XSS Vulnerability in the `sanitize` helper of Ruby on Rails - <AUTHOR> https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/rubyonrails-security/zAAU7vGTPvI

<comment><USER2> (crossposted from the JRuby vulnerability submission, which is different from this sanitize helper issue) The sole change seems to be in the regex that was used to match the protocol separator (i.e. the colon). The change is from this:

          /:|(&#0*58)|(&#x70)|(%|%)3A/

to this:

          /:|(&#0*58)|(&#x70)|(&#x0*3a)|(%|%)3A/i

Presumably the previous regex allowed an attacker to insert a variation of "javascript:foo()" and get past a HTML sanitize call. It seems like a bug/oversight unrelated to the YAML deserialization issues from the past months.</comment>


Sebastian Martinez's Review of ASUS Chromebook C202SA-YS02 11.6" - <AUTHOR> https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R30C5I5AF7YOBG/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B01DBGVB7K <comment><AUTHOR> I'm a developer on Chrome OS, and this struck me as hilarious.

It does make me wonder: with all the pressure to tweak keyboard designs for compactness and find places to put keys, I wonder why most keyboards still include the caps-lock key?</comment>


President Obama Finally Ditches Blackberry but New Smartphone Limited - <AUTHOR> http://fortune.com/2016/06/10/president-obamas-new-smartphone-is-more-like-a-toddler-phone/?iid=leftrail <comment><USER2> He must've heard Blackberries have backdoor access, too, and finally realized that's actually a _bad_ thing.

Somewhat relevant story to the direction governments may be going with security:

[http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/06/for-security- sing...](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/06/for-security-singapore- taking-100000-government-computers-off-internet/)

</comment><comment><USER3> "it doesn't take pictures, you can't text, the phone doesn't work, you can't play your music on it" I can't really see what this can be...</comment>


In His Own Words: Gary Kildall - <AUTHOR> http://www.computerhistory.org/_static/atchm/in-his-own-words-gary-kildall/ <comment><USER2> If you want to learn more about Gary, watch the Computer Chronicles on YouTube or Archive.org: [https://archive.org/details/computerchronicles](https://archive.org/details/computerchronicles)

Gary was a regular on the show, and talked about everything from programming to printers over the course of many years on the program.

This episode in particular is all about Gary: [https://archive.org/details/GaryKild](https://archive.org/details/GaryKild)

<comment><USER3> I like to describe him as "Imagine a Bill Gates, but cool".

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> > Unfortunately Gary's passion for life also manifested in a struggle with > alcoholism, and we feel that the unpublished preface and later chapters do > not reflect his true self.

Well, he wrote them, so presumably they reflect some part of himself. I hope that they've not destroyed them; future generations should be able to see his work as he wrote it.

<comment><USER5> It's sad to me that a historical institution is bowdlerizing history.

<comment><USER6> That's text from his children, reprinted in the article, but clearly attributed.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I think it is long overdue for there to be a proper of biography of Gary Kildall. Really surprised that no one has done it. Know that I'd buy it.

</comment><comment><USER8> The Internet History Podcast did a great episode on Mr. Kildall.

[https://soundcloud.com/internethistorypodcast/100-the-man- wh...](https://soundcloud.com/internethistorypodcast/100-the-man-who-could- have-been-bill-gates-the-gary-kildall-story)

[http://www.internethistorypodcast.com/2016/03/the-man-who- co...](http://www.internethistorypodcast.com/2016/03/the-man-who-could-have- been-bill-gates-the-gary-kildall-story/#tabpanel4)

<comment><USER9> Probably my favorite TIHP episode.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Did a google search on Algo B5500 and found this:

ftp://ftp.cs.washington.edu/tr/1970/09/UW-CSE-70-09-04.PDF

<comment><USER10> More interesting links about B5500

[https://github.com/pkimpel/retro-b5500](https://github.com/pkimpel/retro-b5500)

[http://www.retrocomputingtasmania.com/home/projects/burrough...](http://www.retrocomputingtasmania.com/home/projects/burroughs-b5500)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Definitely an amazing person. Folks tend to primarily focus on his contributions to the PC ecosystem. I am surprised more don't mention his work on data-flow analysis. It was such a significant contribution to the compiler world.

</comment><comment><USER12> [http://www.os2museum.com/wp/before-os2-was- os2/](http://www.os2museum.com/wp/before-os2-was-os2/)

I assume that most users of S-100 systems were technical users who know for example how to modify the CP/M BIOS code, right?

<comment><USER13> A number of small companies sold packaged S-100 systems with customized CP/M provided. I bought an S-100 bus box from "California Computer Systems" which included a serial port board and disk interface board, and they provided a BIOS set up for those devices. They also provided the source, and over a couple of years I modified the BIOS several times, adding devices and improving things generally. But lots of people bought turnkey systems like the Sol [1] and IMSAI [2] and never touched the BIOS.

[1] [http://www.oldcomputers.net/sol-20.html](http://www.oldcomputers.net/sol-20.html)

[2] [http://imsai.net/](http://imsai.net/)

<comment><USER14> I do wonder if there is room for a solution like the S-100 bus these days. That is perhaps the one thing that irks me about todays computers, that the motherboard is dictated by the CPU socket soldered on.

<comment> mark-r The capabilities built into today's chip sets and motherboards is just insane. This weekend was the first time I plugged a board into a PC in over 10 years, to add USB 3.0 to a system too old to have had it already. The last PC I put together was based on a mini-ITX motherboard, simply because I knew from experience that I wouldn't need anything more expandable than that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Page 30 (in the PDF) is excellent in how Gary made a decision to be an Instructor in Mathematics and Computer Science.

</comment><comment><USER16> It's too bad it stops where it does, I wanted to hear about the development of GEM.

</comment><comment><USER17> chilling and wonderful at once, in how his family recalls him</comment>


The Setup: Mike Fogus - <AUTHOR> http://mike.fogus.usesthis.com/ <comment><USER2> I love that he talks about writing with pens and paper. Too many people overlook how useful this can be, I think.

When I was writing my dissertation, I followed this cycle:

\+ Morning: Write new material, always by hand on legal pads, with the same pen (a relatively heavy, but thin Lamy ballpoint - good balance and weight, fine but clear ink, never clogged). _Edit_ : I still have a callous on my finger from those two years of writing.

\+ Lunch + shoot pool for a few hours (no books, clear head)

\+ Afternoon: Type up what I hand wrote in the morning, edit old pages (on a screen or from print outs, that would vary) and take notes on articles and books.

Having time to think is what makes writing by hand so useful I think. It's like the (apocryphal?) Truman Capote response when he heard about Kerouac's automatic writing style: "That's not writing. It's typing." Too much of what we do is just typing rapidly, without thought.

Maybe more disciplined people can work slowly enough at a keyboard, but I find it difficult still. When I really want to think about something, I still start with paper.

<comment><USER3> To counterbalance this budding glorification of handwriting, I'll reiterate here the drawbacks of handwritten text which have more to do with the results than the process:

1\. It inevitably occupies physical space for as long as it exists.

2\. It is trapped in a format that cannot be (reliably) converted to electronic text.

3\. As a corollary, it is not searchable by machine, so I'd argue it's not quickly searchable on any large scale.

4\. As another corollary, it cannot be made accessible to people who can't read written text (e.g. visually impaired people), at least not without the manual effort of retyping it.

If you're writing just to capture your own thoughts, and the only intended reader is you, and you have the space for it, I suppose I can't object to it without getting into a discussion about individualism versus collectivism. But handwriting has absolutely no attractions for me.

<comment><USER2> Unlike fogus, I _am_ trying to glorify writing by hand _in some contexts_ at least. (The proviso is important: I don't think that writing by hand is always better.)

I believe that writing by hand helps me to think better and write better, precisely because it's slower. (There's probably also something about me liking the specific physical feedback, but I would be the first to admit that's probably idiosyncratic and learned rather than universal.)

As for all the virtues of typed text that you mention, I agree. If you look at my process from above, I typed up what I had handwritten earlier. But even though this means some obvious duplication of effort, the net outcome was worth it for me (and still is).

No doubt people vary and all that, but I think writing by hand is vastly underrated nowadays. I stand by that.

<comment><USER4> Having been working at improving my penmanship over the last few months, I've found that writing by hand can be a very relaxing activity as well. That's a bonus, for me. (plus, I now get complimented on my nice handwriting quite often!)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Whenever I read one of these I keep wanting them to do Patrick Bateman. These descriptions of products that people use give me the creeps (on occasion).

<comment><USER6> I generally like to hear how people work, but it gets a bit boring if it's all web developers & TED circuit guys, where it all comes down to "list of apple devices + GTD apps". I would love to _see_ the setup of some people. A few screenshots would be nice, but a short screencast would be even better. Even if it's all pretty standard (e.g. Eclipse + Chrome, Sublime + Safari, Blender + XCode), I think one could learn a few things here and then how other people hop around between applications and accomplish tasks.

At least I think it would be interesting, it might also just lead to me freaking about because someone is _doing it wrong_ (As Sartre said, hell is seeing other people google).

