The CEO of Whole Foods on "Conscious Capitalism" - <AUTHOR> http://www.zacharyburt.com/2010/04/the-ceo-of-whole-foods-on-conscious-capitalism/ <comment><USER2> I love whole foods and respect John Mackey tremendously... Some people day that Mackey is not really a capitalist or that he's an apologist because he advocates values other than the profit motive.

I think that Mackey's approach is most accurately termed _entertainment capitalism_. We pay extra for the story behind the purchase, and that story adds value to the purchase. We identify with the story and feel better about ourselves after the purchase.

It doesn't matter what the story is... but it's every bit as capitalistic to sell a story + a good/service ... Apple does it, Harley Davidson does it, etc. However most people only buy a new laptop or phone or motorcycle once every few years. Mackey has successfully applied this business model to something people buy one or more times _every single week_.

If I am willing to pay $7 to go to the movies to be entertained for 2 hours, why wouldn't I be willing to pay $30 extra for groceries to be entertained all week long?

<comment><USER3> 'Entertainment' can paint any kind of picture, true or not. There's a huge cost when a consumer discovers she's been duped. Take, for example, <http://www.ethicurean.com/2006/05/18/judys-eggs/>

Here's a company, pushing a brand that's supposedly some little, old Judy who's just figuring out this web stuff and doesn't have time to reply to all her email... BULLSHIT. It's Petaluma Farms, one of the biggest egg producers in California.

The cost of this 'entertainment' affects all producers who honestly portray their products and story. Their messages are discounted and diluted by this bs.

I've spoken with a grocer in the SF Bay area who say most producers are "liars and full of it" because of this kind of advertising. That's what this really is, bs advertising and it doesn't help anyone.

For honest businesses, properly portraying their operations, let's call it what it is... Transparent Capitalism maybe?

<comment><USER2> True... but the question is, does it get less entertaining if it's not true? For most people it doesn't... Mackey himself invoked the quote "The perfect is the enemy of the good" in response to this question...

So, if you fill up your cart at Whole Foods you may not be 100% cruelty free and 100% organic.. maybe you're 40% cruelty free and 30% organic.... the question is, is it worth it to you?

Maybe someone will be able to create a profitable business by making a real promise in the marketing about what kind of food is being sold... But until society is ready for it, it won't be a profitable business. For now people prefer the feel good approach of making a minor difference and signaling it strongly... Just look around at all the Priuses for an example of this phenomenon in action.

Anyway... the perfect is the enemy of the good...

<comment><USER4> I'm not claiming that he's necessarily right, but Slavoj Zizek claims that so- called "consumer capitalism" actually does more harm than good. He says the fiction makes people feel good and complacent, and actually serves to prevent the frustration that leads to real change. I can't find a link, atm, but if I do I'll update the post.

<comment><USER2> I think that's a valid point, but couldn't you argue that any social movement may be imperfect and may actually serve to prevent "real change". After all, social entrepreneurs (revolutionaries, thought leaders) often profit from the existence of the problem they are trying to solve.

<comment><USER4> You probably could. I think perhaps whats different here is that the eco- movement is asking people to do things that make almost 0 difference in reality (taking a shorter shower, remembering to bring your green bag to take home groceries in), but still make them feel like they've made an effort. Perhaps we should only ask people to make changes for things that will make a significant difference, otherwise we risk squandering their will to change on basically pointless actions.

Then again, you could argue that getting people involved at all may lead to better things. Political campaigns use this principle; first they just try and get a sign on your yard. If you'll do that, then they ask for you to talk to your friends, call people, etc. Baby steps.

I'm not sure I'm convinced either way, but it's interesting to think about.

<comment><USER2> That's a _very_ good point. Considering the sorts of things that people are able to ignore (while paying attention to other, highly insignificant things) I think it's mostly about what feels good to the people doing it.

In a world in which seeming "socially responsible" and "environmentally responsible" is a status signal, people will do small things to give off that signal.... while ignoring all sorts of other areas in which the slightest awareness or outrage would lead to immediate change.

<comment><AUTHOR> I've enjoyed reading this discussion.

Psyonic - I'm helping make <http://www.idrumskins.com/CPIT001/index.html> ... would you like to contribute?

grandalf - I'm curious, what do you do professionally?

-Zack email@example.com

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I love how the article ends with ...

"Mr Mackey seems like a wise man and I look forward to meeting him one day. But I'm too price sensitive to shop at Whole Foods – I shop at Trader Joe's, where cheap prices, great product, chill staff and convenient delivery make me a happy customer."

Good example of true capitalism and 'healthy' competition.

<comment><USER2> Trader Joe's sells a lot of garbage. I shop there now and then but if Trader Joe's is a substitute for Whole Foods then you are not shopping for the same sort of items. I've heard rumors that some Trader Joes (such as the one in Boston) have good fresh produce, but none that I've ever shopped in do.

Trader Joe's is essentially a clever white label branding and merchandising strategy. It's a great store, but mostly sells processed, frozen food and lots of junk food and booze.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Oh that's rich. This can't be the same John Mackey who spent years anonymously trashing a competitor's stock so he could scoop them up on the cheap: <http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1133440820070712>

<comment><AUTHOR> It is. Even in the original PDF, though, Mackey explains that they stop their transparency just short of enabling their competitors.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Related: an excellent debate on the social responsibility of business featuring Milton Friedman, John Mackey and T.J Rodgers

[http://reason.com/archives/2005/10/01/rethinking-the- social-...](http://reason.com/archives/2005/10/01/rethinking-the-social- responsi)

<comment><USER8> Thank for the link. That was an excellent debate and good articulation of view points.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Rant: There is no point in hiding an entire article just because I disable JavaScript (noscript default block). View Source and ooh, there's the story. Even if somebody has a 'good reason' for doing this, it's annoying and i'll just work around it. I mean, if I have the peace of mind to disable javascript i'm just going to find another way to view your content without it.

<comment><AUTHOR> I think it's a bug with the "Flow" theme. Suggest an alternative, I'm definitely ready to move on.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> As is said, he sounds like an a great guy. However we should not accept what he says just because of that. The fact is that his business model will lead to success and that is what should sell it to other CEOs.

His picture looks very similar to the core values in the Lincoln Electric approach. They have achieved profitable success for over 100 years. What more could you ask?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, if you look more depth in the PDF, Whole Foods is really killing it, especially when compared to competitors or even the S&P 500.</comment></comment>


Cats and Boobs - family entertainment portal from Russia - <AUTHOR> http://catsboobs.com/

<comment><AUTHOR> This site is in Russian.

It might look like a spam, but in reality this is an example of [mini/funny/humorous] Russian website from some members of local start-up community.

Highly recommended if you want to take a brake from coding!

Enjoy :-))</comment>


Ask HN: Which Java connection pool? - <AUTHOR>

c3po seems to be the choice dbcp is coming back to life - has it? others - bone? <comment><USER2> DBCP seems to be a safe bet: [http://wix.io/2013/06/12/how-many-threads-does- it-take-to-fi...](http://wix.io/2013/06/12/how-many-threads-does-it-take-to- fill-a-pool/)

But I think the new connection pool in Tomcat might be interesting as well.</comment>


Kodak: Gone in a flash  - <AUTHOR> http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/01/kodak-files-bankruptcy-protection-1

<comment><USER2> I'm glad this obituary pointed out that Kodak's demise fits a common pattern among successful behemoths -- failing to react to disruptive technologies. It must have been easy for Kodak to ignore digital photography at first when professional photographers, its core customer base, derided the first digital cameras as inferior toys. I am yet again reminded of an essay Dan Bricklin wrote (I couldn't find a link, anyone?) where he noted on a train how mobile phone users gladly traded the fidelity of landlines (dropped calls) for convenience (speaking while riding) -- a rational trade-off which cost AT&T dearly. Digital photography didn't produce better photos than film for quite awhile, but it offered up advantages which professional photographers probably didn't care much about: convenience, lower skill level (due to instant review), etc. And, of course, the rest is now history.

<comment><USER3> Digital photography is one of those things where terms like "disruptive" grossly understates the reality. (More like "destroyer".) 35MM film cost $5 a roll and prints were $10 to $50 a roll (including the bad ones). Meanwhile, digital photography was free to shoot, and a couple bucks to print per (if you cared). I can't think of any scenario where a company would give up on that magnitude of revenue for some small percentage of IP licensing on the "next big thing".

It's easy to attack Kodak in the abstract sense, but I have yet to see an analysis that shows a clear path out of this conundrum. If anything, I'm sympathetic to the arguments that Kodak did not support professional film markets longer than they did.

<comment><USER4> As icegreentea noted elsewhere in the comments, The Economist recently compared Kodak to Fujifilm, which has done rather better at transitioning from film.

