America has never gone this long without hiking the federal minimum wage - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/06/18/america-has-never-gone-this-long-without-hiking-federal-minimum-wage/ <comment><USER2> Frankly, I think UBI is a much better solution than increasing federal minimum wage. I think the problem with increasing minimum wage is that employers will be less likely to hire or more likely to look to automation to decrease human hiring needs. McDonald's has already rolled out self-service kiosks, replacing cashiers entirely.

UBI, on the other hand, can supplement wages.

<comment><USER3> I have yet to see any evidence that UBI would accomplish any of the things its proponents think it will. The first unintended consequence I predict would be increases in rent, food, and other basic things. I believe a better solution to helping the lower end of the economic ladder would be things that reduce the basic cost of living.

<comment><USER4> I'd be interested in an answer to this too. We've seen a similar phenomenon in college costs - more government loan money available, higher tuition, repeat. Why would UBI not result in a general uptick in costs that would mean the "purchasing power" of the consumer is the same? I think providing the basic services themselves would be more effective and efficient, even with the bureaucratic overhead.

<comment><USER5> Im sure Im wrong, but wouldnt it make sense to start with like "all rice, bean, potatoes, and broccoli consumption at the personal level is free" and start with a food stamp / ebt that buys unlimited of something very specific? It wouldnt be a currency thats worth trading to other people, landlords couldnt collect ebt credits in lieu of rent, because everyone would already have unlimited.

Instead of subsidizing agriculture at the production side, you can combine farm subsidies, food stamps, and ubi into one consumer credit, designed to persuade people to consume mostly free food over luxury food.

Whats the next thing it would make sense to subsidize for everyone without creating some kind of cyclical purchasing power loop?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> The USA went 149 years, from 1789 to 1938, with no federal minimum wage – so yes, America has gone longer without any hike than just than the 10 years since 2009.

Many economic experts, ignored by this article, consider no minimum wage to be the optimal level.

<comment><USER7> > The USA went 149 years, from 1789 to 1938, with no federal minimum wage – so > yes, America has gone longer without any hike than just than the 10 years > since 2009.

You're (likely deliberately) omitting a ton of context as well as presenting a bad faith argument in general. Of course there were no minimum wage increases prior to the minimum wage. I also suspect there was no highway funding increases prior to the New Deal, does that in turn mean we shouldn't fund infrastructure now?

> Many economic experts, ignored by this article, consider no minimum wage to > be the optimal level.

I'm sure they do, economic experts are the only ones who still think trickle- down economics is a good idea. Our economy is exploding, and our current problems are far more social, so maybe we should be listening to the sociologists and put the economy on the back burner for right now?

<comment><USER8> As an outsider (I'm Canadian), I find this debate to be interesting. From my perspective, the American project is one that emphasized individual liberty, with only a small set of powers granted to the federal government by the constitution. It was expected that helping others would happen via voluntary means (churches, charitable organizations, etc.) rather than compulsory ones.

In that context, you could look at the data on inequality and still make a principled argument as to why a federal minimum wage is undesirable.

<comment><USER9> This is a misunderstanding. The Federal government has a small set of powers because almost all legal and political power is vested in the individual States, which have most of the remit and authority of sovereign countries. Americans have always lived under the expansive social policy regimes of their respective States, which vary widely. It is only in the 20th century that the Federal government started dabbling in social policy at all.

Every State I have ever lived in had their own unique minimum wage laws. The Federal government is more like the EU, much of its policy function is to harmonize the laws of the States. Americans have almost no interaction with the Federal government; the laws they live under, the taxes they pay, and the social programs available to them are almost always specific to the State.

<comment><USER8> Didn't you just make the same argument for why a _federal_ minimum wage would be unprincipled?

<comment><USER9> I wasn't trying to make a point per se, just clarifying a common misconception about social policy in the US. The policies that exist or not at the Federal level tell you very little about the policies Americans live under; at best, it bounds variability of policy.

<comment><USER8> That's fair, although those boundaries are pretty foundational to day-to-day life in America.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> For comparison in the same time period (2009-2019) the UK minimum wage for over 25s has increased from £5.80 to £8.21. This roughly tracks UK inflation (CPI) and changes to the average wage over the same time period.

<comment><USER11> I'm only just learning about the UK's age-dependent minimum wage [1] Is there any explanation for why such a system is used? Certainly there's plenty of financially-independent under-25s who are paid less merely because of their age, which doesn't really seem appropriate. Do other countries in Europe follow similar minimum wage schemes?

EDIT: I found a paper [2] from the Netherlands (who also use an age-dependent minimum wage) suggesting that such a system can increase job termination rates close to employees birthdays.

[1]: [https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage- rates](https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates)

[2]: [http://ftp.iza.org/dp9528.pdf](http://ftp.iza.org/dp9528.pdf)

<comment><USER12> If the wage was the same for an 18yo with no experience vs. a 25yo who doesn't need much handholding, nobody would hire the 18yo. In most cases, older workers will also have greater financial responsibilities than a teen, so a higher wage makes sense.

<comment><USER11> > nobody would hire the 18yo

Here in Canada, the provincial minimum wage is consistent regardless of age and yet I still see plenty of employed high school students. I also don't think that its fair to make policy-affecting assumptions regarding peoples financial responsibilities based on their age alone. I know plenty of independent 20 year olds who have significant financial responsibilities as well as 25 year olds who are voluntarily financially dependent on their parents etc. In this situation I believe an age-dependent minimum wage can actually increase inequality by determining wages based on an arbitrary metric such as age.

<comment><USER13> According to StatCan[1], the unemployment rate for people aged 15-24 is more than double that of people over 25. Speaking for myself, it was brutally difficult to find my first job. I was unemployed for months.

Alberta is introducing a lower minimum wage for ages 16–18. I don't particularly like having a minimum wage that discriminates based on age, but we already have a bunch of special employment laws for minors. I actually lost my job as a concessions cashier to one of those restrictions when I was 17.

1: [https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=141003...](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410032701)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> While in my opinion the minimum raise should be raised quite a lot, there are a lot of labor reforms needed. In particular for work that falls outside of the salaried work. Waged, contracted, seasonal, and temp workers do not have a lot of power in the labor market. It's actually a pretty hostile environment for individuals who don't want to collect a salary and sit at a desk.

I view the problem through this lens. That essentially we have a labor surplus because the current regulatory environment is designed around salaried office workers - barring a few holdovers in the form of labor unions. The total size of the labor market is larger than the carrying capacity of office jobs. As the environment has aged firms learned how to play the game and have pushed a lot of small competition out. Meanwhile laborers compete for a smaller pool of office jobs or hope they land on their feet.

This is really the nature of regulation though, it can rarely be meant to last forever and should receive continuous development and audits.

<comment><USER15> Salaried work has it's problems as well. I have worked at jobs where you're expected to work 60+ hours every week for no extra pay.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> We haven't gone this long without hiking the minimum wage.

And we have very low unemployment, rising wages, and a roaring economy. We've also got low inflation and a robust stock market.

This bears further consideration. The economy may be close to optimal.

</comment><comment><USER17> inflation has been incredibly low

<comment><USER18> In my opinion, inflation is poorly defined.

The metrics we use to measure inflation (e.g. CPI) have grown slowly, but that doesn't mean that inflation is low.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> This is very good news for teenagers and the low skilled.

<comment><USER20> Everyone deserves a living wage

<comment><USER21> When I was in high school and part-time shelving books at the local town library, no I didn't. Not for that work. Pocket money for a teenager was about the right amount of pay.

Not everyone is a single mother trying to make ends meet for her two children. We should not make economic policy as if they are.

"So why don't we take care of them?" Single mothers trying to make ends meet have access to a wide array of social programs already. We are already not abandoning them to the tender mercies of minimum wage and nothing else.

<comment><USER22> > When I was in high school and part-time

> Not everyone is a single mother trying to make ends meet

In the meantime, student loans are at an all time high!

Whether or not you had college paid for by somebody else who saved or even if you didn't need to go; Teenagers need more than pocket money, afterall, in 2 years they will, for the median, be committing to loan terms that will take 10+ years to pay off, if they ever do.

<comment><USER23> Isn't that an argument for addressing the costs of tuition, and not an argument for artificially setting the value of labor?

<comment><USER22> Not in isolation. A 16 year old's upcoming expenses are a car, car insurance, tuition, housing, food, and more... And if possible should be contributing to a retirement account as well.

A 16 year old also may not have a college opportunity and may decide to go straight to work, may decide to go straight to having a family with a high school sweetheart. At that point, the 16-18 year old needs a liveable wage too.

<comment> radford-neal No, 16-year-olds should not be contributing to retirement accounts. The return on investment in such an account will be far less than the return from investing that money in increasing their own human capital. This could be by buying good books to read, buying a computer to learn to program on, or paying for movie tickets to go out on a date with someone who may be their future spouse.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Wikimedia Sweden art map 'violated copyright' - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35969734 <comment><USER2> Basically, this ruling makes it dangerous to post exterior photographs on the web for free public access, at least in Sweden.

So where's the boundary of acceptability, then? Can one publish a book of photographs? Are illustrated tourist guidebooks of Stockholm now contraband? Can one share photographic prints with friends?

Would it not also have to apply to other representations, such as sketches, watercolors, and descriptive prose?

