text
stringlengths 44
776k
| meta
dict |
|---|---|
After coffee brewhaha, CA fears cancer warnings have “gone seriously wrong” - okket
https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/08/after-coffee-brewhaha-ca-fears-cancer-warnings-have-gone-seriously-wrong/
======
tynpeddler
The most important tenet of toxicology is that "the dose makes the toxin." In
high enough doses, everything is toxic, and in low enough doses, everything is
safe. Toxic warning labels that are not informed by good dose-response
information are worse than useless. They create noise that consumers must wade
through in order to discover if a product is truly a risk.
One of the worst examples of chemical paranoia that I've encountered in my
career were the MSDS guidelines. The MSDS for water has an exhausting list of
dangers and precautions. This made it much more difficult to assess the danger
posed by other chemicals because they frequently had the exact same warnings
as water. When everything is "dangerous", nothing is.
~~~
JudasGoat
I didn't see anything scary or FUDlike in the Water MSDS.
[http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927321](http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927321)
~~~
tynpeddler
I think my memory inflated things a bit, but I usually check MSDS for personal
protection and waste disposal. Both entries for a water are a little vague and
overly cautious.
------
LinuxBender
Here is one write-up on the topic [1]. In full disclosure, I am addicted to
caffeine and prefer to get it from good tasting coffee.
[1] - [https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/coffee-and-cancer-what-
th...](https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/coffee-and-cancer-what-the-research-
really-shows.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Is this extreme cultural fit selection? - culturalfitt
I have interviewed at two dozen companies for a senior developer position and just had a weird experience at an Austrian company.<p>Two HR reps spent the first 12min talking about why they liked working there, their hobbies, friend and family, sports, etc, before I had a chance to introduce myself.<p>When I started talking, they didn't want to know about professional experiences ("it's all in your CV, tell us about YOU"). I was super uncomfortable with a giant looking glass looking into my soul. It was awkward.<p>Company was 100-200 employees.<p>Is this what being screened for cultural fit looks like?
======
rubyfan
Yes, many companies do it from the 10 person to the 10,000. It’s more
important at 10-50 person range to ensure you don’t have disrupters. It’s
entirely unneeded at larger scale but you still see it.
~~~
culturalfitt
I can understand it. I just thought it was a bit too extreme. At some point it
seemed like I was interviewing them (but I hadn't asked any questions).
They seemed a bit bummed out when my hobbies weren't traveling around the
world or helping impoverished communities in my spare time. They asked me what
great thing I wanted to learn next and when I say $tool_X, I could feel the
disappointment.
But it was good to see this first hand. On one hand, I think maybe HR is
running the cultural filter a bit too high... who knows if the engineering
culture is like that?
On the other hand, if that alone without asking a single question about my
experience or skills is enough to reject me... that's a bit too extreme. I
guess I'll find out soon enough.
~~~
rubyfan
my outlook on those sorts of filtering activities is that if it doesn’t fit
and that’s what’s most important to the company then it might be in your favor
anyway.
When your work contribution is secondary to other things, I question a
company’s long term resolve.
------
victoriap
Austria is quite a small country and I wouldn't assume culture differs a lot
across companies. Which type of work was it?
~~~
culturalfitt
Backend software development.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Battle of Waterloo: A Near-Run Thing - pshaw
http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21651775-appallingly-bloody-yet-decisive-battle-waterloo-june-1815-deserves
======
christkv
If you have a deeper interest in Napoleon I heartily recommend the Napoleon
podcast
[http://napoleonbonapartepodcast.com](http://napoleonbonapartepodcast.com).
One of the things I learned was that the British started the wars and
continuously broke the peace agreements. Still to this day most people think
the reverse. It has to stand as one of the most successfully executed
propaganda campaigns of history that people still think it 200 years later.
And yeah he was not short. He is listed as 5.2 but in modern units that is 5.7
which was above average height for the age.
------
bambax
> _aimless wandering in the pouring rain of the Compte d 'Erlon..._
_compte_ => account
Count => _Comte_
------
PhantomGremlin
I can't understand why the British allowed Napoleon to go into exile a second
time. My sentiments would be more along what the Prussians wanted to do.
Instead of just being a cliche, "heads will roll for this" should have been
something that Napoleon should have experienced firsthand.
------
SCHiM
The article does not match the title given, you will find no condensed account
of the battle of waterloo here, only vague hints and advertisements to make
you buy the books referenced.
A more suiting title would be "Books about the battle of waterloo."
In short: advertisements.
~~~
icegreentea
The economist runs a bunch of book reviews every issue. It's an advertisement
as much as any review is an advertisement. Within the context of their print
issue, there'd be absolutely no way to miss that these were book reviews -
it's an entire section.
------
jimhefferon
So I can't stand it, so I'm going to blurt it out.
Yesterday, or maybe the day before, HN had another article by the _Stop
Drawing Dead Fish_ guy [http://worrydream.com/](http://worrydream.com/), which
is one of those things that when you see it you say, "Of course he's right."
Today we have these reviews of fresh books about a major battle and while they
are probably very good (I thought to buy the BC one, myself), _they are dead
fish._ It's a battle, and a complex one! Why are there not dynamic maps of the
field, where you can fly through like on Google maps and that are situated
depending on where in the book you are when you click on them? Why is there
not a timeline so that on each page you can click to see what is happening at
that moment on other parts of the field? Why can't you click on people's name
and have a little bio pop up? At least put names in color so I can tell who
they fought for? Why can't I click on a place name and hear it pronounced?
Why are there not videos of soldier's uniforms, and of armaments of the time?
Music people sang as they marched into battle? If you carry this book to the
field, will it tell you, "you are now at the spot Wellington stood on at 12
noon"?
I get that one reason is the lack of a format. I write some math materials and
while I have looked, that I know of there is no format that is (1)
typographically acceptable (that I have seen, that lets HTML and the Word
formats out), (2) dynamic (PDF under Linux won't go), and (3) reasonably open.
Very frustrating.
Maybe I've got it all wrong, and I certainly do not have the technical chops
to do anything about this, but it seems, to me anyway, like there is a hole
here. Anyway, end of blurt.
~~~
danso
So...basically, the days of Flash apps and navigation, like when local
restaurants would pay some dev godknowshowmuch to make a whizbang Flash app
that made it impossible to find just the phone number or address without
clicking some obscure button placed in an erratic location?
The technology to make what you want is possible. It's been arguably possible
for a very long time. But it's hard to make, and hard to design. And that's
even before considering mass usability aspects.
I may be getting old but text with graphics and linear scrolling are just
fine. I expect to be entertained by linear movies and TV shows and podcasts
for a very long time. We've had the technology and capacity to store "choose-
your-own-ending" movies on DVDs for a very long time...and yet, that almost
never happens, for reasons of usability, consumer enjoyment, and production
overhead.
Hell, we've had the ability to do pop-ups and choose-your-own-adventure books
for centuries now. And I'm glad most novels and books have been linear page
turners.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Big iPhone 3GS numbers come from pre-existing Apple addicts - abennett
http://www.itworld.com/mobile-amp-wireless/69606/big-iphone-3gs-numbers-come-pre-existing-apple-addicts
======
JunkDNA
This is not all that surprising to me given the huge difference in performance
and capabilities between the iPhone 3GS and the original EDGE-based iPhone.
Upgrading after one year is a bit soon for all but the true Apple fans to
upgrade. However, there are a lot of people who are accustomed to upgrading
cell phones every two years or so, (at least in the US).
------
oomkiller
I'd like to switch to the iPhone 3gs from my Blackberry 8830, but I currently
use Verizon, and it's not a big enough reason to switch to AT&T. I think I
will be picking up the new Blackberry Tour when it comes out.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Dropbox Passwords - madspindel
https://www.dropbox.com/features/security/passwords
======
AnonHP
> Who can get Dropbox Passwords?
> Passwords is currently available to Dropbox Plus and Dropbox Professional
> users.
Dropbox could’ve done better by offering this to the users on the free tier
too. Segment the features but let everyone have access to a password manager
with auto fill options to gain a larger user base and market share in password
management.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How to find the right startup to join - curt
My problem, I don’t fall into a neat little box. Been doing it on my own for a few years but have been thinking about joining a team for quite some time. Started a company recently from a side project, did all the design and programming work myself but it failed to gain traction. Going to turn it back into a side project and find a startup in NYC or SF to join. Have been self-employed in the few years since grad school, previously started a consumer electronics / design company and have helped launch web startups in healthcare, apparel, and adolescent products.<p>Can program (rails, php, iOS, embedded, design work), build just about any physical product, manage operations, have a couple engineering degrees and an MBA. At first glance I wouldn’t think I’d have a hard time but my background and experience doesn’t conform to the standard ‘job description’. Looking specifically for a young startup, my thoughts were that at the start I can help with development/design. Then move into a more specialized role as the company grows. Would a startup want or need someone with that flexibility and experience? While I’ve only talked with a couple, they seem to be wary of the breadth of my background. How should I sell myself?<p>Any thoughts? Is my logic flawed?
======
mattmuns
We could potentially use you. Drop me a note: [email protected].
<http://www.linkedin.com/in/mattmunson>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Any hackers meet or Hackathon in bay area for long weekend? - Pola
======
jackbean
This isn't specific but saw a post about weekendhacker.net last week. You
might be interested in that.
If you find one, please let us know.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What is eBay buyer feedback for? A++ fast payment. - stefan_kendall
Does anyone have any idea why eBay lets sellers rate buyers? Other than the positive/negative count, what is the point of the 80 character rating system?<p>I've only <i>ever</i> seen "A++ fast payer." It's prisoners dilemma - a negative review probably means a negative review for you as well, so you can only really both win or lose.
======
mchannon
eBay doesn't let sellers give buyers negative feedback anymore (they did for a
time).
It's the philosophical equivalent of "everybody gets a gold star".
The 80 characters can come in useful if you're on the fence about an auction-
if the negatives come in the form of "didn't get here fast enough" left 3 days
after the auction end, they're easier to overlook than "item was used, dirty,
and broken instead of new, fraudulent seller".