<http://www.economist.com/node/21542796>

[http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/01/how- fujifi...](http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/01/how-fujifilm- survived)

<comment><USER3> It should be noted that Fuji was more on the $5 film roll side and less on the $30 processing, so they had less to lose. Kodak supplied chemicals and paper to the entire industry.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> It's worth noting that Kodak was a leader in digital cameras even in the 1980s. It's also worth considering the impact of vertical integration: companies like Samsung and LG also make phones, giving their own CCD makers a boost. In order for Kodak to survive, it would need to be a vastly trimmed down CCD maker or expand into the mobile phone market. That is, there was simply little way for Kodak to remain viable as an independent company.

</comment><comment><USER6> Two other nice economist articles from this week's paper edition, published before Kodak filed.

[http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/01/how- fujifi...](http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/01/how-fujifilm- survived) <http://www.economist.com/node/21542796>

Nice analysis there, and a nice contrast with Fujifilm. Makes a nice narrative as a bonus.</comment>


Review our startup:  FlowMingle - Online Dating for the Social Internet - <AUTHOR> http://flowmingle.com

<comment><USER2> Nice logo.

Get rid of the b&w stock image on the homepage.

Keep wording consistent: change "Complete our simple registration" to "Complete our simple sign-up form". On the registration page, change the "register" button to "Sign Up!"

Keep your logo in the top left corner of all your pages. It's nice that it gets out of the user's way after moving off of the homepage, but it's confusing.

Use a feedback form like the one on slacker.com (i.e. omnipresent) -- you'll be much more likely to get good feedback that way.

I really like the homepage design, but the content in the center of the page should be simpler and draw in users' attention (e.g. <http://pixtures.s3.amazonaws.com/misc/mingle-process.jpg>). You can offer a detailed explanation of your service after the user signs up -- or on the "see how it works" page... Or even just a little lower on the homepage.

Your homepage actually convinced me to sign up, but the "On your way to the MingleWeek" page is just plain daunting. So much text. No images. No simple instructions. Too much work before I'm able to see a reward. After I confirm my email address I should be taken to a page titled "Upload Your Photo" (i.e. no "Create Some Portraits") and there should be a big "upload" button in the center of my field of vision. While the homepage is really inviting, the pages after sign-up are less than inspiring.

The "Make a First Impression" page is cool. Make it easier to submit content. Don't even bother having multiple fields under the "Music" tab (i.e. Song, Musician, Album). Keep it simple: "Song Name" is enough. People will write "Song Name - Artist Name" in a single text field if they're so inclined. I would also suggest making all of the tabs omnipresent (e.g. [http://pixtures.s3.amazonaws.com/misc/getting-to-know- you.jp...](http://pixtures.s3.amazonaws.com/misc/getting-to-know-you.jpg)).

"Terms and Conditions, coming soon!" heh :)

P.S. Try to find a way to encourage a friendly atmosphere and community. That's why people visit social websites: the community. I would invite some of my friends to your service if there was a more compelling reason than "As the FlowMingle community grows, so do the number of people you can choose from." It seems like what you're trying to do is make a site geared more towards friends casually hanging out, having fun, and getting to know each other -- and I think that's great. Formal dating is overrated.

Cool concept. Good luck.

<comment><USER3> I really appreciate you taking the time to create/post the visuals of your ideas, and they are good ones. Many thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> First, Good luck. There needs to be a winner in this area & I don't know of any candidates. I kind of feel that the secret sauce is something that needs to be discovered not invented. These are my thoughts (no particular order).

1\. Most players are paid services. I think there is a good chance that whatever winner emerges will be a free service or at least free for 90% + of active users. The service is essentially better if it is free (network effects but more then that: You can take it lightly if it's free. It's serious business if it's paid) so any paid service would be in constant danger of a free clone emerging.

2\. Let non-singles get involved. Encourage meddling. Set other people up. Introduce, create polls on who should be together. I dunno, something in that area. Maybe think along the lines of 14 yr olds instead of 30 somethings using a professional dating service. The former have fun. The latter do not.

3\. Let people approach this from an angle. Just like in real life. Meeting in singles bars, via introductions, pickups etc. is only one way. Most people prefer meeting someone at work, meditation workshops or University. Dunno how you'de do that online, but it would be interesting if you could piggyback on ways people interact with each other online already. Facebook/Myspace is an obvious path. But maybe Digg, blogs, wiki editing, amazon reviews or even HN might provide a thread to pull on.

4\. Be un-sleazy & you have an immediate edge (design looks right for this). That feeling that half the users are fake, that they inflate women or men's numbers... That's will be on users minds (good reasons too). All that damage needs to be mended.

5\. Try to build in dynamism. However this is gonna work, I doubt anyone can predict the whole picture. Find some ways to let users find ways of dating online rather then handing them a system.

6\. Let the kids show you how to do it. Maybe you should try & focus on getting dates for 14 yr olds. They might pave some sort of a path.

7\. Maybe focus on the non market. There's a tendency to focus on those people that are having trouble. They're very goal oriented. There is a problem that they're going to fix. So many services are tailored around filling that whole. But there it might be easier to get earlier successes with those that will probably get a date this month anyway. You just fill the 'how'.

<comment><USER5> _6\. Let the kids show you how to do it. Maybe you should try & focus on getting dates for 14 yr olds. They might pave some sort of a path._

The only problem with this idea is that it's dangerous. The reputation of the Internet is that of a haven for pedo predators...you make a dating site for 14 year olds (or even allow them on your site) and you will bring down the wrath of every Sarah Palin-loving soccer mom in America (i.e. the really dumb ones, who believe it when Oprah tells them that pedophiles are organized, after their children, and have over 9000 penises).

Besides that, kids from high school through college _already_ have tremendous dating-related interactions at school. They're not short of new people to hit on and flirt with. I just don't think it's a very good market to go after, even if it wasn't a death wish from a legal and political perspective.

But, it _should_ be kept fun, distinctly non-sleazy, and light. I've always been totally turned off by the "Find your soul mate, who has passed our credit check and has a valid US ID.

<comment><USER6> _The only problem with this idea is that it's dangerous. The reputation of the Internet is that of a haven for pedo predators...you make a dating site for 14 year olds_

Hence the market opportunity: a social site for kids/adolescents -- or security tool for same -- that ensures that users are the ages they say they are, and only allows close-in-age interactions. In fact, there is already at least one angel-funded startup working on this very concept. They work with schools to confirm user identities and ages:

[http://www.thefrankpetersshow.com/2008/07/eguardian_protects...](http://www.thefrankpetersshow.com/2008/07/eguardian_protects_kids_online.html)

 _TCA deal lead Steve Block liked what he heard about eGuardian before they even presented! He had another company that was dealing with children online. Steve would put the two companies together and bring the critical focus to transform eGuardian.

Attorneys General from 49 states are pressuring social networking sites to protect kids. eGuardian partners Ron Zayas and Robert Patrick have a new approach to protecting children while they're online._

<comment><USER5> _Hence the market opportunity: a social site for kids/adolescents_

Which isn't what they've built. It seems like maybe you're after a different business entirely. It might be a _good_ business, but I don't think it's the one the OP is trying to build.

<comment><USER6> I was addressing your response to Netcan's suggestion. Social networking is not an area I am interested in, but I happen to have previously listened to the eGuardian episode of the Frank Peters Show, and it popped into my head when you mentioned security problems with social-networking sites for 14-year- olds.

Another point about market opportunity: some high-school and college students go to same-sex institutions (which might be a good idea, since it minimizes distraction, and hence could become more popular over time).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> From what I saw, the site looks decent. The design is pretty good, the registration wasn't painful. I didn't really get to see much.

My main thought: I have to do way too much work before I can see the benefits to using your site. I can't see pictures of people or anything. I'm not going to fill out all of this information, upload pictures, etc with no idea if there are any hot chicks on there. Try and show people the value before asking them to make a time commitment.

<comment><AUTHOR> Indeed. For someone who is already skeptical about 'online dating' (and they should be with the crap out there now) i think it would be difficult to 'believe in it' enough to jump through all of our hoops!

As soon as we actually have some members and pictures, etc. we will show people a sort of small network that includes people they may be in a MingleWeek with.

Totally agree.

<comment><USER8> I agree with the other comments that customers will need some sort of immediate gratification, especially if you expect them to pay.

I think the mingling concept of the site is a great idea. Are the members put into MingleWeeks manually or is it by some sort of automated algorithm? I'm assuming the latter.

I couldn't find anywhere on the site that says how long it takes to put those groups together. I think you need to set some expectations as far as that goes.

So I created an profile and answered some questions about myself. Now I'm waiting for MingleWeek to begin. I didn't pay and I only spent a few minutes so it really doesn't matter if it takes a few hours or days or weeks for MingleWeek to start. If it never starts I'm only out my small time investment.

If I paid on the other hand, I feel like I'm in limbo with no idea of when I'll see results or if anything is even happening. Sure I can continually update my first impression but I'm not likely to spend any more time until I know whether it will "pay off" or not. Does that make sense?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> "Start on a Monday, have a date by Saturday"...makes it sound like a website done by enterprise software peddlers (or AdultFriendFinder :) ). Something a bit less precise and goal oriented, and more fluid, to go with the concept of mingling perhaps? To "mingle" somehow makes me think of stepping off my routine treadmill and getting to know people in a lazy, smell-the-flowers- along-the-way setting.