<comment><USER7> I think it would be cool to watch videos of people doing the work we respect them for. The same way that Notch occasionally posts of video of him hacking for many hours straight.

<comment><USER8> That would be interesting from a UI design point of view. Bo Staake springs to mind

<http://youtu.be/S7qUKv7XVx4>

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Fogus, you say that you use an iPad when you are on the move. Do you edit your .org files with the iPad? If yes, how do you do it? On a virtual server with a ssh client?

I organize my whole life with Org-mode. I use it as a todo list, project management tool and agenda. I also use it to write documents and scientific papers and presentations, which I export to .tex.

Not being able to edit my agenda from an iPad is really what prevents me to buy one (I would probably also buy a bluetooth keyboard).

There is mobileorg, but I think it is not maintained any more, at least the iOS version. I could also ssh to a virtual server, but I'm not comfortable having all my agenda files on such a machine, because of security and privacy concerns.

<comment><USER10> I used iwriter (which is lovely) to bang out some text on my iPad and save it to .txt files on Dropbox. I post processed into org-mode in emacs afterwards. iWriter won't recognise the .org suffix by default, but that didn't matter to me because the iPad keyboard is useless for writing #* and other characters - WMMV if you have an external keyboard I guess. The nice thing is that all of my book related .org files also live in Dropbox as does the output pdf so I can read the output on the train too.

<comment><USER9> Yes. I think this is the most reasonable option.

I could also automatically export my agenda to a pdf, which I could read, but not modify, on the iPad, using Dropbox.

Then, I should post-process everything to update my org-mode files.

The other option would be to buy a Windows 8 tablet (like the ThinkPad Helix), which can run Emacs. But Windows ... that would be a sacrifice ;-)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> The Mont Blanc pen "hack" mentioned in the interview is from [http://www.instructables.com/id/Save-$200-in-2-minutes- and-h...](http://www.instructables.com/id/Save-$200-in-2-minutes-and-have-the- worlds-best-wr/)

<comment><USER12> There's a video where fine sandpaper's used. (<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHj_AH1Fp5A>) Said that the Mont Blanc cartridge even wiggles less than Pilot's own cartridge.

What is the advantage of Mont Blanc? G2 ink smears easily on the Moleskine, so I found them unusable together. (Not that I can justify to myself the premium for Moleskine, but I did buy one once. :) How does Mont Blanc ink fare?

<comment><USER11> The Mont Blanc ink seems to dry very quickly. I've never had an issue with smearing, but then again I use a larger notebook and am right-handed.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> It would be cool too see some pictures of this "20 computer lab". Its rather dry to read the post with just links to things I could Google if I wanted to find out what they are. Otherwise it was an interesting read.

</comment><comment><USER10> Org mode for writing books... I've started writing a book in org-mode. The writing is all fine, but the exporting is a bit of a pain! Anyone else doing this and have any tips on pdf export from org?

 _edit_ grammar

<comment><USER14> org -> LaTeX? That's how I generate docs at work.

<comment><USER10> Yeah I am doing it with LaTeX, but it was a shock to the system how much actual LaTeX I had to mess with to make it work (and not look butt ugly) and I wondered if anyone had a more streamlined workflow (or better tools.)

<comment><USER4> I made a simple elisp snippet to insert a bunch of LaTeX headers for the stuff I use (including my own LaTeX packages), and found that it simplifies the work quite a bit.

<comment><USER10> I ended up making my own package (which I stole from sphinx) and including it so I can keep all of my style separate and pick and choose what other stuff I use - like minted for example.

I've found it a bit of a mixed bag though - setting up minted in one of me .el files and some of it's styling in my .sty file. Not sure if I'm really doing it right, but the output looks OK for now and I assume it will be much easier to tweak it in future.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> So the M-keyboard does not rust?

I like the dishwasher idea but I have neither a M-keyboard nor a dishwasher ;-)

<comment><USER11> It appears not too, but I've not opened it up. In any case the keys function as well as the day I got it (and it was probably 10 years old then).

<comment><USER16> Cool advice, I'm gonna try tossing my Model M in the dishwasher this weekend.

Also I totally get your Model M love, I think it'll always be my preferred keyboard. What a great piece of hardware.

<comment><USER17> I've opened mine up, (M13s) and there's enough electronics in it that I didn't want to put in the dishwasher.

I need to debug the trackpoint on one of them (it's simply not working, might be the cable, might be the driver circuit) and the ujm keys on the other one. I found washing the switches with alcohol worked for a while, but I'm still getting miskeys on m j and u, where m -> m, u->ui, and j->jk.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> His hardware needs are pretty spartan, but he needs: an iphone, PDA, laptop with an ssd, computer, usbsticks, a kindle and an ipad. I guess I don't want to know what non-spartan is. Or was this some obscure form of sarcasm?

<comment><USER11> It was wry I suppose, but I think I didn't explain myself very well in the interview. I tried to convey that I'm trying to move towards a more Spartan arrangement. I don't think I mentioned USB sticks, but in any case I no longer use them because of Dropbox. Likewise, I no longer need a PDA because my iPhone/iPad cover the old tasks. Also, I no longer need a computer because Laptop, etc. The point is that I'm less reliant on multiple devices and changing my habits to need even less.

<comment><USER18> I misremembered, I meant:

> various portable drives

<comment><USER11> The operative word in that quote is "had". As I mentioned, I'm trying to slim down so to speak.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> I always enjoy finding out how others work. Mostly for curiosity, but also to glean new methods and habits I could adapt for myself. I particularly enjoyed this one because fogus seems to share my habits of using a pen/pencil as a thinking tool, thinking hard before jumping into a problem and using a Model M keyboard.

</comment><comment><USER20> Fantastic read fogus!

I love discovering gems thru reading The Setup

<comment><USER21> Yay! That's awesome.</comment></comment>


Why I Deleted 349 Answers and a Blog from Quora.com - <AUTHOR> http://blog.justoutsourcing.com/2017/08/deleted-348-answers.html <comment><USER2>
        $ curl -I http://blog.justoutsourcing.com/2017/08/deleted-348-answers.html
        HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
        Date: Sat, 12 Aug 2017 23:16:48 GMT
        Server: Apache/2.4.25
        Location: https://www.google.com/search?q=first+draft+software+justoutsourcing
        Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1

What?

<comment><USER3> I'm guessing that ties into their "thesis" of this article, no? That you can and should stop easy machine access for copying... seems silly to me. Your browser is a machine.</comment></comment>


iKaddsh - A Kaddish Mashup (for Steve Jobs) - <AUTHOR> http://ikaddsh.com To whom it may concern; I've published a Kaddish for Steve Jobs which is actually a literary masup work using mainly Allen Ginsberg's materials (Kaddish for Naomi and Howl).
Hope you find some, if any, interest reading it.
http://ikaddsh.com <comment><AUTHOR> To whom it may concern; I've published a Kaddish for Steve Jobs which is actually a literary masup work using mainly Allen Ginsberg's materials (Kaddish for Naomi and Howl).

Hope you find some, if any, interest reading it.

<http://ikaddsh.com></comment>


Ask HN: How can technology improve education? - <AUTHOR>

I'm trying to get an idea of how technology could improve the learning experience and education in general, so does anybody have any examples of good uses of technology in education? I'd be interested in anything from projects in full swing, such as Khan Academy, to an idea that might have some potential.<p>Also, if you have any pointers on where to start with the literature/research, that would be handy. <comment><USER2> More stuff like this:

[http://bost.ocks.org/mike/algorithms/](http://bost.ocks.org/mike/algorithms/)

[http://worrydream.com/LadderOfAbstraction/](http://worrydream.com/LadderOfAbstraction/)

[http://www.jasondavies.com/animated- bezier/](http://www.jasondavies.com/animated-bezier/)

Imagine what it would look like if Mike Bostock, Jason Davies and Bret Victor wrote an entire math and science curriculum together. Make that.

</comment><comment><USER3> Edtech is a growing space, but a very difficult one to work in (my own experience as founder of letsgeddit.com taught me that). The best solutions seem to target teachers with better tools than they're used to, and expand on them as channels to reach other stakeholders in education (parents, admins).

Notable companies taking this approach include:

[http://www.classdojo.com/](http://www.classdojo.com/) \- ClassDojo, which gamifies classroom behaviour management is and is incredibly popular with teachers. [https://www.remind.com/](https://www.remind.com/) \- Remind101 (now Remind), helping teachers communicate with students, parents and other stakeholders. [http://www.showbie.com/](http://www.showbie.com/) \- Showbie, a document management, submission and grading platform.

