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How Do You Work On The Google Autonomous Vehicle Team? - toomuchtodo
Title speaks for itself.<p>I'm 30, have been doing IT for 12 years, and want to be on the forefront of self-driving cars (and am willing to work for free!).<p>I looked for job postings that would be specific to that division at Google, but didn't find anything (I searched for about an hour, perhaps not long enough).<p>I'm definitely NOT looking for a handout, but just recommendations about where to poke around for opportunities. I wanted to balance my desire to work on that specific project with being polite and not just rolling through LinkedIn and online articles looking for people already working on the project to get in touch with.
======
mchannon
There was a pretty good reddit IAMA (edit: not at all) on the subject.
Umm... here-
[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/11cd1v/updated_hello_e...](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/11cd1v/updated_hello_everyone_i_drive_the_google/)
~~~
dangrossman
That's about someone who drives a car with a panoramic camera on top for
Google.
This post is asking about Google's driverless cars
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_driverless_car>).
~~~
mchannon
Right you are! Thanks for correcting that.
------
6thSigma
Apply to Google in a related field i.e. engineer and in the initial interview
say that you are interested in the self-driving cars division.
------
seiji
Unhelpful recommendation: create your own and get them to acquire you.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Asana S-1 - sean_lynch
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1477720/000119312520228462/d855753ds1.htm
======
supernova87a
Wow, this is a torrent of IPOs today. Investors / boards are wanting to get
money out before things turn south I feel.
Aside from that, I'm surprised how much it costs Asana on engineering R&D, for
essentially a ticket management system. How does a team grow to ~300+
developers ($89M R&D) to figure out how to attach PDFs and videos to tickets,
and email people when there's a change in status? (ok yes I'm oversimplifying
a bit, but not that much)
And (as with all such companies) how much they need to pour into
Marketing/Sales to sell this thing. These above costs basically wipe out the
gross profits by 2x.
~~~
PragmaticPulp
> How does a team grow to ~300+ developers ($89M R&D) to figure out how to
> attach PDFs and videos to tickets, and email people when there's a change in
> status?
As with most of these companies, user-facing feature development is only a
small part of the engineering workload.
I would assume the majority of those engineers are working on less visible
tasks: Devops, build systems, infrastructure monitoring, security, backups and
data integrity, internal tooling for customer support, billing and accounts
management, and other critical but otherwise invisible tasks.
Duplicating the core 80% of Asana's features as a one-off product wouldn't be
extraordinarily difficult. Scaling it into something that can operate as a
business with hardened security, reliable data storage, consistent uptime, and
reasonable internal tooling for customer service is where things get
difficult.
That said, companies often go overboard with hiring in the run-up to IPOs or
acquisitions. Excessive R&D spends can be fixed on the road to profitability.
Restoring a company's reputation after a major data loss disaster or a
security breach is much more difficult, so it's safer to err on the side of
throwing too many engineers at polishing everything. If they can't scale
revenues to match, expect the engineering workforce to be cut down
significantly.
~~~
dcolkitt
This makes a lot of sense. But in some ways it shows the downsides of the
modern obsession with SaaS.
How many of those jobs would be required if Asana was simply sold in a shrink-
wrapped box that you installed on your desktop or the downstairs server run by
the corporate IT guy.
In some ways SaaS is a big win because it offloads all those tasks to a
centrally hosted service. No IT guy or tower server in the corporate mail room
required. OTOH not everyone has the same ops requirements. Not every customer
needs 99.999% reliabilty. Or ultra-hardened HIPAA-compliant security. Or heck,
even remote access outside the office LAN.
By delivering Asana as SaaS instead of shrink-wrapped software, it means the
Asana hosting team has to deliver to insanely tight operational requirements
to every single customer. If one customer requires 5-9s of uptime, then
basically every customer requires it. That certainly explodes the cost-of-
goods-sold beyond selling shrink-wrapped software.
~~~
freehunter
If it was shrink wrapped software they would need a bigger sales team, a
bigger support team, a bigger professional services team, etc. It’s just trade
offs.
~~~
AlphaSite
And honestly its actually even more work in many ways, since you need to be
able to work anywhere, not just in a well known environment.
~~~
jmnicolas
In the age of VMs and containers I'm not sure it's still true.
~~~
dx034
I've been involved in debugging a bug in a software that occurred on
Kubernetes cluster at the client site but couldn't be reproduced locally.
Reproducing that is so much harder than a similar software installation. You
have so many moving parts that it's pretty much impossible to create a test
cluster with the same properties.
Also, with SaaS you can get access to log files, if it's installed on prem
that can be heavily restricted by regulation.
------
aresant
An article by Tom Tungz that relates SAAS co marketing budgets to to annuity
grabs helps me contextualize this S1.
Asana's gross margin is ~85%!
Their net retention is tracking @ 120% in 2020.
So every $1.00 dollar of sales to a customer last year turned into $1.20 this
year.
AKA negative churn.
Which explains the reason you see them spending $105m in sales & marketing to
generate $142m in topline.
Obviously this runs its course eventually, but at that point you cool down
your S&M & R&D engine and try to keep up with counting all the cash flows.
SAAS is just a remarkable business, absolute cash pigs.
(1) [https://tomtunguz.com/does-better-ndr-imply-greater-
toleranc...](https://tomtunguz.com/does-better-ndr-imply-greater-tolerance-
for-higher-cac/)
------
gen220
Can someone in-tune to this world explain why Moskovitz purchases equity
through a trust, in the form of convertible promissory notes? It seems like he
isn't taking any compensation in stock or cash, but prefers to "invest" in the
company's stock, through this trust and promissory-note scheme?
If you're confident that the company's eventually going to exit (obviously a
big "if"), and you have the cash liquidity (which he obviously does, as one of
the original co-founders of fb), is this essentially a method of getting
compensation that isn't taxed as compensation? I'm trying to understand what
the justification is for maintaining what looks like a fairly complicated
transaction. It looks like they've done it a few times (2017, 2020 jan 2020
june). His entities also participated as investors in the Asana Series D and
Series E rounds.
Not meaning to cast aspersions, just curious because I haven't seen these
kinds of setups in S-1's before. But most S-1 companies don't have people with
pre-ipo, >1bn net worth founder-CEOs, so it makes sense that this one might be
a bit anomalous.
~~~
simonebrunozzi
That's a fair question. I am not a lawyer or accountant or anything in that
field, but I can try to answer anyway.
1) Often trusts and LLCs are used for liability protection and anonymity; you
see this used by investors owning multiple residential real estate properties.
2) Your comment on tax is interesting; of course, capital gain in the US is
taxed at 20% (plus your state), while income tax gets to roughly twice that.
So, potentially, that could be a way to reduce how much taxes you will pay.
However, in relation to #2, I doubt that Moskovitz really cares to save
100k-200k a year in taxes. It's probably more about #1.
Again, this is my $0.02. Please correct me or improve my comment if you know
the subject more than I do.
~~~
dmoy
Trust tax brackets are steep enough that income tax and cap gains benefits are
negligible. Anything that could be done in a trust w.r.t. cap gains could also
be done as an individual, so there's no win there.
Inheritance tax benefits might be substantial though.
You're probably very right about the liability and anonymity aspects.
------
dmart
I've found Asana to be a much, much nicer product to work with than Jira (at
least as a developer, not sure about from the management side.) I genuinely
wish them success and hope they're able to grow their marketshare.
~~~
godot
Do you have up-to-date experience on both? I ask because, this year is my
first time using Jira in 10 years. I was in big corp 10 years ago and we were
on Jira and it was a disaster to have to use. UI was a mess and it constantly
went down or went slow (big corp; self-hosted.). My current startup started
using Jira Cloud recently and I found it to be much better than my past
experience, and better than Asana.
I last used Asana at my last company, which I left 2 years ago. It was slow
and a resource hog even on our pretty beefy work MacBook Pros. Compared to my
current Jira Cloud experience in 2020, I much prefer Jira now.
~~~
dmart
This was about 2 years ago - at that time I found both Asana and Jira to be
similarly slow, so kind of a wash in that regard. But it was corporate self-
hosted Jira, so perhaps Jira Cloud is a smoother experience.
~~~
core-questions
Jira self-hosted is actually often a lot faster than Jira Cloud, if you have
decent gear to run it on. You run the database too, so it's a matter of how
much cash you want to throw at it. Jira and Postgres on decent storage can be
pretty quick, though of course it's still 100x slower than any normal 1990s
desktop app.
------
peter_l_downs
Am I reading this correctly in that they had a net loss in 2019 of $50.1 (42.4
adjusted) million dollars, and then in 2020 a net loss of $118.6 (68.2
adjusted) million dollars? (bottom of page 58)
And that their plan is to just continue trying to upsell and acquire new
customers?
Hmmmm
~~~
encoderer
Yeah, what is going on at Asana?
R&D costs outpacing revenue in the year before IPO really surprises me (from
~54% to ~62%).
For comparison, Atlassian went from ~38% to ~36% in the year before IPO.
~~~
gregd
The thing that drives me absolutely bonkers with Asana (others do this as
well) is that the freelancer has to upgrade their "free" account to roughly
$70/month to get functionality like seeing a Timeline (think Gantt). Their
pricing isn't clear that to upgrade to Premium (to get Timeline) says it's
$10.99/month. It's not until you get to the next screen that it tells you it's
5x10.99/month because there is a five person minimum.
Almost none of these project management tools are built with full
functionality for a freelancer who manages projects and people doing the
tasks/projects, but doesn't need them to log into the project management tool.
~~~
john_moscow
Single-license freelancers are never the target audience. From my experience
running a similar business, this is the hardest category of customers to deal
with. Stuff like demanding very project-specific features for free overnight
and cursing you when you explain how requests are prioritized from user
numbers. Or demanding instructions on tangential topics (like how to
troubleshoot some network issue their customer has) by claiming that it stops
them from using the product.
I mean, there are nice guys as well, but statistically it's just not worth it.
~~~
PragmaticPulp
Sadly, I can confirm this is true.
Most single-seat customers are fine, of course, but a very vocal minority can
cause a lot of problems.
I believe it's due to the mindset shift. If a team or company decides to use a
specific software, people are more likely to accept the decision and learn to
work within the tool's features and limitations. The cost of switching tools
is high, so they tend to stick around for a long time.
Single-user freelancers can change tools at any time, because they don't have
to negotiate with anyone else. As such, they feel they have more leverage in
threatening to cancel their subscription if the company doesn't cave to their
demands.
Most of them don't realize that the company isn't making much, or any, money
off of their single-seat license when they're consuming hours of customer
support or social media engagement time every month. It's better to see the
squeaky wheels just leave the platform.
For another data point: At scale, you get a lot of threats from people
claiming they're going to Tweet about how bad your product is to their
thousands of followers, or write a newsletter about how much they hate your
product, unless you implement the specific feature they're demanding. These
threats exclusively come from the single-seat users, because no company is
dumb enough to try to extort another company with threats of tarnishing their
reputation in public.
It's unfortunate, but it's true. It's vastly easier to just deal with
enterprise customers or larger teams who have better things to do than tie up
customer support time for every little complaint or suggestion (or demand)
~~~
switch11
this is super true
we also sell to both single users and to companies
single users will write things like
I will destroy your business
you have no idea how many followers I have
etc etc
A single user with 10,000 followers on Twitter thinks they should be treated
like they are GM or GE or Ford
~~~
john_moscow
Fun fact. If you don't reply at all, and completely ghost them afterwards, no
matter what they say, the chances of them carrying anything out gets close to
zero.
------
gizmo
According to the filing Asana has 1.2m paying users. Each user is worth maybe
$1000. That puts Asana at 1.2bn.
The median forward revenue multiple for public enterprise SaaS companies is
10x, and with 2020 revenues of 150mn that results in a 3bn market cap.
A third data point is they raised 75M 16 months ago at a $900m post money
valuation. With growth at 100% annually that puts their current valuation at
2.5bn or so.
Three different 30 second valuation strategies that result in the same
ballpark numbers.
~~~
user5994461
Their business plan is $30 a month, so I'm tempted to say each paying user is
definitely not worth $1000.
Given their revenues of 142M and 1.2M paid users, that's an average a tad
below $120 a year per user, which would actually be less than their cheapest
plan. That doesn't add up, it smells of free trials counted as paid users.
~~~
gizmo
Asana's pricing is per user per month -
[https://asana.com/pricing](https://asana.com/pricing)
~~~
tims33
Many of those 1.2M users are on large corporate deals that are at a small
fraction of list price. This is a common phenomenon in SaaS.
------
paloaltokid
Based on a few of the comments on this thread, I wanted to point out that
filing an S-1 is not something that you just do overnight. When companies
decide to go public it's a lot of work usually involving multiple dedicated
teams on the business side. It takes many months and can take over a year.
So while the timing here is interesting, nobody decided on Friday that many
well-known tech firms would declare their intent to go public on Monday.
~~~
grey-area
No, they decided that 6 months ago (or whatever the lead time is), but
everyone decided at the same time, for fairly obvious reasons.
~~~
svbanker
This is false. A lot of these companies started their IPO process earlier but
then got delayed due to COVID. Not everything is as pessimistic as you’re
making it sound. It just happens to be before November (companies usually dont
go public during election season) so this is the only viable window for
companies to go public for the remainder of the year.
------
ryanmccullagh
In case anyone forgot, Asana was founded by Facebook co-founder Dustin
Moskovitz.
~~~
josh2600
And FB early employee Justin Rosenstein.
~~~
leahgnyc
Who founded [https://www.oneproject.org/](https://www.oneproject.org/)
------
archit3cture
In the "History" section (p.2) they state that
"We started Asana because our co-founders experienced firsthand the growing
problem of work about work. While at Facebook, they saw the coordination
challenges the company faced as it scaled. Instead of spending time on work
that generated results, they were spending time in status meetings and long
email threads trying to figure out who was responsible for what. They
recognized the pain of work about work was universal to teams that need to
coordinate their work effectively to achieve their objectives. Yet there were
no products in the market that adequately addressed this pain. As a result of
that frustration, they were inspired to create Asana to solve this problem for
the world’s teams."
I can only imagine that the complexity of the coordination inside Facebook
continued to grow after Asana was created.
So is Facebook a client of Asana to solve this problem ? How does a company
like Facebook handle the "coordination problem" ? Do they have one tool that
solves all the issues or a myriad of project management tools ?
------
jimnotgym
I know Asana is prettier than MS planner but:
1\. Planner is bundled with 365
2\. Planner works with Azure AD SSO for free.
3\. Planner is 100% integrated with Teams.
This makes Asana an outside bet for me.
~~~
gregd
Except Planner has no timeline or Gantt charts, despite claiming most of last
year, that Gantt charts where on their roadmap. I've found Planner to be
nothing more than a glorified Kanban board, which is also something Trello
does much better even on their Free Tier using your 1 powerup of a Gantt
chart.
~~~
jimnotgym
Trello does it much better for a small team in a non-enterprise setting.
Having to manually add and remove users, and manage external sharing is a huge
drag in any bigger environment
------
jasondc
5 IPOs (S-1 filings) from Silicon Valley today:
\- Unity (San Francisco) \- Jfrog (Sunnyvale) \- Snowflake (San Mateo) \-
SumoLogic (Redwood City) \- Asana (San Francisco)
~~~
sdfhbdf
Maybe even more just these 5 are on HN homepage...
~~~
foxdev
You can get a rough idea of it by looking at submissions from the sec.gov
domain:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=sec.gov](https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=sec.gov)
~~~
marviel
Hey thanks, this is a neat tip.
------
snake117
I've read a lot of comparisons between Asana and Jira, but I was curious if
anyone can explain the difference between Asana and Basecamp? I don't have
experience with either service.
------
nv-vn
This filing looks like it has a ton of red flags about the way Asana is
running their company. As an example, one of the images tries to highlight
Asana's timeline and their achievements [1]. One of the things they mention is
opening an international office with ~100 employees and <11k customers. Based
on their current figures of 75,000 paying customers and revenue of
$142,606,000, you would expect a revenue of ~$19 million for 11k customers.
Why is a company with 100 employees & <$19 million in revenue opening
international offices? Likewise, why is the company spending 74% of revenue on
sales and 63% on R&D? How are they managing to lose 83% of revenue? It seems
like the company has 0 responsibility with how they spend their cash and
beyond that, it's unclear whether they even have a path towards profitability
if they're spending 75 cents on the dollar just to make a sale and throwing
almost $100 million at R&D every year. Despite substantial revenue growth y/y
(~70%), they've managed to outpace it by growing losses twice as fast at
~140%. It seems like the company has a pretty good product and a great gross
margin as well as good revenue growth, but I don't see them becoming
profitable with their current management -- it seems like the folks in charge
right now have no clue how to run a successful business and will just throw
money away as soon as they're given it.
[1]
[https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1477720/000119312520...](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1477720/000119312520228462/g855753g47s60.jpg)
Disclaimer: I'm not a professional investor and I'm not familiar with Asana's
business
------
2T1Qka0rEiPr
As a non-American who knows little about the IPO process, is there a reason
why there have been a flood of S-1 reports listed on HN over the past 24
hours?
~~~
mark_mart
It seems just coincidence.
The reason for coincidence might be cash-out for investors due to fear of
covid-19? I do not know that.
------
minimaxir
...is there a reason a ton of tech startups are dropping their IPOs today?
~~~
CleanItUpJanny
last chance to exit scam before the bubble pops
~~~
toomuchtodo
I _totally get_ the feeling behind this, but you can't blame market
participants for taking actions that are rational, regardless if the overall
market fundamentals are/seem to be irrational.
If the market is desperate for returns, and tech equities are one of the few
remaining avenues for such returns, and you are the owner of those equities,
what else would you expect to occur? "No no no, don't buy these valuable
shares of my company, invest elsewhere!" No way, you're going to cash out as
fast as possible before your gains evaporate when the market transitions.
~~~
tehjoker
Most undesirable actions by the powerful have a rational character. It's
bizzare to me that this is so commonly used as a defense. It says to me that
the problems are seen to be individuals, not systems of power.
Note: I'm not commenting on the specific case here, just this argument in
general.
------
1290cc
Makes sense they're going for the IPO at the start of the work from home era.
Asana has been around awhile and my team always used it for remote team
communication and project management. We never saw the need for apps like
Slack or Basecamp because working with the tool is very similar to the Getting
Things Done system (or Toodledo).
------
ourcat
What do they actually do (for 1m+ people)?
I'm looking around their site and blog (and the S-1) and read a lot of
'marketing-speak', but no simple one-liner about what they actually do and
what value they bring.
Am I missing something obvious?
What comparative companies are they like? I saw someone mention Jira. Are they
'a Jira'?
~~~
souldeux
They are an, arguably, prettier Jira.
~~~
ourcat
Got it. Thanks.
More useable too, I'd hope.
------
jariel
Good on them, but can Silicon Valley people stop conflating their corporate
operating bloatware with Eastern Spiritual Terms?
Completing that outstanding customer ticket is not like the process of
achieving englihtenment.
------
bambax
> _Help humanity thrive by enabling the world 's teams to work together
> effortlessly._
I have no idea what any of this means. It's grandiose and therefore,
upsetting.
------
baron816
Anyone else interested in filing to go public today?
------
poisonta
I bet half of their R&D is being spent to figure out how to do Kubernetes the
right way.
------
actuator
While better than Jira in UI, I haven't been able to like Asana as a product
for some reason. In my previous company we moved away from Asana to Jira
because it seemed PMs and higher management found Jira easier to work with.
------
ryanhunt
Dumb question - but with all these tech IPOs, how does one get in/invest at
IPO time without buying on the open market?
~~~
el_nahual
Not a dumb question at all. The thing to keep in mind is that IPO stocks are
allocated. There's a fixed amount of shares, and they are priced hoping for a
"pop". So basically banks use IPO allocations (in hot companies) as a way to
reward good customers. How important are you? Unless you are worth north of
$100MM the answer is "not very."
The first step is to have a relationship with a private banker at a big
bank/asset manager. You can tell her that you're interested in purchasing
stock at IPO. Most big banks will have some allocation available.
Often the minimum ticket size is something like $100K--but there's no
guarantee you'll get it. At some point before the IPO, your banker will tell
you how much IPO stock was allocated to you. This will tell you how important
you are to the bank. They might, maybe, throw you a bone and give you $10K of
allocation.
You have to remember that IPOs are intended to be "free money." They are
purposely underpriced. This isn't actually as nefarious as it sounds--the only
people getting hurt by this is the issuing company, and not _really_. They
want to have as good a relationship with the big bags of money as the issuing
banks do. And there is _some_ risk involved, they don't always pop, etc etc.
An important detail is that, because the IPOs tend to be mis-priced, they also
tend to be pretty _small_. A company going public at a 2B valuation might only
be offering 100MM worth of stock. At a 30% pop, that's basically 30MM of "free
money" to distribute across the entire planet, which is honestly not that
much.
------
m3kw9
FOMO on full blast
------
AHappyCamper
Mazal Tov! =)
------
ponker
I'm not a fan of the product but at least this isn't a company built on labor
exploitation or fucking up some existing ecosystem.
~~~
silentsea90
Guessing you don't use said labor exploiting services?
~~~
Aeolun
The only labor I exploit is my own.
~~~
maximente
my guess is that a detailed account of the consumer goods you have purchased -
including possibly the device upon which you typed out and submitted this
comment to this web property - would indicate otherwise
~~~
Aeolun
Maybe I should have have indicated that no other directly exploitative
relationships exist.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Discover, understand and manage your data with Data Catalog, now GA In GCP - santhoshkumar3
https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/data-analytics/data-catalog-metadata-management-now-generally-available
======
mrwnmonm
I have a feeling that over time descriptions of services like these get
meaningless. "Discover, understand and manage your data", that could have a
million meanings.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Do not look at this on a Mac. - funstuff
I was just reading about the "File:///" crash problem mac users are facing as of lately. I just wanted to point out that this one is even sillier and probably deserves to be looked at as well.
If you are on a Mac (not sure which versions of the OS are affected), visiting this Pastebin paste will crash Safari and probably other web browsers as well (namely Chrome, too, as it uses Webkit like Safari).
Silly how these things are...<p>The goods:
http://pastebin.com/585D3K92/<p>(Ycombinator goofed up my first submission. I'm trying again...this time with gusto...)
======
DanBC
You used to be able to crash Internet Explorer (version 6) by putting <input
type crash> in a web page. You can crash some other versions of IE with
<script>for(x in document.write){document.write(x);}</script> on a web page.
You can hang up modems by typing +++ and then ATH
------
steventruong
As far as I've seen, this affects Mountain Lion
------
tjbiddle
Fine for me:
Chrome 24.0.1312.56 Safari Version 6.0 (7536.25) OSX 10.7.5
------
waxjar
Makes the tab crash in Chrome. What's on the page?
------
headShrinker
Also breaks iPhone OS 6.1 Safari and Chrome...
~~~
jamesjguthrie
Also 6.1 on iPad 4th gen.
------
meric
It doesn't seem to affect OS X Lion.
------
quink
Being just on an Android tablet and looking at it, I'm guessing this is coming
somewhere with crapping out, with a payload of composing diacritics, Mac OS
X's forced (and idiotic) Unicode normalisation to NFD. This is just me judging
from seeing what I'm seeing. But that would also explain why only iOS and OS X
are affected.
Theoretically, but almost certainly not practically, this could also be the
beginning of a buffer overflow.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Russia's New Secure Android Tablet Keeps Data From Google - techinsidr
http://www.securityweek.com/russia-unveils-secure-android-tablet-keeps-data-away-google
======
Wilya
The fact that a government would want a Google-free tablet makes complete
sense, yet a quick search tells me nothing about any other of this type of
initiatives.
Has any other country gone the same way, even without going as far as
providing a consumer version ?
~~~
DanBC
I'm guessing that Barak Obama's blackberry hardening is something similar.
But most countries hand this kind of stuff over to their security services (in
the UK this will be GCHQ and CESG) and those organisations are secret.
------
pav3l
So are they hoping that the Russian customers will be more comfortable with
the Russian government handling their data instead of Google?
~~~
fiatpandas
The Russian customers are most likely the Russian government, military and
civilian.
------
esolyt
"The operating system has all the functional capabilities of an Android
operating system but none of its hidden features that send users' private data
to Google headquarters,"
Just to be clear, a completely open source operating system is found to be
secretly sending private data to Google servers, and it also takes a lot of
effort to change that?
~~~
rjzzleep
not sure what you're trying to say, but the devices you buy in store are only
BASED on android. theyre not AOSP, and they never will be. on top of that all
the gapps are not free at all.
I have a custom rom, but I wouldn't be one bit surprised if google got access
to most of the things I used on the phone, which is why i try not to use all
my passwords on the device.
~~~
esolyt
Gapps (Google Apps) are just a bunch of closed-source and non-free
applications. They are not a part of the operating system and they are not
required for the operating system to work. Just like you can use Ubuntu
without Ubuntu One, you can use Android without Google Apps. Unless you
absolutely need a Google app like Gmail, it won't be an issue. Even then, you
can use the browser (which is open source) to go to gmail.com etc.
As for the manufacturer ROMs, they are not Android. They are Android-based
operating systems and they have their own names such as TouchWiz, Sense etc.
This article is specifically talking about the Android operating system, which
means it is referring to AOSP rather than, say, Touchwiz.
~~~
neya
>They are Android-based operating systems and they have their own names such
as TouchWiz, Sense etc.
Small correction: They (TouchWiz, Sense) are not Operating systems, rather,
(proprietary) User interfaces.
------
poblano
Is Android not open-source? You would think any surreptitious phoning home it
does would be well-known by now.
If Android devices really send data to Google -- even after disabling Google
Sync, uninstalling Gmail, etc. -- I'd love to what it is.
~~~
ajross
The article is link bait. The Android Open Source Project ("AOSP", for those
who weren't aware of the acronym) doesn't, to my knowledge, have anything that
could be considered spyware embedded. The Google Android platform, which they
sell to OEMs, included a bunch of non-free applications like Gmail, Maps, Play
Store, etc... does indeed collect usage data (it also tells you about it and
asks you to opt in).
Things based on AOSP (Kindle Fire, Cyanogenmod-without-gapps, this thing, many
budget tablets, etc...) are, essentially, Google-invisible.
------
aseidlitz
Mr. Rogozin is famous for announcing products and initiatives that turn out to
be a vaporware. I doubt that anyone would remember this announcement and no
product will be ever released.
------
concernedctzn
"It is hack-proof"
You would think people would know not to say things like this anymore.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Did Hacker News just implement collapsible comments? - et-al
Dang.. did we just get collapsible comments? I've been using the HN Special bookmarklet, but today I noticed a little [-] by the time stamp.<p>If so, thanks! And if this is old news, thanks and sorry!
======
selectnull
Few days old, see
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12073675](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12073675)
~~~
et-al
Ah cheers. Tried searching "collapsible" but only found request threads.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Uber Is Using AI to Charge People as Much as Possible for a Ride - aceperry
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/uber-is-using-ai-to-charge-people-as-much-as-possible-for-a-ride
======
minimaxir
Granted, "charging people as much as possible" is a basic tenet of
microeconomics (another related one being pricing things according to the
customer's willingness-to-pay). It's not even AI, just a first-derivative
maximization.
Profit maximization is not inherently _evil_ unless it's monopolistic. Which
in the case of ride sharing, it isn't.
~~~
bryanlarsen
"not inherently evil"
The concept of the consumer surplus is the reason why capitalism is preferred
over other economic systems such as feudalism or communism.
One price for all is a cornerstone of our social contract. Discarding it will
place that contract in danger.
If all the profit in a trade goes to the robber barons, such trades will be
rightly seen as unfair and calls for the revolution will become loud.
~~~
bryanlarsen
Previous attempts at price discrimination have been transparent: senior's
discounts, time or capacity based pricing, et cetera.
This is considerably different, being opaque. Once this gets out, everybody
taking an Uber will have that nagging feeling in the back of their head, "was
I ripped off this time?" And it'll make them think twice the next time they go
to order one.
~~~
thwarted
If someone gets the service they wanted/needed at a price they were willing to
and agreed to pay, they weren't ripped off.
~~~
sushid
Really? So you wouldn't think it was unfair that they charged you more because
they guessed that your workplace or your rent price based on your trips? Or
because your phone battery was almost dead in a location you're not normally
at?
Think about it this way: You would probably pay a hospital your net worth if
you had a child and he/she was seriously hurt and taken to a hospital. B would
you think leveraging this information to take more money from you be "fair?"
~~~
thwarted
No, I wouldn't think it was unfair if they presented a price that was more
because of <insert some reason here>, and then I decided not to pay it because
I didn't think their service was was worth that price.
If you don't like what Uber is charging you, then don't take Uber. You can
consider whatever constraints you like when determining the price you're
willing to pay: convenience, time, cost, cleanliness, location, whathaveyou.
Maybe you value your time less than the cost of an Uber, so you can then walk
to your destination. You ripped off Uber then by using your two perfectly good
feet, and showed those capitalist fatcats by not even using their service!
The comparison to a serious hurt child is not an appropriate comparison (also,
"think of the children!"), because the service is not fungible in that case.
Is someone going to show up and make the same arguments for why people with
higher incomes shouldn't pay higher taxes? If there's nothing wrong with
progressive taxation, then there's nothing wrong with progressive pricing, and
the only difference is that you're forced the pay taxes while you're not
forced to purchase services from any given vendor.
~~~
sushid
First, you're basing your argument on a mistaken premise that progressive
taxation is okay. Second, it's relatively clear that you're going to be paying
a certain rate in taxes, whereas your Uber prices can now have a huge,
unforeseen jump in pricing because <insert personal reason here>. It's the
difference between knowing you have to pay a higher rate because you're not a
"Shopper's club member" vs. having an arbitrary fee added to your grocery at
checkout because you're carrying a Louis Vuitton bag.
And I'm not arguing this from a purely economics perspective. Yes, I know
discriminatory pricing has its place in our society today and yes, I know it's
profit maximizing, "fair," etc. But what's different here is that unlike
airlines that have an algorithm deciding the same price for anyone buying that
seat at that particular time, Uber can discriminate against you for very
personal reasons, or general reasons that can discriminate against the racial
makeup of a neighborhood, the disabled, etc.
Hats off to your sense of duty to capitalism that'd make Milton Friedman
proud, but the world doesn't work like an Econ 101 textbook. If Uber's profit
maximizing algorithm is discriminatory against protected classes, it's
illegal. If it's profit maximizing by overcharging people lulled into usage
due to habit, dying phones, etc. it's still predatory.
P.S. regarding your "think of the children" critique, I'm simply offering a
direct counterexample to your "whatever price you pay and agree to == not
getting ripped off." According to you, it does seem like you can be ripped off
after all, even at a price you were willing to pay.
------
askafriend
Your airlines and hotels are already doing this along with the travel industry
in general (and they've been doing it for a long time). Amazon will almost
definitely do this more broadly one day (they do some version of this now
already). Physical retail will definitely do this once the in-store tech to
manage the pricing complexity catches up. Sure, the degree and granularity to
which each of these industries implement something like this may vary but I
think that at the end of the day, it just makes sense from a business
perspective.
So while the word "Uber" might trigger some people, I think there's a broader,
more interesting conversation to be had here outside of the Uber context.
~~~
manmal
I read that Amazon in fact already does it, too. They price high-volume goods
competitively, but niche products, not so much.
~~~
takeda
Nearly any cleaning supplies from my experience are much more expensive in
Amazon than in a local store.
For example:
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J5HK3MY](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J5HK3MY)
one can of Ajax (same size) costs $0.99 in Rite Aid.
Perhaps people who are buying cleaning supplies from Amazon are so used to it
that they never visit local stores?
------
thr0waway1239
>> What guarantee do users have that they won't be individually selected to
receive a higher price?
As long as Uber is not the only means of transport, this issue should take
care of itself. Besides, as another comment points out, isn't this pretty much
standard across industries?
Not sure what this has to do with Uber in particular which doesn't apply to
any other company.
~~~
rootlocus
> Not sure what this has to do with Uber in particular which doesn't apply to
> any other company.
How would you fell if prices on amazon were higher for you than for others
because of your income, residence or historical purchase data? With all the
margins going to amazon instead of the sellers.
~~~
DrScump
This happens _all the time_ , but it depends on user ignorance or apathy.
Just shop using different browsers or devices. Use incognito modes for
everything. Use multiple entry points. Use multiple loyalty cards (and don't
intermix credit cards amongst them.
For a real-world example, I use 4 different Starbucks cards. Each gets very
different reward offers, every time. Y
~~~
thr0waway1239
I don't disagree. If you have done this much research though, you could
actually set up a little case study on this, write an eBook with nothing more
than screenshots on how the price changes, and put it up for sale as something
which will save people atleast $x per month. :-)
------
wyager
Ok? That makes perfect sense. They're not a charity.
People like to use this as an excuse to attack capitalism in general, a la "if
_corporations_ didn't run things, we would charge as little as possible
instead of as much as possible". However, this is entirely missing the point;
it's _critically important_ that businesses charge as much as they can get
away with. Why? Because prices are how market information is communicated, and
high profit margins indicate an imbalance between supply and demand. If Uber
charged the bare minimum they could get away with and still survive, there
would be no incentive for competitors to come in and attempt to undercut them,
leaving the supply/demand mismatch as it is. In a zero-overhead idealized
market, competitors would keep coming in until profit margins were within
epsilon of zero; obviously we can't do exactly that in real life, but we want
to get as close to that as possible.
~~~
yorwba
> If Uber charged the bare minimum they could get away with and still survive,
> there would be no incentive for competitors to come in and attempt to
> undercut them, leaving the supply/demand mismatch as it is.
Why? If supply/demand is mismatched in such a way that a competitor is
necessary, then some potential Uber customers are not being served. Then
either the customer can't even afford the minimal price, in which case
competition doesn't help, or Uber's service is unavailable for some reason,
which provides incentive for a competitor to come in and capture the market
segment.
It is not absolutely necessary that everyone charge as much as they can; it
just happens to be the case that money tends to be controlled by people who
would like increase its amount.
In the hypothetical case of Uber turning into a charity that charges as little
as possible, the price would simply include the market information that
someone is willing to use their money to subsidize everyone's fares.
------
stevenwoo
Every company with lots of consumer data is trying to use it to increase
purchases and purchase prices. The interesting thing is they can put some
classic psychology theories to the test and find how closely the hypothetical
matches reality or try things out to see what consumers do.
[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/05/how-
onl...](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/05/how-online-
shopping-makes-suckers-of-us-all/521448/)
------
drak0n1c
Price discrimination in moderation can be a good thing for business health and
society. If a business can detect that a person can afford to pay more for the
service, then that additional inflow effectively subsidizes the service for
people who can only afford using the service at the cheapest rates.
~~~
tzmudzin
That only works if:
1\. Profits are capped.
2\. The company cannot gauge or drop service to non-profitable customers.
Neither applies.
~~~
tylerhou
1\. Profits are inherently capped. I choose an upper bound of the value of
everything on Earth.
2\. Every private entity, in free market capitalism, has the right to refuse
service to a customer if providing that service is not beneficial to said
entity (bar some race, age, etc. issue). Are you making an argument to remove
that right?
------
Animats
This blows a hole in Uber's claim that they're just a booking service that
takes a cut. They're clearly a reseller, which makes drivers their employees.
~~~
dnautics
Can you explain how reselling makes them employees?
~~~
eridius
Uber's not just "taking a cut" anymore. They're dictating the price to the
customers, and the amount they pay the drivers, and those two values
apparently aren't actually related to each other.
~~~
dnautics
Are authors employees of publishing companies?
~~~
sbierwagen
Authors can negotiate how much they get paid per word, Uber drivers can't.
------
cameldrv
Uber is trying to outdo the U.S. healthcare system. You can't know the price
until you need to leave. They have your calendar. Sure would be a shame to be
late to your meeting/date, better pay up. They know where you live. They will
happily take you from your home into the city for cheap. Need to get home
somehow? Train shut down for the night and you have no alternative? Add $30
because fuck you. Oh by the way, if you try to make any software that compares
our prices with anyone else's, we'll sue you. It's like having to do battle
against HFT bots by reading the stock prices in the back of the newspaper. No
thanks, I'll just drive and avoid all of this hassle.
------
al_chemist
"Charging as much as possible" is not evil. "Charging based on information
acquired by your phone spying on you or your social account tracking" is evil.
------
jasonlfunk
You've found market price when buyers complain but still pay. - Paul Graham.
If this is true, it's obviously different for everyone. And as long as Uber
doesn't have a monopoly, this sounds perfectly reasonable to me.
------
holydude
I do not have a problem with this. Whatever makes sense to make a profit. The
only thing i detest about Uber is its aggressiveness and willingness to
exploit every loophole they can find.
------
JCzynski
It's perverse that this article is talking about AI figuring out price
discrimination and somehow manages to turn that into "and this will be
terrible for the poor".
Price discrimination is _wonderful_ for the poor. Extract tons of money from
the rich who don't give a shit, but still sell the service to poorer people at
a price they can afford, with almost all the same benefits.
------
FullMtlAlcoholc
For everyone defending this practice, how do you feel about an employer paying
you less for doing the same work as your peers?
~~~
vitaminbandit
>> Thanks to complaints from Uber drivers, who were beginning to suspect that
the ridesharing company was charging customers more with "upfront pricing" but
not paying drivers more in turn
It sounds like they aren't paying "my peers" more. They're just charging more
and taking a bigger cut.
------
jmnicolas
What's with the bad press about Uber lately ? Doesn't seem "organic" to me,
more of a concerted effort by some org that want them down.
Not saying they don't deserve it, but somehow they have a scandal in the news
every other week since a few months.
~~~
petre
Predatory business practices, user tracking, operating in a grey area of local
laws and other antisocial behaviour will almost always lead to bad press. Just
take a look at Monsanto.
~~~
jmnicolas
Yeah but I see much more of Uber in the press than Monsanto.
------
golergka
So, it's essentially the same as haggling with a regular taxi driver. (FYI,
just in case: not every taxi in the world is officially registered and is
using a meter). But because it's Uber, this common practice becomes evil.
------
algesten
> Uber isn't looking at individual customers' circumstances, the company
> claims, but group statistics
Given the reputation of this company, I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear
this change at some point in the future.
------
ThrustVectoring
Two words: disparate impact.
I'd be very concerned that they're somehow charging more to a protected class.
Yeah, pricing is a bit of a black box, but that isn't a defense against
"blacks end up getting charged $1.2 for every $1 whites get charged for
equivalent rides". There's enough protected classes that you can basically do
p-fishing. "Uber price discriminates against black people" not statistically
significant? Run the numbers again with Asian instead, and see if it comes up.
Or women. Or religion (rides to church service more expensive? Whoops.)
~~~
benmarten
lol! any proof?
~~~
LoSboccacc
I think parent means to search it in reverse: split the pricing by class
enough and eventually you'll find something that correlates. That's a quest
for a modern ambulance chaser to be sure, but I can see some merit in it.
~~~
ThrustVectoring
Yeah, it'd be something that could possibly be dug up. Many location-based
systems for price discrimination can run into similar issues - see
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining)
Note that being purely profit-driven through your pricing scheme isn't a good
defense. There could easily be a "taxis are racist and won't go into certain
areas, therefore Uber has less competition serving black neighborhoods,
therefore Uber can increase their prices there."
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How About Reel to Reel Tape Decks? - erric
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/5/8/17330324/ballfinger-reel-to-reel-tape-decks
======
taylodl
It's better than vinyl, but these are pricey machines. Not to mention there's
only one place in the world currently making tape and those aren't cheap
either. The nostalgia just isn't worth it to me - and I'm someone who grew up
with R2R. It'll be interesting to see if this ever takes hold.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Tagstand (YC S11) Greases The Wheels Of NFC Development - canistr
http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/19/yc-funded-tagstand-greases-the-wheels-of-nfc-development/
======
kul
HN folk: The discount code for a free pack is techcrunch4nfc, applicable here:
[http://www.tagstand.com/collections/all-
stickers/products/te...](http://www.tagstand.com/collections/all-
stickers/products/techcrunch-sample-pack)
Based on demand/interest I'll set up a discount code for HN, let me know what
products seem the most interesting.
~~~
ajju
I'd love to see "all weather" type stickers for outdoor use. Not sure if
anyone manufactures those yet, but that would be awesome.
It would also be great if the customization (putting a logo or QR code on
them) could be done online.
~~~
kul
We actually have some: [http://www.tagstand.com/collections/all-
stickers/products/mi...](http://www.tagstand.com/collections/all-
stickers/products/mifare-ultralight-metal-proof-pvc-white-nfc-sticker-
square-35mm-x-35mm)
I realise it's not clear enough that these are outdoor-proof (i.e. PVC), will
change that on the store.
We do customise tags right now for folks and putting logos and QR codes on
them is our number 1 feature request - so we'll automate this process on the
store in the next 2 weeks or so. Thanks for feedback!
~~~
ajju
Awesome, thanks!
------
memset
This is very cool, congratulations! Just bought a sample pack. I have a few
technical questions, if I may (or if you have a good blog post or document
that can help, that would be amazing.)
I've been playing with RFID for a while. Is NFC different than RFID? On a
different frequency than 132 KHz/13.56 MHz that I already have readers for?
Also, are there simple readers or breakout boards I can use to play with this
(a la Parallax's RFID reader, or anything that could plug into my Arduino?) as
opposed to buying a phone? Any suggestions for good readers or what the
protocol looks like?
Also, out of curiosity (see, I'm a software guy, so often this stuff is a
black box to me) did you all design and fab the tags yourselves? Or do you get
them in bulk and then do your own customizations?
This is extremely cool stuff! I'm really excited about playing around with
this!
~~~
kul
Hey memset, thanks!
NFC is a subset of RFID which works over closer ranges (hence the term "near-
field"). The other difference is it can be passive (i.e. the reader induces a
current in the tag/sticker to read it, that's why the tag doesn't need any
power).
13.56 MHZ readers should work. We're ordering cheaper reader-writers (~$50)
and will put them on the store soon. In terms of sourcing, we get them in
bulk. We basically tested all the suppliers for quality, speed, and are
working with the best ones. Who knows though, buying a factory may be in our
future.
Have a read of our About NFC page: <http://www.tagstand.com/pages/about-nfc>
and our FAQ <http://www.tagstand.com/pages/faq>
and if you have any other questions, let us know!
------
rdl
This is one of the coolest and most useful (for hackers) startups out there --
NFC is clearly the future, but is such a pain to deal with now in development
(even small deployments; anything less than 50k unit quantities).
~~~
kul
thanks rdl - you're in MV? We've seen some really cool stuff happening,
including the MobiSocial guys at Stanford. Eventually we expect the cost of
these tags to tend to zero, and then they really will be ubiquitous. We listed
a bunch of demos on our about us page: <http://www.tagstand.com/pages/about-
nfc>
~~~
rdl
Cool. I'm in MV tomorrow through Wednesday :)
After wednesday it might be fun to get some tags and experiment with them --
the main thing I'd like to do is track access to servers, and maybe organize
tools and components.
~~~
kul
ping me if you get a chance - [email protected]
------
w001
Great. Is it possible to somehow adapt my existing HTC handset to read the
codes, or must I buy a NCF enabled model? If so, any recommendation on handset
model would be handy.
------
djb_hackernews
I own a Nexus S, kind of feel obligated to take you guys up on the discount.
Thanks.
~~~
kul
you should!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Feedback Fatigue - SparksZilla
http://andysparks.co/post/34236881625/feedback-fatigue
======
noirman
interesting series- keep it up!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Clinging to Outlook, Only 25% of Yahoo Employees Willing to Eat Mail “Dogfood” - r0h1n
http://allthingsd.com/20131124/while-users-lament-only-25-percent-of-yahoos-willing-eat-mail-dogfood-memo/?mod=tweet
======
mnkypete
Until recently I was working for a big software company (40k+ employees),
where we were also using Outlook as the main communication tool (+ Lync
recently).
The interesting thing was, that each person has found an own solution to the
massive amount of information you need to keep and look up later. There were
of course wikis, portals and stuff but most of the people always kept the most
relevant information in their inboxes.
This would manifest in: \- Folders with "Dummy"-Mails, used for storing notes
\- Actually using the notes function \- 4 or 5 level deep folder hierarchies
of mails \- "Complex" categories on mails for finding information
I have no insight into the processes at Yahoo, but I suspect at least some of
the things work similar over there. The problem is, migrating these kind of
(mostly unstructured) information is painful and could take weeks - provided
the new mail system would even support such an abuse.. If there is no
alternative in place, the next step would possibly be One Note, or worse
Notepad.
I also think Microsoft missed a huge opportunity by not positioning Outlook as
more than a e-mail tool but a shared information system. I even worked in a
team for a few month, which developed a "Mail Publish" solution, where you've
got a button in your Outlook which would upload your mail to a server and
index it, so the whole team could get to the information..
(disclaimer: my startup depends on Outlook, but this is less relevant to this
specific problem)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Criticisms/comments? Beta v0.9.1 (find local drink/beer/liquor deals) - tomasienrbc
http://thecityswig.com
======
tomasienrbc
Couldn't fit this in the title, but I would love comments on the UI/UX and
code. We're building something totally different out of this (a local
recommendation engine for finding what to buy and where to go when you want to
drink and when you're out drinking) but the current principles that apply to
our most recent version will permeate the rest of what we build. That's really
why I'm so eager for feedback from HN.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
This Procedure May Improve Your Brain – and Uncover the Real You - robg
http://op-talk.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/this-procedure-may-improve-your-brain-and-uncover-the-real-you/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
======
BtM909
OT: I hate sources like this (no offense to you poster) that only allow you to
read the news if you login...
Why would you want to scare away all these readers if you're dependent on
these readers?
~~~
robg
Protip: Browse nytimes.com using an incognito window. In Chrome, right click,
open link in incognito window. No login, ten articles. When you reach ten,
close the window and start again.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Chuck Peddle: Personal Computer Pioneer, Dies at 82 – WikiChip Fuse - rbanffy
https://fuse.wikichip.org/news/3174/chuck-peddle-personal-computer-pioneer-dies-at-82/
======
_0ffh
In case you're interested, here's an interview with Chuck on the Amp Hour
podcast (2015). [https://theamphour.com/241-an-interview-with-chuck-peddle-
ch...](https://theamphour.com/241-an-interview-with-chuck-peddle-charismatic-
chipmaking-coryphaeus/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
214ft seeding rig working in Australia - fanquake
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IsPkRJZXoow
======
fanquake
This setup seeds at 2.5 acres a minute. In the video it's being driven by a
Baldwin, but has also been run with dual JD track machines.
It uses variable rate and section control; so there shouldn't be any input
wastage when the runs overlap.
It also folds up for transporting.
[https://twitter.com/onus_agronomy/status/732031765204766720](https://twitter.com/onus_agronomy/status/732031765204766720)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Downround Tracker - t23
https://www.cbinsights.com/research-downround-tracker
======
t23
Just scroll down on the page to see the entire list of companies. No need to
sign up for email list.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hot-Desking Will Kill Your Company - walterbell
https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonconstable/2019/06/20/how-hot-desking-will-kill-your-company/#35087b8232e9
======
duxup
At one point my company moved offices and the technical support team sat next
to some of the HR people.
It was a culture clash that never ended. The HR folks complained that the
support team never left their desks and we're downright unfriendly, and we're
"always on the phone". (That was their job...)
The support team hated the constant noise and drama (such as crying, yes
crying, and petty infighting going on in HR land).
Eventually support was moved "because it was closer to the lab".
I can't imagine the results of hot desking.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why We Don't Like Our Underground House - wlkr
https://dengarden.com/misc/The-Pitfalls-of-an-Underground-House
======
GauntletWizard
If I ever build a house, I'm going to get oversized crawlspaces, cable
ducts... Anything I can find to make maintenance easier. Maintenance on houses
is the hardest thing we don't talk about. I wonder if we might be better
served with Japan's culture of rebuilding constantly, because maintenance is a
chore and painful.
I also wish houses came with an owners manual and regular check-up tooling -
I'd love to have a better idea of what I'm dealing with and something to
reference about what I've forgotten.
~~~
tropo
Put some sort of access, such as an unfinished closet, behind every place
where plumbing is installed in the wall. Get access to the shower valve
without ripping out your tile. Get access to the back of your dishwasher,
along with the water/sewage connections and a 20-Amp 3-prong socket. Get room
next to your toilet, ensuring that you can get down there to mess with bolts
and valves. Make sure your attic is at least a foot tall around all the edges,
letting you drill straight outward to install things like lights and cameras
and overhead utility connections.
------
jaclaz
If I may, in a nutshell a badly built house is bad.
To this you add ineffective, amateurish or no repairs and maintenance and you
have the perfect disaster.
It is perfectly possible to build a long lasting, maintainable, underground
house, but you won't have it "cheap", expect the costs to be between 150% and
180% (if not more) of the "normal" costs for a comparable sized house built
with whatever building technique is common in your area
(bricks/concrete/etc.).
Mould is almost unavoidable in _any_ (not only underground) houses with a high
level of energy efficiency (in Europe those that would be classified B or A
and higher, even if in my experience issues start happening at the D or C
class) unless a proper (and properly calculated and maintained) mechanical
ventilation system is installed.