What about photographs that are not in perfect focus?</comment>


Professor who refused to use other genders pronouns, was banned by Google - <AUTHOR> https://twitter.com/jordanbpeterson/status/892449213556166658 <comment><USER2> Here's a good place to start with Jordan Peterson:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJSJcPKA1Ug](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJSJcPKA1Ug)

I think he's a brilliant and courageous man. Before you criticize him, find out what he's really about. I would characterize him as "Mr. Rogers for adults." A part of his refusal stems from 1) his knowledge that the Canadian law in question asserts scientific falsehoods and codifies them into law and 2) his objection to the law's compulsion to say things (as opposed to a compulsion to _not_ say certain things) which to him represent something related to Marxist ideology (through Postmodern Social Construction) and 3) other structural objections to the Canadian law in question, which he feels oversteps the protection of individual freedoms by, for example, abrogating due process.

I find that watching his lectures is very worthwhile, from the standpoint of the Humanities. He may well end up being one of those responsible for saving the Humanities as the 21st century internet continues to disrupt higher education. In particular, he has a formulation of the Humanities which is compatible with and draws from evolutionary biology.

</comment><comment><USER3> From this[1] report:

"'I've had that account for the last, say, 15 years,' said Peterson to TheDCNF. 'All of my correspondence is in that account. It's hundreds of thousands of emails from people all over the world.'"

Setting aside the fact that Gmail hasn't even existed for 15 years[2], this underscores the need for users to backup their cloud-based email accounts. A few of the many options include MailStore Home for Windows[3], Horcrux for macOS[4], imap-backup[5] for *nix (or anything Ruby runs on apparently), and Gmvault[6] for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

[1] Google And YouTube Ban Prof Who Refused To Use Gender-Neutral Pronouns [http://dailycaller.com/2017/08/01/google-and-youtube-ban- pro...](http://dailycaller.com/2017/08/01/google-and-youtube-ban-prof-who- refused-to-use-gender-neutral-pronouns/?utm_source=site-share)

[2] History of Gmail [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Gmail](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Gmail)

[3] [https://www.mailstore.com/en/products/mailstore- home/](https://www.mailstore.com/en/products/mailstore-home/)

[4] [https://thehorcrux.com](https://thehorcrux.com)

[5] [https://github.com/joeyates/imap- backup](https://github.com/joeyates/imap-backup)

[6] [http://gmvault.org/](http://gmvault.org/)

<comment><USER4> Gmail launched in 2004, about 15 years ago.

<comment><USER3> Gmail was in a very limited public beta during 2004 and 2005, not moving out of beta status until mid 2009. Even if he was an early adopter (which seems unlikely given the length of his email address and the fact that the oldest reference to it Google turns up appears to be from 2011), we still don't arrive at 15 years.

Whether he has 13 years or 13 months worth of email stored in his Gmail account, I hope he has started archiving it now!

<comment><USER5> It wasn't that limited. Anyone who got an invite could forward them along. Gmail still being in "beta" was a running joke for awhile.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> And it's back: [https://twitter.com/jordanbpeterson/status/89244909895099187...](https://twitter.com/jordanbpeterson/status/892449098950991872)

</comment><comment><USER7> It's since been reinstated according to his Twitter. I would guess (and hope) that he was automatically banned based on the huge quantity of reports he presumably receives.

</comment><comment><USER8> No where in the twitter feed is gender pronouns mentioned</comment>


Creating Effective Landing Pages - <AUTHOR> http://muddylemon.com/2012/03/creating-effective-landing-pages/

<comment><USER2> Google's cache: [http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://muddylemon.com/2012/03/creating- effective-landing-pages/)

</comment><comment><USER3> Didn't know about "hero shot"—now I see where "hero-unit" class in Twitter bootstrap CSS comes from. =)

Overall, although some points may look obvious, the advice is very well- written and structured, and I think is worth a lot. Looking forward to future posts.

</comment><comment><USER4> If you want a effective landing page, you need to do CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization), for this you need to know usability, make test A/B and measuring analytics data =)

<comment><USER5> He mentions this at the end as his next article. But it should be in this list as a must do.

A problem with marketing is often peoples opinion of there skill out-weighs the reality. And you will have an influential person like a senior exec trying to add things to pages or do their own messaging. With A/B testing this is fine, you make a few versions of the page and then the results give answer. It really forces people to back their opinion and not just throw it out there. And shuts up those people that are consistently wrong. All while being much less personal than duking it out over opinions that can create friction.... yes it is essential.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Sorry about all that crashing, I created a static copy in its place so that page is loading much snappier.

<comment><USER7> Similar to bootstrap for twitter, it would be nice if someone comes up with a "bootstrap landing page" which contains all the elements which muddylemon suggests and which is further customisable. or does it already exist?

<comment><USER6> There are some options out there, from landing page themes on sites like themeforest, to plugin systems like premise and Saas apps like Unbounce to whatever you would call Prosper202 to... well, there's a lot of stuff out there.

That said, twitter bootstrap has most of those elements, even down to the hero-unit already built in, so I guess it would qualify for that too.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This sounds like a similar article from Design Festival:

Attributes of Effective Landing Pages: 10 Landing Page Reviews (<http://designfestival.com/10-landing-page-reviews/>)

</comment><comment><USER9> Another great blog on the subject: [http://www.ashmaurya.com/2009/11/from- minimum-viable-product...](http://www.ashmaurya.com/2009/11/from-minimum- viable-product-to-landing-pages/)

</comment><comment><USER10> heh the first rule would be keep your site up?

<comment><USER7> yes! planning for instant scaling is part of a good landing page design. If customers can't land, the missed opportunity is huge indeed.

PS: the web site was down totally at the time of this writing.

<comment><USER6> Yes, I recently moved servers, just doubled the memory and now i'm trying to get in so i can make a static copy. fun!

<comment><USER7> ok, just try to make it up :) I promise I ll read and vote up when it comes up ...

<comment><USER6> It's back. Had to reboot the server and sneak back on before you guys came back.

Always on the weekend, amirite

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Thank you for sharing this as I am now blank with ideas.

</comment><comment><USER12> Looks like it worked to the extent of self-destruction.

</comment><comment><USER13> uhm, the site appears to be unresponsive for me.

<comment><USER6> Working on it, it's up and down right now.</comment></comment>


Relationships between Depression and High Intellectual Potential (2012) - <AUTHOR> http://www.hindawi.com/journals/drt/2012/567376/ <comment><USER2> Miraca Gross did a long term study of exceptionally gifted students in Australia.

<http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10489.aspx>

Brilliant kids who were held back in their age group, following the "inclusion" theory, were far more likely to become depressed, and to fail as adults.

Brilliant kids who were not held back and allowed to progress according to their own skills and talents, following the "acceleration" theory, were more likely to become well adjusted successful adults.

The relationship between intelligence and depression in children is explained by this study. There is a third factor - how the education is handled.

Imagine taking a person of average intelligence and placing them in a class for profoundly developmentally disabled children, children who can not feed themselves or talk. Make them sit in this environment daily for 12 years, as the only person of normal intelligence in the room. Spend hours each day, for years on end, showing them over and over how to use a spoon. A normal person forced to experience this would rapidly become suicidal or crazed.

That is what it is like for exceptionally gifted children who are mainstreamed. Take an 8 yr old child who is doing algebra and calculus on his own and force him to study tables of "addition facts" for an entire year. Punish him if he won't fill in the worksheets and then sit quietly if completed, or raise his hand to receive more worksheets that are the same thing, to keep him busy and out of trouble. This child becomes frustrated, and within a few months, will become depressed and hopeless. The "good ones" stay quiet and contemplate suicide. The "bad ones" start to act up, and nowadays are prescribed antipsychotic tranquilizers. One of the biggest new markets for antipsychotics is in forcing it upon children.

<comment><USER3> > That is what it is like for exceptionally gifted children who are > mainstreamed.

Funny story: I was in special ed classes for my last year of high school. Half my teachers wanted me to be in the hyper-accelerated program, half my teachers wanted me to be in special ed; the latter teachers won. They took my resistance to doing homework and "disorganization" as a profound learning disability, despite never getting less than an A on a test.

A month or two before I dropped out, a story about one of my projects was featured in Forbes and other major publications. The same teachers and administrators who had forced me into that hellish existence were parading it around as this huge badge of honor for my little school; last I heard, it's still hanging up in the office somewhere. I never got an apology, never had anyone say "hey, we fucked up." They justified all of this in their minds; I'll never understand how.

<comment><USER4> >Funny story: I was in special ed classes for my last year of high school. Half my teachers wanted me to be in the hyper-accelerated program, half my teachers wanted me to be in special ed; the latter teachers won. They took my resistance to doing homework and "disorganization" as a profound learning disability, despite never getting less than an A on a test.

I was in both the 'gifted' and the 'special ed' programs at the same time. the 'special' classes weren't so bad, really, if you only had to do it for two hours, twice a week, and it seems they were mostly worried about my handwriting.

It's funny, 'organizational skills' haunt me to this day, that's the other thing they tried to teach me. (and yeah, even now I'm pretty bad; I dono if I would call it a disability, but it's a big problem that holds me back.) but handwriting? the idea of actually spending time learning handwriting strikes me as very silly.

<comment><USER5> > the idea of actually spending time learning handwriting strikes me as very > silly.

It works like this, in the mind of a (bad) educator:

1\. I had to do this.

2\. I don't do random shit, so it must be important.

3\. Therefore, you have to do this.