Another interesting take is by snapping up some part of the curriculum and providing adaptive learning software geared to that (Math and English are popular), like Front Row (math): [https://www.frontrowed.com/](https://www.frontrowed.com/) and NoRedInk (english) [https://www.noredink.com/](https://www.noredink.com/)

There are also platform approaches like Clever: [https://clever.com/](https://clever.com/) and Edmodo: [https://www.edmodo.com/](https://www.edmodo.com/)

Finally, there are the more niche 'enterprise' tools platforms like Securely which help lock down school devices, and Panorama who provide school and district level suervey information on student wellbeing.</comment>


Thought Vista had a lot of versions? Check out Windows Server 2008. - <AUTHOR> http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/nov07/11-12HyperVPR.mspx <comment><USER2> What's so confusing about this? Their target is not your father and mother. It's for companies and people that know which one to buy.

I like their pricing for Windows Web Server 2008 -> $469.

Pretty good for startup if you choose ASP.NET.

<comment><USER3> I prefer the pricing for Linux actually -> $0.

<comment><USER4> If you're unfamiliar with linux, then it costs $0 only if your time is worthless. Plus, there isn't a good ASP.NET implementation for linux. Mono's attempt is imperfect.

<comment><USER5> You're right, of course. Really, if it would cost a person only a few hours to switch to linux, or a couple of minutes of productivity per day, it wouldn't be worth it.

But there's the possibility that someone would gain productivity by using linux.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Holy crap!

Try Windows Server 2008 XLT, now with 20% more server goodness. If you like that, you'll love Server 2008 XLT-VX with all the server goodies you've come to love and 10% more virtualization!

Act now, supplies are limited.

</comment><comment><USER7> Woow... they want my real dollars for vritual instances of Windows Server. Wouldn't virtual dollars be more fair?</comment>


How A Police Officer Threatened A Yelp Reviewer - <AUTHOR> http://www.popehat.com/2013/07/24/two-guys-a-cop-and-a-pizza-place-how-a-police-officer-threatened-a-yelp-reviewer/

<comment><USER2> There were only 3 reviews on Yelp, of which 2 were removed.. Doesn't really seem like harassment to me, nor does it really seem like the parlor owner did anything particularly awful (although looking at the photos it was disgusting in the restaurant).

Basically I feel like the police needn't be involved and that officer probably should have read the Yelp posts prior to calling, I highly doubt this would ever go to trial.

From Yelp [http://www.yelp.com/filtered_reviews/ELUSdeDHbZLMVcl4K5qLkw?...](http://www.yelp.com/filtered_reviews/ELUSdeDHbZLMVcl4K5qLkw?fsid=S-iCwDly9XMCz8mhhLLonA):

A month or so ago, I was finally given a job at a local pizzeria named "The Wild Tomato" in Harrisburg. I was given duties mainly related to cleaning and sanitation. The first concern I had was the fact that they were storing trash cans in their walk-in fridge, where uncovered food and sauces were often stored despite health regulations. I learned to ignore this for the sake of employment. I have photos/video of this.

Shortly within the month, I discovered a bag near the outside trash dumpster that contained multiple empty bags that had contained synthetic marijuana, a multitude of hypodermic needles, and receipts for deliveries and time-clock slips, all with the same employee's name listed (one of the drivers). Again, I have photos.

Upon notifying Paul, the owner, he threw away the receipts with the employee's information and told me that it was "no longer my problem". At the time, I assumed that this meant he would take corrective action on his own. However, the employee in question was never reprimanded and continues working at the shop.

Recently, I found another empty vial of synthetic marijuana, this time inside the building in the employee area, among the cleaning supplies.

When I brought it to the attention of Paul, he stated that he did not care about what his employee's did, or if they brought it into the workplace or not, as long as they did not physically use them during work. He told me he could not control what his workers put into their bodies, and asked me if I wanted him to drug test everyone. I mentioned the previous incident with the needles and how I could have gotten stuck by one, causing a liability. He responded "Well then you better stay home, you go outside you could get shot, you could get hit by a car, the real world's dangerous." He also stated that an empty container with a commercial label on it, advertised with drug images but "not for human consumption" could have had anything in it. He said "If I get a vial and put a label that says cocaine on it does that mean it had cocaine in it?". He dismissed any safety concerns I might have had, implying that I was at fault for "having a problem" with narcotics on the premises.

<comment><USER3> I would be interested to read the ones that supposedly violate the content guidelines or terms of service. Not to defend the cop or owner, but I'll bet this is the most level-headed and polite of the three.

Also, what is someone doing with synthetic marijuana AND hypodermic needles? That part just seems odd.

In any case, I think they both should have left well enough alone. Joseph wanted to change the way the place operated, Paul was having none of it, and that should have been that. Why people feel the need to escalate minor disputes like this to the police is beyond me.

<comment><USER4> They used to shoot up pot, but they had to stop because the seeds kept clogging up the needles.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Maybe it's just me but this seems like... fluff, a little bit. There are a lot of instances of police abusing their power, but this is really on the low-end of that (i.e. I don't really consider this news).

This just sounds like one of those situations where everyone involved is being kinda shitty.

<comment><USER6> IMHO The interesting part of this story is NOT the 'level of wrongness' in police abuse. It's the policing of internet reviews!

On the surface this is a trivial story, but in reality, this is totally bananas! A local cop policing the internet through means of coercion? Sounds sufficiently interesting to me!

<comment><USER7> Did you listen to the phone call? It's _possible_ that she was subtly threatening an innocent autistic man for the thrill of power that comes from shutting them up. It's more likely that after receiving a complaint from some angry citizen about "this crazy autistic guy online that keeps posting stuff on the internet about me even though it gets deleted" she decided to try to satisfy both parties by defusing the whole thing. _Especially_ if she sympathized with the autistic guy after reading the post and suspected (i) he probably wasn't doing much harm and definitely wasn't intending to but (ii) probably wouldn't stand a chance in a courtroom if the angry citizen that kept badgering her followed through with his legal threats.

It actually scans better if you assume the policewoman was exceeding her authority and legal knowledge in an attempt to _prevent_ the needless harm of a disabled citizen being sued into oblivion by some over-litiguous asshole. And I'm generally in favour of police exercising that sort of discretion.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> The real story is Yelp's filtering algo. Notice how all the 1 star reviews are filtered out, including this guy's?

After about the 3rd time of going to a 5-yelp-star place and it being terrible, then digging in to see all the negative reviews were filtered, I had enough. It's why I don't use Yelp anymore.

<comment><USER9> Isn't the longstanding scandal that Yelp will filter negative reviews if you pay them, making it a kind of protection racket?

<comment><USER10> Wish I'd been first to market. Protection racket with brand following? Yes please!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> A police officer is essentially a community worker and I believe should have that mentality of serving the community. I don't really believe what the officer did was malicious or even all that inappropriate. I think the police officer is probably wrong in the views she is expressing, but I don't think it's wrong for her to call him in this situation or even help the restaurant owner and the former employee work out an issue.

<comment><USER12> I can understand the police officer acting as a conflict-resolution mediator, but unless the officer passed the bar exam I don't think it's appropriate for him to give what could be misinterpreted as legal advice on civil law.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Umm what is the threat here? I think the police woman is just trying to help. Informing that what he is doing might be illegal and it's probably not a good idea.

Trying to explain to this young man that even if he doesn't like his former employer, harassment in the internet is not right way to take it forward, but going to health officials instead. I call that service.

I frankly see no reason for all this butthurt.

<comment><USER14> > "Informing that what he is doing might be illegal"

His actions were not illegal.

> "harassment in the internet is not right way to take it forward"

His actions weren't harassment, but a very clear expression of his 1A rights.

> "but going to health officials instead"

If a customer suspected health codes were being violated, I would prefer the marketplace be informed as well as health officials. Similarly, if someone gets sick after eating at a restaurant, I would prefer them to tell _me_ , not health code officials.

> "I frankly see no reason for all this butthurt."

I definitely see a reason for it, though I might agree that the reaction in this instance is much larger than it needs to be. Securing pro-bono counsel for the guy is definitely a reasonable response, though. And it might be hard to secure pro-bono counsel without raising the case further into the public eye.

<comment><USER15> His actions don't appear to be illegal, but do the police have the right to not investigate something that was reported as illegal? I mean, if harassment is claimed by someone should the police just shrug their shoulders? No, they should probably investigate and determine if a crime actually happened. In the meantime, telling someone what could happen if they were doing what was claimed is not what I'd call 'threatening'.

I guess don't really see the problem with the phone call from the police either. It's just a subtle 'I don't want to have to come back out here' warning that they give every day to prevent things from getting to the point that they have to intervene. It does seem like a bored police department, but I didn't hear any threats in the phone call. This article jumps the gun a little bit by inferring collusion between the police and the pizza restaurant.

<comment><USER14> > "do the police have the right to not investigate something that was reported > as illegal?"

Yes, they certainly do. There are often more reports than there are resources for the police to respond to. Additionally, if I report something that is obviously frivolous or not illegal, they don't have to investigate. For example: I report to your local PD that you have harassed me with this comment online. It's obviously baseless and frivolous, and they shouldn't spend any time "warning you that it _might_ be illegal".

> "they should probably investigate and determine if a crime actually > happened"

Sure, when the police report is made by the harassed party, they should ask the form that the harassment took place as. When the response is "reviews on Yelp", the police should be smart enough to know that it isn't harassment. It _could_ still be libel or defamation, but neither of those are criminal activities, and shouldn't be pursued by the police. There is no need for any investigation that goes beyond the report and maybe looking at the source of the reviews.

