share lots of the same interests, to share.

IANAL, so something like this even legal?</comment>


The wrong way to "personalize" your startup's welcome e-mail - <AUTHOR> http://blaketech.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/the-wrong-way-to-personalize-welcome-e-mail/ A perfect example of how not to "personalize" your startup's welcome e-mail. <comment><USER2> Weak overreaction.

First, is it really that big a deal you got an email that looked like it was from someone personally but may have been automated (in fact you never proved that it was automated)?

Second, are you really that bothered that a company whose product is helpdesk ticketing software uses helpdesk ticketing software to manage customer correspondence?

Third, are you really that bothered by the informality of a web company?

The only mistake I saw here was using staff that are probably outsourced and certainly not native English speakers to handle sales questions.

<comment><USER3> > _"First, is it really that big a deal you got an email that looked like it > was from someone personally but may have been automated"_

That by itself is not the big deal - plenty of emails are automated yet written in a personal manner (Dear Mr. Smith, etc etc) - but this one was deliberately deceptive. It purported to have looked at the customer's website, when it all likelihood nothing of the sort happened.

That's what left a bad taste in my mouth from the whole thing - it's scummy and misleading, hardly something you'd want to project onto your potential customers.

<comment><USER4> It probably works well for a majority of their signups. More smart than scummy, imho.

I don't disagree with the sincerity issue, but again, it only appears insincere to you.

<comment><USER3> Oh it's not about insincerity - I think we're all very used to "we mean it but we don't" doublespeak from companies nowadays.

It's about the fact that they practically lied in their communication about what they have done - sure, this isn't especially scandalous, but it is low.

If they had some canned stuff like "we're sure you're doing great things, and would love to work with you individually to tailor our product to your needs... yadi yada" that'd be a-ok.

But they had a bot pretend that they actually visited my site and looked at my company's offerings... that's pretty lame.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Uh, the company is originally Danish and I believe most of the staff are still in fact Danes. Her grammar was poor but understandable. I'm not sure why this guy gets so rage-filled when the email is innocuous when read coming from the mouth of a non-native speaker of English.

Calling a response to any sort of support mail a "ticket" is pretty common as well and certainly not worthy of offense.

<comment><USER6> Fair enough (sort of), but if I were to start a business in a language that I'm not a native in, I wouldn't try supporting those people using non-native speakers. The languages and idioms of cultures differ greatly around the globe, and sometimes you may need to tweak your site to meet the expectations of your customers.

Then again, I don't run a business, so the costs of localizing customer support and "fit and finish" for Zendesk may be justified by the benefit.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Pretending to have looked at a site, especially if the pretending is automated, is disrespectful, I agree.

The Grand Finale was pretty weak though. I have no idea what ICE Webinar is, and whether it relates to the poster's business. That's a separate issue. But to choose poor (OK, really poor) grammar as the Grand Finale is ungracious. There are many non-native speakers working on the web and in cube farms; cut them the same slack you'd mostly get if you were walking around in their country.

</comment><comment><USER8> Great post, bebeastie. I thought your post was really top quality and you raised some interesting points in it. I especially appreciated your insights near the end of the post.

<comment><USER9> Not sure why you're being downvoted, I read this as a really smart prank on OP. It actually just made my day.

<comment><USER8> Humor, even when apropos, has a rocky ride on HN. There are plenty of people keen to avoid the site going down a meme-heavy Reddit path and who vote down all but the geekiest humor (even though constantly voting up posts by tech community trolls is seemingly OK <g>).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I reacted to the "sharing the inbox" statement... One would hope they'd have a more efficient structure than that for their ticket handling, I'd say.

</comment><comment><USER11> why all the hate?

</comment><comment><USER12> ZenDesk's tools are horrible - they have a sheen of good visual design on the sales site, and then the tool itself is like being tortured to death by a screaming hamster.

Not surprised they're using gutter tactics like faux personal emails.</comment>