It does allow sellers to squelch bidders with less than a certain number,
reducing the ease of creating throwaway accounts for nonpayment or shill
bidding purposes.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Made an App for Coders to stay up-to-date with their coding languages - romeoonisim
https://codenews.app/
======
evnix
now I need another App to stay updated?, could have been a good PWA website.
~~~
romeoonisim
:D thanks for the feedback! We are growing day by day, maybe we will create a
PWA website also if it's requested by multiple users.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
British Airways announces immediate retirement of 747 fleet - cockpitherald
https://airlinegeeks.com/2020/07/16/british-airways-announces-immediate-retirement-of-747-fleet/
======
Ambroos
One of my playlists is called "64K", after the seat I had on my first BA 747
flight two years ago, AUS>LHR, my second ever trip in Business Class. I
prepared the music in advance to download it, all nice relaxing tracks (Aimee
Mann / Feist / Beth Gibbons / Norah Jones). I was super excited for the
flight, and really happy that 64K was available, it was supposedly one of the
best business class seats on the plane. Upper deck, window seat, last one on
the right. No need to step over anyone, near-perfect privacy, a massive amount
of storage space, and first in line to get off the plane.
I put on my playlist in shuffle after dinner, and drifted away into a very
nice, long, uninterrupted sleep. When I woke up my breakfast was ready and
waiting for me on the big surfaces below the windows. BA Club World has it's
issues, but that flight was so memorably that I renamed my playlist from
"Night Tunes" to "64K" to remember it.
~~~
jsolson
Beth Gibbons is not a name I usually see called out as a solo artist -- to be
honest, until today I didn't know she had done any solo work, despite
Portishead's Dummy being in my most played albums every year since software
started keeping track of that kind of thing for me.
Thanks for causing me to Google that. Now I've got something "new" to listen
to while I make breakfast.
~~~
Ambroos
The album "Out Of Season" she did with Rustin Man is really good, all of her
tracks on my 64K playlist are from that one.
------
txcwpalpha
The 747s are certainly long in the tooth and A350s, 777s, 787s are better in
almost every way, but it's still sad to see the 747s go. They're iconic and
always so much fun (to me) to see taking off/landing.
Wouldn't be surprised if this means the A380 being retired isn't far behind,
too. It may have some life left in it because LHR really needs those big
planes due to limited landing slots, but if travel doesn't pick up soon and
they can't fill the A380s... yikes.
~~~
lsllc
I've been lucky enough to fly on the upper deck of a 747 a handful of times
(both economy and business, never first!). I've yet to fly on a A380 but I
suspect time is running out there.
That being said, flying long haul (transatlantic) on a 787 is sooo much
better!
~~~
GrifMD
I'm glad I got to fly in a 747 upper deck and nose (thanks BA and Qantas).
Still I really wish I could have flown in the proper nose right at the front.
The idea of having forwardish facing windows just looks so nice.
I will say the A380 is really so much better than 747s (or at least 747-4s,
not sure about the newer -8s). You can just tell how much quieter it is, and
the size of some of the business class sections is outstanding. Emirates'
business class bar is such a fun little novelty that made flying delightful.
And their economy just felt better too.
~~~
Jonnerz
I was lucky enough to fly first earlier this year on a BA 747 to Dubai (Avios
reward flight). I was sat in the 2nd row, but the seat is not that close to
the window which makes it hard to benefit from the angled windows. It was
cool, but not as great as people make it out to be.
------
iso1631
Flown 39 times on a BA 747 to 3 continents in all 4 classes. One flight in Feb
2014 I remember from Mumbai had water pouring from the ceiling on me on
takeoff. the planes felt old then. Most recent flight was down to Nairobi and
back in 2018, they've been really showing their age for a long time,
especially compared with the A350 and 787s I've been flying more recently on
Qatar.
But even the objectively superior business class on QR's new planes can't
compare with climbing the stairs to the top deck, sitting in 64A [0] with the
table and bins next to you for your flight. I first did this in September
2012, on a flight from Moscow to Heathrow. While we were coming in over the
North sea I gave the at-seat phone a go -- it still worked (I think they were
removed from service a while ago), certainly an experience at the time to be
able to talk to someone from mid-air.
My wife and I had a weekend to Seatle in 2014, and bagged seat 1A and 1K at
the very nose[1]. I think the 747 is the only plane you can get where you fly
in front of the pilot (the A380 cockpit is at the front), and a unique
experience.
I wasn't really flying when Concorde was around, and I've always regretted not
flying it, but I'm glad I managed to experience both the upper deck and the
nosecone on a 747.
(Oh yes, BA's 747 was one of the few planes I've flown on with a window in the
toilet)
[0]
[https://21stcenturyjourneys.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/dsc0...](https://21stcenturyjourneys.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/dsc00187.jpg)
[1]
[https://scottmcgee.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/11-ba747-larg...](https://scottmcgee.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/11-ba747-large.jpg)
~~~
jgrahamc
I've had water pour on my on a BA 747. Was quite a few years ago but it's
caused by condensation which then finds a way out when the plane takes off and
tilts upwards.
~~~
benhurmarcel
Yes it's condensation and happens on every airliner, but the water is normally
contained by the thermal insulation and runs behinds the panels down to the
bilge area (at the bottom of the fuselage barrel). Some issues in the
insulation condition or installation can result in water dropping in the
cabin.
~~~
wastedhours
Interesting, thanks! Did always wonder why sometimes you can hear some running
water in the panels. I always assumed it was something on the outside of the
plane.
------
yingw787
I wonder if there will be a Cunard-like airline that flies older planes
because people want to experience them.
I believe Cunard (part of Carnival) operates the Queen Mary 2, the last
running ocean liner on Earth. It does Southampton to New York via traditional
Atlantic crossing, just like the Titanic (almost) did. Not sure if it makes
money, but (pre-pandemic) it was likely subsidized by other cruise ships or by
QM2 cruising herself.
It'd be cool to have a flight from Heathrow to JFK (?) on one 747 for people
who want to experience the same plane. I think an airline enthusiast might go
several times a year, and there's a goodly number of airline enthusiasts.
I think a flying boat tour of the Pacific islands would be a wicked honeymoon!
~~~
lmm
> I believe Cunard (part of Carnival) operates the Queen Mary 2, the last
> running ocean liner on Earth. It does Southampton to New York via
> traditional Atlantic crossing, just like the Titanic (almost) did. Not sure
> if it makes money, but (pre-pandemic) it was likely subsidized by other
> cruise ships or by QM2 cruising herself.
I doubt it's subsidized, given how expensive it is. I'm not sure what
distinction you're drawing between "cruise ship" and "ocean liner" \- I guess
in theory the QM2 runs to a timetable while cruise ships run to ad-hoc charter
schedules, but in practice those cruise schedules are set years in advance and
that timetable can be changed on fairly short notice. When I looked into a
round-the-world trip it didn't seem like e.g. Vancouver-Hawaii was going to be
any harder than NY-Southampton - in both cases you look at the schedule and
book your trip months in advance.
The QM2 is a luxury service but it's not just for enthusiasts - there are
plenty of people who can't or don't want to fly, and are willing to pay the
price.
~~~
yingw787
Oh there's significant structural differences between cruise ships and ocean
liners. Ocean liner's bow is strengthened for travel in adverse seas, and the
stern is cupped rather than box-shaped to reduce roll. The superstructure is
tapered for better balance, and the engines are optimized for power / speed
moreso than vibration / comfort. They're more expensive than cruise ships as a
result.
See: [https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-
ocean-l...](https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-ocean-liner-
and-vs-cruise-ship/)
~~~
lmm
Then presumably those ships doing Vancouver-Hawaii are "ocean liners" in that
sense, and the QM2 is by no means "the last running ocean liner on Earth"?
~~~
mmphosis
With the exception of RMS Queen Mary 2 (Cunard Line: 2004-present), the ocean
liner is nearly extinct.
[https://oppositelock.kinja.com/the-last-surviving-
transatlan...](https://oppositelock.kinja.com/the-last-surviving-
transatlantic-ocean-liners-1691853406)
~~~
lmm
You don't seem to have engaged with the discussion. This was claimed two or
three posts back, but what does it actually mean?
Plenty of passenger ships - to give a concrete example, the _Spirit_ class -
routinely make transoceanic crossings at a reasonable speed following
schedules published years in advance. Perhaps a little slower than the QM2.
Perhaps with slightly more onboard amenities. But I can see no clear
distinction that justifies this talk of the QM2 being somehow "the last" and
qualitatively different from these other ships that do very much the same
thing in practice.
~~~
richthegeek
It was explained wasn't it? The design parameters are different, as the
purpose is different (transportation rather than leisure).
"Bob is the last sheep"
"But I see all these four-legged ruminants wandering around eating grass, what
about them?"
"Those are goats"
"You don't seem to have engaged with the discussion..."
~~~
lmm
I responded to that, and then grandparent just reverted to a blank assertion.
It's more like:
"Bob is the last sheep"
"But I see all these four-legged ruminants wandering around eating grass, what
about them?"
"Those are goats"
"We're shearing them and gathering wool from them; doesn't that make them
sheep?"
"Bob is the last sheep"
"You don't seem to have engaged with the discussion..."
------
ggm
The Boeing of today might not be able to do what the Boeing of yesteryear did,
getting the 747 series to a 50+ year life.
I say this because of the MAX, and some other behaviours which stem from
Boeing moving from an engineering focussed company to a giant shit-show of
mergers, stock games, and west-east mindshare collapse (judged from the
partisan books & articles I read)
I fly Boeing and Airbus mainly whenever I travel, which used to be 10+ times
per year long-haul worldwide. Never felt unsafe and that includes aborted
takeoffs, engine fails on the ramp, and airpack breakdowns in-flight
necessitating fuel-dump and go-back. These machines work. The FCC mandated
engineering around flight safety in operations work.
But.. I trust the 74x and the 380/350 more than I trust the 787 and the MAX
because of some spectacularly bad public engineering exposure.
The battery fire story, and the MAX-no-training-needed story are really not
good for Boeing.