> "I guess don't really see the problem with the phone call from the police > either"

First of all, I think the officer had good and understandable intentions. I don't think she was overtly threatening or malicious. She _was_ just trying to diffuse a situation. Unfortunately, she was doing so by strongly urging a citizen to stop expressing their rights under 1A.

From one POV it's a helpful police officer trying to defuse a situation; from another POV it's an official agent of the government telling the citizen that they should stop doing an activity that they have every right to. An officer of the law telling you what you're doing is borderline criminal _when it 's not_ is going to have a significant chilling effect on speech.

I think this is expressed in quotes from the officer such as:

* "is there any reason you posted those photos?"

* "If there is a violation and you want to show it to someone ... If they feel like there's no violation then you should probably drop it"

* "You put your opinion out there once, twice, I'm not sure what you're hoping to gain"

* "You're borderline criminal / civil harassment there" (this isn't true. It could be a violation of Yelp's TOS, or it could be defamation, but it wouldn't be harassment. Unless they prosecute the violation of Yelp's TOS under the CFAA there is _no_ criminal behavior implied in his actions)

Again, I don't think the officer's intent was bad. I also don't think this was as big a deal as the article made it out to be. However, like I said, it seems perfectly reasonable to secure pro-bono counsel for the guy. An article that tries to make a splash might be a necessary thing for getting pro-bono counsel.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> A case worth following. Any chance of a persistent link to details as they emerge?

<comment><USER17> I don't think Mr White does that, but his blog is well worth following in general. Here's his RSS feed: [http://feeds.feedburner.com/Popehat?format=xml](http://feeds.feedburner.com/Popehat?format=xml)

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> not exactly Rodney King is it

</comment><comment><USER19> I feel sorry for the owners of the Pizza parlor. Sounds like they were trying to do a good thing by working with a state agency and hiring a special needs individual, even if it didn't work out.

I really don't like seeing the police try to get involved, though.

As another user said, this whole thing doesn't rise to the level of serious police abuse of power, put on front page of HN, though.

<comment><USER20> Why do you feel sorry for someone who is in a position of power & is using that to abuse a former employee?

Do you think one negative Yelp review is going to ruin the owners' lives or livelihood, and that is a more serious concern than following the health code? If the place had been up to code, or the employee's concerns had been allayed, this whole situation could have been avoided, and that's the better way to deal with the situation, compared to police intimidation and hang up calls.

<comment><USER19> _position of power_

As I said, the law enforcement involvement is wrong, but I don't blame the parlor owner for trying to do SOMETHING.

Not everyone owns a business, especially one that takes the hard work and makes as little money as something like a typical pizza parlor (there's a reason why they're notorious for not lasting long).

So imagine you hire someone to do some work for you, say just odd jobs around your house like fixing faucets, repairing some shutters. You go out of your way to hire someone who could use a break. For some reason it doesn't work out, say he ends up breaking more shutters than he fixes -- so you let him know that you no longer want him to do odd jobs for you.

Now the guy gets pissed and makes it his mission to start messing with you. He's calling your boss/employer, he's driving by your house and telling your neighbors what an a-hole you are, and all around trying to make your life hell because you didn't like the work he was doing for you. It begins to impact your job, maybe costs you a raise or promotion because it's viewed that you're now part of the problem.

So you do nothing?

<comment><USER20> This is not a good analogy given what happened according to the article.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


RIM board member scoffs at critics (Feb 2012 article) - <AUTHOR> http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/careers-leadership/the-lunch/roger-martin-defying-rims-critics/article2334739/page1/

<comment><USER2> This arrogant attitude may be one of the reasons why the press seems happy when RIM is failing, especially since the critics have been mostly right about RIM since the beginning.</comment>


How does our language shape the way we think? - <AUTHOR> http://edge.org/3rd_culture/boroditsky09/boroditsky09_index.html

<comment><USER2> I have access to an unpublished PhD thesis in which a standardised personality test was administered to fluent German/English bilinguals. Even though the candidates scored equally well in the language proficiency tests, the personality test results proved to be a strong predictor as to which language the test was being taken in, as well as a strong predictor of whether the candidate's second language was compound or coordinate.

The evidence is stacking up that some moderate form of the Sapir-Worf hypothesis is true, despite what Chomsky and Pinker say.

The implications for programming langauges seem clear, but unsurprising. Computer languages have often been considered equally powerfully, but not equally expressive. Just as groups of polyglots shift the language used in discussions according to the topic, so the task at hand often suggests one programming language rather than another.

I'm still not sure why linguists (as opposed to polyglots) deny this.

</comment><comment><USER3> Not sure about language, but one thing is true - the way you pronounce words of your own language is a good reflection of your education, status, origin, and who you are.</comment>


How Silicon Valley is dealing with mental illness - <AUTHOR> http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/10/technology/silicon-valley-depression-austen-heinz/index.html <comment><USER2> People don't talk about having anxiety or depression in the office, or mood changes. Its expected that you just hide it. Tech gives you more leeway to do your own thing most of the time which I'm thankful for, but I can't call out to work because I'm feeling extra anxious one day. I DO end up working at home those days, rare as they are. The stigma that would be attached to me as a "weak-willed" person that sometimes has anxiety issues would be devastating for my career - people do not allow others leadership positions unless they can demonstrate a steady hand. Simply the suggestion that you are facing internal strife enough to mention it in the workplace can be a very large hit to your perception as a solid worker.

Managers want consistency in the work output above all else frequently, despite all of our emotional hardware. Simply admitting that you have good days and bad days can sometimes feel like quite a feat.

<comment><USER3> Daily standups and a fear of being "caught" on those days where you maybe spent the whole day getting around to doing something that would take you 30 minutes in the zone add to the stress. Standups become vague/dishonest to further hide the issue. The truth is sometimes you just need to blow off the whole day, maybe even a whole few days. A lot of devs actually understand needing to take random days off here and there even without having underlying issues. But it's hard to justify to managers taking those off, even if unpaid (let alone a random week off after you've determined Monday morning you're just not into it at all). I suspect a culture of open slack would make the stressed out employees a lot less stressed out, but it probably isn't great for the business. There was a startup that was hiring in the Seattle area a few months ago that stated upfront they only sort of want you to work 20 hours a week, very loose, I wonder how it's going.

This is even worse when you're recovering from burnout. If you reveal you suffered from burnout and are still recovering, you're effectively admitting your productive output is some percentage of what it used to be. Even if you used to be above average, you're implying that you're probably below-average now, and it'd make more economic sense to replace you or at least pay you much less. (And I bet a lot of devs actually would probably give up half their salary in exchange for only being expected to be around half the time, which may be a good compromise.)

From the business owner side I sympathize with wanting to have a workforce full of Carmacks. But realistically speaking, that's very hard to accomplish, and there's something to be said for giving even us somewhat defective mortals something constructive to do so long as we're not contributing negative value that isn't based on pure economic utility.

<comment><USER4> >> Daily standups and a fear of being "caught" on those days ...

Standups are mental health minefields. They are a hack evolution of an educational process best left out of the workplace. Law/med schools employ such tactics to deliberately create stress. That has a place in education, but to see it continue at a location where people work year after year is disturbing.

Startups that use standups also often miss the physicality of what they ask. They do not realize that they are disadvantaging people based on totally irrelevant criteria. There is a reason that, throughout history, people have sat down together to discuss important matters. Sitting is an equalizer. Sitting removes the threat of immediate physical violence. Save the standup confrontation junk for the courtrooms.

<comment><USER5> Do people actually take the standing part of the standup literally?

All the standups I've been in the majority of the people were actually sitting down.

<comment><USER6> Absolutely, that's part of the point. The standup is supposed to be short, standing up emphasizes this.

<comment><USER7> I find a lot of humour here in the "standup is supposed to be short, standing up emphasizes this" as a kind of fradenscheude commentary on the typically unhealthy office workplace environment of sitting down in front of a computer screen all day. I have a stand-up desk and spend most of my day standing, and I realize this is a luxury most people do not have, but I do find humour in the implicit space in your comment about standing being a kind of chore.

<comment> fredrik-j Yes, we're all simply unfit sloths, standing up is physically demanding and that's why standups must be short. :)

Seriously though, my impression is that standing up encourages brevity in other ways.

Standing implies that the meeting must be short because there apparently isn't even time to sit down before you start. It really does save time when you do not have to find a suitable and available conference room and let everyone pick a chair.

Standing also makes subtle signals of loss of focus very visible. You easily pick up on the small things, like when people start shifting their weight, look at their phone, turn around to look at other things, etc. Things that aren't as visible when sitting down.