</comment><comment><USER10> I really liked it. Good, interesting & original take on an age-old problem.

Good name too. "Mingle" sounds non aggressive, laid back and cool... exactly what I want in a dating site.

I really see this being a success. I'm not flattering, nor am I kidding. Good Luck!

</comment><comment><USER11> I am concerned that you'll place me in a group with 19 other YC men who are similar to me. I can do that at a hacker meetup!

</comment><comment><USER12> I haven't created an account to try it out but I have spent some time browsing your main page, features page, and sign-up form.

Your information is presented cleanly and looks good. I wasn't sure about the background at first but after a few minutes looking at the site I've decided I like it.

Heres what I really love: "We want you to have a date next weekend" and "Start on Monday, have a date by Saturday". That's a very powerful message, almost a promise, and if I had come across the site whilst actually looking for a date it would definitely make me spend some time there.

I like your idea too - it seems to make sense that spending more time sharing messages etc with a small group of people over time is more likely to yield a connection than searching a database of thousands of people and spamming them with requests to hook up.

I have bookmarked your site and will refer back to see how you do over time. Good luck :)

<comment><USER13> I like "Start on Monday, Have a Date By Sunday" better. It sounds more pleasing to the tongue (since it rhymes). The phrase they use now is semantically nice, but not as stylistically pleasing.

<comment><USER14> Except, who goes out on a Sunday - the Day of Rest?

I know, many people, but still, conventions are important and Saturday is still the conventional "fun day".

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> You can join using a last name of 'Demo' to try the site out without actually being placed in a real, date seeking group.

<comment><USER15> What if someone's name is actually Demo?

<comment><USER3> Well, then I suppose we will be adding another unfortunate event to his/her life... and with Demo as a name, even FlowMingle couldn't help much ;)

<comment><USER16> According to a quick search, "69 People found that match Demo in the state of California." I noticed 1 or 2 with the name "Demos", but other than that.....

Perhaps, since sign-up as "Demo" is special functionality anyways, you could ask the user to confirm that they're "Demoing" the account or if their name actually IS "Demo".

Albeit, 69/36.5m < 0.0002% of the population so you could probably get away with letting the user know that they're been automatically "Demo'd" and only fix it if you have to.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Interesting concept. I have a suggestion about the presentation: Right now there are very few pictures of people on the website. There's some tiny ones on the front page (the b&w one doesn't count), and then even tinier ones in the screenshots on the tour. But mostly what I'm looking at are pictures of web pages.

If I go to a dating site, I'm looking for people. As it is, I look at your site and get the sense that it's all about web pages rather than about people. (I'd imagine this might be especially offputting to women.)

I know you don't have any users to show off now, but I'm sure you could find some suitable stock photos.

</comment><comment><USER18> I signed up for a site like this before.... never heard from them again. Good luck making it popular enough to work.

<comment><AUTHOR> out of curiosity, what site was it? and how were they like us?

Thanks for the good luck!

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> I just really like the concept. I am glad that someone is approaching the on- line dating scene in a more collaborate and, well, personal way. It would be interesting to take this slant toward meeting collaborators for projects, or just a group of friends, as well as someone that you like there personality.

</comment><comment><USER20> The idea sounds great, but if you are actually looking for a date, this seems to provide more hassle than it's worth (why should I wait a week to contact someone?, why the structure? I'd rather do things my way). Have you gotten feedback from people who actually use dating sites?

</comment><comment><USER21> A couple of points which stopped me from signing up:

* Why do I have to sign up using my real name? I'm not sure I'd want that plastered all over a dating site.

* As someone living in Canada, I don't have a valid ZIP code.

<comment><USER8> I was originally put off by having to use my real name at first too (especially since it doesn't say how it's used). Turns out they use your first name and last initial although I'm not sure if this is shown to other members. I believe this is what Yahoo uses also.

I can see how this could be a turn off to some people but realistically if you're serious about online dating, your profile probably needs at least one good photo to yield any worthwhile results. And they're required for this service as well.

match.com uses usernames instead of real names but I don't need to see a person's first name to recognize her from the cube down the hall.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> would any of the folks who signed up as demo users want to go through a fake mingle, updating on the hour instead of the day to get a better feel for how things work?

</comment><comment><USER23> Tried to create a profile, but failed when I got to the picture step. In my first attempt I tried to upload a bitmap. I don't see any reason why you don't support this format. Size isn't the reason, as it's already been uploaded to your servers when you reject it. I converted the file to a tiff, uploaded it, and was stuck staring at a "Loading" screen. I tried both IE and Firefox, but never got past that point.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for pointing this out. Both TIFF and BMP should work just fine now.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> How is this easier/quicker than real life dating? The difference between online and real life 'dating' is that online dating takes way too much time.

<comment><USER5> I think this is a big problem with the whole concept. In real life, a glance, flushed cheeks and a smile tells you everything you need to know about basic attraction. Online, there's the back and forth over bullshit like music and film and food (which all matters to long-term relationships...but without the spark, there won't be a long-term) before you ever even get to meeting the person face to face. I don't know if going online can ever really make it more efficient.

<comment><AUTHOR> "In real life, a glance, flushed cheeks and a smile" aka The Moment. Could this happen online? Sure, and it undoubtedly does, but we recognize how rare this is, and understand that The Moment is much more likely to occur face to face.

FlowMingle is all about consistently providing you with a group of eligible, interested, and feasible people, helping you get to know them a bit, then facilitating some type of direct contact. Essentially, we want to provide you with as many opportunities as possible for The Moment to occur, by lowering the cost of finding a date. Most people do not consistently meet and interact with 10 other interested people in a week, and in this way FlowMingle is a very efficient use of your time.

We do not believe it is our job, or even within our ability, to 'create love', 'find your soulmate', 'provide a sure-thing hookup', etc. Instead, we focus on leveraging what the web does best(sharing information, facilitating communication, bringing people together, organizing activity) to help you do what you do best, face to face.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> Wow! This is a cool idea!

Some of the art could use some changes, but the core idea looks like fun! Perhaps you could also add something along the lines of principle components analysis so that you don't only use random groups from your area - you want to have a netflix kind of thing going on mixed with some truly random ones.

Good luck guys!

<comment><AUTHOR> So we match people based on demographics (age, ethnicity, children?, etc.). We also match based on the Media you include in your First Impression. After you have been through a MingleWeek, we have data about who you rated highly and so we can compose groups based on common affinity.

<comment><USER25> Ah I suspected you guys were using a more complex algorithm than advertised on the site ^_^. Good luck!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> nicely done! good to see an original take on online dating.

i wouldn't worry about the background. for every person you find that doesn't like it, you'll find someone who will. people are visiting the site for a reason. they probably won't even notice the background.

</comment><comment><USER27> the name is incredibly unappealing.

<comment><USER28> It does make me think about drains, sewers, menstruation, etc.

<comment><USER29> Those all seem relative to the dating genre.

But really? That is what comes to mind?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> Smaller font will do better

</comment><comment><USER31> not a fan of the background

<comment><AUTHOR> the background has been a point of contention amongst us. it seems to be polarizing, either you like it quite a bit, or not.

<comment><USER28> The soft-focus effect that the glowing creates is really disturbing.</comment></comment></comment>


Jerry Seinfeld to Push Vista for $10 Million - <AUTHOR> http://www.appscout.com/2008/08/jerry_seinfeld_to_push_vista_f.php

<comment><USER2> Someone's getting desperate. I mean, hiring a comedian to make your OS look good? That's not a good sign, is it?

I mean, it's an OS, not a gaming console. I don't want it to be funny, hip, cool, or otherwise "in" - if that's what I had wanted I'd have switched to Mac a long time ago. What I want is an OS that... works. But it seems that I'm asking for too much, so now I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place (win32 systems developer, who really prefers Ubuntu as an OS).

<comment><USER3> I was going to say the same thing, but I tried--to use a George-ism--doing the opposite. If Apple announced they were retiring "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" in favour of something new with Jerry Seinfeld, would I be excited? No, but I wouldn't declare they were desperate.

So... MSFT are desperate, but although this _feels_ like a desperation move to me as well, I don't know if it's entirely fair to say that hiring Jerry Seinfeld is an act of desperation in and of itself.

<comment><USER2> Well, Apple has long made its "bang" by focusing on what's cool. While their products also do _just work_ and tend to get the job done, their cash comes from the fact that it's cool to get the job done _the Mac way_.

Microsoft's "name" comes (came?) from reliability in the business industry, where code you wrote almost two decades ago DOS 5 would run on Windows XP today (assuming you used their APIs for everything). Windows 2000 was a fast, snappy, _and efficient_ OS that got the job done. Windows XP has a bit more "homey" but as the years passed and the service packs came in, it grew to fit that same role.

Windows has never been advertised as a truly "fun" OS until Vista's "the WOW starts now" campaign; unfortunately, I get the feeling that they're turning to the hip crowd because they've failed to stand out in any other way. From performance to reliability, Vista has flopped (I'm using it now, fulltime) - so they're looking for anything else that may save them some face.