The whole "if it isn't boeing I am not going" thing is long long past.
on the jumbo, It wasn't the first 'passenger plane with a bump' -there was a
couple of precursors in the pre-jet era, including one designed to carry a car
in the body and pax up top. And, it wasn't the first with stairs by a long
chalk, the flying boats had them as did some of the jet era precursors.
But, it was by far and away the bestest, most successful 4 engine plane. The
life extension, (and length extensions!) over the series was amazing. As was
the fuel economy and fitout. I think the decision by Lufthansa to re-tool on
the 8 series was probably a huge mistake, but then so was QANTAS decision not
to take the 777.
Airbus did good work with the 380. I think it is a fantastic ride as a
passenger, in all classes, its quiet, and lovely and when full, good economic
sense. But its dying from a change in the model.
The 747 is going to have a long life in cargo. I think even without a lift-
nose this workhorse has a lot to go yet.
_(not a pilot: 20+ year international business traveller perspective)_
~~~
bkor
> But.. I trust the 74x and the 380/350 more than I trust the 787 and the MAX
> because of some spectacularly bad public engineering exposure.
I've followed the 737 MAX debacle quite a bit. I've also seen a video from
someone who used to analyse (private) airplane crashes. He made it really
clear that any crash is the result of a multiple of reasons. Meaning, there's
no one root cause, there are multiple causes coming together. This unlike
business where it's almost always assumed that there's a "root cause"
(singular).
One worry of mine is that not enough is done to allow the FAA to properly
certify the 737 MAX. There's been (proposed?) changes, but they feel more like
window dressing. Other aviation authorities used to follow the FAA, due to the
737 MAX you see that this trust has gone. You've highlighted how the change in
culture in Boeing is another cause of this. But aside from that, if this could
happen at Boeing, it could (theoretically) just as well happen with Airbus.
This again due to a multitude of reasons, how FAA is setup, Boeing changed,
competition from Airbus, advantage of reusing an existing type. A lot of
reasons could be applicable again, or apply to Airbus.
Aside from really checking the 737 MAX plus other aviation authorities not
really trusting the FAA I don't see enough comprehensive changes.
Regarding the 747 and retiring of these planes: it seems every new airplane
gives people less space to walk around, less space for luggage, less space in
chairs (chair width is important as well!), etc.
------
maccard
I'm a little nostalgic for this - I flew quite a few trips in the upper deck
of a 747 over the last few years, almost all of them on the back of a long
stretch of work and a "celebratory" night before travelling. It's a strange
feeling but I'm almost sad to see them go.
On the other hand, more modern plans are so much more efficient. An A350 uses
literally half the fuel of an A380, (which itself uses less than a 747).With
lower capacity hopefully comes lower demand for air travel - this can only be
a good thing.
~~~
pdonis
_> With lower capacity hopefully comes lower demand for air travel - this can
only be a good thing._
Why is it only a good thing? Lower capacity for air travel means all kinds of
travel that is of value to people can't reasonably take place any more. People
have relatives and friends that live too far away to make visiting in person
by any other means infeasible. People want to go to see places in person that
they can't feasibly get to any other way. People have business reasons to make
trips that can't feasibly be made any other way. There was a lot of demand
pre-COVID for air travel for a reason. The capacity just vanishing is a loss
for many.
~~~
lmm
> People have business reasons to make trips that can't feasibly be made any
> other way. There was a lot of demand pre-COVID for air travel for a reason.
Maybe. I think we've seen that a lot of those business trips weren't actually
necessary as such, and were more about making an expensive signal of
commitment.
~~~
mr_toad
Those business trips probably were necessary in the 70’s, before the internet
and video conferencing.
But in 2019 I think most trips were more about corporate inertia than
practical need.
~~~
hkt
Also perks. I've had some fun trips to California that I suspect were not
entirely necessary - we'd have been fine if we could have just all shifted our
working days to overlap for a week or so.
------
samvaran
Basic question - where will all these 747s actually physically go to be
retired? Will there be a landfill somewhere with a huge amount of airplane
parts? Will they be left to rust in some hangar in the middle of nowhere?
~~~
jonahhorowitz
Most of them end up in dry desert areas in the southwest United States:
[https://www.airplaneboneyards.com/airplane-boneyards-list-
an...](https://www.airplaneboneyards.com/airplane-boneyards-list-and-map.htm)
~~~
Wowfunhappy
Huh—are these (presumably huge) areas guarded? Am I stupid for wondering
what's to stop a group from making off with a plane?
~~~
quickthrowman
Well, they don’t leave the keys in the ignition ;)
~~~
pirocks
As a random fun fact planes don't have keys.
~~~
Wowfunhappy
Do they have some other authentication mechanism instead?
~~~
plttn
The authentication method is knowing how to fly said plane and getting in said
plane in the first place.
The planes that are relatively accessible aren't flightworthy without effort,
and the planes that are flightworthy require violating federal law (in the US)
to access them.
~~~
gruez
>and the planes that are flightworthy require violating federal law (in the
US) to access them.
That doesn't really answer the question though. Breaking into a house also
violates laws, yet it happens all the time. If you've made it onto an airport
tarmac, can you just steal a plane?
~~~
stephen_g
It's logistically very difficult. Getting fuel into it usually takes a special
truck, so you'd need access to that (when a plane is parked overnight it would
have a little bit of fuel in it, but not enough to get very far after taking
off). Even getting into the plane is difficult - you'd need a stair truck, and
somebody to move the stairs out of the way when you're in. If it's parked
somewhere where you can't just taxi out, you need somebody in a tug to do a
pushback.
So assuming you're that far in, and you know how to start it up, you don't
have a flight plan logged, so the tower isn't going to give you clearance to
take off. If you take off without permission, they're going to call the air
force, so you'd better be in a country that doesn't have a very big air force
or a nearby base, and you probably want to choose somewhere where you can get
into another country's airspace who isn't friendly with the country you stole
the plane from...
~~~
grkvlt
it's easier than you might think. for example, on a 747 you don't need
external stairs, since access is available via the nose wheel landing gear bay
[0] according to a pilot.
0\. [https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/2605/can-
large-...](https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/2605/can-large-
airliners-be-operated-without-ground-support?rq=1#comment141427_2605)
------
afterburner
"the airline believes that the 747s are sustainable"
I guess they meant "aren't".
~~~
cockpitherald
That must be a typo I guess.
~~~
krallja
It certainly wasn’t the only typo in the article.
------
massysett
I don't understand the nostalgia for these planes. I see a big plane and I
think "cattle car." There's nothing nice about sitting in the middle section
of a huge wide-body plane, far from the luggage bin, far from the window, and
with the prospect of climbing over several people or waking them up so you can
go to the bathroom. It takes a long time to board and deplane them.
Moreover, as a passenger I want point-to-point air service at a convenient
time. This is possible with smaller airplanes. Big plane requires funneling
passengers to some big gateway airport so they can fill the gigantic plane.
That requires spending time in airports. Not interested.
If the nostalgia is that there's something elite about a big plane: Gordon
Gekko didn't fly around in a 747.
There's a reason these planes are obsolete. Planes like the 737 have
democratized air travel and made it affordable for everyone. That's a much
bigger achievement than the 747 will ever be. And I'll take the convenient
frequent long-distance service that narrow-body planes offer (US mainland to
Hawaii on a 737? Amazing!) over a 747 any day. A curving staircase on an
airplane just doesn't scream "cool" to me.
~~~
chrissnell
To experience them at their best, you have to fly international first class.
I've had the fortune of doing this a number of times on the 747. I've sat
upstairs (which is typically business class) and at the very front, which is
usually first class. It's fantastic. You have room to stretch and you're
treated very well.
Here are a few photos from my Lufthansa first class experience.
[https://www.instagram.com/p/B00TFMcHA4a/?igshid=caikqjatjldk](https://www.instagram.com/p/B00TFMcHA4a/?igshid=caikqjatjldk)
The photos are:
\- the famous rubber duckies from the Lufthansa First Class lounge in
Frankfurt. They have private bathrooms with full baths that you can use.
\- the obligatory outside-by-the-jet photo that you can take when they pick
you up in a luxury car on the tarmac (not that white one)
\- Seat 1K on a LH 747-800
\- The Porsche that they pick you up in when you're changing flights or going
to the lounge.
~~~
fyfy18
I flew business class with BA five years ago as it was cheaper than economy on
my usual airline at the time (EK) - mainly as it was a last minute booking. I
flew two intercontinental legs (Middle East -> Europe -> North America) and
both aircraft were on old 747s that looked like they hadn't been cleaned for a
week or more. The infotainment system felt just as old, with a choice of maybe
20 movies on the 8" display where the touch screen barely functioned. The lie
flat bed wasn't bad (they had an interesting layout where one seat faces
foward and the next faces backward), and the food was just regular reheated
meals with slightly nicer silverware than economy.
Now I understand some other airlines have better offerings than BA, and if you
fly first class (I think for the same flight it was roughly 8x more) it's
going to be a different story, but at the end of the day you are still just
flying A to B.
The best part was probably the lounge where I had the connection, but I only
had 1 1/2 hours so didn't get to experience it much. However it wasn't really
much more than a 4* hotel buffet.
If I could afford to drop $20k to fly first class whenever I feel like it,
would I? Probably. Do I feel like I'm missing out on anything by not doing
that? Nope.
How much more is it to fly in a private jet? I feel that would be a different
story, given you can schedule it so it picks you up whenever is convenient for
you.
~~~
seanmcdirmid
First class is on the way out on many international routes since all the
demand and money is in biz class. Ya, you can get your own private cabin with
big screen tv and full sized bed (on a Singapore 380 if they still fly those),
but most aren’t going to pay for it and are flying on an upgrade (business
class is full, bump someone to first!).
Business class is nice because you can sleep on a lie flat, which is the only
thing I care about on an 11 hour flight.
~~~
dzhiurgis
With Qatar you now can get your own suite in business.
Personally I hope I'll never have to fly across planet in economy, but also
wouldn't mind flying in bunk bed either. It's sitting up for 26-30 hours or so
that kills me.
~~~
Scoundreller
I’m looking forward to configurations where you can book a coffin to sleep in
for 6 hours on your flight once at altitude.