Though you may save over the years something in heating/cooling costs, it is
simply (usually) not worth it.
~~~
mcv
_" Mould is almost unavoidable in any (not only underground) houses with a
high level of energy efficiency (in Europe those that would be classified B or
A and higher, even if in my experience issues start happening at the D or C
class) unless a proper (and properly calculated and maintained) mechanical
ventilation system is installed."_
Don't all modern houses have a decent mechanical ventilation system? In my
experience, mold is mostly an issue for older houses, which tend to have lower
energy efficiency. Bad insulation does nothing to prevent mold, and if your
insulation is so bad that you don't need mechanical ventilation to prevent
mold, it means the wind is blowing through your house.
So just get your energy efficiency as high as possible and use proper
ventilation.
~~~
jaclaz
>Don't all modern houses have a decent mechanical ventilation system?
No, a large number of houses (at least here EU\Italy) is not "re-built" they
are (badly) adapted with increased insulation (and usually with polystirene or
styrofoam "coats" \- please read as waterproof insulation) and - often this is
the key issue - new windows that are air tight without retrofitting "proper"
mechanical ventilation systems.
And it is not uncommon to find newly built (in the last - say - 8-10 years)
houses that are in energy classes C, B or A that still miss such a system or
having it not providing enough air changes.
Hence I earlier said:
>unless a proper (and properly calculated and maintained) mechanical
ventilation system is installed
As a matter of fact mould is usually not an issue for older houses, exactly
because the walls are not completely waterproof and because of the leaks from
windows and doors (that even without having wind blowing through do allow some
ventilation), there may still be localized mould where thermal bridges are,
but is usually a minor issue that can be solved.
Recently (again last few years) some "new generation" of "local" (as opposed
to centralized) ventilation systems (basically a fan with a heat exchangers
that fits in a pipe 100-160 mm for which you bore a hole in the outer walls)
are becoming a needed retro-retrofit to these houses but they tend to be a
little noisy (so you need timer controlled ones for bedrooms).
------
nickelcitymario
Most of the problems mentioned could easily apply to any given basement.
It really does sound like a poorly built house. I'm not an expert by any
means, but flooding, seepage, pests, cracks, and mold are all extremely common
basement problems. Of course, their impact on your quality of life is
magnified when your whole house is effectively a basement, but it's still
normal stuff.
------
russh
"Who would have thought to buy flood insurance four a house high upon a
hillside?"
Anyone buying a underground house, I would guess.
"When we first moved in, we ran the electric system for two weeks, nearly
froze off our tail feathers, and paid double what we had been paying for
natural gas heat in our previous home of 1,000 sq. ft."
Gadzooks a 2,500 sq. ft home with 14 foot domed ceilings cost double to heat
then a 1,000 sq. ft home... The horror!
------
sunstone
If you're going underground hire an engineer and/or architect to save you some
of the long term pain.
------
emmelaich
I've never lived in a house or worked in a building that did not have water
problems.
And I've lived in $1m+ houses and $100m+ work buildings.
There's no way you'd get me in an underground house. Except maybe in Coober
Pedy.
------
ListeningPie
This is a good source of inspiration for a life of a hobbit fan fiction.
------
expopinions
I think that primarily, as others have said, we need sunlight. However, one
can introduce sunlight into an underground structure with various skylights,
including those that use mirrors to bring the light just about anywhere
underground.
It’s mostly the excavation, drainage, and more robust structural requirements
that increase the cost of construction of an underground house to a point
where it outweighs the benefits of such a house. One would want to locate any
underground structure on a site that is well above the water table, and well
above a flood zone - so again, the cost of locating such a plot of land
increases the difficulty and expense of building such a home.
However, I think that there are advantages to residences that are - half-
buried. In other words, built into a hill on a slope. The advantages to such a
house would be significant if it were sited correctly with a well-engineered
drainage system. For example, in the Northern hemisphere the energy savings of
a house on a slope with a glass curtain wall facing south would significantly
reduce heating and cooling requirements regardless of latitude. Temperatures
within the structure would be pretty constant year round. In winter, when the
sun recedes to the south and stays lower to the horizon, sun would shine in,
and warm, the house for a major portion of the day. In the summer as the sun
rises more to the East and is higher in the sky, the earth surrounding the
house except for its south-facing wall would insulate the house from radiant
heat, and the cooler temperature of the earth would also keep the house from
warming up much.
Our summer house in New Jersey faces South, and that long side of the house is
windows the entire length of the house, and about half of the surface area of
that wall. In winter, on a sunny and below freezing day, the temperature
inside that long room can get as high as 80 degrees F (27 C). Midday the
furnace doesn’t come on at all (unless it’s a very windy day). The basement is
at ground level on the south side, completely underground on the north side.
The basement maintains a pretty steady temperature year-round. Had this house
been built in the past 20 years rather than 60+ year ago it would have had
solar panels running fans to use the basement coolness to air condition the
house on the (relatively few) hot days in summer, and distribute the excess
heat in winter throughout the house. As it is, it’s an extremely energy-
efficient structure.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Plastic Bag Found at the Bottom of World's Deepest Ocean Trench - techrede
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/05/plastic-bag-mariana-trench-pollution-science-spd/
======
mrb
How can the author write that a plastic bag has been found in an (open!)
database of photos and videos, and not actually show the photo??
So I found it there: [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/09/worlds-
deepest-p...](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/09/worlds-deepest-
plastic-bag-found-bottom-mariana-trench-highlighting/)
~~~
vatueil
Yeah, even the original scientific article didn't show the plastic bag itself.
Had to go digging in the linked scientific database. Here's the entry for the
plastic bag in the Mariana Trench, discovered in 1998 at 10,898 m (archive
link to reduce burden of traffic):
[https://archive.is/qBl2y](https://archive.is/qBl2y)
Adobe Flash required to view the photo and video, or registration to download.
Mirrors:
Photo (1801x1201):
[https://i.imgur.com/7RVIpJH.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/7RVIpJH.jpg)
Video (480x360, 2:55):
[https://gfycat.com/RightBitesizedBrownbear](https://gfycat.com/RightBitesizedBrownbear)
(Source: JAMSTEC deep sea debris database. Used for non-profit educational
purposes.)
~~~
sacado2
Amazing how the floor seems flat and even, down there. I would have
expected... I don't really know, something looking more like the surface of
the moon, that kind of thing.
------
guelo
Name names. Most plastic in the ocean comes from Chinese rivers. Western
countries don't just throw their garbage into the ocean like China does.
Making westerners feel guilty doesn't help fix the problem.
~~~
wz1000
This meme needs to die. Developed countries produce much more waste than
developing countries. The disparity is even more striking if you look at the
figures per capita. The US generates almost 3 times as much waste per capital
as China.
On top of that, a huge proportion of waste is exported by developed countries
to developing countries. The US also only recycles 9% of its plastic waste,
compared to 25% for China.
> Europe, the biggest exporter worldwide of waste plastic intended for
> recycling, depends largely on China: 87% wt. is exported to China either
> directly or via the Hong Kong SAR. The exported quantity is 46% of the
> overall quantity collected for recycling, and 12% of the entire plastic
> waste arisings in Europe. In contrast, Europe exports only 1.2% of its
> primary plastics products to China.
> The USA is the second largest consumer of plastics in the world and depends
> mainly to China and HK for absorbing its waste plastics. Neighbouring
> countries such as Canada and Mexico are also a small market outlet.
> According to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) reporting
> data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the USA exported 2.1Mt of plastic waste to
> China
[https://www.iswa.org/fileadmin/galleries/Task_Forces/TFGWM_R...](https://www.iswa.org/fileadmin/galleries/Task_Forces/TFGWM_Report_GRM_Plastic_China_LR.pdf)
[http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTURBANDEVELOPMENT/Resou...](http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTURBANDEVELOPMENT/Resources/336387-1334852610766/Chap3.pdf)
[http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/7/e1700782.full](http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/7/e1700782.full)
~~~
seanmcdirmid
> This meme needs to die. Developed countries produce much more waste than
> developing countries.
Yes, but western countries also have better waste disposal infrastructure
(land fills, incinerators) that is actually used, so in this case that is not
very relevant.
> On top of that, a huge proportion of waste is exported by developed
> countries to developing countries.
This is because Chinese recycling companies underbid most of their western
(more local) competition, essentially putting them out of business.
I strongly believe there should have been much earlier trade intervention by
western (rather than Chinese) governments to prevent that. But on the other
hand, western countries didn't aim guns at China's head to make them take
their trash.
~~~
joe_the_user
_This is because Chinese recycling companies underbid most of their western
(more local) competition, essentially putting them out of business._
Because the Chinese do an inadequate job of disposing of the waste of Western
countries, so their costs are less, so this Western waste winds-up in the
oceans with stops in China and the folks in charge in the Western nations more
or less let this happen.
But your post does a job of framing this chain of events as if China was
entirely at fault. A bit reflection should show the reader this isn't the
case.
~~~
seanmcdirmid
> But your post does a job of framing this chain of events as if China was
> entirely at fault.
I did say that Western countries should have proactively prevented this
through trade restrictions. Free trade sucks when your trading partner doesn't
care about pooping in their own yard for some short term gain. Sometimes
developed western countries need to step up because the other country is being
irresponsible and just can't manage to do the right thing for their own
interests on their own.
~~~
Sabinus
Exactly. Free trade only works well if both countries are playing by the same
rules. Which I guess is why trade deals take years and hundreds of diplomat
hours to arrange.
~~~
Clubber
There is no motivation to stop it. China doesn't want to do it because they
would have to hike prices to offset the cost, thus making them less
competitive. US companies don't want to change anything because they don't
want to start paying for proper disposal either.
Also, free trade is freedom from regulations / tariffs, etc. I always thought
it was free to compete (i.e. anti-trusts / monopoly). Silly me.
So it could be said this is a direct result of free trade in it's classical
economic term.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_trade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_trade)
------
brundolf
In Austin, TX we've outlawed these kinds of bags. All grocery store bags are
required by law to be sturdy enough to be reusable. This results in a few
different things:
\- Bags are heavy enough to not get blown away in the wind
\- Half of the time, the bags are made of paper instead, meaning they're
recyclable and (presumably) at least partially biodegradable
\- The plastic bags that do exist are larger, robust enough to be brought with
you to the store again and again, and at least at HEB they cost 25 cents,
which discourages people from getting them unless they actually need them
Seeing things like this make me proud of my city.
~~~
pishpash
One of the worst ideas ever, spreading like a plague. All it results in is
stores becoming sellers of bags and finding ways to bundle bags into the sale
to capture the bag fee which they keep. Some stores didn't even use bags
previously.
The bags sold are not generally reusable as a practical matter, so it causes
more waste (more plastic weight over all being transacted). When they are
reusable they have caused sanitation issues.
Why would you incentivize stores to sell bags? Has any of the bag ban cities
seriously thought this one through?
~~~
always_good
The bags at the store are more like a forgetter's fee. Though I don't see how
they aren't reusable.
I don't understand your criticism when you can bring any reusable bag into the
store. Don't like the store's bags? Bring your own.
If the best criticism you can come up with for the reusable bag mandate is
that you need to bring your own, that's not very damning.
In fact, I wouldn't mind if stores sold the same shitty bags as before but for
10 cents. The real win is a cultural shift towards reusability, not a good
deal on plastic bags at the point-of-sale. Once again, just keep your favorite
reusable bags in your car.
~~~
pishpash
Wrong. The bags are a tax on the poor. Not everybody has a car, are they
supposed to carry several reusable bags on their person at all times? The poor
also reuse plastic bags to bag trash, now they need to buy garbage bags.
Wasting is a first-world problem. The "culture shift of reusability" is a rich
person's luxury, like those alarm clocks that shred money, except it is
mandated for everyone. I hope you see the absurdity and arrogance of it all.
~~~
detaro
What's the problem with bringing bags as needed if you know you might go buy
stuff?
------
twistedanimator
This inspired me to write a haiku:
Maybe life's purpose
is to trash its home planet
then get the fuck out
~~~
colordrops
From George Carlin:
"The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we're gone, and it
will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, 'cause that's what it does. It's a
self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be
renewed. And if it's true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet
will simply incorporate plastic into a new paradigm: the earth plus plastic.
The earth doesn't share our prejudice toward plastic. Plastic came out of the
earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children.
Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the
first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn't know how to make it. Needed
us. Could be the answer to our age-old egocentric philosophical question, "Why
are we here?" "Plastic... asshole."
Full quote: [https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/251836-we-re-so-self-
import...](https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/251836-we-re-so-self-important-
everybody-s-going-to-save-something-now-save)
~~~
fpoling
So maybe the plastic is there to force humans out of this planet quicker and
spread life beound Earth...
------
cobbzilla
Since it's already at a trench, it will be among the first plastic to be
subducted into the mantle.
It's sad but it's not the most worrisome plastic in the ocean.
~~~
mbrumlow
That sounds like a perfect place doe waste. Just pump it I to the mantle. Put
this stuff back in the ground where it belongs. Better than in out air or
floating around our water.
~~~
BTinfinity
Surely this would result in the high temperatures of the mantle burning the
waste; the air pollution associated with this must make this a poor option for
waste disposal.
~~~
mbrumlow
From my understanding when things burn hot enough -- which I think the mantel
burns hot enough -- this sort of thing is not that big of an issue.
Also, I am not entirely sure this would raise the temperatures of something so
massive. In any case it would probably become the "global mantel worming"
debate.
~~~
mbrumlow
Noo! Not the worming! I meant to type warming. Again, no posting before coffee
next time!
Although a worming might be fun. Trimmers anybody?
------
spodek
There is no substitute for you, the person reading these words, to stop
accepting plastic bags and as much similar things -- coffee cups, utensils,
etc.
Each reduction makes the next easier and simpler. Eventually you work up to
fewer cars and bigger reductions.
Most importantly, you find the reductions improve your life. Most Americans
could probably cut 75% with zero problem. More likely increased self-
awareness, community, savings, health.
I cut out about 95% of packaged food about 3 years ago. The last time I had to
empty my trash was June 2017.
More importantly, I've never eaten more delicious (nor saved as much time and
money). The success led to reductions in other areas and I keep finding more
because I look because it improves my life. There's nothing special about me.
Anyone can do the same.
~~~
jdblair
I disagree that individual action will ever move the needle on use of plastic.
Policies set and enforced by governments is what is necessary. This can take
the form of rules and bans for packaging itself or taxes that drive up the
cost of plastic. So we can all do our part by advocating for these rules.
~~~
noobermin
Seriously. While certain local actions can help on a local level, serious
solutions to global problems require more than individual action.
~~~
seanp2k2
Also, making machines that do the work in bulk is IMO a much better use of
time than e.g. organizing beach cleanup efforts where a dozen people come out
with grabbers: [https://youtu.be/A_ESkZmbL2c](https://youtu.be/A_ESkZmbL2c)
What would also be neat would be something like an organization that operates
these on beaches across a state / country. Even better: get the government to
do it.
Even better than that: outlaw production of the kinds of junk that ends up on
beaches. Start doing takeaway food in glass lock containers and bags that are
actually reusable (not paper or thicker plastic or cotton) and charge deposits
for them. Sure, it creates other problems, but those are usually better
problems to be solving.
~~~
DanBC
That machine looks like an excellent way to take in macro plastic and convert
some of it into micro plastic, and then redistribute it onto the beach, where
it'll be impossible to remove.
------
sandworm101
The problem of ocean plastic isn't an issue of plastic use. It's about
disposal. That sandwich bag used at a California Whole Foods is going to a
landfill, not a deep sea trench. Landfill's aren't pretty or environmentally
good, but a bag in a landfill is infinitely better than one wrapped around a
baby turtle.
90+% of Ocean plastic comes from ten rivers, none of which are in north
America or Europe. (See 100s of articles based on a study published last
november.) This is a cultural issue. We don't need to stop using plastics in
the west. We need the east to stop throwing plastics into rivers. In that
sense, the problem is much easier. We don't need to invent new schemes or
hamper development. We just need people in some countries to do what other
have been doing for generations: stop treating waterways as trash disposals.
That is not a big ask.
~~~
pbhjpbhj
It's microplastics that are the main problem, and it's primarily not macro
physical impact (trapping creatures in plastic) it's biological and chemical
impact on the organisms affected; in part due to other chemicals carried with,
or accumulated with, the microplastics.
That bag in landfill can break down to small particulates that get washed away
to local rivers which are cleaned out in to the sea.
[https://eic.rsc.org/feature/the-massive-problem-of-
microplas...](https://eic.rsc.org/feature/the-massive-problem-of-
microplastics/2000127.article)
------
userbinator
I think the saddest part of this is that we've managed, as a species, to come
up with such a resilient and durable material, and yet we've come to simply
waste it in great quantities, treating it like it's useless rubbish. From the
picture posted in one of the comments here, that bag looks quite intact and
certainly could've been reused. It probably comes from a time when most
plastic bags were made with much better quality, thicker plastic than the ones
today.
------
muriithi
Kenya banned plastic bags last year and the difference is remarkable. A lot
less trash floating around.
[https://www.nema.go.ke/index.php?option=com_content&view=art...](https://www.nema.go.ke/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=106&Itemid=120)
------
vimy
There seems to be a movement now in the West to ban plastic bags and put
higher taxes on plastics among other things. This is pointless as the West is
only responsible for a tiny fraction of the plastic waste in our oceans.
The study linked in the article claims that "The 10 top-ranked rivers
transport 88−95% of the global load into the sea." Those rivers are: Chang
Jiang, Indus, Huang He, Hai He, Nile, Bramaputra, Zhujiang, Amur, Niger and
Mekong. Eight in Asia, two in Africa.
To put it bluntly, these are regions where most people don't know the meaning
of the word recycling. This is a cultural problem, not a technological one.
[https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.7b02368](https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.7b02368)
~~~
andyjohnson0
> This is a cultural problem, not a technological one.
Its about poverty. Almost none of the communities that border these rivers
will have access to organised waste disposal, never mind recycling. So the
trash goes into the river. Thats bad, and I suspect that its known to be bad
by the people involved, but where are the alternatives?
Check out [1] for some pretty horrifying descriptions of what plastic
pollution is doing to coastal communities in Cambodia. Quote: _" according to
Water.Org, about four million people in Cambodia still lack access to safe
water, leaving them with no alternative but to buy endless bottled water,
perpetuating the environmentally destructive cycle. [...] this plastic waste
that all the people here live amongst is unavoidable- they are not about to
feed their babies the black muddy liquid that comes out of the taps, it’s
poison.”_
Clearly the solution involves people not throwing plastic into the rivers, but
labelling dirt-poor people in a poisoned environment as having a "cultural
problem" isn't going to help.
[1] [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/25/mountains-
and-...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/25/mountains-and-
mountains-of-plastic-life-on-cambodias-polluted-coast)
~~~
vimy
How is being poor an excuse for throwing your trash in the river? A cart, a
horse and you have a garbage truck. Add some plot of land where you can dump
the garbage and you have the mvp of a garbage management system. I'm having a
hard time believing these countries can't afford such a simple system.
Naming the problem is step one in fixing it. Our efforts are better focused
helping these countries fix their garbage problem. That won't happen if
everyone here keeps thinking we are the origin of all that ocean plastic.
~~~
andyjohnson0
> A cart, a horse and you have a garbage truck. Add some plot of land where
> you can dump the garbage and you have the mvp of a garbage management
> system. I'm having a hard time believing these countries can't afford such a
> simple system.
Who pays for it? Cambodia's per-capita GDP is just under UD$1300. A third of
the country earns less than US$1.90 a day. Its a poor country. From a
developed-word perspective it makes sense to collect the trash, but their
perspective may be very different.
> Naming the problem is step one in fixing it. Our efforts are better focused
> helping these countries fix their garbage problem. That won't happen if
> everyone here keeps thinking we are the origin of all that ocean plastic.
I agree.
~~~
ericd
Not trying to be callous, but that low GDP would mean that hiring a garbage
man would be correspondingly inexpensive.
------
jensv
I use plastic bags (from groceries) as a garbage can liner and always feel bad
because I suspect there might be a better or less wasteful way to reduce
plastic usage. Anyone have any ideas or tips?
I feel like I should use reusable grocery bags but then I have to clean the
garbage can (boohoo).
~~~
komali2
I think you must mean the smaller trash bins sprinkled throughout your house,
right? Because a kitchen (main) trash bin is typically too large for little
shopping bags? In any case, have you looked into compostable bags? I tried a
bunch of different brands and a lot were not very stiff/strong at all until I
got a 100pack of stuff that's almost indiscernible from a regular trash bag,
except green.
I'm not sure how it works in your house, but in mine the small trash cans
throughout rooms are almost entirely filled with compostables like paper
towels, tissues, floss, and tampons (I've gotten in arguments about whether
floss and tampons will actually compost - that experiment is currently running
in our backyard). So you could just Chuck those bags straight into the compost
bin, if your city has it. If it doesn't, maybe not a good idea cause the bags
will just disintegrate at the landfill and blow trash everywhere.
Really the answer here is convince local government to do recycling and
compost collection and make an effort to purchase and cook in such a way that
as little goes into the landfill bags as possible. I recently visited my
childhood home in Texas and felt super gross when my only option for a can of
Coke I had finished was chuck it straight into the bin... I've been thinking a
lot lately about how stuff just is accumulating in landfills. Maybe it's my SF
instincts screaming "that's a couple square miles of great real estate if it
wasn't full of trash!" Lol.
~~~
itdaniher
Floss is often / typically Nylon, which will take decades. If you accidentally
wound up with PTFE floss (which is apparently a thing) I'd expect millennia
unless it's in direct sun. Tampons should biodegrade at home, but I'm willing
to bet there are large swaths of the US where composting anything with human
fluids is illegal.
In any case, hat-tip for empiricism! Very pro composting, wish it was safer,
smaller, and easier to do at home.
~~~
astura
Unless they are the fancy unbleached 100% cotton organic tampons, I doubt they
would compost. Tampons and other menstrual products aren't required to have an
ingredients list, so who knows what's in there. I believe most tampons have
synthetic as well as natural fibers. we
Personally, my menstrual cycle has been 100% reusable since 2003, and I much
prefer reusables to disposables on a comfort level. I mostly use cloth pads,
but I use a cup sometimes also. I used to be the opposite - mostly cup,
sometimes cloth pads.
------
JTbane
One can only hope that eventually a solution will be developed that fixes the
long-lived problems that plastics cause- perhaps a bacteria or chemical that
breaks them down. In the meantime plastic waste is here to stay.
~~~
titzer
I know that it's a natural reaction to try to think of a technical solution to
a massive problem like this, but to be completely and brutally honest I think
humans, as a race, are now obligated to get off our fat asses and pick up some
trash. Hands and knees, trash bags, buckets, shovels. A single person can
easily pick up 10kg of trash an hour. The 8 million metric tons that will
likely end up in the ocean this year, if it were instead collected by people
(on land, before it gets in the ocean) at 10kg/hr, 2000hrs/yr, that's 400,000
people. That's really not many when spread across dozens of countries. Also,
it's way easier and cheaper to just put garbage in the garbage bin. So in
reality it could be far less than this number that are all that is needed to
keep the planet free of trash.
Also, robots. But mostly we just need to get off our asses and pick up some
trash!
~~~
curun1r
I'm not sure that's the answer. I got an eye-opening view of the problem when
I took a trip to Southeast Asia a couple years ago. Being in the third world,
there's very few recycling plants to process plastic waste. The next best
option, as you've implied, is landfills to sequester plastic waste...sacrifice
that land to keep the rest of our planet clean(er). But even that's hard in
many places.
On many of the islands I visited, people did make a conscientious effort to
throw their plastic garbage in bins and do the right thing. And that worked
great, up until one of the massive deluges of rain that the area gets would
come. And since they had no landfill area that was far enough from the water,
the rains would wash the entire landfills out to sea in a massive river of
plastic waste. It was one of the most depressing sights I've ever seen. On one
of the scuba dives I went on, we found ourselves surfacing in a debris field
that had washed out to sea and it was astonishing to see the magnitude of it.
Collecting everything together, as in your suggestion, just led to a massive
batch dump into the ocean and it didn't do anything to keep the waste out of
the ocean.
What we really need is a way to simply produce less plastic products.
Increased use of glass, increased emphasis on reusing what plastic we do have
and, yes, new technology to replace plastics with materials that break down
faster so that when they do end up in the oceans, which in much of the world
is inevitable from the moment of creation, they don't cause the amount of
damage that plastics do.
~~~
titzer
Absolutely +1 to producing less plastic waste. There is some reason to hope
that high temperature plasma incinerators can burn plastic waste and generate
power with little residual pollution. That might be an option for areas
without recycling and landfill capacity.
------
christophilus
> ... by 2015, humans had produced 6.3 billion metric tons of plastic waste
That's about 0.86 metric tons (or 859 kg or 1895 lbs) per person. Crazy.
~~~
njarboe
Or a cube of solid plastic about 1.5 miles on a side. It would be cool if some
country took the West's plastic and recycled it by creating a series of
kilometer sized geometric objects in a desert somewhere.
~~~
Freestyler_3
> took the West's plastic
Does it have to be the west's?
Why do so many people blame the west solely, because other countries can't
help it, or because other countries export to the west, or because the west
exports an amount of trash to other countries? Not even a Billion people in
the west, those other 6 had nothing to do with it? It seems like many here are
making excuses why only the west is at fault. While most trash going in the
ocean happens not in the west.
~~~
njarboe
I used that phrase because of a recent policy change by China where they will
no longer be the place where the West "recycles" its plastic garbage. The
plastic that people in the West clean diligently and sort into the recycle
bin, in a kind of ritual of forgiveness for consumption, must now find another
final resting place. I just did not believe other countries feel the need for
the ritual of recycling yet. If they just get plastic into a landfill after
use, that is all that is really necessary for the environment.
It would be almost impossible to calculate, but I would guess 98% of plastic
reuse is an environmental net negative. Reduce and reuse. Then bury it. Maybe
burning it for electricity generation would help if it would offset coal
burning power plants.
~~~
njarboe
Edit: 98% of plastic recycling
------
revel
I like the "Where did the plastic come from?" section in this article. Pretty
sure it was a fish that carelessly tossed away the bag after going grocery
shopping.
------
Maro
I'm not pro-plastic waste (obvously), but it'd be interesting to see a pro-con
analysis. What is all this plastic use getting us, how could we replace it
with sth else, and what would it cost.
Also, based on the article 40% of the waste here is from discarded shipping
equipment. So it seems to me this can't be that must waste actually, compared
to what we produce and presumably store on/in land [presumably that's a lot
more than fishing equipment]. Or I'm reading it wrong.
~~~
lloydde
It is that much waste. I suspect you underestimate the size of the fishing
industry and fleets of boats. In 2004 the estimate of commercial fishing boats
was over 4 million. As an example of the impact of their waste consider the
great pacific garbage patch: “the patch is 1.6 million square kilometers and
has a concentration of 10-100 kg per square kilometers. They estimate there to
be 80.000 metric tonnes in the patch, with 1.8 trillion plastic pieces, out of
which 92% of the mass is to be found in objects larger than 0.5 centimeters.”
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch)
Obviously, it is not all fishing vessel waste, the belief is that the majority
is, particularly discarding fishing net creating the body that all the other
waste gets trapped in.
~~~
SaltyBackendGuy
> the patch is 1.6 million square kilometers
Haven't really thought about how big that actually is until now.
Basically the size of Mongolia[0]
[0] - [http://www.nationmaster.com/country-
info/stats/Geography/Lan...](http://www.nationmaster.com/country-
info/stats/Geography/Land-area/Square-miles)
~~~
lostcolony
Or for the Americans with little concept of the rest of the world (no
judgement; I'm one of them), over twice the size of Texas (which is just under
700k square kilometers).
------
notadoc
Not even slightly surprising given the shear volume of trash on most beaches
and reefs in the world. As any fishermen, diver, or snorkeler knows, the ocean
is literally full of garbage, and the problem has gotten exponentially worse
over the last few decades. Tourists often don't see it because most tourist
destinations have workers (or volunteers) raking up the daily trash load from
the sand in the early mornings before everyone else wakes up, but if you get
up at say 4am and take a peak outside your hotel, whether in the Caribbean or
most pacific islands, you'll see the people raking the beaches for trash.
And then if you travel to developing Asia in particular, you see why it's such
a problem to begin with. There is trash literally everywhere, their
landscapes, streets, creeks, rivers, are like a never ending open garbage dump
or landfill. Not that the rest of the developing world is much better, and
frankly much of the USA is increasingly full of garbage, litter, and detritus
too, though not nearly to the extent of China, India, Indonesia, Philippines,
etc. But just yesterday I watched a group of US tourists visiting a stunning
scenic vista and proceed to toss multiple bags of fast food wrappers and
garbage out of their Range Rover, they must think the litter magically takes
care of itself.
------
mimac
I propose to put a plastic bag on the Moon. Just to make a statement and make
people think.
~~~
robotresearcher
It’s likely we already did, along with boxes, cables, half of each of the moon
landers, an electric car and a few American flags.
~~~
mimac
That is true, but nothing is as iconic as a plastic shopping bag.
------
mehly
Whats next? A plastic bag beats humans to Mars?
------
foxhop
[https://upcyclesantafe.org/you-can-upcycle/plastics-and-
synt...](https://upcyclesantafe.org/you-can-upcycle/plastics-and-
synthetics/ecobrick-it/)
------
chiefalchemist
Not a surprise. Sadly.
That said, what other unknowns might we find there from previous
civilizations. __That__ could be surprising.
------
swerveonem
I hope they find one with the logo of a major retailer.
------
asab
How long did it take to sink to the bottom?
------
BurningFrog
Other than disturbing the beauty sense of _homo sapiens_ , do stray plastic
bags cause any real damage to eco systems?
~~~
always_good
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microplastics#Potential_effect...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microplastics#Potential_effects_on_the_environment)
------
chicob
Pollution just hit a new low.
------
agumonkey
What a lucky plastic bag.
------
bitCromwell
a problem but also a profound solition for storage of some kimd?
------
madman2890
Horrible
------
paulcole
It's always in the last place you look.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Question for standing-desk users - MikeCapone
Hi,<p>Because of RSI problems I'm seriously considering trying using a standing-desk. I'm curious about how long it usually takes to get used to it. Can those who've made the switch share their experience with us please? Please include how 'in shape' you were when you made the transition. I'm not very used to standing and walking, and I'm afraid of being tired all the time and having back and feet pain... How long until that goes away? After how long should I know to give up because it's not for me?<p>Thank you!
======
soyelmango
Firstly, I'm not aware of how RSI is related to sitting, or how standing would
alleviate RSI. RSI is due to many things: posture, positioning of
mouse/keyboard, length of work/breaks, and of course, how repetitive your
movements are. Given all that, standing or sitting is just a small part of
RSI, and possibly the least significant factor.
If your posture is right, if your desk, mouse and keyboard are at the right
height and distance, if you take regular breaks, and if you exercise your
hands/fingers, then it makes little difference whether you're sitting or
standing.
That said, I've recently set myself up with a standing desk – just an Ikea
Fredrik. I just want to try it out for myself too, to see whether I like it. I
do kung fu, and my main motivation was to practise my stance for longer
periods. It's a stance similar to if you were sitting on a bar stool – that
is, a few inches lower than standing straight-legged, with hip tilted
straight.
That stance has taken some years for me to be able to do for more than 20-30
minutes without turning into a jelly-legged mess. If you're standing straight-
legged, this won't be a consideration for you. So, I'm in reasonable shape,
but by no means super fit.
This bit you add – "I'm not very used to standing and walking, and I'm afraid
of being tired all the time and having back and feet pain..." – is a really
important point. Don't expect to be able to just start working at your
standing desk for extended periods. Go and do more walking at the very least
to build up a bare minimum level of leg/back strength and stamina.
A standing desk is a great motivation to sort out your level of fitness. How
long should you try the standing desk before giving up? That depends. Give
yourself time to get used to it. Don't stand before you can walk (to
paraphrase "don't run before you can walk").
Good luck with it, and please do report back after you've tried your standing
desk for about a month. If you keep a blog, a blog post about your experience
would be great.
------
TimSchumann
The Desk in the photo of the post soyelmago linked to is an Ikea Jerker.
[http://smarterware.org/7102/how-and-why-i-switched-to-a-
stan...](http://smarterware.org/7102/how-and-why-i-switched-to-a-standing-
desk)
They don't sell them anymore, but you can usually find them in good condition
on Craigslist for 50 to 150 USD. I've owned 6 or 7 over the years, and as I've
moved pawned them off on family and friends.
Well worth investing in, one of the best desks ever made.
On the back pain, stop wearing shoes. Both sitting and shoes are horrible for
your posture. Standing should help, but odds are it's going to take a long
time.
Resources for Feet [http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/05/07/vibram-
five-...](http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/05/07/vibram-five-fingers-
shoes/) <http://lunasandals.com/> <http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/>
Resources for Back [http://stronglifts.com/lordosis-why-it-causes-lower-back-
pai...](http://stronglifts.com/lordosis-why-it-causes-lower-back-pain-how-to-
fix-it/) [http://stronglifts.com/the-reverse-crunch-get-your-six-
pack-...](http://stronglifts.com/the-reverse-crunch-get-your-six-pack-abs/)
<http://ericcressey.com/why-crunches-suck>
<http://ericcressey.com/tag/thoracic-spine-mobility>
[http://ericcressey.com/strategies-for-correcting-bad-
posture...](http://ericcressey.com/strategies-for-correcting-bad-posture-
part-4) <\- Read all 4 parts of that
Remember IANAD, but all of this stuff has helped me. Take it slow, don't do
anything that hurts too much.
Feel free to email me with any question, Username@gmail
Cheers!
------
wdrwilson
I have been using a standing desk for over a year now. I use an Ergotron Work-
fit Sit-Stand workstation. It allows you to move from standing to sitting just
by pushing down on the desktop, or pulling it up.
When I first started with the standing desks I found it quite difficult, I
felt like I couldn't concentrate with out sitting. It took a couple of weeks
to get used to it, legs were sore for the first little while. Back pain I had
from sitting went away. Now as far as physical condition goes.. not so good. I
am quite heavy 330+lbs so if I can do it anyone can.
So what works for me now is a combination of sitting and standing. I go
through phases of mostly standing or mostly sitting.. but I think a good
balance between both is the way to go. I stand for a few hours, then sit for
an hour or less, then back again. Some days I could do 6 hours no problem.
My advice is to try it until you get used to it... You will want to stop, but
just give it some time. At least a few weeks. Just my 2 cents..
Hope that helps..
------
aquark
I got an adjustable standing desk a couple of months ago.
It took a little bit of getting used to, but less than I expected. At first
the sit/stand ratio was around 50%, alternating every couple of hours. Now I
just tend to sit if I am eating lunch or really tired. A side benefit (as
someone fairly tall) is that the sitting height is about 2 inches higher than
my old desk which is more comfortable too.
There was no foot pain, and I don't use a mat to stand on, but I do tend to
move around a fair bit. My back pain is gone too and I've got less trouble
than I've had with it in years. My general 'altertness' level has also gone
up.
I'm not in great shape either (20 years in IT) though I've been starting to
run more this year which has helped as well.
------
tluyben2
I wasn't very in shape when I started over a year ago, but it didn't take me
long to get used. I do actually usually walk in place behind the desk which I
find I can keep up for 5-6 hours while standing still I cannot stand long at
all, still I cannot. Walking made me feel much fitter; I used to walk in place
on the WII fit board with the WII on and I manage to cover quite a bit of
distance doing that every day. I don't lose (or have lost) concentration and
i'm not more tired; I am more thirsty though.
------
soyelmango
Oh, and here's Gina Trapani's blog post on standing desks…
[http://smarterware.org/7102/how-and-why-i-switched-to-a-
stan...](http://smarterware.org/7102/how-and-why-i-switched-to-a-standing-
desk)
------
jason32835
It has taken me about 2 weeks to get completely used to my standing desk. Be
sure to get a anti-fatiuge mat and a stool. Just sit down when you get tired,
sitting on a stool isn't all that compfortable and you will naturally stand
back up when you feel rested.
I couldn't be happier about making the switch. I feel more alert, less back
pain, and less afternoon slump. I also recently lost about 40 lbs, but I am
not in really good physical shape.
More on my switch here: <http://standingdeskforum.com>
------
r4vik
I've just started doing this and my feet feel similar to how they would if I'd
done a day of walking. They are slowly getting used to it now. Is there any
benefit to getting a dedicated standing desk? I'm currently using a
combination of a chest of drawers and the kitchen counter?
------
MikeCapone
Thank you for your answers everybody! And thanks for the helpful links!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hippie physics student saved Apollo 13, cut out of history cos he had long hair - ColinWright
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/xove1/iama_97_year_old_that_worked_apollo_missions_1/c5oaobm
======
rst
Apollo 8, 10, and 11 had all already used "free return" trajectories, which
would have caused the spacecraft to "slingshot around the moon" and return to
earth in the case of main engine failure. Mission Control would not have
needed a cold call from a hippie physics student to remind them they could try
that with Apollo 13.
This could be a garbled version of some other piece of critical advice coming
in a cold call. But it's also possible that some hippie grad student _thought_
he came up with the idea of free return trajectories on the fly, and assumed
that long hair was the reason he never got credit for telling Mission Control
what it had already known for years.
~~~
greenyoda
Since this story is being told by a NASA employee and not by the grad student,
it's not the grad student making assumptions about why he wasn't credited.
See also this follow-up comment that lends some credibility to this anecdote:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/xove1/iama_97_year_old...](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/xove1/iama_97_year_old_that_worked_apollo_missions_1/c5onsqb)
------
GiraffeNecktie
Is there anything at all to substantiate this story other than an anonymous
blip on Reddit? Anything?
~~~
ColinWright
Many a good investigation starts with a single, unsubstantiated piece of
information. It's certainly an interesting claim - perhaps it can and/or will
be chased down and appear one day on Snopes.
------
tehdik
Is it really so hard to right because instead of cos?
~~~
ColinWright
It is when the full and proper title doesn't fit into the 80 character limit.
And in return, is it really so hard to write "write" instead of "right"?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Browserver: a node.js HTTP server, in your browser - jedschmidt
http://browserver.org
======
arturadib
TL;DR: This is a proxy server that routes HTTP requests from a unique
subdomain (e.g. <http://m7rp3u2ntr9t3xr.browserver.org>) to a browser that's
visiting browserver.org. The JavaScript in the browser then handles the HTTP
response. This is possible thanks to a persistent connection between the
browser and browserver.org, via some "websocket-like" protocol.
The title "node.js HTTP server, in your browser" is because the HTTP handler
in the client (browser) has a Node-like API, see:
<https://github.com/jed/browserver-client#example>
~~~
jedschmidt
Thank you for explaining this much better than I did!
~~~
fichtl80
i get a gateway error
------
jedschmidt
Hey all,
I put browserver together in my free time over the last week. It's still a bit
of a toy, but I think it's useful to explore ideas around extending webhooks
all the way to the browser, to simplify our increasingly complicated web
architectures.
It's already late here in Tokyo, but I'll be up for a bit if anyone wants to
chat/brainstorm about approaches like this (and also to make sure the server
stays up).
~~~
javajosh
I had this idea, too, the killer application is actually demos and talks, I
think. The speaker sets up their browser server, asks the audience to hit a
URL, and then demonstrates in real time aspects of the system.
It's also a very neat way to bring WebKit Inspector to bear on server style
code. Glad you did it! I presume that you have a wildcard subdomain at the DNS
level and then some Node parsing magic to correctly proxy. Why subdomains
though? Why not just a tag like browserver.com/29adfija02 ?
~~~
jedschmidt
I chose hosts over paths for disambiguation because I want the request passed
to the proxy to be as close as possible to that passed to the browser.
~~~
BrendanEich
Also you get same-origin protection, FWIW.
------
ericz
I find this title rather misleading. There is no node.js HTTP server in your
browser. Meaning, you cannot do anything that is part of Node.js in the
browser "server"
The browser is still running its original js engine with none of the Node
goodies. It merely receives proxied requests, does some stuff to it, then
sends it back to the proxy, which returns it to the client.
~~~
jedschmidt
It merely receives proxied requests, does some stuff to it, then sends it back to the proxy, which returns it to the client.
You just described the majority of the web servers that we web developers deal
with. Sure, it's a proxy, but the fact that the machine responding is
connected via WebSocket and not a local network doesn't make it any less of a
server, in my opinion.
------
arunoda
Nice attempt. But your title is misleading.
You just listen for a URL and forward it to the browser with socket.io
(Pusher, Pubnub are some commercial services for this)
If I can change some content in your webpage by just curling _localhost_ , I
can judge the title you put :)
~~~
e12e
So, it's not a new take on POW (plain old webserver):
[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/pow-plain-
old...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/pow-plain-old-
webserver/) which apparently have been abandoned, and could use a fork (source
at: <http://davidkellogg.com/pow/> )?
Apparently there's a newer variation at:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/browser-server/
and of course there's Opera's Unity.
I do get that the idea is that it "just" uses javascript (the server appears
to be down, so I'm actually guessing) -- but when such projects already exist,
I kind of expected more...
~~~
arunoda
I thing they use some kind of native addon (I don't know how FF addon works)
to do this.
Unfortunately Chrome's native client(NaCl) does not support TCP yet! So I
think something like this impossible in chrome? Any ideas?
~~~
simonster
POW is presumably written in JavaScript using Mozilla's asynchronous socket
APIs. I've written a similar HTTP server before.
Chrome has a JS socket API for extensions as well, but it doesn't currently
support TCP listening.
~~~
arunoda
Great. Thanks for the info.
------
aba_sababa
I don't really see why this is special. It's just a websocket connection that
happens to show every request made to the server. Your browser is not a
server, no matter which way you cut it.
~~~
andrewmunsell
Sure it is. Yes, the web socket connection is passing through requests to the
browser-server, but that browser-server _is_ the one responding.
------
state
I think there's a ton of unrealized potential in this kind of thinking.
Although people will say 'But that was done by X a year ago!' I see that as
evidence that this is gaining momentum.
Now, what's the project that will fully take advantage of this kind of thing?
~~~
shaunxcode
A lot of times it is about coming up with the right terminology and
positioning of an idea for it to "take off". This is a really nice approach in
that it utilizes concepts/a paradigm we are already comfortable with.
~~~
state
Yeah, agreed. Seems like one of the best things about this is that it
positions a (potentially) big idea in a way which makes it easily
understandable and fairly everyday.
~~~
tom_m
I mean yes, you never know what it will be used for. It may not be anything by
itself, but combined with a dozen other things it may be critical for
something clever. That's what I love about the internet - it's a massive
jigsaw puzzle.
------
mcantelon
Weinre is a project that, if my understanding of it is correct, leverages the
same basic idea. It's used to remotely debug mobile browser issues and also
uses Node.
<https://github.com/apache/incubator-cordova-weinre>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nL6xey13fE>
------
VikingCoder
...I'm looking forward to WebRTC, which should make this obsolete, right?
<http://www.webrtc.org/>
That said, this is cool!
~~~
jmspring
Webrtc is about realtime communications. This is about exposing webhooks
clientside.
~~~
VikingCoder
It also allows direct client-to-client communications.
~~~
vitno
not yet arbitrary data. The protocol is also really hairy, I recommend using
<https://github.com/webRTC/webRTC.io>
------
quarterto
_It's not just you!<http://browserver.org> looks down from here._
~~~
quarterto
And back.
~~~
quarterto
Kind of. Servers are 502ing.
------
Kilimanjaro
Just add a text area and let people share some html. Now that would be cool!
Change some HTML in that text area and refresh automatically in all listeners.
That would be an interesting toy to play for a while.
------
sehrope
Anyone know if browserver.org is self hosting (i.e. running on some guys
desktop/laptop in a browser window)? Site is down at the moment and I'm
wondering if this is why.
~~~
jedschmidt
Ha, tinco beat you to that joke. The server is the smallest instance that
Joyent offers right now... hopefully it'll hang in there during the HN rush.
~~~
withjive
Would that happen to be one of the free <http://no.de> instances? Which if I
recall correctly come with 128mb ram on their custom solaris servers... I
always wondered what kind of load those small configurations using NodeJS
while handling something non-trivial could do.
Could you share some traffic/load numbers from getting HN'ed?
~~~
jedschmidt
Hard to tell right now... I started at Joyent's smallest node.js offering
(1GB) and then ramped it up to 8GB when the load hit. The server is crashing a
lot, but it's not very easy for me to debug right now.
Let me get back to you once the dust settles, deal?
~~~
withjive
Wow must of took a real hammering from being on the number spot. Goodluck!
------
mgurlitz
Github has a good readme if this site doesn't stay up:
<https://github.com/jed/browserver-node>
~~~
jedschmidt
Good point. I'll get to githubbing the browserver.org site itself now.
~~~
jedschmidt
Okay, it's here:
<https://github.com/jed/browserver.org>
------
alan_cx
Ok so I can access it either, but:
Loading the app... If this message doesn't go away within 10 seconds, it means
that the server crashed under heavy load. Please refresh mercilessly.
:)
------
mislav
Mind-bending.
------
rip_kirby
If you look at the favicon, there's two of them faviconception
------
sharps_xp
I do not understand what is going on.
------
debacle
And they're down.
It was a good 15 minutes, though.
~~~
tinco
I bet they closed their window >_>
------
shawndumas
෴
------
bestest
What sorcery is this!
------
napolux
We put a server in your browser. #inception
------
mekwall
Hacker News killed it with fire!
~~~
thefox
Yes, still down.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Congressman: To stop ISIS, let’s shut down websites and social media - dayon
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/congressman-to-stop-isis-lets-shut-down-websites-and-social-media/
======
TrevorJ
"ISIS and the terrorist networks can't beat us militarily, but they are really
trying to use the Internet and all of the social media to try to intimidate
and beat us psychologically,"
No they are winning psychologically by inciting these kinds of reactions from
our government officials. Some are moved by stupidity, but most are enticed by
aligned interests. "Terror" gives value to the currency of safety.
Government's ability to provide more safety relies on control. Control is
power, and unfortunately most of our elected officials seem addicted to it.
Terrorists aren't beating us militarily, they don't have to. All they need to
do is keep handing us things to be afraid of, because our government is an
enormously efficient factory for turning fear into the erosion of personal
freedom.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Making your own iPad micro SIM - pwim
http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/how-to-make-your-own-ipad-micro-sim-681020
======
brk
I did this with my iPhone SIM to fit my iPad in the US. You also need to
change the APN from 'broadband' to 'phone' for it to actually work.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How the language you speak changes your view of the world - wpietri
https://agenda.weforum.org/2015/04/how-the-language-you-speak-changes-your-view-of-the-world/
======
kazinator
If you know several different languages, the advantage is not that your view
is _enhanced_ , but rather you are more aware of the false contributions of
language to thought; you are more aware that some pattern of thinking is just
really some linguistic convention and not real semantics.
For instance, you are more likely to spot someone's equivocation: confusing
multiple meanings of some term in the same argument. Right away you realize:
"Doh, in this other language I know, those two concepts are not even the same
word; what he's saying doesn't _translate_."
~~~
A_COMPUTER
I was never that good of a Japanese speaker so someone can correct me if I'm
wrong, but to me it felt like there was a lot more ambiguity about things in
Japanese than in English. And I definitely found when I used it for long
periods of time, even my way of perceiving the world around me changed, in a
way that seemed closer to how the Japanese I knew perceived it. I never knew
if this was a cause or an effect. And I _definitely_ experienced, as you say,
knowing that there was no way to translate something to English without losing
its Japanese "feeling".
~~~
Htsthbjig
There are very few differences between German and English, but there are tons
of difference between European languages and Asian ones.
I studied in Korea, I was specially interested in Hangul, and found Japanese
extremely similar to Korean in the cultural side of things.
For example, there is a iconic concept in the US of "bad guy", "rebel against
the world". It simply does not exist in Korea, or in Japan by the way. You
can't talk about "bad guys"to them, because it does not exist in their world.
The same happens with different levels of respect and politeness in Japan, it
does not match anything the Western world has.
Words are like icons or shortcuts for something the culture has.
The intimate relationships, the families, the social contracts,violence, the
way of working... it is simply another world of thinking.
~~~
tiatia
"There are very few differences between German and English,"
While English is, more or less, a simplified version of German I still would
not agree to your statement. English has no declension (a simplification of a
grammar).
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declension](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declension)
In German it does not make a difference if you say "Dog bites Man" or "Man
bites Dog". The word order is very flexible and it is always clear who bites
whom. This is a major difference in a language.
~~~
r00fus
The lack of grammatical genders in English is also a significant difference
from German, IMHO.
It's interesting that of the largest economies in the world, the non-
grammatical-gender languages seem to reign supreme (English, Chinese,
Japanese).
~~~
tiatia
"the non-grammatical-gender languages seem to reign supreme " Hm. Seems like
bullship.
Portuguese? (Brazil) Russian? I suspect Indian (Hindi) might have genders too.
German is not a tiny Economy by the way.
~~~
r00fus
Top 3 are all genderless and, combined, vastly outsize the remaining 7 on the
top 10.
------
lordnacho
Isn't this called the Sapir-Worf hypothesis?