This chain of logic breaks down at step 2, so that's where post-hoc rationalizations step in to save the day. That's why I'm going to say this explicitly: _For everything you can come up with to justify handwriting classes, there's a better way to learn the same skill that also fosters things that are more important than having neat handwriting._

For example, fine motor control is better learned through PE classes that actually teach sports, which has the added benefit of promoting physical fitness. The aesthetics of handwriting is better learned through calligraphy as part of a _good_ art class, which has the added benefit of transmitting a culture which is left out of handwriting classes.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I was mildly appalled that such a low quality article made it onto the frontpage of HN, a psychological study that starts off by talking about Aristotle and _les quatres humeurs_ scores high on my bullshit detection algorithm.

But I thought the publishers name sounded familiar and went googling and found [http://www.the- scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/32426/...](http://www.the- scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/32426/title/Predatory-Publishing/)

Which contains this gem:

"""Bolstering this trend is the so-called "gold open-access" model, in which publishing is supported not by subscription fees but by author fees. An example of a gold open-access journal is The Scientific World Journal, currently published by Cairo-based Hindawi Publishing Corporation. This megajournal covers virtually all scientific fields and imposes an article processing charge of $1,000 for each accepted article. Similarly, the better- known Public Library of Science (PLoS) journals charge authors anywhere from $1,350 to $2,900 to publish, with a discount if the researcher is affiliated with a university that is an institutional member."""

So effectively, if you are giving this article your attention, you are supporting a sketchy vanity press that does not appear to engage in the same level of peer review as more traditional journals, open-access or not.

<comment><AUTHOR> You see this article has a catchy title with no actual content, and it did quite well on the HN that is sort of exposing. Next time I'll read the article _before_ submitting it, sorry.

<comment><USER6> > Next time I'll read the article before submitting it, sorry.

So what was your thought process in submitting that article?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> One school of thought is that depressed people are in closer contact with reality due to their lack of defense mechanisms that keep others happy: <http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depressive_realism>

I don't think the evidence has completely verified this hypothesis, but I think there's some truth to it. I think it may be a contributing factor to the Dunning-Krueger effect in that depressed people are willing to accept things that others won't while having little self-confidence

<comment><USER8> I don't have a high IQ, but I've found that if I wilfully depress myself before doing something mentally tasking I usually perform much better than I would have otherwise.

<comment><USER9> I feel that statements like that belittle actual depression, which best to my knowledge is not something that you can pop into or out from that trivially.

<comment><USER10> I feel that statements like that are a working out of ideas out loud, with a community, and show a thoughtfulness and curiosity that deserves encouraging amongst humans. If you disagree with an idea, show evidence rather than trying to shame people into silence.

<comment><USER9> It's not the idea I'm disagreeing with, but the wording used to express it. More specifically the use of word "depression" to refer a condition that does not seem very "serious".

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> This article was a weird read for someone like me who meets regularly with psychologists from a scientifically oriented research department of psychology (at the University of Minnesota). The conclusion of the article begins,

"In conclusion, the depression observed in children with high potential would seem to be characterized by narcissistic vulnerability associated with genuine traumatophilia,"

and the old-fashioned terminology like "narcissistic" and the use of outmoded (and never validated) projective tests of personality (like the Rorschach) shows the article is far out of the mainstream of current psychology. I was wondering how such an old-fashioned article could come from 2012, so I focused my attention on the academic affiliations of the authors (not from major centers for the study of high IQ or of depression) and the journal of publication (not a top journal in this field).

There is a huge prior literature on associations between high IQ and mood disorders, with much of that literature summarized in the authoritative textbook by Goodwin and Jamison.

[http://www.amazon.com/Manic-Depressive-Illness-Disorders- Rec...](http://www.amazon.com/Manic-Depressive-Illness-Disorders-Recurrent- Depression/dp/0195135792/)

As a parent of four high-IQ children myself, painfully aware of how toxic the United States school system can be for such children,

<http://learninfreedom.org/age_grading_bad.html>

I first of all sought local friendship networks of other parents who understand such children. We have been homeschoolers throughout our children's childhoods, and that seems to have provided our children with some extra scope for creativity and added resilience for facing personal challenges (including two international moves during the childhoods of our three oldest children). Through association with the Davidson Institute for Talent Development Young Scholars program,

<http://www.davidsongifted.org/youngscholars/>

we have learned about--and have shared--resources with other parents about building optimism in children. I especially like Martin E. P. Seligman's book The Optimistic Child

[http://www.amazon.com/Optimistic-Child-Safeguard- Depression-...](http://www.amazon.com/Optimistic-Child-Safeguard-Depression- Resilience/dp/0618918094/learninfreed)

as a framework for children to learn how to reality-check their own thinking and not to be depressed by setbacks in life.

<comment><USER12> The French approach to psychiatry is very different to that in the Anglophone world. Lacanian psychoanalysis is still a mainstream treatment, even for developmental disorders like autism. The article is wholly mainstream by French standards.

<comment><USER11> _The French approach to psychiatry is very different to that in the Anglophone world._

I gather so. There are a few parts of the United States where psychoanalysis is still in vogue, but fewer and fewer year by year, as patients usually like to become well through the treatments they seek. I just did some Web searching about the approach you kindly mentioned. Is there replicable evidence that the Lacanian psychoanalysis is working for a large number of French patients?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> When a 21st-century paper's abstract starts off by talking about the medieval four humors theory of medicine, and it doesn't even acknowledge how wrong that is, you know you can safely stop reading.

<comment><USER14> In fairness, I think they were trying to point out that the idea there might be a correlation between intelligence and depression has been around for a long time:

"Aristotle introduced a quantitative factor, asserting that levels of melancholy and black bile are positively correlated; however, under a given threshold of black bile, it can give rise to an exceptional being"

The fact that Aristotle thought "black bile" was responsible for both is neither here not there, but just a necessary context to understand the quotation.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melencolia_I>

</comment><comment><USER16> while there may in fact be such a correlation, after skimming this "paper" it appears to be mostly philosophical rambling and armchair musings, very little data, no graphs or charts or analyses showing correlation, etc., just citations of other papers.

</comment><comment><USER17> Ignorance is bliss.

This reminds me of the Jewish tradition, where men is punished when he eats from the Tree of Knowledge. The more you know, more easily you find anguish.

"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes deals with this subject in a splendid way (won the Nebula Award for best novel in 1966).

The tao says: therefore the sage, in exercise of his government, empties their minds, fills their bellies, weakens their wills and strength their bones. Which is simple advice: don't think too much. Don't take everything so seriously.

It took me a life to learn that intelligence is not wisdom. The world is full of uneducated wises and intelligent fools.

Are you really smart? Pray for wisdom, not intelligence.

</comment><comment><USER18> How about statistical data that a clinical depression occurs mostly among women?)

<comment><USER19> Guess again. Most woman are emotionally more stable than men, when it comes to stress-resistance. Men are usually shielded much weaker to mentally stressing attacks. That's because men favor thinking logical, but trying to grasp illogical or stupid behavior causes a lot of stress. Could be connected with the amount of "Mirror-Neurons" of men.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> If high intellectual potential means an increased awareness of how fucked humanity actually is, then it isn't super surprising that high intellectual potential is positively correlated with depression.

</comment><comment><USER21> honest serious question: do we have evidence that high IQ (beyond say 120 or so) is useful for anything important? Seems like a lot of people seek high IQ, but what's the advantage exactly?

<comment><USER22> It's only an advantage if you have such a high IQ. If you didn't, then you wouldn't be interested in the kind of problems that would require it.

<comment><USER21> Like if maybe some people had such high IQs that they saw problems with people who thought their moderately high IQs were useful.

Sorry, just looking for real data.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> We all believe to be super genius, don't we ?

I really wonder what is the average QI (for what it counts) here on HN...

</comment><comment><USER24> It's kind of depressing that one needs a high level of intellect to understand the paper.

<comment><USER25> No, this paper is a mimicry of an actual paper, it is analogous to fool's gold.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> The good news: there seems to be no well-documented correlation between upper- tier IQ and mental illness. At a measured IQ of 150, you're no more or less likely to have mental health issues than at 100. You can rest easy now (sort of). Technically speaking, your high IQ is not going to make you crazy or depressed.

The bad news: beyond about a 125 IQ, it's the CCCP (courage, creativity, curiosity, passion) that _actually_ matter as predictors of creative achievement, and those correlate slightly positively with biological mental illness[0], and _very_ strongly with induced mental illness due to social adversity.

Society makes sure that the best people have fucked-up lives. That's well- documented. Fucked-up lives lead to mental illness. Also well-documented.

<comment><USER27> Your second paragraph is freaking me out a bit. I don't want to believe it, but it makes sense, and history seems to support it. My theory, though, is that the smart, courageous, creative, curious, passionate people with a strong "EQ" aren't as subject to mental illness. It's one thing to be a recluse who scorns "normal, social people" and stays in his cave doing pretentious, so-so, slightly-creative intellectual work just to spite others, perpetually repeating to himself, "I am smarter than those people," and it's another thing to be a genuine, smart, creative, curious, passionate dude who can actually deal with being isolated from others when he needs to be, and who has the social skills and empathy to socialize when he wants to. I think it also matters whether you're a natural introvert or extrovert, because I theorize that introverts can better cope with the inherent solitude in a creative process. But to be relatively safe from mental illness, you've got to be one of those introverts who could, with some effort, fake it as an extrovert -- one with exceptionally acute social awareness. You need some serious emotional capacity and social understanding to distance yourself from depression if you're a bright, passionate, creative powerhouse, unless you're on the other side of the fence: a natural extrovert who possesses these qualities. In that case, you just have to fight the urge to socialize in order to get your creative work done (or perhaps you are creative while socializing).