So while it's no biggie for Apple to start advertising through Sienfeld, it is for Microsoft who have never been the sort of people to do this kind of thing.

<comment><USER4> This isn't just a-typical it's dangerous. They are trying to be something they are not.

Mac vs PC is not a symmetric fight.

If apple wins 1% of windows users, its a big win (somewhere around 10% increase in sales). But it doesn't work both ways. If windows 'steals' 25% of mac users, it's less then a 2% increase in windows sales. (& reaching those markets with airtime costs the same)

Windows could have beaten that just by reducing replacement time by a few months.

Going after Apple's (tiny) market, with their hands tied (Vista isn't fun) for meagre rewards isn't smart.

<comment><USER5> Furthermore, the more attention Microsoft calls to itself, the most it endangers itself. Because - with respect to Windows users - most people get wowwed over by what Mac does, and inertia stops them from switching. When Microsoft tries to push themselves, they make users move around, and Microsoft is the most endangered by that set-up.

<comment><USER3> Reminds me of high-end Backgammon strategy theory. One or the other of two players in match play benefits from volatility, and part of the struggle will always be that player attempting to mix things up while the other player attempts to settle things down.

Microsoft probably benefits from low volatility in the market, while Apple and Linux benefit from high volatility.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> He's definitely a Mac guy, but I can't blame him. For $10m I'd promote cigarettes to cute at-risk kids.

<comment><USER7> You'd sell your soul and push cancer onto kids for $10M? Seriously?!

<comment><USER8> 10M is a lot of sleeping pills

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Yet on the show, Jerry had a Mac.

<comment><USER10> Vague recollection...he had a IIc in the first season.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_IIc>

<comment><USER11> I think it was a SE/30 or something in a similar case anyway.

<comment><USER6> There were various Macs through the years, including a SE/30, PowerMac 6100 and a Duo with Dock. The last one I remember was a 20th Anniversary, but that's so easily recognizable there may have been one after that I'm missing.

IIRC, in one of the DVD commentaries they talked about the Macs and noted that none of them were paid for by Apple, that's just what they used (or something to that effect). Sort of like his Superman promotions.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12>
        'Microsoft explains the concept thusly: "Windows, Not Walls," which involves "break[ing] down barriers that prevent people and ideas from connecting." '

you can't have windows without walls :D So windows now has no walls(they are broken down) so now the windows just float around?(strange, but they do actually float around in Vista :D) Weird

<comment><USER10> _you can't have windows without walls_

<http://tinyurl.com/5dtdn3>

<comment><USER12> That looks like glass walls with no windows to me :D

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Could we kill this thread? It's troll-bait bait.

<comment><USER14> Agreed. Here's an article with much less bias from InformationWeek:

[http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml...](http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=210102262)

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> i thought Vista would run poorly on my 3 year old comp since my $300 graphics card committed suicide some time ago and i'm forced to use the terribad onboard graphics. but recently i installed it on a spare harddrive and it runs smoothly, Aero and everything

in fact it runs better than XP O_O i'm sure the 2gb RAM i have helps. i'm guessing the cases of sluggishness that people have been reporting are mostly due to insufficient RAM or older driver issues

<comment><USER2> Sorry, but that's not the case for everyone.

I bought a new PC specifically because I attributed Vista's poor performance to my old PC's poor specs; but the new PC is almost _exactly_ the same performance.... though it's way out there as far as specs are concerned.

Vista x64 SP1 running on a WD Raptor 150, 8GB of RAM, a E6750 running at 3.2GHz - and still terrible performance. XP on this machine flies like crazy, and Ubuntu is great. Only Vista can manage to take so long to copy files to and from my USB drive, spend half an hour to empty the recycle bin, or move a file over the network - it's I/O performance is a serious hole-in-the-tub kind of affair.

(Note: I'm a Windows guy. Ubuntu is my preferred OS/distro; but I'm on Windows 90% of my time thanks to my job (which I love) as a systems engineer for Windows platforms.)

<comment><USER16> I had some really egregious file IO performance when I first got a new computer with Vista on it, but that seems to have mysteriously cleared up. Winzip was especially bad taking minutes to open archives that took xp seconds to do on a much slower computer.

<comment><USER15> i heard the file stuff was an issue with the initial vista, but it was cleared up by SP1: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Windows_Vista#File...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Windows_Vista#File_operation_performance)

that link also mentions that file operations on Vista may seem to take longer because the file transfer dialog stays up during the whole operation, whereas in XP it can be closed before the operation has actually completed

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> What's the deal with Apple? I can buy twice the hardware for 1/2 the price when I go the PC route.

<comment><USER18> What's the deal with a Porche? I can buy 4 cars for the price of a Porche.

Sort of a silly argument isn't it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> The WSJ article on this says "Microsoft Corp., weary of being cast as a stodgy oldster by Apple Inc.'s advertising, is turning for help to Jerry Seinfeld."

He's 54. I'm not one to be ageist (cause I'm old) but MS can't seem to get anything right.

</comment><comment><USER20> Every time I see the title I read it as:

Jerry Sentenced to Push Vista for $10 Million

</comment><comment><USER21> The money would've been better spent had it gone to me.</comment>


I pitched my startup to Y Combinator for $150k and got rejected (15 min vid) - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hLMOVBzz2o <comment><USER2> I don't get the point of this? Are you just documenting your overall experience or are you trying to get insight into why they might have rejected funding your startup?

Where at in the video do you start discussing your app's pitch.</comment>


How far can you get from a McDonald's in the continental US? - <AUTHOR> http://www.weathersealed.com/2009/09/22/where-the-buffalo-roamed/

<comment><USER2> The most interesting thing about this article to me is where the author got the data -- <http://www.aggdata.com> .

I ran across aggdata some time ago while looking for a list that they happened to provide for free. They provide niche data that they scraped from the internet. Their data is cheap enough that it's not worth trying to scrape the data yourself. I think the business model can be duplicated easily and there is plenty of room on the long tail.

<comment><USER3> Yeah. Good stuff.

I once scraped the data for Starbucks in Manhattan and it was a bit of a pain: <http://gawker.com/011483/gentrification-map> (2003? I feel old.)

<comment><USER4> OT but first thing that I thought of (logistics were crazy):

Comedian/Filmmaker Mark Malkoff attempts to visit all 171 Starbucks stores in Manhattan in one day.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwYxuV2dVzw>

<comment><USER5> Traveling salesmen, with 171 locations, in Manhattan, ouch.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> _I've actually been there. It was a surreal feeling, one that is hard to explain in words. There was something about that place that made me feel alive, free from constraints, for some reason I could think clearer, and hunt for the answers._

 _There is also a really nice Arby's there._

src: [http://www.reddit.com/r/geek/comments/9nbyc/on_a_recent_road...](http://www.reddit.com/r/geek/comments/9nbyc/on_a_recent_road_trip_i_decided_to_compute_the/c0di3j4)

</comment><comment><USER7> I would have guessed that it was in Oregon's "empty quarter". There is a whole lot of nothing in southeastern Oregon:

[http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&...](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=oregon&sll=45.409568,11.876589&sspn=0.303691,0.891953&ie=UTF8&ll=43.025734,-118.523254&spn=0.632482,1.783905&t=h&z=10&layer=c&cbll=43.039014,-118.15899&panoid=qzgq5LvMGuBmm- qp1wX0vg&cbp=12,307.75,,0,-4.77)

It's extremely desolate: it's very cold in the winter, hot in the summer, and dry year round, so nothing much grows out there.

But it's a fascinating place to explore if you like big empty spaces (or at least like them once in a while - I wouldn't want to live there).

<comment><USER8> _It's extremely desolate: it's very cold in the winter, hot in the summer, and dry year round, so nothing much grows out there._

Oh man, you have no idea; some _really_ good shit grows in that part of the country.

<comment><USER7> I think most of the drug operations are in western Oregon, actually, which has an extremely different climate.

<comment><USER9> Try underground containers in northern Ontario. I heard someone there joke that Canada now grows the larger amount of its cash crops underground...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> The answer, for those too lazy to read the article:

\--- Between the tiny Dakotan hamlets of Meadow and Glad Valley lies the McFarthest Spot: 107 miles distant from the nearest McDonald's, as the crow flies, and 145 miles by car! \---

</comment><comment><USER11> If you like this kind of stuff, then OpenStreetMap is for you. Because it is free and open you can use the data to create such visualisations easily. Granted of course, that someone (how about you) added the information you want to look at.

</comment><comment><USER12> McDonalds restaurants (per capita) by country

[http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/foo_mcd_res_percap-food- mc...](http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/foo_mcd_res_percap-food-mcdonalds- restaurants-per-capita)

</comment><comment><USER13> Does anybody know how that map was generated? What software can easily assemble geolocated data into a nice glowing map? I assume you could do it manually via processing or similar, but there's gotta be something pre- assembled.