There is also a implied invitation to walk away at any moment. You're already standing, walking away requires little effort, at least physically.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I post a lot of dumb comments on HN, mostly because I find too many people take things too seriously here. But anxiety is something that I can very much relate to being a work from home developer. I'm still learning the best ways to cope/treat, but I can't say enough about getting enough exercise. I definitely don't do it enough now, but when I do there's an unmistakable decrease in my anxiety level the following day. But I'm talking like running, or something else that really gets me exhausted; not just a walk around the block. I'm a skinny guy too, which for me is another excuse to not have to exercise; which I think is not uncommon amongst developers.

<comment><USER9> Not to start a flame war with you, but in the hope that maybe I can make this panacea a little less popular I want to get something off my chest. Every time someone has a problem with mental health, whether it's depression, anxiety, drug withdrawal, etc the answer from the audience is always exercise.

I'm only one data point, but I've exercised more days of my life than not and have observed absolutely no difference in mental health between the me that exercises and the me that doesn't.

What about athletes: students-athletes, NBA players, olympians. Do they show a significantly lower rate of mental health issues?

This argument has been floating around in my head for a while. The reason I think this suggestion is harmful is because it is the most vocal and popular, and yet excludes anyone who already exercises.

Who is recommending this? My hypothesis is people who only exercise every once in a while and so they get a huge hit of endorphins and think, "Man if I did this every day I would feel great." Maybe, some people with mental health issues use exercise as an escape and are really recommending it for its temporary relief. But I'm just in denial about the majority of people being people who didn't exercise, were miserable/anxious/whatever, started exercising and now they're happy/normal/perfect.

Again, I'm not trying to start any arguments here. For those of you who have been saved by exercise, I'm envious. I would really just like to see more answers than this instead of seeing it as the go to answer. It makes the assumption that people who have mental health issues don't exercise.

<comment><USER10> What actually made a difference, for me, was changing my work. My dad experienced this too. If you're depressed maybe you need to change your life, this is hard. It was for me.

<comment><USER11> Out of curiosity, what was the change that you made?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I've lost 2 people I know to suicide in tech. I've known others who've come close. We need to do something about it. What, I don't know, but mainstream psychiatry isn't that effective.

<comment><USER13> Why do you claim that mainstream psychiatry is ineffective? How do we know that people simply aren't taking advantage of mainstream psychiatry (to the degree necessary)?

<comment><USER14> A lot of people who commit suicide are typically on antidepressants and seeing therapists. Yet they never report this in the media. Antidepressants even carry a black box warning they can increase suicidal thinking.

Wouldn't surprise me if half the valley was on meds of some kind.

Psychiatry is mostly based on an unproven hypothesis of chemical imbalance in the brain. Of which there's no actual scientific evidence to back up this claim. In fact, studies have concluded antidepressants can cause imbalances where nonexisted before, and can cause severe life threatening withdrawals if you stop taking them suddenly.

Psychiatry is a pretty flawed practice in my opinion as well. I'm sure it helps some people, but it also does a lot of harm as well.

<comment><USER15> Which studies?

I'd be interested in reading your references.

<comment><USER16> Those are pretty much Scientology's talking points, so here's a reference for you: [http://www.scientology.org/faq/scientology-in-society/why- is...](http://www.scientology.org/faq/scientology-in-society/why-is- scientology-opposed-to-psychiatric-abuses.html)

<comment><USER15> Oy. Are any of these references accepted by well-respected scientists in the community?

<comment><USER17> No, obviously not. But "don't just stop taking your meds" is on the patient information leaflet for every ssri / snri / nasa / etc style anti-depressant because suddenly stopping is significantly risky. (For some of them, eg venlafaxine, it's pretty unpleasant too.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I wish that I could be more vulnerable with my coworkers. Last year I grappled with intense impostor syndrome that ballooned into generalized anxiety and depression, exacerbated heavily by the feeling that I couldn't let any sign of weakness through. Eventually I reached a breaking point and had to say something to my manager; fortunately he was understanding, but I still worry that his confidence in me has been eroded. My breakthrough came when I was given an important task. It seemed logically inconsistent for someone who was hanging on by a thread and really not an effective employee (my self- narrative) to be entrusted with a task that genuinely mattered.

I still feel weak for saying this, but hearing another person say, "It was hard for me when I first joined this team too. Don't worry, you're doing a good job." was all I wanted.

Is Silicon Valley unique in lacking this openness? I suspect not, but have no basis of comparison.

<comment><USER19> I think it's up to us to begin to make that change in our work environments. I've made it a point to be a bit more vocal with new devs whenever I can about the reality of impostor syndrome and that it's 100% normal. Use your experience as a way to guide new hires on your company and slowly, change will come

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> I may get down voted for this but I wonder if this is partly due to the false hype that is associated with being a software developer in Silicon Valley. Young kids with stars in their eyes go out there thinking they are going to hit it big with their startup or working for a hot startup only to discover it is not so easy.

It would be interesting to see stats of suicides or attempted suicides for tech workers in Silicon Valley vs other areas. If much higher in SF to the ratio of workers then that should be something to look at.

<comment><USER21> When you get out of college and enter the work force it is also the first time a lot of people will really see the world as it is instead of how they were taught it was. That can be depressing.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> My cousin used to work there as startup developer. He attempted suicide due to depression and loneliness. He was on SSRI's and Klonopin?. He had trouble with relationships, and was isolated from family (all on the east coast). My uncle brought him back, and our extended family has been taking care of him. He's doing a lot better.

I don't mean to be an armchair psychiatrist, but I think loneliness and or stress can exacerbate depression, and family or something like it can make a world of difference.

<comment><USER23> Yay! I like what your family are doing, that is fantastic. Keep up the good work. Those pills cannot and will not ever be a substitute for what you guys can do with the love that you are offering this cousin.

Hopefully it is not a one-way street, maybe through helping this wayward cousin your wider family have seen this 'getting better' and found reward in that, to be a happier family, even if there have been set-backs and disappointments along the way.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Jobs in our industry are "intense"...

Speaking for myself, I chose this profession, years ago, because I loved problem solving, absolutely loved it...

I also knew I was the type of person who needed a certain amount of time away from other people, for long stretches of time, to "recharge" my social self...

Which means I am, at heart, an introvert...I need time away from people to be at my best....my wife loves me for that...I can't explain why, but she does...I married better than she did in my opinion...

Nevertheless, as our industry "speeds up" I wonder how many excellent "problem solvers" will be pushed beyond their "mechanical limits"...?

<comment><USER25> She probably loves you for that because she gets her own space too, to do things that she likes without having to constantly always think about this anchor of another person.

I'm horrified at the idea of being in a relationship where people don't get their own space to pursue their own interests and grow/learn together but also independently.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> I myself now know that I self selected for software development _because_ of my anxiety, and I think anxious people might be over-represented in the profession.

As we all know programming is complicated, and even the simplest algorithm can produce wildly unexpected results. Anxiety makes you better at detecting danger, and in the realm of software the danger is bugs and bad interactions and so on.

We all approach programming differently, there are some deliberative types, some who wing it etc, but I expect that anxious people may be a big sub- population.

(Also if someone is anxious, it doesn't necessarily mean they are socially anxious or shy. I myself seem 'normal' and can be gregarious and give talks, but I do have trait anxiety.)

</comment><comment><USER27> It seems to me that suicide in tech is talked about a lot (more than in any other profession, except for maybe armed forces), but I have never seen data that it is any more common than in other professions. Can anyone point to some actual data on that?

<comment><USER28> I've heard that the more that you talk about it, the more it is likely to happen...

<comment><USER29> This is getting downvoted, but it is in fact true. Copycat suicides are a very real phenomenon. In general, anything that heightens the mental availability of an action (how easy it is to recall) increases the probability of that action occurring. This causes news reports on suicides to increase incidence of suicide, news reports on mass shootings to increase incidence of mass shootings, and last but certainly not least controversially, violent actions in video games to be causally related to (though neither necessary, nor sufficient for) increases in violent behavior.

This is a basic fact of human neurology that many people have trouble accepting because of the illusion of free will they like to indulge in.

<comment><USER30> I believe you were down-voted because you made a somewhat bold claim without providing evidence. The idea that mass-shooting copycats === suicide copycats is extreme, because they are two very different phenomenas.

Do you have anything that could back it up?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> Perhaps this link is slightly relevant. I just received it last night through an IFTTT alert.

exercise + meditation one hour for two days per week --> 40% reduction in symptoms of major depressive disorder.

To me the results sound a bit too staggering but the most interesting idea is that the researchers believe that exercise + meditation have an additive effect. So meditation or exercise alone is less effective than doing meditation first (breathing meditation, they didn't body scan) and then exercise right after it (running). In my humble opinion, that's an idea worth considering and that's an idea worth implementing in the company's culture. Provided that this study replicates well and is actually true ;)

[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160210134834.ht...](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160210134834.htm)

Sam Altman suggested in Startup School to "fix it" (w.r.t. burnout) because when doing a startup you don't have the luxury of taking time off. This is a way of how to fix it, and if you don't have the luxury to take an hour off to boost productivity, then there's an uneven trade going on (more hours working for less productivity). It's not a silver bullet unfortunately, but then again what is?

<comment><USER32> I always find it curious to treat "exercise" as a boolean.