<comment><USER28> >> "It's one thing to be a recluse who scorns 'normal, social people'"

This is not a stigmatizing statement at all. tone = {sarcasm: "implied"};

Perhaps people who would feel the urge to be reclusive would be more social if people like you kept your mouths shut every once in a while and didn't say pathetically pretentious things like "us normal, social people".

<comment><USER27> Sorry, didn't mean to come across like that. I'm an introvert myself. I just respect people who are comfortable with themselves more than I respect those who hold envious contempt for others and make excuses like "I'm just above everyone else. That's why I don't hang out with them." Really, that was something of a self-critique: I am certain that some people I know once thought I was that guy who thinks he's just too good for everyone else, so I can relate either way.

<comment><USER29> _"I'm just above everyone else. That's why I don't hang out with them."_

Who says this?

<comment><USER30> Nobody, ever. Pretty sure OP is projecting his own insecurities here. Not social _with you_ != thinks he is superior to you.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Better Web Readability Project - CSS Library - <AUTHOR> http://code.google.com/p/better-web-readability-project/

<comment><USER2> Using it for a while now. Essentially it's this bookmarklet:

        javascript:(function(){readStyle='style-newspaper';readSize='size-large';readMargin='margin-wide';_readability_script=document.createElement('SCRIPT');_readability_script.type='text/javascript';_readability_script.src='http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/js/readability.js?x='+(Math.random());document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(_readability_script);_readability_css=document.createElement('LINK');_readability_css.rel='stylesheet';_readability_css.href='http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/css/readability.css';_readability_css.type='text/css';_readability_css.media='screen';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(_readability_css);_readability_print_css=document.createElement('LINK');_readability_print_css.rel='stylesheet';_readability_print_css.href='http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/css/readability-print.css';_readability_print_css.media='print';_readability_print_css.type='text/css';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(_readability_print_css);})();

<comment><USER3> For anyone interested, this is the code which "parses" the page:

      http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/js/readability.js

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> How does it compare to <http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/> ?

<comment><USER5> Definitely "Readability" should have more exposure.

I've been using it lately and I love it.

Simple is beauty.

</comment></comment><comment> tomh- Beware that this is released GPL! Because it is client side code, you are automatically redistributing the source so this means your entire application must be released under GPL too..I'm not a legal expert but I don't advise anyone to take any risk with using GPL code for client side..

<comment><AUTHOR> You have my permission to do what you want with source code(CSS). What license is best for that?

<comment> tomh- MIT and BSD are clientside friendly licenses

<comment><AUTHOR> MIT it is :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I found the blog linked to this page (which looks like it uses the css) really hard to read on my monitor. They letters were too small and close together. There was even one word that I couldn't tell if it was worn or worm until I highlighted the last letter. ( I suspect the author had a similar problem, I have never heard of words giving a "worm book welcoming".

<comment><AUTHOR> You are absolutely right! I didn't have time to redesign my blog who is still using 12px default. But if we use 16px like standard I think we should wait for 80% or more users have monitors bigger then 1024px. If you have two column blog is not the problem to change to 16px, but for multi column site we need more space.

But I was wondering something else there are there 10 and more texts from Kant, Bukowski, Elvis also some blogs, is it easy to read? Do you have some suggestion how can we improve it? Try to be creative, we all spend hours reading on the computer, you probably think of this problem before. Please, share your experience!

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> This project should not be confused with "readability.js", here the point is better CSS Typography, not java-script cleaning "noise" methods.</comment>


Quantum Physics (2017) - <AUTHOR> https://global.oup.com/academic/product/quantum-physics-9780190250713?cc=us&lang=en& <comment><AUTHOR> Besides being simply a must read for any "hacker" who is not yet comfortable with the ideas of quantum physics, this little book gives an excellent explanation of how the secure quantum key distribution works.</comment>


What do i do with my web based Twitter client? - <AUTHOR>

Back when twitter was really buzzing, I thought a web client was a great idea. I built one and forgot about it. I have ironed out some bugs and it's working at http://twitexplode.com
Apart from the narcissism points, what else can I do with it? <comment><USER2> Add analytics. I'm not sure how, but I believe there is a market out there for twitter tools to measure _stuff_ in searches/twitter streams. Integrated with a client sort of makes sense to me. But I'm no social marketer, so I may be way off.

<comment><AUTHOR> analytics \- ok, i could measure what topics are searched most but first i need enough volume...</comment></comment>


Wikipedia Considers Total Blackout to Oppose SOPA - <AUTHOR> http://torrentfreak.com/wikipedia-mulls-total-blackout-to-oppose-sopa-111212/

<comment><USER2> Even coming from a stance of neutrality, the time to be political is when your existence is threatened.

The only reason why Wikipedia's existence might not be threatened by the bill is because they're just too popular. Those behind SOPA know that if they enforced it against a site like Wikipedia it would reveal it as the flawed piece of legislation it is. Instead they will nab smaller time websites for infringements because people won't care as much.

In a way, SOPA might be good for the Facebooks and the Wikipedias because they will never get shutdown, but their competitors might. I guess this is contradictory to my first sentence, but I don't believe in relying on "too big to fail" for existence.

</comment><comment><USER3> A true blackout would be hellish: I don't know that there's a day that goes by that I don't read something on Wikipedia (which is the point, of course).

A simple, but effective, solution would be to simply change the site's style to draw all article text with a black background, a la redacted documents.

If this was done, users could still manually highlight using their browsers to view the text (and screen readers would still work just fine), but the effect would be still be striking, to say the least.

<comment><USER4> I think an action similar to what BoingBoing did on internet censorship day might be good. On the a user's first visit of the day, a popup stops the visit, saying "This site has been blocked. Not really, but under SOPA it could be.", with an OK to continue. The same thing on google would really make a stir.

I don't think people really understand the ramifications of the law, and an example that affected them would do wonders for everyday internet users, with a side effect of drumming up needed media attention.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I really hope they do this. There are few things that will get Americans' attention; this one might (Google not working for a day might, too, but that isn't going to happen).

Of course, the fear-mongers would probably just accuse Wikipedia of being terrorist and pirate sympathizers.

And even if people cared, would that actually affect the legislative process? I'm not hopeful.

</comment><comment><USER6> If Wikipedia goes down, all the media will start reporting it. And then reporting on SOPA. And I do really think that that sort of action (if the media do some research on why the action is being done) can have an impact on the legislator.

</comment><comment><USER7> I love this idea and fully support it, but a possibly unintended side effect would be reporting of this event taking a turn towards: "Holy crap, we all rely a lot on Wikipedia! Who are these people who run this global resource, anyway? Can we trust them? Should this sort of information source be regulated for the sake of the public good? Should it even be possible for these unaccountable people to pull such an important site from the internet without any oversight?! We need more laws!"

</comment><comment><USER8> This will never make it past the wikilawyers running the US version. They live to find reasons to shoot down anything anybody proposes, even if they acknowledge that thing is ultimately right and beneficial. WP:IGNORE and WP:BURO essentially do not exist for many editors. (In many cases, this ready- fire-aim mindset is actually beneficial, because a lot of people have a lot of bad ideas that should be summarily rejected. But it gets in your way whether or not you're not an idiot.)

</comment><comment><USER9> If they do it during the upcoming/in-progress finals season... god help us all. On one hand, it would cause the biggest effect, but it would also be mainly reaching people who are not known to vote in large numbers.

<comment><USER10> Shifting the opinion of normal voters probably won't matter; they tend to have strong, pre-existing loyalties and SOPA is unlikely to change them. But motivating a group that tends not to vote completely upsets the balance of power in the US even if its still just a minority of that group.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I doubt there is a better PR mechanism in existence than the blacking out of Wikipedia. Count my support for this measure.

</comment><comment><USER12> If it's bread and circuses that keep our less aware, equally voting brothers and sisters sated and deaf to our call to action, then perhaps a little less of each is exactly the prescription. I think wikipedia has been both bread and circus to us all, at work and home. If I was asked by a less technical friend what it meant to see a black wikipedia, I would feel it had worked well and I would finish opening their eyes. And I would feel proud to have helped.

</comment><comment><USER13> It would be very inconvenient for the entire world but I totally support it, and I hope it happens soon because it would send a very powerful message to many people around the world about bills like SOPA.

</comment><comment><USER14> To what end? This is a bet on a third-order effect.

Action: Wikipedia goes into blackout.

First-order effect: People get angry because they can't look up something.

Second-order effect: They internalize that they should be angry about SOPA, and call their congresscritter.

Third-order effect: The amount of voters calling is enough to make said congresscritter oppose SOPA.

The only guarantee is that people won't be able to access wikipedia. Everything else is increasingly unlikely.

<comment><USER15> Well if you take Tumblr's recent censoring as evidence, it can easily work.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Do it. This is not a time for half measures.

(It will inconvenience me, yes. That's the entire point -- it's the sole message that is likely to reach the masses, clearly. Do it, please!

At the risk of diluting my message, I'll further argue that this is what we need more of: Take away those "gifts" of technology from those who would pervert it. There's "no law" saying that the technorati have to support such morons. At least, not to my knowledge, not in the U.S. -- yet.)

</comment><comment><USER17> Expected response from the powers that be: "Your terms are acceptable. Good riddance."

Thomas Paine et al did not protest censorship by ceasing publication.