~~~
dzhiurgis
Air NZ announced theirs right at the start of the pandemic.
6 bunks are not going to be enough for 300-400 passengers tho.
------
philjohn
I last travelled on a BA 747 back in February - first time on the top deck in
Club World and despite being an old aircraft, the top deck is a pretty special
experience; it feels like a private jet, very few seats, excellent service.
Top deck on an A380, whilst a far more comfortable experience with the lower
noise and better air, doesn't quite compare.
------
bfrog
It's a bit sad but not unexpected. I rode on two 747 flight in my life, both
pretty memorable. Maybe the mourning for these planes is less about the planes
but the kinds of epic flights most people would hop on them for. I rode one
from LA to Auckland and back, as well as Chicago to London. Both very
memorable trips for me. I'd always choose to ride one when I could. There was
a sense of, maybe wrongly, safety in the jumbo having been around for so long,
carried so many people safely. Yes they crashed, but most often from what I
recall at no fault of the plane.
~~~
dwd
I flew on one of the early 747SP Sydney to Los Angeles flights in April 1984
which was only feasible because of this amazing aircraft. The London to Hong
Kong leg of that trip with a stop-over at Dubai and the amazing run into Kai
Tak airport was probably my most memorable flight.
------
ChuckMcM
Awesome time to buy a new private jet :-)
My understanding is that many (most?) airlines use a leasing company to "hold"
their physical inventory. If this is the case is this really just notice that
they are going to break all their leases?
I also wonder, given that the 747 has been EOL'd by Boeing as well, how much
one can recover by 'parting out' these 28 planes. Will they live on like the
DC-3 did as a 'third party' airline plane or are they just too big to be
useful in that way? Could make for a heck of a fire fighting fleet I suppose.
~~~
bretpiatt
You don't need to wonder, plenty of active used plane dealers, just like used
car dealers...
You can have your own 747 for $12.5M, flight hour operating costs not so
friendly.
[https://www.controller.com/listings/aircraft/for-
sale/810282...](https://www.controller.com/listings/aircraft/for-
sale/81028201/1991-boeing-747-400)
Alternatively, this one will run you $275M+ [https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-
zone/23001/qatari-royal-fli...](https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-
zone/23001/qatari-royal-flight-747-8i-jumbo-jet-is-up-for-sale-and-yes-there-
are-interior-pictures)
~~~
ChuckMcM
Wow, tempting :-) I had no idea you could pick one up for under $20M.
~~~
m4rtink
I would assume all the other costs to fly one (ground equipment, certified
pilots and engineers, etc.) will dwarf that.
------
josefrichter
It's a good sign, in a way, that airlines have to quickly retire older
inefficient airplanes, and many could come out of this leaner and ultimately
stronger.
Managed to get one transatlantic Lufthansa 748 flight - horrible experience,
seats incredibly cramped. And one transatlantic Air France 388 - got middle
seat, but with wall in front = lot of legroom, + alcohol for free = overall
pleasant flight :-)
------
jonahhorowitz
I'm sad to see the Queen of the skies go. I do hope that I'll catch a ride on
a 747-8 before those get retired too.
~~~
toomuchtodo
[https://thepointsguy.com/news/these-are-the-last-
boeing-747s...](https://thepointsguy.com/news/these-are-the-last-
boeing-747s-you-can-fly-in-the-world/)
------
markplindsay
Remaining airlines with 747s in passenger service:
\- Air China
\- Air India
\- Asiana
\- China Airlines
\- Korean
\- Lufthansa
\- Rossiya
\- Thai
~~~
GrifMD
Lufthansa, Air China, and Korean Air all have newer 747-8i's too, for what
that's worth.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747-8#Operators](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747-8#Operators)
------
grogenaut
Ironically the 2 times I have flown either of the monster planes (747 or a380)
were from Salt Lake City to Jackson Hole, which is a ~25 minute flight. And
basically the shortest flight I've ever taken commercially, well that or
Cin->Louisville.
~~~
KMag
When you fly from SLC to JAC, you might have a skiing problem. (Queue the
"it's not a problem when you're awesome at it".)
~~~
grogenaut
I definitely have a skiing problem, it's the worst. It's not a problem when
your good at a thing that's fun that doesnt tear your acl like a piece of
string like snowboarding.
But coming from STL the good flights was fly to SLC and then hop in with
Delta. Seemed like a lot of places aggregated at a hub and took one giant
plane in a day.
------
tristor
I've flown internationally a LOT. My only time ever being on a 747 was on BA,
and it was really amazing being on a double-decker with the business lounge
area. The 747 is truly a remarkable plane, and one of the most comfortable
flights transatlantic flights I've ever been on. I'm sad to see it go. This
follows on the heels of Delta here in the US retiring the Mad Dogs (MD88 &
MD90) as well as their 777 fleet. Lots of shake-ups in the airline industry,
I'm not sure that all of them are good.
------
aaronbrethorst
Too bad. I’ve really enjoyed watching BA’s daily LHR to SEA flight come in
overhead around 5 or 6pm on weekdays. Sea-Tac doesn’t get too many 747s
despite its proximity to Boeing.
~~~
gms
Unfortunately actually being in a BA 747 is nowhere near as enjoyable. I'm
glad for this.
------
chrisseaton
I always wanted to fly upstairs in a 747, but they never flew on my routes. I
think also surprisingly it’s usually just normal business class up there, not
first?
~~~
JackFr
South African used to have coach upstairs when I flew it. New York to
Johannesburg was an amazing flight, I think it was 16 or so hours. Eventually
you’re just sitting there wondering how long can this thing fly?
~~~
lotsofpulp
That flight is brutal without sufficient entertainment. I’ve gotten bored of
everything I brought and time slows to a crawl.
------
rvz
This is unfortunate news for BA and its fleet and is reminiscent to the super-
sonic concorde days (Which I still miss). I'm a huge fan of Boom Supersonic to
take its place. Recently in the UK we lost two airliners to this pandemic,
Thomas Cook Airlines and Flybe both fell into the adminstrators.
I guess this looks like magnificent news to flight-shamers and climate-change
activists.
~~~
luxurytent
To be clear, Thomas Cook collapsed well before covid. The end[1] occurred on
September 23 2019.
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cook_Group#2019:_Final_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cook_Group#2019:_Final_year_and_collapse)
------
DrJokepu
I will miss the BA Club World business class on the upper deck. It was one of
the more pleasant and relaxing ways of transatlantic travel.
~~~
iso1631
My wife flew out upstairs from Heathrow to Washington to join me for a short
break (I'd been working there for a week) in 2014, which was lovely.
We returned from Baltimore on a 767, immediate response "It's a bit shabby".
which even compared with a 747 was entirely accurate.
I still prefer flying out of Baltimore though, much nicer airport, and I seem
to get upgraded (either using miles or operational) every time. They've got
787s on the route now - was supposed to fly there this year just as the ban
was brought in.
------
ubermonkey
I've flown a lot domestically in my life, but because I live in the middle of
the US (Houston), I've almost NEVER been on a super large plane like a 747.
I'm kind of sad about that.
In the last few years I've been on a few big Airbus planes going to the
mideast or the UK; they're nice. But they're not the icons that the 747 was.
------
yardie
Some of the things I’ll miss about the 747:
The speed. They fly at 580mph cruising. The others are around 550mph. I
confirmed this in the IFE.
Cabin pressure. It was higher than the 777 and A380. It just felt better and
less headache inducing.
Upper deck. I’m going to miss club world. We travel as a family and it felt so
intimate being able to sit together and not packed in like tuna.
~~~
josefrichter
speed? seriously, you as a passenger have no chance to anyhow notice it or
benefit from it. the difference is so negligible, that it basically never has
any effect.
------
ivan1783
I was lucky enough to fly business on the top deck of a 747. I remember it
felt like driving a building down the runway compared to the A380, regardless
the 747 will always have a special place in my heart <3
------
rado
First sighting in “Die Hard 2”
[http://www.impdb.org/images/3/32/2016-01-03_03h54_43.jpg](http://www.impdb.org/images/3/32/2016-01-03_03h54_43.jpg)
Then flew it a few times. It’s a legend.
------
jesterson
Unfortunately the whole covid situation didn't allow me to have a first long-
planned flight on 747 right in April. I booked Qantas 747 just to feel the
experience...
Now is seems like there will be no 747 passenger flights anymore and even fate
of A380 is under huge question
------
switch007
This news story has interesting timing. It’s also got a long segment on the TV
news right now
It comes right after the leader of the opposition highlighted during PMQs that
BA have forced new, worse contracts on 30,000 staff
------
supernova87a
It's simple -- 2 engine widebodies are more efficient than the 747, and carry
less risk of being less than full. And airlines seem to have gotten tired of
maintaining 4 engines at a go, for some reason.
~~~
tamcap
4 engines = 2x the maintenance cost, even if you ignore the fuel. And 2x the
overhaul cost.
------
discordance
Qantas has also retired their 747s. They are going to be stored in some desert
area with low humidity, and eventually sold for parts.
This surprises me. Surely they could be sold or used at cargo planes?
~~~
missedthecue
How are they going to load cargo? Their nose doesnt tilt up like purpose built
cargo planes
~~~
karthikb
Side door:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747-400#747-400_Boeing_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747-400#747-400_Boeing_Converted_Freighter)
------
exabrial
Riding on a British airways 747 was one of the coolest experiences I ever had.
The entire cabin had first class level comfort. This will surely be missed.
------
ca_parody
Has the 747 transported to most human-distance (people * (km|miles)) of any
other make&model transportation machine? I would imagine so...
~~~
pirocks
I would guess it's actually the 737 or a320. Long haul flights are
significantly less common.
------
frandroid
And here I thought these would be the ideal planes with enough space for
proper physical distancing in pandemic times...
------
glaucon
The link to airlinegeeks.com is seting off a number of av warnings for me.