<comment><USER14> If you are willing to pay money, tools like AmMaps and Tableau can fill the "pre-assembled" requirement.

For free, you can use the Many Eyes project to do this kind of visualization as long as you can transform your data source into the required format.

There was also a neat proof of concept that someone from the OpenLayers community did a while back:

<http://crschmidt.net/mapping/choropleth.html>

I've used that code in my Mozilla Metrics to generate some nice choropleth maps.

Finally, there is the code that I worked on as part of the Mozilla downloadstats visualization. It reads a JSON feed of locations and puts markers on a Canvas map. <http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/stats/>

<https://svn.mozilla.org/metrics/downloadvis>

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> No its not in the CONUS, but many moons ago I was at Fort Greely, Alaska. When I was done with my tour and if conversation turned to the topic of my past travels, people would ask the whereabouts of Ft Greely. I say it was 100 miles south of Fairbanks. I usually get a small nod. When I then followed up with "and 90 miles from the nearest McDonalds" their eyes usually got bigger.

</comment><comment><USER16> I would guess a map showing a dot for every 25k people would look very similar.

</comment><comment><USER17> And I suddenly regret taking I-90 on my last drive through SD. Damn!

</comment><comment><USER18> Vermont?

<comment><USER19> Vermont is only 160 miles long and 80 miles wide and probably has a good 20-25 mcdonalds.

(Although it is the only state to not have one in the capital city, also the only state to not have one in its largest city)

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> and that my friends is a lot of saturated fat...</comment>


New York Times Resume - <AUTHOR> http://nyisaac.tumblr.com/

<comment><USER2> This probably speaks more to my lack of attention, but it took me a while to realize what this is. Too easy to look at the real articles. Also, [http://www.isaac.ink/](http://www.isaac.ink/) appears to be a looping video with nothing else going on??

<comment><AUTHOR> perhaps it's too artistic?

<comment><USER2> I like it, but I was expecting it to be an intro into something else. There's no real call to action or _funnel_ here.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks and noted. It's a work resume in progress.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Feature rich messaging app for the terminal - <AUTHOR> https://www.zelta.gq <comment><USER2> Looks very nice. Would be nice to be able to get a public chatroom list like in IRC.</comment>


Invent More, Toil Less (2016) [pdf] - <AUTHOR> https://www.usenix.org/system/files/login/articles/login_fall16_08_beyer.pdf <comment><USER2> The Google SRE book has an excellent description of toil and, unexpectedly, discusses that some amount of toil is beneficial.

In short, the authors of that section claim that it's not really possible for the SREs at Google to spend all their time solving novel problems through automation.

This makes sense: constantly solving new problems is hard. It takes lots of time, mental energy, and the outcome is inherently uncertain.

Google found that some amount of toil (roughly defined as repetitive tasks that are not particularly challenging and do not solve long term problems) is essential for the health of their engineers. Toil is boring yes, but can be relaxing, and as work that is inherently easier to accomplish, can help keep confidence that working on solving unknown problems can deplete.

I would have expected that Google would have absolutely minimal toil, given that they are leaders in the automation space, but if they've found that some amount of easier work is necessary, then it's probably true for anyone.

<comment><USER3> > Toil is boring yes, but can be relaxing, and as work that is inherently > easier to accomplish, can help keep confidence that working on solving > unknown problems can deplete.

I think it is important for all roles to have a cadence that mixes easy tasks in with the challenging ones so that every day doesn't seem like a drag.

For example, I prefer to start my day by knocking out a couple of easy bug fixes before diving into some challenging development.

<comment><USER2> I'm exactly the same way. If I can get a few things checked off my todo list early, I'm nearly guaranteed to at least feel like I had a good day.

<comment><USER4> That seems like a good strategy but maybe we should also work towards a mindset of enjoying the process of working on hard problems even if apparently fruitlessly. Whenever I feel I'm spinning my wheels I remind myself thats how I learned what I know and my best breakthroughs usually come when I think its a dead end.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is a good example of the "capability trap" dynamic[0][1]: there is always short-term pressure that crowds out long-term capability building. The longer you neglect the capability-building, the worse your capability gets, the higher the pressure.

The only way out is to acknowledge that you will take the hit in a "worse before better" phase.

[0] [http://web.mit.edu/nelsonr/www/Repenning=Sterman_CMR_su01_.p...](http://web.mit.edu/nelsonr/www/Repenning=Sterman_CMR_su01_.pdf)

[1] [https://www.systemdynamics.org/assets/conferences/2017/proce...](https://www.systemdynamics.org/assets/conferences/2017/proceed/papers/P1325.pdf)

<comment><USER6> Could you go more into detail about the 'taking a hit in the worse before better' way of getting out of it? My department is drowning in endless toil (from the parent article) right now, and I'd like to figure out some way to get out of it besides just leaving the company like so many others have (although I might end up doing that too, but maybe I can course correct the department just a little bit before doing so).

<comment><USER5> > _Could you go more into detail about the 'taking a hit in the worse before > better' way of getting out of it?_

The case studies in the first paper are worth reading, but essentially you make it clear to everyone that you _are_ going to take a hit on your primary production output in order to restore capability:

> _Policy analysis showed that escaping the capability trap necessarily meant > performance would deteriorate before it could improve: While continuing to > repair breakdowns, the organization has to invest additional resources in > planned maintenance, training and part quality, raising costs. Most > importantly,increasing planned maintenance reduces uptime in the short run > because operable equipment must be taken off-line for the planned > maintenance to be done. Only later, as the Reinvestment loop begins to work > in the virtuous direction, does the breakdown rate drop._

The reason that it's called the capability _trap_ is that nobody wants to accept things getting _worse_. Everyone wants the improvements to be (1) free and (2) monotonic. But once you get stuck in the trap it's (1) expensive and (2) initially backwards. You slow primary production to make improvements and all the skeptics can see is that the numbers are worse, and didn't you promise to improve it? But the way out means going backwards on the primary metrics before you can free up capacity to improve capability.

And it doesn't even need skeptics to be hard. Even with all the good intentions in the world, it's very hard to avoid the temptation to prioritise your primary output over everything else. Sure, we should improve our CI/CD ... once we ship this feature. Sure, we should automate our disaster recovery ... but put out this fire first. Yes, we should create systems to manage the fleet better ... but can't let you refuse anyone's requests, we have a business to run. Yes, of course we need reserve capacity to deal with uncertainty, but don't you dare run anything less than maximum utilisation ... and also don't you dare say we're at maximum utilisation when I give you more to do.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Love it. "Work with enduring value leaves a service permanently better, whereas toil is "running fast to stay in the same place." Therefore, as a service grows, unchecked toil can quickly spiral to fill 100% of everyone's time."

<comment><USER8> It depends on the point of view of management. In a lot of companies, managers don't care about tech debt much and see "toil" as the rightful majority mode of work that engineers ought to focus on. They may simply lack the capacity to understand what an investment in paying down tech debt to free engineer time could buy them, or they may view that process as too risky, or they just may not care.

There are a lot of managerial reasons why this happens. It's one of the biggest lines of questioning I pursue in job interviews, to try to understand what point of view people have elsewhere in the food chain about how (or _if_ ) engineers add value to the business.

<comment><USER9> There are two sides to this:

On one hand, good management should realize that automating repetitive tasks and paying down technical debt is how you add to a tech company's capital stock, and _is the only reason why tech company valuations tend to go parabolic_. If you're just trading money for labor and labor for customer's money, you have a consulting service business. These can be profitable, but you don't build an enduring asset this way, and the valuations that business owners usually think about when they decide to start a tech company are those that come from owning a monopoly asset that you can sell to multiple customers for virtually no additional cost.

On the other hand, the part that engineers are usually blind to is the business context that the company operates in. Tech moves fast. It's not uncommon for basically all of a company's founding assumptions to be obsolete 3 years later. New tech platforms are available; customers want different things; a new competitor has just demoed a killer feature. All of these have the possibility to render large swaths of a product's feature set obsolete. There's no sense investing engineering time in a codebase that's about to be killed anyway; just rack up the technical debt and declare bankruptcy. Worse, management often can't _tell_ engineering about many of these external realities without killing the product: would you continue working for a company that said "Our competitive position is untenable. Pump out as many features before anyone external notices so we can sell the company" or "We need you to keep the lights on for our existing customers while this secret division over there builds the next generation of the product"?

It's often good to ask questions about the company's overall strategy and competitive position (and to do research on this yourself) before joining. While the owners usually won't tell you everything, it'll build trust if they can tell you some things. They should be able to think of these issues in terms of trade-offs: "What's technical debt?" is the wrong answer, but so is "We care deeply about technical debt and give our engineers as much time as they want for code cleanup" (the latter is a bullshit answer, designed to make the hire). Similarly, it builds trust if engineers can also recognize the business tradeoffs and accept that sometimes the right answer is to hack something together and ship it so the customers can get value while management figures out the next strategic move.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> If you're bored with your work it's sign that you should be automating something, or else someone else will do it for you and you'll be out of a job.