<comment><USER18> A blackout is not meant to attract the attention of the powers that be. A blackout is meant to attract the attention of the _users_. Wikipedia's users will say no such thing.

<comment><USER17> Within hours (minutes? seconds?) of a Wikipedia shutdown, someone else will have a duplicate up and running, touting reliability and "we don't play political games".

<comment><USER18> And users will find it how?

(Sure, after a week or so it might find its way to the same Google ranks as About.com's existing Wikipedia clone. But by then the message has been delivered.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> This could have some adverse effects in SERPs. Google? Matt Cutts? What could Wikipedia, or other sites looking to contribute to this cause with a unavailable site, do to not hurt their position in search? 503 Status-Code? Worthwhile to include a Retry-After header?

<comment><USER20> Even if it does, caring about what position of the first page you're on is a little less important that caring about whether you're going to be around in a year.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> It's not enough to oppose SOPA, we need laws that explicitly prohibit the bad parts. Some things need to be fenced off or the animals will ruin it, and make no mistake, if SOPA fails they'll try again and again until they reach a maximum. The only way to prevent this from happening again (and make no mistake, they already have backup plans) is to prohibit it.

<comment><USER22> We actually already have a law against the bad parts: the Bill of Rights and specifically the First Amendment.

<comment><USER21> I'm not sure that's enough.

<comment><USER23> I'm quite certain it's not enough.

<comment><USER22> The 1st Amendment was enough for the Supreme Court to knock down 1989's Flag Desecration Act (US vs. Eichman, 1990), parts of 1994's Communications Decency Act (Reno vs. ACLU, 1997), 1998's COPA (Mukasey vs. ACLU, through 2009) and 2002's McCain-Feingold (Citizens United, through 2010) as unfairly restrictive of free speech. Congress passes lots of dumb speech-restricting laws that eventually get knocked down.

When these DNS-delisting enforcement operations – those from either before or hypothetically after SOPA might pass – finally get real, full-stack court review, they could very well wind up judicially prohibited as unconstitutional. It just takes a while.

<comment><USER21> Which is exactly the thing that should be legislated up front. There's no need to spend decades waiting for a good case to challenge bad law. I shudder to think about "oh, we'll just work it out in the courts" before the law is even passed.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> All for it. I would hate to be without Wikipedia, even for a day, but I would hate seeing SOPA pass a lot more.

<comment><USER23> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Database_download>

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> Maybe they should black out current events and all information about political candidates. That would get the attention of a lot of people.

They might be ensnared in the equal exposure laws during an election season, though.

<comment><USER12> As a website, wikipedia was not eligible for the 1934 Communications Act which describes the law of which you speak.

<comment><USER25> Yep, that's the one I was thinking about. Thanks, and you're correct!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Well, it'll have to be for a long time for it to be REALLY inconvenient. Google's cache will still allow you to access some of its content, what may be enough for some people.

But yes, hope they go for it and stop SOPA.

</comment><comment><USER27> A "rolling blackout" would be just an effective -- go dark for a few hours each day.

</comment><comment><USER28> This is a horrible idea. Once Wikipedia starts advocating political positions, it will raise doubts as to the neutrality of Wikipedia content.

<comment><USER29> Since SOPA could be used to take all of Wikipedia down because some single user posted something in violation of copyright, I think it's appropriate for Wikipedia to advocate this. If it were any issue that didn't fly directly in the face of Wikipedia's ability to run I would agree with you.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> I have mixed feelings about this idea. SOPA is awful, but political neutrality is an important principle.

Perhaps formal neutrality could be maintained by simply offering an awareness banner: replace the fundraising insert with informational links to both pro- and anti-SOPA websites. The readers will be able to figure out the right position, for their own interests. (Perhaps, even, any pro-SOPA site would be toppled by the natural clickthrough traffic.)

Even if a protest displaces the fundraising banners for a day or more, the added attention to Wikipedia might boost the overall fundraiser.

<comment><USER30> >I have mixed feelings about this idea. SOPA is awful, but political neutrality is an important principle.

I have a hard time seeing why "political neutrality" is ever an important principle, but especially in this case, Wikipedia would be acting in what it considers to be it's own self-interest. What merits are there in any entity remaining "neutral" in circumstances like that?

<comment><USER22> It sounds like you have an activist/politicking mentality. That's fine, but it's not for everyone or every institution. One of Wikipedia's pillars, "written from a neutral point-of-view" (NPOV), considers neutrality (including about political controversies) an important principle.

Political neutrality is also considered a good thing for judges, various public officials, and many journalists. If you have a diversity of strong political opinions in your family or workplace, keeping the shared spaces/events/organizations politically neutral is also usually a good idea.

<comment><USER31> Defense is not "activism", but rather " _re_ activism".

And nothing about "neutrality" suggests that you should not act in defense.

<comment><USER22> If SOPA passed, and then either some copyright-holder or prosecutor tried to use it against Wikipedia – then opposing that action would be a 'defense'. This is specific preemptive WP:ADVOCACY.

And as bad as SOPA is, _there are many worse laws proposed or existing around the world_. Should every Wikipedia in countries that already have far worse free-speech laws be constantly blinking out in intermittent protest, once this threshold for 'stop-the-service' activism is set?

<comment><USER31> That is an unnecessarily and unjustifiably limited definition of defense. The mere proposal of legislation is an attack. _"WP:ADVOCACY"_ is not a convincing argument for that viewpoint. Furthermore, defense can certainly be preemptive, so we have multiple levels of 'wrong' here.

 _" Should every Wikipedia in countries that already have far worse free- speech laws be constantly blinking out in intermittent protest, once this threshold for 'stop-the-service' activism is set?"_

Arguably, yes. They should always do this in response to legislation that so directly effects them. Doing it after the fact is obviously of much more limited utility.

 _"activism"_

Again, this is a silly accusation.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Node.js + Socket.io + Express Chat Application - <AUTHOR> http://chattran-khamoud.dotcloud.com/

<comment><AUTHOR> This is a simple chat I hacked up using Node, Express and Socket.io. If you have questions I'll be in the lobby under the name Kris.

<comment><USER2> What did you use for the UI? It looks really good.

<comment><AUTHOR> /avgrund.css</comment></comment></comment>


Video Demo of What a 4" iPhone Screen Looks Like in Action - <AUTHOR> http://www.macrumors.com/2012/08/31/video-demo-of-what-a-4-iphone-screen-looks-like-in-action/

<comment><USER2> Wait for the copycats to start releasing 4" smartphones.. but you will know that Apple did it first and they will get sued for using the same size!</comment>


YC NYC: Paul Graham Shares The Antidote To Startup Poison - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/26/yc-nyc-paul-graham-shares-the-antidote-to-startup-poison/

<comment><USER2> _After the program, when a founder says they're moving back to a city that isn't exactly known for startups — Minneapolis, for example — Graham does his best to talk them out of it._

I grew up in Minneapolis and moved to Seattle about eight years ago after I graduated from college. I moved not because I was concerned about founding a startup in Minneapolis, but because I couldn't find a job I found interesting[1]. My software-focused friends still left in the Twin Cities have job titles like 'Business Analyst,' 'IT Manager,' 'Geek Squad Something Something,' and 'SAP Solutions Architect.'

Frankly, I've never looked back, and cannot imagine ever seeking out work in the area. I wish the region was more attractive to the kinds of technology companies you can find here on the West Coast.

[1] I was working for Honeywell at the time, which was the single most soul- crushing job I've ever had.

</comment><comment><USER3> That article was posted to TC 5 minutes ago. Do you have Paul Graham on keyword alert or something? LOL

I'm just saying, this article was posted less than 5 minutes after it was published on TechCrunch. It certainly wasn't even read before being submitted. You can tell it was posted in a haste to be first because the initial title for the submission was "Fsdfs." Once it was confirmed it was first the title was changed to the correct title.

<comment><USER4> Probably twitter</comment></comment>


Estonia's E-Residency Program Is Growing Faster Than Predicted - <AUTHOR> http://motherboard.vice.com/read/estonias-e-residency-program-is-growing-three-times-faster-than-predicted <comment><USER2> It's worth noting that you can get similar benefits from Singapore.

Singapore doesn't have a cute "E-residency" program, but a foreigner can just pay a local agent and have a corporation opened. Corporate taxes are a clean 17% (lower for small businesses and startups), no dividend taxes, etc.

[http://www.guidemesingapore.com/incorporation/company/singap...](http://www.guidemesingapore.com/incorporation/company/singapore- company-registration-guide)

[http://www.guidemesingapore.com/taxation/corporate- tax/singa...](http://www.guidemesingapore.com/taxation/corporate- tax/singapore-corporate-tax-guide)

You also get a fairly stable and well established set of corporate law, which unfortunately Estonia doesn't offer (yet).

The real tricky bit for Americans is how Singapore's tax system (just corporate income tax!) would interact with the US's crazy one (e.g. dividends, capital gains, random other things).

<comment><USER3> From my (limited, I Am Not A Lawyer, etc.) understanding:

First, it's expensive - you should count a good S$5k SGD/year if you go through an established player (e.g. Hawksford, who you are quoting), maybe a bit less otherwise. This ad infinitum, as you need a local director to keep the company open. And unlike in Hong Kong not so long ago, it has to be a real director - someone who theoretically can open bank accounts and hire people - so you're taking that risk too (the director will, conversely, be taking the risk that you might be a scammer or other criminal whose acts he'll have to answer for in court).