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity)
I'm not sure I can feel it personally. I suppose as with many polyglots, I
tend to speak different languages in specific contexts. So it's hard to
compare, which I guess is why these researchers are setting up specific
situations to do this.
For instance, I only really know science/business words/ideas in English. I
couldn't do a degree in my first language. And it's awkward to talk business
in English with my family.
~~~
westoncb
This is one of a long line of people arguing for or against what's essentially
Sapir-Worf—people have been strongly divided on it for a long time. I'm
surprised to see that something like this article is getting attention,
though. I figured that at this late date you'd have to say something much more
compelling/nuanced to be considered as adding to the subject.
------
fit2rule
I am raising my sons to be multi-lingual (German and English) and it is a
wonderful thing indeed to see the mind expansion that occurs on your average
code-switch .. especially in very young minds. "Daddy, the erdapfel sind too
hot!", and "Das Feur makes me vv-aaaarmm!!" .. ;) Much amusement in such
moments.
And socially, I think it sets the kids up a bit as well, because they are
quite acclimated to the strange looks from strange people when you switch
fluidly, between the languages. There is a huge caché, and the boys seem to be
becoming aware of how to spend it.
~~~
YAYERKA
Thanks for your comment. It brings up positive nostalgic memories for me. I
grew up speaking, reading and writing three different languages, as well as
constantly hearing another being yelled through the phone.
Not sure about the article; personally it's helped me be able to adapt quickly
in lots of foreign places and realize that with a little time and enough
"banging your head against a desk" anything can be understood (even Cyrillic
alphabets).
~~~
Jayd2014
Same here. Fluent in 4 languages. For me the best advantage is not learning
just the language, but the whole culture. If you can't laugh to comedy standup
stars and understand the culture of other people, it really doesn't help much
if you are fluent in one language or more. Languages also promote a more
liberal worldview and more tolerance for others.
~~~
fit2rule
I agree with you - the moment you learn another language, you step outside the
borders of your own culture, metaphysically, and are able to see things from a
different perspective than what is normal. That's the value - and the
liability - of language, in my opinion.
The world would be a better place if we all spoke more than just our mother-
tongues ..
------
SimpleMinds
A little bit related to article, as I'm not bilingual but just speaking
English as another language and this come up after conversation with friend
(another not native English speaker). I learned my English mostly thanks to
computers and playing games, including classical RPGs.
I started to read Malazan Book of the Fallen[0], a very dark and heavy fantasy
series. I started in English, then switched to my native language, now to have
maximum fun from it (as I like it a lot), I read one book in native and then
reread in English.
What I've noticed is that reading in my native language makes me feel much
more connected to characters, I see the whole relations between persons more
vividly and intensively. Then rereading in English, the same characters (which
I already know and like!) feels much more distant and abstract.
But :)
All the fantasy scenes plays much better in my head in English than in my
language. For some reasons sentences like "blood dripping from sword",
"screams of souls", "massive", "darkness", "spread his wings" etc instantly
trigger the feeling of magnificent and out-of-this-world scale of experiences.
Even though translation is top-notch, for those parts I prefer the English
version.
Very interesting experience.
[0]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malazan_Book_of_the_Fallen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malazan_Book_of_the_Fallen)
~~~
johnchristopher
What about fantasy in your native language ? How does it feel ?
I am of the opinion that translated works are (unintended) betrayals of the
original text. And that a `native` author will produce better wording (sigh,
sorry about that) than a translator.
~~~
SimpleMinds
Do you mean originally written in my language? As coming from post soviet
block, most of our fantasy is a bit different in a sense that from the
beginning it doesn't involve epicness of Tolkien, Malazan, Black Company
scale. From the beginning books focus on different things.
I would like to read some of them in English to see how's the difference in
perception.
------
westoncb
Here's the kind of thing to expect from the article:
"Research with second language users shows a relationship between linguistic
proficiency in such grammatical constructions and the frequency with which
speakers mention the goals of events."
—where 'mentioning goals of events' means using the grammatical constructions
these people are more proficient with. So, people who are more proficient with
X use X more...
But, they're really trying to push their perspective, saying things like:
"The worldview assumed by German speakers is A HOLISTIC ONE – they tend to
look at the event as a whole – whereas English speakers tend to zoom in on the
event and focus only on the action."
The capital letters are mine, referring to their hypertext connecting to this
paper:
[http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/ling.2012.50.issue-4/ling-20...](http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/ling.2012.50.issue-4/ling-2012-0026/ling-2012-0026.xml)
—whose abstract makes it clear how much they're stretching it by saying "the
worldview assumed by German speakers is a holistic one," and then following up
with a section titled "Switch languages, change perspective"
edit: typo
~~~
amirouche
They don't say what do bilinguals for the same exercice.
------
lisper
If you really want to expand your linguistic horizons, study sign language.
Sign language is fundamentally different than spoken or written languages. It
doesn't just substitute gestures for phonemes or written tokens. Its grammar
(and it does have one) is three-dimensional. It also opens you up to the
fascinating world of deaf culture, since teaching sign is one of the most
popular ways for deaf people to earn extra money.
~~~
spiritplumber
One interesting thing as of late is that there are some deaf people who are
against ear implants because, as it solves deafness, it weakens deaf culture.
[http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/17/1256259/-The-
Cochle...](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/17/1256259/-The-Cochlear-
Implant-Controversy)
~~~
jallmann
That article isn't really balanced, and is really one person's (rather
uninformed) opinion.
The cochlear implant debate is a bit more nuanced than that, and it is
centered around children. One argument is that, often, the child may not be
given a choice whether to be implanted. There are long-term considerations:
the CI destroys any residual hearing and the capability for hearing aids to
work so you can't "roll back" after the surgery, you can't do MRIs ever again,
you are supposed to avoid high pressure/high impact activities (scuba diving,
tackle football, etc) -- although many deaf people with CIs that disregard
this advice. It's also a big commitment that requires years of auditory
training to master, especially if you received the implant after the language
development phase of childhood -- maybe 5 or 6 years of age.
It does seem the CI's effectiveness is inversely proportional to age of
implantation, especially if you are going from zero hearing (with hearing
aids) to a CI overnight. The younger you are, your brain has a chance to
develop into the CI as it would with normal ears, and those kids are often
functionally hearing. Which is totally fine with me, by the way.
Source: Deaf, use sign language, have a CI, although I don't wear it anymore.
Me and my friends with CIs are no less a part of deaf culture because of it.
------
OvidNaso
Along these lines, I've often thought about the cognitive paths that could be
explored or changed if I were to learn braille or sign language. Neuroscience
has recently studied and given legitimacy to the state of 'Flow' or 'the
Zone'[0] which has been long been understood in the physical realm, but is
probably the same or similar in states of other creative activities, like
speech or writing. I wonder if it may be easier to induce if one knew American
(or any dialect) sign-language. Could we more readily produce eloquence or
insight with the forced physicality athletes and meditation guru's use? And
how much beautiful poetry and prose are we missing produced by the deaf
community?
0\. Popularized in recent books by the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
and journalist Steven Kotler.
~~~
westoncb
From my understanding, 'flow' is basically when your mind has set on and is
comfortable with some 'procedure' for doing something; at that point, there's
no 'meta process' watching the procedure performed, looking for ways to
correct it—the procedure just runs on its own (and it runs much more
efficiently that way—kinda like representing a procedure in hardware instead
of software). If there's much to that, it probably doesn't matter much whether
the procedure has immediate physical consequences or receives data from the
physical senses.
------
julianpye
I was raised bilingual in German and English, growing up in Germany. For me
both languages are very different and to this day I prefer English when I want
to talk about ideas and areas where I explore while talking and I use German
when I need to be precise. I could never pitch in German and really don't like
talking about my projects in German, since everything needs to be exact and
committed to.
~~~
radicalbyte
English is my first language, I learnt Dutch (I'm fluent) as an adult. I have
the same experience as you: English is extremely context sensitive, it's for
"invention" \- it's a very natural language.
Dutch is more precise; there's less ambiguity. You have to think a little more
before you speak (thanks to the differing subject-object-verb order). I've
become a better engineer since learning it.
We're raising our kids bilingual because the benefits are just so clear; and I
figure that if they get English/Dutch for free then German is very cheap so
they can learn an east-asian language too..
~~~
fnord123
>Dutch is more precise; there's less ambiguity.
Really? I would suggest that Dutch is plenty of ambiguity as you can omit a
lot. e.g. "Ik moet naar de tandarts
[gaan/rijden/fietsen/lopen/bellen/kijken/wijzen/zoeken]" ("I must [?] to the
dentist").
~~~
EdwardDiego
If Dutch is anything like German, gaan means "go" and rijden/fietsen are along
the lines "go by vehicle".
In German at least, you tend to use "go by vehicle" where English would just
use "go". That is the preciseness English doesn't have.
Interesting that the "I must <x> to the Bla" construct exists in Dutch,
English has it, but it's antiquated.
~~~
octatoan
"We must away / We must away / We must away ere break of day / . . ."
------
wpietri
What surprises me about this article is not that worldviews change, but how
quickly these experimenters got it to happen. "When we surprised subjects by
switching the language of the distracting numbers halfway through the
experiment, the subjects’ focus on goals versus process switched right along
with it."
I would have expected it was a much slower process. It makes me wonder if we
could observe similar effects in multilanguage code bases.
------
indralukmana
I will speak with a point of view from Indonesian with Javanese ethnicity.
Most of Indonesian peoples can speak at least 2 languages. Our local or
regional language and national language.
Me myself can use 4 languages: Javanese (native), Indonesian (native), English
(intermediate), Japanese (beginner), Arabic (beginner). For the Javanese
language there some tiers of politeness but the usage in society can be
generalized to polite Javanese (kromo) that we use when speaking to elders and
rough Javanese (ngoko) that we use with our peers.
I have read some articles that speak about language effects on mind or point
of view. But since I was small I learned more than two languages I cannot
really differ them. Something a kin to the expression of "asking a fish what
is water".
Based on my own feelings and experiences there are some nuances that accompany
each language that I have known. I cannot describe them with words yet, but a
language would be appropriate on different settings, medias, and intended
audiences.
There are some language usages that are not appropriate when used in a
different settings but sometimes of course there are some usages that would
also help exploring the meanings
------
Htsthbjig
I see this a lot in China.
The monolingual people in China that only speak different versions of Chinese
have serious difficulty with abstract ideas and concepts because of their
language.
Chinese is so outdated and obsolete in so many ways. It has not evolved, yes
you could understand today a 4.000 year old writing but at what cost?
It is a socking experience, because as a European I take evolution in
languages for granted.
In some ways, Europeans took the Steve Jobs approach of using new tech,
outdating the old, even in language, like Carmack saying f&ck you if you
wanted to play his games with only a CPU, and then forcing you to buy newer
and newer GPUs.
It is hard to read without training things written even 200-400 years ago, but
we have powers that Chinese don't have, like using tones for emotions(we used
tones for the language 4.000 years ago), flexibility, abstractions.
But you can only see those if you speak multiple languages.
~~~
Jimmy
>Chinese is so outdated and obsolete in so many ways.
This is really interesting. Could you expand on this? Do you find it to be
something with the vocabulary, the grammar? What about the writing system?
I've always wondered how the Chinese language writes loan words (Japanese
handles this by having a system of phonetic spelling that's used alongside
traditional Chinese characters).
And before anyone thinks it's absurd that one language could be better at
expressing abstract ideas than others, imagine the limit case: a language with
only one word. Pretty useless, right? Obviously no natural language is that
limited, but that doesn't mean that a range of variation can't exist. It's an
empirical matter whether it does.
~~~
Htsthbjig
"Do you find it to be something with the vocabulary, the grammar? What about
the writing system?"
All the above. In everything. There are no tenses in Mandarin for example. The
writing system is hell. Most Chinese have different levels of analphabetism
because it has so many words.
"I've always wondered how the Chinese language writes loan words"
They have different transcription methods for that. They standardized in
Pinyin:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin)
It is not for loan words, but THEIR OWN ones. They need this in order to know
how something sounds!!. Most of them use memory, but you study pinyin if you
are educated.
In fact, the same Chinese character sounds different in different Chinese
languages, and even in the same language in different parts of the country!.
~~~
nopinsight
Chinese does not use formal tenses but they add words to tell time when it's
useful to. The same can be said about the lack of grammar for social
relationships and politeness levels in English compared to Japanese. Would you
say that it is English's weakness?
Languages are rooted in culture and express by default what the culture
values. One can claim that an aspect of a culture is more amenable to
modernization than another, but to say one language is better than another in
an absolute sense does not seem logical.
~~~
Htsthbjig
"The same can be said about the lack of grammar for social relationships and
politeness levels in English compared to Japanese. Would you say that it is
English's weakness?"
Yes. :-)
My native language is not English. So I don't believe English is perfect by
any means, because I know other languages are better for other things.
For example, English way of writing is terrible for expressing sounds.
Japanese or the korean ways are much better Or Spanish by the way.
Any country has a propaganda system in order to make people believe their
system is the best, and you can't fight against it.
I know there is no way I could convince a Chinese person that the language
they speak is outdated, because it is not rational fact but emotional. There
are no rational facts against nationalistic dogmas people are feed since they
are born.
In fact if it is the only language someone speaks this person is heavily
invested in believing their system is the best.
If you go to North Korea all people there feel pity for the rest of the world,
mostly because they don't know better.
"but to say one language is better than another in an absolute sense does not
seem logical."
I had never said that one language is better than another in absolute sense.
I have said that Chinese is outdated. I have said that it is a better language
for reading ancient works, but it has not evolved like other languages.
This is not something I say, this is something Chinese emperors' counselors
agreed while having knowledge of other cultures, and their own(there were
alphabetic systems inside China Like Mongol's). It was a conscious decision
not to evolve the language, because of different reasons.
It is certainly not politically correct in China just the idea that if you
force children to learn thousands of symbols in order to properly read, or the
order of hundreds of groups in order to properly write, that there are
simpler, more evolved ways.
Just comparing a system that requires high levels memory and five years of
learning with another that requires one for doing the same is not something I
wanted to do.
~~~
Jimmy
>For example, English way of writing is terrible for expressing sounds.
Japanese or the korean ways are much better Or Spanish by the way.
Just wanted to point out that the style of syllabary that Japanese uses
wouldn't be practical for English. Japanese has around 150 possible syllables,
English has almost 16,000 [1].
[1]
[http://semarch.linguistics.fas.nyu.edu/barker/Syllables/inde...](http://semarch.linguistics.fas.nyu.edu/barker/Syllables/index.txt)
------
aorth
On a related note: learning another writing system can also be enlightening.
Last year I learned how to read Cyrillic and it was a valuable experience. Now
I'll see tidbits on Russian-language forums that I can kinda make sense of, or
jokes about people using faux Cyrillic[0] in band names, t-shirts, etc. :P
More practically, it makes you think about coverage of non-Latin characters in
fonts! What does a Cyrillic "ya" (я) look like in your font of choice, for
example? Also, I'm curious how most peoples' browsers display it here on HN!
BTW, Fira Sans[1] and Noto Sans[2] are two open-source fonts with Cyrillic
coverage.
[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faux_Cyrillic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faux_Cyrillic)
[1] [http://www.carrois.com/fira-4-1/](http://www.carrois.com/fira-4-1/) [2]
[https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Noto+Sans](https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Noto+Sans)
------
thisjepisje
“Learn a new language and get a new soul” — Czech proverb.
------
mrcactu5
isn't this the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis? I remember in linguistics class my
professor spent an entire lecture on how it was so controversial. It's a
pretty common-sense idea but neither of the two guys who developed it are
linguists.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity)
[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/supplement2.htm...](http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/supplement2.html)
------
hkarthik
I took one semester of French in college after 4 years of Spanish in high
school.
The most intriguing parts for me were around numbers and counting. For
example, the number 80 is "quatre-vingts", which literally means 4 x 20.
I thought maybe this gave French youth an edge with arithmetic, and this
slight edge might translate to strong mathematics foundations later in life. I
have heard there is a strong emphasis on mathematics in their school
curriculums, so maybe there is some correlation there.
~~~
cletus
English is really consistent here. 4321 is four thousand three hundred and
twenty one. Probably the biggest inconsistency in English are the numbers 11
to 19.
Many European languages are not. Often with numbers between 11 and 99 are a
weird special case. German puts the single digit first. As another poster
mentioned 23 is "dreiundzwanzig" (literally "3 and 20"). French is worse where
97 is "quatre-vingts dix-sept" (literally "4 20s 10 7").
These are just the last remnants of a pre-decimal ("vigesimal" specifically)
counting system.
I don't really see how weird rule exclusions on certain numbers would give
anyone an advantage in math, particularly because even though the word means
"4 20s" when you learn it, it's just a word and it may well just lead to
questions like "why isn't 40 2 20s?" There is a cognitive cost with
exclusions.
I remember reading a study once about how verbs became regular in English.
There was a mathematical relationship between how often the word was used and
how quickly it became regular. The less used, the quicker it happened.
This is why "to be" is irregular (as its the most common verb) whereas most
other verbs (with <100 exclusions) follow a simple pattern.
It's probably the same with numbers. The numbers less than 100 are used far
more often so their irregularity is preserved far longer than the less common
numbers above 100.
~~~
lordnacho
But what is causing the irregularity? Is there any benefit to conjugating "to
be" differently to everything else?
~~~
cynicalkane
It's thought to be a combination of colloquialisms + the Indo-European ablaut
system, wherein vowels would change depending on conjugation.
Consider how many English irregular verbs follow a pattern. Sing, sang, sung.
Ring, rang, rung. These are ablaut conjugations.
------
tiatia
"To speak another language is to possess another soul" Charlemagne
“We inhabit a language rather than a country. “ Emil Cioran
"I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my
horse." Charlemagne
“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” Wittgenstein
~~~
AlbertoGP
_" I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my
horse." Charlemagne_
I had learnt this line as attributed to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (king of
both Spain as Carlos I, and of Germany as Karl V). Charlemagne could hardly
have spoken those languages as they didn't quite yet exist around the year 800
A.D. when he lived, but spoke Rhenish Franconian, Latin, and some Greek [1].
Charlemagne was the first Holy Roman Emperor which could explain the
confusion, but Charles V lived around 1500 A.D, seven centuries later.
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne#Language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne#Language)
I have quoted those words myself for a number of years, but when checking
before commenting I found out that he didn't ever say exactly that, but
according to reports some 40 years after his death:
[https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_V,_Holy_Roman_Emperor#...](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_V,_Holy_Roman_Emperor#Misattributed)
_" When Emperor Charles V used to say, as I hear, that the language of the
Germans was military; that of the Spaniards pertained to love; that of the
Italians was oratorical; that of the French was noble"._
_" Indeed another, who was German, related that the same Charles V sometimes
used to say: if it was necessary to talk with God, that he would talk in
Spanish, which language suggests itself for the graveness and majesty of the
Spaniards; if with friends, in Italian, for the dialect of the Italians was
one of familiarity; if to caress someone, in French, for no language is
tenderer than theirs; if to threaten someone or to speak harshly to them, in
German, for their entire language is threatening, rough and vehement"._
Thanks for triggering me into correcting my misunderstanding. :-)
------
primroot
There is a linguist (Daniel Everett) who thinks language can make you less
prompt to accept a religion
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNajfMZGnuo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNajfMZGnuo)
------
Soarez
Steven Pinker has dispelled this notion in his book The Language Instinct.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Language_Instinct](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Language_Instinct)
~~~
rustynails
That book makes sense, to a degree. Language does not tell us how to think,
but it can constrain what we say. I find that our words reflect what we think,
particularly when it comes to our prejudices.
Common indicators are language that is inclusive or exclusive (we/us/I Cs
them/they), notions of gender (eg. Feminism indicates a prejudice toward one
gender). I have found that when someone has a biased mindset (particularly an
exclusive one) and you point out their mindset through their use of language,
most moderate people start to think differently and as such, their language
changes.
However, I find that emotive people and political correctness break this
pattern. This parallels the "faith" gambit - logic never enters the equation.
------
msutherl
Praying that nobody mentions the Sapir-Whorf s/Hypothesis/(Hoax|Strawman)
~~~
blowski
Well given that you _have_ mentioned it, why don't you want anyone else to
mention it? It's obviously relevant.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A New Framework for Flexible and Reproducible Reinforcement Learning Research - tzury
https://ai.googleblog.com/2018/08/introducing-new-framework-for-flexible.html
======
tzury
Here is the source code
[https://github.com/google/dopamine](https://github.com/google/dopamine)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
European data protection ruling could impact Facebook and Google - fahimulhaq
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/oct/02/landmark-ecj-data-protection-ruling-facebook-google-weltimmo
======
AdmiralACK
Relevant:
"The ECJ ruled* Thursday that if a company operates a service in the native
language of a country, and has representatives in that country, then it can be
held accountable by the country’s national data protection agency despite not
being headquartered in the country."
*[http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsessioni...](http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsessionid=9ea7d2dc30ddaeee4666aaf8474e8ec3817bab8f982e.e34KaxiLc3qMb40Rch0SaxuRb3j0?text=&docid=168944&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=305205)
I think this is great news.
~~~
drivingmenuts
That could work both for and against companies, though.
It's certainly possible to provide a site in the native language of a country
without having a presence in that country, especially if the language in the
target country is similar (ie., US and UK).
Authority might try to block the site, but that is pretty difficult without
building a Great Wall of some sort.
------
patrickaljord
What's the use of having a free and open market in the EU if you'll have to
deal with the same legislation headaches across countries anyway? That and the
fact that many countries want to reform the Schengen open immigration
agreements tells me that protectionism is making a come back inside of the EU.
Very sad. And of course, it's being used to harass foreign companies. Instead
of making the Union more business friendly for tech companies to compete
against SV, they do this, plus the VAT thing hell they voted last year, not to
forget the ridiculous cookies thingy and the "right to be forgotten". The EU
is on a roll.
~~~
duncanawoods
Here is one way to look at it:
The tech\corporate\spy world is moving so fast that we need experimentation at
smaller scales to discover the right types of privacy and information law.
Implementation of "right to be forgotten" on a small scale might have helped
find a better implementation before being rolled out at a broad scale.
Delegating law making to states lets this experimentation and evolution
happen. You can add you own start-up metaphor.
If I look at the US, the federal level seems to be a quagmire and prevent
progress (health, education, guns) compared to the rest of the world. However,
when states set law independently, the rate of change seems much faster (gay
marriage, drug laws). I can't see the US minting a new citizen right at the
expense of corporations at the federal level - this is tragic. However, it
might if states led the way first.
"Business friendly" and "protectionism" read like talking points from a
corporate PR machine. I see the EU pursuing citizen's rights for the modern
world when the US is stagnant / regressing.
------
Animats
From the actual ruling: _" Weltimmo, a company registered in Slovakia, runs a
property dealing website concerning Hungarian properties. For that purpose, it
processes the personal data of the advertisers. The advertisements are free of
charge for one month but thereafter a fee is payable. Many advertisers sent a
request by e-mail for the deletion of both their advertisements and their
personal data as from that period. However, Weltimmo did not delete those data
and charged the interested parties for the price of its services. As the
amounts charged were not paid, Weltimmo forwarded the personal data of the
advertisers concerned to debt collection agencies._" In other words, a typical
slimeball-type refusal-to-cancel scam.
This was an action which fell under the European Privacy Directive, which is
EC-wide but implemented by different laws in different countries. All
countries involved are EC countries.
This sort of thing comes up all the time in the US, where courts have to deal
with companies from another state.
------
mtgx
We can only hope. It wouldn't be a very good or strong law if it _didn 't_
impact Facebook or Google in a significant way, considering all the freedoms
the companies as well as the US government have taken with Europeans' data
lately.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Patroni: A Template for PostgreSQL HA with ZooKeeper, Etcd, or Consul - vishesh92
https://github.com/zalando/patroni
======
ZalandoTech
Zalando open source evangelist here. Some of my colleagues are on this thread,
taking your questions. Meanwhile, wanted to plug a few other Postgres/K8s
projects we're working on:
\-- Spilo: HA PostgreSQL cluster using Docker
([https://github.com/zalando/spilo](https://github.com/zalando/spilo))
\-- kube-ingress-aws-controller: Configures AWS Load Balancers according to
Kubernetes Ingress resources ([https://github.com/zalando-incubator/kube-
ingress-aws-contro...](https://github.com/zalando-incubator/kube-ingress-aws-
controller))
\-- external-dns: a Kubernetes Incubator collaboration. Configure external DNS
servers (AWS Route53, Google CloudDNS and others) for Kubernetes Ingresses and
Services. ([https://github.com/kubernetes-incubator/external-
dns](https://github.com/kubernetes-incubator/external-dns))
We also have several older Postgres-related tools listed here:
[http://zalando.github.io/](http://zalando.github.io/).
Users and contributors very welcome; just drop a line in our projects' Issues
Trackers.
~~~
jchw
Looking forward to external-dns being merged. DNS records are probably the
last thing in our Kubernetes cluster that isn't automated.
I'm still not sold on using ALBs for Ingress resources. ALB is clearly
superior to ELB when using them for the same things, but it seems like ALB
costs will soar when using ALBs as Ingress controllers since they increased
the rule limit and subsequently started charging on them. Still, the
alternative of having four layers for every route seems nearly as undesirable.
I really don't want ALB -> nginx -> kube-proxy -> container.
~~~
hjacobs
This is a bit off topic, but the mentioned Ingress controller
([https://github.com/zalando-incubator/kube-ingress-aws-
contro...](https://github.com/zalando-incubator/kube-ingress-aws-controller))
is not using the ALB rules, it just provisions ALBs with the right SSL
certificate and points to some HTTP proxy doing the actual host/path routing
(e.g. Skipper). See [http://kubernetes-on-aws.readthedocs.io/en/latest/admin-
guid...](http://kubernetes-on-aws.readthedocs.io/en/latest/admin-
guide/kubernetes-in-production.html#ingress)
------
Dowwie
Could any contributers to Patroni opine on what impact Postgresql 10's logical
replication will have? Are you excited about it?
~~~
hintbits
While logical replication is a long-awaited and exciting feature, I'd use it
to replicate only a subset of my database, not as a replacement for HA. At
present, it cannot follow the master in a physical replication after promotion
(basically, you have to initialize your logical replicas from scratch), and it
has a bigger lag then the physical replication, especially for long-running
transactions, as one has to wait until the commit before sending the data.
Nevertheless, I think Patroni can help configuring logical replicas that will
never be part of the HA (if one can tolerate reinitializing logical replicas
after failing over). Pool requests are welcome!
------
eikenberry
I've been burned to many times by 3rd party HA solutions for Postgres. I'm not
touching it again until they either have an official solution or if it is
someone else's problem (eg. RDS).
~~~
hjacobs
We also use RDS in Zalando (and it works great!). With running Patroni on
Kubernetes we get several benefits over RDS which in our opinion warrant the
effort. Some examples include:
* Real superuser access to the cluster
* Installing custom PostgreSQL extensions not available on RDS, PgQ (Queues in PostgreSQL), PgDecode (logical decode to Kafka/Json), PgJobs (minimalistic jobs in PostgreSQL)
* Easier migrations via S3/Streaming replication from and to AWS - RDS currently offers no way out of RDS to another PostgreSQL cluster
* Deployment model allows for more availability/flexibility with less costs - EBS + S3 allow us to run single node PostgreSQL with high uptime
* Multi node PostgreSQL can run on different node types
* OAuth login for PostgreSQL (via PAM)
------
FooBarWidget
I wonder how much things like this are needed going forward. From my
(rudimentary) knowledge about Kubernetes and stateful sets, I think that
Kubernetes is able to solve a lot of the issues surrounding failover, recovery
of the old master, and partitioning; providing that we use Kubernetes in
combination with networked storage that guarantees reliability.
It appears that the way to setup PostgreSQL (or any replicated database) with
Kubernetes is to treat index 0 in the stateful set as the master, and
everything else as slaves. Each pod is to be connected to some networked
storage. If the master goes down, then Kubernetes detects that through the
health check, and simply reschedules the master on another node. The storage
volume that the old master was using, is simply reattached to this other node.
The master going down does not imply storage failure. Storage reliability then
becomes a separate problem which is solved in another system (e.g. the RAID
system or whatever).
In this kind of setup, there is no failover support in the database itself.
From the point of view of the database itself, it looks as if the underlying
hardware/OS "automatically" recovered from failure. This way we don't have to
mess with promoting slaves and stuff.
Kubernetes already assigns static IPs to services, so pgpool and similar tools
-- in so far they are only used to provide a stable network address for
PostgreSQL -- become redundant. Network partitioning is "solved" by treating
the Kubernetes state as the single authoritative description of the network
state.
What do people think about this? Obviously this setup won't work if you don't
have networked storage that can be reattached to another node, but I'm
thinking that maybe reattachable networked storage _should_ be the future.
~~~
tokenizerrr
> providing that we use Kubernetes in combination with networked storage that
> guarantees reliability
What kind of networked storage do people like with kubernetes? I've recently
set up a small cluster not in any cloud, and persistent cross-node storage is
a concern. There's quite a few options such as glusterfs, but I'd be curious
to know if anyone here knows about the tradeoffs.
~~~
takeda
If you're in AWS then EFS is what is designed to do that, it is not cheap, but
setting up a reliable solution is not easy either.
If your goal is file based storage (not block based), application can make api
calls to get data and is mostly read, then S3 might also be an option.
Alternatively, roll-your-own on EC2 instances, which might not be as easy.
------
cies
This is very interesting. I thought it was best to keep yr db out of the k8s
cluster. But this seems to make Postgres "cloud native".
The main reason for keeping dbs out of k8s was that the storage (persistence)
solutions in k8s were not up to the task yet. Now I wonder how is Patroni
doing persistence? I cannot find anything on it in the Patroni docs. Maybe
Patroni is so "self healing" that a proper storage solution is not an issue --
dunno, just guessing here.
~~~
vishesh92
I am not really sure Patroni has anything to do with the persistence of data.
It just uses etcd, zookeper or consul to elect a master in case of a failover
and uses their key value store to save the information about the current
master. Its upto you whether you keep your database on a container or not. And
how the data is managed by the container. This talk by Josh Berkus explains
how Patroni works pretty well.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH9WSEiMsAw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH9WSEiMsAw)
~~~
jan_berlin
The great thing today is there are lots of options with Patroni, it is very
much up to you and your requirements what kind of storage you select and how
you want to recover from node and storage failure.
Patroni with Spilo e.g. relies on EBS or local discs and can also ship WAL to
S3. On Google it uses their equivalent solutions.
On Kubernetes earlier posts are correct that you may rely on Kubernetes
bringing your pod back with the same underlying volume thus providing some
kind of availability, but for others this is not good enough, e.g. remember
EBS is single AZ only. Patroni can help here, running and orchestrating either
slaves or giving you automated recovery from S3.
------
616c
An interview with the development team. I thought the project namw sounded
familiar!
[https://talkpython.fm/episodes/show/72/fashion-driven-
open-s...](https://talkpython.fm/episodes/show/72/fashion-driven-open-source-
software-at-zalando)
------
geoka9
What's zalando/patroni's approach to performance scaling/load balancing? For
example, pgpool2 can distribute SELECTs among multiple slaves which makes it
useful for heavy analytics loads. Can you guys do that, or you only handle HA?
~~~
CyberDem0n
Patroni has REST API providing a health-checks for load-balancers.
patroni:8008/replica will respond with http status code 200 only if node is
running as replica.
In the HAProxy config file you just need to list all Patroni nodes, specify a
health-check and it will do a load-balancing for you.
The same approach works for example with AWS ELB.
~~~
geoka9
But writes need to be directed to the master, right? Or Patroni is smart
enough to do it by itself?
~~~
CyberDem0n
Correct. Writes need to be directed to master. May be not only writes but some
reads as well. Only application can know which statement can be executed on
replicas and which must be executed on master.
------
hjacobs
Here is a more recent talk about Patroni and Kubernetes (KubeCon Berlin 2017):
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CftcVhFMGSY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CftcVhFMGSY)
------
eicnix
How does this compare to other HA postgres products like stolon or Postgres-
XL?
~~~
vishesh92
As per my understanding, Postgres-XL is not comparable to Patroni. Postgres-XL
is comparable to PostgreSQL. Postgres-XL shards the data across multiple data
nodes. Where as Patroni uses etcd, consul or zookeeper to provide HA for any
Postgres cluster using replication (Data is written only to a single instance
and replicated further).
I think you meant Stolon. Stolon is quite comparable to Patroni and has more
features than Patroni, but I am not sure how many people are using it. I found
more resources for Patroni as compared to stolon.
~~~
CyberDem0n
> Stolon is quite comparable to Patroni and has more features than Patron.
Let me as a question, what feature Stolon has and Patroni doesn't? Can you
give an example?
From my side I can provide list of features available in Patroni, but not in
Stolon. For example:
* there is no way to do a controlled failover (switchover) in Stolon.
* in Patroni it's possible to exclude some nodes from a leader race.
* Patroni supports cascading replication
* Patroni can take basebackup from replicas if they are marked with a special tag
* it's even possible to configure Patroni to use a custom backup/recovery solution instead of pg_basebackup
* Patroni can give you a hint that postgres must be restarted to apply some configuration changes
* with Patroni it's even possible to schedule switchover or restart restart of postges on some specific time (for example 04:00 am, when traffic is minimal)
* with Patroni you can control High-Availability / Durability ratio. I.e.: what to do if master postgres has crashed? Either you will try to start it back or failover to a replica. But start of a crashed postgres may take a long time. With Patroni you can configure that if postgres didn't started in some amount of seconds - please do failover.
Stolon provides cloud-native deployment and Patroni doesn't? This is not
really true. The main idea of Patroni is to be not dependent on some specific
technologies. It can work as on bare-metal with the same success as on
Kubernetes. It's very easy to build a custom solution with Patroni for your
use-case. For example there is a Spilo project:
[https://github.com/zalando/spilo](https://github.com/zalando/spilo), a docker
image build with Patroni and wal-e for a cloud deployments.
~~~
vishesh92
Thanks for this. As I mentioned in previous comment, I couldn't find much
about Stolon. One of things I likee in stolon is the proxy, _it enforce
connections to the right PostgreSQL master and forcibly closes connections to
unelected masters_. Which is not present in Patroni, but I guess it should be
doable using consul's service discovery and dynamic DNS. (I am not sure if
this can be done using etcd and zookeper).
~~~
CyberDem0n
Doesn't HAProxy provide such functionality? Patroni has REST API which can be
used by HAProxy for a health-check.
patroni:8008/master will return http status code 200 only if the node running
as elected master
patroni:8008/replica will return http status code 200 if node running as
replica.
And final missing bit is a automation of generation of haproxy.cfg - it could
be done with confd:
[https://github.com/kelseyhightower/confd](https://github.com/kelseyhightower/confd)
And here is an example of template file:
[https://github.com/zalando/patroni/blob/master/extras/confd/...](https://github.com/zalando/patroni/blob/master/extras/confd/templates/haproxy.tmpl)
~~~
vishesh92
I am not sure, will HAProxy forcibly close connections to old master in case
of a failover?
~~~
CyberDem0n
on-marked-down shutdown-sessions
should do the trick
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Dutch MPs vote for 'yes unless' organ donor register - janvdberg
http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2016/09/dutch-mps-vote-for-yes-unless-organ-donation-register/
======
r_smart
On the one hand, I'm an organ donor and think it's a good idea. Once I'm dead,
you can have what's left over.
On the other, a person's body is the one thing you can't take from them
(without this being a Cronenberg movie). I know they can still opt out, but
having the default be to take somebody's body when they die seems wrong to me.
Why not have an awareness campaign, or offer some kind of small tax incentive
to organ donors?
~~~
clydethefrog
The government tried raising awareness for years, it did not work. Other EU
countries that have a yes unless donor standard have significant more donors.
We need more donors, the people on the waiting list is too long. It will take
a few minutes to opt-out if you feel it's wrong.
That saying, it still need to be passed in the first chamber, which will check
if this infringes our law.
~~~
dudul
> The government tried raising awareness for years, it did not work.
Or it did, but people just decided that they didn't want to be donors.
~~~
Oletros
But people wants to have a transplant when they are ill, you can't have them
without donation
~~~
dudul
Well, then people want transplants, but people also don't want to be donors.
Maybe that's just how it is.
In a way, making it "opt-in" by default is kind of similar to these anti-
patterns we see online. Where the "close" button is very tiny in the corner,
or the option to hide content is buried under 3 layers of settings.
Until we make organ donation mandatory and no longer optional there is only so
much we can do. We need to accept to play the game and recognize the right to
people to not be organ donors, whatever reasons they may have.
------
kahrkunne
If it becomes law, I guess me and a lot of people I know will have to register
_not_ to get our organs removed after death... What a bother.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Pulley Logic Gates (2014) [video] - gballan
https://vimeo.com/93042377
======
dang
Discussed at the time:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7824588](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7824588).
------
ianbertolacci
But can you play Doom on it?
~~~
pavel_lishin
Yes, but the framerate is horrendous.
------
gene-h
Of course this technology is old, the Aprahulians used similiar techniques to
build quite large digital computers around 850 CE[0].*
Of course on problem with such pulley logic is the difficulty of building
signal amplifiers. Without signal amplification one must pull the inputs quite
hard such that all tension is provided to all stages. The Aprahulians were
believed to use elephants for this task.
[0][http://robert.surton.net/cs271/apraphulian.pdf](http://robert.surton.net/cs271/apraphulian.pdf)
*it is important that readers take careful note of when this article was
published
~~~
amitprayal
Calling in your bluff, no such people "Aprahulians"
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Laundromatch – Community-based laundry services - hmaidasani
https://www.laundromatchapp.com/
======
mydpy
Is it just me, or is this kinda gross? I totally understand if it's just me.
~~~
jbob2000
Ripe for abuse, but not gross in principle.
This trend of "crowd-source everything" is getting a bit silly though. It
really just makes more sense to operate a laundry service with pickup/dropoff.
If there's no demand for that service, then there is no demand for this one.
~~~
mydpy
I agree and disagree. Like the comment below, I could see this being really
useful in some metro areas. I think what these crowd-source apps are missing
are dynamic pricing based on purchasing power. $10 for a load of laundry in
San Jose? Yeah, that sounds great. In Austin TX that's pretty high.
~~~
jgianakopoulos
True, but I'm from Austin Texas and just moved to San Francisco, so I have
some insight into this. I'm not sure if there's as big of a demand for laundry
pickup services outside of dense urban areas like New York and San Francisco
(where many residents do not have in-home washers and dryers). In Austin, most
people have laundry machines, so it might not make sense there.
For crowd-sourced apps more generally I think you have a valid point with
respect to cost of living adjustments.
------
plingamp
Hi HN, I'm one of the co-founders of Laundromatch, I would be happy to answer
any questions!
~~~
avalaunch
Is pickup/delivery $10 per load or $10 per pickup/delivery?
What happens if the host ruins my clothes (because, for example, they didn't
follow the included instructions)?
~~~
plingamp
The pricing is $10 per load to do wash/dry/fold and extra $10 if you want
pickup/delivery. For example, 2 loads with pickup would be $20 (for laundry) +
$10 (for delivery), total of $30.
------
hashmymustache
$10 for a load of laundry seems really expensive to me. What am I missing?
~~~
colinbartlett
Really depends on the size of a "load". At least a dollar per pound is
standard. If their "load" is more than 10 pounds of clothes, then it's easily
within range.
~~~
jgianakopoulos
The average front-loaded laundry machine can hold ~18 lbs. Washio and wash and
folds cost around $1.60 a pound, so this is close to $20 cheaper. Still $10
cheaper if you get delivery.
------
karangoeluw
My closest laundromat does 10lb of laundry for $12.5 with separate washes for
colors, white and whatnot, AND fold.
This seems absurdly expensive.
~~~
mikeyouse
Out of curiosity, how much is 10lb of laundry? I don't think I have any idea
how much my clothes weigh.
~~~
jgianakopoulos
Found this on housekeeping.com:
Front loading washing machines can hold as much as 18 lbs of clothing. So how
many items are in a lb. of clothing? To find out how much your loads weigh,
you can weigh yourself holding a load of dirty clothing, and subtract it from
your weight without the dirty load. While weight varies with type of material,
these are some general guidelines. Twin Sized Quilt-3-5 lbs. Complete Child
Outfit-1-3 lbs. Complete Adult Outfit-3-5 lbs.
------
zufallsheld
Are these prices for real? I'm paying 3.50€ for a load in the laundromat next
door.
~~~
mawburn
Most self-serve laundromats in the US charge $3-7 per washer and dryers cost
$0.25-0.50 per 10 minutes.
------
skyriser
The name sounds a lot like our old mobile game "LaundroMatch" (with an updated
release coming soon).
[http://laundromatch.com/](http://laundromatch.com/)
------
xasos
> Why pay ~$27/load at local wash and folds?
Does one load of laundry in NYC really cost this much? Where I live, it's ~$7.
~~~
jgianakopoulos
You have $7 wash and fold places in New York? Or are you talking about
laundromats? Because the ones in San Francisco run you about $25-30 a load.
~~~
avalaunch
He said it's $7 where he lives; he didn't say he lives in New York.
------
jamminjokesterj
amazing idea! i love it
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: RSS Reader that doesn't suck? - guynamedloren
So apparently I'm a bit late with the whole RSS thing. I've always had a general idea of what they were, but I've never really looked into them before. I thought RSS was only delivered through e-mail =) I had no idea RSS readers existed up until a few minutes ago, when I was setting up RSS for my blog and discovered Google Reader through Feedburner. Conceptually, they are awesome. Visually, they are the ugliest things I have ever seen. Google Reader is messy and cluttered... and apparently it's the best one there is.<p>They make a lot of sense and I could see myself using one instead of manually checking my favorite blogs. I googled around for a few minutes and couldn't find anything decent. I figured the iPad would probably have something nice, and I was right. Every single one of the RSS readers for iPad look awesome - especially Reeder. Too bad I don't have an iPad. Are there any web-based RSS reader apps like the iPad apps? If not, I might just have to hack something together this weekend. This could drive me crazy.
======
dillon
It depends on what kind of a computer user you are. If you are a pure online
person then Google Reader is perfect, if you never want to be bothered by new
RSS feeds, and just want to check them whenever then there is NetNewsWire,
which will sync with Google Reader, so that if you have multiple computers you
won't have to redo your RSS Feeds every time. If you like notifications for
whenever new feeds come in, then Sociolite is a good app. If you like
everything built in, just in one place. Outlook and Mail.app both have the
ability to add RSS Feeds.
------
ashraful
If you're using Windows, the closest thing you'll find is Feedly which is a
Firefox addon.
<http://www.feedly.com/>
Incidentally I am creating a RSS Reader (actually much more than that) which
is very similar to Flipboard in terms of the interface. But unfortunately, I
probably won't have it ready for at least a few more months. Email me if
you're interested in knowing a bit more, or helping out (I could use some help
with the coding)
------
jay_kyburz
I find it's not so much the reader itself thats the problem with RSS, but the
fact that everybody broadcasts their content differently. Some blogs include a
full article, some just a few lines before asking you to click though to their
site. Some embed images, some even ads.
If you have dreams of sitting down to a nice application and reading people's
feeds in an orderly, unified fashion you might be disappointed.
~~~
guynamedloren
I wouldn't consider myself a design snob by any means, but I will not be using
Google Reader because it's just unpleasant to look at and navigate. If I had
the choice between visiting blogs manually and reading their feeds via Google
Reader, I would visit them manually. Now if you throw iPad Reeder into the
mix, I would definitely choose iPad Reeder - it seems pleasant, and that's
what I want when I'm reading/browsing. I think I can handle those little
imperfections you mentioned. Worse case scenario, I click through to the site.
> _If you have dreams of sitting down to a nice application and reading
> people's feeds in an orderly, unified fashion you might be disappointed._
And I don't think it's as much as a dream as it is a preference. Have you seen
the iPad RSS readers? I don't think I'm asking too much, this isn't rocket
science.
------
jorisw
I personally don't use any of the traditional RSS readers that allow you to
browse feeds one by one and look at their headlines. I personally want to see
everything in a single overview, on a large canvas.
Therefore, I use the iGoogle homepage. It allows you to add a bunch of feeds
and show each feed's latest 3 to 10 headlines, all together on a single page,
separated in 3 by N blocks.
I'm using the A1 iGoogle theme for its simplicity, and the User CSS Safari
extension to remove any further distraction.
------
zoowar
Sage for Firefox is nice <https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/sage/>
~~~
pasbesoin
If I may ask without myself attempting to accumulate the history, have you
kept up to date on the whole Sage not being maintained, Sage / XSS
vulnerability, Sage-Too fork, Sage-Too being abandoned due to feelings in
general about freeloaders (or was that Sage?), someone's custom patch........
thing? I checked out of it all year or two ago when I rebuilt the system it
was installed on.
If Sage addressed the XSS concern(s) and is being maintained, I'm tempted to
reinstall it.
~~~
zoowar
Maintained: Yes <http://sagerss.com/>
XSS: Fixed <https://www.mozdev.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=19185>
Firefox-4: Yes
~~~
pasbesoin
Wow. May/June, 2008. Has it been that long since the topic was current? But,
Hasegawa's name definitely looks familiar.
Thanks. I'll give the current version a go. I enjoyed Sage's nice, simple
interface. Works well in combination with Scrapbook, too.
~~~
pasbesoin
Tried it. Unfortunately, it slowed things down to the point of being usuable.
In particular, it seemed to cause endless thrashing as (All In One) Sidebar
tried to display favicons in the Bookmark Manager and Scrapbook.
------
badwetter
There are some user-scripts/extensions for Chrome/Firefox that beautify
Google-Reader. I find they help make it suck less. YMMV
~~~
guynamedloren
Thanks for the tip. I just found Feedly.com (with associated chrome extension)
and it's the closest thing I've found to perfect. It's a bit bland, though. I
think there could be something better out there.
------
clofresh
Reeder is also available for Mac:
<http://madeatgloria.com/brewery/silvio/reeder>
It's public beta, but it works pretty well so far.
------
meemo
Netnewswire <http://netnewswireapp.com/> for mac or Feeddemon
<http://www.feeddemon.com/> for windows
~~~
Shooter
I can second the nomination for NetNewsWire if you're on a Mac. It is one of
my favorite apps. NNW syncs with Google Reader (which I also despise) if
you're away from your own computer and need to look up something in your
feeds. I haven't used FeedDemon, but am told it is similar to NetNewsWire in
quality. [Protip: I use a script with NetNewsWire to automatically back up my
flagged (saved) feeds into DevonThink ([http://www.devon-
technologies.com/products/devonthink/index....](http://www.devon-
technologies.com/products/devonthink/index.html)), and it has saved me a great
deal of time on research. The DevonThink AI helps me find connections I might
otherwise miss. I have a ridiculous number of feeds I follow, though.]
------
ntulip
I would have to add <http://www.netvibes.com> \- i've been using it for years
now and it's plain awesome.
------
tim_iles
I love NewsRob app on my android, it syncs with my Google Reader for offline
use.
------
adamtmca
Reeder for mac is still in Beta but it's pretty good.
------
HackrNwsDesignr
im telling you, forget all the other posts, and try www.feews.com -- you will
thank me.
~~~
guynamedloren
Hmmm, well it is simple, clean, and much more intuitive than Google Reader,
but still not exactly what I had in mind. My search continues.
~~~
HackrNwsDesignr
guy what are you looking for? they just launched, so there will be more
features every week/month but they are focused on maintaining the simple clean
intuitive design.
one thing i requested was to group stories from multiple feeds together
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Cinema 3D Perspective Seat Preview Experiment - sp3n
http://tympanus.net/Development/SeatPreview/
======
sp3n
"Maybe you are familiar with those ticket booking systems where, at some point
during the purchase flow, you have to choose a seat. This is usually done when
selling tickets for games, movies, flights or concerts. Wouldn’t it be cool to
have some kind of “realistic” preview of the seat, i.e. see the stage or
screen from the perspective of the space you chose? Of course it would :) This
is the kind of question that resulted into a new experiment which we’d like to
share with you today."
Writeup: [http://tympanus.net/codrops/2016/01/12/cinema-seat-
preview-e...](http://tympanus.net/codrops/2016/01/12/cinema-seat-preview-
experiment/)
Source:
[https://github.com/codrops/SeatPreview](https://github.com/codrops/SeatPreview)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Scientists Reconstruct "Movies" from Brain Activity - aasarava
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822%2811%2900937-7
======
aasarava
A reporter's account, for a lay-person's description:
[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/22/brain-scan-movie-
sc...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/22/brain-scan-movie-
scenes_n_976580.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Worst Amazon Horror Story I Have Ever Heard - pzxc
http://www.startupnation.com/start-your-business/plan-your-business/amazon-fba-program/
======
mcknz
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:voRF_fx...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:voRF_fxJYJIJ:www.fbamastery.com/the-
worst-amazon-horror-story-i-have-ever-heard/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us)
------
mileswu
Previous HN discussion (~10 months ago):
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6751710](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6751710)
------
iancarroll
Should be changed to [http://www.startupnation.com/start-your-business/plan-
your-b...](http://www.startupnation.com/start-your-business/plan-your-
business/amazon-fba-program/)
~~~
coolnow
And have a giant ad thrown at your face first thing? No thanks, webcache is
fine.