I have played basketball, football, ran cross country, multiple events in track & field, jogged, lifted weights, snowboarded, played ultimate frisbee, and done daily situps by the hundreds (a la American Psycho).

They all have a different affect on your body and they require differing amounts of preparation and concentration. I don't think all forms of exercise are considered equal and I suspect that different kinds of exercises would likely yield different results.

Notice that many of the examples of exercise I used are team sports and others are individual activities. I don't think this distinction can be ignored. Also, having concrete goals for exercise gives a person a different level of motivation than just a vague "allot X minutes in my schedule for some sort of exercise".

The idea of the combination of exercise + meditation is interesting. I feel like this would also lead to better sleep habits and more concentration and self-regulation of your schedule, which are both beneficial in their own ways.

<comment><USER31> Good points. In addition to team vs. alone the other distinction could be aerobic vs. non-aerobic (emphasis on heart/cardiovascular system vs. emphasis on muscles).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> A mental illness that is actually dealt with perfectly with the line of medications on the shelves is ADHD, in which you get symptomatic remission as long as it's in your bloodstream.

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3568402/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3568402/)

It's not only severe, but will pretty much screw you up(not being able to perceive time and act on time across long distances and all), but hey it works!

Nothing else works as well as what's available for ADHD for other mental disorders.

[http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/289931.php](http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/289931.php) <\-- Showing that adhd doubles your mortality rate compared to the general population. Here is the abstract

[http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-67...](http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736\(14\)61684-6/fulltext)

<comment><USER34> >It's not only severe, but will pretty much screw you up(not being able to perceive time and act on time across long distances and all), but hey it works!

The medication, or the disorder? Because that's a pretty succinct description of ADHD.

<comment><USER33> The disorder.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> I was doing alright until from the stress I developed schizoaffective disorder. I ended up on disability. Once people know you are mentally ill they don't want you around as an employee and find reasons to get rid of you. HR finds out when a doctor diagnoses you and you get psyche medicine on your health insurance. Then you are seen as a liability. So a lot of people don't seek help for fear they might get fired and not be able to work again.

This has to change in the industry so that mentally ill people get help and support so they can keep their jobs and contribute to the company.

When companies think about disabilities they think about people in wheelchairs, the deaf, the blind but not the mentally ill who have a hidden disability and still need support and accommodation.

<comment><USER36> I find it hard to believe that your health insurer informed your employer about a prescribed medication. That would be a serious violation of federal law and most insurers are careful about compliance. More likely your employer found out some other way, or fired you for a different reason.

<comment><USER35> Maybe they found out another way? When I got sick I filed for short-term disability in June 2001. I had doctor's excuse notes, and one of them was from a psychiatrist. I returned in November 2001 and was fired after being back on the job for two weeks. They claimed to have lost my doctor's notes and claimed I did stuff at work during the days I missed. When it went to unemployment the state sided with me as their days conflicted what they claimed, including I was in a hospital for some of the days they claimed I did stuff at work. Someone visited me at the hospital and asked me questions and wrote things down about me. I never knew who they represented. They might have found out by that way.

Anyway since they had the conflicts in the dates, I should have filed a suit with the EEOC. But somehow they knew I was mentally ill and tried to get rid of me because of it. At work I had an episode where I heard two airplanes crashing into the building, so people knew I was hearing things. That could have tipped them off as well.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER37> There's a good book/presentation by Greg Baugues I saw a while back about developers and depression. Essentially, it's about how he had a lot of issues, how he dealt with it, and how we as a whole culture need to help improve repport about mental health.

[https://vimeo.com/72690223](https://vimeo.com/72690223)

</comment><comment><USER38> Many things can help you to overcome feelings of depression. It is not an issue impossible to address. However, what certainly contributes to it, is social isolation. Therefore, the rampant individualization of western/urban society badly exacerbates the problem. Nowadays, many people do not even have something like a wife or a husband. Gone are the days when people would share their lives with someone special to them. They are too immersed in hardcore individualism for that. Another issue contributing to the problem is the lack of spirituality. People often underestimate the therapeutic value of things like religion. Growing levels of atheism and skepticism concerning the meaning of life take away this resource and in that way prematurely terminate lives otherwise worthwhile to live. Medication can obviously do its part to assist with depression, but not on top of the ruins created by hardcore individualization and totalitarian de-spiritualization.

</comment><comment><USER39> Warning: Autoplay video.

<comment><USER40> You da real MVP

</comment></comment><comment><USER41> I suppose they don't. but its still much better to dislike your life and be rich than to dislike your life and be poor. after all one can always get treatment after getting rich and retiring.

</comment><comment><USER42> Oh my gosh, Austen was in my class in college. I didn't know he had passed away until reading this article.

</comment><comment><USER23> I would like to invite some hackers out there to apply the 'hacker approach' of problem solving to the task of helping others that have depression. Please do so out of your own self interest (rather than pity, charity, guilt or social obligation).

At time of writing I only have two people that I go out of my way to 'level the playing field' for. This costs me time and money, real time and real money. For one of my 'clients' I have taken time off work to help them find a proper roof over their head and I covered a few bills to make sure that worked out (things like furniture and food in the cupboards had to be magically paid for). Notionally they are expected to do some work in my sister's allotment when the weather gets better to repay the favour. Obviously I won't hold them to that, this was just a creative device to move things along a bit without there being any feelings of pride getting hurt. Importantly I don't pass on silly advice, e.g. 'you should get a job...' blah, blah.

In this example, why bother??? I could have bought myself toys, or I could have gone on a really exciting city break given the time + money outlay.

Well, to answer that question, yesterday, this mystery 'client' of mine sent me through some jobs that they really wanted to go for. I was hoping that might happen in about 3 months time, no pressure though. But yes, I was delighted that, out of the blue, they should send this stuff through to me. We don't normally talk work, I assumed it was not what they were ready for.

I would describe my approach as fairly hands off, we text/message most days but not all. We do things together about once a week - meals, cinema, gigs, galleries and all those normal things that normal people do as well as just hang out in the reasonably appointed flat.

At the moment I am on a bit of a winning streak with this mystery 'client'. Health has been restored, which to me is quite a miracle, something I did not expect to see. Mystery 'client' also has friends and other social invites out, again quite miraculous given the 'no mates' start.

My 'clients' can be from any walk of life, any age, any gender. I mentor difficult teenagers too, one at a time, with work placement stuff. I am truly stoked with the success I have had on that front, the last two have been no- hopers, total worries to their respective mums. One of them is now at Oxford University, the other at Imperial College. I played a little part in that, helping them become sons their mums are truly proud of. I would say the process was 'osmosis' with no expectation of such stellar results.

Furry animals and elderly neighbours are also on the books from time to time. I am proud of all of them.

Sure I choose carefully, I do not reach out to those with alcohol dependency problems (I have tried though...). However, both of my current 'clients' would possibly be actually homeless without my on-going help.

So, for anyone reading this, please do reach out to others, even if it costs real time and money with no promise of results. Just imagine what the world would be like if everyone able to do so did go the extra mile to help out a couple of others with depression related problems. Imagine how inspiring the world could be.

</comment><comment><USER43> I find this article ironic since every time I visit San Francisco, I see loads of homeless people, many with mental illness, on the streets. I guess Silicon Valley only cares when it is their own.

<comment><USER44> "Only" is a bit uncharitable. The one doesn't exclude the other.

</comment></comment><comment><USER45> I'll tell you an open secret: Focusing very intently on difficult maths for an extended period of time can make almost anyone begin to experience aspects of mental illness.

The physics community has dealt with this, DOD code breakers deal with it, the manhattan project, etc. It's a well studied phenomena because of how it related to the war effort and much of the research documentation is declassified, in the public domain, and is a matter of the historical record.

My point is software development is just another domain where this research applies. This information is generally recognized by the pop culture as evidenced by the fact that there are several blockbuster movies about it, for example the film 'Pi' by Darren Aronofsky and 'A beautiful mind'. However this phenomena is generally not accepted by the startup community. I assume that the reason for this is because recognizing it could theoretically lead to a rise in insurance cases by engineers who developed serious mental illness over time due to prolonged exposure to what were known to be unsafe working conditions. In my opinion it should be thought of as a high risk job akin to scuba instructor, or roofer.

So the whole thing is swept under the rug. Never the less I will give my recommendations as a developer who works all the time and has wrestled with this phenomena in the past:

\- Force yourself to hike/walk/bike outdoors for at least an hour per day. I'm convinced that merely jogging on a tread mill or gym excercise does not have the same benefit. Think of the outdoors (and the sun) as a relief valve for the "cabin fever" effect.

\- A daily Zazen practice (15 minutes+) This is the kind of meditation from Japanese buddhism where you're not trying to accomplish or "do" anything, you just sit, in a good posture. I think of this as putting your overclocked CPU in hibernate mode long enough for the heat sync to do it's thing. I think this can provide a similar effect to having had a couple extra good hours of sleep, and all it costs is a few minutes of your day. The more you practice it, the better it works.