Then you have to put in S$50k in capital in order to be able to apply for a visa (EP) for yourself, should you want permission to work in Singapore (if not, you'll get taxed at home when repatriating profits); this visa will require, today, at least S$4-5k/month in "salary" (which will be taxed).

This also assumes that the Ministry of Manpower doesn't suddenly catch upon this very convenient way of getting yourself what is effectively an investor visa at a fraction of the investor visa cost (which they did two years ago with the EntrePass, which is today utterly useless for most foreign founders due to its requirement to have funding from a short list of approved VCs). Guessing what MoM wants and is going to do seems to be a bit of Kremlinology which HR directors love talking about as their special value add, but it is a bit opaque and the rules change with time, elections and special circumstances (like the famed riots last year, or the Ferrari and taxi incident).

The "plan" should you want to take advantage of Singapore's otherwise fantastic conditions for running a business is to get PR, which takes up to 3 years employed locally (depending on salary - someone on a high salary and from a "desirable" country might get it in 6 months). Singapore is fantastic... for local founders. Or if you're willing to pay.

The days where you could be in business for USD 1,500 and a flight to Hong Kong appear to be, unfortunately, over. I'd love to be proven wrong...

<comment><USER4> Could you comment on the current state of affairs in HK?

<comment><USER3> A few years ago, I opened and closed a company there with no problems. Did it again recently (post the various money laundering laws) and it was much more paperwork. When I flew to HK to get the bank account opened, they stressed I might not get it and that many foreigners could not get an account opened. 4 weeks later, HSBC denied me an account so the company lies empty until I decide to close it.

In a previous thread, someone said they managed to open an account so maybe it's on a case by case basis.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The exiting news is that estonia is working let people open a bank account remotely, it should be live in Autumn 2016 [1], which is an year from now, but it will really bring a lot of changes...

[1]: [http://us9.campaign- archive1.com/?u=d439c8680308c578a74dbd36...](http://us9.campaign- archive1.com/?u=d439c8680308c578a74dbd368&id=3083b438f4&e=c1735a3344)

</comment><comment><USER6> I am a citizen and a resident of another EU country, and have established a company in Estonia recently. Obtaining e-residency was fast and straightforward. I picked up the card in Tallinn, and opened the company the same day. You will need an address in Estonia, but there are companies that provide that service. I used LeapIn ([https://www.leapin.eu](https://www.leapin.eu)) which also provide accounting services (disclosure: my only relationship to them is that I am their client). Their fees are very reasonable and they can help speed up the entire process.

I tried opening a bank account in two banks. One rejected me because (despite having the company) I did not have sufficient ties to Estonia. The other (Swedbank) was very friendly and opened the account the same day. Again, LeapIn smoothened the process for me. I picked up my banking card three days later and everything worked perfectly.

Obtaining a VAT number is more difficult, and I wouldn't have managed without LeapIn's help. You need to convince the tax authorities that there is a legitimate reason why you need it. You need to present evidence (I had a previous company in another EU country) and there are several rounds of dialogue (knowing Estonian, and the local rules is very handy).

Overall, I was amazed at how efficient the process is, and how much effort Estonia is putting into making it even better. This really looks like a major strategic initiative for the country, where they are putting a lot of thought and investment.

Tallinn really deserves a separate post. It is a very beautiful city, with lots of life and things to do, really good atmosphere, good food, and reasonable prices. Very well worth my one-week trip!

</comment><comment><USER7> The article doesn't really explain what the e-residency service actually provides, but links to another article with more useful details:

[http://motherboard.vice.com/read/lets-all-become-e- residents...](http://motherboard.vice.com/read/lets-all-become-e-residents-of- estonia)

<comment><USER8> "one of her colleagues signed his job contract on his mobile phone while out fishing on the sea."

so in addition to leading the way in digital citizenship, they also have impressive data coverage? Count me in!

Joke aside, I'm very interested in seeing how bigger countries will implement something similar

<comment><USER7> This kind of stuff only happens in very small nations in my experience. They often have very little to lose, and the barrier to make major changes is small. This has been true in many of the smaller nations I've lived in, but I can't see the United States and other larger nations ever being efficient with the transition to this.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> just now there is open AMA in Nomadforum, some useful information there [https://nomadforum.io/t/i-m-kaspar-director-of-estonia-s- e-r...](https://nomadforum.io/t/i-m-kaspar-director-of-estonia-s-e-residency- program-ama/4769/31)

</comment><comment><USER10> The problem is that in order to operate as a startup, as the whole point of the e-residency is, it's not that easy. Getting a bank account as of end of September is quite hard, border line of impossible. Without a bank account, no startup can be setup properly.

Other than that - very good idea and probably the execution will be even better in the near future.

<comment><USER11> Try opening a bank account in the UK, if you think it's hard in Estonia. Unlike Estonia, you CAN NOT just come to the UK from a foreign country and open a bank account. Even if you've lived here for a while, it's still an unbelievably ridiculous, frustrating and wasteful process.

Let's start with having to call the bank weeks or months in advance for an appointment, like everything else in the UK. Even though your appointment is for a specific hour, once you arrive on time, be prepared to wait hours before someone sees you. You will then need two different proofs of address, alongside endless other documents. For a business account, you need all partners to be present at said appointment and you will be asked endless questions about the nature of your business and your expected cashflow. If for some reason your conversational English happens to be not so good, be prepared to be flat-out refused a bank account, without much explanation. All of this is usually justified by Know-Your-Customer and anti money lanundering procedures, which is a bit ironic, considering that HSBC are the ones doing all the money laundering to begin with.

<comment><USER12> I moved to the UK from a foreign country (from the EU though) and found it quite easy to start my company and open my accounts.

It really depends on the bank and branch you're walking into. My advice: Avoid doing what I did and don't apply for your first current account online. It might seem more efficient and time-saving but it's actually not - because of your non-existent credit history in the UK - they will have to ask you for endless documents.

Once you're in the UK, walk into a high-street bank that is actively seeking customers. Lloyds Bank or Barclays comes to mind. Ask for a basic bank account, which they will open for you without proof of address. Make an appointment with the same bank for a startup current account - sometimes they will send you to a different branch - if they don't do business banking themselves.

They will ask you about your business and estimated turnover. Make sure you bring your incorporation documents.

It's worth noting that I'm the only director of my limited company and the companies registered office was my home address - so no further proofs of address were required.

Waiting for your cards to arrive in the mail is what takes the most time, but I was able to use my online banking account even before I had my card.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I have an e-residency card. This is my experience, and thoughts: [http://brunozzi.com/2015/08/22/estonia-e- residency/](http://brunozzi.com/2015/08/22/estonia-e-residency/)

</comment><comment><USER14> Can anyone provide any insight on why E-Residency would be good for businesses? How about startups in particular?

<comment><USER5> If you are e-citizen in estonia you can easily open a company there.

Taxation in estonia is pretty nice since basically the only tax you pay is when you pull money out of the company, not when you sell something, as long as the money are inside the company you don't own anything.

(Of course is a little bit more complex that this, but here is the idea, you need to pay tax if you have employee for example)

<comment><USER15> Well, you also pay VAT when you sell something. You just don't pay corporate taxes.

<comment><USER16> IIRC you pay corporate taxes when the profits are distributed, but aren't taxed so long as you keep them in the business.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Very interesting stats on applicants, and use cases for e-residency provided here [https://app.cyfe.com/dashboards/195223/5587fe4e5203610228371...](https://app.cyfe.com/dashboards/195223/5587fe4e52036102283711615553)

</comment><comment><USER18> Has anyone applied to this?

How much is the cost of being an Estonian e-citizen? When i was there i understood there was some cost, roughly < 100 euros. Is every step of the procedure online? or some paperwork has to be done in Estonia (this is was my understanding of last time)

<comment><USER19> I applied to this and I am receiving my card from their consulate in Athens, tomorrow. I spent 50 euros for the application.

<comment><USER18> thanks, so you don't have to go there, just to pay 50 euros.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Any experiences creating merchant account on Play store with this? (from unsupported countries). Do you also have to pay income/sales/other taxes to Estonia?

</comment><comment><USER21> "Than Predicted" and "Than Thought" allows journalists to make true blog titles and for the audience it works better than expected.

</comment><comment><USER22> Set up my startup in Estonia, or Singapore .. anyone with experience either way got hints/tips/advice?

<comment><USER23> Depends a bit where you live, plan to live and where you pay tax.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Investment Options - <AUTHOR> Where do you personally invest your money: savings account / fixed deposit / 401k, ESPP, bonds, mutual funds, Betterment / Wealthfront, individual stocks, personal algorithmic trading / Quantopian, real estate / own a house, lending marketplace, angel investor, founded a company with savings, or other.
Looking for HN's opinion around the best place to invest one's savings with recommendations for allocation percentages of net worth across investment options (more than one of these options most likely). If you could also provide an approximate of number of years in the industry that would be helpful (1-4 years, 5-10 years, 10+ years)
Example: 1-5 years in industry Savings/Fd/401k 50% ESPP 30% Betterment / Wealthfront 10% Individual stocks 10% <comment><USER2> (US) I go by the old standard, in order:

* As much into your 401k as your employer will match (if applicable).

* Maximum federal allowance into IRA or Roth IRA (only the latter if you believe your retirement years tax rate will be higher than your current one). I go with the latter currently as having young kids means my tax rate is insanely low.

* Max out 401k.

* Tax-advantaged college savings for my kids (obviously a personal choice).

* Vanguard funds with low fees that track indices.