~~~
iancarroll
This is blogspam, unrelated to the site being down.
------
andymcsherry
The fixed position form on the left hand side lays over the content unless
your browser is really wide. Basically makes the content unreadable on mobile.
------
largote
I think the server melted.
------
JustinBlaird
unreadable
------
dang
Url changed from [http://www.fbamastery.com/the-worst-amazon-horror-story-i-
ha...](http://www.fbamastery.com/the-worst-amazon-horror-story-i-have-ever-
heard/), which copied this one. Post buried as duplicate. Thanks iancarroll
and mileswu.
------
ars
This is utterly bogus.
According to the article he really did sell a counterfeit item.
Presumably accidentally, and perhaps the punishment does not fit the crime,
but he can't claim complete innocence here.
And this demonstrates that he doesn't understand how amazon works:
> When we sent out all of our items to the FBA program, they all went to 2
> different Amazon warehouses. Now that I’m receiving them back, guess what?
> So far, the new sealed product has arrived back from 9 different warehouses.
> Yep, they’re sending back someone else’s new sealed items to me.
NO! Amazon has a program where they internally distribute items to warehouses
all over the US to increase shipping speed. It does not mean they are shipping
someone else's items back to you.
~~~
saganus
What about the part where he doesn't even sell new, sealed items and the
offending product that caused such huge punishment, was precisely the type of
items he doesn't even sell?
~~~
ars
Read it again. He didn't say that.
Look I know I'm getting downmodded, but I've read these types of things before
and people _always_ spin things to their benefit, but it's usually possible to
see thought it. And here it's easier than usual.
Amazon clearly said: "No commingling." His response? Amazon must be in cahoots
with the studio. No, there is a much simpler explanation: He messed up and
sold a counterfeit item.
It was clearly a mistake and he should have apologized for the error and
pledged to check even better instead of claiming no error.
------
dedward
Color me naieve here.....
Some signed some kind of agreement with amazon, has tens of thousands of items
in their warehouses, and is running a business where amazon is basically
responsible for everything.
Amazon decides to drop them.
The reasoning sounds unfair, but this business is unable or unwilling to pay
for lawyers, and didn't consider what would happen in the event the
relationship ended and there was still stock in the warehouse?
That sounds like a failure on the part of the seller to me.
~~~
Natsu
Well, there's also the part where comingling may have made them out to be the
seller of someone else's counterfeit product.
But yeah, you can't run a real business if you can't pay for things like
lawyers.
~~~
ars
According to the article there was no commingling - he just suspected there
was, but there wasn't.
~~~
Natsu
Amazon claimed that, yes, but it was also called into question.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Planning for My Kidnapping - polote
https://blog.luap.info/planning-for-my-kidnapping.html
======
sandworm101
>>For my credentials, I use keepassXC with a keyfile + a master password, the
keyfile and the password db is synced using syncthingd with a server that I
rent. My legal documents are all tied in one folder on my laptop which is also
synced on the same server. So basically we have all the needed documents which
are synced in real time on the same server.
Sooo many eggs in one basket. Unless you are the son of an oil or shipping
magnate, I suggest that your risk of being kidnapped pales in comparison to
your risk of being hacked.
>> Currently after 24h without changing activity a first notification is sent
to my own email so that if this is a mistake I can stop the system before it
is too late. And if 6 hours later I've still haven't changed of activity then
a mail is sent to my parents.
30 hours? I take it that the author has not done much international traveling,
or traveling generally. And they haven't worked a job involving long hours, or
a back-to-back shift after someone calls in sick. For any adult, 30 hours
without connectivity is not enough to trigger a kidnapping alarm.
~~~
ghaff
>For any adult, 30 hours without connectivity is not enough to trigger a
kidnapping alarm.
I guess the question is what the OP considers the cost of a false alarm to be.
Because you're right of course. Lots of things can happen that put you out of
communication for an extended period. Communications is more and more
ubiquitous but phones and laptops break. The US still has rather large areas
with no cell phone coverage. And so forth. In the past 10 years, I'm sure
there have been _multiple_ times when I've gone more than 30 hours with
cellular service or WiFi.
I think it's mostly an age-related thing but a lot of people just can't
imagine not being in touch almost constantly. There was a discussion just the
other day where someone was worried about being tracked at protests. But "Just
leave your phone at home?" basically did not compute.
In general, for a rare event, it can be a difficult problem to activate on the
absence of a signal fast enough and reliably enough to be useful, without
having false positives.
~~~
dividedbyzero
> "Just leave your phone at home?" basically did not compute.
I wouldn't leave my phone at home either; a smartphone is the single most
useful thing to have on your person when facing unexpected problems of almost
any kind. And no idea about those particular protests, but protesters over
here have started heavily coordinating and sharing information via phones, so
you might have an actual information deficit without one.
That said, switching off cellular (or the device itself), disabling biometric
auth, that might be a good idea.
~~~
ghaff
If I were seriously worried about tracking but felt I needed a phone on me,
I'd have a burner phone which I kept turned off until/unless I needed it.
~~~
torgian
This. Turn off your cell, wrap it in foil, leave it at home and take the
burner.
------
toast0
If you expect to be kidnapped, quick response would be helpful. But if you're
planning for unexpected death, there's no real need to get that out in less
than 48 hours; it can easily be 15 days of inactivity followed by 15 days of
failing to respond to probes.
Where I live (less than an hour from Seattle), I have had power outages longer
than the proposed death countdown, my DSL goes down immedidately without
utility power, and the cell towers only stay online for 4-6 hours. If it
starts while I'm awake, I'll let people know, but if it starts at midnight, I
might be out of communication until it's over.
------
bonoboTP
Or just keep that stuff on an external hard drive or USB drive in your
apartment, (perhaps with paper printouts if you're not worried about burglars
reading them). You can even encrypt this and give your parents a printout of
the master password. If they notice you are gone, they can presumably enter
your flat and find your stuff if it's neatly organized.
All this software setup with various servers etc is way too fragile and hard
to maintain and the lack of regular real life testing means it will probably
not work the way you imagined in an actual emergency for any sort of edge case
or other reason you haven't considered or you get false alarms and scare your
parents with no reason etc.
~~~
ghaff
Storing stuff online with a strong but memorable password makes a fine backup.
But, for most people at least those with houses, protected (e.g. firebox)
storage in their homes is probably the best primary. (And even if a bunch of
stuff were on a USB I'd also have printouts.)
~~~
boring_twenties
I have my doubts that any human-memorizable password can be strong enough to
withstand a concerted offline attack. If what you're encrypting has to stay
secret for 10, 20, 30 years (probably not the case for a password database),
then it's a complete non-starter.
~~~
wiml
It's fairly easy to memorize a password with >64 bits of true entropy using
techniques like diceware; if you use it regularly and/or have a good memory,
128 bits is completely feasible.
------
fuber2018
If you are missing, then authorities usually like to have a recent photo of
you to aid in the search.
I don't see an explicit reference to "recent image of me" in your "First step"
list of data - photos in legal docs/credentials may not accurately represent
your current physical appearance.
~~~
polote
Hey, this is a very good remark, I'll try to do something about it, thanks
------
ZackJ37
This is great! As a shameless plug, check out Fidelius Vaults
([https://www.fideliusvaults.com](https://www.fideliusvaults.com)): you can
create an 'If I Go Missing' Folder, which can be accessed by people you trust
in emergencies.
The idea is that you choose people who act as proxies in an emergency event;
if something happens, a configured number of them have to approve access to
your vault of documents/information before it can be viewed
~~~
boarnoah
Interesting company, do you happen to know of any others in that area as well
(for comparisons sake).
I've been thinking it would be neat to have something like a very long term
will execution/time capsule, for example to release biographies or other such
information a long time in the future (say the 100+ year range).
Something like that would require a lot of things to go right, one of which is
the a good expectation that the company would be around by then, for example
the old banks such as Lloyds (I doubt they offer this kind of service to
individuals if at all however).
Curious to know if you had any thoughts for how a service similar to that
would work (or if they exist already), if its even feasible.
~~~
ZackJ37
While there are other document storage services, I'm not aware of any that
make commitments for storing data 100+ years. For Fidelius I'm offering a 10
year notice / storage if the service ever sunsets, and I've seen similar from
other companies.
The obvious concerns here are the storage media used, the DR plans for the
service, and more importantly, trusting that the company will do right by you
after you're gone – even if it goes under new management or bankrupts. While I
always struggle to find applications for blockchain, perhaps this is a
scenario where it could be useful... perhaps you could upload the encrypted
data to the chain, and form a contract where the key to decrypt it is released
after X years?
------
Sodman
I would absolutely not trust _my life_ in an emergency situation based on my
parents seeing an e-mail within 6 hours of receiving it, let alone filling out
a rate-limited survey correctly and then figuring out how to SSH into a remote
server and download some documents.
~~~
ravenstine
Yeah, that seems nuts. I'm a guy in my 30s and I regularly go longer than that
without checking my email. In fact everybody does, when they sleep! If the
email is sent even a few hours into your parents sleeping, the whole exercise
will be entirely pointless even when everyone does the right thing.
------
JD557
>The link is random generated link available only 6 hours, this is important
to be safe as you don't want anyone to be able to access all your passwords
...
This seems like too short of a duration. What happens if the email is sent
between 23:00-01:00 (your parents timezone? They are probably asleep and the
email will expire at 5-7AM. Will they see the email in time?
------
noja
If the kidnapper rubber hoses you* then keeps your activities active and
gradually corrupts your syncthing backup, you have a problem. Time for version
2!
* [https://xkcd.com/538/](https://xkcd.com/538/) (or a health emergency quarantines you without a data connection)
------
war1025
So hijacking this a bit:
What do people have set up in case of more an "unexpected death" situation?
I have basically all information someone would need to access any of my
accounts in a password repository, but I don't have the key or password shared
with anyone.
Obviously that would be an issue if I was incapacitated.
What is the recommended way to handle these things?
~~~
AnIdiotOnTheNet
Out of curiosity, what kinds of accounts do you have that are so important
that they are worth preserving in the event of your death? I can only think of
financial stuff and those already have beneficiaries and whatnot specified
when I set them up.
~~~
war1025
> I can only think of financial stuff and those already have beneficiaries and
> whatnot specified when I set them up.
My financial accounts are probably the main things. I don't know that I have
any beneficiary stuff set up on them.
I was maybe overly specific in my asking.
Basically the thing I am wondering is:
What do I need to have in place to make sure my wife / kids have access to my
assets, etc. in the event that I die unexpectedly?
~~~
ghaff
At a minimum, all your important information--including how to access any
important online accounts--should probably be stored in a somewhat concealed
fireproof box. This would also protect in the event of most fires and other
natural disasters.
------
bohz
If the server is kept at home - with the laptop and the phone... a fire
(lethal or not) would be a huge problem.
EDIT: I saw now that it is "rented" so it is remote I guess.
------
kanobo
I was afraid to click based on the title, but glad I did. Those were
surprisingly useful tips, I can imagine someone making this a saas service...
~~~
oefrha
haveibeenkilled.com. Domain still available.
~~~
kanobo
Would be a great tool for those pesky ghosts who aren't aware that they are
dead.
------
A4ET8a8uTh0
It is an interesting plan.
I will admit that I am way more interested as to why someone is planning that
( I had a boss who had a reputation for being a major pain in the ass and once
gave me a speech how she is prepared for being kidnapped and few other
uncommon eventualities ).
Then again, I may be looking at it this through US lens. It may be a more
common issue in other places ( like Africa maybe )?
~~~
Jommi
I was going to say a simialr thing, but I would definitely not discount US
from the discussions.
If I was veryvery rich and working in an industry that is suspicous at all,
and I was located in USA or a South American or African country, I dont think
preparing for kidnapping would be so out of the question.
------
elwell
1\. Encrypt secrets
2\. Don't save encryption key
3\. Buy life insurance, a few million dollars
4\. ...
5\. Beneficiary uses insurance payout to spin up some u-24tb1.metal AWS
instances
6\. Crack encryption key
7\. Profit
~~~
gruez
Only the problem is the the opportunity cost of the life insurance. What
information can you possibly keep that's worth more than a few million
dollars? For most people it's probably better to keep the insurance payout
than it is to spend it on aws cracking.
~~~
nordsieck
> Only the problem is the the opportunity cost of the life insurance. What
> information can you possibly keep that's worth more than a few million
> dollars? For most people it's probably better to keep the insurance payout
> than it is to spend it on aws cracking.
Also, you have to keep the encrypted treasure a secret, or someone else with
money could snatch it out from under the heirs.
------
nomdep
The simplest time-honored solution to this is to get married and store those
documents in your house
~~~
whoisjuan
What if you both die at the same time?
------
BrandoElFollito
I live in France where you need zillions of documents to go pee. You can
imagine what happens when you want to take over a bank account...
There is very low risk for someone having access to my bank account to
actually do something with it.
So am my important information is on google docs, shared with the people I
trust.
By far (very much far) I want to be sure that the information is available
without the need for physical access and up to date.
------
cafard
Or, you could just drop dead.
A DBA I had worked with years ago disappeared from work. Nobody on the
contract knew where he was. After a week or so, his parents, who lived maybe
100 miles away, called the contract manager. He discovered that the man was in
the county morgue as John Doe, having been found dead on the sidewalk outside
his apartment, without ID on him.
I assume most HN readers are
\- younger than the DBA, who was probably in his mid-fifties \- in better
condition, for he was obese \- in a wider social circle, for he was pretty
anti-social
Still, it isn't bad to have people who will know that you have disappeared.
------
abalaji
I wonder if the time bound can be reduced on something like this with things
we do every day. Open Gmail/Twitter on our phone, move outside of a geo fence.
For people who are actually concerned about this but can not afford a body
guard, there might be an interesting service that couples with travel
insurance that handles this.
------
whoisjuan
Why this doesn't exist a service? I would pay for this. I guess the complexity
is giving a third party all the credentials your digital life + sensitive
documents, but I would definitely pay for something that allows my family to
be notified and handle all my matters in case I'm gone.
~~~
SaintGhurka
It seems like it should be possible to allow a second password for something
like an email account. The first password works always, but the second one
only works if last login was more than n days ago. So you could give the
second password to your partner or family and know they can't use it unless
you're incapacitated.
~~~
whoisjuan
If 1Password had this feature that would be amazing.
------
jeffrallen
The technique this guy wants is Shamir's Secret Sharing. Look it up.
------
moltar
What if you are on vacation with your parents and you get kidnapped.
------
miguelmota
What if the automated email goes to spam and nobody sees it?
------
mercora
i want to point out that the way the addresses in the image of the mail is
hidden appears to be easily recoverable even with plain eyes. Also, if you
really think the likelihood of someone kidnapping you is somewhat high and you
are preparing for that i would imagine posting about how it works is pretty
counterproductive....
~~~
notdang
not sure where the author is but the kidnappers around here don't care about
these details. They are the generic fb/whatsapp users.
~~~
mercora
i am not sure you got that right from me. i probably should have made clear
these are meant to be separate statements.
what i actually meant is the stuff he describes on how he expects this to work
for him. for example a kidnapper would already know the best time to kidnap
him is after he had lunch because that's a recorded activity which resets the
timer. they also know he will send location data so they might take his phone
on a different tour directly after kidnapping and there is probably more
usable information in this post...
however, i assume here this is a kidnapping specifically targeting someone
with proper due diligence. but that might not be very realistic at all and you
actually are telling me about it. referring to them as fb/whatsapp users just
made me think you might talk about technical aspects they would not get but i
think there is more to it that might be easier to comprehend.
~~~
notdang
yes, it's more about the technical aspects.
Around here, when someone is kidnapped, it's usually because a person from the
victim entourage leaked some financial information. The kidnappers would just
remove the phones from the victim and drive the victim around in a car for
hours. After it the victim is moved into a safe house.
It's a pretty low tech business (from what I've heard from surviving victims
or the family members of those that did not survive), no one will bother with
investigating the online aspects of victim's life.
------
robrenaud
Is it possible to embed a GPS on yourself that is periodically reporting your
location?
~~~
wackro
You mean, like a phone?
~~~
Jaruzel
There's a chain of problems here. You'd need an open source GPS tracking app
on your phone that has the rights to record and upload your location to a
server whilst running in the background, then you need a personal server to
store that stuff on, and then you need to find someone who knows what to do
with that lot if and when you disappear.
~~~
tanatocenose
> You'd need an open source GPS tracking app on your phone that has the rights
> to record and upload your location to a server whilst running in the
> background, then you need a personal server to store that stuff on,
Multiple solutions for this currently available on f-droid. simple and easy.
------
koziserek
when I'm dead, I'm not going to worry about it.
------
koziserek
when I'm dead, I'm not going to worry about it
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Is Microsoft Suddenly Cool? - Garbage
http://blogs.forbes.com/elizabethwoyke/2010/12/15/is-microsoft-suddenly-cool/
======
SwellJoe
No.
This is an idiotic puff piece, I assume triggered by a nice phone call from
someone at Microsoft to someone at Forbes.
~~~
electromagnetic
Agreed, Microsoft will be 'cool' when it loses 90% of its users, actually
becomes a leader in developing new innovative products and gains a resurgence
through that.
Cool generally requires standing apart from the norm. When you're the biggest
company in your market by a huge margin, you're the norm.
~~~
nailer
And those markets (desktop OSs and desktop Office software) aren't growth
areas anymore.
~~~
electromagnetic
They aren't huge growth areas in the anglosphere anymore, Ed: although
smartphones and tablets may change this, they're still growing in the west
somewhat, but are exploding colossally in the developing areas of the world
like India and China.
These places still have huge piracy 'problems', but these will likely be
resolved in the coming decade as these countries develop stronger intellectual
property enforcement and will force all corporations to purchase legitimate
licenses.
~~~
nailer
> They aren't huge growth areas in the anglosphere anymore, Ed: although
> smartphones and tablets may change this,
These don't run desktop OSs.
~~~
electromagnetic
Yet. Given that smartphones and tablets are now being produced with more
powerful CPU's than netbooks, it's really only a matter of time.
~~~
nailer
If the desktop kernels still remain (which they may not due to realtime needs)
the userspaces still need to change for touch UI. So if it happens, I don't
expect the current desktop champions to suddenly get good at mobile.
------
verysimple
It depends of your definition of cool.
Microsoft still host some very cool projects and I think many programmers
would be very happy to work on stuff such as Kinect, Bing and Seadragon to
only name those.
However, if you're talking about general perception toward the company, then
the answer is a big fat NO. I think too many people have been burnt with their
tactics over the years and those stigmas take time to heal.
For all things that microsoft has contributed to the advancement of computing
and its vulgarization, they are also responsible for stalling in many areas
where they couldn't catchup fast enough, using their influence in oft-
questionable ways. Lots of bad karma there and very uncool.
They managed to mess up the single most important application, the browser,
and did nothing to fix it for years, just because they could. Web developers
are only now coming out of this nightmare.
Today, I'm very reluctant to even use something like Bing, that admittedly
works quite well, just because the thought of what microsoft could pull, once
it gets back into a position of power in the search market, makes me shudder.
I know most people have a notorious short memory span when it comes to such
things, but count on people like me, with the ability to hold a grudge, to
remind them what hell felt like.
Microsoft isn't cool and it won't be for a while.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
IPFS is the Distributed Web - jasikpark
http://ipfs.io
======
d--b
I have a truly naive question about the distributed web: what makes the
supporters of it think it will be any different from the original web. I mean,
isn't it likely that at some point, there will be the need for a centralized
search engine for it? Isn't it unavoidable that big companies like facebook
runs their own non-distributed subnetwork, so that it can deliver standard
functionality to all its users? The original web IS distributed already, isn't
it? It's just that organically, the way people use it has become a lot more
centralized, no? Or am I missing the main argument for a distributed
architecture?
~~~
daveguy
The difference is IPFS (or similar) would distribute _content_. Currently
communication is distributed, but content is not. IPFS is like https, but
where every page is a bittorrent. There are challenges for security in
distributing services and monetization. However, the key is that content would
be distributed. YouTube probably would not switch to ipfs, but DNS (what was
targeted recently) would make sense. A DNS host list should be more
distributed. Even with DNS there is a dynamic content challenge. When a DNS
entry changes, it would still need to propagate.
This brings it back to a distributed communication problem. If you could
distribute content more consistently and 100,000 computers could step in as
dns providers _with authentic data_ rather than concentrating dns at dyn or
Google it would help. That will still require protocol updates so that the
fail over uses local content. Really ipfs and distributed content could be a
component to help with distribution. It definitely isn't a complete solution
alone (yet -- there is a push to make it the solution).
~~~
glibgil
The internet may run on content (storage) and communication, but both those
things run on _computation_. Until computation can be safely distributed real
changes can't happen
~~~
wyager
What do you mean? It seems to me that the single largest destructive force on
the internet is forcible content takedowns. IPFS is immune to those.
~~~
clueless404
In which way is IPFS immune to content takedowns?
IPFS provides no anonymity, so it won't take long before DMCA notices to start
arriving.
~~~
tom_mellior
> In which way is IPFS immune to content takedowns?
In the way that, if one node is forced to take down some information, that
information may still be accessible from other nodes _under the same address
as before_. It's not quite immunity: They can still harrass individuals. Call
it "resilience", maybe.
> IPFS provides no anonymity, so it won't take long before DMCA notices to
> start arriving.
It should compose well with Tor, I'd hope.
~~~
clueless404
Which makes it about as resilient as regular content hosting, which is not
very.
Does IPFS work with Tor?
~~~
mburns
>Which makes it about as resilient as regular content hosting, which is not
very.
It is decidedly more resilient than regular hosting in that situation.
~~~
clueless404
How so?
IPFS so only as resilient as you are good at dodging DMCA notices.
~~~
mburns
Because mirroring content on IPFS is trivial and transparent to the consumer.
All it takes is a single user (or an arbitrary number) outside of US
jurisdiction and the content is more or less DMCA-immune.
The equivalent is not practical in traditional HTTP, where content at risk of
being taken down is scraped from the server and that snapshot-in-time is
hosted as a mirror, generally at a different domain.
~~~
clueless404
> Because mirroring content on IPFS is trivial and transparent to the
> consumer.
Which is also why a regular consumer should never use IPFS and why prosumer
should immediately disable caching and seeding upon install.
> All it takes is a single user (or an arbitrary number) outside of US
> jurisdiction and the content is more or less DMCA-immune.
Perhaps so, but if your plan for resiliency is based on the kindness of
strangers in countries where the DMCA nor censorship does not apply, it's not
much of a plan.
Plus you'll still have to seed the original which opens you up to liability,
as IPFS does not provide any kind of anonymity.
So, while better than traditional HTTP, IPFS isn't really immune to takedowns
nor very resilient.
~~~
wyager
> Perhaps so, but if your plan for resiliency is based on the kindness of
> strangers in countries where the DMCA nor censorship does not apply, it's
> not much of a plan.
Have you ever used Bittorent? It works great.
~~~
clueless404
It works great only for a limited number of use cases.
It's terrible for unpopular content, it is not immune to takedown notices nor
is it very resilient in the face of a determined adversary.
~~~
aaroninsf
Backing 'long tail' content with webseeds works well for Bittorrent.
...but that's the same as saying let's back the decentralized web with
centralized resources erp.
~~~
clueless404
Exactly. Which begs the question of why bother with the decentralization part
at all of long tail / unpopular content?
------
idlewords
I worry that this is another example of throwing technology at a social and
political problem.
That the current web is centralized has little to do with its technical
design, and everything to do with economic and structural incentives that have
made it that way.
It's tempting to say "start afresh", but we'll just be trading our current
problems for a new set of problems IPFS introduces. It's a law of nature that
problems are always conserved.
I would rather we do the hard work of fixing the web we've got, in particular
the hard issue of how to re-decentralize it.
~~~
fizzbatter
> I worry that this is another example of throwing technology at a social and
> political problem.
I'm so lost at this assertion. How is this a social / political problem?
IPFS is not permanent hosting. It is not an attempt to take power away from
others and distribute it to the masses. It is purely a technical problem,
which i think is objectively true.
I have a feeling that you believe IPFS is partially designed to subvert
governments/etc. And to an extent, that may be _possible_ , but it is being
built with DMCA's in mind. IPFS wants to allow governments / copyright holders
to take content down from the network. It is not trying to become a pirate
haven. Why? Well, mainly because piracy inhibits adoption. There may not be a
way to DMCA _currently_ (i haven't checked in months), but there are Github
issue(s) on it. The creators don't want to see IPFS blocked in countries
because it can permanently host illegal content. Which makes a ton of sense.
The problem IPFS is trying to solve, as i see it, is purely technical. As
advertised in pretty much every pitch i've seen for this technology, we are
simply scaling too fast in storage and not fast enough in bandwidth. It
appears impossible to handle the infrastructure load of files we are creating.
IPFS solves this by automatically pulling content as locally as possible,
reducing network overhead. Furthermore, it means that a DDOS/viral/etc of a
central resource will not kill it. It's safely and mostly permanently (barring
DMCA/etc requests) available.
So with that said, what political and social problem do you see IPFS trying to
solve? I don't see any.
~~~
inimino
From the article:
"The Internet has been one of the great equalizers in human history and a real
accelerator of innovation. But the increasing consolidation of control is a
threat to that.
"IPFS remains true to the original vision of the open and flat web, but
delivers the technology which makes that vision a reality."
This presents IPFS as the technological cure for the "consolidation of
control" that threatens the Internet.
These are not purely technical problems.
~~~
fizzbatter
That is unfortunate, because i have yet to see how IPFS is even remotely that.
Especially since it wants to comply with DMCAs and etc.
The technology and the marketing seem at odds, to me.
------
TimJRobinson
So I've been thinking about creating a basic site running on IPFS and here's
my dillema. The hash of each page is a sha256 of the contents right? So lets
say you have 3 pages A, B and C, A links to B, B links to C, C links to A. How
do you create all 3 pages with correct links to each other?
When you create page A you have to have the SHA of page B, but then to create
page B you have to have the SHA of page C and finally to create it you need
the SHA of page A. You get into this cyclical loop where you can't generate
any page and link to others. What is the solution to this problem?
~~~
kirushik
Well, IPFS allows you to upload trees of files to a single IPFS node. So you
just create three webpages, put them into a single folder and use `ipfs add`
on this folder. Your webpages will be available with relative links, being
exposed at addresses like `/ipfs/<Sha>/page_a.html` and
`/ipfs/<Sha>/page_b.html`.
Under the hood those pages will be standalone ipfs Duke nodes with separate
hash addresses, and your root folder will be actually a set of pointers to
those hash addresses — but you don't need to keep that in mind when uploading
a site.
~~~
kirushik
One can also study ipfs project websites (ipfs.io, dist.ipfs.io and so on).
Those are just static bunches of files (html and resources) hosted in ipfs and
served with a standard ipfs gateway (located on gateway.ipfs.io address).
Gateway just looks up _dnslink TXT records for corresponding domains, and
serves files from the ipfs hash address specified there.
------
runeks
> Each network node stores only content it is interested in [...]
Isn't that the issue here? Storing data that will maybe be there later isn't
really storing data. People want to publish something that must always be
available, so why inject data into the IPFS network and hope it will be there
in a year, rather than set up a $10/yr VPS?
> With video delivery, a P2P approach could save 60% in bandwidth costs.
In my opinion, this may be true, but total costs will be greater. P2P
solutions are awesome because they are resilient, not because they are
cheaper. Distributing pirated movies by dumping them on public FTP servers is
much cheaper than BitTorrent. BitTorrent appeared because the centralized
method was not resilient enough against adversaries, not because it was
cheaper (quite the contrary).
~~~
lukaslalinsky
If I get it right, the idea is that if you want to make sure it's there one
year later, you set up your own server and host the files on your own. IPFS
just allows others to distribute a mirror of the files.
~~~
runeks
Why would nodes in the IPFS network voluntarily act as a load balancer for my
VPS? Usually I have to pay for load balancing, so I'm a bit suspicious when
someone claims I can get it for free from IPFS.
~~~
lukaslalinsky
There is a lot of (mostly free) content that people are willing to distribute
freely.
Take Wikipedia for example, even though it's changing very fast, I imagine a
huge portion of it is static. If the latest version of each page was served
via IPFS, somebody could setup a local mirror and people nearby would
automatically use that.
~~~
runeks
I don't disagree with the fact that IPFS has value. I just don't like the way
it's presented as a generic transport protocol that's "superior" to HTTP.
~~~
bitJericho
Just take a look at old torrents of obscure stuff and you'll see just how
resilient bit torrent is. (it isn't)
~~~
qwertyuiop924
It's more resilliant than HTTP: When you grab a torrent, you can download from
any seeder. With HTTP, the host is specified, so if that host goes down, good
luck.
In either case, if all the hosts go down and you didn't mirror it, you're
screwed. However, IPFS makes it easier to mirror things.
~~~
mSparks
While this sounds like it "should" be true. I think managing that will turn
into something of a nightmare. IPFS is making awesome inroads into achieving
that, but its not clear of the benefit over something like say freenet (other
than freenet is very slow because it prefers privacy and resilience over
speed).
I can see it being "really" useful as a backbone for something like Open
Cobalt - [http://www.opencobalt.net/](http://www.opencobalt.net/) And I'm
really looking forward to seeing that mature.
But the last time Open Cobalt seems to have been updated is 2010 - that's
quite some time ago.
I wonder if it's being held up by patent trolls, but really all of them feels
like more like a solution looking for a problem. That can take a very very
long time to mature. Which is a shame.
~~~
qwertyuiop924
Alpha 22 was actually released just last year, and it's still actively being
worked on AFAIK. It's just that the website hasn't been updated, save for the
downloads.
------
supergreg
If I try to host a javascript application that uses LocalStorage for saving
data, it would be visible to any other ipfs JavaScript application because
they all exist under the same domain, right? Have you thought about having the
URLs be something like ipfs://<hash>/index.html instead of
[http://local](http://local) host/<hash>/index.html so browsers keep the
LocalStorage for each ipfs hash separated?
~~~
diggan
We're planning to use Same-origin policy to prevent this. It was first brought
up here: [https://github.com/ipfs/go-
ipfs/issues/651](https://github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/issues/651)
You can read more about same-origin policy here:
[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/Security/Same-o...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/Security/Same-origin_policy)
~~~
0xcde4c3db
Putting a hash in the hostname/domain would also be using same-origin policy.
The issue you linked refers to using suborigins, which seems to still be a
draft proposal with no implementer buy-in outside of Chromium [1].
[1]
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1231225](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1231225)
------
msane
If you want to tamper with content on the web, the idea that content is
fingerprinted in IPFS is a huge deal.
IPNS (the name service) then becomes the vulnerability, but that is also
distributed.
~~~
tscs37
Well, as I understood IPNS is a bit limited; it only has one resource and
there is only one authority that can change content, the node in this case.
It does protect against DDOS, since old content remains visible and online but
if the private key is leaked or the node is malicious, it has exactly 0
protection.
Even worse, if the private key is stolen, you can't do much about it unless
you have DNS setup... which brings you back to centralized.
~~~
Kubuxu
IPNS is bug Proof of Concept that mutable content is possible in IPFS, there
is long running goal of InterPlanetary Record System that would include much
more complex validity schemes including revokeation.
~~~
Kubuxu
s/bug/big/ in my previous comment
------
fosh
How do hosting providers fit in here, if at all? E.g., if I want to host a
website on IPFS, do I publish it from my own machine and then wait a healthy
amount of time for the content to be absorbed by the ether, or is there some
way I can encourage other nodes to pick it up without requiring end-users to
actively seek out my fresh material?
~~~
danieldk
It seems that the role of a hosting provider could be: I pay you <amount> per
month to fetch <hash> or <name> on <N> peers with bandwidth <bandwidth>.
Of course, the economics are quite different. In the normal web, you need to
add more resources when a page becomes more popular. In a distributed web,
more resources are a side-effect of a page becoming more popular.
------
mcbits
Suppose I'm poking around IPFS and unintentionally download some unauthorized
copyrighted content. Is my computer going to automatically start sharing this
content, exposing me and my ISP to legal action?
Or if there is a way to prevent sharing particular content that I've accessed,
what's to stop me from leeching everything and never sharing anything?
(Edit: Ah, now I see "BitSwap" as possibly addressing my second question, but
I'm still concerned about the first.)
~~~
qwertyuiop924
For #1, yes. For #2, also yes, and there's nothing to stop you from leeching
save the goodness of your heart and your own personal laziness.
~~~
mcbits
Since it's impossible to know who owns, claims to own, or has licensed any
particular content, #1 is a fatal flaw unless users can officially receive
immunity (which seems doubtful). Otherwise we'll have a situation like
speeding on the highway, where "everyone does it" at the risk of a random
ticket, but in this case the fines are thousands to millions of dollars.
~~~
qwertyuiop924
I don't see how it's bad: the hosting user receives no credit, and local
mirroring keeps retrieval speeds high. Your users effectively become a giant
CDN for you. Who would sue?
~~~
mcbits
I wouldn't sue anyone. But I can watch music videos on YouTube without
contacting all of the the relevant rights holders to ensure both the uploader
and YouTube have permission to show me the video. On a distributed file share
lacking anonymity and/or immunity, I have to ensure that _I_ have those rights
before viewing (thus distributing) any content.
Immunity is not likely to happen, as it would amount to granting
redistribution rights to anyone who downloads a piece of content. So the
political solution is out. Anonymity is a requirement.
That's not to say IPFS is useless. It's just not going to "replace HTTP" or
any significant part of the web as long as it's possible to see who's sharing
what. Or if it does, the sharks will feed.
~~~
qwertyuiop924
No, that doesn't add up: You only host data that's already available on a
public network, pretty much by definition. If the rights distributor didn'f
want it to be globally accessible, they wouldn't have put it up on IPFS.
~~~
mcbits
I'm happy to play the naivete card when it comes to downloading. (If the
producers didn't want me watching this CAM footage of a new release on
YouTube, they wouldn't have uploaded it, wink wink.) I'm a bit more cautious
when it comes to uploading.
~~~
qwertyuiop924
But you're not uploading something that hasn't been, you're mirroring
something that's already up.
~~~
clueless404
You won't have any luck with that argument in court.
If you doubt me, see all verdicts for infringement when bitorrenting.
~~~
qwertyuiop924
But this is very different: This is more like the original copyright holder
putting something on BitTorrent, inviting people to download it freely, and
them suing anybody who seeds it: By putting the data on a P2P protocol, you've
kind of implicitly stated that you're okay with people seeding, or whatever
the local terminology for the same is.
~~~
clueless404
Um, no.
You have no guarantees that the content put up via IPFS is by the original
copyright owner.
Thus immediately after you receive the infringing content over IPFS and start
seeding it, you are infringing on the copyright owners rights. You have no
recourse and no legal defenses to protect you.
~~~
qwertyuiop924
Well, then, as soon as you receive notification, you can immediately stop
hosting the data: it's like a DMCA takedown, but you have to send it to way
more people.
~~~
clueless404
Too late. Once you've retrieved content via IPFS, you are already infringing.
You can still be sued, waiting for a DMCA notice won't save you.
------
empath75
As a devops guy, I sort of think ipfs seems more useful as a private, backend
sort of solution where you trust all the nodes. I'm sort of vaguely imagining
it running as a shared file system in AWS, running on docker containers.
~~~
viraptor
> where you trust all the nodes
Why do you think that's needed? Of course if majority of nodes cheated and
said "sure, I've got that file" and send you random garbage instead so you
have to retry, that would be bad. But if majority are running proper
implementation, you don't really need to trust anyone.
~~~
Kubuxu
You need just one node to send you the right data. No need for the majority.
~~~
viraptor
You need a reasonable number of nodes. Likely a large majority. Otherwise
you'll just keep redownloading garbage data and discarding it. And likely
doing it slower than bad nodes can leave/rejoin the network with new ips.
------
voltagex_
Beware anyone on a metered connection - in 20 or so minutes, the ipfs daemon
has used 3 gigabytes of bandwidth.
~~~
mark_l_watson
Did this useable continue indefinitely? I would hope that there was a socket
throttling option.
~~~
voltagex_
Frustratingly I couldn't reproduce this and the bandwidth-using part of the
IPFS daemon appears to be completely opaque - i.e. I had no clue what was
using all the bandwidth (other than the fact there were 200+ connections).
No visibility into an app means it's unlikely to stay on my system.
------
kefka
Ive been using IPFS to port and make serverless webapps.
[http://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmbLPfyehFnViKZpU237P6a6DpjCfWFSoDBMQFGU...](http://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmbLPfyehFnViKZpU237P6a6DpjCfWFSoDBMQFGUAgYW2t/)
~~~
etherealG
what is it?
------
clueless404
Does IPFS come with some kind of content filter or firewall to protect its
users?
When child porn inevitably shows up, how do you protect yourself from
accidentally downloading _and_ then seeding it?
~~~
anc84
By simply not downloading and seeding it. ;)
In IPFS you do not automatically relay things, you have to explicitly decide
to.
~~~
clueless404
> By simply not downloading and seeding it. ;)
You seem to have glanced over the qualifier I used: accidentally.
Given a hash for an IPFS resource, how do you know it does not contain child
porn before you retrieve it?
Once you have downloaded it you have committed a crime. There are no take
backs with strict liability crimes and IPFS provides no anonymity, so there is
a record of you downloading _and_ seeding child porn.
> In IPFS you do not automatically relay things, you have to explicitly decide
> to.
Really?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that immediately once
you retrieve a hash via IPFS, you cache it and start seeding it.
~~~
pdkl95
> Given a hash for an IPFS resource, how do you know it does not contain child
> porn before you retrieve it?
Given a URL for an HTTP resource, how do you know it does not contain child
porn before you retrieve it?
> seeding
[https://freenetproject.org/help.html#childporn](https://freenetproject.org/help.html#childporn)
~~~
lkjhgfdsa57
> Given a URL for an HTTP resource, how do you know it does not contain child
> porn before you retrieve it?
As clueless404 stated, on the http web you don't automatically seed the
content that you accidentally retrieved. On IPFS you're distributing it.
As an example, another posted here provided an IPFS link to resources, some of
which are a copyright violation in some regions. In IPFS you can discover the
nodes that are seeding it:
$ ipfs dht findprovs ...contenthash...
QmfWQHVazH6so9p27z27rr8TJSdBFGpH7hunDcaZ1EAQ2c
...
These are the node id's sharing the content. You can find all the IP addresses
published by the nodes, including private ones:
$ ipfs id ...nodehash...
{
...,
"Addresses" : [
"/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/4001/ipfs/...hash...",
"/ip4/192.168.1.5/tcp/4001/ipfs/...hash...",
"/ip4/172.17.0.1/tcp/4001/ipfs/...hash...",
"/ip4/1.2.3.4/tcp/4001/ipfs/...hash..."
],
...
}
If your node accidentally retrieved a hash containing content that was illegal
or otherwise bad your physical IP is easily discoverable.
A database of bad hashes is easily calculated given existing content using:
$ ips add -n foo.mp4
added ...hash... foo.mp4
This generates a hash for a file without uploading it to IPFS. You can then
use findprov to see if anyone is sharing it.
------
tijs14tijs
Interesting, I have two questions:
Can you create your private ipfs network? (accessible by anyone, upload only
me)
If you upload sensitive material to the global ipfs network, what do you think
will happen?
~~~
diggan
Private networks is something that we're working on (track it here:
[https://github.com/ipfs/notes/issues/146](https://github.com/ipfs/notes/issues/146))
but it would be private-private, only access+upload between your nodes.
"Accessible by anyone - upload only by you" is not gonna be supported since it
doesn't really make sense. If someone has a hash of a file, they can rehost it
because they can access it. In IPFS you're not locating files based on WHERE
they are but their name rather.
~~~
ashark
> Private networks is something that we're working on
Pretty sure you can already do it by setting up your a node on _e.g._ a
Digitalocean droplet, removing _all_ bootstrap nodes from its config file, and
having everyone on the network replace the bootstrap node addresses in their
config file with your server's address. Granted that's not a very user-
friendly way to do it, but when I tried it it seemed to work.
~~~
diggan
Yeah, there is two things that is missing for it to be good. First is
encryption of content in case something happens to leave the network and
secondly rejecting the connections from anyone who is not supposed to connect
to you.
With your current setup, if/when a node gets connected to someone else (maybe
someone connects directly to you), your entire network will connect from that,
since the connections will be shared with the peers.
------
clueless404
What problem does IPFS actually solve?
~~~
jpalomaki
Content distribution. Many people however don't even realise this is a
problem, because they have been spoiled by free-as-beer services provided by
Google, CloudFlare, Github and various other companies.
~~~
clueless404
Just exactly how does IPFS solve content distribution?
You still have to serve the content from a server, since you cannot depend on
the kindness of strangers to persist your content.
~~~
lukasb
The idea is that some fraction of users will be configured to reshare content,
which helps distribution for popular content scale. This seems to work in
practice for bittorrent.
~~~
clueless404
Yes, but only for suitably popular content, as all the dead torrents will
testify. This doesn't make IPFS very appealing to Joe Blow, content maker
unextraordinaire.
~~~
anc84
Joe Blow would _just_ need to find some fans who think that keeping his
content available for others is worth their while.
I believe this could work amazingly well for netlabels and indie bands.
~~~
clueless404
Regardless of whether I think this is a bit of a far fetched use case or not,
this really does nothing for Joe Blow and his content distribution needs.
But let's roll with it anyway. How does IPFS solve this problem, and more
specifically how does IPFS solve this problem any better than just publishing
a torrent of Joe Blows collected ramblings?
~~~
anc84
Sorry, I don't really care about your theoretical questions. IPFS is nice and
fun technology. If you don't want to participate, you don't have to.
~~~
clueless404
> theoretical
I don't think that word means what you think it means.
Asking what problem a technology solves is a very _practical_ question.
Countering with "IPFS is a nice and fun technology", is the very opposite,
i.e. alluding to that there might be some _theoretical_ benefits to it, but
that your mainly into it for gits and shiggles.
------
kylehotchkiss
There's an interesting emphasis on developing nations not engaging with the
Internet, but I think that might be partially cultural too. What tools have we
given the developing world to really engage with the internet? The easy-to-use
publishing platform often require an email and usually a real name. Both of
these things may be unavailable to countries where being connected to thoughts
posted online could be dangerous.
Most content is not written in simple english, and there's just not much
incentive for somebody who may not know how to think critically/complexly (due
to lack of western education) to engage with the internet.
I think distributed web is an interesting idea, and that IPFS really lists out
some issues with the internet that we'd all win in solving, but I think maybe
some of these, like developing nation web access, are solvable with current
tech, and more culturally based solutions
~~~
drivingmenuts
I think the better solutions come from within the society, rather than being
imposed from without (Cuba's flash-drive sneakernet). An outsider might
provide the gross implementation, but it should be up to the locals to work
out the messy details, even if it means they don't connect to the net, as a
whole, on a regular basis. It's their lives on the line, they're going to have
the best ideas on how to preserve them. An outsider is going to be, at best,
somewhat ill-informed and at worst, inimical to the solution.
------
ShakataGaNai
So I've got a (let's say) WordPress blog. Where's the "here's how to get your
existing content on IPFS in less than an hour" guide?
~~~
0xCMP
I think it'd have to be saved statically. Which actually makes this question
interesting: How do you store comments on an IPFS site? Constantly updating a
single file on IPFS?
~~~
dredmorbius
Interesting question. I know nothing about IPFS other than what I've read in
the past five minutes on Wikipedia, but:
1\. HTML wants badly for a nested relational document format. Essentially tin
or mutt's "in reply to" and "references" headers.
2\. A comments stream is a) a parent document to which b) multiple child
documents, themselves possibly having c) parent-child relationships, d) are
associated. Rather than thinking of "threaded discussion == single document"
think "threaded discussion == a set of related documents".
That gives the option of having a discussion "occurring" across multiple
sites, with some form of trust, whitelist, blacklist, or other mechanisms for
reflecting what you do or don't include in the discussion. Individual
comments, as their own docs, could also be freestanding instances.
Finding children from the parent becomes an interesting question.
There's also the matter of versioning a document. Tying a git-like capability
to this could be interesting.
------
teekert
Some content here to play with: [0]
Interestingly some links to copyrighted material end in ¨Unavailable for Legal
Reasons¨ however, running the daemon and issuing an ¨ipfs get hash¨ the
download does start.
[0]
[https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmU5XsVwvJfTcCwqkK1SmTqDmXWSQWaTa7ZcVLY...](https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmU5XsVwvJfTcCwqkK1SmTqDmXWSQWaTa7ZcVLY2PDxNxG/ipfs_links.html)
~~~
voltagex_
The "unavailable for legal reasons" message appears to be issued by the
ipfs.io gateway - IMO perfectly reasonable.
~~~
teekert
Sure but it´s not really unavailable I mean.
~~~
bergie
Yep, but ipfs.io refuses to distribute it. Doesn't mean other IPFS hosts
necessarily do
------
girzel
Hey I have a related question: so with IPFS we all host bits of the internet,
and with IPv6 our machines are all directly world-accessible, right? So how do
we prevent this from turning into a huge pwn-fest? If routers aren't doing NAT
and a bit of firewalling along with that, would each machine be completely
responsible for its own security?
~~~
fulafel
Home routers are doing IPv6 firewalling by default, no need for NAT. NAT is
strictly inferior to firewalling.
(Of course you shouldn't put things on your internet-connected network that
need the firewall, just look at it as a porous defense-in-depth element, just
like with IPv4)
~~~
tmzt
Does that mean they are assigning random IPv6 addresses to computers on the
network for each peer or connection and maintaining a mapping in memory?
~~~
viraptor
Normal static address is assigned. Whether it comes from the external range or
from the link-local range doesn't really matter. You could potentially
randomise the source at the exit to prevent identification of your hosts, but
you don't have to.
For most practical cases just imagine you're getting a big ipv4 range.
Whatever you can do with it - you can do the same with ipv6. NAT, no NAT,
filtering, static or dynamic assignment.
~~~
tmzt
That's what I'm asking. IPv6 feels like a regressiin over NATv4 because it can
leak which internal device made a request. Is there a standard way to
randomize addresses that works with ofd-the-shelf router firmware. Also, are
link-local IPv6 leaking MAC addresses?
~~~
fulafel
Yes, there is a standard since about 10 years ago. It's not dependent on your
router firmware, in accordance with IP's end-to-end design philosophy (keep
the network dumb, and hosts smart). Here's some links to get you started:
[https://slaptijack.com/networking/osx-disable-
ipv6-address-p...](https://slaptijack.com/networking/osx-disable-ipv6-address-
privacy.html)
[http://andatche.com/blog/2012/02/disabling-
rfc4941-ipv6-priv...](http://andatche.com/blog/2012/02/disabling-
rfc4941-ipv6-privacy-extensions-in-windows/)
As for link-local IPv6 addresses, those aren't even accepted by the socket
API[1] in place of normal routable addresses. They're only used for low level
things like neighbour discovery (IPv6 equivalent of ARP) and apps that go out
of their way to use them. They aren't routable outside your L2 segment.
[1] as in:
$ telnet fe80::something:something:42
Trying fe80::something:something:42...
telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: Invalid argument
------
JulianMorrison
This sounds like distributed Geocities, where you can have any content you
like so long as it's static, or at least, changes in iterations of static
files like a HTML-generator blog.
If you do anything that needs a central server, suddenly its advantages
vanish. I could imagine Wikipedia using this; I couldn't imagine gmail doing
so.
~~~
inimino
Most of the pages on the Web are still static HTML or something close to it,
though.
~~~
JulianMorrison
Maybe but very few of them can do their job with _only_ static HTML.
~~~
inimino
I would say most of the articles linked to on HN could be static HTML pages.
How practical HN itself would be on IPFS seems less clear.
------
usgroup
What I'd personally like to see is built in monetisation such that hosting and
serving other peoples pages becomes a socialised cost and benefit although one
would guess that such as feature would have to be deeply designed into the
system itself, and cannot be added as an after-thought?
------
j45
I really hope something like this takes off.
Connecting and indexing documents has been the challenge of a few internet
generations. Creating a document at a point of filing is a subtle but
potentially large shift.
Hopefully this lands on homebrew soon to aid it's growth.
------
mark_l_watson
I heard about IPFS at the Decentralized Web Conference in SF last spring. It
sounded promising, long term. Anyone here using it right now? What are the
costs for running it on a VPS, for example, bandwidth, storage, and CPU load?
------
delegate
ipfs is fantastic, but it is half the solution. We also need a distributed p2p
application framework, with which nodes can securely communicate and allow
building distributed apps, like search.
We can think differently with ipfs. Traditional web allows everyone to publish
content _somewhere_ , hoping that search engines will index it.
With ipfs, the same file (with the same content) is only indexed/stored once
and then you reference the hash to get to the content.
This fact changes the problem of search.
Take all the world's movies. With ipfs + p2p network, you only need _one_ back
end in the form of a distributed search index, which can index all the movies
in the world.
Same with the world's music. You only need _one_ back end which can index all
the music.
The index can be as simple as {"movie title": [sha256]}, where the array
contains the hashes of different 'encodings' of the same content (eg. 'dvd
rip', 'blue ray' or 'mp3').