------
quantified
The 1959 Coupe DeVille of the air.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Twelve-Factor App - sidcool
https://12factor.net/
======
cocktailpeanuts
Holy shit i first read it as something like "The Twelve-Factor Authentication
app" and thought this was some sort of sick proof of work based authentication
system that makes you go back and forth 12 times through multiple parties just
to sign in.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Software executive exploits ATM loophole to steal $1M - LinuxBender
https://www.zdnet.com/article/software-exec-jailed-after-exploiting-atm-loophole-to-steal-1-million/
======
mikece
Sounds like a call-back to Office Space.... which also gives a clue as to what
type of prison he's headed to.
~~~
vernie
Does it? Is prison rape as much of an issue in China as it is in the US?
~~~
wil421
No but organ harvisting is. Here’s a story from today.[1]
[1][https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/feb/06/call-for-
ret...](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/feb/06/call-for-retraction-
of-400-scientific-papers-amid-fears-organs-came-from-chinese-prisoners)
------
snazz
It seems awfully strange that the employer he stole from defended him and
believed his obvious lie. I wonder if there’s more to the story than what’s in
this article.
~~~
ggggtez
They probably wanted to avoid the bad press showing their security was really
flawed, and spin it as intentional testing.
However, society/police can decide they don't want criminals roaming free just
because it helps a company cover up their mistakes.
------
meuk
Ten and a half years... Some murderers get away with less.
~~~
syntaxing
Not a lawyer, but from a moral perspective, for most justice systems, the
punishment is determined after determining whether the person is guilty. On
top of that, the prison time for the crime is independent of other crimes
(usually). It is almost impossible to balance all the crimes to make it seem
fair. How do you even gauge that? Thief < Rapist < Murderer?! Each crime
should be taken for what it is rather than what it compares to.
~~~
brokenmachine
Thief < Rapist < Murderer seems pretty logical to me.
------
naikrovek
Kind of silly that he got a lengthy sentence after arguing that he was
"testing" the software, didn't spend any of the money, and returned it all
when asked.
~~~
ggggtez
Is this sarcasm? He had no intention of returning anything until he was
caught. The only thing he was testing was whether he could get away with it.
~~~
CyberDildonics
That seems extremely likely, but to get 10 1/2 years in prison?
~~~
grawprog
Don't fuck with banks or corporations. Who do you think laws are there to
protect? Average people??
Bahahahaha
~~~
joshstrange
Well... In this case the bank did try to protect him:
> Huaxia Bank asked Chinese authorities to drop the case once the money was
> returned, of which all of the proceeds were recovered. This request was not
> accepted as "legitimate" by law enforcement, and therefore Qin must serve
> his sentence.
Now they were probably doing it for selfish reasons but still.
~~~
grawprog
I don't think that invalidates what I said. I never said anything about the
bank's actions. Unless banks write laws now?
~~~
joshstrange
I'm really not trying to argue but I can't help but saying..
See: Lobbying?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Don’t Use Mozilla Persona to Secure High-Value Data - zobzu
http://benjamin.smedbergs.us/blog/2014-02-11/dont-use-mozilla-persona-to-secure-high-value-data/
======
callahad
Hi, I hack on Persona at Mozilla. Persona is not a panacea, but this post is
disingenuous.
Benjamin is concerned about user impersonation by identity (email) providers.
1\. The _identical_ risk of silent impersonation is present with any OpenID or
OAuth-based system.
2\. With password-based systems, a malicious provider could also intercept
reset emails, creating similar risk. Benjamin notes that "a user will be aware
of the attack then next time they try to login," but that's a poor mitigation,
since the attacker has already gained access. Benjamin agrees: "On
bugzilla.mozilla.org, we disabled password reset emails for users with access
to security bugs."
If you're operating under the same constraints as Benjamin, then I agree:
Persona alone is not sufficient. Nor is _any_ other normal authentication
system.
~~~
StavrosK
Since each IdP has a private key, couldn't they request "pinning" it? So, for
example, I can ask my IdP to say "I will be the IdP for this user for at least
a year, if you get a different signature within this year, it's an impostor".
Each client would have to cache the ID specifically for every user, but that
doesn't seem too bad for the extra security it gives. Alternately, the user
themselves could send the IdP ID to the authenticating site and the site can
check that they match, thus detecting any foul play.
Please correct me if I'm talking out of my ass, it's been a while since I
implemented an IdP.
~~~
jessaustin
Smedberg is talking about a situation in which the IdP itself isn't to be
trusted: it impersonates the user to the RP.
~~~
StavrosK
I was talking about the ".well-known/browserid file being changed to something
else" attack, #2.
~~~
jessaustin
Ah, sorry for the confusion then. I have to say, an attacker who can change
random files on the server can do all sorts of naughty things. Serve evil
javascript libs? Change server configuration? Insert her own TLS cert? Check,
check, check. Why would .well-known stuff be any different?
For those who do have problem with this, I guess I see why they want DNS SRV,
but I can also see why the "plain DNS" complaints sidetracked this
functionality.
~~~
StavrosK
Well, it's not necessarily that. For example, my website serves an authority
delegation file ([https://stavros.io/.well-
known/browserid](https://stavros.io/.well-known/browserid)) which I _really_
don't want an attacker to mess with. Serving JS libs/changing the config/etc
wouldn't get them anywhere, unless they could change that single file.
Since there are some ways to protect from that (I think the two I proposed
above are reasonable), Mozilla probably should think about implementing it.
------
fournm
I'm sorry, I might just be misunderstanding so please correct me if I'm wrong
but...
The main vulnerability he talks about is if a major provider were to be hacked
and have their file replaced (or go rogue, entirely). In either case, is _any_
login system that doesn't use two factor authentication and allows for
password resets via email really going to do any better?
Edit: I realize he points out that 2 factor auth really is the only solution
here, just, it seems like the criticism applies much more widely than just
against Persona.
~~~
drdaeman
The main problem with Persona (and OpenID and OAuth) is that you don't own
your identity, by design. The identity is completely managed by provider, so
anything that uses Persona is inherently prone to all sorts of identity
provider abuse.
Analogy: you don't have any keys to your safe deposit box at bank, but a
warden may open it for you after a phone call to your landlord, who'd assert
your identity. The obvious question is why we need a landlord in this
scenario.
Unfortunately, gpgAuth is practically dead and WebID WG had no progress for
two years.
~~~
callahad
It's a delicate balance between security and usability. Zooko's triangle
applies here. To wit, GPG and client-side SSL certificates have pretty ideal
security properties, but impose upon the user to manage storing and syncing
key material between devices.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zooko%27s_triangle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zooko%27s_triangle)
_EDIT:_ Heh. Actually Zooko's doesn't _fully_ apply here, but it's still a
fun read. Thanks Perseids and drdaeman. :)
~~~
Perseids
Zooko's triangle is about secure name systems like DNSSec or Namecoin, not
about user logins.
~~~
dllthomas
According to the wiki page, it's _" a conjecture for any system for giving
names to participants in a network protocol"_.
"Nicknames users choose for themselves" is listed as one example point in the
space.
~~~
drdaeman
From what I've seen Persona is mostly advertised as solving problem with
credentials (passwords, OpenIDs, etc.), not nicknames.
Actually, I don't think there's anything wrong with nicknames and their lack
of global uniqueness. Moreover, I believe it's a good thing.
~~~
dllthomas
Persona solves the problem of uniquely naming you to the site, on the
assumption that you already have a unique email. There's more pieces here with
their own issues, but I _think_ Zooko's triangle is still relevant.
_" Actually, I don't think there's anything wrong with nicknames and their
lack of global uniqueness. Moreover, I believe it's a good thing."_
That depends entirely on the applications you're intending to put them to...
~~~
drdaeman
> the problem of uniquely naming you to the site
Ahem. Did we (consumers, not site owners) really have this problem, to begin
with?
~~~
dllthomas
That's irrelevant to whether Zooko's triangle applies, which was all I was
weighing in on.
That said, yes, consumers totally have this problem. We encounter it visibly
every time a username we want is taken when we try to sign up for a site. The
effectiveness with which Personal eliminates it entirely, ameliorates it, or
merely pushes it off to other parts of the system depends on other details of
the service in question.
It's also not the only problem Persona purports to solve, simply the relevant
one.
------
natrius
A more PR-friendly headline would be, "Use Two-Factor Authentication to Secure
High-Value Data." Persona is not the problem.
~~~
StavrosK
You mean two-factor auth on the IdP, or on the site itself? The former
wouldn't solve the problem, but the latter would.
~~~
natrius
You're correct. The latter.
------
wtbob
It seems to me that the issue with respect to the .well-known/browserid which
he raises is itself an issue with the CA system; the assumptions are a) that
the key serving the site is verified by a trusted CA and b) that the key is
serving the correct file. In fact, it's quite possible that a trusted CA is
compromised, and it's even possible that the key has been misled into serving
(and authenticating) the wrong file.
In short, we're entrusting every single CA in the world with the login of
every single user in the world.
That doesn't seem terribly good to me.
A better system, IMHO, would involve offline keys for each identity provider;
these keys would each sign an online key (or online keys) which would be used
to authenticate the users. Each relying party would have to make a decision on
how to handle hitherto-unseen keys (TOFUPOP backed up by SSL is, while
imperfect, no indefensible).
TOFUPOP would protect against bad-faith CAs, and offline long-term keys would
enable key mobility. Note that with a properly-specified certificate calculus,
the offline key could authorise its own backups...
------
dllthomas
I think the reason Persona is singled out here is simply that this guy is
commenting from Mozilla.
~~~
jessaustin
Yeah it's cool that they tolerate a diversity of thought on core issues.
~~~
sabbatic13
It is, but there's also some historical friction between the people who hack
on gecko (like smedberg) and the people who hack on the services that tie into
the browser, so sometimes it's diversity of opinion, and sometimes it's
tribalism.
In this case, I'd be more inclined to listen to the commenter on his blog,
Monica Chew. She's the security/privacy developer. Smedberg is a stone-cold
genius who brought such things as Electronlysis to FFx, but he isn't blogging
as a security expert. So, it's an informed and intelligent opinion, but it's
not quite an expert one and the wording may be somewhat colored by the long-
standing tradition of Platform Engineering pointing out where Services
Development is getting it wrong.. IMHO at least.