My reasoning is that I can spend a minimal amount of mental time thinking about my savings, and thus spend more time with my wife/kids and be more productive.

</comment><comment><USER3> I second /u/ptype suggestion of paying down the mortgage. It is a guaranteed return that no other investment can guarantee. We paid off mortgage in 2011 and it was the best decision we made. After paying off mortgage, we redirected the mortgage payments to other investments while we were working. We lost jobs in late 2013. Not having mortgage payment has been a blessing, no stress of needing to generate cash flow to make mortgage payment.

As we no longer has steady paycheck/significant income from work, we have become more conservative with our investments and keep one year worth of expenses in cash and cash-equivalent. We still have a 7% play account that we invest in whatever fancies us typically individual stocks, options, and Peer to Peer Lending. Rest is in ETFs, mutual stock and bond funds (Index based) in combination of Traditional and Roth IRAs and taxable brokerage accounts at Fidelity and Vanguard.

</comment><comment><USER4> It will be hard to find any investment options with better risk/return characteristics than paying down your mortgage. It's also quite tax efficient by construction compared to putting the money in an investment where you have to pay tax on interest/gains (though some countries allow for interest rate deduction from tax anyway). An added benefit is that it makes you more resilient to temporary loss of income etc.

</comment><comment><USER5> 3-6 months living expenses in cash/checking

Then, 100% in a S&P 500 index fund (VFINX) will be better than 95% of the population.

Don't bother with bonds, due to low interest rates and high inflation.

Advanced: pick individual stocks

PM ETFs (GLD, SLV)

consider buying gold and silver coins</comment>


Show HN: Fastmate – a native Fastmail-wrapper for Mac - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/accatyyc/fastmate <comment><USER2> Thanks - looks nice, especially as it's native. I'm using Fluid (fluidapp.com) to wrap Fastmail which also gives the ability to show notifications, show dock badge and handle mailto:. It also allows the use of custom CSS or JS which I find indispensable (see [https://github.com/mdbraber/fastmail- customized](https://github.com/mdbraber/fastmail-customized)). For shortcuts I use Keyboard Maestro w/ specific JS commands or URL triggers.

<comment><AUTHOR> Cool, wasn't aware of that one. Reinventing the wheel once again :)

Adding custom CSS/JS to Fastmate would be pretty simple, I might just do that as well.

Is there anything that you miss in your fluidapp setup that could be added to Fastmate perhaps? Thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> This is a small project that I made mostly for my own use. I did learn about Fastmail through HN, so maybe someone else here has use for something like this!

</comment><comment><USER3> This is nice, but the concept of a "native wrapper" is kind of contradictory. What's the memory usage?

<comment><AUTHOR> Is there a better wording? The wrapper is a native OSX app, adding some native features the web app lacks. Memory usage should be roughly the same as running it in Safari, right now around 23MB on my computer.</comment></comment>


Hundreds of crimes will soon be solved using DNA databases - <AUTHOR> https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612001/hundreds-of-crimes-will-soon-be-solved-using-dna-databases-genealogist-predicts/ <comment><USER2> This is a step in the right direction. Too many folks are in the system for crimes they didn't commit or bad evidence.

</comment><comment><USER3> The title cuts of just before this part..."genealogist predicts"</comment>


Finally, CSS based gradient text, no images - <AUTHOR> http://labs.dragoninteractive.com/rainbows_demo.php

<comment><USER2> Well, that's horrible for accessibility.

Contrary to popular opinion, assisstive technology for the visually disabled piggybacks onto existing browsers and so gains the full benefits of Javascript. If you're going to clone your text 52 times over, then your text will be read out 52 times by the browser. Oops.

<comment><USER3> Also contrary to popular opinion, an img tag with an appropriate alt attribute is very accessible (in any browser but IE, it's even resizable.)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This works by duplicating the text, one copy for each pixel of height. The text is then clipped with overflow: hidden. The sluggishness on that page results from a couple hundred (thousand?) copies of the text positioned absolutely and needing to be clipped.

The description is here: <http://labs.dragoninteractive.com/rainbows_article.php>

</comment><comment><USER5> Interesting technique, but it does use JavaScript (but degrades nicely).

A couple of side-effects: Firefox 3.0.8 is pretty sluggish when scrolling (although it might be better with only one instance of this used), also you can't (visibly) select the text that has this applied to it.

<comment><USER6> Looks good, but I also experienced unbearable sluggishness on Linux/Firefox when scrolling.

Specifically, Xorg and firefox processes use nearly all my CPU when I scroll.

It's unusable in its current form (at least on this system). Hopefully you can tune your code; this is a neat effect.

<comment><USER7> Unusable for me on Linux/firefox too.

<comment><USER8> There seems to be something really slow about javascript-heavy sites on Unix, I think.

I'm really curious what the underlying cause is, if it's not just perception bias on my part.

<comment><USER7> Possibly, since I don't use anything else I don't know (except in a virtual machine). I get the impression however that the firefox people spend a lot of time optimizing for MacOS and Windows that they don't spend on Linux for some reason.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Finally? Forgive me, but I can't really see the need for CSS to pull this off on its own. With gradient text you're not looking to convey information (or at least, no more than the words would convey with any other css-available text effect), you're looking for a _visual effect_. Something that images handle rather well.

<comment><USER10> Or if you're looking for something that scales nicely with screen resolution or whatnot, SVGs. I'm really looking forward to vector graphics getting better support in browsers - half the time we used bitmap images we really mean something else.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> This uses JavaScript, not CSS.

CSS on the other hand, _does_ have a built-in way to do gradients (CSS3+):

        *-colors: #color1 #color2 #color3 #color4 ect

For example, this demo makes use of border-colors gradients and border-radius: <http://code.eligrey.com/css3/border-colors/styled.html> (Only shows gradient in browsers that support CSS3 like FF3 & Safari 3)

<comment><USER2> While that's really neat (and something I didn't know about) it's not something that makes an appearance in either the CSS3 Colors or Backgrounds & Borders specs. Call it a vendor specific CSS extension rather than CSS3 for the time being.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> i think you mean a css and javascript/jquery based gradient text.

doesn't seem to work too well with dark backgrounds, either. at least, in chrome.

</comment><comment><USER13> It is barely readable in chrome. Everything is extremely aliased and there are some artifacts.

</comment><comment><USER14> The output looks really nice, but the implementation is not so great. Turn it into a service that outputs these in png format on the fly.

</comment><comment><USER15> I can appreciate the desire to have simple, CSS based solutions for somewhat common requests -- though I would not consider gradient text a common request, just work with me here -- solving the issue by coming up with some elaborate solution that is generally reserved for crazy positioning problems to work with IE5+ and modern browsers simultaneously is hardly a good approach.

That was a long sentence.

</comment><comment><USER16> Am I the only one who couldn't even select the resulting text? No good

</comment><comment><USER17> It scrolls terribly in my experience. They probably littered the dom with overlapping translucent divs or something.

</comment><comment><USER18> what a terrible solution to a non-existent problem. This doesn't even work as a proof of concept - I can't think of a single scenario where this technique would be useful.

Talk about killing a fly with a sledgehammer!

</comment><comment><USER19> Holy crap, did you see the markup? At that rate, you could have CSS-based bitmaps.</comment>


Ask HN : 'killall firefox' at least once a day? - <AUTHOR>

Everytime I close firefox on ubuntu, I have to kill it before restarting it. <comment><USER2> Solution: Don't close Firefox.

<comment><USER3> New problem: Firefox gets slower and slower... but I don't have the original problem, since Firefox actually closes for me, much of the time.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> For me (on Arch Linux), FF occasionally takes up 100% CPU and must be killed from the command line.</comment>


Linux Kernel NULL Pointer Vulnerability - <AUTHOR> http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/36038 <comment><AUTHOR> patch is here: [http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6...](http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=e694958388c50148389b0e9b9e9e8945cf0f1b98)

This has been giving us headaches from clients all day so I figured it made sense to post it (as no one else appears to have done so) - seeing as it affects pretty much everything since the 2.4 kernel.

Might be a good moment to update those kernels people :)

(elreg blurb: <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/14/critical_linux_bug/>)

</comment><comment><USER2> These are really beautiful exploits. Other people have written them up better than I can, so I won't bother, but it's worth tracking down the writeups; you'll be a slightly smarter person after reading them, and they'll make you smile.

<comment><USER3> <http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=6820>

<comment><USER4> This was a more useful article than the actual post

<comment><AUTHOR> agreed, thanks kirubakaran!

It has a really simple but effective explanation of the NULL dereferencing problem.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Isn't this like the last bug? Limited to being an exploit on systems where the default security policy is (was) to allow writable mappings at page zero? If so, shouldn't the SELinux treatment for those be effective here too?

<comment><USER6> It looks like "the SELinux treatment for those" is to disable SELinux?

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Note that this is a _local_ exploit, not a remote exploit. I guess that means panic but not too much.

Nice ad for trustix!

</comment><comment><USER8> Sigh, again? I don't follow vulnerabilities that well but isn't this the third NULL pointer vulnerability this year?

I run a Debian server but strangely there are no kernel updates.

</comment><comment><USER9> Haha and I was thinking the other day reading ms tech bulletins that MS always has such a long list of affected software!. Look at this: 473 different versions

<comment><USER7> The length of the list is a function of two variables, the first the length the bug has been in production, the second the number of versions you have released in to the wild.