Content can be indexed by all kinds of properties of course and it can grow
organically over time to include more and more details.
With ipfs plus the p2p network we'll build 'apps', not 'pages'. People can
have a list of 'apps' running on their machines - which are node instances in
various distributed applications, sharing the same p2p network and using ipfs
as storage.
Apps can have 'backend' and 'front end' parts - the back end is the part which
participates in the p2p network, while the 'front end' provides a human
interface to the back end, were users can search/browse/view the content.
Apps are distributed as git repositories stored in ipfs, while the 'core'
running on the user's machine compiles the sources (inside a build vm) and
loads the resulting binaries into containers running in virtual machines.
This would make it easy for devs to write and publish new distributed apps,
making the network totally decentralised and virtually unstoppable.
Ps. If you feel that this insanity could work, then I'd love to discuss it in
more depth - [email protected]
------
tscs37
IPFS is a pretty nice project, but it's pretty slow at times.
~~~
diggan
I work with IPFS so it would be very handy to know what you feel is slow
exactly. We're working our hardest to make it as fast as possible but
sometimes we fall through, so more information so we can fix it would be
wonderful!
~~~
tscs37
Most "slowness" is related to content that is either relatively fresh on the
network or or rare content.
If my node is the only one seeding the file, accessing it via gateway.ipfs.io
is slow but it's pretty obvious why; I'm the only provider.
So while for very public content IPFS is rather fast, if you share a couple
files with a few friends, it's a bit slower.
Of course, this all depends on upload/download speeds, mine aren't stellar in
both directions either.
Plus I'm rather certain that my ISP is throttling any kind of P2P traffic.
~~~
diggan
Ah, I understand. Yeah, it's not much we can do about that but in the future
it can be expected that you'll be able to use some sort of service to help you
with the initial seeding of the content.
So instead of you sharing a file from your home connection and five friends
have to share that, you'll share your file with some hosting provider and once
they have the file, you'll just send the same hash to your friends and you'll
have at least 2 nodes providing the file.
------
manigandham
Who exactly runs these nodes that store data?
~~~
gant
Everybody that pins it or retrieved the file from someone else (second one to
maximum cache size that is configurable). Files and folders are referred to by
hash.
Usually you still need to run a server to seed the files, but if a file
becomes popular it will be served from anybody who also retrieved it and
likely persist in the network even if your server goes down.
Think of it as BitTorrent for the web. It has Gateways that allow current
browsers to access the network and pointers to update content with a new
version (that's /ipns/ not /ipfs/ \- the old version persists as long as
someone hosts it).
What's also interesting is that due to the nature of the hashing algorithm
(it's a merkle tree), you can "ipfs add" a directory, preserving the file
structure inside, so websites on IPFS can use relative paths.
------
z3t4
We keep things that are important, and throw away the garbage. But if we keep
everything, there will be mostly garbage.
~~~
inimino
It's impossible to keep everything. A system like this one keeps the things
people access, rather than the current system where content remains available
only at the will (and expense) of the publisher.
------
descript
IPFS is vaporware. They are going to launch a token and try to take your money
------
bfrog
how does this differ from maidsafe?
------
vegabook
IPFS appears here every 6 months, every 6 months the same questions get asked,
the same problems get raised, the same collective sigh of
bewilderment/disappointment appears to emanate from the comments, and it goes
away again for another 6 months. Everybody wants something this clever and
community-spirited to work, but the basic problem is, I don't want my data to
be vulnerable to slow, unreliable endpoints, or people switching off their
IPFS servers. I can't really trust an unremunerated volunteer system with my
data, and I don't believe that my keeping your data is remuneration enough for
you to keep mine forever.
Peer-to-peer is excellent for ephemeral streaming stuff like chat, file
transfer, even gaming. But it is not good for permanence unless some monetary
remuneration gets involved, either via a centralizing entity asking for
payments (dropbox et al), or a distributed monetization system like bitcoin.
Somewhere, somehow, someone needs to get paid to keep the system running.
~~~
c22
I would say the impermanence is one of the most appealing aspects of the
system. Content that no one uses and that no one is willing to sustain gets
culled from the network, what more could you ask for?
~~~
vegabook
I assume you would also like ext4 to automatically delete your seldom used
files, without asking?
~~~
c22
That's absurd, ext4 solves a different problem. This is about distribution.
~~~
vegabook
it is the Internet Protocol _File System_. The clue is in the name. The
analogy is entirely relevant. This thing is not just a replacement for http.
------
knocte
504 Gateway timeout
A bit ironic :) (being distributed it shouln't be a single point of failure ;)
)
~~~
viraptor
It is distributed. The website should have a copy at
/ipfs/QmRaS4AZriMzw9nekub7hojTnvQYsVTDqkYG7BggQsexNt (check TXT record). You
just need to access it over the right protocol.
~~~
knocte
But I thought ipfs-js would make it run today within the browser...?
~~~
viraptor
To use js-ipfs, you still need to host the script somewhere. Doesn't help when
the whole host doesn't respond.
~~~
knocte
Right, ok, but then ipfs.io is already using ipfs-js itself? Because some time
ago I checked and the reference impl was python, and the ipfs-js port was not
complete yet.
~~~
haadcode
(IPFS dev here)
js-ipfs, the Javascript implementation of IPFS, has made a lot of progress in
the past 6 months. It's still early but totally usable.
We've been working on go-ipfs and js-ipfs interop so that browser nodes can
talk to "native" nodes. It's not fully ready yet but soon. This will open a
lot of doors for a more advanced network and applications using IPFS.
See [https://github.com/ipfs/js-ipfs](https://github.com/ipfs/js-ipfs).
As for your question re. ipfs.io using js-ipfs, the answers is no, it doesn't
use js-ipfs implementation yet.
~~~
david-given
Is there a working ipfs demo page anywhere? I've had a look around and can't
find one (the closest appears to be Orbit, but the ipfs-js version is down).
I'm particularly interested in using ipfs pubsub capabilities. It looks like
an interesting way of allowing multiple users of a web app to talk to each
other without needing (much) server side support.
~~~
haadcode
Unfortunately there's no proper demo page :/ We're working on improving the
docs (we know this is big issues atm).
There's an old version (from June) of Orbit at
[http://orbit.libp2p.io](http://orbit.libp2p.io) which you can try. Much has
happened since and we're working on bringing the js-ipfs version Orbit back to
a working state.
Re.Pubsub, I'm personally also very excited about it! :) The specs and general
info are located here
[https://github.com/libp2p/pubsub](https://github.com/libp2p/pubsub). go-ipfs
merged pubsub into master some time ago with this commit
[https://github.com/ipfs/go-
ipfs/commit/e1c40dfa347e38bdc9812...](https://github.com/ipfs/go-
ipfs/commit/e1c40dfa347e38bdc98126d422c495dc157b3642) and we're working to get
it into js-ipfs here [https://github.com/ipfs/js-
ipfs/issues/530](https://github.com/ipfs/js-ipfs/issues/530).
~~~
qwertyuiop924
Can I just take a moment to talk about how happy I am that the IPFS team is
actually taking protocol documentation seriously, allowing for multiple
implementations and the ability to understand how the protocol works?
IPFS and Matrix seem to be the only teams doing this: Dat and SSB have vague
protocol documentation at best, only documenting bits of the protocol at all.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: LaunchWay - let's build a community-powered online startup incubator - Udo
http://launchway.net/posts/blog
======
doubt_me
Feedback:
when editing or creating a post why is it just a plain text box and not a full
one with options to link text/ use BB code and all that good stuff.
The site is very easy to navigate and all that/ no bugs. looks hacker news -
ish
Oh another thing.
When someone comments on a post that you make there should be a sort of
notification system in place
and then let people be able to do @doubt_me thanks for the reply. etc etc....
~~~
Udo
Thanks for your feedback, it's very much appreciated!
_> why is it just a plain text box and not a full one with options to link
text/ use BB code and all that good stuff_
You can use BBCode, I just forgot to put that in the help text.
_> When someone comments on a post that you make there should be a sort of
notification system in place_
It's coming up, today. The site is just bare-bones right now, but I'll add
more features (and advertise more) in the next few days.
_> and then let people be able to do @doubt_me thanks for the reply. etc
etc...._
Coming up, stay tuned! Thanks again for being one of the first guinea pigs! :)
------
Udo
Even if you hate it, a bit of feedback would be appreciated.
~~~
hcopr
I signed up for it. I thought about joining nReduce when it was still new but
at the time I didn't have an idea... and now they're gone. I would be willing
to try this out now.
~~~
Udo
I saw you, thanks for trying it out!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Even Google is Tired of Needlessly Paginated Content - flardinois
http://siliconfilter.com/even-google-is-tired-of-needlessly-paginated-content/
======
ENOTTY
Why don't publishers put multiple ads on a long single-page article, such that
the number of ads served is equivalent?
~~~
wccrawford
Last I checked, ad impressions and clicks mattered where they were on the
page, and some ad services paid you differently according to where they were,
too. (That may have changed, that was years ago.)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What are your predictions for 2018? - chirau
======
masonic
I predict that there will be numerous duplicate _Ask_ submissions.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16007988](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16007988)
[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%22ask%20hn%22%202018&sort=byP...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%22ask%20hn%22%202018&sort=byPopularity&prefix=false&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Zoom Phone System experiencing issues - etxm
https://status.zoom.us/
======
etxm
I’m curious if phone calls are more resource intensive than video streams or
if there are a disproportionate number of callers.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Binge watchers checkout the best watchlist on hoblist - sachinanchan
Movie fans, rejoice! Stop wasting hours deciding what to watch next.
At Hoblist, the online community helps find your next movie or TV show.
Browse crowd-ranked lists for your favorite genres.
Instead of endlessly scrolling your queue, see what other fans recommend.
Start binging!
www.hoblist.com
======
some_newuser
Cool List., The movie binging just got a whole lot easier...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
UK universities comply with China's internet restrictions - nanna
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-53341217
======
raxxorrax
I think this is a bad development. I know the argument that some content is
better than none, but I profoundly disagree. Currently we have countless other
issues were wrong opinions and content get penalized. This is a bad
development and a very pressing issue.
Want to educate Chinese citizens? Tell them that content is not available due
to their government restricting speech and content. This looks like
anticipatory obedience and I think universities want to burrow controversial
opinions themselves.
------
nanna
More details here:
[https://www.jisc.ac.uk/rd/projects/supporting-enhanced-
acces...](https://www.jisc.ac.uk/rd/projects/supporting-enhanced-access-to-
online-education-in-china)
Note that a 'Main Feature' of this setup listed on the jisc page is that it
would be 'Fully legal and compliant with Chinese government regulations and
laws'.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Mining Bitcoin with pencil and paper: 0.67 hashes per day (2014) - dvt
http://www.righto.com/2014/09/mining-bitcoin-with-pencil-and-paper.html
======
vinceguidry
> It's clear I'm not going to make my fortune off manual mining, and I haven't
> even included the cost of all the paper and pencils I'll need.
He's not taking into account price inflation over the long term. If BTC ever
cracks a million USD, he'll really regret not squeezing every last bit of
hashrate he can now.
~~~
ritinkar
If BTC cracks 1 million won't that mean there's 2.1 trillion dollars worth of
USD BTC in circulation in addition to all the other currencies?
~~~
m3kw9
If bitcoin price is derived from the bid ask, most of the worlds money would
have to be parked in bitcoin, does that even make sense?
~~~
jjeaff
"parked"? No, since no real money or asset is held to back up bitcoin. It
could go to $100 million tomorrow based on a few transactions, but that
wouldn't be indicative of what anyone else will be able to get for it.
~~~
celticninja
Now that is just wrong. If the price went to $100m tomorrow it is because
people are buying and selling bitcoin for that price.
~~~
astrodust
All it takes is a single trade at a $100M valuation and, for that nanosecond,
that's the value of Bitcoin.
~~~
celticninja
Yes but no one really considers that to be the market price.
~~~
jjeaff
Yes, the exchanges would, at least until a bunch more lower transactions took
place.
------
scotty79
You could squeeze much more bitcoin out of yourself if you powered asic miner
with a bicycle but I can appreciate low capital costs of pencil method.
~~~
jjxw
Capital costs may not be trivial if you factor in food required for
brainpower.
~~~
schiffern
That's an operational cost, not a capital cost. ;)
Comparing capital cost between the two is also fun. Creating a literate person
who can perform arithmetic certainly requires more resources than creating a
person who can "merely" pedal a bicycle. There's a lot of embodied energy in a
person's education, and the cost reflects that.
~~~
em3rgent0rdr
Also might want to consider what is the _opportunity cost_ of what else a
literate person could do instead of mining.
~~~
TeMPOraL
Or the opportunity cost of what else could the _creators_ of that literate
person could be doing with 20 years worth of time spent on that person.
~~~
mentalgainz
cloud mining sites are scammy though but this article narrows down the search
for trustworthy cloud mining sites: [https://passivetalks.com/3-trusted-cloud-
mining-sites-passiv...](https://passivetalks.com/3-trusted-cloud-mining-sites-
passivetalks/)
------
fvdessen
I've found it works best with artisanal sharpened pencils
[http://www.artisanalpencilsharpening.com](http://www.artisanalpencilsharpening.com)
~~~
dvfjsdhgfv
Well, the Paypal button actually works! I wonder if someone ever placed an
order though...
~~~
croon
There was a much lower price point originally, before he got sort of famous
from the book, and subsequently a TV-show (Going Deep). The current price is
basically to keep people from ordering, but still having it open if someone
REALLY wants to get one.
~~~
jdironman
Honestly, what is getting me is that his book on sharpening pencils is
actually 224 pages long. That seems awful long on such a simple subject!
~~~
croon
And yet he made a half hour show with episodes such as "how to bounce a ball",
"how to dig a hole, "how to open a door", "how to take a nap", etc.
~~~
jdironman
Sounds like he must be a good talker to say the least. Charismatic or at the
minimum entertaining.
~~~
bschwindHN
It's mostly satire, but of the best variety. He spoke at my university a few
years ago, he definitely knows how to entertain a crowd.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KabOfnbS4TQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KabOfnbS4TQ)
------
remcob
Around when this was published I looked into the feasibility of pencil-and-
paper wallets. What would it take to generate a key-pair using just pencil and
paper?
There are tricks like big tables of precomputed multiples of the generator
that make it easier, but you still need to do hundreds of 77 digit modular
multiplications. And you want to be absolutely sure you made no mistake.
~~~
Shoothe
Well secp256k1 private keys are just 32 random bytes (with some minor
exceptions) so I think you could arrange something with a plain dice and a
little bit of time.
~~~
EmielMols
Of course, but it would be cool if you could also calculate the public
component on paper (and ideally verify it computerless as well). You could
really create your bitcoin/ether/etc wallet with the public key only, whilst
having an extremely low attack surface (private key never touches computer
memory).
~~~
lotyrin
I wonder if a slightly more feasible solution of producing and verifying a
solution out of simple TTL, so there's no "computer" just a application
specific machine made of simple commodity parts which one could trust
reasonably easily would be actually worth something.
------
ddorian43
Next: Mining bitcoin with pool of monkeys with typewriters.
~~~
TeMPOraL
Monkeys with typewriters are currently busy banging out whitepapers for ICOs.
~~~
matthewrudy
A friend of mine writes and edits ICO whitepapers. He's very skilled and gets
paid pretty well for those skills.
~~~
TeMPOraL
The fact alone that writing and editing ICO whitepapers (plural) is something
an individual can do as a job makes me trust ICOs significantly less.
~~~
philfrasty
You have seen nothing yet [https://www.fiverr.com/writer_clara/write-and-
proofread-your...](https://www.fiverr.com/writer_clara/write-and-proofread-
your-blockchain-ico-whitepaper)
~~~
TeMPOraL
Oh God.
Given the quality of this gig description, at least we know that whitepapers
written by that person will be immediately recognizable as scams.
~~~
ckastner
And yet, people will still invest in it.
The "Useless Ethereum Token" [1] subtitles itself as so:
_You 're going to give some random person on the internet money, and they're
going to take it and go buy stuff with it. Probably electronics, to be honest.
Maybe even a big-screen television._
_Seriously, don 't buy these tokens._
And people still invested more than $40.000 in it [2].
[1] [https://uetoken.com/](https://uetoken.com/)
[2] [https://qz.com/1023501/ethereum-ico-people-invested-
thousand...](https://qz.com/1023501/ethereum-ico-people-invested-thousands-of-
dollars-in-useless-ethereum-token-uet/)
~~~
TeMPOraL
Bad example. That's one ICO I would actually buy into myself if I discovered
it in time. I'm a believer in timely executed jokes, much like many other
people on the Internet.
------
viach
I think you could even mine Bitcoin with Turing-complete cellular automata
simulated by a crowd of trained dogs, receiving movement orders by a small
internet-of-things bluetooth radio (powered by IOTA?), implanted into their
brains.
For what it worth...
~~~
make3
video please
------
lainon
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8380110](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8380110)
------
nblavoie
I find the article's video so interesting and easy to understand for a non-
mining/technical background. I almost want to start doing it just for the sake
of it (like a sudoku or mental exercice).
------
hathym
you will earn 0.000000000002$ a day according to cryptocompare [1]
[1]
[https://www.cryptocompare.com/mining/calculator/btc?HashingP...](https://www.cryptocompare.com/mining/calculator/btc?HashingPower=0.76&HashingUnit=H%2Fs&PowerConsumption=0&CostPerkWh=0)
~~~
pishpash
That's still 25333000 old Zimbabwe dollars, man.
------
juanmirocks
This is one of the most really hackerish thing I've seen. Bravo. Thank you for
submitting.
------
drewmol
If anyone is a math teacher of the appropriate age group, "manually calculate
2 hashes" seems like a good punishment as an alterntive to the old "write x
statement y times"
------
coding123
I think this solves our problem: Ban hardware/software based mining. Reduce
the number of 0's we're looking for. UBI is born.
~~~
bobbles
Someone should ICO with a paper-only crypto currency.
The confirmations wait is gonna be a killer though.
Maybe UPS should be launching this?
~~~
coding123
Well, assuming we can somehow prevent someone from cheating and writing code
to solve the problems, the confirmation wait shouldn't be any worse if people
are working in pools to solve the problems and submitting found answers in an
online form. If 4000 people are working for their UBI in pools the
confirmations should be roughly as fast as they are today.
Again the problem would be to create challenges that "can't be computed" but
can be verified with a software.
------
_pmf_
I think there is a market for selling hand-mined bitcoins as a novelty item,
but selling individual hashes might be a pretty small niche.
~~~
Erlich_Bachman
To be able to mine at all (with whatever speed), you need to be able to
complete an individual hash operation in less than 10 minutes - before the
next Bitcoin block is created elsewhere on the network - because you have to
base your calculation on that previous block's hash. If it takes more than a
day to compute one hash, it does not work, no matter how many of them you
could theoretically do in parallel.
~~~
esnard
10 minutes is the average time between the creation of the two blocks, so the
time could be much greater.
Block 74638 was mined almost 7 hours after the previous one, for example,
because of a serious overflowing issue.
Of course, the combinaison of "no block created in 36 hours" & "the hand-
calculated block is valid" is highly unlikely, but still possible.
~~~
Shank
The network adjusted difficulty aims to average 10 minutes between blocks at
all times. In order to get a point where you could feasibly calculate a hash
you would have to have an extraordinary breakdown of something (like all of
the hashpower vanishing) in order to get enough time before the next block.
------
bogomipz
>"Currently, a successful hash must start with approximately 17 zeros, so only
one out of 1.4 x 10^20 hashes will be successful."
Can someone elaborate on the math here? How do we get to 1 in 1.4 x 10^20 ?
~~~
carry_bit
It's probably 17 hexadecimal zeros.
~~~
dmurray
Yes, as shown in the second image in the article where the successful hash
starts with sixteen hexadecimal zeros.
~~~
bogomipz
I'm still not following can you break it down?
~~~
dmurray
The hash is a cryptographically random number. For it to be successful, it
must start with seventeen zeros (base 16). The chance of a random number
starting like that is 1 in 16^17, which is about equal to 1 in 3 x 10^20.
I can't reproduce the calculation from the article that got 1.4 x 10^20. But
it does say "approximately 17 zeros" so maybe it really meant "the first 16
hex digits must be zero and the 17th must be either zero or one". That would
give close to the right numbers, if I haven't messed up.
------
logicallee
these "broke founder" war stories are getting out of hand...
------
j_s
Bitcoin Paper Wallets (2015) |
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15302500](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15302500)
------
toblender
Articles like this remind me how little I know about bitcoin.
I just recently learnt how difficulty works, so something like this is perfect
for understanding the hashing part of the protocol.
------
monochromatic
Just about every single post I’ve seen from Shirriff has been a gem. One of my
favorite blogs these days.
------
andrewfromx
this is great. for your next trick can you do a few transactions in the tangle
iota by hand too?
------
molx
Weird. I was just re-reading this post the other day when I found it in an old
bookmarks..
------
tboyd47
Cool. I wonder if anyone has tried to do the transaction signing procedure
manually.
------
known
You are a true geek
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon - aston
http://www.damninteresting.com/the-baader-meinhof-phenomenon
======
brazzy
Is there a name for the feeling experienced when you hear an expression with
very strong and definite negative connotations used to mean something
completely different, almost frivolous?
Because that's what anyone from Germany experiences when the read this
article, the Baader-Meinhof terrorist group having been highly present in the
public conscience for over 3 decades now. As an American, imagine using
"Charles Manson phenomenon" for something like this...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How does your startup organize roles and duties - kiddz
======
cpburns2009
You have a typo in your title. It should be "does" not "dose".
~~~
kiddz
thnx. fixed
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The harm done by tests of significance (2003) [pdf] - luu
http://andrewgelman.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/1154-The-Harm-done-by-tests-of-significance.pdf
======
capnrefsmmat
I found this paper a couple years back when I was writing about statistical
errors. I love the right turn on red example -- an everyday situation where
bad statistics leads to extra deaths every year. (Somewhere on the order of
10-100, I think.)
The problem, turning "not statistically significant" into "there is no
difference," happens all the time in just about every field of science. Often
you see people report "three studies found that this medicine work, but two
found that it didn't" and conclude that the evidence is contradictory and
can't be trusted. But if you look at the effect sizes, you see the five
studies found nearly the same answers -- its just two of them didn't quite
cross the threshold for significance.
I wish I had a way of teaching statistical thinking more clearly than standard
intro classes. It's so weird and counter-intuitive that very few people get it
right. I've given it a shot by writing a book
([http://www.statisticsdonewrong.com/](http://www.statisticsdonewrong.com/))
but there's a lot more to be done.
~~~
christopheraden
>But if you look at the effect sizes, you see the five studies found nearly
the same answers -- its just two of them didn't quite cross the threshold for
significance.
This is why I wish meta-analysis was introduced much earlier than it is in
statistics education. There are sensible ways of combining the information
from the five studies, weighting them according to their sample size (provided
the studies are similar in design and cohorts). =)
------
jeffreyrogers
Deirdre McCloskey (an economist) has an entire book devoted to this[1]. Her
article here:
[http://www.deirdremccloskey.com/docs/jsm.pdf](http://www.deirdremccloskey.com/docs/jsm.pdf)
covers the main argument in the book. One important point she makes is that
not all fields misuse p-values and statistical significance. In physics
significance is almost always used appropriately, while in social sciences
(including economics) statistical significance is often conflated with actual
significance.
[1]: [http://www.amazon.com/The-Cult-Statistical-Significance-
Econ...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Cult-Statistical-Significance-
Economics/dp/0472050079)
~~~
sukilot
That difference is likely because reality won't believe you if you state the
significance wrong, but people will.
------
mdbco
The single paragraph in the postscript of this paper (part 6) is actually
really important. It's very common for people who are using statistical
testing in applied settings to entirely forget about type II error (and
correspondingly, the power of the test), and so when they see a p-value that
isn't significant at a certain level (say 5%), then they just assume that the
null hypothesis is true.
Of course, this is not correct, and all we can really say is that the test did
not reject the null, given the size (type I error rate) and power (type II
error rate) of the test. It's entirely possible that the null should be
rejected, but the test is just not very good (i.e. it might have the correct
size, but very poor power).
So given some complex and eccentric real-world data, how can we figure out
what the power of a given test might be in practice? If you have some idea of
what the data generating process might look like then one option is to do some
simulations. This enables you to see what the size and power properties of
your test are by empirically measuring the type I and type II error rates.
------
vancan1ty
People often have trouble applying statistical methods correctly, and perhaps
often can manipulate statistics to tell a given story. And indeed, P=0.03 on
its own is meaningless without an understanding of how a study is set up and a
plausible hypothesis.
But inferential statistics is grounded in sound theory, and used correctly and
with appropriate assumptions is a powerful tool to reason about data. Without
it, how are you supposed to reason about (for example) study results? Appeal
to intuition?
It seems to me that significance tests are not all-powerful, or foolproof, but
are still a very valuable tool.
~~~
jwmerrill
> Without [inferential statistics], how are you supposed to reason about (for
> example) study results? Appeal to intuition?
The alternative, which the author of the linked article mentions, but doesn't
really emphasize, is to report a best estimate of whatever effect you are
trying to measure, along with some measure of uncertainty in that estimate.
For example, instead of "we failed to find significant evidence that right
turn on red increases the expected number of fatalities," you say "our best
estimate of the expected increase in fatalities due to right turn on red is
200 +/\- 210."
This approach puts the most relevant information front and center, and it
seems to me, encourages better intuitive reasoning. It's what engineers and
most of the hard sciences do most of the time.
You do also need to say something about the meaning of your uncertainty
estimate (e.g. it's 1 sigma, or 2 sigma, or 95%), or alternatively, there
needs to be an understood convention for your field.
~~~
vancan1ty
Is the method you described not another form of inferential statistics?
(Definitely not hypothesis testing however).
It seems that this is a combination of several techniques:
1\. First, we either explicitly or implicity choose a model to relate deaths
and RTOR laws (perhaps a linear relationship, i.e. [deaths w/ RTOR] =
a*[deaths w/o RTOR]).
2\. Then we perform point estimation to estimate the parameter "a".
3\. Then we compute a confidence interval.
With respect to the RTOR example in the paper, it seems to me that it WOULD be
incorrect to reject the null hypothesis that the change in crash numbers
arises from random chance for ANY INDIVIDUAL STUDY. In this case it seems that
you must figure out a way to transfer information between studies to establish
this idea of "statistical significance." Perhaps a survey of studies or usage
of bayesian techniques would have resolved the difficulty.
------
cgold
Related to this might be the decision of a psychology journal to remove
p-values from published articles: [http://www.nature.com/news/psychology-
journal-bans-p-values-...](http://www.nature.com/news/psychology-journal-bans-
p-values-1.17001)
Even though p-hacking is bad, I'm not sure whether banning p-values is good or
bad. The real question is what will be used to replace the p-values.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The most important page on Flickr - ssclafani
http://blog.timoni.org/post/5557930029/the-most-important-page-on-flickr
======
christoph
It almost seems as though Yahoo are determined to make Flickr fail at the
moment. I'm a paid pro member and I've been wondering why now for a while...
Photographic content publishing on the internet has moved on a huge amount in
the last couple of years, yet I see Flickr have done nearly nothing during
that period. They need to start looking at what the competition is doing
(instagram, etc.) and seriously picking the game up, especially for paid up
members.
I'm still in shock they haven't made a proper iPad application, your stuck
with the crappy iPhone app which needs a major overhaul anyway. The Android
version is equally awful, the web version on phones/tablets renders equally as
badly as on a browser (confusing/boring layout). When I login and look through
the top nav, there's over 40 choices from it. Does it really need to be that
complicated?
------
jat850
I admit I don't have much of an eye for design but that page was really,
REALLY hard to read.
~~~
smickie
Yeah, also why didn't he put screenshots of the pages in instead of link to
Flickr pages which you need to be logged in to view?
------
thomasgerbe
On paper, designing Flickr should be one of the easiest things to do. You
basically have some of the most beautiful pieces of content to work with, so
all you have to do is lay it out in a clean and accessible way.
------
jhuckestein
The most important page on Flickr is a Yahoo login page?
~~~
pyre
No. The most important page is... [Content only viewable to HackerNews Gold
Members].
------
sukuriant
Why didn't he say all of this internally? Surely he's not the only person with
these thoughts.
~~~
mncaudill
Just an FYI: Timoni is a she, not a he.
~~~
sukuriant
Apologies. If I could, I would change the gender of my words, but I can't edit
my post.
------
newman314
It would have been better if she posted a mockup of an improvement.
~~~
jerrya
s'okay, we're posting a mocking of her improvement.
------
matthewcieplak
The flickr homepage really is awful. What's worse, though, is that if I click
on a photo, the sidebar is still populated with the mixed-content photostream.
If I want to browse, I want to just see that user's photos, and it requires
clicking on a tiny "expand" arrow that only gives me 3 tiny thumbnails.
Seriously flickr, take a cue from apple and get some larger, more navigable
navigation.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
ForgeJS launches first full stack JavaScript development school in Seattle - eastridge
http://forgejs.com
======
crabasa
This is an interesting take on "full stack" JavaScript:
* Advanced JS (core JS concepts I'm sure) * Node.js (server-side) * Backbone (client-side)
Are there any other organizations focusing on this kind of training? The
closest I could find was Bocoup[1], which is based in Boston. Most others
bootcamps tend to be focused on Rails.
[1] <http://training.bocoup.com>
~~~
vaprem911
Site looks pretty, but is this the 1st time you are offering this class?
Feedback about content quality and from past attendees would be helpful. I've
been burned in the past in SF at Codeacademy where they promised the moon and
delivered little.
Also, is $ 550 for just 1 weekend, or for all 3? And the duration? from when
to when on each day?
Thank you. ~Preem
~~~
eastridge
Hi Preem, this is Ryan one of the mentors at Forge. $550 is just for one
weekend. This is our first go round at the workshops in this format. I've
taught similar material internally for some corporations and Colin (my primary
collaborator on this project) has been teaching JS for several years full
time. We aren't totally green but this is a new venture.
What specific workshop or class did you feel you got burned on? I wasn't aware
Codecademy offered offline courses.
~ Ryan
------
jspaur
Good to see this sort of thing picking up in Seattle. The Hub is a great space
(of which we're members). To anyone going to these, ping me (contact info in
profile), and your first beer is on TryPaper (we have nothing to do with this
event but love meeting fellow hackers!)
~~~
xxpor
I thought the hub was a questionable name. I think most people think of the
Husky Union Building when they hear hub.
~~~
jspaur
If you're from the area I could see that. I'm pretty confident the Hub Seattle
is part of a larger network: <http://www.the-hub.net/>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How would you take over the world? - goodweeds
Most of us have a little bit of evil genius in us, stuck in the back of our minds. Some of us go so far as to day dream about going further. How would you take over the world? Military action? The ballot box? Media?
======
nestlequ1k
I'd use the United States as it's already the biggest military and has the
largest influence on the world. Get to know the political system there, it's
ins and outs. Figure out how to hack it, by saying just the right thing to
just the right groups. Take lots of acting classes. Get damn good at it.
Start out as a Republican, get to be a senator or house member or something.
During this time make sure to be slavishly devoted to the military. Fight for
veterans benefits, pay increases, increased recruitment. Treat the military
like royalty. Allow the military to join public employee unions, strike, take
up dues. This will fuel all your political campaigns to come.
Then switch to a 3rd party and use your military union backing to run for
president. Spend all your time attacking the two parties using the other
parties standard attack lines (republicans: heartless, democrats: weak).
There's lots to attack on each side, present yourself as the "3rd option".
Take your existing 10%, then pull in an additional 15% percent (of the total
vote) from each party. You'll win with 35%.
After being elected, ally with the Republicans to get your pro military policy
passed. Ally with the democrats to turn on the fairness doctrine again and
support everything the public employee unions want. Increase their funding so
they can give it back to you in donations. Implement a flat tax, remove
corporate taxes, and jack up government spending at every level. All your
spending will be fueled through the Fed, guised as economic stimulus. Ridicule
those worried about the value of the dollar as pessimists and enemies of the
state. Convince them a lower dollar will mean more exports and jobs at home.
Crack down on the internet in the interests of protecting jobs, preventing
piracy, and increasing fairness. Keep control over all methods of
communication. Controlling the internet will be key to all other steps, in
controlling information, and keeping a consensus in your country supporting
your radical foreign policy. It'll also be a key weapon of economic warfare
with other countries.
Appoint 1 or 2 members to the supreme court and then through an act of
supposed foreign terrorism, neutralize the rest of the members. Set up a war
against those terrorists, with wartime powers. Resist any acts to appoint new
supreme court members. Cancel all further elections until the threat is taken
care of.
Be a strong and resolute leader. Target China as an opponent since they are
one of the biggest threats to US domination. Turn Japan, South Korea, and
India into US territories in the interests of protecting it from China. Take
down China by pledging support of protecting the rich coastal regions. Start a
war with the communist regime, and take it down. Switch China to the US dollar
and establish it as a commonwealth of the US empire.
Then take on Russian using economic warfare (force oil prices down to
20/barrel by subsidizing overproduction in the middle east).
Take down the EU with your monetary policy. Low dollar means less imports from
Europe. Make it against the law for any bank to lend to a foreign government.
These small steps will provide the weight to collapse an already weak EU.
Eventually subvert and take over the union. Establish the US dollar as the
currency in Europe.
Invade Mexico under the pretense of stopping the immigration problem. Boycott
and blockade Canada until they collapse. Trade policy is the weapon of choice
for taking control over North America. They already depend on the US for
survival so selectively cut their oxygen until their governments collapse, and
then step in to pick up the pieces.
Take over South America by controlling the flow of goods and information. Then
install puppet governments.
Leave Africa for last. That one can be done by traditional military invasion,
preceded by 6 months of propaganda about how horrible it is for those living
there (mostly true). Demonize the dictators of each African state, then invade
each country one by one in wars of compassion and establish each as a US
commonwealth.
That just leaves Australia. Use a sustained democratic subversion campaign to
convince a majority of the population to support being annexed by the United
States.
Go down in history as the man who unified the world, brought peace and
happiness, and reigned over the next golden age.
------
beatpanda
Slowly, over the course of hundreds of years, through a well-funded secret
society that slowly ingratiates itself into institutions at all levels across
the political spectrum all around the world. I would focus especially on
international NGOs, central banks, top world universities, global media
companies and missionary religious orders.
The members of this secret society would stay buried in the middle of these
institutions, at levels with hiring and executive power but no public
visibility. Especially no top leadership positions.
As new generations are brought into the society, older members give the new
generation a hand up, making it much easier for them to advance and prosper.
It would use front organizations to offer scholarships and fellowships to
young people around the world, drawing in and indoctrinating ambitious people
who would then, at least psychologically, "owe" something to this society, or
at least to the front organization, if they couldn't be indoctrinated
directly.
After, say, the first hundred years, the oldest members of the order would
start incrementally implementing policies that would appear to simply be good
ideas that emerged organically, but which were actually circulated among
members of the society.
This also happens to be my mental model as to why obnoxious ideas like
neoliberalism, or the current wave of "austerity programs", catch on around
the world as if they were good.
------
kirubakaran
If you are fine with the 'evil' part of 'evil genius': Start a religion. Sue
people who out you for copyright infringement on your scriptures.
Otherwise, seastead and attract the best talent by being really good and out-
innovate every other country. Important note: Don't sell to hypocrites who
don't believe in science but still want your antibiotics, vaccines and
nanobots. Let natural selection do the rest.
------
macca321
I'd bankrupt nations around the world by dodgy banking, then slowly replace
their elected governments with autocrats who used to work for me.
That or invade Poland.
------
coryl
As a benevolent billionaire, I would relocate to a poor impoverished 3rd world
country that ideally has resources and opportunity to grow and improve rapidly
in terms of economic well-being (people love jobs!).
After building infrastructure and winning the hearts and minds of the people,
I would either try running for public office legally, or with the support of
some military force, overthrow the government in a revolution.
------
pilom
Start with one country. After a major attack on home soil, incite fear in
everyone and claim that country X supported the attackers. Attack country X.
Then claim that country Y also helped the attackers. Attack country Y.
Continue convincing the population that they should be afraid of more attacks
from unknown attackers that are all around us. Repeat for more countries.
------
papaf
I found the following classic an interesting guide:
[http://www.amazon.com/True-Believer-Thoughts-Movements-
Peren...](http://www.amazon.com/True-Believer-Thoughts-Movements-
Perennial/dp/0060505915?tag=duckduckgo-d-20)
------
101north
I'd go back in time and start Apple.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
NextDNS Joins Firefox’s Trusted Recursive Resolver - inception44
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/12/17/firefox-announces-new-partner-in-delivering-private-and-secure-dns-services-to-users/
======
3xblah
“For most users, it’s very hard to know where their DNS requests go and what
the resolver is doing with them.” said Eric Rescorla, Firefox CTO. “Firefox’s
Trusted Recursive Resolver program _allows Mozilla to negotiate with providers
on your behalf_ and require that they have strong privacy policies before
handling your DNS data. We’re excited to have NextDNS partner with us in our
work _to put people back in control of their data and privacy online_.”
It sounds more like the work is to put Mozilla and their partners in control
of users' data and privacy online.
Let's be honest. This is really a transfer of control from one third party,
e.g., a company providing internet service (ISP), to another third party,
e.g., a company/organization providing a browser (Mozilla, Google, etc.), not
to mention their "TRR" partners.
Surely it is only a fortuitous coincidence, but DOH in the browser makes it
easier to track users _by device_ , which appears to be the Holy Grail of the
internet ad industry.
Putting Mozilla (and their partners) in charge of user privacy is different
from putting users in charge of their own privacy.
Also, the "back in control" language is interesting. It implies the author
believes users were "in control" in the past.
~~~
fabrice_d
It's about trust: would you rather trust your ISP, or Mozilla's choice of DoH
partners?
Users never really had a reasonable (ie. non geek) opportunity to be in charge
of their DNS privacy, and for most it's not something they can be bothered
with.
~~~
devit
Probably the ISP, since it already has a working business model unrelated to
selling your DNS query data and doing so is probably illegal in several
countries.
~~~
sciurus
The terms of the Trusted Recursive Resolver program explicitly disallow
selling your DNS query data.
> Your DNS data can reveal a lot of sensitive information about you, and
> currently DNS providers aren’t subject to any limits on what they can do
> with that data; we want to change that. Our policy requires that your data
> will only be used for the purpose of operating the service, must not be
> retained for longer than 24 hours, and cannot be sold, shared, or licensed
> to other parties.
[https://blog.mozilla.org/netpolicy/2019/12/09/trusted-
recurs...](https://blog.mozilla.org/netpolicy/2019/12/09/trusted-recursive-
resolvers-protecting-your-privacy-with-policy-technology/)
[https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/DOH-resolver-
policy](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/DOH-resolver-policy)
(Disclosure: I work for Mozilla, but not on this)
~~~
3xblah
NextDNS purports to be a DNS provider that will use public blocklists and
filter queries and block ads and tracking like a PiHole.
The Mozilla TRR policy states that the DNS provider must not filter any
queries unless the user explicitly opts-in.
How would a user selecting NextDNS as a TRR indicate that she wants NextDNS to
filter queries in order to block ads and tracking.
The TRR policy also states that the provider must not use the EDNS Client
Subnet extension. It looks like NextDNS does use some modified version of ECS,
at least in its plaintext DNS service.
The FAQ states users can submit a query with class CHAOS instead of IN to get
some diagnostics, e.g.,
drill -t example.com @45.90.28.0 a chaos
Unfortunately, someone who ISP is filtering port 53 cannot make this query.
------
thayne
I'm not sure how I feel about Firefox's strategy for DoH. On the one hand,
moving DNS out of the hands of ISPs that (at least in the US) have no real
incentive to respect user privacy is probably a good thing. On the other hand,
circumventing the system DNS will cause problems for anyone who has explicitly
configured DNS, such as corporate networks, schools, households that use DNS
for security/adblocking/parental controls, etc. I realize firefox has some
heuristics to try and detect these cases, but heuristics aren't perfect.
~~~
morpheuskafka
Enterprise use cases can easily manage this through Group Policy. Households
(keep in mind we are only talking about people who knew enough to change DNS
settings in the first place) can just change the setting on each of their five
or so computers. And if you are using DNS as parental controls, that's not a
great solution as nothing stops someone from getting the IPs out of band (ex.
a website that does DNS lookups) and connecting directly to the blocked sites.
~~~
vetinari
> Enterprise use cases can easily manage this through Group Policy.
That's Windows-only mechanism.
> Households (keep in mind we are only talking about people who knew enough to
> change DNS settings in the first place) can just change the setting on each
> of their five or so computers.
And not forget to do that for every new device they get. And after reinstalls.
And occasionally just to be sure, as we know how software tends to "forget"
user preferences sometimes. That's all only up until Mozillas' telemetry will
show, that nobody changes the default anyway, so the preference will be
removed entirely.
> And if you are using DNS as parental controls, that's not a great solution
> as nothing stops someone from getting the IPs out of band (ex. a website
> that does DNS lookups) and connecting directly to the blocked sites.
For the user, it's more complicated than that. He has to persuade the browser
to send the right Host header when connecting to the obtained-out-of-band IP
address. If you have rights to modify hosts file, you might change the DNS as
well and spare the effort.
------
heavyset_go
I'm a fan of DoH, but I'm also a Chromecast owner, so I get to experience the
downsides of application-level DNS resolvers. Chromecasts will ignore the DNS
servers set by DHCP, and will cease to function if they cannot communicate
with Google's DNS servers[1].
That means my network-enforced DNS preferences that block ad and malware
sources are ignored, and I see more ads than I want to. It also means that
when Google drops support for my Chromecast model like they did with the older
Chromecast models, I'll be slightly less secure than I would be if I could
enforce my own DNS preferences.
[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19170671](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19170671)
~~~
slenk
I believe you are referencing possibly old data.
I have a Chromecast. I also redirect all port 53 traffic (DNS) back through my
own DNS server at the firewall level (does not go to Google DNS). It works
perfectly fine wihtout directly using Google DNS.
Yes, they do ignore the DNS set by DHCP, but that can be worked around.
~~~
yegle
AFAIKT, you can block Google DNS and all your Google Cast devices should
fallback to DHCP assigned DNS.
~~~
slenk
Oh, good to know. I just let it think it's using Google and like redirecting
it behind the scenes
------
kiwidrew
This extreme focus on DoH is really concerning me.
If you're worried about your recursive DNS resolver spying on you, the correct
solution is to run your own recursive resolver.
I've been running unbound(8) on my OpenBSD systems at home for most of 2019,
and (except for the time that I experimented with turning on strict DNSSEC
checking) there hasn't been even one time that it has caused me grief. It was
as simple as "rcctl enable unbound".
And OpenBSD has recently introduced unwind(8), a dead-simple recursive
resolver (using libunbound) that's suitable for any system (even laptops that
sometimes use broken Wifi access points or networks that block outbound port
53).
It is simply unacceptable for a modern operating system to lack its own
recursive resolver. By all means, allow the network administrator to configure
the system to use a network-provided resolver if required, but the default
ought to be an intelligent unwind(8)-style resolver provided by the OS itself.
~~~
tptacek
Running your own non-DOH recursive server does absolutely nothing to protect
your queries from snooping; in fact, it increases your exposure, because every
single step in the recursive queries you run are now in plaintext on the wire
and each attributable to your server.
Running your own recursive DOH server is a fine idea, and easy to do, but then
you have little to be angry at Mozilla about, because they're the ones
enabling you to do that.
The fact that _no_ mainstream consumer OS runs a local recursive resolver
should be a clear signal to you that people disagree with you about this; in
particular, because doing so eliminates DNS caching, which is something most
people want.
People are "extremely focused" on DOH because it works, and works without
having to secure the cooperation of every DNS operator on the Internet, and
with almost no configuration. It is a clean, easy win, unlike every other DNS
security mechanism ever proposed.
~~~
zrm
> The fact that _no_ mainstream consumer OS runs a local recursive resolver
> should be a clear signal to you that people disagree with you about this; in
> particular, because doing so eliminates DNS caching, which is something most
> people want.
Doesn't DoH eliminate caching as well? It means all your queries go out to
some server on the internet with perhaps 20-50ms of latency, instead of a
local cache potentially on your LAN with <1ms. A DNS cache on the LAN would
also merge queries from multiple devices, concealing which device is making
the query and in many cases preventing the query from having to be sent over
the internet at all.
The best thing might be to have internet gateways run a DNS stub that itself
makes queries via DoH/DoT/whatever and then caches them for every device on
the LAN. The gateway is typically the DHCP server so it can hand itself out as
the DNS and requires no configuration as well. And then it works across all
devices and applications.
~~~
pvg
_Doesn 't DoH eliminate caching as well?_
Why would it eliminate caching? If you resolve over DoH you can still cache.
It's not like turning DoH on in FireFox forces it to stop caching.
~~~
zrm
In that sense neither would putting a recursive resolver in your OS.
DNS can have arbitrarily many levels of caching, because stub resolvers can be
caches and can point to other stub resolvers.
For example, you might have a DNS cache in your OS so that if more than one
process asks to resolve the same name (or the same process asks more than once
because it doesn't have internal caching), only one query has to be made. That
resolver may point to a DNS cache on your LAN (deduplicating queries between
devices), which in turn may point to a recursive resolver on the internet,
which may itself be caching data from the authoritative servers.
If you replace that with DoH between the application and the recursive
resolver on the internet, all the intermediary caches are eliminated, even
though they might have had significantly lower response times than the
resolver on the internet.
~~~
pvg
I'm not quite following all of this but before I try to sort it out in detail,
is the fundamental objection here 'a DOH-using app is not using the OS
resolver'?
~~~
zrm
That is effectively what causes the issue. The local resolver in the OS or on
the LAN may have the name cached (because some other application or device
requested it previously) and is thereby able to respond in <1ms, but if the
application doesn't use them it has to take a round trip to the internet.
~~~
pvg
Ah I see. I don't find it particularly convincing as a thing leveled at DoH
specifically because apps have been doing this for years. Browsers, Electron
apps, Unity apps, whatnot. All have lived happy and successful lives without
lookup latencies or the internet-as-we-know-it suffering any obvious ill
effects. It's not a meaningful critique of DoH because we know the problems
the critique warns of haven't really been problems.
~~~
zrm
You're naming some things that have notoriously bad performance. Being slow
doesn't guarantee failure but it sure isn't a feature.
And the problem isn't the protocol here, it's the choice of resolver. If the
resolver on your LAN made queries using DoH instead of the application itself
then your ISP still couldn't read them, but you would regain the benefits of
local caching.
~~~
pvg
They don't have 'notoriously bad performance' because of DNS or lack of some
sort of global DNS caching. That just isn't the case. Firefox also didn't
honour systemwide proxy settings for a decade+, nobody really cared because it
fundamentally didn't matter. If the DNS thing was that important, somebody
would have complained about it before. Nobody (statistically) ever did, any
more than they did about the proxy thing.
~~~
zrm
Sure, they had notoriously bad performance for a plurality of reasons. Which
also explains the lack of specific complaints. People can tell you that it's
slow, that doesn't mean they can tell you every reason why.
Firefox historically being slower than Chrome was for a long time one of main
reasons cited by people who switched from Firefox to Chrome. DNS/proxy
defaults were certainly not the only reason it was slower but all the little
things add up.
And we shouldn't need to use user complaints to gauge performance impact when
we can do so directly by measuring page load times etc.
~~~
pvg
I mean, we started with 'does DoH break caching' to which the answer I think
is quite clearly 'no' and we're now on to 'do apps doing their own resolving
break anything materially important' to which the answer I think is also 'no'
and yours is a pretty unspecific 'maybe'. I don't think these are bad or
unwarranted questions (a lot of the anti-DoH arguments are significantly
worse) but I'm fairly confident they have a straightforward, empirically-
supported negative answer.
~~~
zrm
We started with "does running your own recursive resolver break caching" to
which the answer is yes, because it removes intermediary caches that can
really improve query latency. It doesn't have to remove 100% of all caches to
make caching much less effective. But having the browser bypass local caches
and query directly to the internet (entirely regardless of DoH or not) does
much the same. The last level cache on the local network is particularly
significant because it should have the best hit rate of any cache before the
query latency gets multiplied by a factor of 50 or more by going out to the
internet.
Caching or not should never "break anything" unless you've seriously screwed
up. It's always a matter of the performance impact. Which users will regularly
gripe about without being able to articulate what's causing it.
The practical impact of this depends on the context. If your browser is
running in a data center across the street from the DoH server with a 3ms
round trip latency and you're making a single query, it'll be imperceptible.
When your internet link has a 50+ms latency and you're making multiple queries
(which may have serial dependencies), it quickly adds up to hundreds of
milliseconds. And some people are on satellite links with 500+ms latencies
where this matters _a lot_.
------
slipheen
> Our trusted recursive resolver program aims to standardize requirements for
> three areas: limiting data collection and retention from the resolver,
> ensuring transparency for any data retention that does occur, and limiting
> any potential use of the resolver to block access or modify content.