~~~
jessaustin
Thanks for the interesting background on the personalities.
Smedberg isn't _wrong_ about the specific set of circumstances he cites: if an
IdP (or someone who controls one, in whatever fashion) knows an RP to which a
particular user auths, and wants to fool them both, it can. I think at this
point we're supposed to advocate "defense in depth" and observe that there is
nothing to prevent layering other mechanisms alongside Persona. For example:
client certs, tokens, OTP systems, old-fashioned HTTP-auth, etc. For that
matter, you could require the use of more than one IdP! (Not sure if the
current javascript lib would tolerate this, but one could certainly modify it
to do so... could this get on the roadmap for the rumored browser
integration?)
I think most IdPs people are likely to use are strongly incentivized not to
screw this up, but if it becomes an issue then some IdPs might be able to
create value by being more trusted or auditable.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google Glass app identifies you by your fashion sense - wcoenen
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21729075.600-google-glass-app-identifies-you-by-your-fashion-sense.html
======
enemtin
I would love to see how this pans out with someone who has completely
unpredictable style...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Two ways to keep a language lean (2015) - buzzybee
http://comp.lang.modula2.narkive.com/GgnXF0Ab/the-two-ways-to-keep-a-language-lean
======
mhd
I know that it's one of IT's hard problems, but one of the best ways of
keeping a language lean is renaming it after it accrues a certain amount of
changes, or at least attaching a qualifier. If users are still interesting
programming with HyperPascal, Modulatrix Xtreme Pro or "Mongolian Vowel
Separator", then feel free to make some more considerable changes.
Otherwise I'd be very careful, and especially if it's actually a language with
multiple implementations.
~~~
qznc
That is why we have version numbers.
Usually languages are extended. C++11 and C++14 are different languages,
although the first is a subset of the second. That does not always hold. For
example, Python2 and Python3 are different languages.
In line with the article: If you only provide a subset, give it a different
name. Prepend a "mini" or "micro" or whatever. For example, "MiniPython" would
be expected to provide a subset of Python.
~~~
dkersten
_Python2 and Python3 are different languages._
I think this is a bad example, because they want to abandon Python2 and move
everyone to Python3, yet, almost 10 years later, many people are still using
Python2. So I would say that the Python way is NOT how one should keep a
language lean.
~~~
AnimalMuppet
I think it _is_ the way you keep a language lean. If you want Python 3, you
have only a few choices: You can make very few changes from Python 2, you can
make breaking changes, or you can extend but not break. If you make very few
changes, the language doesn't progress very much. If you extend but don't
break, the language progresses, _but it doesn 't stay lean_. If you make
breaking changes, the language can stay lean, but you lose a bunch of users
who stay with the previous version.
There is no perfect answer. Progressing, lean, and compatible: pick at most
two.
------
adrianratnapala
The claim here is that if a language is not hyper-extensible the community
will add crufty features to it over time and that is why languages originated
by Niklaus Wirth are getting crufty.
But was Pascal ever more more minimal than C11? Maybe by some metrics, but the
difference cannot be big.
Now there is plenty of stupidity in modern C standards, but that is mostly
about letting compilers play hell with undefined behaviour in the name of
over-aggressive optimisation. It doesn't fit in with the language-bloat thesis
of the article.
~~~
1wd
Here's one metric: The Pascal 1990 ISO Standard was under 100 pages long. The
C90 standard was about 230 pages, and the C11 standard about 700 pages long.
~~~
naasking
Did the pascal standard include the standard library? Because C does. Doesn't
seem like a fair comparison unless both standards specified standard libraries
with comparable features.
~~~
TremendousJudge
I'm pretty sure it included its equivalent functions and definitions
[http://www.pascal-central.com/docs/iso7185.pdf](http://www.pascal-
central.com/docs/iso7185.pdf)
------
vorg
According to the comment, sustained simplicity occurs only
1\. for as long as there is a champion to remind its practitioners, e.g.
Wirthian languages at first
2\. if they don't need to because they're extensible, e.g. Forth, Scheme,
Smalltalk
Maybe these aren't the only requirements. Apache Groovy introduced annotations
in version 1.7 so programmers could introduce their own syntactic extensions,
and its backers often declared "no new syntax". Unfortunately, Groovy's
project manager changed the @Trait annotation to a `trait` keyword in version
2.
------
Animats
There are still people working on Modula-2?
~~~
sverige
Yes, and there are still people working on GNU HURD.
------
optimuspaul
It's just pushing the cruft down the road. In my opinion that cruft is harder
to deal with when it is maintained in countless different ways but countless
different people using countless different methodologies.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: No Profitability and Raises why the guilt? - djmill
In short I work for a start up who underpays me. This company is ~5 years old and every time I bring this up, they throw a small amount of money at me to shut me up and remind me that the company is "not yet profitable".<p>Well, Amazon isn't profitable (maybe they are now..? last I heard they were not), but they still pay their employees market value. Why the guilt? Why not give an employee a raise (which I deserve) without reminding me that they're "doing me this favor"? No, I'm doing them the favor by continuing to work for them... I've seen their applicants, I've seen how no one wants to work here... I know exactly what's going on here...<p>Just curious what people's thoughts are on this. My personal feeling is that I won't get the pay that I'm looking for without finding a job that will pay it - and THEN my employers will try to keep me from leaving by giving me what I was looking for initially.<p>How does profitability weigh in on paying employees market value?<p>Edit: equity is extremely small. Tech lead position for bottom 35 percentile pay in the area.
======
alexc05
Hey! So forgive the snooping, but I looked at your comment history.
- This post.
- "Need a raise how to ask"
- "100% burnt out"
You're telling yourself something.
Quit.
Give your legally required notice then use the time to start looking for
something else.
This is obviously contingent on having enough savings to stay off the streets
until you find something new.
Maybe get temp work through an agency. Depending on the market you're in, that
should be enough to tide you over.
Don't stay. Give notice, move on.
~~~
cblock811
Yeah if there is a consistent pattern like this, I think the poster is just
looking for the right push to make a move. Some sort of forcing action. I say
go with what this guy says, give notice, and leave (unless you need to save
money first).
------
MalcolmDiggs
Well let me premise this by saying: Getting more money rarely turns a bad job
into a good job. If you don't like the place you work, that's the problem, and
getting more money won't solve that problem.
That being said: I think you're right about getting other offers lined up. I
think you should start interviewing, go out into the market, and get 3 - 5
solid offers lined up. Then bring those offers to your employer and leave it
in their hands.
If they won't pay you market-rate (after showing them what market rate is),
then leave; simple as that.
------
davismwfl
So 5 years in and you are still not at/near market rates, are they solely
bootstrapped?
To answer your question, profitability plays in regardless of whether they
raised money or not, but it weighs far heavier when a company is bootstrapped.
Even then though, smart founders will work to take care of their staff so
their staff take care of the clients. If they are backed and raised a Series A
or further then there is no excuse for not, at least, being very close to
market.
Just my 2 cents on profitability too, a company cannot claim to be profitable
until the staff is paid competitively and founders are taking a reasonable
salary for their role and size of firm. Otherwise the company is not really
profitable.
As for staying or leaving, my bet is they will keep making promises but unless
you see behavior differences or a light at the end of the tunnel, then it may
be time to move on regardless.
One other point, if the company has been taking care of you in other ways like
vacations, small bonuses when possible, full health care, and other
perks/benefits, then I'd likely feel better for a longer period of time,
especially if they were open and recognize that they are underpaying, but it
wouldn't last forever.
------
advice_giver
I was once in the same situation. If you want to be paid market value, stop
whining and go get it. What's the point of sitting around being mad.
You have some choices. Wait for the next big project, then ask for a fair
raise, and for once, don't take the weak counter. But really you should just
get another job. Then you will find out what you are really worth.
Good luck.
~~~
djmill
Yeah I'm currently at the 'next big project' and asked for a fair raise. I got
a bonus and was told salary reviews will happen within a few months. The
company reviews everyone at the same time... maybe they should reconsider if I
go and find what I'm looking for.
------
Someone1234
Are you an employee or investor? If you're receiving equity then you're an
investor (even if your only investment is theoretically lost wages). If you
are only receiving wages (and or bonuses/benefits) then you're just an
employee.
As an investor you need to come at it like an investor: Is this business a
good investment of those lost wages? Are they growing? Does the business model
make sense?
As an employee: You'll never be rewarded for your "loyalty." They won't make
it up to you later. If you are being chronically underpaid you should consider
finding another job. A lot of startups churn through tons of inexpensive
employees, and few if any are later rewarded.
~~~
djmill
My equity is extremely small, if not negligible. The company continues to
grow, but the engineering teams grow slower than other parts of the company.
This puts more and more strain on engineering as work continues to pile on.
The good news (and the bad news) is there's never a lack of work. I feel like
slave labor for being a tech lead for bottom 35 percentile pay in the area.
------
lastofus
Without founder level equity in the company, it's simply time to move on. Life
is too short to keep working a job that you are not happy at, especially if
you are in the lucky minority of people with highly sought after skills.
~~~
djmill
Very true
------
sharemywin
Do you have decent equity to counter the lost wages? Does the company have
double digit monthly growth? If no to either of those questions you really
need to question whether you shouldn't find something else.(My BS opinion)
------
rietta
Not profitable in this contex probably means they do not have the cash flow
nor the means to pay a higher wage. The options are 1) increase revenue, which
may not be easy or possible in a given market or 2) pay fewer people more.
Now if you believe in the company and what to stick with it is entirely up to
you.
Edit to add. Amazon is not profitable but has massive, massive cash flow. That
is unlikely the case with your employer.
~~~
davismwfl
That's not actually totally true. Amazon is profitable, just with very small
margins for the size of revenue they generate.
[http://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-results-
idUSKCN0V62...](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-results-
idUSKCN0V62U6)
Also, Amazon doesn't focus on quarterly profits, which frustrates the wall
street types. That is different then not ever being profitable though. If
there were never profitable Amazon would have to be raising more money
constantly or slashing costs just to stay in business. Instead, they just run
super thin margins and invest pretty heavily in new areas constantly keeping
their margins super thin (sometimes negative).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Integer Overflow Bug in Boeing 787 Dreamliner - h43k3r
http://www.engadget.com/2015/05/01/boeing-787-dreamliner-software-bug/
======
anderspitman
Might be time to remove working on the 787 from my resume. I feel like the
poor thing has been one disaster after another in the news.