What you're seeing here is a fairly rare occurrence in the linux world, a bug that has been in the code for a long long time. Frequent releases are pretty common in open source projects.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> It seems this vulnerability exists to accommodate WINE.

</comment><comment><USER11> <http://www.milw0rm.com/exploits/9435></comment>


How science is rewriting basketball wisdom  - <AUTHOR> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48270436/ns/technology_and_science-science/ <comment><USER2> This is not new. In gym class 20 years ago the teacher put in an old "how to shoot with Rick Barry" VHS. Proper shooting included a moderate number of revolutions and focus on the back iron.

Every basketball camp in the country explains how the bank shot rules described work.

Also knowing appropriate arc, rotations and place to aim are not bottlenecks on free throw shooting percentages. The issue is consistency which is bound by mental factors and shooting form.

<comment><USER3> I was just about to mention Rick Barry. He's outspoken for his insistence that his signature underhand free throw technique is more accurate. It very well may be, but NBA players are too macho to try a "granny shot", so no one has really tried it.

<comment><USER4> I don't believe that's necessarily the case. Free-throw shooting is a chance to develop your shot rhythm because the mechanics and form are similar to your shot during the game. There's a benefit to shooting free throws the same way you shoot jumpers. If you use the underhand technique you relinquish that advantage. not to mention you must learn a new way of shooting entirely.

<comment><USER3> Except:

1\. It's already different because you can't jump with a free throw.

2\. A lot of players seem to have no trouble handling both an ordinary jump shot and also a hook shot.

3\. Even players who never take normal jump shots and have atrocious free throw ability never switch to the underhand style.

<comment><USER5> FWIW, you actually can jump for a free throw but it's sort of tradition that people don't.

The people who suck at freethrows normally have comically large hands which makes shooting from any sort of distance difficult. (Shaq, Dwight Howard, et. al.)

<comment><USER6> Not jumping for free throws isn't just a tradition. Jump shots sacrifice accuracy to make it more difficult for defensive players to block your shot. There's no risk of your shot being blocked for a free throw so players don't jump.

<comment><USER3> If there's no risk of your shot being blocked for a free throw there's no reason to shoot overhand, either.

<comment><USER7> It's an easier motion for most people who've become accustomed to shooting that way, though.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Many team sports could benefit from a scientific approach to management (Moneyball style).

But I think the real game changer at the individual, technical skills level is systematic video tutorials. Up until a few years ago kids could only learn tricks from other kids on the block or in the local club. Nowadays, there are free apps with detailed video tutorials on receiving the ball, moves, fakes, dribbles, shots, passes, tricks etc. Kids can watch the videos real time and in slow motion or with the different steps broken down and explained.

</comment><comment><USER9> I'm not sure the author is a basketball player:

"Aiming for the center of the basket increases the chance of hitting the front of the rim and having the shot drop straight down."

Has anyone ever seen a free throw drop straight down after hitting the front rim? Seems like the only way to make that happen would be to throw the basketball baseball style on a line, and nail the bottom of the front rim. Even Shaq had better mechanics than that.

</comment><comment><USER10> Are there no basketball players here? I was always taught to aim for the back of the rim and to make sure my arc reached the top of the backboard and to have backspin, and a million other tips (set your feet, square your shoulders, 90 degree elbow bend, stick out your ass, bend your knees, etc) that's far more useful than this article.

<comment><USER11> The traditional wisdom was 45 degrees, not 54 degrees, and even lower arcs are quite common. Also, the V is a slight departure from common wisdom. In basketball camp, I was also taught 1.5 rotations rather than 3. It's an optimization of previous information, not a revolution.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> The only new tip I received from the article (I'd pretty much heard the rest before) is to make the peak of your free throw's arc parallel to the top of the backboard.

What I'm really interested in is learning how to dunk...all I need is about 4 more inches to do it comfortably.

</comment><comment><USER13> Basketball is not engineering. Style counts for a lot, including the size of contracts and endorsement deals. Convincing players to purposely shoot ugly free throws that will bounce around a lot, but go in slightly more often, is going to be very difficult.

<comment><USER14> Wasn't there an article posted here about this very same issue with penalty kicks in soccer? Well, I'm not sure that I read it here, but I did read it somewhere: Someone did a mathematical analysis and determined that goalies should stand in the center a lot more often than they do when defending against a penalty kick. The issue is that they have to make their decision which way they are going to move before they have enough information on which way is the right way. If they wait until they actually have enough information for the decision, then it is already too late.

Their choices are to jump to the left, jump to the right, or stay put. Unless soccer penalty kickers are biased about which choice they make in kicking, you'd expect that the goalies would jump to the left 1/3 of the time, jump to the right 1/3 of the time, and stay put 1/3 of the time. Jumping to the left and to the right were significantly over-represented in the actual data.

The conclusion was that for a goalie's reputation, it is much better to jump to one side or the other and look like he's trying, even if he fails, than to stand in the middle and look like he's being lazy. For an important game, if he does that, and the kicker makes the point, and his team loses, it can mean the end of the goalie's career, just based on people's perception.

Or at least that's what the article claimed.

 _Edit_ : Ah, it was on the Freakonomics podcast. The episode in question is here:

[http://www.freakonomics.com/2010/06/10/freakonomics-radio- wo...](http://www.freakonomics.com/2010/06/10/freakonomics-radio-world-cup- edition/?ref=soccer)

I had some of the details not quite right above, but the idea is the same. The strategy being putatively underemployed is the kicker kicking it straight down the middle.

<comment><USER3> If you watched the recent European Championships, the technique of shooting down the middle--the so-called "Paneka" penalty--seems to be making a resurgence. The problem is that if you overdo it, the goalkeeper will compensate, and a Paneka is a lot easier to save than a well-driven shot to the corner. You might notice that fairly often, even if the goalkeeper chooses the right way to dive, he sometimes doesn't make the save.</comment></comment></comment>


JQuery and Javascript Coding Examples and Best Practices - <AUTHOR> http://www.examville.com/examville/JQuery%20and%20Javascript%20Coding%20%20%20Examples%20and%20Best%20Practices-ID6767

<comment><USER2> Direct link to th ACTUAL article, not some spammy site that copy pasted it into a google doc: [http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/09/16/jquery- examples-a...](http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/09/16/jquery-examples-and- best-practices/)

</comment><comment><USER3> direct link to the google preview [http://docs.google.com/gview?url=https%3A%2F%2Finformation-t...](http://docs.google.com/gview?url=https%3A%2F%2Finformation- technology.s3.amazonaws.com%2FJQuery-and- Javascript%2520Coding%2520-%2520Examples%2520and%2520Best%2520Practices.pdf%3FAWSAccessKeyId%3D070N6C523Z2YQTC8ERR2%26Expires%3D1301863678%26Signature%3Dgbbw6zPaFGyeIQkk8eo1L1Sa1eg%253D&embedded=true)

</comment><comment><USER4> I'm kind of disappointed, it lacks object patterns and closures furthermore: sometimes you need to create functionality and there is no plain HTML way out ie: when you want to 'backport' something to IE.</comment>


You can now attach your iPad directly to your face to experience virtual reality - <AUTHOR> http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/16/6256729/airvr-attach-your-ipad-directly-to-your-face

<comment><USER2> Till now attaching my iPad directly to my face was a real hassle and I looked stupid. No more!

</comment><comment><USER3> I look forward to never doing this.</comment>


Ask HN: As a developer, how do you capture domain knowledge from your users? - <AUTHOR> As a developer, when working for a client or on your own app, what tools/techniques do you use to capture domain knowledge from your users? For example when using Domain Driven Design, do you use Trello or another board tool to capture commands, queries, events etc...? Most importantly (this is HN after all), what tool would like to have in hand to better capture this knowledge, and how automated should it be? Would you be interested in a tool that captures user needs and builds specs or even an API template, that users could try quickly for rapid feedback? <comment><USER2> I released a mobile application about ten months ago. By far, I've gotten the best feedback through the feedback feature I built into the app. It's a simple dropdown menu, accessible from any screen, that allows the user to send feedback directly to my email. In addition to this, I talk to my users. These two techniques have given me an overwhelming amount of domain knowledge to build.

Just reaching out and talking to people works wonders and takes almost no effort, so I never had to automate any of it.

<comment><USER3> Do you use a call to action to let them know its there or to prompt them to use it?

<comment><USER2> I do not currently use a call to action within the app, but that's a good idea. I'll try it out.

Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I think the biggest problems are no the lack of a tool to do this, but in the skill in soliciting this information from other people. Especially if those users are on the other side of the world.

To answer your question we use JIRA to capture issues and Confluence to document requirements. But this probably wouldn't be any better than any competing system and is just an organisational choice based on typical business reasons.

Something that I might find useful is a way to link up a "requirement" from a user through to a spec, to design, to code, to the test plan to test it for full tractability. Often we see rules in code and have no idea why that rule is there, but it has to be preserved just in case it was important and was a requirement of the user!

</comment><comment><USER5> Exploring and debugging the business layer app code end to end and documenting insights or calculation formulae. The next step is to talk to business in case there are bug or feature requests. This is when i can fill in the gaps in my knowledge and sometimes even to confirm if what executes in the code maps with what users intend. I believe beyond tools its a combination of human interaction and the art of debugging. Building an overall picture of the business process and flows is not entirely possible in real world of client support as most of us havent written the code we work with. However, I can say that understanding the business process and the problems being solved by the code is what makes software dev a passion more than a profession and enable us developers to seek the roads to our own entrepreneurial ventures.</comment>