<comment><USER11> There are a limited (and contested) number of non-boring jobs. Eventually someone has to take out the garbage and clean the toilets.

<comment><USER12> Speaking of that, I wonder when there will be robots (i.e., with good software) that will help take out the garbage, clean the toilets, and possibly fix plumbing?

<comment><USER11> Lol, plumbing especially will never be automated

<comment><USER13> Plumbing _is_ automation. Without plumbing, human labor is used to haul water from wells and cart away human waste.

<comment><USER14> I think there's some confusion here between plumbing as in the trade and plumbing as in the infrastructure.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> As someone doing both dev and ops I automate and refactor away any issues (some small yet important issues might require large rewrites in the software). But I also like to carry out manual tasks for users as it gives them a sense of service and I get to _talk to users_.

</comment><comment><USER16> Is there any tool to count toil?

<comment><USER17> We consider working on alerts as a toil and measure it in amixr.io</comment></comment>


Rust: Ashley Williams Joins the Core Team and Taking Lead of the Community Team - <AUTHOR> https://www.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/7nx3cm/announcement_ashley_williams_joins_the_core_team/ <comment><AUTHOR> As someone who has great hopes for Rust, I am mildly concerned after reading [https://www.reddit.com/r/node/comments/6whs2e/multiple_coc_v...](https://www.reddit.com/r/node/comments/6whs2e/multiple_coc_violations_by_nodejs_board_member/)

As the old saying goes: "The fish rots from the head down".</comment>


Roger McNamee says social is over - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessinsider.com/roger-mcnamee-video-2011-7

<comment><USER2> If you read the article and didn't watch the video, go back and watch it. The text doesn't really do justice to what McNamee is saying.

At the same time, I disagree with many of his conclusions.

Listening and reading this I was surprised to see a Dell laptop on the podium.</comment>


Unique stone discovered in China can't stop moving - <AUTHOR> http://globalnews.ca/news/3343625/unique-stone-discovered-in-china-cant-stop-moving/ <comment><USER2> The phone next to it is vibrating?</comment>


What Israel's Strike on Hamas Hackers Means for Cyberwar - <AUTHOR> https://www.wired.com/story/israel-hamas-cyberattack-air-strike-cyberwar/ <comment><USER2> Look if it doesn't mean that FVEYES is going to take out "CardHolder Services", the $250K small business loan MFers, and the medical-grade knee brace dorks, I don't really care.</comment>


Reasons Not to Become Famous (Or "A Few Lessons Learned Since 2007") - <AUTHOR> https://tim.blog/2020/02/02/reasons-to-not-become-famous/ <comment><USER2> I had a small cryptocurrency take off with just a few thousand people clamoring and begging me for more. Going from a basement nerd to a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny unknown internet celeb got to my head and as soon as I started getting negative comments, "FUD" and the like and my picture was being shown around I had a nervous breakdown (amongst other stressors). I would say, do what Ferris has said and ignore all comments, negative and positive or try and take criticism abstractly.</comment>


How Charcoal Is Made - <AUTHOR> https://amazingribs.com/more-technique-and-science/grill-and-smoker-setup/how-charcoal-is-made <comment><AUTHOR> Was just discussing grilling with my dad and realized I didn't know how charcoal is made.

It's old tech, for sure, but figured some here may appreciate it.</comment>


Show HN: Ace Python Interviews - <AUTHOR> https://AcePythonInterviews.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> Hi, all! I created this free, six-hour video course to help people who are going to be interviewing for Python jobs to get used to the types of questions they'll be asked.

The course goes through 50 questions, live-coding in the Jupyter notebook, to show you not just the questions and answers, but also the process you should use to think about Python problems.

I hope that people will see, enjoy, and spread the word about this course!</comment>


How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Coding Conventions - <AUTHOR> http://www.dotnetcodegeeks.com/2012/06/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love.html

<comment><USER2> Even though this post is short, it covers something that I feel like purists often ignore. The overarching goal of the code is more important than the syntactic "impurifications." Readability is important; having a similar path to your team is important; spacing is of relative little importance in comparison to these other goals. Getting things done, completed, or shipped is what we all strive to.</comment>


OpenCV vs. Matlab vs. SimpleCV - <AUTHOR> http://simplecv.tumblr.com/post/19307835766/opencv-vs-matlab-vs-simplecv

<comment><USER2> Before this post inspires people to go on a crazy I-can-do-computer-vision- the-hard-way binge and impulse-buy O'Reilly's (excellent) "Learning OpenCV", the second edition is being released sometime this month so you may want to hold off:

<http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920022497.do>

<comment><USER3> Are you affiliated with the book/authors?

<comment><USER2> Negatory.

<comment><USER3> I did not mean to be hostile. I was just curious about the relationship if any...

<comment><USER2> That's okay :) It is a valid concern. I picked up the original during the Dennis Ritchie memorial sale and found it to be worth the time/money.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I know this is going to put me in the minority but the download iconset for simplecv (OSX/Windows/ _Ubuntu_ ) is one of my biggest pet peeves. The worst offenders will use the Ubuntu logo to lead to a generic linux page. Its slightly less annoying that clicking the ubuntu link leads to downloading a _Debian package file._

<comment><USER4> _Its slightly less annoying that clicking the ubuntu link leads to downloading a Debian package file_

If it shouldn't lead to a .deb file what should it lead to? I take the Ubuntu logo to mean they tested it on Ubuntu.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Naturally because it's on "simplecv.tumblr.com" this is pretty biased.

But some glaring omissions

1) You can compile Matlab to C++ code which is much faster.

2) With respect to Portability there is the glaring omission of Octave (nor to mention there is MATLAB for unix systems). (I guess that also counts for the price issue). I'm not a MATLAB guru, but in the couple of times I've used it, it seems like MATLAB minus the handy dandy documentation and IDE.

3) Debugging in Matlab's ID is so easy a 5 year old can do it. The variables are all there; you can double click on any to see their contents. Debugging in a shell in my experience is a much bigger PITA.

4) I didn't look at their documentation, but I honest really doubt it's better then MATLAB's. I've never seen documentation so well written in an open source project.

<comment><USER6> Is compiled matlab code much faster? when I did it in the past it wasn't, My understanding was that it's doing the same thing, just without parsing the matlab source code, which isn't that slow anyways. Similarly, compiling python to C using cython by itself, is not faster - Compiling code to native machine code by itself doesn't do anything, unless you do something different, like declare the types, or unroll loops, etc.. The overhead of scripting languages is generally in the dynamism, unless you optimize that out in the compile step, you won't get speedups.

there are nice debugging environments for python, look at any python IDE, or look at spyder for this sort of work.

python plugs into general purpose tools much better - this is one of the main reasons I gave up matlab for python after using matlab for 10 years in school, all the way through into my PhD thesis.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> <http://blog.fixational.com/post/19177752599/opencv-vs-matlab>

...just in case you also couldn't click or copy the link from the article

<comment><USER8> Yeah, he has an empty div positioned over the first part of the post that eats clicks.

<comment><USER9> Thanks for pointing this out. As authors of the original post we'd like to see this fixed.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Great post, I've been looking to work with CV and was plannin g on using OpenCV with a python interface, but after your post I think I'll start with SimpleCV. as you said if the only limitation is speed, then I can port it to pure C for OpenCV.

You might want to change the videos on the Demos page as youtube is saying the uploader has closed their account.

Now its time to experiment

</comment><comment><USER11> Since I learned about openCV (and python), I don't get why people still use MATLAB for computer vision.

I believe MATLAB is probably very useful for control systems (with Simulink) or signal processing or any very special case for which there is a unique MATLAB toolbox.

Why is it still so much used in universities? Does Numpy/Scipy cover MATLAB scientific/numerical computing?

<comment><USER12> Universities usually don't use "turnkey" solutions, because the point is to actually implement algorithms, that are hidden behind Simple/OpenCV method calls. Matlab, being a very fast numeric platform, most CS students know, is perfect for that purpose.

The algorithms we implemented in CV classes on the University were pretty performance sensitive - enough that running them in Octave instead of Matlab made them run for 15min+. Python with NumPy was much worse.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I up voted this before I noticed the author linked to one of my projects <http://labs.radiantmachines.com/beard/>. A neckbeard detector in 25 lines of Python :)

</comment><comment><USER14> How does it compare to open-source Matlab alternatives such as Gnu/Octave?

</comment><comment><USER9> Thanks for expanding on our original post. I've been meaning to give SimpleCV a spin for a while, we're big Python fans in Fixational. What's the best way to contribute?

<comment><USER3> _Best way to contribute?_ Was this a serious question? I'm not affiliated with simplecv but if I had to guess I would say:

<https://github.com/ingenuitas/SimpleCV>

<comment><USER15> A more charitable interpretation is "What do you guys need the most help with?" In that respect, the Github page is not immediately helpful.