I can't speak to the quality of the A and B level (most critical) code, but
the development process for the C level software I was working on definitely
could have used a lot of improvement. Messy code, tests and documentation were
an afterthought/checkbox item, etc. The incentives were just wrong.
I think there's a ton of room for process innovation in avionics software
development. One thing I wanted to build for a long time was a tool for
tracing. In theory, every industry requirement (DO-178B, etc) was supposed to
trace to a hight level Software Design Document (SDD) requirement, which was
supposed to trace to a Software Requirements Document (SRD) requirement, which
would trace to a code function. We maintained all of that BY HAND. It was a
huge mess. Perfect example of something that could have been an extremely
valuable development tool, but ended up just being a hassle to try and
maintain.
Then of course there's language choice. C is king, which isn't necessarily a
bad thing, but it's certainly not the safest, even in the restricted forms
used in avionics. Sadly, my very first ever project as a programmer was
porting an Ada codebase to C for the 787 (off by one errors for days...). It's
almost cliche to say nowadays, but I would be really excited to see Rust gain
some traction in avionics over the next 20 years or so. Because that's how far
behind avionics is. We were using Visual Studio 6 in 2011!
~~~
icegreentea
I work in the medical device field, and we have a similar process requirement
(traceability from Design Input Requirements -> Software Specification ->
Software Verification Procedure (and implicitly, the actual code function) ->
Software Verification Report). We're currently wrangling with a giant-ass
spreadsheet to keep track, and it totally sucks.
~~~
anderspitman
Ah yes I completely forgot SRD -> TESTS -> Then Code. Maybe that's because we
always did it the other way around...
I'm telling you, there's money to be made building tools for this stuff. I
think a big part of the reason things aren't being improved is that the people
in a position to recognize bad process and tooling maybe aren't the type of
people to see an opportunity to make money solving the problem rather than
putting up with it. I wouldn't associate most of the engineers I knew at
Honeywell as the type to stay up until 2AM every night for 3 months working on
a side project to pitch to their boss.
I think it's really exciting what's happening in healthcare right now though.
The innovative culture is exploding. Ultimately I care much more about what
happens in medicine than avionics, as long as planes aren't falling out of the
sky every 248 days...
~~~
HeyLaughingBoy
There are already tools for this stuff. Problem is that they are all various
forms of crappy and the market is so small that there is little incentive to
improve them. I work in Medical Devices and one of the tools I'm supposed to
use (we find every excuse to avoid it) has a UI like a 2001 Swing app and
while it works, it is insanely painful to use due to its absolutely
counterintuitive interface.
We're actually integrating more and more of our work in to Visual Studio since
its tools are excellent. The problem is that the organization needs to
validate any tool before we can use it as a part of Quality Management and
that process can take forever.
~~~
anderspitman
Visual Studio is awesome. I'm really excited to see how Code turns out on
Linux, especially for things like building GUI apps and 3D stuff.
------
AshleysBrain
Windows 98 had a similar bug where the system would hang after 49.7 days:
[https://support.microsoft.com/en-
us/kb/216641](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/216641)
Although IIRC, the impact was limited, because it was quite a feat for a
Windows 98 system to stay up for 49 days :)
~~~
alfiedotwtf
I found 98 respectible. It was 95 that didn't last a whole week!
~~~
Rexxar
"Windows Millennium Edition" was the worst.
~~~
windsurfer
"Malfunction Edition" as it was sometimes known
------
pslam
I recall a long time back, when Linux was configured as standard for 100Hz
ticks (aka "jiffies"), the counter was initialized close to wraparound instead
of 0.
The result was you typically encountered "jiffy wraparound" after a few
minutes of uptime. You learned whether your system was stable in this
situation fairly quickly, rather than 248 (or 497) days later. Kernel
developers typically don't have uptimes measured in days. Starting the counter
close to wraparound increased the likelihood it was going to get code
coverage.
~~~
ekimekim
I really love this methodology. If an exceptional case exists, and it's cheap
to cause the exceptional case to occur during standard usage, then do it so
that the code is well-exercised.
------
dwightgunning
I found it curious that the journalist refers to the bug as a "vulnerability".
This is could be misinterpreted given that's a term is more commonly used in a
security context.
~~~
GigabyteCoin
>journalist
There's your answer right there. They write stories for a living, not
programs.
~~~
smsm42
Some journalists still care to acquire correct terminology. If somebody is
reporting from the court and call somebody accused of car theft "murderer"
because you don't know the difference between the two, they'd probably get
laughed at.
------
Mojah
They're actually not alone, Dell's EqualLogic (a big & expensive storage
array) had the same problem, after 248 days.
They would initiate a controller failover and reboot:
[https://ma.ttias.be/248-days/](https://ma.ttias.be/248-days/)
~~~
baruch
There was a similar issue in the Linux kernel in version 2.6.32 where the
kernel would crash after 208 days:
[http://www.novell.com/support/kb/doc.php?id=7009834](http://www.novell.com/support/kb/doc.php?id=7009834)
This was a serious problem in some storage systems too:
[https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/anthonyv/...](https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/anthonyv/entry/208_day_reboot_bug3?lang=en)
------
ghshephard
I find it, well, interesting to read that the "Fail Safe" mode is to
deactivate all power systems on the plane.
~~~
sitkack
I find it troubling that the generators can't reboot w/o continuing to supply
power, that reboots aren't staged to ensure that the plane continues to have
power and that power from the generators it necessary to control the aircraft.
Isn't there battery backup to enable the plane to continue operating normally
while the generator reboots?
From the article it looks like their whole failsafe/redundant system
architecture is flawed.
Just like buffer bloat, reboot times and corruptible system state are a
chronic systemic flaw in modern technology.
The only stuff that works is the stuff that is used all the time. Look towards
crash only software [1] and microreboots [2,3]
[1]
[https://www.usenix.org/legacy/events/hotos03/tech/full_paper...](https://www.usenix.org/legacy/events/hotos03/tech/full_papers/candea/candea.pdf)
[2]
[https://www.usenix.org/legacy/event/osdi04/tech/full_papers/...](https://www.usenix.org/legacy/event/osdi04/tech/full_papers/candea/candea.pdf)
[3]
[http://dslab.epfl.ch/pubs/perfeval.pdf](http://dslab.epfl.ch/pubs/perfeval.pdf)
~~~
VonGuard
The actual reboot takes something around a minute, and the plane is designed
to keep flying while rebooting. It's during take off or landing that this
would be a real problem.
Think Starship Enterprise. You can't turn off the whole ship, or everyone
suffocates. You run diagnostics system by system and keep the warp core online
as much as possible so you don't run out of power.
------
lotsofmangos
Reminds me a little of the floating point precision bug in the patriot missile
targeting systems, where the longer it was left on, the less accurate it got.
[http://fas.org/spp/starwars/gao/im92026.htm](http://fas.org/spp/starwars/gao/im92026.htm)
------
limaoscarjuliet
I file it under "funny" but certainly it is nothing unusual or surprising.
Software, like anything else, has faults and breaks. Even on an airplane.
It mostly is funny to us, developers, because we have all been trying to
convince our bosses that "it will never happen". That object_id being an int4
sequence? You would need one object a second for 70 years to overflow. And
yet, somehow, it does, e.g. because someone loaded data with object_id set to
1.9B and the sequence followed from there.
P.S. My favorite pastime? Watching Aircraft Disasters series in an airport.
Not brave enough to watch it during the flight yet. Karma might be a bitch and
I do not want to test it 10 km up there ;-)
~~~
istvan__
Like everything else? What was the last time the Golden Gate bridge collapsed?
:) Everything else does not include the most of the engineering output. In
software faults are more common because of the tools we are using and because
there is no life in danger if Twitter is down. On the other hand, we cannot
allow a bridge to collapse or an airplane to fall down from the sky because it
has a fault. There are several techniques to build reliable systems out of
non-reliable parts.
~~~
ams6110
Bridge collapses are actually not that uncommon. While often times overloading
or damage is the cause, sometimes it's due to design flaws.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bridge_failures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bridge_failures)
~~~
istvan__
I think the point is the frequency.
------
userbinator
Presumably all of Boeing's _other_ planes have such counters in their systems,
and don't have this bug (or if they did, it was corrected already), so why
only the 787? That's what I find most surprising.
Edit: one theory that seems plausible is that they were "overly paranoid" and
put in overflow checks, on a time counter whose overflowing would not have had
negative effects otherwise since the other code was designed to handle a
wraparound correctly.
~~~
Jtsummers
Software tends not to be reused between planes unless you go back to the same
vendor and there are no major hardware changes with the component as well.
Aircraft software is kind of a broken world.
~~~
agumonkey
Broken Aircraft software makes me wanna rethink the notion of correctness, or
broaden the scope of failure and function.
~~~
jMyles
Right? If aircraft software is broken, but my linux desktop is supposed to be
the picture of success, I'm not sure the definitions are meaningful. :-)
~~~
agumonkey
And I was serious. We should study this and see why what could be described as
a fault, a bug, etc ... is actually not that meaningful.
~~~
Retra
Those are features!
------
excel2flow
Could have abstract interpretation
([http://www.astree.ens.fr/](http://www.astree.ens.fr/)) or some other formal
method prevented it?
~~~
tlb
Someone wrote something like:
int32_t ticks; // 100ths of a second
which overflows in 248 days, a particularly unfortunate amount of time because
it doesn't show up during testing.
Although it would be a good engineering choice, a formal verifier would say
that:
int64_t ticks; // 100ths of a second
is also incorrect, since it also overflows (after 10^9 years).
In a hard real time system,
mpz_t ticks; // 100ths of a second, infinite precision libgmp type
is still formally incorrect, since as the the number grows in size it will
eventually exceed a time limit or memory (after 10^10^9 years)
The overall lesson from formal methods is that it's impossibly to write
formally correct useful programs. So programmers just muddle through.