\- healthy diet and exercise

\- yoga (or just plain stretching)

\- Do not under-estimate prolonged caffeine consumption as a likely co-factor for many symptoms. Always eliminate this as a possibility whenever you can

\- As a relaxation excercise take a break during your day and spend a few minutes in a quiet place directing your attention to any area of your back, neck, shoulders, or even your face whereever you expereince a sensation of pressure or weight. Sometimes just stopping to pay attention that these muscle groups are becoming tense is enough to help them relax some.

\- super mellow music at a low volume even if it's not what you prefer generally can help when writing software. Classical music, downtempo, ambient, chill-out, atomospheric drum and bass, even unusual stuff like gregorian chant. It can be slow and boring, after all it's less about entertainment and more about the cumulative effect it has on your brain when used as background music.

example of downtempo genre: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYdebVcZDPw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYdebVcZDPw)

soma.fm/groovesalad plays a good mix imho. There's good studies on this on mice. A good rule of thumb is asking yourself this question "could this song be characterized as 'intense' in any way ?" if so then save it for some other activity

</comment><comment><USER46> ... Let me guess, by moving those afflicted into management? As for the founders, isn't it expected to some degree?

</comment><comment><USER47> A lot of it comes down to exercise and diet. Skipping breakfast after a night of drinking can lead to a low level of blood sugar; this gets worse as we age and has the effect of depression. You have to closely monitor your blood sugar level, even if you have never been diagnosed as having any psychiatric precondition.

<comment><USER38> Besides diet and exercise, there is also the issue of social hygiene. Many people have become hardcore individualists. They do not even have a husband or a wife, let alone have meaningful interactions with other family members. You see, regular sex is not just a way of having fun. It is also something that contributes to your mental well being and assists in keeping you out of depressions and other mental issues. The same holds true for meaning-seeking spirituality such as in religion and meditation. It is one of the things that helps keeping you mentally healthy. For hardcore individualists and anti- spiritualists is their entire lifestyle that is in question.

<comment><USER48> So not being married is a sign of being mentally ill?

<comment><USER49> I think the point was that regular sex is good for mental health.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER50> hey guys I hope to offer some words of comfort.

The delusion is that life is infinite. It is not.

Especially so when we are young. As we get older, we feel like we are running out of time, we haven't done enough.

This is why I think some people commit suicide when their startups dont take off. They can't accept a reality that everything they are doing is ephemeral.

So when your startup fails, or some software you worked on for 4 years without any pay goes to shit because you couldn't get enough customers, brush this shit off because life and universe is ephemeral and even more so ephmeral are the failures to meet your own expectations and others. So what? Failing at startup isn't a fucking crime? There's no Russian mob coming to reclaim the "equity" that you owe them. Similarly if you succeed, the world just goes on. You might get cover, you might serve as inspiration, you will have changed your life and everything money can buy. But I think that in the end, if you think about it, money is important but not the entirety of our human existence.

At age 29, having boostrapped to failure for the past 6 years, I'm no longer hung up about it. Now this might sound like the fox claiming that the grape is sour because he can't reach it, but money, a single fixation on success or a particular product that you built (and you fall in love with your own creation), is unhealthy and frankly a waste of pure fucking energy.

This is why I've given up on chasing one idea or marrying myself to one goal. I'm also slowly turning my back away from bootstrapping and focusing on how I can raise money. The only painful realization is that I could've done 6 years of work in just 6 months with 6 engineers. Now that I've done the entire shit myself from the ground up, I have a pretty fucking good idea how to build something from scratch and turn it into a product. Startup is not a one man game, it's really coming together, sharing the pain and growing as individuals and as a group. Success should be the goal but I believe the process is equally important in getting to that goal. I may not ever reach it and that's fine. What's important is that I've tried the best I absolutely can and being proud of what I've built. That's all you can do and just walk away and keep going.

And don't get caught up with trends, noise, techcrunch and other non-essential activities that adds to the anxiety. Just do you.

Remember that life is ephemeral. Suicide is a permanent approach at a temporary problem! This failure, the stress, the depression, the mania, all this, even the lack of money...all of this is just temporary. Nothing lasts forever.

</comment><comment><USER51> The comments here are a great example of why mental health treatment is such a difficult problem for the tech crowd: Most of the comments are from people who believe they have a better handle a mental health diagnosis and treatment than actual psychiatrists, and many of them are quite wrong. Some of them dangerously so.

Depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, ADHD, and other mental health issues are extremely complex issues that can't be universally explained away by blood sugar or lack of spouses or loneliness as some of commenters here confidently claim. Every case is different, every person has their own complex set of issues and maladaptive coping behaviors and external stressors, and everyone responds to medications and lifestyle changes differently. Perhaps more importantly, navigating all of those individual variations is best left to a close patient-doctor relationship, leveraging each patients' feedback against the doctor's years of clinical experience.

The mistake many people make is trying to map others' mental health disorders on to their own prior experiences. That's why you see so many comments from people confidently declaring that curing depression is as simple as exercising because they felt sad a few years ago but felt better when they started running. That's great, and exercise is likely to help everyone, but that doesn't mean that another person's depression is simply a lack of exercise. Don't ever discount or downplay another person's mental health suffering, because that's only going to make things harder for them. Mental health sufferers often feel significant guilt about their symptoms, and having someone dismiss or downplay their suffering only compounds that.

Modern psychiatry isn't perfect and has plenty of room for improvement, but frankly it's a whole lot better than the comments here make it out to be. If you're struggling with mental health issues, make it a priority to see a professional. Get a second or third opinion if you're not happy with your treatment. But whatever you do, don't get sucked in to the misinformed internet commenters trying to discourage people from seeking treatment. Psychiatry can take some time, but the area under the curve of even marginal mental health improvements can add up to a huge difference over the course of your life.

<comment><USER52> I'm a clinical psychologist who was in charge of the largest randomized controlled trial of online cognitive behavioral therapy for depression (n=500).

There is nothing that annoys me more then the every person is a special snowflake argument for why we can't use standardized treatment for mental health problem.

Exercise works really well for curing depression. I talked to a depressed patient yesterday who had no idea what he could do to combat his depression. I finally convinced him that if he couldn't think of anything else to do he should just try going for a walk and he told me later that it really helped.

I've had that exact conversation a hundred times.

Almost all patients I meet have the faulty belief that they are special. That they function in a way that is different from others and that often make them resist treatment.

Your head is connected to your physical body and therefore we can figure out what helps for everyone in the same way a doctor knows what to do about a broken foot.

Did you know that almost half off patients who suffer from anxiety take too shallow breaths and this creates respiratory alkalosis that creates a lot of the anxiety symptoms.

Did you know that by breathing calmly you will cure yourself from panic attacks? Forever.

Did you know that psychologists know how to cure insomnia in a single session?

The biggest hurdle to overcome is the idea that there exists a magic barrier where your disorder goes from being something that you can cure yourself to something you need a professional for. The barrier is an illusion.

You always have the power to change your mood for the better.

I'm not saying that therapy isn't useful. It is extremely useful and helps people tremendously.

I'm saying that every single individual can make a conscious effort to focus on improving their mental health irregardless of the fact that they are seeing a therapist.

Also. Almost every single person is illiterate about how to treat mental health problems.

I've been a fairly happy person all my life and I believe I owe it to the fact that I developed excellent coping mechanisms.

If you haven't got those you need to learn them. Once you have them it gets much easier to have good mental health.

I'm actually working on building free online treatment for depression right now. It is a work in progress but if anyone is interested they can check it out here.

[https://getpsychologistsnow.com/cbt/depression/](https://getpsychologistsnow.com/cbt/depression/)

<comment><USER53> > I'm a clinical psychologist who was in charge of the largest randomized > controlled trial of online cognitive behavioral therapy for depression > (n=500).

Peer-reviewed study, please?

> every person is a special snowflake argument

Right off the bat, you sound like a condescending asshole. I would never go to more than one session with you if this is how you treat patients.

> Exercise works really well for curing depression.

You really think you _cured_ someone's depression by telling them to take a walk sometimes? Granted, I find strenuous exercise is really helpful, but there are also days where you cannot will yourself out of bed to go to the gym. Having some asshole psychologist tell you that it's your fault just makes things worse.

> Did you know that by breathing calmly you will cure yourself from panic > attacks? Forever.

Yeah, tell this to my girlfriend, who gets _more_ anxious when she's trying to take deep breaths.

> I've been a fairly happy person all my life

Because you never experienced significant trauma, you don't have an imbalance of chemicals in your brain, basically you just won the goddamn lottery. Do you take advice from people who win the Powerball about how to get rich?

> I'm actually working on building free online treatment for depression right > now

This sounds really admirable. Looking at the website, it's so cluttered and confusing I don't think anyone could benefit from it. And it seems like you're recommending that people contact you over Telegram? Like anyone? Just your formal patients? This is a giant ethical and HIPAA minefield, offering professional medical services via text message.