<comment><AUTHOR> We're in the process of moving our outstanding tickets from SourceForge to github. The list of tickets is here: <http://sourceforge.net/p/simplecv/tickets/>

We will probably complete the move after the next release. If you are interested in helping I can suggest a lot of smaller projects. We always willing to take on outstanding short demos too.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Matlab's 3D rendering speeds are disgustingly slow...</comment>


The DIY Danes planning to launch a man into space - <AUTHOR> http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/15/diy-danes-launch-man-space

<comment><USER2> This is awesome, and nothing in this comment is meant to take away from that awesome, only to contextualize it.

Getting above the Karman Line (100km above sea level) and getting into orbit are dramatically different problems. In case the name "Copenhagen Suborbitals" didn't make it clear, they're shooting for the former.

For an amusingly-illustrated take on this, see the recent [http://what- if.xkcd.com/58/](http://what-if.xkcd.com/58/)

As another piece of context, compare the size of the rocket used by Scaled Composites (to win the X-Prize) with the size of rocket used by SpaceX. What's the difference? One can orbit, and the other cannot.

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

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9)

<comment><USER3> [http://what-if.xkcd.com/58/](http://what-if.xkcd.com/58/)

This xkcd explains this really well. At orbital height, Earth's gravity's pull is still a full 90% of what we experience on the surface. Orbiting objects "dodge" this fall by going _really fucking fast_.

I think I saw a comparison once that it takes about 15~20X more energy to attain orbit speed as it does to attain orbital height.

<comment><USER4> So is this centrifugal force counteracting gravity?

So then gravity would be like your hand's grip preventing the bucket from flying away when you swing a bucket of water?

If this is the case then I think I'd understand the way planets don't fall into the sun better. The way I've heard it described before as something like 'forever falling into the sun' confusing.

<comment><USER5> It's actually a very gradual spiraling inward. This is because the momentum imparted initially is slowly dissipated (by impacts & interaction with the gravitational field of the sun), an extremely small factor.

The question is whether the sun will go nova before or after we (or our sterilized remains) finally arrive :)

That's not the only effect, all of this is counteracted by the decrease in mass of the sun and the tidal interaction between the sun and its planets (which slows down the rotation of the sun), both of these should push the earth outward from the sun.

I'm not sure how it all works out (whether it is a net positive or a net negative) but it can't be much or we'd have drifted out of the zone where life is sustainable long ago.

<comment><USER6> Tidal forces between the Earth and its Moon in fact result in the Moon (very slowly) getting further and further away from the earth.

<comment><USER5> Yep. The actual experimental verification of this makes for very interesting reading.

see: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Laser_Ranging_experiment](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Laser_Ranging_experiment)

and lots of links referenced from there.

Amazing precision, I still find it quite incredible that such a distance could be reliably measured to such precision and that meaningful conclusions could be drawn from those measurements.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Copenhagen Suborbitals Supporter here. I just wanted to let you know that these guys have an awesome youtube profile over here: [http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPzFMJIsp2fOQ_ic5a_zXTA](http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPzFMJIsp2fOQ_ic5a_zXTA)

Also, you may find more information on this page [http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/support_us.php](http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/support_us.php) (Yeah, shameless linking to the support us-page.

Peter Madsen writes in Danish on his blog on the Danish newspaper Ingeniøren: [http://ing.dk/blogs/rumfart-pa-den-anden-made](http://ing.dk/blogs/rumfart- pa-den-anden-made)

Kristian von Bengtson is blogging on wired.com: [http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/rocketshop/](http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/rocketshop/)

</comment><comment><USER8> For anyone not following the project, here is a small status of where they are (please note that I'm just lurking - any errors below are mine):

Founded in 2008, as an open source and non-profit project. Currently about 40 people involved on a volunteer basis. The support organisation has about 800 paying members.

The first major success was the flight of the HEAT 1X Tycho Brahe, a 6 meter 65 cm Ø rocket and launch vehicle, which was test fired over the Baltic sea on 3rd June 2011 and was aborted at an altitude of 2.8 km.

The HEAT 1X Tycho Brahe was passively stable and propelled by a Polyurethane fuel with LOX oxidizer.

After this, the focus shifted towards liquid propelled rockets (75% alcohol LOX) and currently the TM65 engine has been tested numerous times and is due for a launch next summer. In the most recent version the rocket is fed by a H2O2 driven Turbo pump and can provide around 65 kN of thrust. [http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/tm65.php](http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/tm65.php) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TM65](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TM65)

In parallel, work has been done on a number of other sub projects

\- the launch vehicle Tycho Deep Space II ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_Suborbitals#Tycho_De...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_Suborbitals#Tycho_Deep_Space)) \- the Launch Escape System (LES) \- the space suit ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcZOsdoCjqU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcZOsdoCjqU)) \- active stability system tested on the Sapphire rocket ([http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/sapphire.php](http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/sapphire.php)) which was successfully launched to a height of more than 8 km on June 23, 2013 ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcF5xNrb3HA&feature=c4-overvi...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcF5xNrb3HA&feature=c4-overview&list=UUPzFMJIsp2fOQ_ic5a_zXTA)).

Also, the plans for the next version of the rocket (the HEAT 1600) which might use either a cluster of TM65s or a single engine. [http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/05/heat-1600-concept-...](http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/05/heat-1600-concept- development-the-manifestation-of-dreams-and-ambitions-for-download/)

A manned launch is 3–5 years away

</comment><comment><USER9> It's great to see people hacking away at space travel. Not everything needs to be done on a NASA scale. The hard part will be the rocket engine, access to rocket fuel and launch facilities where you can launch without risking homes and lives. Denmark is in a poor location for launches: too far north, surrounded by populated countries, and their likely launch direction would go over Russia. You need a heat shield if you're planning on orbiting, it's not needed to go straight up and parachute down. Wish them the best of luck!

<comment><USER10> They always launch from the Baltic sea, and test the engines in and around Copenhagen.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I wish these guys the best of luck and hope they get to do it quickly and safely. If anything, our drive for beating someone else into space for political or economic reasons has really poisoned the well, so to speak. Maybe it does take the crazy pioneers to get up to the Black Sky... just because it's there.

<comment><USER12> > If anything, our drive for beating someone else into space for political or > economic reasons has really poisoned the well, so to speak.

I assume you are American. If so, I may be fuzzy on the historical facts, but didn't the Russians beat you guys into space?

<comment><USER11> Yep. Which is why we took enormous risks and end up losing 3 astronauts in Apollo 1, which wasn't even a proper spaceflight, on our way to beat them to the Moon.

Russians lost 4 cosmonauts as well on 2 separate missions.

Like I said. Poisoned well.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I immediately thought "Kerbal Space Program".

This is extremely cool.

<comment><USER14> This reminded me of the 2006 film The Astronaut Farmer with Billy Bob Thornton.

<comment><USER13> I hadn't heard of that film at all! Will be watching it at some point in the future, it sounds like fun.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Why do we still have an Electoral College in the US? - <AUTHOR>

I live in Maryland.  It will go to Obama (market predictions put the chance at 93%).  If I vote for anybody else, I may as well just throw my ballot in the trash.  Why do we not have a good, secure, nation-wide popular vote counting system based on modern communications technology?  Are there some technical hurdles that have yet to be cleared to make it possible? <comment><USER2> I've heard that it currently ensures that more, disparate voices will be heard. As Jonah Goldberg once said, democracy shouldn't work such that "51% of the country can give the other 49% a wedgie".

Were the electoral model to be abandoned, it would ensure that candidates would stick to major urban areas as much as possible because they would have the largest amount of influence per unit of effort. Now, this wouldn't hold true in all cases, but from what I understand the Electoral College as it stands helps to ensure that the sundry opinions of different interests in this country are given more consideration.

Interesingly, before the electoral reforms of the 1800s in Britain, seat allocations weren't decided by population, but rather influenced by the weighting of the needs of various regional trades/industries. While this seems very anti-democratic to modern American ideals, at that time industries were much closer to the individual. Also, I'm not so sure it was a bad idea: you baked lobbying and the concerns of industries into the political system as opposed to grafting it on in a shadowy, behind-the-scenes system, and therefore had the ability to regulate it to some degree.

<comment><USER2> Another point I forgot to mention is that, IIRC, every single Congress since the start of the nation has introduced and entertained a bill looking to replace the Electoral System with a popular vote system, and not once has it gotten anywhere.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> The easy answer is that the system for presidential elections is part of the constitution, and is quite hard to change, on purpose. You should know this if you've graduated high school (since you live in the US).

The second reason is that it is not clear that a "secure, nation-wide popular vote counting system based on modern communications technology" is a good idea even before we get to the technology. Our system of government is a type of federalism (state/national) and moving to a popular vote based electoral system weakens this division. I don't have much expertise here, but can assert with confidence that expert opinion is divided on whether or not this is desirable.