This seems like a win overall, and I'm glad that they're pushing to build a
list of trusted resolvers. It sounds like they've got some sort of contract
ensuring they don't use the data, so that's a positive.
That said, given that Windows 10 is going to going to start supporting DoH
natively, I'm not sure I understand the reasoning to use Mozilla's chosen DNS
providers, rather than the system default.
It seems a bit like enabling a proxy or VPN by default- Even if Mozilla trusts
the proxy provider, routing traffic to unneeded third parties seems somewhat
user-hostile.
------
cj
Interesting, I wasn't aware of Mozilla's Trusted Recursive Resolver program
([https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/DOH-resolver-
policy](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/DOH-resolver-policy)).
> The following providers have contractually agreed to abide by these policy
> requirements: [Cloudflare, NextDNS]
Are these agreements made public?
~~~
comboy
Gov agencies requests still take precedence over any such agreements don't
they?
In other words, I would add some canary that nobody forced them to break rules
of those contracts.
------
ignoramous
Congratulations NextDNS! You've been relentlessly executing on every front [0]
with super-novel solutions [1] that a few, if any, incumbents have matched
[2].
That said, I'm surprised Mozilla doesn't look at the uptime metrics before
partnering with TRRs. I've been using NextDNS ever since it was announced here
[3] and have been subject to a fair share of "outages" including once when
everyone at home thought the internet was down...but couldn't remedy it [4].
Cloudflare's data-plane availability with 1.1.1.1 is a tall-order to match for
anyone that's not Google or AWS [5]. The NextDNS founders built DailyMotion,
so I'm guessing they know a thing or two about high availability and hopefully
fix whatever they need to before they GA with Firefox TRR.
I must point out that Adguard DNS [6] is a viable non-configurable free
alternative, which is what I now recommend to folks not savvy/bothered enough
to configure NextDNS. It would be wonderful to see them added to TRR.
[0]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21543038](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21543038)
[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21604825](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21604825)
[2]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20851626](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20851626)
[3]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20012687](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20012687)
[4]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20785712](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20785712)
[5]
[https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/category/networkin...](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/category/networking-
content-delivery/amazon-route-53/)
[6]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18788410](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18788410)
~~~
Terretta
It’s not clear to me AdGuard’s uptime avoids the “is the internet down?”
scenario either.
I observe normals hitting same “WTFs/month” rate with AdGuard, NextDNS,
Zscalar, Cleanbrowsing (built into Ubiquiti UniFi), as any other ad blocking
DNS offering.
I personally had to give up on Warp+ and even 1.1.1.1 — which to be clear does
not block ads or trackers — due to instability with enterprise, airline, and
hotel portals.
By contrast, NextDNS shot up in reliability over past couple months across all
kinds of connections, to where I’ve begun recommending that option to tech
friends (not yet to normals).
I have had no issues with OpenDNS Umbrella now Cisco once I turned off their
typo-squatting, but it also is a “security” product not anti-tracking.
~~~
ignoramous
> By contrast, NextDNS shot up in reliability over past couple months across
> all kinds of connections
I'm sure they've improved but I was bit by downtime as recently as a week ago.
Due to their custom proxy-layer that enables the blacklisting magic, on top
what seems like a multi-tenant DNS resolver backed by unbound, their anycast
setup, redundant network paths, multi-region server deployments are not going
to mitigate downtime due to software bugs. Imo, DNS resolvers must be low
latency and zero-downtime, by design.
Adguard, I'm speculating, do not have the complexity that NextDNS does (no
multi-tenant smart proxy fronting the actual DNS resolver), and so do have a
better chance at getting availability and latency fixed sooner?
> I personally had to give up on Warp+ and even 1.1.1.1 ... due to instability
> with enterprise, airline, and hotel portals.
I'm curious, what instability? I have faced issues with (free) Warp where it
can't / won't bypass government imposed censorship. And streaming apps like
Netflix refuse to work.
------
captn3m0
Mozilla is yet to announce an actual application process for becoming a TRR.
I've been trying ever since they announced CloudFlare, but they only have a
policy - no application process.
------
jtbayly
Is there going to be an option in FF to select which “trusted partner” to use?
And an option to use a provider not in their list?
~~~
giancarlostoro
Or an option to randomize it per request with the ability to remove /
blacklist specific partners. Now that would be great.
~~~
kardos
Not sure that randomizing is going to do anything useful.
Randomizing over three providers will give each of them one third of your
requests, but they would just need more time to get a (near) complete list of
the domains you resolve. Eg, if you resolve hackernews once a day, they'll
each have that information in approximately three days.
~~~
tomatocracy
You could deal with this by splitting requests based on the domain to be
looked up on a deterministic basis, so that the same lookups always go to the
same server. You'd ideally do that in such a way that related lookups (eg
everything under google.com and all of Google's other related domains) also go
to the same server.
------
nimbius
So im curious to know, what is stopping Mozilla from selling "Trusted
Recursive Resolver" positions to private companies just like they sell search
engine placement in their browser?
whats to prevent a VC firm from just...quietly acquiring NextDNS (or any of
the other DoH providers) and selling your browse history back to anyone who
wants it?
~~~
LamaOfRuin
Possibly contractual obligations? That's what Mozilla did with Pocket before
simply acquiring it themselves.
edit: Yes, it is with contracts. [https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/DOH-
resolver-policy#Confor...](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/DOH-resolver-
policy#Conforming_Resolvers)
------
colmmacc
How do these DoH partnerships work with DNS split views? If folks are running
an internal copy of "something.company.com" and it's expected to resolve to
RFC3330 space "on the company network" ... that depends on folks computers and
devices using the corporate DNS. If Firefox is going to a public DoH endpoint,
they'll get the public IPs instead and connect to the wrong copy of the
service, or it might not even resolve if it's an internal-only record.
~~~
sp332
They expect that Firefox will be configured by the enterprises where this
would be an issue. But if a domain simply fails to resolve via DoH it will
fall back to plain DNS. [https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/dns-over-https-
doh-faqs...](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/dns-over-https-doh-
faqs#w_how-does-firefox-handle-split-horizon-dns)
------
cremp
I never heard of NextDNS.
I am appalled.
From their site: [https://nextdns.io](https://nextdns.io)
> See what's happening on your devices with in-depth Analytics and real-time
> Logs.
> Protect your kids and control what they can access online.
Their pricing page is also _extremely_ troubling.
> We may adjust this later on based on actual costs at scale, but it will
> follow this logic.
What the hell is this Mozilla... This is not a company you should be dealing
with. They tell you up front that they log and monitor... They also aren't at
scale, and have to learn lessons the hard way with outages.
Mozilla is dead to me now.
Edit:
As others have pointed out, Mozilla's own policies:
[https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/DOH-resolver-
policy](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/DOH-resolver-policy)
Transparency Requirements, section 2.
Where on earth is a transparency report for NextDNS? They were started in
March, and I would think that Mozilla would check their requirements before
giving the 'lets add them.'
~~~
core-questions
> Protect your kids and control what they can access online.
Yes, god forbid some parents would like to have a little bit of control and
the ability to protect their children from seeing obscene material when
they're too young to handle it.
Evil! Mozilla needs to quash these terrible people! May they burn with Brendan
Eich!
~~~
saagarjha
"Protecting your kids" is often "we log everything and have complete
visibility over how people are using our service, and we're willing to share a
bit of that with parents to spy on their children". It's a valid concern to
have unless there's evidence to the contrary.
~~~
core-questions
I assume every single DNS provider is logging and, if possible, selling my
data. Why wouldn't I? This is actually why I use my own DNS server and resolve
against the root, like anyone else who cares about privacy ought to be doing.
Still, if your goal is to block your kids' access to things, DNS is a good
place to do it. Works across all your devices and doesn't require any install.
~~~
icebraining
> This is actually why I use my own DNS server and resolve against the root,
> like anyone else who cares about privacy ought to be doing.
How do you prevent the ISP from logging those requests to the root?
~~~
autoexec
Unless you're connected to a VPN 100% of the time wouldn't your ISP already
have access to see every domain you browse to?
~~~
icebraining
They do via the SNI header, but Firefox already includes support for encrypted
SNI. So if the server supports that, all the ISP gets is the IP of the server
you're connecting to. If that IP only hosts a single domain, then they can
still tell, but in other cases (think sites behind Cloudflare, or using shared
load balancers), they can't.
Or actually, they might still, using side-channel attacks, but it's
significantly harder to accomplish, especially at scale.
------
tatersolid
Consistent hashing by gTLD with a random local seed instead of simple
randomization then. I’m sure 1/3 of your data is still valuable but 1/10 or
less probably not. A sort of K-anonymity for DNS.
------
tech234a
Duplicate of
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21811739](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21811739)
------
smitty1e
"For more than 30 years, DNS has served as a key mechanism for accessing sites
and services on the web."
I value dry jokes such as this.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What I learned about programmers by reading 200+ programming jokes - apico
https://www.apico.net/blog/what-else-i-learned-about-programmers-after-reading-200-programming-jokes-part-2.html
======
generj
"If the jokes are true, the user does not exist in the programmer’s conception
as an active or independent player. But they, rather that managers, are the
ones programmers are working for. I wonder how software would change if the
user was a more prominent figure in the programming landscape."
Very well worded point. The more you care about the well being of a user, the
less a manager is an adversary and the more they become a misguided person who
needs to be convinced. The adversarial relationship between management and
programmers is the fault of both sides.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
MacBook Pro 2016’s Touch Bar – Apple’s Tease to Touch in Computers - WeirdoWizard
https://medium.com/panda-blog/macbook-pro-2016s-touch-bar-apple-s-tease-to-touch-in-computers-d5702f0c7ad#.oio6bix6x
======
ciconia
I guess it's difficult to form an opinion without having actually used this
novelty UI, but on the face of it I have the strong feeling it introduces more
problems than it actually solves. Anybody who has actually used it care to
comment?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Nethack: The Greatest Game You Will Ever Play - flatline
http://thegreatestgameyouwilleverplay.com/
======
Natsu
I love the challenge of the early game, but more than one character has died
to bit rot once I've got a full ascension kit and something drags me away.
It's just so tiring to slog through the last levels, when there are 80
messages about monsters missing to read every turn and the crazy summoners
have you surrounded with 800 weak monsters. Sure, you can wipe the floor with
them for the most part, but you die if you get a little too careless with your
HP.
That said, I might just roll up another of my favorite neutral human wizards
for fun. Mindflayer meat is just so delicious....
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Nebulo: Python Library and CLI for Reflecting GraphQL APIs from PostgreSQL - oliverrice
https://olirice.github.io/nebulo
======
oliverrice
Author here!
Nebulo is very much a work-in-progress, but its reached proof-of-concept
viability so I'd love to hear what the community thinks!
At the moment, the motivation for the CLI is mostly to give quick feedback to
people who want to try out the project. I'm curious if anyone has a use-case
the CLI running a production ready web server?
In the short-term I expect to focus query safety and the last remaining
elements of the relay connection spec (reverse pagination) that aren't
implemented yet.
[https://relay.dev/graphql/connections.htm](https://relay.dev/graphql/connections.htm)
Please feel free to raise any killer feature ideas in the comments
Contributors wanted!
Shutout to a few related projects written in other languages that inspired
development of Nebulo (via envy):
JS: [https://www.graphile.org/](https://www.graphile.org/) Haskell:
[https://hasura.io/](https://hasura.io/) Clojure:
[https://github.com/graphqlize/graphqlize](https://github.com/graphqlize/graphqlize)
lmk if I missed one
------
oliverrice
If someone could send me an invite to lobste.rs so I can post there too I'd
appreciate it! My email address can be found here
[https://github.com/olirice/nebulo/blob/ee16a6acbf91652ae84ea...](https://github.com/olirice/nebulo/blob/ee16a6acbf91652ae84eabdf66a6567fb7e0fce0/setup.py#L8)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
AERO Token: Enabling the Drone Superhighway Using the Blockchain - mercurialshark
https://medium.com/@aerotoken/aero-token-enabling-the-drone-superhighway-using-the-blockchain-ce2cf5004a10
======
meri_dian
Why does a blockchain need to be used here? A database would be sufficient.
Why restrict the service to a single currency? Just seems like a cover to hold
an ICO and make some money.
The concept seems odd too. Contiguous property owners will probably not all
participate so the drones will be forced to fly nonlinear routes.
~~~
andrewfhart
regarding the concept... the part I like about it is that it provides a
mechanism for property owners to at least have a "say" in what flies over
their property (and when). It's perhaps not a big deal now, but if drone
delivery, et. al. become commonplace, I see this as the drone equivalent of a
do-not-call list.
~~~
mercurialshark
Agreed, the voluntary participation component is a material differentiator, as
opposed to thrusting air traffic over people's homes or property, as is the
case with most infrastructure development (railway, pipelines, transmission
lines, etc) usually in the form of an eminent domain action.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google launches Endangered Language Project - sew
http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/06/google-launches-endangered-language-project/
======
systematical
Who else thought this was going to be about dying programming languages?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Cyanogen Announces Strategic Partnership with Microsoft - sebgr
https://cyngn.com/press/cyanogen-announces-strategic-partnership-with-microsoft
======
mkesper
Compare that to: [http://www.cyanogenmod.org/blog/microsoft-and-
cm12-1-nightli...](http://www.cyanogenmod.org/blog/microsoft-and-
cm12-1-nightlies)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Haxe 3 Released - raphinou
http://haxe.org/download
======
dsirijus
I've been haxing for some time now, and I know of at least one startup that
uses/used it (Profitably).
In short, Haxe can produce swf and neko binaries and C++, C#, JS, Java and PHP
source.
Language itself is, for my humble old school OOP taste, really well done and
compiler is _blazing fast_. So fast that people now implement real-time error
checking by simply compiling project (with few additional flags).
Real perk here for me (a game dev) is not so much Haxe as libraries for cross-
platform development, namely NME, which appears to have some restructuring
going on right about now [1]. It is SDL-based haxe library that's really the
one powering cross-platform game deployment. And it's pretty great at that,
but a bit unstable. The goals outlined in the video linked should get that on
the right track.
Of other interesting things, 2d physics engine named nape [2] comes to mind.
It blows Box2d out of the water in oh-so-many aspects, particular ones being
memory and framerate stability.
[1] <http://vimeo.com/66996045>
[2] <http://napephys.com>
Edit: ...and it has absolutely amazing community of doers!
~~~
azakai
> In short, Haxe can produce swf and neko binaries and C++, C#, JS, Java and
> PHP source. [..] Of other interesting things, 2d physics engine named nape
If Haxe can compile into JS, it would be cool to have online demos of things
like nape (their site requires flash when you click play, not sure if that is
to run flash or show a video).
Are there are online demos showing an interesting Haxe project compiled into
JS?
------
evincarofautumn
Haxe is pretty cool from a language standpoint. It’s certainly an improvement
in some areas on its closest relative, ActionScript 3. Particularly “enums”[1]
(ADTs) are excellent to have, as I’ve been spoiled by them in Haskell, as well
as proper generics, “switch” as an expression, and other such goodies. Bit of
a shame that they kept the fat old “function” keyword, though. The type
inference system is also a bit lacking—I don’t like how it can depend on
control-flow order whether you get a type error or not[2].
I recall that the compiler would often produce different behaviour on
different backends, including crashes. Presumably this has been addressed in
recent versions? It’s one of the reasons we chose AS3 when developing
Spaceport[3] and stuck to matching Flash behaviour as closely as possible.
[1]: <http://haxe.org/ref/enums>
[2]: <http://haxe.org/ref/type_infer>
[3]: <http://spaceport.io/>
~~~
novalis
I don't see how type inference in Haxe is worst than AS3 type inference. Think
it stands on its own on that particular point.
I also never had a crash with something out of the running service compiler,
even earlier since I started using it at 2.x, you probably evaluated it in a
1.x version ? You talk of enums but that was at the top of the "pros" around
4/5 years ago.
Leaving AS3 and being able to target all the systems I want to target, was the
reason Haxe became valuable to me. So that "reasons we chose AS when
developing Spaceport" is sort of telling about Spaceport and nothing else. It
isn't an option for everybody, really. You can build all sorts of projects on
it, from a server daemon, to a casual game on mobile through the usage of Haxe
NME / openFL. Things have moved on, so to say.
~~~
lucian1900
It's rather bad compared to Haskell or (Oca)ml, in fact it's bad even compared
to Scala.
------
csense
This was once on my list of things to learn, because every time I looked at
Flash, I saw that Adobe wanted a three-or four-figure sum for the proprietary
toolchain, and the open-source toolchain was very poorly documented (and what
little documentation existed seemed to expect you to know the terminology and
workflow of the proprietary toolchain).
Imagine a world where gcc is the only open-source C compiler, and gcc required
you to run preprocessor, compiler, assembler and linker directly, manually,
and you had never used any compiled language before, and the gcc docs assumed
you know which of these programs you needed to run, and in what order, to
compile your programs, and these components were each separate downloads
written by different people and offered for download alongside all the
individual tools in the binutils suite. So you have no clue which of the
dozens of tools you actually need, in what order you need to run them, you've
also never written in any language but Python and Javascript before, and the
things you need to do to get programs to run in those languages is nothing
like what C wants, and none of the information you lack appears to be written
down anywhere that your very best Google efforts can find.
In this world, of course you can pay Microsoft $300 for a C compiler with an
IDE which takes care of everything for you, and a lot of people swear by C and
do amazing things with it, but really you don't want to spend that kind of
money for a tool you know nothing about, and so you just sort-of limp along
with Python and Coffeescript, and miss out on the C world entirely.
That's the situation Flash development was in before Haxe came along.
Of course, now you can use HTML 5 canvas for stuff that previously required
Flash, so Flash is kind of obsolete.
~~~
dougk16
FlashDevelop is (and has been for 3 years at least) a very solid and easy-to-
pick-up way to develop Flash/AIR applications without having to touch anything
proprietary AFAIK, except the runtime of course. The SDK might technically be
proprietary in some sense, but is open source and managed by Apache
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_Flex>). Overall, you don't need to
purchase anything, and the free workflow is IMO even better than those you
have to purchase, including FlashBuilder and FlashCSx.
FlashDevelop is also a great IDE for Haxe development, so overall, I'd say put
these back on your list to learn. :-)
I think Flash still has some life left in its newer form of AIR for mobile.
Having done a lot of HTML5 stuff the past year, I do miss the relative
simplicity of it, not having too many cross-browser headaches. Going to try
the Haxe->HTML5 workflow soon and see how that works out.
~~~
csense
> for 3 years at least
I think I researched the state of Flash for developers about 2000, and again
about 2005, and last looked at it around 2008 or 2009. Haxe was just getting
started the last time I looked at it, and I've heard it mentioned a couple
places since then. Anything that's happened in Flash development-land in the
last three years isn't on my radar.
Really, my early ventures into Flash-land were so discouraging, and in more
recent years the advent of HTML5 was so encouraging, that Flash may end up
permanently relegated to my low-priority pile of things like Lisp, Prolog,
Haskell and Unity, things I want to look into again when I have mountains of
free time and/or money to spend on extremely unfamiliar things, which might
possibly give me interesting new capabilities, but for which an initial cost-
benefit analysis has ended in pointed, skeptical questions that I can't answer
very well.
------
thorum
New features: <http://haxe.org/manual/haxe3/features>
------
seivan
I've heard great things about Haxe for game development. Apparently it beats
the crap out of Flash for portability when target desktop and mobile.
------
sbarre
Is something like Haxe really that in demand?
I haven't heard of Haxe much (the last time was probably on here) but in
theory it seems like a great idea.
I wonder why it's not more popular?
~~~
thorum
I personally wouldn't do any medium-to-large JavaScript project in anything
but Haxe at this point.
> I wonder why it's not more popular?
It's a relatively young language (8 years old, but it's only been mature for a
fraction of that). I think it just hasn't reached critical mass yet.
~~~
sbarre
Very interesting.. I hadn't thought of this particular use-case (targeting
Javascript)...
You've had good success with cross-browser issues?
~~~
seabrookmx
HaxeJS comes with a built in JQuery extern, so you can basically make a page
the same way you would with a JS/JQuery frontend, but you get the language
feature and type checking benefits of Haxe.
JQuery should handle all your front-end cross-browser issues.
Also, you can do your backend in Haxe, and target the NekoVM (via mod_neko
(single thread per request) or mod_tora (multi-threaded) for Apache) or
NodeJS. Haxe could do this long before Dart showed up.
------
kelvin0
to make desktop/www apps in one go. However, I have not found one single
complete UI solution that is completely cross platform for Haxe. It seems to
me that it's a write-once runs everywhere BUT has librairies which are target
specific (for GUI at least).
Correct me if I'm wrong because I would love to start developing on Haxe ...
until I have a proper GUI lib\framework.
~~~
kelvin0
Let me correct my last post: I recently installed this in order to make
desktop/www apps in one go (Haxe=>Desktopa and WWW). But I have not found any
GUI Libs that are multitarget (CPP, www, IOS) etc.. Please correct me if I'm
wrong I'd love to use this otherwise
~~~
dsirijus
This works rather well <https://github.com/RealyUniqueName/StablexUI>
But we're all pretty much _roll your own_.
------
thrownaways
Slightly off topic. Not sure your affiliation or if someone from the project
will read comments.
On the front page, if the designer could line the letters up with the bezels,
I think it would look a little better. Only have Paint on this machine but:
<http://imgur.com/uYYV8Qt>
~~~
oblique63
I believe that 'misalignment' was intentional to preserve the illusion of
depth between the placement of the devices. And while I agree that it's a tiny
bit harder to read, lining the text up would just ruin the image for me; in
fact, I think the text is too aligned _as it is_ to make it work in that
context. If readability for that headline is a prime concern, I would just go
with another image/presentation entirely.
Pedantic, I know... lol
------
notjustanymike
As a front end developer doing a lot of UI work in AngularJS, where does Haxe
fit for me?
~~~
btipling
Haxe "compiles" to JavaScript. So I imagine it may be suitable as a
replacement for JavaScript if you wanted such a thing.
~~~
city41
Using a program to convert from one language to another is "compiling". The
recent backlash against the notion that Haxe, CoffeeScript, etc compile to
JavaScript is annoying. The act of compiling does not require going to an
object code based language.
~~~
rys
Agreed, plus we also have a better word than compile for source-to-source
compilation at the same conceptual level of abstraction above the machine:
transpile.
------
MrBra
one humble question: why is not popular?
------
NKCSS
I must say that the site is pretty misleading with having a MacBook Air and
iPhone in the mix there, since it cannot compile to Objective C...
~~~
ZenoArrow
Is that so? <http://www.nme.io/>
Aside from that, is Objective-C even a requirement for OSX/iOS development?
Vanilla C should work too, as Objective-C is a superset of C89.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
TurnTable.FM DESTROYING SOPA - djohnsonm
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10021156/TurnTableFMnoSOPA.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10021156/TurnTableFMnoSOPA.png
======
swasheck
we have very different definitions of destruction
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Surviving the coronavirus, then testing positive again - mudil
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-03-13/china-japan-korea-coronavirus-reinfection-test-positive
======
newfeatureok
There are some questions I haven't been able to find good answers to in
addition to the one posed in the article:
1\. Is it possible to get COVID-19 twice?
2\. If (1) is true, are the symptoms the same (if applicable)?
3\. If (1) is true are you still contagious?
4\. There's evidence that there are multiple strains, can you get both
strains?
5\. What's the likelihood that a mutation will occur once treatment is more
widespread?
6\. Does the heat make it significantly less likely for you to get COVID-19?
My impression so far is that we'll never get rid of this thing, and at _best_
this will be something like the seasonal flu, where we'll just have to live
with it and great shots yearly.
~~~
leesec
1\. Is it possible to get COVID-19 twice?
No, doesn't seem to be, but you might still have "viral shedding" for a bit
even after you are "recovered". meaning you could still be contagious.
4\. There's evidence that there are multiple strains, can you get both
strains?
You shouldn't think about them as multiple strains, as of now it is 1 disease.
5\. What's the likelihood that a mutation will occur once treatment is more
widespread?
Mutations occur all the time, there are already 10's of known mutations of
virus, it doesn't mean there are 10 separate diseases.
6\. Does the heat make it significantly less likely for you to get COVID-19?
There's some evidence warm weather slows spread for viruses like this, but we
can't assume that about this virus yet. A good counterpoint is Qatar adding
258 cases in one day, it's hot there.
~~~
nostromo
Flu viruses don’t spread less when it’s warm. They spread less when it’s more
humid.
For the northern hemisphere it’s much less humid in winter, but that’s not
true everywhere.
[https://www.livescience.com/27533-flu-transmission-
humidity....](https://www.livescience.com/27533-flu-transmission-
humidity.html)
We really should be increasing humidity in hospitals and offices in the
winter. Newer planes have already been moving in that direction (to increase
comfort).
~~~
nedwards72756
Also, spreading of flu during "flu season" is marked by holidays when long
distance travel happens. This causes slightly different strains of the flu to
be brought into regions where people do not have a natural defense to that
strain.
~~~
slowmovintarget
Interesting tidbit I learned at a Town Meeting (streamed) yesterday. Winter
Break in Massachusetts was instituted to halt the rapid spread of flu during
the winter months. Kids would take it into school, spread it among themselves
and bring it home to adults, who would get hit harder by it.
The winter break put an an incidental isolation in place that slowed the
person-to-person spread down.
This is why schools have to close now to control the spread of COVID-19.
~~~
cvwright
I think you mean February break.
Winter break usually refers to the break that includes Christmas and New Years
Day.
In Massachusetts they instituted a second break in February, in addition to
spring break in April, in order to cut the flu season.
------
Ahmed90
Dr. Vincent Racaniello was a guest on a Twitch.tv podcast hosted by Ethan
Evans (Amazon VP) and Devin Nash (CMO @N3RDFUSION)
They talked for 2 hours and pretty much covered a bunch of questions about
this subject, there is so much misinformation and panic going around
Here is a youtube link if anyone is interested @
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWNuDT4t-TM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWNuDT4t-TM)
Also a Pastebin with the highlights
[https://pastebin.com/8juyjNFq](https://pastebin.com/8juyjNFq)
\---
Dr. Vincent Racaniello, Ph.D. (@profvrr on twitter) is Higgins Professor of
Microbiology & Immunology at Columbia University Medical Center. He has been
studying viruses for over 40 years.
~~~
pmoriarty
Dr Racaniello is also the host of the _This Week in Virology_ podcast, which I
highly recommend.
They've had a series of episodes on COVID-19 recently, all highly informative.
Episode 590, the most recent one, debunked the "two strains" rumor that's been
going around.
You can hear the episode here: [1] and read a transcript of the portion of the
episode where the rumor was debunked here: [2]
[1] -
[http://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-590/](http://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-590/)
[2] -
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22564199](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22564199)
~~~
Ahmed90
Yep
------
jostmey
I did some reading on coronaviruses and learned these viruses do not have
reverse transcriptase, which would allow an RNA virus, like a coronavirus, to
incorporate into the host genome, becoming a permanent resident. In other
words, the viruses lack the machinery necessary to convert themselves into DNA
and cannot cause a chronic infection.
That said, it is possible that people co-infected with another RNA virus
expressing reverse transcriptase would allow the coronavirus to incorporate
into the host genome
~~~
echelon
Some DNA viruses, such as the Herpesviridae, integrate into the host genome by
injecting a circular plasmid into the nuclear membrane.
This is why you can always have HSV, chicken pox (singles), Epstein-Bar...
Granted, Coronavirus is an RNA virus, and RNA is much shorter lived and more
susceptible to mutation than DNA.
~~~
ksk
A plasmid does not 'integrate into the host genome'. The entire genome for
human cells is stored inside the nucleus packaged as chromosomes. The plasmid
exists outside of this, and just hijacks our replication machinery.
------
DiogenesKynikos
These tests test for the presence of viral nucleic acid. You can still have
detectable levels of viral nucleic acid in you after the infection has ended.
What actually matters is whether or not you have virus replicating in you. The
presence of viral nucleic acid is an imperfect proxy for that.
------
tannerbrockwell
I warned you a week ago we would "waste of resources" and here we are:
"Health officials are struggling with a complicated message — more people can
get tested, but those with mild symptoms should stay home and practice social
distancing. Some go so far as to warn that widespread testing at this point
could threaten the U.S. response by burning through precious supplies just as
a tidal wave of sick people descend on the system — a message at odds with
administration announcements that millions of test kits are finally becoming
available."
[1]:
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/21/coronavirus...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/21/coronavirus-
testing-strategyshift/)
------
strategarius
There are many cases of "false negative" with current testing kit. Most
probably, patient who almost recovered, received false negative result and has
been released from quarantine still being contagious. Partying with neighbors
definitely was a bad idea.
~~~
sbmthakur
There are case(s) in India where potential patient(s) got around thermal scans
by consuming paracetamol that suppressed their fevers.
------
irjustin
I really hope it's simply poor diagnosis. It appears to be, so it's not yet
time to be scared.
But, if the virus is capable of mutating at the rate of the common cold and
reinfect - I see no way out from under this other than a new way of life.
~~~
_bxg1
Seeing as China's condition seems to be improving, instead of having cases
just keep burning indefinitely, I doubt that's the case.
~~~
ceejayoz
China's still in lockdown, though, which would be that "new way of life"
(until a vaccine) if re-infection is common.
~~~
malandrew
I'm wondering if China is shooting itself in the foot by being on lockdown
because they may just be delaying the inevitable now that it's pandemic and at
risk of becoming endemic.
If we assume this will become endemic and a vaccine is a ways off, it would
seem like the best approach is to flatten the curve just under the healthcare
system capacity and get it to "pass through" most of society quickly (i.e.
everyone who is at lower risk gets infected and quarantines until viral
shedding stops).
Doing this would allow us to return the economy back to normal as quickly as
possible and prevent all the fallout from an indefinitely stopped economy.
Once most people have had it, we'll essentially end up in a state of herd
immunity and it becomes statistically less likely than other health concerns
at-risk populations had before COVID-19 was even a thing.
Meanwhile China, being on lockdown the entire time is still susceptible to
having it become a pandemic within their own population as soon as they lift
the lockdown and try to return to normal because they citizens haven't had the
opportunity to develop antibodies as broadly.
~~~
peterwoerner
That seems to be what England is planning on doing.
[https://twitter.com/wtgowers/status/1238395750360461312](https://twitter.com/wtgowers/status/1238395750360461312)
~~~
DanBC
But see this thread for some discussion of the risks of the strategy:
[https://twitter.com/iandonald_psych/status/12385183716516495...](https://twitter.com/iandonald_psych/status/1238518371651649538?s=20)
~~~
christoph
Thanks for posting this. I was initially very negative about the UK strategy
yesterday, but on reflection today I think they may have a very sensible long
term approach to the situation, although highly risky to balance correctly.
------
KCUOJJQJ
Can someone tell me if the virus could be persistent? The virus is related to
chickenpox according to [0]. And according to [1] "Once _chickenpox_ has
resolved, the virus may remain inactive in nerve cells." Risk factors for
_shingles_ are: "Old age, poor immune function, having had chickenpox before
18 months of age".
[0]
[https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/covid-19/medicalinformation.html](https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/covid-19/medicalinformation.html)
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shingles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shingles)
------
codeulike
A slightly more informed article on huffpost:
"Can You Get Coronavirus Again After You've Already Had It?"
[https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/can-you-get-
coronavir...](https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/can-you-get-coronavirus-
again-after_l_5e6a8e2fc5b6dda30fc57d7d)
Edit: Also, Fortune:
"Why are patients who recover from coronavirus testing positive again?"
[https://fortune.com/2020/03/06/coronavirus-recover-test-
posi...](https://fortune.com/2020/03/06/coronavirus-recover-test-positive-
twice/)
------
numpad0
The article doesn’t say whether the status of survivors are declining or not,
only that they remain positive.
~~~
koheripbal
_some_ , not all.
------
djaychela
Heard something about this on one of Sam Harris' two podcasts on the subject
this week - that this is typically because of a false negative test
(indicating recovery from the virus) during what in reality is a longer,
uninterrupted period of infection.
~~~
taeric
Please be crisp on this. That is one hypothesis, but do we have the data yet
to make sure it is the answer? I'm doubtful. Could also be unknown recall
rates on the test. Could be plenty of things.
~~~
xeromal
What does crisp mean in this context.
~~~
taeric
I am just meaning to be clear and not to stretch claims beyond what we know.
So, for example, I have a hypothesis that this is mainly baseline lung damage
causing severe cases. That said, I cannot claim that is what it is.
I'm sure I have been sloppy and pushed this idea some without being clear it
is just a hypothesis of mine. That said, I try and be clear with that message.
~~~
cblades
"mainly baseline lung damage" could you expand on what you mean there?
~~~
taeric
Copying from
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22562362](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22562362)
The part of Italy hit also has air quality, per aqi searches, that is
comparable to the region in China that was hit hard.
Have people looked that it is not age, but baseline damage to your lungs that
is the main factor in serious cases? Older people will have more exposure to
local air pollution, just from having lived longer. That existing damage can
be what contributes to complications, right?
------
mensetmanusman
If there is a 20+% false positive/negative rate, then there are many people
this will happen to.
------
chiefalchemist
My understanding is PCR doesn't actually test for the virus itself. It tests
for antibodies. Such that, once you get a virus and have antibodies, you have
them for life. The idea of getting it twice seems odd.
~~~
jhayward
No, PCR is not an antibody test. It amplifies DNA or RNA sequences which are
known to exist in the virus. If enough unique sequences are found the test is
positive.
~~~
chiefalchemist
Right. Thanks for clarifying.
To clarify further, it doesn't actually test for the virus. It tests for DNA /
RNA presence. It's a proxy.
Not being critical, etc. Simply nailing down loose ends.
~~~
jhayward
> it doesn't actually test for the virus. It tests for DNA / RNA presence
The virus is nothing but DNA or RNA.
The snippet testing establishes a statistical baseline that rules in the
presence of the specific dna/rna of the virus to within the required
certainty.
In other words, you don't have to feel every inch of an elephant to know for
sure you've got a hold of one. Just enough features to make it unique to just
elephants.
------
allovernow
If you can get reinfected, there's a good chance that the second infection
will have a particularly high mortality rate, because this virus likely has a
property known as antibody dependent enhancement[1]. Long story short, your
normally protective antibodies actually work for the infection. This was a
property of past coronaviruses like SARS and is likely why no vaccine was
successfully developed.
1.[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S128645792...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1286457920300344)
~~~
sashaafm
That means the population overall may build immunity to it?
~~~
allovernow
Well, not exactly, it means that "immunity" may actually be dangerous or
fatal. Because immunity implies release of antibodies on re-exposure, except
in this case the antibodies bind to the virus, as normal, but then the virus
infects much more readily, prompting the body to produce more antibodies and
mount an ever greater immune response in a dangerous cycle.
------
rossdavidh
Maybe because the false-positive rate for asymptomatic patients is estimated
at 80%?
~~~
numpad0
False _positive_? I’ve heard although false _negatives_ (contracted but
asymptomatic) can be up to 40-60%, but RT-PCR is reliable at declaring
positives.
~~~
whoisjuan
There's a possibility for false-positives. I think there's a type of test that
looks for an enzyme that you could have without contracting the virus. I saw
an article in HN this morning, but I can't find it anymore.
Also, false positives could happen as a result of bad logistics and management
of the specimens.
Some useful sources that seem to validate the occurrence of false positives:
\- This research on testing specifically calls out the fact that their method
didn't yield false positives in trials:
[https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.E...](https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.3.2000045),
which seems to indicate that it's common for false positives to occur when
developing testing methods for new viruses.
\- This research talks about false positives in asymptomatic patients:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32133832](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32133832).
"In the close contacts of COVID-19 patients, nearly half or even more of the
'asymptomatic infected individuals' reported in the active nucleic acid test
screening might be false positives."
\- This guy in Egypt is apparently a false-positive, likely due to a
mismanaged testing protocol: [https://www.livescience.com/matt-swider-stuck-
in-egypt-coron...](https://www.livescience.com/matt-swider-stuck-in-egypt-
coronavirus-quarantine.html)
------
sandGorgon
This is a very weird article. I'm not sure if its just an old article that got
recently republished.
Because the latest research shows that there are two strains of COVID and
reinfections are happening because of the other strain infecting you.
[https://academic.oup.com/nsr/advance-
article/doi/10.1093/nsr...](https://academic.oup.com/nsr/advance-
article/doi/10.1093/nsr/nwaa036/5775463)
[https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/04/coronavirus-chinese-
scientis...](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/04/coronavirus-chinese-scientists-
identify-two-types-covid-19.html)
~~~
allemagne
I can't find where in those links it supports the claim that "reinfections are
happening because of the other strain infecting you"
------
tannerbrockwell
The tests are not accurate. [1] We are running around like chickens freaking
out about tests. The only thing to do at this point is Social Distancing so
the growth curve flattens out. Testing is NOT a solution. Testing will not
make a sick person better. We have limited resources. Testing is being
advocated by those trying to trace the community spread. I have news for you,
if you think you have it you got it! Everyone will get it. Tracking this is a
waste of resources at this point as the false positives mean additional
limited Frontline Health Care workers treating actually sick individuals. We
need to minimize the community spread, that means stay away from events. Work
from home.
Individuals should self quarantine at any sign of illness. Critical patients
should be admitted to hospitals. Everyone else should do everything in their
power to slow the spread. You got a cough? Stay home. You feel tired or run
down? Stay home. You have a fever and it went away? Stay home for the next 14
days. If your employer will not let you work from home, email them that you
believe you are an asymptotic carrier of the COVID-19 virus and if they will
not let you take paid sick leave or work from home you will be in the office
immediately. Tell all your coworkers you requested to stay home and management
wouldn't let you... Let the lawyers sort it out with HR.
[1]:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32133832](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32133832)
~~~
grawprog
>I have news for you, if you think you have it you got it! Everyone will get
it. Tracking this is a waste of resources at this point as the false positives
mean additional limited Frontline Health Care workers treating actually sick
individuals.
I'm glad to see someone say this. The over reaction is causing more problems
than the actual virus. With every other recent potential pandemic, there was a
reasonable response, the severity of the diseases were responded to
accordingly, panic was at a minimum, especially considering more recent scares
have been with viruses that cause far more serious diseases than this latest
one.
This time, there's been an extreme focus on infection rates and zero focus on
actual symptoms, which from every account i've seen so far, do not seem to be
very terrifying for 99% of the population, yet the reaction has been just over
the top everywhere.
This is going to spread around the world, we'll either get it or we won't,
it's not going anywhere, it's out in the world, as soon as the first person
got sick and spread it, it was inevitable. There's so much effort globally
going into trying to stop or hide from this and I still don't really
understand why.
When I was a kid, it was a regular thing to expose kids to chickenpox because
it was just better to get it and get it over with, chickenpox sucked a whole
lot. A whole lot more than having covid-19 would be from what I can tell.
It's the symptoms of a disease that scare me, not whether i'll get it.
Personally, I was a lot more worried about the recent flu virus from a few
years back that was killing young healthy people, than this disease that's not
much more than a bad cold unless you're knocking on death's door already or in
your 80's.
If people that get it, don't even realize they have it and nothing bad is
really happening to them, then why should I be losing my shit and freaking
out? Why should I be scared of getting a disease that's about the same as
something I get nearly every year anyway?
~~~
wpietri
> do not seem to be very terrifying for 99% of the population
This is a dangerously bad take. The death rate is in the 2-3% range.
Hospitalization in China was 15%, with 5% in critical care.
Even if you are not personally vulnerable, please understand that those who
are also actual humans, and have actual humans as family members. And if you
can't manage to care about that, recognize that a pandemic of this magnitude
could easily overwhelm the US hospital system:
[https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/10/simple-math-alarming-
ans...](https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/10/simple-math-alarming-answers-
covid-19/)
As we're seeing in Italy, an overwhelmed hospital system leads to increase
death rates from many other causes, because suddenly the level of care goes
down. If all the ICU beds are full and you, say, get hit by a truck, you'll be
triaged along with all the other people needing ICU. If a COVID-19 patient
looks more likely to recover than you, well, you'll be left out in the
hallway.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Opinions on the best PHP IDE? - grobolom
Dear HN,<p>I'm having trouble finding an adequate IDE to use for my PHP development. I'm part of a small company that has a relatively very large project base. I've been going through the IDEs of choice, and haven't been able to pick one. Could you help me out?<p>Here are the requirements:
-word wrap
-remote debugging
-easy integration with SVN or CVS
-fast text suggestion
-fast in general<p>I've tried the following IDEs so far: Eclipse, Netbeans, PhpED, Zend Studio 7.1, PDT. All have their issues - many don't have code folding, and stuff like Zend and Eclipse are fairly slow (at least when compared to PHPed. However PHPed has poor integration with Linux and is also the costliest of the bunch.<p>Any suggestions would be appreciated.
======
Travis
If you have a Mac (fast Mac), Coda is very Mac-like and friendly. However it
slows my 1 year old Macbook pro down quite a bit, so it's by no measure
"fast". More of a text editor too, really.
~~~
grobolom
I wish I had a Mac. This is actually our main drawbacks - our company needs a
somewhat unified system, which is why I'm asking for suggestions. Sadly, none
of us have Macs, so while I'd love to use Coda (Seriously, I love that
program. Using my friend Matt's Pro is simply a pleasure because of it) it's
one of the programs I can't use.
------
nreece
Notepad++ works just fine. It has plugins for source control.
------
eof
[http://arstechnica.com/open-source/guides/2009/05/vim-
made-e...](http://arstechnica.com/open-source/guides/2009/05/vim-made-easy-
how-to-get-your-favorite-ide-features-in-vim.ars)
Seems relevant.
~~~
grobolom
Vim is, sadly, wholly inadequate for my needs. It kicks ass for speed, and I
didn't know about the code completion, so that's a plus. But for integration
with our current systems, it's just not enough.
Version control is much more difficult, and remote debugging is extremely
useful to us. Quick project management is also more difficult with Vim,
despite the rapid integration with the shell.
~~~
eof
I have been using fugitive.vim for integration with git, I don't know about
svn or cvs as I don't use them.
The thing is vim needs to be (but can be!) tailored to your needs.
------
erikstarck
Komodo Edit is pretty good.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Audio archive of the British Computer industry - chr15p
https://www.bl.uk/voices-of-science/themes/designing-and-programming-computers
======
chr15p
This is a whole series of clips from much longer interviews including snippets
about working with Alan Turing on the Manchester Mk1, and Tony Hoare talking
about the invention of Quicksort
The full interviews are part of the oral history of british science at
[https://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-
history/Science?_ga=2.161461950.26...](https://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-
history/Science?_ga=2.161461950.265800737.1544213938-1533403599.1540030058)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Connect's Julian Gough: We're Being Algorithmically Sorted and Controlled - DanBC
http://www.unboundworlds.com/2018/08/connects-julian-gough-algorithmically-sorted-controlled/?ref=PRH96C06AE639&aid=randohouseinc26226-20&linkid=PRH96C06AE639
======
petermcneeley
"Kids will use CRISPR, and the even better tools coming through now, to fuck
shit up, because that’s what kids do...My guess is, a lot of kids and
terrorists are going to accidentally injure or kill themselves with their
home-made superbug, long before they get a chance to spread it." No expert but
this sounds like pure fantasy.
~~~
pdkl95
I used to work at the JGI[1]. As we were technically part of the DOE, we were
occasionally accused of being a "bioweapon lab" and other evidence-free
conspiracy theories. We were a high-throughput sequencing lab; experimental
research and development of _anything_ was well outside our capabilities.
(almost all of or lab space was related to keeping our (Sanger) sequencers
running nonstop) Most of the staff thought idea that we were making bioweapons
was hilariously misinformed.
Well, some of us stopped laughing when we _accidentally_ created a "superbug".
We used a _lot_ of agar plates to clone DNA plasmids with _E. coli_. The
plates were filled by hand at an agar dispenser, which resulted in a very
small amount of splashing of agar onto the counter next to the dispenser. This
was carefully cleaned every day, but.... nobody remember to clean _underneath_
the dispenser* where an imperceptibly small amount of indirectly splashed agar
started to accumulate. This agar had ampicillin in it to stop other bacteria
from growing.
Eventually, this repeated depositing of bacterial growth medium and an
antibiotic created a particularly nasty resistant strain of _Staphylococcus
aureus_. The person that eventually discovered the problem and cleaned up the
agar underneath the dispenser ended up hospitalized on an IV of one of the
"antibiotics of last resort".
Are kids or terrorists going to use CRISPR or other genetic engineering tools
to _intentionally_ create their own weaponized superbug? That seems unlikely
in the foreseeable future. Are they going to _accidentally_ create a superbug
that was just as damaging? Yes, they absolutely will, because I've already
seen it happen with people that _did_ have the necessary training sand
expertise[2].
[1] [https://jgi.doe.gov/](https://jgi.doe.gov/)
[2] No offense intended to the good people at the JGI! This was a very human
mistake that the lab learned from; changes were implemented immediately to
prevent this type of problem from ever happening again.
[*] Speaking of problems at that lab, we were fined (correctly) by OSHA for
storing the H2O2 alphabetically,,, next to hydrazine.
~~~
konceptz
Thank you for the story, I find this fascinating! I’m really surprised how
easy it was to accidentally grow this. Is this a 1/(very high number) chance
occurrence or is it a somewhat normal happening if proper steps aren’t taken
to clean?
~~~
pdkl95
Growing a resistant strain was more or less guaranteed, because we were
effectively creating the ideal evolutionary pressure: an ideal growing medium
that strongly favors any additional resistance to ampicillin. It's the same as
why doctors remind you to _finish_ any prescription of antibiotics even if you
feel better early. It's basic survival of the fittest, where we're strongly
defining what "fittest" means.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimicrobial_resistance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimicrobial_resistance)
------
DanBC
He wrote the poem you get when you beat the ender dragon in Minecraft.
He's talking about his new book, which seems interesting.
------
severine
>> _...and smart critics like Cherian George get pushed out, which is
terrible, because he’s exactly the kind of guy Singapore needs — someone born
in Singapore, who is aware of the system’s virtues, but who can gently point
out the flaws. (Read his The Air-Conditioned Nation, and Singapore, Incomplete
for the best overview of the country.)_
[https://www.cheriangeorge.net/](https://www.cheriangeorge.net/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Ask HN: What startups are in Philadelphia? (Help me find a job.) - phillywork32
I'm looking for jobs in Philly.<p>While normally I would look for a job in Silicon Valley (and I am just in case), my girlfriend lives in Philly, and for a variety of reasons, cannot leave in the near future. Ideally, I'd like to be close to her, so I've been applying to jobs in NYC, but Philadelphia would be ideal.<p>I've had a lot of trouble finding companies there though (which I found mildly surprising, given the number of schools there). I've looked at DreamIt Ventures portfolio companies, searched TechCrunch and Crunchbase and other such blogs.<p>But you guys are all far more connected into the startup scene, so I thought maybe I could try crowd-sourcing this.<p>I don't think you guys want my whole resume, but just the highlights: I'm a new-minted CS major from a small liberal arts school. I have some experience in both programming and systems administration. I'm mostly interested in Web 2.0 startups. (Eg. I applied to Invite Media, but now that they were acquired, I fear my application will die a quiet death.)<p>I really appreciate any help you guys might be able to offer me.
======
codeslinger
There are plenty:
* Monetate * Infuse Media * Venmo * Vuzit * MyYearbook * Relay Network * PackLate * ClickEquations * Portico
And these are just the ones I could think of before I got bored with this
question ;-)
Also, First Round doesn't really invest in a lot of Philly startups at this
point. They do know most of the people in the area, though.
------
shedd
Check out TechnicallyPhilly.com - they occasionally post some jobs and cover
the startup scene - you should be able to find some additional startups linked
to from there.
You also should get connected with Philly Startup Leaders
(phillystartupleaders.org) - seems like there are always startups on the
listserv that are looking for technology folks.
Actually, speaking of that, one startup just mentioned to me yesterday that
they are looking for someone. Send me an email at the address in my profile
and provide some details around your programming experience and I can
introduce you.
------
gyardley
I'd get in touch with an associate at First Round Capital and ask for
introductions - Philly is their neighborhood and they might know of something
interesting. I personally know that AdCopy has a decent engineering office
there.
------
steveklabnik
I don't know if they're hiring, but I love the guys over at Venmo. It's my
favorite Philly startup.
Or if you want to trek across the state over here, we (Pittsburgh) have a
serious lack of good programming talent.
------
kortina
Ticketleap, Nearverse, and Duck Duck Go are a couple of other Philly tech
companies.
Let me know if you want to grab coffee and chat about the tech scene here.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Marco Arment & Instapaper’s Reading List - jmartellaro
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/marco_arment_instapapers_reading_list/
======
dkasper
Weird how it switches from MA to AM halfway through...