<comment><USER44> I understand why you feel strongly in response to that comment, but please don't cross into personal attack.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER54> It's disgusting and inconsistent that Y Combinator is claiming to be taking a stand against this when it sends people like Buchheit out to attack one of our most talented people, just because Paul Graham doesn't like what he says occasionally.

<comment><USER55> What are you referring to?

<comment><USER56> I'm supposing he's referring to the public dispute Paul Graham and Michael Church have been having for some time.

<comment><USER44> There's no such 'dispute'. It's 100% imaginary.

<comment><USER57> Is this why michaelochurch account hasn't been posting as much lately? I always thought that was the most interesting user that posted here, why push him away?

<comment><USER44> We banned michaelochurch because of [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10017538](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10017538) after a long history of abusing this site and countless requests to stop. Since then he's made up all kinds of things, such as the comment upthread.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Senate approves genetic discrimination ban - <AUTHOR> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7366264.stm <comment><AUTHOR> Hasn't taken effect yet, though. The House hasn't voted.

People already do low-resolution genetic discrimination, in the sense that they don't hire congenitally short people to play basketball. So all this really does is tell people to make the same decisions with less information. Very helpful.

I note that the Ycombinator application asks at least one question an employer could not legally ask -- perhaps one of the major selling points of startups in the future will be that they can evade these silly restrictions.</comment>


How Tracking Protection Works in Firefox - <AUTHOR> http://feeding.cloud.geek.nz/posts/how-tracking-protection-works-in-firefox/ <comment><USER2> Thank you François for the explanation. If you are reading this, did you evaluate various information sources (Ghostery, etc.) before settling on Disconnect? It would be valuable to everyone to know the results of that research; users mostly have to trust the various vendors without knowing how effective they really are.

OT: Does anyone understand why Mozilla publishes valuable information like this over random personal blogs, rather than a central place like a knowledge base (e.g., a wiki)? It makes discoverability, both when the information is published and more importantly when I need it, very difficult.

I know about Planet Mozilla, their aggregated blog feed, but the signal-to- noise ratio is much too low (which isn't a criticism of the content, I just don't have time or interest in that much detail about Mozilla).

<comment><USER3> It's not intentional. Granted, it's not like Mozilla itself decided that fmarier's blog was the best place to put this, he just posted it because it's his blog and he's a smart person. :D

It's actually consequence of a few things (including things I'm not aware of), like:

1\. There is no one team dedicated to writing detailed technical documentation at the level you're talking about, and it's not required as part of submitting a patch.

2\. The details about these implementations change often, making it harder to keep what documentation there is up-to-date.

3\. Firefox is so friggin' big. It'd be a _ton_ of documentation that most users (read: not developers) wouldn't care about.

We have a wiki, but it's more useful to contributors and staff than it is to the general public: [https://wiki.mozilla.org](https://wiki.mozilla.org)

We have MDN (which is also basically a wiki), which is more user-facing in terms of it's content, and it has [https://developer.mozilla.org/en- US/Firefox/Privacy/Tracking...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en- US/Firefox/Privacy/Tracking_Protection), but that doesn't go into detail like this post.

It's tough.

<comment><USER4> It's also quite hard to file a bug. I did just that the other day, didn't want to make an account tried to use my github account, failed at that eventually did make an account. It's a pretty annoying bar to have to create an account with some system just to report a bug (which one should be able to do even anonymously). I understand you're trying your very best and work extremely hard but these little details all taken together add up to a fragmented and inconsistent picture which is something I really find a pity because Mozilla is an absolutely excellent product from a group of extremely capable people.

<comment><USER5> As far as I know, people working on bugzilla have github based login on their radar. Don't ask me for a roadmap though, but people hanging out in #bmo on irc.mozilla.org should be able to fill in details.

Fully anonymous login is an open door to way more spam that we want to handle ;)

<comment><USER4> The github based login is there but it just doesn't work. I figured it would be a bit meta to file a bug for a bugracker...

<comment><USER6> It breaks in the case someone has multiple email addresses associated with their github account. That bug was fixed and will be out soon. :-)

<comment><USER4> Ah, that is exactly the case, I have one for 'business' and one for 'private' stuff. Thank you for the clarification, it was quite a confusing situation because you ended up in an endless merry-go-round.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I'm curious how this behaves in relation to blocking third-party cookies via Settings→Privacy→Accept third-party cookies: Never. I've had this turned on for a year or so.

Also, I wonder what this would catch that uBlock Origin wouldn't? I assume that if it's "good enough" then it's probably the better solution to use in Firefox, especially with the new extension format and multi-process (e10s) coming eventually in Firefox.

<comment><AUTHOR> > _I 'm curious how this behaves in relation to blocking third-party cookies > via Settings→Privacy→Accept third-party cookies_

It doesn't. The option you mention is about cookies acceptance on a first- party vs. third-party policy; trackingprotection is about blocking regular http requests on a blacklist basis.

> _Also, I wonder what this would catch that uBlock Origin wouldn 't? I assume > that if it's "good enough" then it's probably the better solution to use in > Firefox, especially with the new extension format and multi-process (e10s) > coming eventually in Firefox._

I perceive it as exactly this too, a "simple and good enough" solution. Get uBlock Origin (or any other blocker) if you want the bells and whistles and more {white/black}list control.

Nit: e10s has no problems with uBlock Origin at all, it's still working within my e10s-enabled Developer Edition 44.0a2.

<comment><USER7> Ah, you're right about the cookies thing. Regarding uBlock Origin and e10s, you've never gotten the dialog "uBlock Origin is making Firefox run slowly" or similar? I believe that's related to e10s...

<comment><AUTHOR> In a sense, this feature/dialog is "close" to e10s as it's under the same umbrella at Mozilla, the "Snappy" [1] effort to work on performance. But it's not the same:

\- e10s is about making each browser tab an independent process [2]. Some addons have glitches with it, but uBlock Origin is not one of them.

\- The feature you saw just proactively tells users about addons degrading performance and help them disable them or adjust their expectations. See [3]. EDIT hmmm, you _are_ right, actually! The bug explicitly mentions the goal to _" identify add-ons that are causing jank because of their CPOW usage"_, and CPOW is an e10s thing [4]. TIL, thanks :)

[1] [https://wiki.mozilla.org/Performance/Snappy](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Performance/Snappy) [2] [https://wiki.mozilla.org/Electrolysis](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Electrolysis) [3] [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1071880](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1071880) [4] [https://developer.mozilla.org/en- US/Firefox/Multiprocess_Fir...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en- US/Firefox/Multiprocess_Firefox/Cross_Process_Object_Wrappers)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This is only enabled in incognito mode? Is there a way to (about:config?) to switch it on all the time?

<comment><USER9> It's only on in private browsing by default. You can switch it on all the time by setting privacy.trackingprotection.enabled to true in about:config.

<comment><USER10> But it's going to break many sites.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Sounds like this will block hosted analytics solutions like Google Analytics, but the same data is available to the first party site if they roll their own analytics. In this case you're not really adding any protection for the user, just disadvantaging smaller publishers in understanding how their site is being used

<comment><USER12> I don't understand. You are complaining that this blocks third party tracking right? This is what it is meant to do.

<comment><USER13> Google Analytics uses first-party cookies, though, not third-party.

<comment><USER14> that's meerly a technical detail. It fundamentally represents cross site tracking harvested by google.

<comment><USER13> How is it cross-site if the cookie is first-party?

<comment><USER15> Something can be third-party, but not cross-site. Google Analytics is one of those.

<comment><USER13> A third party cookie has a specific meaning. Google Analytics issues first party cookies.

<comment><USER16> Nobody has mentioned third party cookies except you.

Google analytics loads scripts from and sends results to Google. Those requests inevitably include IP address and referrer. That's more than enough.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> so this is really a cross-origin blocker + whitelist.

I wonder if google fonts and jquery CDN and such will get whitelisted. I don't think they should be, but not doing so will break websites even more than flash blocked by default.

I have to say if it's called "tracking protection" it leads to a false sense of security. Browser fingerprinting (and cookies) on the websites you visit still works. The ad-distributer might no longer track you, but sites still can.

A first counterattack on this might also be self-hosted tracking scripts that than push the data to google analytics or the ad-network or whoever demands that you let them track your users to use their service.

</comment><comment><USER11> So now when I build a website and want to use a cookieless domain for assets, my site is going to be broken for Firefox users until I get it blessed by Mozilla?

<comment><USER18> no. how do you come to that conclusion?

<comment><USER11> I read the article? The new feature uses a whitelist provided by Mozilla to determine if a given site is allowed to load an asset from a given external hostname. Their example makes it seem like twitter gets to be blessed with being able to continue loading images, but there's no mention of what smaller publishers need to do to get added to the blessed list

<comment><USER18> > The new feature uses a whitelist provided by Mozilla to determine if a given > site is allowed to load an asset from a given external hostname.

It's not a whitelist, but a blacklist of known tracking sites. Your cookieless domain for assets is not in there.

<comment><USER11> Ahhh I see, so it's like a blacklist paired with a whitelist. I missed that sites not found on the first list would be unrestricted. Thanks for the explanation</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>