</comment><comment><USER4> It's called the amendment process.</comment>


Facebook Phone App Spy on User's Personal Images.... - <AUTHOR> http://www.techieapps.com/facebook-phone-app-spy-on-users-personal-images-text-messages-sent-via-smartphones/ The issues regarding the right to privacy of the users just does not seem to rest. <comment><USER2> have potential access != spy on images</comment>


Ask HN: Sweat Equity Agreements – What Works and What Doesn't - <AUTHOR>

For those of you that have been part of (as founders, employees or investors) a start-up that had sweat equity agreements, what aspects of the agreement did you feel worked and what did not?<p>I'm a full-time sole founder of an early stage startup. I want to bring aboard one or two partners who will work on it part-time until cash flow is sufficient to offer a salary. A lot of advice out there talks about providing sweat equity, but sweat equity agreements seem difficult to do well. <comment><USER2> It's important to strike the equity deal in such a way as to create incentives for your actual objectives.

There is a huge, huge difference between giving someone a little equity spiff in lieu of cash for professional services (e.g., a professional designer friend who helps you out with a few design elements) and giving someone an incentive to become your co-founder.

Assuming you're talking about the latter type of contributions, I would point out that in general, doing a startup is really hard. Most people can't contribute meaningfully to the success of one on an "on the side" basis.

It's kind of like a rock band maybe -- are you in for the jam session, or are you bailing early because you have somewhere else to be in the morning?

Putting it another way, the _opposite_ of what you want to do is give people an easy way to not quit their jobs to join you f/t, instead giving them a lot of option value if you succeed without much skin in the game if you don't.

<comment><AUTHOR> Excellent perspective, thanks. I've decided to forego having any part-time founders -- I agree, it just isn't possible to have enough skin in the game.

<comment><USER2> Awesome. Hope you can find one or more full-time ones! (If that's the way you're hoping to go.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> If they are full-time "founders", they should get almost equal split (33%+33%+33%, or 40%+30+30%, not 90%+5%+5%). Also, the "standard" is a 4 years vesting scheme, with a 1 year cliff.

Some previous discussions: [https://hn.algolia.com/?q=equity+plit#!/story/forever/0/equi...](https://hn.algolia.com/?q=equity+plit#!/story/forever/0/equity%20split)

<comment><USER4> are you suggesting that the founder with his early MVP and idea should split equally with others that he brings on board?

<comment><USER5> If they're working without salary, then yes.</comment></comment></comment>


A Minimum Viable Product Is Not a Product, It's a Process - <AUTHOR> http://themacro.com/articles/2016/01/minimum-viable-product-process/ <comment><USER2> Earlier discussion from three days ago [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10957479](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10957479) (was on the frontend page if I remember correctly)</comment>


Show HN: A functional tool-belt for Swift Language - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/ankurp/Dollar.swift?hackernews

<comment><AUTHOR> Not to be confused with jQuery. This is similar to Lo-Dash or Underscore.</comment>


Three Ideas for Civil Criticism - <AUTHOR> http://datacolada.org/52 <comment><USER2> > The specific empirical concerns it raised are contradicted by evidence, > logic, or both.

versus

> The rebuttal identifies individual examples that intuitively suggest my > analyses were too conservative, but, on the one hand, closer examination > shows the examples are not actually conservative, and on the other, the > removal of those examples leaves the results unchanged.

What the first example lacks in detail, the second example lacks in clarity. Perhaps in context the second example could be understood, but it seems counterproductive to avoid using phrases like "contradicted by evidence", which at least let us know what the goal is for an argument that follows.

Again, perhaps context would make the second sample more clear, but it was provided as a writing sample free of context.

<comment><USER3> They are both lacking, because neither actually contains the guts of the argument. Presumably this sentence is in an introduction and the real argument will come later.

In that sense the the second is better because it actually serves as a teaser for the coming rational argument. The first is just claims.

Though the first has the great advantage of being shorter.</comment></comment>


Google Dart, JavaScript and Web Assembly (2011) - <AUTHOR> http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/node/4355#comment-67121 <comment><AUTHOR> Interesting, as it looks like the first time the term and maybe the idea itself of a "web assembly" was used</comment>


Ask HN: What project management tool do you love? - <AUTHOR> What tools would you suggest for a small team of 5 or 6 devs and designers? <comment><USER2> Warning: Shameless self promotion ahead!

I had been running my company of 5 employees for several years and never was able to get overview of projects and good and transparent feedback from the makers. This led me to create a new way to work that I am now turning into a method and an app.

The foundation of the method is 1) Leave the makers alone so they can be as much as possible in flow 2) Inform the Managers, honestly and transparent so they have total overview and sleep better. 3) Commit and be acountable to team members, manager and customers about what you will do during the week to improve internal motivation 4) Learn from mistakes, discuss how to learn from failures and how you can behave differently to prevent making the same mistakes.

Read more on [http://timeblock.com](http://timeblock.com) and sign up for the newsletter to get the method in a three day course.

</comment><comment><USER3> If you use GitHub, then ZenHub is a great option. It is a Chrome extension which adds project management functionality inside the GitHub interface.

Disclosure: I work at ZenHub - the favourite feedback I get is how much it cuts down on context switching between where developers want to live - GitHub, and where Project Managers want to live Jira/Trello/etc, as everyone can work directly from GitHub Issues.

[https://www.zenhub.io/](https://www.zenhub.io/)

<comment><AUTHOR> We went with Zenhub :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> JIRA [1]. You get the benefits of a Project Management tool coupled with bug tracking, and can expand to other products within Atlassian's family, including Confluence, HipChat, etc.

[1] [https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira](https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira)

</comment><comment><USER5> A whiteboard. Costs a penny and pays a fortune. Or a bunch of whiteboards. Cover the walls in them.

And pens (of course, lots of colours) and other things to stick to them, like Lego bricks with sticky bottoms (workflow/queues), and post-it notes (that are able to stick to whiteboards, a lot of post-its can't), and a countdown timer for your huddles so they don't take that little bit too long, and multiple small screens stuck there too if you have workflow or queues.

And a webcam permanently on if you have a remote employee/partner 'visit' the office on-demand but don't record them because they're likely working from home and they'd like their home privacy.

All of these, and more, are cheap, simple, tactile, and can be mixed around until you find something that fits.

</comment><comment><USER6> We use Breeze.pm for task management at our 30 people company. It is a lightweight Trello-like dashboard with just a bit more functionality than Trello has.

We've been using it for about a month, and looks like it's exactly what we need. Previously we used JIRA, but it would be more precisely to say we made several approaches to start using JIRA, and every time after sing it for 1-2 weeks we slowly ceased. It looked too heavy for our small company and our environment, no one wanted to deal with it.

Now with Breeze.pm we have project dashboards, some integrations with HipChat, Github, Slack. Notifications, calendar, groups of projects, search and filters - and a nice and responsive UI attached. We also like the developer of Breeze who is open for questions and suggestions.

</comment><comment><USER7> For a small team, I'd say Pivotal Tracker with Flowdock

They integrate with each other very well, and you can even plug in github to PivotalTracker and Flowdock to make everything seamless.

I think they are free for up to 5 people as well.

</comment><comment><USER8> Depends on what type of work you do... but I really like:

Asana --> [https://asana.com/](https://asana.com/)

Also note worthy is Evernote.

<comment><USER9> Asana's GitHub integration is superb also.

Be aware, Asana is pricey, but they have a special offer for startups.

[https://asana.com/pricing](https://asana.com/pricing)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> The company I work for uses Pivotal Tracker and Flowdock with quite a bit of success.

For my personal projects, I generally go with Trello.

</comment><comment><USER11> My team just went through trello, asana, and JIRA over the last three months. We came to the conclusion that Asana is the best combo between trello and JIRA.

If your team is heavy tech, then go JIRA, all other, I would say asana. Personal use, trello.

</comment><comment><USER12> If you are more focused on tasks than chats you might like trello.com or even just workflowy.com. I wouldn't say they are Project Management tools, but they can help the processes go forward.

</comment><comment><USER13> If you are doing Agile and/or Waterfall, you can have a look at Tuleap[1].

Pretty good at Scrum, Kanban is in progress (some features already there and a first delivery in June).

Net benefit: you get one tool for project management, source control and tracking (bug, todo, etc) in one central place with easy administration. Plus, it's fully open source!

Note: I'm part of the dev team.

[1] [https://www.tuleap.org/about- tuleap/features](https://www.tuleap.org/about-tuleap/features)

</comment><comment><USER14> Basecamp - we have hundreds of clients and need a place to store all of the information. Its cheap, it works, and it is easy to learn.

</comment><comment><USER15> Redmine is good enough for me. You can get a droplet on digital ocean all ready to go too.</comment>


The Case for Adding 672M More Americans - <AUTHOR> https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/08/one-billion-americans-by-matthew-yglesias-book-excerpt.html <comment><USER2> "Unbuild the wall!"</comment>


Apple Contractors Allegedly Listened to 1,000 Siri Recordings a Day – Each - <AUTHOR> https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/23/20830120/apple-contractors-siri-recordings-listening-1000-a-day-globetech-microsoft-cortana <comment><USER2> Previous discussion: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20788463](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20788463)

</comment><comment><USER3> Am I supposed to be shocked by this? Literally every company that makes similar things does it. It's important for making the voice assistants better</comment>