------
baconface
This cache-hit data would actually be interesting to look through.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Fog Machine – Making hosting servers from home more accessible - mStreamTeam
https://fogmachine.io
======
zzo38computer
There are some other kind of servers that someone may wish to install, with or
without RPN, such as:
\- Mail server
\- NNTP server
\- Gopher server
\- HTTP server
\- IRC server
I don't know what the reverse proxy network is capable of.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
GrapheneOS - asymmetric
https://grapheneos.org/
======
brudgers
a few months ago,
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20148771](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20148771)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Investing in Art for Commoners? - gtsnexp
https://www.masterworks.io/
======
gtsnexp
This strikes me like a novel/bold way of granting access to an asset class
that would be otherwise completely inaccessible to the average person.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Adwords Triangulation Method - aundumla
http://www.stompernet.com/blog/marketing/stompernet-going-natural-30/
======
baltcode
The link doesn't work ... gives me a timeout
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
I'm a beginner javascript coder. Please give me some ideas for creating webapps. - udb
I'm a beginner javascript coder. Please give me some ideas for creating webapps.
======
fesuffolk
Make one that pulls data from a json feed and presents it. heres what i mean >
[http://atleastimtrying.github.io/codeschool-
report/](http://atleastimtrying.github.io/codeschool-report/)
If you don't have a codeschool account try mine (in the placeholder text) and
see what I mean.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Volkswagen ID3 has “massive” software problems - kozak
https://electrek.co/2019/12/19/volkswagen-id3-has-massive-software-problems-as-company-begins-year-of-ev-introductions/
======
kozak
I immediately understood that this is the case once I heard that VW is
manufacturing the cars, but intend to deliver them only half a year later. And
now my suspicion is confirmed. I bet they are trying to not just simply get
the software running, but get all the Automotive SPICE procedures right, which
is probably the real culprit here.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Dolphins recorded having a conversation 'just like two people' for first time - Cozumel
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/09/11/dolphins-recorded-having-a-conversation-for-first-time/
======
wonks
"That's it for us monkeys."
[http://www.theonion.com/article/dolphins-evolve-opposable-
th...](http://www.theonion.com/article/dolphins-evolve-opposable-thumbs-284)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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The sixth mass extinction is here - ca98am79
http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-sixth-mass-extinction-is-here-say-stanford-researchers?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=eb6860a4ff-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-eb6860a4ff-281895037
======
istvan__
It is very sad that we destroy the planet... :(
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: An alternative to Horowitz and Hill? - jgrahamc
Can anyone recommend an alternative text to Horowitz and Hill? Although I think it's a great reference text and is full of useful circuits, there are times when I wish H & H were more pedagogic. Is there a good 'learning' book that would complement H & H?
======
joe_bleau
You do know that there is a companion hands-on lab book for AofE, right?
[http://www.amazon.com/Art-Electronics-Student-Manual-
Exercis...](http://www.amazon.com/Art-Electronics-Student-Manual-
Exercises/dp/0521377099)
The ARRL handbook is also a very practical intro text, but quite broad.
[edit] Oh, another decent book that's aimed at technician level students:
Electronic Principles by Malvino. I've got an older edition from my high
school days, and it's a real easy read with lots of explanation of transistor
circuits. [http://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Principles-Albert-
Malvino/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Principles-Albert-
Malvino/dp/0028028333/)
------
RiderOfGiraffes
I've just pulled out my H&H and had a look. It's terse, but its explanations
are pretty complete. Looking at one circuit and trying to work out why it
works I had to back-trcak through several earlier sections, but it seemed
pretty clear.
I'm not sure what else you'd be looking for. Pedagogically if you start from
the front and work carefully through it then I think it would be hard to beat
it.
I can't help but feel that anything more targetted at teaching would be 5
times the size, or cover one fifth the ground. Can you be more specific about
how you feel it falls short?
~~~
jgrahamc
I guess my problem is that I ended up feeling it's too terse. I read chunks of
it years ago when I studied electronics and I've be working through it from
the beginning as a way to occupy my bus commute (along with 8,000 other things
:-) and there are times when it's a bit infuriating because it's so terse.
~~~
RiderOfGiraffes
I think it's a "Read like math" not a "Read like prose" situation. The best
learning mantra is "See one, Do one, Teach one" and I think they've conflated
the first two parts of that. They give you the information, but force you to
work through it to achieve understanding.
Beyond that attempt at helping you to find the right attitude with which to
approach the book, I no further advice.
I'd be interested in hearing why you're catching up on electronics of this
type. Maybe we really should have a London meetup.
~~~
jgrahamc
_I'd be interested in hearing why you're catching up on electronics of this
type._
Mostly because I like making physical things and electronics is something that
I know some things about.
------
npk
Sparkfun just started selling a book called "Electrical Engineering 101". I've
never read it, but I imagine it's pretty good.
Do you have access to a good electronics lab? A lab + H&H might be sufficient.
I learned 80% of my electronics this way, but the last 20% was learned from
old crusty EEs. If you don't have access to a lab, you can build your own
(oscilloscope, function generator, power supply) for a few hundred dollars. I
don't know where you can find old crusty EEs.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Statement Regarding Recent Media Coverage [pdf] - rav
http://www.mossfon.com/media/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Statement-Regarding-Recent-Media-Coverage_4-1-2016.pdf
======
rav
In the end of the press release, Mossack Fonseca comment on "specific
allegations in the media reports". Note how the list enumeration jumps from
(f) to (h) without any (g)... I wonder if they erased one of the rebuttals
just before releasing the statement.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Foreign Linux: Run Linux binaries on Windows without drivers or modification - anacleto
https://github.com/wishstudio/flinux
======
mappu
Cygwin is impressively complete - if you haven't checked in on it recently,
there are over 5000 packages in the official repo (that's more than Arch
Linux's official repos), and adding the
[http://cygwinports.org/](http://cygwinports.org/) repo gives you full KDE,
GNOME 3 and Xfce on windows (although KDE has a first-party port).
What this tool offers over Cygwin is the ability to run _unmodified_ linux
binary-only software for which you do not have the source code. For me there's
not very much of that although i release some at $DAYJOB.
~~~
Maakuth
My biggest gripe with Cygwin (aside performance on some syscalls) has been
package management, which used to require setup.exe to add or upgrade
packages. That was nicely mitigated when I found out about apt-cyg[1]. It's a
apt-getish frontend for setup.exe command line. Not as nice as real apt-get of
course, but "apt-cyg install something" takes care of the most important use
case.
1: [https://github.com/transcode-open/apt-cyg](https://github.com/transcode-
open/apt-cyg)
EDIT: changed to github url
~~~
Lambdanaut
It would also be really nice if Cygwin did a quick ping on all of the package
hosts and then ordered them in order of least latency relative to you.
Oftentimes I have to re-start the install process because I accidentally chose
a host that's slow enough to delay the install for hours.
~~~
AlfonsoP
I wish it would sort by network throughput instead of latency.
------
kyberias
This has been tried before as the author notes. E.g.
[http://lbw.sourceforge.net/](http://lbw.sourceforge.net/)
Previous experiments have stumbled on Linux usage of %gs and other
segmentation issues.
The present project is possibly trying to overcome those obstacles with
dynamic recompilation. It's in very early stages though.
~~~
david-given
Hey, I resemble that project!
Yeah, it ground to a halt due to fundamental differences in the way Linux and
Windows binaries work. I'm actually now kind of scared at how much _working_
hackery LBW ended up containing: it'd dynamically patch the binary after
trapping out at instructions manipulating things that Windows wouldn't allow
access to.
(The LBW instruction patching code is here. It's entertainingly bonkers.
[http://sourceforge.net/p/lbw/code/ci/master/tree/src/ehandle...](http://sourceforge.net/p/lbw/code/ci/master/tree/src/ehandler.cc))
Not all the horror was Windows, mind: Linux's interface to executables is
barely documented and extremely fragile, involving passing a key-value table
full of magic parameters on the stack after the argument and environment
tables. And, of course, I'd have to replicate this otherwise glibc would crash
out. (At least, I thought I did --- I cannot now find any of the actual code.
Maybe I got rid of it?)
I eventually gave up because it was obviously not a tenable approach. Plus,
it'd completely fail on 64-bit platforms. Dynamic recompilation is obviously a
way more preferable approach. If I ever have to use Windows again, god forbid,
I'm definitely checking this out.
------
Surio
This looks like an interesting project to keep an eye out for. On the topic of
cygwin, I would also like to recommend mobaXterm, that I use instead of cygwin
nowadays... It is an interesting choice in the alternatives we have. So, those
of you that use cygwin, take a look at it here:
[http://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/](http://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/)
If you are thinking about trying cygwin, I would recommend this instead, as
the installation is relatively easier when compared to cygwin. (I have no
affiliation to mobaxterm)
Another new indispensible tool for me is cmder, which leverages ConEmu, clink
and mysysgit to provide a wonderful UX in the commandline for me - just
brilliant. Here:
[http://bliker.github.io/cmder/](http://bliker.github.io/cmder/)
Memo to self: Spend the next 4 months learning powershell during lunch breaks!
~~~
bryanlarsen
The big problem with MobaTerm is that it includes really old versions of the
standard unix utilities, and it's difficult to integrate with newer & missing
utilities. This isn't a problem that's limited to MobaXTerm, but the way
MobaXTerm does things makes it harder to fix.
Let's say you want to set up a standard dev setup. So you install MobaXTerm,
vagrant, emacs, msysgit, and rsync. Each of these require SSH for full
operation, so in the interest of making things easy, the installers bundle
SSH. You now have up to 5 copies of SSH installed, all storing their private
keys, cert stores and configuration in different places. What a mess. And some
things aren't compatible with each other. IIRC, vagrant is built with cygwin,
so you have to make sure you use a cygwin rsync with it, the msys rsync won't
work.
To keep everything sane, start with the standard cygwin or msys installer, and
install everything using that.
Does conemu include mingw-get? If so, that sounds like it might be a good
solution. If not, I recommend avoiding it.
Or just reformat and install Linux. That's what I ended up doing. Putting up
with poor HiDPI support in Linux was much more tolerable than the horrors of
trying to use Unix utilities in Windows. And HiDPI support is improving
quickly in Linux land....
~~~
Surio
I agree with your point on the very clumsy SSH tack-on take up with this
approach.
About the older utilities, again, I completely agree. But, the way to create
the mx3 bundles is easy. Actually, on the website/forums, several users there
have been a few 3rd party utilities of the same. The format is transparent for
anyone to create their own set of utilities on top of what mobs provides.
------
kikki
So it's cool, and a lot of people might see it as a bad thing that if this
took off could potentially bring Linux users back to Windows. I personally
think it could do the reverse though and encourage people to try Linux. If
they enjoy using some small selection of tools that work on Windows
(presumably all CLI tools) then they might be convinced to give a full distro
a go. Interesting concept though and I really hope it works out.
~~~
spurgu
I think it would mainly be used by Linux users forced to use Windows for some
reason (at work, for example).
~~~
sunilkumarc
I totally agree with you. Some of us who really like Linux are forced to use
Windows at work. This project is really going to help a lot of people :)
~~~
wampus
But if you can run this, you can run VirtualBox, which is a much safer
alternative (and simpler, if a live ISO meets your needs).
~~~
usefulcat
But not equivalent for some use cases. Like, say I want to use 'find' (not
windows find.exe) to find files on a Windows filesystem.
~~~
leni536
What I typically miss on Windows is "rsync".
------
sz4kerto
If this can bring me a working * nix shell under Windows, I'd be extremely
happy. Windows is great for everything except I have never learned PS as well
as I know the * nix shells -- with this, I could enjoy the hardware and proper
multi-monitor support, speed and stability (seriously) of Windows and use the
* nix command line.
~~~
cssmoo
To be honest, and I say this with a massive cringe, after 20 years of Unix I'm
more productive with PS in a couple of months! It's quite refreshingly easy to
use and I genuinely had no idea how much time I was wasting on parsing
streams.
Now I feel horrible for revealing my dirty secret :(
~~~
joelthelion
What do you use for grep?
I tried using Powershell and did a few things with it, but while it is a great
shell, the lack of good tools like grep prevented me from being really
productive.
~~~
pjc50
I've ended up with
Select-String "pattern" -Path file.txt | ForEach-Object { Write-Output $_.Line
} | Out-File t.txt
Slightly Heath Robinson, but by default PS will _truncate_ lines to terminal
width, even when writing to a file, which is a disaster for any kind of
subsequent machine processing.
~~~
hug
For the uninitiated this looks completely barbaric, but makes a whole lot of
sense when you consider that PS is built around an object-based pipeline.
'Select-String' in PS doesn't actually return a string, but a 'MatchInfo'
object, which contains more properties -- 'linenumber', 'context', etc, as
well as the 'line' property which contains the actual matched lines as
strings. The default output from any part of the pipeline is a human-
readable/terminal-display-compatible representation of the object's commonly
used properties, thus the truncation.
As an aside, you can replace the foreach with select-object for an efficiency
gain:
sls "Pattern" file.txt | select -exp line | out-file t.txt
~~~
ygra
You also don't technically need to go through Select-String if all you care
about is the line itself:
(gc file.txt) -match "Pattern" | Out-File t.txt
Comparison operators that get an array as their left argument return the items
where the comparison returns true.
------
VSpike
Always nice to have more alternatives, but I find either
[http://bliker.github.io/cmder/](http://bliker.github.io/cmder/) (a tricked
out console with a nicely tweaked git bash environment) or
[http://babun.github.io/](http://babun.github.io/) (Cygwin but easier to
install and with nicer defaults) better for daily use when forced to wallow in
the Windows pool at work.
------
Intermernet
Firstly, this looks brilliant. If anyone can remove the extra layers of
cygwin, mingw, xming etc. and provide a direct ability to execute linux
programs from powershell/cmd , I call Black Magic. Voodoo I tell you; Windows
cannot be this user friendly (I work with it every day).
Secondly, completely off topic, I noticed that Github picks up 0.4% of the
code-base as Objective-C
([https://github.com/wishstudio/flinux/search?l=objective-c](https://github.com/wishstudio/flinux/search?l=objective-c))
due to the files functionally consisting of a single line, `#pragma once`. Is
this statement more common in Objective-C than C or C++ ? Just wondering if
Github detects the language based partly on some statistical analysis of other
existing code, or if it has "set rules".
~~~
matthewmacleod
Github's language detection is actually open-source — you can have a look at
what it does here:
[https://github.com/github/linguist](https://github.com/github/linguist)
Linguist uses a number of different 'strategies' to identify the language – in
the case of C vs. Objective C, it uses a pretty simple heuristic
([https://github.com/github/linguist/blob/master/lib/linguist/...](https://github.com/github/linguist/blob/master/lib/linguist/heuristics.rb#L83-L90))
to disambiguate C/C++/ObjC where required (such as in header files, which
can't be disambiguated by file extension.)
In this case, the content of the file can't be reliably disambiguated, so I
imagine it'll probably fall back to the Bayesian classifier. Interesting that
the classifier identifies it as Objective C though!
~~~
pbhjpbhj
I'm not a programmer so bear with me.
They have a cadre of samples in the project, searching on "#pragma once" shows
no examples of Objective-C (that I can see) using that line but does show
C/C++ examples with it. Is that the input to the classifier?
The heuristic you linked appears to default to identifying as C; that regex
doesn't look like it has anything to make the else-if return the sample as
Obj-C.
I'd have expected the fact that most other files on the project were C to be
the dominant factor that - without any other positive result in the classifier
- would weight the files as being C. Presumably this data isn't used in
classifier though?
Interesting.
------
fijal
This is quite funny, since you can't run _unmodified_ linux binaries on other
linuxes (that is a binary distribution on linux is generally not a thing and
there will always be a distribution that does stuff just differently enough),
so a recompilation on windows sounds like as good of a solution.
~~~
emodendroket
I remember from trying to use Linux on a desktop machine (and this was like a
decade ago so maybe it's no longer relevant) that graphics drivers were often
distributed only as binaries.
~~~
towelguy
And I remember (from a decade ago as well) having to recompile my kernel to
use those binary graphics drivers :)
------
sspiff
This is brilliant! Much more light weight than a VM. I hope they can iron out
the remaining kinks.
I used coLinux many moons ago, but it hasn't been updated in any significant
way lately, and still doesn't work on 64-bit Windows.
~~~
stuaxo
It's a shame - it looks like the work was started, it probably isn't _too_
much work to fix the 64 bit stuff ??
~~~
sspiff
I think it's in part because 64-bit requires driver signing, and there are no
funds for signing the coLinux64 driver.
------
72deluxe
Very impressive. I'd appreciate if they could get WINE working under this
though..... :-)
~~~
leni536
Actually there is an effort to make wine compile and run on Windows.
[http://wiki.winehq.org/WineOnWindows](http://wiki.winehq.org/WineOnWindows)
~~~
Mahn
That's interesting, I wonder if it's mature enough to run on itself :-)
------
sengork
"Linux services for Windows NT"
------
anotherevan
This reminded me, with some nostalgia, of a long time ago using Cooperative
Linux on my work Windows machine with sole intent of being able to use Amarok
as my media player.
(Version 1.4, before Amarok turned to crap. I use Clementine now, which has a
native Windows port.)
------
abalashov
I admit that I am a bit lost as to the value of this endeavour, or Cygwin for
that matter, in an era where just about all commodity hardware can sustain
virtualisation.
I used to have the problem of my dayjob requiring me to run Windows and use
Outlook/Exchange, and Cygwin was a useful means of coping with that. But that
was back in 2006. Now, it seems to me one should just fire up a Linux VM in
VirtualBox, full-screen it, and pretend the encapsulating Windows doesn't
exist.
~~~
vectorpush
_or Cygwin for that matter, in an era where just about all commodity hardware
can sustain virtualisation._
I use cygwin primarily as an ssh client for my local linux VMs. My IDE is
vim/tmux/zsh, and I've found ssh via cygwin provides an experience that
closely resembles gnome-terminal in appearance and behavior (gnome-terminal
being the best terminal emulator around IMHO)
~~~
Scarbutt
seems overkill, wouldn't just putty do in your case?
~~~
vectorpush
As I said, I prefer cygwin's look and feel to the alternatives. Also, cygwin
supports transparent windows out of the box. I don't think it's overkill at
all, the only package you need is ssh, everything else lives in the VM.
------
malkia
Wondering how well fork() works?
~~~
RDeckard
I was wondering the same thing. The features page claims "copy on write fork
implementation" but that is not universally true. A cursory look at the code
suggests that every allocation is a Win32 file mapping object (aka NT section)
underneath, which the fork worker (mm_fork) remaps into the forked process.
This means the memory is shared between two processes, and not in a CoW
fashion. A write to the memory region from the forked process will be visible
in the parent. These are not correct semantics for fork.
I am hoping I misread the code and someone can prove me wrong here, because it
looks like a cool project with a lot of potential.
~~~
malkia
From little I've read on cygwin mailing list (btw, cool folks over there) - it
seems the problem is not very easy. If I'm not mistaken the Windows Kernel
actually does support fork()-ing, but the win32k system somehow "forbids" it
(lots of grains of salt). After all for a long time there was a commercial
UNIX compatible offering on Windows that probably used fork() all over and
must've worked (also it supported case-sensitive names for the filesystem)
BTW, the coolest usage of fork(), and granted a pain in the ass to port
possibly was the one in REDIS where antirez used it to fork() at certain time
the current process, then write back the state of memory knowing that it'll
get a "snapshot" of it, and if writes to disk succeed, this "snapshot" would
correctly and fully be written to the disk.
I know there are plenty of other uses (for example this way "lua" can do
threads with just a bit of a communication library on top... e.g. any language
without explicit thread handling can actually use them).
Wondering what made win32k folks disable it. Possibly there are lots of
gotchas...
~~~
MichaelGG
Using fork to get a "snapshot" of memory seems... like a roundabout way of
doing things. The underlying memory mapping mechanism should expose a simple
way of just doing it directly. (I _still_ don't understand the point of fork,
especially when most of the time exec is just gonna overwrite things anyways.
And the impact fork has is to massively increase potentially used memory,
leading to the dumb memory overcommit semantics and hack fixes like OOM
killer.)
~~~
malkia
Yup. indeed, but it seems so elegant, in the same way (elegant) as one can
implement undo using closures - at the expense of unaccounted resources (cpu,
memory, who knows what else).
From redis's page:
[http://redis.io/topics/persistence](http://redis.io/topics/persistence)
"RDB needs to fork() often in order to persist on disk using a child process.
Fork() can be time consuming if the dataset is big, and may result in Redis to
stop serving clients for some millisecond or even for one second if the
dataset is very big and the CPU performance not great. AOF also needs to
fork() but you can tune how often you want to rewrite your logs without any
trade-off on durability"
------
cturner
As cool as this is, a remaining problem I'd have for using Windows is that
I've found git to be slow there. For example, the responsiveness of 'git
status'. I'd guess this is something to do with NTFS being optimised for
things different than unix-tradition filesystems. If so, this tool wouldn't
improve that. Does anyone know more about this area?
~~~
babuskov
Git is built for Linux and relies on some features of Linux filesystems for
speed. As long as underlying filesystem is NTFS, there's no way to speed up
Git.
Although, the "Support NTFS native hardlinks and emulated symbolic links"
could be relevant if it does some magic there.
~~~
eps
> Git [...] relies on some features of Linux filesystems for speed.
Modern NTFS versions support all the things that git needs, so it has less to
do with having magical features in Linux filesystems per se and more with the
fact that they aren't properly mapped onto respective NTFS features in the
abstraction layer (MSYS or similar).
------
tlb
I really want Linux emulation for OSX, which should be much easier. FreeBSD
had very usable Linux emulation on a similar kernel.
------
sgt
Cmd.exe is an abomination though - and Cygwin defaults to using it for
terminal use. I see that this project also does that.
~~~
rossy
> Cmd.exe is an abomination though
Agreed, but I don't think Cygwin defaults to it any more. It uses mintty now,
which understands Cygwin ptys and has a native Windows interface.
I guess you could also use an X11 terminal emulator in this project.
~~~
sspiff
Correct. Cygwin has used mintty as a default since 2011[1].
[1]: [http://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin-
announce/2011-11/msg00040.html](http://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin-
announce/2011-11/msg00040.html)
------
neiesc
I am getting error when using go
[root@ForeignLinux ~]# gccgo hello.go -o test /tmp/cc06PbMI.o: file not
recognized: File truncated collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
[https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Go](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Go)
anyone experienced this?
------
shiggerino
I don't understand what this is supposed to accomplish. What's the advantage
of building on GNU/Linux and running on Windows compared to building on
Windows and running on Windows? Seems like it's needlessly complicating things
making a binary compatibility layer.
~~~
kyberias
It's trying to accomplish exactly the same as Wine, only vice versa.
There is a considerable amount of software written and compiled for Linux that
is not available on Windows.
------
heywire
Unfortunately seems to crash immediately on Windows 10 Tech Preview (build
9926). It's what I can expect for using a prerelease OS though.
Edit: It looks like this might have been something on my end. Re-downloaded
and extracted and it seems to be working now.
------
deevus
Personally I have been using Scoop with ConEmu. I find that is enough for most
things :)
[http://scoop.sh/](http://scoop.sh/)
[http://www.fosshub.com/ConEmu.html](http://www.fosshub.com/ConEmu.html)
~~~
stuaxo
Is Scoop better than Chocolatey? I like chocolatey, but things dont install
semi-regularly.
~~~
deevus
I prefer it over Chocolately, however Scoop is mainly aimed at developer tools
on the command line. Scoop is more a replacement for Cygwin.
Disclaimer: I'm a Scoop contributor.
------
alisnic
this is the exact opposite of WINE, implements linux sys calls in windows
------
justincormack
Midipix is due soon and provides a system call interface for Windows and a
Linux libc.[http://midipix.org/](http://midipix.org/)
------
gtwy
Does this support running X over SSH? The biggest drawback for me with Windows
boxes was always a lack of X support for applications I want to run on remote
servers.
~~~
fizgig
Yes. From the stock bash prompt, run "startxwin". With the resulting xterm,
you can launch any X apps within Cygwin, or you can SSH in (with appropriate
flags and xauth config, etc.) and blow back X apps from the remote Unix box.
It's really nice.
------
ericfontaine
interestingly I wasn't able to run vi, but could run vim. I reported to the
github issue tracker.
This seems very neat. Definitely much less overhead than VirtualBox. Plus can
write to the same filesystem as windows without windows admin privileges
(which can be done with cygwin, but not with virtualbox). Once it supports
x86-64 binaries and threading and users, this could be very useful.
------
bane
So this is the opposite of Wine for Windows?
------
jkot
Cool. CoLinux does something similar
~~~
elcct
I thought it's been dead for ages
~~~
derekp7
This is one of the things that's always driven me nuts on Linux, and also one
of the things I really like. Some projects that are interesting like this seem
to disappear for a while, but often the concept will be resurrected under a
new project. CoLinux is one of them, UserFS (now FUSE) is another one that
went away for a couple kernel versions and is now back. I'm still waiting for
an SSI (single system image) to make a comeback though (Mosix, OpenMosix,
OpenSSI, but none of them work with newer kernel versions).
------
shmerl
That's like Wine in reverse?
------
vander_elst
very nice project! I hope it takes off running applications on cygwin can be a
pain
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Free icons search and generator - pratamishus
http://iconizer.net
======
instakill
I really like the first-time visitor overlay.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Trust Is at the Core of Software Marketing - gk1
https://tomtunguz.com/trust-core-marketing/
======
unlinked_dll
I was once at an audio manufacturer that will be coming up on the 100th
anniversary in a few years. I distinctly remember the presentation given to
all of us where it was hammered home that the company was optimized for
preserving and expanding the brand.
For example, they would avoid changing materials/tooling for their products
that have been manufactured for decades without rigorous testing that showed
it improved the product or unless supply chain issues out of their control
forced them to (which my understanding was rare, because they engineered their
supply chain to avoid it).
Some of this is pragmatic. It takes a century to build a brand and a day to
kill it. And in that industry, brand loyalty is as important as specs. But
much more of it is genuine care for their products and customers - they hired
people who gave a shit, and the culture wasn't one where a penny pinching
decision that harmed quality would have been made, let alone tolerated.
My point is this - a brand with "trust" as a core value isn't derived just
from transparency, sharing code, auditing and communication. It's built by the
people that work on those products, sell them, and make decisions about the
product roadmap. Much the way that software architecture reflects
organizational architecture, brand value reflects culture and values of the
people that work on it.
~~~
pif
> brand value reflects culture and values of the people that work on it.
It also reflects the priorities of their customers: those who can only ask for
"cheaper" will not get anything else than "cheaper".
~~~
beamatronic
There could be such a thing as cheaper in a specific way. If I buy a
screwdriver from Harbor freight, I know exactly what I am getting. My only
surprise would be to the upside. And likewise if I buy something from snap on.
------
omarhaneef
"Enterprise buyers use third parties to buy software. They consult Gartner,
Forrester, and others to establish trust in vendors. These research agencies
diligence software products directly and through surveys. This is the reason
analyst relations are so important. Presence on the magic quadrant confers
trustworthiness."
Does anyone involved with enterprise purchasing decisions know how valuable
Gartner/Forrester endorsements are? And if being in the unmagical quadrant is
terrible?
I see companies tout them but I can't tell if they're effective.
~~~
sytse
At GitLab we spend a substantial amount of effort on Analyst Relations (AR)
which is working with groups like Gartner, Forrester, and 451 Research. On
[https://about.gitlab.com/company/team/org-
chart/](https://about.gitlab.com/company/team/org-chart/) you can see we have
two people who are a dedicated Analyst Relations Manager. They manage the
relationship but many of our product marketing managers and product managers
are involved to answer questions and give presentations.
An important thing these firms do is aggregate customer feedback. For a
consumer tool I can look on Quora and for a development tool I can look at
Hacker News. But for enterprise tools the people that use the product are
often not allowed to share feedback themselves. However they are allowed to
talk with analysts.
That is why the opinions of these analysts are often really important to
convince new customers your product is any good [https://about.gitlab.com/is-
it-any-good/](https://about.gitlab.com/is-it-any-good/)
BTW We just won a 451 Firestarter award
[https://about.gitlab.com/press/releases/2020-01-14-gitlab-
re...](https://about.gitlab.com/press/releases/2020-01-14-gitlab-recognized-
as-451-firestarter.html) which we're stoked about.
~~~
techpop10
An important distinction (as I mentioned in another comment) is that you have
no idea how much "aggregate customer feedback" Gartner really has, they don't
disclose their research methodologies at all. That's a real problem. 451
research does... and sincere congrats on your award.
~~~
sytse
Thank you!
BTW Gartner now has an online review tool called Peer Insights
[https://www.gartner.com/en/products/peer-
insights](https://www.gartner.com/en/products/peer-insights) Here you can read
the customer reviews [https://www.gartner.com/reviews/market/application-
release-o...](https://www.gartner.com/reviews/market/application-release-
orchestration-solutions/vendor/gitlab/product/gitlab) I might be a bit biased
because in 2018 GitLab won Gartner their customer choice award and recently we
won another awards based on peer insights
[https://about.gitlab.com/press/releases/2019-07-26-gitLab-
re...](https://about.gitlab.com/press/releases/2019-07-26-gitLab-recognized-
in-gartner-peer-insights-customers-choice-for-EAPT.html)
~~~
techpop10
Yes, very familiar with it... unfortunately there's a bit of vendor
gamesmanship with these and they don't inform the MQ. Sorry, I've had too many
years working with these tools, I'm cynical.
------
techpop10
"Enterprise buyers use third parties to buy software. They consult Gartner,
Forrester, and others to establish trust in vendors. These research agencies
diligence software products directly and through surveys. This is the reason
analyst relations are so important. Presence on the magic quadrant confers
trustworthiness."
Strongly disagree on this point. With the exception of 451 Research, the major
analyst firms do not share any of their research methodologies. Did they
interview/research 10 orgs or 1,000? You don't know. The biases of the
research analysts is also suspect. At Gartner, many of their analysts haven't
actually used the software they are covering. As a consequence, we have no
idea about the depth of their research at all.
The role of these analysts is to give C-level executives a "cover your a$$"
excuse if things go wrong with the software. From my experience, most
technical level decision makers rely more on their peers to develop trust than
on analysts.
~~~
pidg
Everything is ass-covering. The "trust" tech marketing builds is to say "I
trust these guys won't lose me my job", not "I trust their software works
exactly as advertised".
------
CiPHPerCoder
If it was true that trust is enough to market software, there would be _much_
more investment in application security by the long tail of startups,
consultancies, and webdev "shops".
What I've found over the years is that most people who sell software think of
security as a _value-add_. At best, it's something to bill enterprise
customers for. At worst, it's a cost center that will only be invested in if a
big paying customer asks for it explicitly, and not a moment sooner. [1]
For background: I spent years pushing the PHP ecosystem forward in
cryptography and security. I published a lot of open source libraries [2],
cleaned up a lot of StackOverflow answers [3], and had a lot of discussions
with small and medium businesses about security improvements that ultimately
went nowhere because they couldn't find budget for security.
I don't believe it's fair to say that trust is "at _the core_ " of software
marketing if so many successful software companies can get by without
investing in making their products trustworthy. After all, deception can
obviate trust in this context.
(I do believe that software _ought to_ be more trustworthy, and society should
reward companies that act with integrity. But at the end of the day, that's
not my call to make.)
[1]: [https://sso.tax](https://sso.tax)
[2]: [https://github.com/paragonie](https://github.com/paragonie)
[3]: [https://paragonie.com/blog/2018/01/our-ambitious-plan-
make-i...](https://paragonie.com/blog/2018/01/our-ambitious-plan-make-
insecure-php-software-thing-past)
~~~
reaperducer
_I don 't believe it's fair to say that trust is "at the core" of software
marketing if so many successful software companies can get by without
investing in making their products trustworthy. After all, deception can
obviate trust in this context._
What you're seeing is companies that ignore security and trust at their own
peril. There are plenty of them, and the vast majority of startups, that don't
realize how important trust and security is to large customers. Then they
wonder why they can't get their foot in the door at certain companies.
The place I work for runs _every_ software purchase through a security
committee. For that reason, we tend to go with the big brands that take
security seriously. But it's not exclusively big brands.
I worked on a particular project that needed a particular type of software.
None of the big brands had anything similar. I put together a list of five
options and sent it over to the people who actually get to make the decisions.
All five options were small developers (fewer than 50 employees). Only two of
those five bothered to respond to the initial inquiries from our security
people. Of the two that responded, only one provided answers to the follow-up
questions. Guess which one got a ~$250K purchase order the next month.
------
ropiwqefjnpoa
"Slimy sales practices provokes distrust"
How many times have you been promised the world by a sales person and then you
speak with an engineer and get a whole different story? I've learned to always
speak with an engineer and find the manager of an existing customer.
Sometimes it's good, sometimes not so much.
~~~
thrav
Being on the other side, there are plenty of times that I have to tell the
customer, “this world is only going to happen if you make the proper
investment in setting this up specific to your needs...” and then they
complain when an already overworked employee they threw it over the fence to
can’t make it sing.
Good enterprise software is almost never one size fits all, and there is
responsibility on both sides to end up with something great.
~~~
bhandziuk
Right, enterprise software is usually relying on the end user to program
everything but instead of programming in C#/Javascript they're programming in
Salesforce (or whatever)
~~~
thrav
I wouldn’t say everything. The whole point is not to rebuild security, and
infra, and the data store, etc. etc.
The first start up I worked for built a piece of software that was adopted by
large enterprises in regulated industries with 3 engineers, because they got
to piggyback off of the Salesforce foundation.
It’s just a different flavor of abstraction.
------
have_faith
> Open source companies build trust by sharing the entirety of their codebase
> to the public
This mostly only builds trust with fellow developers. I can see why it would
be seen as trust building, but I don't think it builds as much trust as
developers would like to believe. Not an argument against open source at all,
just interesting to think about how you sell open source as a feature to an
end user.
~~~
xyzzy_plugh
Also trust cuts both ways. Ultimately if you produce bloated, frustrating bug-
ridden software, sharing the source online probably isn't going to help your
case.
There's a significant collection of software that I didn't trust out of the
gate, and I now trust a lot less after reading the source (Apache projects,
I'm looking at you).
------
ChrisMarshallNY
Brand value can be trust, but it can also mean other things, like dynamism or
creativity.
Building a brand is a long, disciplined process.
I'm in the very early stages of building a personal brand. I don't expect it
to have much to show for itself for another year or two.
Part of that, is being careful and thoughtful about what I post in public
forums, whether online, or in-person.
I have made it a point to hold myself accountable for what I post. If you look
at my HN handle, you will see that I link to my corporate Web sites and Stack
Overflow story.
I may come across as pedantic and "stuffy," but I'm done with damaging my
personal brand.
Everything I do is meant as a part of brand-building.
I have had trust as part of my personal brand for a couple of decades. I was a
senior engineering manager for a very conservative Japanese company. You don't
get to stay long in those types of positions without a demonstrable degree of
personal integrity.
------
yodon
Given the data and evidence based posts the OP is known for, this post feels
disappointingly light and anecdotal.
~~~
ttunguz
Thanks for the feedback. What data would help with the argument?
~~~
yodon
> We won’t buy from people or companies we don’t trust. The same is true in
> software.
That reads like a sensible statement, but I'm not sure it's true or if it's
true I'm not sure how the scale factors fit in.
Just raising the obvious counter-example, Facebook is pretty wildly
distrusted, and yet is widely used by people who distrust it. Did they
"purchase" FB? Not literally, but they certainly engage with it in ways
similar to purchasing and pay for it with ad viewing.
As to the data question, I'd think the best approach would involve looking for
explicit measures of trust (eg surveys) and seeing how those map to revenue
growth or subscriber growth for software companies.
The brand strength you called out may be relevant as a proxy for trust, but I
think that's assuming the thesis to be true and then proving it to be true by
saying strong brands have strong sales numbers therefore trust is the key to
sales (without ever proving trust is key to software brand strength).
Another approach might be to look at sales numbers following data leak
incidents, but I think that's more complex because these days those
announcements are so prevalent they may not stay in the news cycle long enough
to matter (which arguably is itself a sign trust is not as key a
differentiator as one would expect).
As one more thought, I'd expect b2b software purchase decisions to have a
steeper dependence on trust than b2c, but that's just a guess.
Your thesis is certainly an important one to explore, and I think all of us
hope it's true because an economic incentive like this is a powerful force
encouraging companies to treat our data in a trustworthy manner.
------
grammarxcore
I'm not sure what the takeaways from this article were. I feel like the
incredibly short article was more a tautological executive summary of code
axioms.
------
gartneranalyst
A Gartner analyst here. AMA.
~~~
jariel
What are the best 'early' or 'pre-steps' a smaller company can do before
they're likely to be on your radar? And what is the best stage at which to
start focusing on your type of orgs?
At what point do such firms start developing 'quadrants' for smaller, niche
services or industries? There are surely a lot of SaaS type platforms out
there that just don't make the cut into your reports, so where is that
threshold?
~~~
gartneranalyst
You should identify a target list of analysts who cover your domain and brief
them on your offering. You are never too early IMO.
We typically do not produce Magic Quadrants for small, niche oriented sectors.
We will use another document type called a Market Guide for such markets.
Market Guides do not rank vendors like a Magic Quadrant.
------
rusticpenn
Google seems to "survive" after becoming so untrustworthy ( in shutting down
tools)
~~~
SQueeeeeL
Yeah, trust is just a way to break into the market. Sorta like the old saying
"it takes a poor genius to become rich and a rich idiot to become poor"
------
freepor
You cannot maximize near term profits and long term customer trust. And the
financing systems of the modern economy are set up for near term profits. Thus
you cannot do right by your customers unless you are financed outside of the
finance industry (bootstrapping, family business, rich dude).
~~~
unlinked_dll
If profit is orthogonal to a core value of the brand, then that value is not
important to the market. That's just knowing your customers.
As well, near term profit and long term brand goals are never decoupled. You
don't one day decide "our brand is X" but "our brand will be X" and you need
to do Y and Z _today_ and every day following to build up to X.
And I firmly reject the idea that near-term profit is disjoint from long-term
consumer trust, at least for professional products and tooling. If they don't
trust you not to screw them today or tomorrow, they won't pay you. I think
this is why Google and Facebook can't make money from anything but
advertising, they have to give away everything else for free or at a loss
because no one trusts them at all.
~~~
learc83
It happens all the time. Tool Company A is known for making quality tools.
Company B buys company A and immediately decides that they can make more money
in the short term by using cheaper components. The cheaper components aren't
immediately obvious--it takes a few hundred hours of wear to be apparent.
It takes even longer for word to spread that Tool Company A is no longer a
quality brand.
Company B sacrificed the long term brand, but they managed to increase short
term profits.
~~~
unlinked_dll
I mean there are a couple ways to look at that. For me it's recognizing that
building trust as a brand is part of creating value. The pump and dump scheme
that you're describing is about exfiltrating that value from the brand.
But that doesn't really work until either the company is in a situation where
you need to pump and dump to exit or it's in late enough stage that the
leaders/owners want to exit/retire. Either way the long term health of the
company and brand don't matter, by that point it doesn't matter to build trust
with customers.
~~~
learc83
That's not what pump and dump means.
>Either way the long term health of the company and brand don't matter
It's does matter because the long term option will often result in more value
overall to the new owners and customers. There is definitely a tension between
short term profit and long term profit. It's well recognized and has been
studied extensively.
------
pluc
Trust and marketing never belong in the same sentence. Marketing is the art of
inconsequential "pushing of the truth" and frivolous claims. It's the art of
shoving a sub-par product in your face over a relevant product.
~~~
gk1
> Marketing is the art of inconsequential "pushing of the truth"
What would you call it when someone, say, the product creator, speaks the
truth about a product to get the word out? That would fall under "marketing."
"Marketing" is as general a term as "programming." There are all sorts of bad
things accomplished with programming, but I think you'd agree that
generalizing all of "programming" as something negative would be ridiculous.
~~~
ravenstine
No, it's not. Marketing as a concept is totally divorced from whether or not
its message is truthful because marketing doesn't measure anything. It's
propaganda, whether or not the audience understands that or whether the
creator is being honest. The audience has to effectively use a side-channel to
figure out if a piece of marketing accurately reflects the product. Often
times it doesn't, or at least not completely, because if you don't lie or
exaggerate to some extent, your product will lose out to the competitor who
makes bolder claims, uses brighter colors, and is purposefully less specific
in their message.
The best that marketing can do to convey trust is to use social proof. After
all, _if everyone is using Brand X, it must be good, right?_ Of course, social
proof can be faked, exaggerated, or bought with a lot of money, as is commonly
done.
~~~
gk1
I think you're talking about "advertising," which is != "marketing."
To continue with my analogy, it's like saying "spam is bad, therefore all
email is bad, and email is created by programming, therefore all programming
is bad."
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why I'm Leaving America - username3
http://sailboatdiaries.com/wordpress/2012/07/20/why-im-leaving-america/
======
rm999
This essay is pseudo-intellectual. I'm not here to defend the USA, my beef
with this article honestly has nothing to do with its message. I've heard
several reasons people move out of their home countries, and as the child of
immigrants (and the friend of many expats) I fully support these kinds of
decisions.
What annoys me is this article is written abstractly and is saturated with
metaphors, but actually lacks well-argued points to support its wild claims.
How can someone argue against "it’s clear your path is unsustainable. Collapse
is mathematically guaranteed"? It reads like a diatribe from someone who has
seen very little of the world.
I want my 10 minutes back.
~~~
gexla
It's a bit rambling at points. But I can't say I don't disagree with many
points.
I have been living in a third world country for close to four years and in
many ways it feels more free living here. I can't put my finger on exactly
what it is about this country that makes me feel that way though. Perhaps it
was largely just the act of moving. Perhaps it's that this country has less
resources to put people away.
I have been looking into the easiest options to get a second passport so that
I always have a plan B.
What this article (or whatever you want to call it) doesn't seem to hit on is
that the U.S. is made up of fifty different states. Perhaps the federal
government just needs to shrink and let the states do their thing.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Tensions rise as the US is accused of cyberwarfare with France - derpenxyne
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/141094-tensions-rise-as-the-us-is-accused-of-cyberwarfare-with-france
======
bediger4000
Classic use of re-cycled Mid-century Modern Technology: the picture is almost
certainly of a Nike Ajax surface-to-air missile
([http://sortingoutscience.net/2009/11/02/scientific-
tourist-9...](http://sortingoutscience.net/2009/11/02/scientific-
tourist-97-nike-ajax/)), first deployed in 1953.
"Cyberwarfare" is so un-photogenic, they have to use cool looking "Space Age"
missiles to get us to realize that we're talking WAR here.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Rails Rumble is Complete - Judge the Entries - michael_fine
http://railsrumble.com/entries/all
======
damncabbage
Not mine, but it hasn't been posted here yet and it looks so damn nice:
<http://findthin.gs>
(Made by @sutto, @sj26 and @levibuzolic; team page is here:
<http://railsrumble.com/entries/148-grumpy-cat>)
~~~
tylermac1
Wow. That is awesome.
------
nckbz
<http://railsrumble.com/entries/263-ucommently> <http://ucommently.com/>
Busy weekend but I was able to get my app out. My little brother was all like
you should make textsfromlastnight for funny YouTube comments.... Probably
wont win any awards, but I had a lot of fun! :) Its cool to see a lot of other
people went solo too and came up with some cool stuff!
~~~
nckbz
Man! I'm noticing so many bugs and stuff. Not being able to change, fix, or
edit this until next week is going to drive me crazy.
------
jazzychad
My coworker built <http://upti.lt/> \- a trump card game. Pretty fun and very
polished for a 48hr project.
------
alexandrov
Imagine that now responding to your customers' appeals is a great fun. You get
no spam or junk mail anymore, there are neither dispatching questions to one
of your colleagues nor assigning of your own ideas to someone else. How about
making a computer classify appeals and assign them to the right person?
<http://ideahq.r12.railsrumble.com/>
------
fredoliveira
Our team had a ton of fun. Hadn't participated since the very first rumble
years ago, which we won in the design category.
Since we spend our days working on serious stuff, for this rumble we decided
to do something funny (whether this is funny is actually up for discussion).
<http://getreadytojoust.com> is what we built.
------
roninek
Our team build Jingle Boogie. It is app for making short jingles from youtube
or vimeo movies.
<http://visuality.r12.railsrumble.com/>
<http://railsrumble.com/entries/143-jingle-boogie>
------
mickeyben
Our team built Github Death Star to put some order in your hundreds starred
repositories.
We also love octocats!
<http://the-cleaners.r12.railsrumble.com/>
------
mlitwiniuk
I've created app for sharing code scraps (snippets) across group/organization.
Made just be me, aims to solve real problem, that we have at my company.
<http://scrapsapp.com/>
------
rachidalm
Rumble was fun! We finished our app it can be found at
<http://www.fixmyglobe.com>
Looking forward too see what others did.
------
andrew_wc_brown
We built a Star Trek game. Fun to play with a friend <http://the-glimmer-
twins.r12.railsrumble.com/>
------
mickeyben
Thanks to the organizers and sponsors, it was a lot of fun!
~~~
zachinglis
Glad to hear that! It's not easy, but it was definitely worth it :)
~~~
nbertram
Thanks guys! Looking forward to participating again next year!
------
AlexanderZ
I went solo and built Genka - time tracking that motivates:
<http://genka.r12.railsrumble.com/>
------
plehoux
Check out our entry, a mix between Gumroad et binpress.
<http://www.gitiosk.com>
------
ew
My (extremely biased) favourite is Folder Chute :) <http://folderchute.com>
------
manaslutech
I missed for this year. I am surely going to hack next one!
------
Cbasedlifeform
just stumbled on this via the Koi entrant link further down... some cool stuff
here -- thanks! \--v noobie RoR developer
------
AwesomeTogether
wish the contestants would open source their entries so that others can learn
from them
~~~
nckbz
Some did. <https://github.com/railsrumble/>
Mine was: <https://github.com/railsrumble/r12-team-263>
I'm definitely looking forward to going through the other entries! :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
My secret Hobby: Applying for jobs - irrlichthn
http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1223
======
maayank
"These companies don't notice that in this way, the good people a driven away,
and only the desperate will apply."
This. One of the reasons I chose my last employer (SAP, or more specifically,
SAP Research) was their no bullshit, yet very thorough, recruitment process.
Compare that with my <A very, very, well known software corp> experience,
where the phone call interview with HR went like that:
HR drone: "So, what's your degree?"
Me: "Mathematics." [didn't you read my resume?]
HR: "Oh... well... Most of the people working here have CS degrees."
Me: "Ah, well, my last job title was 'Computer Science researcher' and before
that I had several years of experience as a programmer, so I think I'll fit"
[apparently not!]
HR: "Yes, but do you know algorithms?"
Me: _bangs head on wall_
Sorry, no matter how reputable your company is, if that's the recruitment
process then I can do better.
~~~
Peroni
Let me shed some prespective.
I can absolutely guarantee you that the actual hiring manager briefed the HR
department on the job spec and had to dumb it down significantly. The summary
would have been something along the lines of 'Ideally the perfect candidate
will have a CS degree from a major University as strong algorithmic knowledge
is a fundamental requirement for the role.'
HR would then interpret this as:
1: Must have CS Degree
2: Must know algorithms.
3: Only CS people study & understand algorithms.
4: Refer to step 1.
~~~
jonnathanson
This.
Ironically, it helps to think of the HR screening process as a really dumb
algorithm. The HR staffer likely has little to no understanding of how to
ferret out "knowledge of algorithms," (or any other job skill, for that
matter). So he defaults to a list of keywords or phrases -- interpreted very
literally -- from a job description received from the hiring manager.
His internal logic is pretty much driven by two directives:
1: If a keyword or phrase is in the job description, a successful applicant
MUST have it on his resume. (Word for word, preferably).
2: Anything on a candidate's resume that is not on the job description is
irrelevant.
In fairness, there is _some_ legitimate value to the HR screening process. It
is a filter. A dumb filter, but a filter that the hiring manager doesn't have
time to run on X hundred (or Y thousand) resumes. Some HR filters are designed
to screen out resumes that don't contain the right keywords. Others are
designed to select for resumes that match all the right keywords. Either way,
the effect is similar. Of course, such a process can (and does) weed out a lot
of very talented, very qualified people.
The trick is learning how to game the filter. The filter penalizes creative or
unusual word choices. The filter flags candidates who reference someone
they've met or spoken to at the company (doubly so if that person is the
actual referrer). The filter rewards fidelity to the letter of the job
description. Tailor your cover letter and resume accordingly.
~~~
Revisor
Do you think the actual work conditions, atmosphere, and team will be better
if already the entry gate is made of mud?
How many more tricks will you have to employ after you get past HR to get
through the job itself? Let alone have some fun and learn something new.
~~~
jonnathanson
True. There's usually a correlation between annoying HR processes and annoying
corporate cultures. But not always. Sometimes there's a really cool company
that just happens to have a bad entry gate here and there. Usually this is the
case at companies that have grown hot more quickly than they can scale up
their initial HR systems.
To that point, oftentimes bad HR is really just a scale issue. A company
starts getting more resumes than its people can deal with, and so it hires HR
drones just to help with the workload. And this continues. Eventually, the
managers are so far removed from the day-to-day HR filter that they don't
really notice how bad it's become.
~~~
jacques_chester
The point of departure is that HR attains life and influence of its own. What
started as Payroll, having only a service role, morphs into an imperial
organisation jamming its long beak into all corners. "It involves humans",
goes the reasoning, "therefore we are in charge!"
------
Peroni
_These companies don't notice that in this way, the good people a driven away,
and only the desperate will apply._
It's a catch-22. Without this process, every man & his dog will apply for the
job causing the company to have to filter through literally hundreds of
applications in order to find appropriate candidates. Those that actually take
the time to tolerate the process obviously consider themselves suitable and do
really want the job.
As a Tech Recruiter, I'm generally the front line for job applications and
I'll give you stats from my most recent role:
Python Dev- London - Circa £45k
Applications: 48
* 36 highly irrelevant and inappropriate candidates that were blatantly just clicking 'apply' on every job they found.
* 6 applications with no CV attached.
* 6 potentially relevant candidates.
* Out of the 6 potentials that I spoke to over the phone and face to face, only 2 were worth submitting directly to the client.
These stats are pretty much the norm for most of the roles I advertise.
~~~
nirvana
Please tell me about the "highly irrelevant and inappropriate candidates" you
were seeing.
Were you seeing people whose previous job experience was: Receptionist,
Typist, Journalist, Janitor, Taxi Driver, etc?
Or were you seeing web developers who never mentioned python on their resume?
The reason I ask is, the majority of the times I've been screened by
recruiters, they clearly were unable to tell what was relevant and what was
not. EG: Thinking you're not qualified because you worked with a different
version of a database the employer uses, even though SQL hasn't changed
between versions and you probably usually shouldn't be writing SQL anyway in
your code.
The inability to screen properly gave me the distinct impressions that those
who were filtering me out were incompetent because they were being arbitrary,
and those who weren't filtering me out just had low standards (they didn't ask
better questions.) In the end, I was the one who filtered me out of
inappropriate jobs because I could tell by their descriptions (if they let me
see the job description rather than rambling on about how they need a "ninja
coder to take their B2B accounting software to the next level").
Do you use any software to screen the applications for appropriateness? I know
that keywords likely would only work to get rid of the 36 (or would they? Did
they all say "python" on their resume?) Would machine learning or bayesian
techniques possibly work better?
~~~
Peroni
I don't use any artificial means of filtering candidates. If I receive 48
applications, I read 48 CV's.
There were a large number of graduates with zero commercial experience and
zero open source contributions as well as a number of foreign candidates with
completely unrelated careers simply looking for a job in London. There were
also a number of underqualified candidates and people with strong careers but
zero commercial or practical experience with Python.
~~~
mironathetin
Well, for a good programmer it is trivial to learn Python, and especially
Python, in a very (!) short time.
~~~
darklajid
Learning a new syntax is not the same as actually learning the idioms
(pythonic?) that are considered good practice. And after that you'll get into
the field of infrastructure around that language. I guess if you've never
heard of Python and the company is looking for a decent programmer to help in
a (making something up as I type) medium sized Django application then you end
up with
\- you don't know Python at all
\- if you learn it (might be very fast to learn to read it, fast to get into
the basics) you're still missing out a lot (Maybe they use IronPython. Or
Pypy. You need to learn the eco system: virtualenv et al?)
\- even if you mastered that, you still don't know the basic technology they
are using (in my sample: Django)
Compare that to a guy that used Python for a couple years. That one only needs
to get into your code base and can start working right away.
~~~
mironathetin
darklajid,
of course you are right: someone who knows Python well may be better than
someone who doesn't.
But if you look at the recruiters experience, who finds only two qualified
applications, then I say: find a good programmer among the applicants who
really wants to get into Python and you will get someone who comes to speed
very quickly.
You might even find someone who is enthusiastic about his new job, instead of
someone who does the same thing since 1996, who is good at what he does, but a
bit bored too.
These recruiters always think in their own minds cage: according to them, you
start something once, and do it for the rest of your life, because nobody will
let you do something different. Most software developers are much too smart
for that cage only.
~~~
bartonfink
_Some_ software developers are much too smart for that cage only.
A large percentage of the population here falls in that category, but we
aren't representative of the industry as a whole. What do you think a Blub
programmer actually is?
------
onan_barbarian
For some reason this story reminds me of one of the Arabian Nights stories,
which, in the translation I read, began:
"Know, my friends, when I was no more than eight years old, I had already
cultivated the remarkable habit of telling one really big lie per year".
I wonder if these hobbies could be combined? Indulging in these kind of pranks
seems almost justifiable given the "can they really be serious" shenanigans
perpetrated upon those of our trade by the interviewers and recruiters.
I am polishing my resume, with special emphasis on my glory days at the
Austrian Naval Academy.
------
peteretep
I'm really happy where I'm contracting at the moment, but like to apply for
challenging-looking roles. Two big benefits here:
a) If somewhere offers you a lot money, you can take that back to your current
employer. I've had a 30% payrise from that before on my day rate.
b) Slightly bigger companies with big pockets are often hiring 'unofficially'.
That means if they know you and like you, they're often willing to employ you.
If you've applied for a job, but turned it down while being very very positive
about the company, you've got a set of contacts there to email when you
current contract doesn't get renewed...
------
mathattack
Interesting observations. As someone who has been in hiring positions over
several years, the signal to noise ratio in recruiting consistently goes down.
On-line recruiting used to be the domain of the talented. Now that everyone is
on-line, the professional job-searchers have more time on their hands.
Let's say the unqualified outnumber the qualified by 5 to 1. They're also job-
searching on company time, so they send out 5 times as many resumes as the
qualified. Their resumes then outnumber the qualified by 25 to 1. This gives
you the ratios that Peroni sees.
What's hard - very hard - is that good engineers aren't great at writing job
descriptions that are useful to HR recruiters. Conversely, many good HR
recruiters still don't understand technical job descriptions.
In the end, this is why the best recruiting method still seems to be, "Ask
your best person who their most capable friend is."
------
martincmartin
I actually look for jobs with a thorough interview process, and having to
spend a few hours solving a puzzle, on my own time, before an in-person
interview, is a plus. It means the other people I'll be working with have been
through the same thing, and there'll be a higher percentage of good
programmers among them.
~~~
StavrosK
Is your reasoning that other good programmers have nothing better to do than
solve puzzles for a few hours?
I have so little time to myself that I can't spend hours solving each little
puzzle a HR department comes up with...
~~~
healsdata
I honestly don't know what the masses expect companies that hire programmers
to do. We're told that we're not as good of a company if programmers don't
program in the interview. But then the next thing we're told is that nobody
programs on a whiteboard and/or with someone watching. To help, we come up
with take home exercises that are custom to us so we know the answers are
real. Now this article and the parent are saying we're wasting time with these
"puzzles".
When I hire, I do a phone screen before asking the candidates to complete the
code exercise. If it isn't going to be a fit from either of our perspectives,
then they didn't spend time doing it.
~~~
michaelchisari
It would be nice if companies simply asked for a code sample, and then asked
the programmer to explain what it does, their reasoning for doing so, etc.
I have a major open source project under my belt, but I've never had an
interviewer simply ask me about my code. Instead, they ask me to sort an
array.
~~~
healsdata
As an interviewer, I didn't see the value in asking candidates to complete
FizzBuzz until one of them was unable to do it. Since then, I've had a half
dozen or so candidates make it through the resume and phone screen process and
still not be able to complete FizzBuzz.
In regards to discussing existing code, I'd be more than happy to do so, but
my experience has been that about one person per stack of resumes has quality
existing code available to share.
------
neebz
I applied to a London based digital agency. In return they sent me a 10-page
document (!) asking me stuff like what were my previous three addresses ?
It was like filling up a visa application.
~~~
yuvipanda
Was the position good enough for you to fill out that form?
~~~
mdaniel
There are _no_ positions which are good enough to complete such a form.
Like a poster mentioned elsewhere: the interview process is also a strong
indicator of the internal atmosphere, too. I don't want to work for any
company which believes such a form is a good idea.
~~~
yuvipanda
Some part of me wants to believe that it is a weed out on the other side - 'if
you value your time so low as to fill out these forms, we know we can pay you
jackshit and get away with it'.
------
TamDenholm
I have the same hobby, i'm a php contractor but sometimes go to job interviews
for permanent positions even though its extremely unlikely i'll ever accept a
permanent position, but i do it for the experience of interviewing and to
become aware of the companies in my area. Also, its always nice to get an
offer of a job sometimes.
~~~
rickmb
Funny, as a company we sometimes invite contractors to interview for much the
same reasons. It's good to know the freelancers that are around, and
especially if they'll be able to fit into our existing teams, even though we
rarely make use of that option. And it helps with long-term recruiting, since
contractors regularly give up being self-employed for a variety of reasons.
We are always completely upfront about it though.
------
petercooper
I used to do this back in the late 90s! I was also self employed and happy
with it, but the added ingredient was overenthusiastic recruitment agencies
who _wanted_ me to go. I had one particularly eager guy who wouldn't leave me
alone and got me to take an interview at the BBC for Director of Online Media
or some similar high flying title (the role was not as significant then as it
is now).. I was wildly inexperienced and only 18 but I ended up spending a few
hours in BBC Television Centre and it was quite the day out ;-) The recruiter
never contacted me again after that.
------
matan_a
I've been through this as well for a very senior role:
Interviewer: "Do you know X?"
Me: "Yes"
Interviewer: "Great, do you know Y?"
Me: "Sure" (starting to get suspicious)
Interviewer: "Nice, how about Z?"
Me: "Aha" (not believing this)
Interviewer: "When can you start?"
....
This is the opposite side of the coin. This quick-fire hiring is scary and
detrimental. What would that tell you about the company? :)
------
int3rnaut
While I think it's great to stay in the rhythm of things and really get your
interview skills down pat, to me the idea of applying for a job when you don't
need one is a bit arrogant and selfish. In the grand scheme of things you took
a potential interview and maybe a job away from someone else who might have
really needed it. It's great that people want to help themselves but doing the
right thing and being nice can go a long way--if you really want to brush up
on your interviewing or just not lose touch of the corporate game there are a
lot of career centers out there just itching to give you tips and
encouragement. I'm not taking away from your message about companies and their
hiring practices in general but don't forget about what really matters.
------
BornInTheUSSR
From the comments:
I am a human resources manager, and I like to call people in for interview.
We do not have any openings but I just like to call them, give them 1-2 tests,
make them sweat, then never call them again.
It is more fun than going at the interview, you should give it a shot. :)
Daniel - 10 08 11 - 13:10
~~~
megamark16
I'm pretty sure that the commenter was being facetious, but I have worked at a
company where they actually did this. They always had job openings posted on
their website, and they would bring people in for interviews, even though they
weren't hiring and had no positions to place those individuals in. I remember
the CEO said "that way we'll have a pool of candidates to pull from if we
decide to hire someone".
Needless to say, I never referred any of my friends.
~~~
eavc
This is also commonly done when the law stipulates that a search must be done
broadly and fairly.
They know they are going to promote the guy already at their company, but they
are bound to do a full search anyway.
------
rch
Going through the motions of applying for jobs also helped me keep my resume
up to date and polished. Now that I've been in the same place for a few years
I've let that slide - time to get back in the habit maybe?
------
Triumvark
> So about once in a year I [apply to] an advertised programmers job...
This doesn't sound frequent enough to really extrapolate anything about
trends. Maybe he meant once a month?
~~~
mtogo
If he didn't apply for any jobs he would be mostly completely out of the loop
as far as the world of working for someone else goes. If he had or wanted to
get a job at some point, the knowledge of current practices would help a lot
compared to never having interviewed in years.
------
maeon3
It seems to be some bizarre tradition in this country (US) to kick applicants
in the nuts every time they apply, call or inquire about a employment position
at a company.
My theory is that if every company does this, then the current body of
employees will work harder to stay out of that prison of unemployment, where
everyone kicks you when you are down. I am in support of all the good
programmers everywhere applying to jobs without intending to take them, and
generally treating the system that hires you like crap. So next time you are
unemployed and you are treated badly, you'll at least know why they are doing
so.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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What’s the One-Stop PCB Assembly Service in Makerfabs? - Makerfabs
https://medium.com/@makerfabs_he/whats-the-one-stop-pcb-assembly-service-in-makerfabs-ab66390ec753
======
wbraun
It is a shame that almost all of the low cost PCB and PCBA services are in
mainland China. I do a lot of work with hardware and given recent events I
have been treating it as a moral imperative to find somewhere to have my PCBs
fabricated that is outside the rule of the CCP. Everywhere else has been
significantly more expensive.
I wonder what it would take to have a robust electronics prototyping industry
in the west or in a less authoritarian part of asia.
~~~
Makerfabs
I think there're some reasons why China PCB/ PCBA cost-effective: 1\. Labor
cost: There’re thousands of factories in China, and the worker’s salary is
much lower than in other countries. 2\. Geographic location: Almost 99% of the
PCB manufacturing is in Shenzhen, China, benefiting from the largest
electronic market, local manufacture power, and convenient global logistic
system, Shenzhen can do a good job on PCB with quick time, high quality and
lower cost. 3.Government policy: The Chinese government gives many policy
supports to factories on export trade.
And now Chinese PCB/ PCBA with good quality , fast delivery and good price, so
China PCBA manufacturer is a good chooice.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Prepare For The Geek Mafia - ph0rque
http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com/2011/01/prepare-for-geek-mafia.html
======
JCThoughtscream
Finding very little to disagree with here (except that odd stance on MDMA, but
I don't so much disagree as find myself cold and uninterested on the issue).
Patton Oswalt needs to spend more time doing actual research on the state of
geek culture and less time watching cat videos on Youtube. Shaking your
metaphorical stick at the kids on your digital lawn doesn't make for
interesting or insightful dialogue on pop culture.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Ambitious iOS Apps by Fraser Speirs - shivkapoor
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkcucdTp0vvNdGptN3FuQ0tURFEyMEdCcDhPT0REQkE#gid=0
======
8cmj7A
here's the associated blog post:
<http://speirs.org/blog/2011/10/30/ambitious-ios-apps.html>
------
netshade
I wrote CollabraCam, flattering to see it there. Apptopus did a fantastic job
w/ the design.
------
cschep
Get an artist involved ASAP! :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Microsoft Bing Blocked in China as Tensions, Crackdown Intensify - petethomas
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-23/microsoft-bing-search-engine-inaccessible-to-some-chinese-users
======
amaccuish
And a day later, that it is a technical error, but way to jump to conclusions
lol: [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-24/china-
is-...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-24/china-is-said-to-
block-microsoft-s-bing-due-to-technical-error?srnd=technology-vp)
------
bobjordan
Happy to report it's working again today. It's not Google but once I got over
that, I found the cn.bing.com service is still really useful here in China for
things like returning technical queries in English from sites like
StackOverflow. I really hope they don't get China banned.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Simple Testing Can Prevent Most Critical Failures - luu
https://www.usenix.org/conference/osdi14/technical-sessions/presentation/yuan
======
yeukhon
I really enjoy going to usenix and watching usenix presentations. Almost all
of them include the PDF and a pretty good quality of the presentation (and
plus audio for those who only wish to hear). Also the presentation mode is
awesome - presentation and speaker are on the same page. I just can't stand at
camera person or video editor switch between presentation and speaker
constantly. I want to read the slides, as much as I enjoy the gesture of the
presenter.
I think one take away is not just handling exception, but actually monitor
exceptions and make use of the exceptions. Very recently I was debugging an
application inside a container. The code caught Exception (base class of all
exceptions), well, I had to ask developer to log the stacktrace. Finally the
stacktrace revealed the actual problem and I was able to write a PoC to test
and narrow down the root cause to the security of the container.
With linter and static analysis we probably can encourage developers "hey look
you are catching too much or too little."
Lastly, planning for failure by doing HA design is critical. In AWS we have to
prepare for underlying host going bad (which in turns means we have to stop
and start to move EC2 instance to a different host). It's easy to say but
actually hard to do as often applications are not truly stateless. PoC
failure, stress test, performance testing are necessary.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Elixir Cross Referencer: new way to browse kernel sources - tryp
http://free-electrons.com/blog/elixir/
======
tryp
As a longtime browser of cross-referenced source generated by LXR [0] I found
this article on their new implementation of the backend interesting.
[0] [http://elixir.free-electrons.com/linux/latest/source](http://elixir.free-
electrons.com/linux/latest/source)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Google now highlights search results directly on webpages - kylebarron
https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/4/21280115/google-search-engine-yellow-highlight-featured-snippet-anchor-text
======
perfect5th
Is this just a feature of the Chromium browser itself, or is this a proposed
standard that will (eventually) extend to other browsers?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Adobe will finally kill Flash in 2020 - deca6cda37d0
https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/25/16026236/adobe-flash-end-of-support-2020
======
bluetidepro
> “We will stop updating and distributing the Flash Player at the end of 2020
> and encourage content creators to migrate any existing Flash content to
> these new open formats,”
Does that mean existing Flash content, say old Flash games, will break at said
date? Or just that there will be no more updates to Flash to any new content?
After reading this, it's not 100% clear.
It goes on to say:
> A number of gaming, education, and video sites still use Flash, and Adobe
> says it remains committed to supporting the technology until 2020 alongside
> partners like Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla.
But that seems like that doesn't align with their quoted statement of just
stopping updates/distribution?
Can anyone clarify?
~~~
WorldMaker
It does mostly mean that existing Flash content like old Flash games breaks at
that date.
Stopping distribution means that Adobe will no longer host official Flash
Player plugins for download at all, meaning that old Flash games that try to
helpfully auto-install the Flash player for you will fail as those links will
go dark. Presumably archive sites may preserve installers to manually install
the Flash Player after the 2020 shutdown date, but that will be an increased
amount of effort that will make it less likely people will do it.
Stopping updates particularly means _security updates_ , which is an
increasing reason for the ongoing maintenance of the Flash Player. That will
add an increased reason for people to avoid manually installing the Flash
Player as it will be an increasing security liability.
Most browsers are already on the path to disabling the sorts of plugin APIs
that Flash Player has used for security footprint reasons alone. When the
Flash Player no longer receives official security updates, the browsers will
have increased reason to eliminate that risk, and disable those APIs for good.
That means that a manual install of the Flash player will be increasingly
unlikely to even work soon after the shutdown date. Most browsers have already
been planning to disable such APIs and break such plugins near or around the
date Adobe has given already, so this process has largely already started.
Flash content and old Flash games are going to break. The web will be a little
bit different at that date.
~~~
ronsor
I personally don't have flash installed on my main browser and I haven't seen
it in .... months? over a year now?
~~~
meko
It comes bundled with chrome.
------
rsfinn
This article dates from 2017. I was hoping to see a more recent status report.
Any idea on what Adobe is currently up to in order to move this along?
------
spaceheretostay
Is there any program like Macromedia Flash that made it so easy and fun to
create animations and user-interactive content? I haven't done work like that
since it was Macromedia Flash so I have no idea how close other Adobe products
come or what other options there are.
But there was something magic about those vector graphics, keyframes and the
really fast ways of creating interactive content. Is there like an HTML5
animation/game studio or something?
~~~
0815test
Flash as a content-creation platform is still around, albeit now renamed
"Adobe Animate". What's being killed is the format and plugin player, the
content-creation tools now support open formats like HTML5 Canvas w/ JS/WASM.
~~~
ksec
Wow, A thousand thanks for this.
Another one of those Discover and Distribution problem I encounter. How can I
not know this exist.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
First detailed microscopy evidence of ‘nanobacteria’ - ca98am79
http://www.kurzweilai.net/irst-detailed-microscopy-evidence-of-nanobacteria-at-the-lower-size-limit-of-life?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=8d0828414b-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-8d0828414b-281895037
======
bayesianhorse
"As small as life can get" is an interesting claim. Without reading the paper
I am wondering if life before bacteria wouldn't have to be smaller. Maybe even
devoid of membranes. At the very beginning there should even have been
molecules which catalyzed (=enhanced) their own synthesis, first a little,
then progressively more until you had something like an RNA replication
machine...
And then these bacteria come pretty close to virus and cell organelles,
raising questions of when to call a parasite "life" or "not life".
~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
Prions self replicate, but require the host to have the correctly folded
protein.[1] Of course there's viruses too, which are self replicating but need
to infect some other organism.
Maybe crystals? Now we're getting in to the potentially wonky question of
'what is life?'
1\. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prion)
Edit: grammar for clarity.
~~~
fabian2k
Prions are not considered alive under any reasonable definition of life.
They're infectious, but you can't really call it replication as they just
trigger a conformational change in the correctly folded prion protein
~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
Yes, that's true. I should not have included the word 'self' with regard to
prions.
Are viruses considered 'alive'?
~~~
lepton
No. Viruses require a live host in order to replicate. That sounds
tautological, but I'm not sure how else to say it briefly.
~~~
xkcd-sucks
It's begging the question... every 'living' organism also requires a favorable
environment in order to replicate
------
pbhjpbhj
Couple of things stood out:
The DNA has been sequenced but the article reports that "The bacterial cells
have densely packed spirals that are probably DNA". To me it seems strange not
to know the gross anatomy but to be able to sequence the DNA; I can see how it
could happen.
Also "The images revealed dividing cells, indicating the bacteria were healthy
and not starved to an abnormally small size." but the write up says they
appear to need other bacteria to function properly - and suggests the pili are
involved in that. If they can stay healthy and divide in an environment
without other bacteria then what do they need the other bacteria for,
entertainment??
These parts appear to be based on the asbtract viz. " _Ultrastructural
features potentially related to cell and genome size minimization include
tightly packed spirals inferred to be DNA, few densely packed ribosomes and a
variety of pili-like structures that might enable inter-organism interactions
that compensate for biosynthetic capacities inferred to be missing from
genomic data._ "
~~~
TeMPOraL
> _To me it seems strange not to know the gross anatomy but to be able to
> sequence the DNA; I can see how it could happen._
As far as I understand, DNA sequencing is about breaking target into pieces
and using clever tricks to fish out nucleotydes and determine their order. It
seems to me that you don't need to know where and how DNA is exactly located
to be able to brute-force its sequence.
~~~
pbhjpbhj
That's what I meant by "I can see how it could happen". I guess I imagined
that they would have confirmed the major features with further microscopy
prior to publication; perhaps that's harder than I imagined but once you've
seen STM images of atoms it _seems_ like recognising DNA in a sample should be
easy.
------
ajarmst
Mimivirus
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimivirus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimivirus)),
a virus which is actually twice the size of these nanobacteria has already
prompted some debate about the relationship of viruses to the kingdoms of
"life" and, for some, a reevaluation of what we mean by "life". These bacteria
are likely to add to that debate.
------
superfx
Genetically these bacteria are apparently not that small--on the order of a
million DNA bases. We already know of smaller bacteria with just a few hundred
thousand bases (e.g. M. genitalium.) And so from the perspective of "minimal
life", these may not be all that special.
------
pjgomez
Midiclorians... finally!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Would you answer yes or no questions for 5 cents? - hsikka
I'm thinking of running an interesting economic experiment, where I charge an asker 10 cents per person to ask a number of people a yes or no question
======
quuquuquu
Mechanical turk does already exist for this, so in terms of distribution, the
problem is solved.
However the price and sample size still might need some tweeking.
Using your numbers, I'm paying $100 per 1,000 people, per question. 1,000 is
an arbitrary number I chose to represent some kind of usable sample size.
Furthermore, re: the specific 1,000 people that answer my question(s), it is
probably important to know their demographic background in depth.
This way, I don't waste $100 asking 1,000 seniors from North Dakota if they
have ever heard of my avocado toast restaurant on 32nd and Broadway.
I guess in a lot of ways, this is what survey companies and ad agencies are
doing.
So, it's an interesting problem.
------
foldr
Mechanical turk already exists for this.
------
davman
Yes. That'll be 5 cents please.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What group activity can I do to get students interested in CS? - jrubinovitz
Hi HN,<p>I'm giving a talk at a college with a NSF funded program to keep students pursuing STEM (science, math, computer science) majors. There are very few CS majors in the group, and I get the opportunity to lead an activity for an hour. Does anyone have any ideas for activities I can lead a group of 8-15 people that will get them more interested in CS? Or maybe a presentation or video I can show them?<p>Thanks guys.
======
arturoogroo
Well i think at that age kids are more interested in playing games and things
like that..You could show them how cool games are made, show them some of the
programming that involves, the design of the characters, all that stuff...Put
them some examples of video games like Angry birds, Plants Vs zombies, Fruit
ninja and so on..kids of this age are more interested in smartphone games than
console, so this could be good examples, they just don't know the magic behind
those games...Maybe they could get motivated and start their own game
someday... Good luck!
------
jrubinovitz
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I think I'm looking for something more
scientifically demanding. I'm basically trying to convert a bunch of kids
pursuing medical school, most of which probably do not have the chops to get
in. I would love to teach them some basic data mining that has to do with
health science, or dig up some data startups to talk about. I'll keep
researching.
------
kellros
I'd suggest you perhaps review the impact systems make by reviewing google
search engine, facebook app platform, adroid/ios/windows8 apps and their
intricacies.
After all, these are the stuff people use daily. You'd have a better chance if
you go into high and low details of implementations ex. algorithms, math and
relevant areas related per system.
------
pron
Umm, you can go over Facebook's IPO and Zuckerberg's take, perhaps?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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How to become the "go to" expert? - sgerard
Hey guys,<p>I am an artisan entrepreneur, so I am more familiar with my craft than I am with running a business. That said, I'm good at what I do and I was able to bootstrap a small graphic design and app development firm with the funds I've earned from freelance work. I always am willing to work hard, and have been doing so for a long time. But now I'm kind of playing it by ear.<p>There is a strong network of friends backing me, including an attorney offering free legal advice (bless his heart) and an accountant who is willing to answer many of my questions.<p>My problem, however, is that in spite of all the work and experience I have accumulated, I am pretty unremarkable, and so is my business. Contract work is exceedingly hard to come by, and my business is always in "starvation mode."<p>My current goal is to become an established expert in my local community. I have been attending networking events and connecting with good people in hackerspaces. I like people, and they seem to like me well enough.<p>But even so, it is really hard to stand out and be someone people remember. Since I am currently operating my young small business alone, and my personal portfolio is being displayed on my company website, my personal brand is currently mixed with my company brand. My (goofy) face is the only face that will sell the company.<p>So, what would you recommend doing to be remarkable and the "go to" expert on a subject, and how would I best route people's interest to my business?<p>Of course, in the event my philosophy to the whole thing seems "off" somehow, tell me. I can take abuse.
======
bradnickel
Be the expert.
Call your local chambers and biz groups and offer a free seminar on logo
planning and styling or the best way to do whatever you do best. Find non-
profit groups and do the sane thing. When you are in front of a group, you
become the expert. Give everyone that attends something free to download from
your site and let them optin to your email. Make it so when their friends say
they need someone, you come to mind. Give away ALL your knowledge. Do it
yourselfers will remember and refer and those that need help will ask.
Hold/sponsor a local best business idea contest and give away a logo or biz
card design. Get the local press to publicize and write about it before and
after. Team up with the people that are helping you to help them publicize
themselves and give away an hour of their services. Have local powerful people
that are highly networked and recognized as judges so they remember and talk
about you.
Always be willing to advise and help to the extent it doesn't kill
productivity.
Volunteer at local events doing what you do and get your web address on their
promo materials.
Blog, blog, blog about what you do, local community, new businesses, etc. make
sure to include your community name.
Take successful business people to lunch and ask them for advise and offer to
help them in any way you can. They'll remember you when someone needs a
referral.
Create a network of local creative businesses both competitive and not. Hold a
monthly luncheon to discuss your business and help each other grow. Find the
ones you like best and refer business to them that you can't or don't want to
do.
Write a press release for every new client signing. Send to local paper and
blogs. Post on your site. Make it all about promoting them with mentions of
you.
Talk up and refer every local business you know or meet. Always be about
helping them to connect and grow. The good actions will come back to you.
Constantly be a connector.
------
spydum
Isn't clear whether you want to be an expert in your trade or the small
graphic design app biz you started. First question is, is there demand for an
expert in the area? Second question is, is the trade area affected much by
locality? For example, if I need a jquery expert, I might not care if he/she
is in Warsaw, chennai, SF, or London. Most people seek out experts in a field
because they have a difficult problem in that space, and often come across
them in social engagements like hackerspaces, conferences, and probably more
often by word of mouth referrals. Experts build notoriety by solving those
problems, and making well known that they solve those problems (publications,
blogs, presentations at conferences/etc).
------
orn
If you are an "expert" on the subject, find a venue to give a talk on that
subject. If the audience hear and feel your confidence on the subject then
your on your way to become the goto expert.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Google Engineer Wins NSA Award, Then Says NSA Should Be “Abolished” - SingleFounderCo
http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2013/07/25/google-engineer-wins-nsa-award-says-id-rather-have-it-abolished-than-persist-in-its-current-form/
Dr. Joesph Bonner's quote:<p>I’d rather have it abolished than persist in its current form. I think there’s a question about whether it’s possible to reform the NSA into something that’s more reasonable…But my feeling based on what I’ve read is that I don’t want to live in a country with an organization like the NSA is right now.
======
pixie_
Is World War II so far away that everyone forgets how fucked up the entire
world can become - and it doesn't take long for it all to go to hell either.
The NSA has to get their shit together, but we still need real
strategical/tactical intelligence inside and outside of the US. So when it
does happen (and it will eventually happen) we're prepared not to lose our
country, or even the world to the super nuclear powered genetically modified
nazi cyborgs.
~~~
derefr
A country starts a war, fundamentally, when they see a resource (land; oil;
people) that they think they can claim without destroying its value in the
process. However, all the technologies we've developed since WWII that make us
more efficient at mass-killing (chemical/biological weapons et al) are
politically-blind; Anthrax will infect the conqueror as much as the conquered.
The only real advance we've made in the "things that will kill the enemy but
leave you alone to sit in their houses and farm their land" field, in the last
70 years, are drones--and, tactically-speaking, they haven't increased the
_difficulty_ of war much for the side of the invaded, just made waging a war
_safer_ for the invader. So, it's not any _easier_ to win a war against a
nation at technological parity with your own than it was 70 years ago.
On the other hand, over the last 50 years, besides there having been built
within every world-leader a strong awareness of the "final solution" (nukes)
available to the major powers to put down any sufficient threat, a true global
trade economy has also emerged, with strong economic interdependence between
the major powers (China holding US debt &c). Every power is now just as much
beholden, economically, to each other power, as if they were an export colony;
the US going to war with China, for example, would be cutting off one's nose
to spite one's face in the same way that Britain choosing, without
provocation, to start warring with America in 1775 would have been. In this
situation, I don't see much chance of a major power instigating an empire-
building war.
Also, unlike in WWI, a country that _isn 't_ a major power doesn't have the
political weight to instigate a major war--nobody will follow it into battle.
Attacking a country in a union with a major power is implicitly attacking that
power, and military strategists now treat it that way, instead of thinking
they can "just" take the country. Instead, we merely see individual unallied
states getting nasty to their unallied neighbors--free radicals bumping into
one-another--and having to be calmed down by some third party. I would guess
future "wars" all across the globe will look more like the US's dealings in
Afghanistan/Iraq than it will like some sort of confrontation between NATO and
some new Axis.
Another way to put it, is that national political borders across much of the
globe have basically annealed down to a rest-state. The resignation to this
fact is what seems to have spurred the EU into existence; if you can't invade
your neighbor any more, you may as well cooperate and trade. I see this sort
of idea spreading (though perhaps without the shared monetary policy aspect,
which doesn't seem to be working out too well) as more regions of the world
"settle", leaving basically four or five pretty-similar political bodies in a
de-facto world-government union, and individual break-away states here or
there which are filled up with "peacekeeping forces" by the one or another of
the powers.
I think this logic is pretty common to people who don't have a dystopian view
of the future. Do you see some major flaw in it?
~~~
greedo
Take a look at how interconnected the economies of the major combatants in WW1
were. You might be surprised. Even rational actors can be propelled into
conflict that seems easily avoidable.
And if you don't think small countries can drag larger ones into war, take a
good look at the Korean peninsula. If that goes pear shaped, it could easily
drag the US into a war with China.
------
ihsw
How do you abolish something that the entirety of the federal and state
governments rely upon? Intelligence resources are being pooled to the NSA, and
cyber-intelligence reports are being sourced wholly from the NSA. They're the
single most powerful intelligence agency in the US, and there's absolutely no
sign of it slowing down.
If there's anything that Obama shall be remembered for, it's that under his
administration there was an _astronomical_ consolidation of power. The DHS has
progressively been getting more and more involved in pulling the strings of
all levels of law enforcement.
~~~
mullingitover
In hindsight, it's probably telling that Obama said he was heavily inspired by
Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln vastly consolidated federal power during his
presidency, and had some dubious issues with the Constitution as well.
~~~
bishnu
"some dubious issues with the Constitution as well."
Is there a President this is not true for?
~~~
Zigurd
Carter?
------
8ig8
The winning engineer is currently doing an AMA on Reddit:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1j6qo4/i_am_joseph_bon...](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1j6qo4/i_am_joseph_bonneau_2013_nsa_award_winner_for/)
------
znowi
This guy has the balls. Kudos, Mr Bonneau.
I'm curious if he will get a private reprimand from Google execs for
unpleasant commentary on their partner :)
~~~
proexploit
I honestly don't understand people's opinion around this. I'm not trying to
refute your comment, just understand and see if I missed something. As far as
I have read, Google complies with NSA letters (which seems to be required by
law, although perhaps not a favorable one) and PRISM is said to give the NSA
additional direct access (but I haven't seen any indication of this being
proved or confirmed to be known to the companies involved). Has there been
some information proving Google and other companies are actually working with
the NSA or is it simply based on the idea that you think it might be likely
and they'd deny it either way (if they confirm it, they work with the NSA and
if they deny it, they work with the NSA).
I'm not suggesting blindly trusting any company or person but do we have
actual knowledge in this subject I missed or simply opinions?
~~~
MrKurtz
I think he's being cute. For me this quote sums up what PRISM is really about:
"Nobody wants a box in their network...[Companies often] find ways to give
tools to minimize disclosures, to protect users, to keep the government off
the premises, and to come to some reasonable compromise on the capabilities."
[http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57593538-38/how-
the-u.s-fo...](http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57593538-38/how-
the-u.s-forces-net-firms-to-cooperate-on-surveillance/)
Basically: in order to prevent the feds from installing boxes on their
networks companies offer to do their own interception, which in my opinion is
the far better alternative. "Direct access" isn't accurate.
------
bgentry
tikkun.org seems to be down. Here's the Google cache:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2013/07/25/google-
engineer-wins-nsa-award-says-id-rather-have-it-abolished-than-persist-in-its-
current-form/&strip=1)
Here's the blog post from the Google Engineer (Joseph Bonneau) about accepting
the award: [http://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2013/07/19/nsa-award-
for-...](http://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2013/07/19/nsa-award-for-best-
scientific-cybersecurity-paper/)
------
ChrisAntaki
>> Like many in the community of cryptographers and security engineers, I’m
sad that we haven’t better informed the public about the inherent dangers and
questionable utility of mass surveillance.
Thought provoking.
------
dobbsbob
Is this guy a google engineer because he thanks the people at Yahoo in his
blog. Not that it matters, just happy he told them to go fuck themselves while
accepting the award
------
northwest
> Google Engineer Wins NSA Award, Then Says NSA Should Be “Abolished”
That's one thing. Now make these 2 events happen in the opposite order.
;-)
------
agilebyte
The NSA announcement is here:
[http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/press_room/2013/2013_sos_comp...](http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/press_room/2013/2013_sos_competition.shtml)
------
Daniel_Newby
This is silly coming from a company whose trusted computing base was nearly
eaten by China. If any company needs the tightest possible OODA loop w.r.t.
cyber-threats, it is Google.
There has been a lot of utter horseshit about how the NSA's activities will
make Europeans distrust American cloud computing. Well the NSA is _nothing_
compared to the Communist Party espionage organizations.
~~~
pvdm
>trusted computing base was nearly eaten by China
Citation ?
~~~
Daniel_Newby
[http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10434721-245.html](http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10434721-245.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Are MBAs the Problem? - dreamz
http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/hbreditors/2009/03/are_mbas_the_problem.html?cm_mmc=npv-_-WEEKLY_HOTLIST-_-MAR_2009-_-HOTLIST0319
======
robertdempsey
I started my business many years ago with no formal business training and no
business experience. I've learned a lot along the way. I am now completing an
MBA, and my experience is very different than what the article's author
describes. I'm going to school while running my own company (read working
12-16 hours a day), attending business and tech events, speaking, and trying
to spend time with my family. My experience with the MBA program I am in is
that it has made me a better business person from the standpoint of knowing
what to look at and measure with my business. I didn't understand nor pay
attention to any of that the first go round and the company did horribly.
Having said that, anyone that comes out of business school expecting to know
everything, and acting like it, is sorely mistaken. That's not how anything in
the real world works. As with anything, you need experience, and that takes
time. An MBA gives you a fundamental business education, not experience.
~~~
TomOfTTB
I think anyone who comes out of any school thinking they know it all is wrong.
But that's more a personality flaw.
On the article I think the author is off-base here and I think you as a person
are exactly the reason why. Staying in school 2 more years is not a "high
risk/high return" situation at all (as the author claims). It's a no
risk/guaranteed return situation (MBA's make more in the workplace, that's
been proven by countless studies)
The real high risk/high return folks are the ones who go out and start a
business or join a startup. That's truely a risk.
Anyway, once you've disproven the idea that an MBA is a high risk action the
rest of the author's thesis falls apart.
~~~
Dilpil
Indeed- elite MBA programs aren't higher risk higher reward than less
prestigious ones. They are simply higher reward.
------
antidaily
Every MBA I know is in consulting... presumably trying to fix the problem.
~~~
alain94040
In this day and age, it would be fun to publish a list of "MBA density" by
industry or company. Compare eBay and Google with AIG for instance and tell me
which one had the highest MBA density( _).
I have no clue where to get accurate data on this. But I have full confidence
in HN community to send me a link to a reputable answer.
(_) obviously defined as the percentage of employees with an MBA degree within
an organization
~~~
anamax
AIG probably also has a higher percentage of physics PhDs than Google.
------
noodle
is there any degree or program nowadays that actually instructs a person on
how to start their own small business and run/grow it? thats not really what
MBAs do anymore. or is it just so easy that you can buy a book on amazon and
make it happen?
~~~
JeremyChase
This depends entirely on the program you are enrolled in, and the electives
you choose to take. I have an MBA from Babson and every elective I took dealt
with entrepreneurship. Some of the professors were better than others, but at
least 1/4 of my total courses were taught by people who started their
companies from the ground up. Real entrepreneurs that made money, cashed out,
and are teaching because they want to help others; these were the people I
found worth listening to.
These courses were by far the most valuable, and they absolutely focused on
how to run and grow both small businesses and enterprises. I even started my
first (failed) company and got independent study credit for it.
~~~
noodle
Babson looks pretty good -- i'd not heard of it before. although, i've not
looked, either, admittedly.
------
time_management
First order answer: No, douchebags are. It just so happens that douchebags
gravitate disproportionately to MBA programs (although the majority of MBA
students and business people I know are not douches).
To present an undergraduate analogue: in elite colleges, which invariably and
intentionally lack business programs, economics programs have a large number
of douchebags in them who see "econ" (they never call it "economics") as a
pathway to investment banking. Real economics students hate sharing classes
with them.
In colleges with business programs, the douches tend to gravitate toward the
business degrees, and leave the economics students alone. Just as with
economics, which has many serious students, there are non-douchebags who also
pursue business degrees and MBAs, obviously, and I'm sure they hate sharing
classes with the power-seeking douchebags as well. A lot of really good people
go through MBA programs into management. But douchebags also also follow that
track, because they follow money and status; it's how douchebags operate.
However, it's not even accurate to say that douchebags are the problem, since
there are about as many of them (give or take) as in any other point in
history. The difference is that the post-1980s mainstream corporate
environment favors and promotes those prone to overtalk, power-play, and
"hunger" (corporate euphemism for greed)-- in other words, douchebags.
Douchebags thrive in environments of superficiality, conformity, hierarchy,
and opacity of contribution. So now you have a system where, despite the best
efforts of business-inclined and talented non-douchebags to pursue MBA
programs and management tracks, they cannot ascend in the majority of
corporate hierarchies, because most companies have filled their upper ranks
with douchebags.
MBA programs don't cause this problem. The money and status they offer
attracts douchebags, but I've seen absolutely no evidence that they encourage
more people to become such. Moreover, the problem isn't that there are more
douchebags alive than there were, say, 30 years ago. The fundamental problem
is that large, hierarchical corporations now select in favor of douchebags
rather than against them. What degrees the douchebags have has nothing to do
with this.
~~~
jacoblyles
You've provided a funny answer instead of a substantial one.
I'm not quite sure who you consider a "douchebag" here. It carries the
connotation of a mean, shallow person. Yet you also use it to denote people
who seek status or money.
However, from my own personal experience, many of the people interested in
pursuing status and money are competent, capable, curious people who are
always looking to do a favor for others (you never know when the good karma
from those favors will come back to you!). My investment banking peers were
some of the most outstanding people I've ever met.
"Douchebags" seldom get anywhere in business unless they're related to someone
important, contrary to what Hollywood directors might have told you.
~~~
zcrar70
> you never know when the good karma from those favours will come back to you!
I think you may have inadvertently provided the definition of 'douchebag' that
you accused the poster of missing :-)
Less facetiously, I think he was referring to people for whom status and power
was an end, rather than a means or a side-effect. When you're very determined
to reach a goal, all of your actions are informed by your thinking; when your
goal is status and power, and you start treating your interactions with people
as another means to that end, you would probably fit the poster's definition
of a 'douchebag'.
I think the poster meant to contrast this to people who study a field (say
economics) for its own sake, because they enjoy it or because they hope to
make a useful contribution; by 'useful', I mean one that will benefit others
than themselves.
~~~
jacoblyles
So having a goal and being a helpful person makes you a douchebag?
Or maybe you mean that helping other people is fine, as long as you are not
aware of the fact that it is likely to help you, too?
Read the memoirs of any successful business person. They all say that treating
people nicely earns their loyalty, and is an essential part of success.
Is that "douche-y"?
Heaven forbid some asshole douchebag treats me well and helps me fulfill my
goals, just to make himself better off, too!
>Less facetiously
This whole conversation is facetious. That's the only reason why the
(juvenile) parent comment is getting upvoted. Moreover, I don't think he's
ever tried to see how far he could get in business by being a douchebag. In
practice (outside of Michael Douglas movies), nobody wants to work with them.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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A Boom Time for the Bunker Business and Doomsday Capitalists - mariojv
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/apocalypse-doomsday-capitalists.html
======
word-reader
These are some cool bunkers, but it reminds me of an article from a few years
back, maybe from HN? An expat had a nice house in some Central American
country back in the 70s or 80s when there was a coup with a lot of rioting and
looting of the more well-off. Some people start freaking out, grabbing golf
clubs and such, but the owner is able to get in touch with his army friend who
just sends a jeep with a 50 cal and a couple soldiers to park near his house.
He wasn't looted.
It seems like these sort of connections will matter more in a doomsday
situation than how deep your bunker is. How do these people living in various
states plan on even getting to their bunkers in Kansas if the "shit hits the
fan", as they say? I think a fair benchmark is Mexico today, where it isn't
safe to drive between many cities at night, and on some roads during the day.
Not like, "you might hit a deer", but "you might hit a cartel roadblock and be
robbed, raped, or murdered". And everybody already knows approximately where
the bunkers are. These people had better plan on getting their timing exactly
right, or they'd be in for the same.
~~~
jcranmer
Articles about individuals' backup plans for catastrophic collapse of
civilization do tend to crop up every now and then; this isn't the first one
I've seen.
I think one of the key fallacies that goes on in these circles is that people
don't really think through what a catastrophic collapse of civilization looks
like. A 2000-mile drive is quite a long trek to take, and attempting it in a
post-apocalyptic scenario requires a lot of planning (for example, what are
you planning to do for gas, food, rest?). A diesel generator is a lousy power
supply in the apocalypse, because diesel is a resource that is going to run
out quickly and need to be procured.
For these luxury bunkers, I suspect some of the demand is because they look
like assets that might be easier to hide from nosy people like the taxman.
------
save_ferris
It’s always kinda bugged me that some tech companies and their CEOs talk such
a huge game about changing the world for the better and then turn around and
build these huge bunkers. Optimistic words without optimistic action rings
tremendously hollow.
~~~
malandrew
Every time I go hiking/camping away from civilization I take an emergency
satellite beacon with me even though I am optimistic about coming home without
issue.
~~~
save_ferris
You're taking a piece of technology that allows you to communicate with
civilization while in a remote area. These bunkers are designed to protect and
isolate their inhabitants from the outside world altogether. Your example
doesn't seem analogous at all to the point I'm trying to make.
The idea that wealthy and powerful can just jettison themselves from the
society they led in the event that things go downhill says a lot about what
they actually think about our society.
------
andrewstuart
I reckon the Bezos bunker would be worth seeing. I believe he has a 10,000
year clock in there.
[https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/2/20/17031836/jeff-
bezos-...](https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/2/20/17031836/jeff-bezos-
clock-10000-year-cost)
------
Despegar
This is exactly why Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax is a great idea.
~~~
malandrew
You do realize that all this bunker construction, prepper consultation and
long-term foodstuffs is keeping a lot of people gainfully employed. You
basically want to put them out of business.
~~~
johnday
The thing is, those jobs do not provide serious long term benefits for
humanity. Large infrastructure projects, like the ones that major governments
can green light (for example, space travel, quality parks services, education
etc) do. It also helps even the playing field so that poorer people are less
likely to be disenfranchised. A noble goal in itself but it also probably
helps reduce the likelihood of an end-of-world scenario.
Keeping hundreds of people working on insurance projects for the super-rich is
not the best allocation of funds, and we have the power to change that
allocation.
~~~
fuzz4lyfe
If you believe that the wealthy should only spend their money in a way that
provides for "serious long term benefits for humanity" I ask you to enter your
income into this website and then come back and tell me if you still feel that
way.
[http://www.globalrichlist.com/](http://www.globalrichlist.com/)
~~~
johnday
Just did, and I do. But I'm not going to start doing it until someone forces
me to, because I'm fallible.
Edit: but for what it's worth, I do spend all my free money on trying to
create wealth and jobs for people who don't have it.
~~~
fuzz4lyfe
Thanks for the honesty. When you realize that it isn't the 1% vs the 99% but
more like the .1% vs the 1% it all starts to look a little silly doesn't it?
Wealthiest people ever to live on earth complaining that other people have
more than they do.
~~~
johnday
It's a valid thing to complain about - same as we complain about the world's
great polluters despite being way up there ourselves. The means and
opportunity to say "hey, this isn't fair" is something not everyone has, and I
think, since we can, we should.
------
_bxg1
What a sad existence, to spend all your time and large amounts of your money
dwelling on far-flung fears of catastrophe instead of living your life, which
is finite no matter what you do.
------
LargoLasskhyfv
I'm amused by this. Even by only looking at the lead photo, i have to wonder
what do they hope to achieve with those COTS cameras? I mean, this is America
where guns and rifles of all sorts are widely available. Are they decoys to
draw the fire away from the other, more camouflaged ones? Do they work in
infrared even when some red flares are thrown into their FOV? Or blinded by
laser pointer?
Then somewhat into the article: ...'connected the former missile site to the
grid' What for? Got an apocalypse level SLA with Exelon? Did they bury the
lines? And the next substation? Is it guarded? Will it be if SHTF? What does a
little bit of thermite do on top of a transformator? Or a mast? An angle
grinder? Maybe even a saw?
Why not bring some welders and (maybe hotwired) heavy construction equipment
to the bunker cracking party? And some dynamite just for kicks?
Smoke bombs and cyanide capsules from M44 traps?
Do they really think they will be the only ones being prepared, organized and
stocked, able to wait it out until the unwashed masses dwindled away?
Did they prepare for 40ft snow or volcanic ashes? What about other, novel
extreme weather like ARkStorms?
Remember Offut AFB in March? That wasn't even extreme. Just shit that
happened.
Reminds me of my town of birth which had a nuclear bunker in the parking
garage of the opera house. Next to a large river. What could go wrong?
Anyways, my take on this is take it like in 2012 (2009)
[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Kbym7WYzs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Kbym7WYzs)
instead of mutating into the bomb worshippers of [2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beneath_the_Planet_of_the_Apes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beneath_the_Planet_of_the_Apes)
[3]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl14xh4GSrc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl14xh4GSrc)
Because [4]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8fkrPP_0qA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8fkrPP_0qA)
PUSSIES! (just kidding) ;-)
------
Scoundreller
I’m not going to lie, the pictures look pretty good.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Stellar starts in South Africa with mobile savings for young girls - smn
https://gigaom.com/2015/02/05/stellar-south-african-nonprofit-to-bring-digital-savings-to-young-girls/
======
joyce
This is Joyce from Stellar. One of the most interesting parts of this project
for me is the fact that airtime (prepaid mobile minutes) will be a method of
savings. And in many places in the world, there are many locations and agents
where people can pay for mobile minutes (essentially cash in/ cash out). It is
ubiquitous. This means Praekelt and their users can piggy back off of existing
networks and reach more people at lower cost.
------
sukilot
What's the security model to protect the money from predators?
~~~
joyce
Not sure what your exact question is. If you elaborate, we can try to answer.
Thanks.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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