~~~
mhogomchungu
> int64_t ticks; // 100ths of a second
I would go with uint64_t
as it documents "ticks" as a variable that can not hold negative values and
also doubles its range of positive values.
~~~
speakeron
I would go with
uint64_t ticksOfDuration10ms; // No comment necessary
~~~
cnvogel
The concept of timer "ticks" is well established as a unit of time in embeded
programming, it's almost universally included in your embedded (realtime-)OS
and might increase at any conceivable rate, both limited by the hardware
constraints (e.g. a fixed, simple, 16-bit ripple counter that is clocked by
the main CPU clock of 8 MHz will clock at 122.07 Hz) or at your application
requirements (you let a slightly more configurable timer only count to 40000
at half the CPU clock to get exactly 100 Hz). Hence you shouldn't explicitly
inscribe the tick rate in your symbol name, as it can change when requirements
change.
You'll almost always have a global variable, preprocessor define... or
something similar to get the frequency (or time increase per tick), which you
should use whenever you have to convert "ticks" to actual physical units. If
the actual effective tick rate is visible at many places in your code, both as
a symbol name or as a comment, you are most certainly doing something wrong.
~~~
speakeron
I think you kind of missed the point of my post (which was a bit tongue-in-
cheek). The original code fragment had the tick duration embedded in a
comment, so changing a global variable which defines it something other than
10ms is going to cause all sorts of problems in maintaining that code.
(Leading possibly to the very problem Boeing had).
~~~
cnvogel
...well, then my irony-detector is broken ;-).
------
zaroth
This failure mode in particular was deemed _exceedingly unlikely_ by Boeing,
which got them an exception to some initial airworthiness issues with the RAT,
which in turn would have made a total loss of power catastrophic.
~~~
firethief
They can deem things unlikely? That seems broken in general. I would deem it
unlikely they'd ship with any errors they _didn 't_ deem unlikely; those are
precisely the failure modes we should most look for...
~~~
ams6110
The entire aircraft is an electro/mechanical system with many thousands of
things that could go wrong, but are deemed unlikely. All engines could fail at
the same time, but it's deemed unlikely. Redundant hydraulic systems could
fail together, but it's deemed unlikely. There is no certainty in systems this
complicated.
------
stcredzero
IIRC, the VisualWorks VM had such a bug that would mysteriously crash an
automated airport people-mover after some interval, like 45 or 90 days.
(Software crash, not train-hardware crash! Train would simply stop.) Also, as
I recall, the train software project did not use automated tests at all! (By
that time, VisualWorks VM was implementing them.)
(Learn from history. Don't cling so hard to the notion that your language will
make you into super-programmers. Certainly, some tools are better in certain
contexts than others. However, group culture and the quality of working
relationships often have an effect even greater than choice of language.
Besides, people often dislike someone who projects an air of superiority.)
------
mrmondo
FYI - Engadget has very intrusive advertising that you can't close on a mobile
device: [http://i.imgur.com/nqgc2p7.png](http://i.imgur.com/nqgc2p7.png)
~~~
digi_owl
"tech for ladies", aka a power bank with a led flash and a "designer" case...
------
kazinator
Is that it really an overflow bug? Or a counter wraparound bug?
For example, incorrectly using a X > Y comparison on values that are
congruential (and do not overflow) isn't an "overflow bug". You can only
locally compare values that are close together on the wheel, using
subtraction.
The simple thing to do with tick counts is to start them at some high value
that is only minutes away from rolling around. Then the situation reproduces
soon after startup, rather than days or months later, and its effects are more
likely to get caught in testing.
~~~
kazinator
Another thing you can do is reduce the range of tick counts. Say you have a 32
bit tick count which increments a hundred times a second, but the longest
period (biggest delta between any two live time values) you care about in your
module (driver or whatever) is well within 30 seconds. That's only 3000 ticks.
Then, whenever you sample the counter, you can mask it down into, say, the 13
bit range [0,8192): effectively a tick counter that rolls over every 81.9
seconds (which you treat correctly as a 13 bit value in your calculations like
is_before(t0, t1) or add_time(t0, delta)).
~~~
ambrop7
There's no need to reduce the range, you can just treat correctly the full
counter range (see my other comment).
~~~
kazinator
Well, it's a tautology that if you _treat correctly_ anything, you don't need
any defensive tricks.
Treat all the ones and zeros correctly and everything else takes care of
itself.
~~~
ambrop7
You mentioned correct treatment first :) I'm just saying that masking the
clock is unnecessary and doesn't make correct treatment any easier.
------
xrstf
Current workaround: Restart the estimated 28 U.S. planes at least every 120
days[1].
Wonder how long it could take for the update to be actually available (after
testing, approving, ...). Are we talking weeks, months, years?
[1] [https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-
inspection.federalregister.g...](https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-
inspection.federalregister.gov/2015-10066.pdf)
~~~
ferrix
Actually I am a bit surprised that somebody would want a plane to be powered
on for such a long time. There is no way one could fly for that long anyway
and they are regularly taken to service between long hauls.
~~~
ghshephard
I completely agree with you - on at least three of the dozen or so flights
I've taken this year, when there was a problem with the passenger area (Audio
in one case, WiFi in another, and finally my _POWER_ connector in the third) -
the flight attendants power cycled the entire system, which took about 15
minutes, and let me watch the Linux boot process on the back-of-seat console.
My suspicion is the "Reboot" approach is pretty common to aviation systems. It
wouldn't surprise me that many of the components are rebooted daily, and
almost certainly on a weekly basis.
120+ days without a reboot sounds unlikely to me.
~~~
gkop
Jtsummers, userbinator: This 787 bug shuts down the generators which I
understand provide only the AC power aboard the aircraft? How critical is this
AC power?
~~~
twistedpair
B787 is a mostly electric airliner. There are far fewer hydrolic/cable
operated systems than in previous planes. This is much safer since a
explosion/leak/breach/clog in a hydrolic line won't take out an entire
hydrolic system (most planes have 3 systems and fuse valves to mitigate this).
However, since there are so many electricly operated systems, you really need
power. The B787 as is No Bleed [1], so electrical power is also used to
pressurize it [2]. Need Electric Power.
[1]
[http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/articles/qtr_4...](http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/articles/qtr_4_07/article_02_1.html)
[2] [http://www.airliners.net/aviation-
forums/tech_ops/read.main/...](http://www.airliners.net/aviation-
forums/tech_ops/read.main/218933/)
~~~
ghshephard
Isn't most of that DC power though? How much of it is AC power (like the power
that each passenger seat gets?)
That's the power that I was talking about requiring a reboot. Not sure if it's
related to the AC power associated with the bug in question - possible there
are two AC power systems on the plane?
------
shellmayr
Wow, how can something like this happen? I thought airplanes had triple
redundant software systems using 3-version programming [1] in order to avoid
such bugs/problems. Can anyone familiar with flight technology shed some light
on this?
[1][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-version_programming](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-version_programming)
~~~
CHY872
Not an airplane programmer, but I seem to remember that the literature says
that it's not generally a cost-effective way of finding bugs. In particular,
you multiply the cost of development by (say) 3x (which is fine, on its own)
but also the places where bugs are inserted are typically the hard parts; so
you don't reduce the number of bugs as much as you'd like; it can easily be
more cost effective to invest the few million in static analysis etc.
As much as we'd like plane manufacturers to test things to death, it'd become
too expensive too quickly. For all we know, this software could be written by
a contractor, or the firmware for a third party part.
As far as I know, N-version programming was effective when software systems
were small (shuttle ran on 50k lines of code) and where poring over every
single line was possible, because the hard part was coming up with the spec.
Nowadays a big plane like the A380 might be expected to have 100M lines of
code in its subsystems, and it's simply too expensive.
~~~
hello_there
> Nowadays a big plane like the A380 might be expected to have 100M lines of
> code in its subsystems,
Why does an airplane require 100M lines of code?
~~~
mschuster91
Linux kernel alone comes in at 15m SLOC. Now add an userland subsystem and
you're at 20-30M just for one device.
Multiply by all the little and big subsystems, the embedded chips, in-flight
entertainment, network gear... 100m SLOC is too low, I think.
~~~
georgerobinson
Sorry if this is incredibly ignorant, but I can't believe flight control
systems are running Linux?
Do these systems not have hard real-time requirements about the execution time
and periodicity of tasks which can't be guaranteed by the time-sharing
scheduling algorithms in Linux?
~~~
jacquesm
Real time systems will be running a RTOS: VxWorks or QnX or something
equivalent to that.
They'll definitely build a prototype using Linux but they won't get that
certified so it literally 'won't fly', it's just a means to speed up initial
development.
~~~
Kliment
Is the order of magnitude of lines of code in QNX different from that of
linux? At a first approximation, I don't see why it would be.
~~~
jacquesm
The QnX kernel is very small compared to the Linux kernel.
Small enough that I could-reimplement it in approximately 3500 lines of code +
another 850 for the virtual memory management.
~~~
Kliment
Wow, I had no idea. Since their source is closed and untouchable I had no way
to check either. Is there any reason there aren't several certified open
RTOSes around?
~~~
jacquesm
I don't know if there aren't _any_ open certified RTOS's around, but I can
explain the 'why' part easily: if you pay for the certification of an open
RTOS then everybody that can use one will say 'thank you' for the effort and
that's that, since the certification would apply to any and all copies of that
particular version. So you're essentially paying for the privilege of cutting
your competitors a break.
This could only work if the entity paying for the certification had a way of
making that money back somehow and I don't see how that could be done.
~~~
walterbell
Not an RTOS, but seL4 is a correctness-proven open-source ARM microkernel:
[https://sel4.systems](https://sel4.systems). Looks like a mixture of public
and private funding. It's part of the L4 family,
[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/L4_microkernel_family#Univers...](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/L4_microkernel_family#University_of_New_South_Wales_and_NICTA)
which includes OKL4 (deployed on 1B+ ARM-based mobile phones) and
[http://genode.org](http://genode.org) (x86/ARM) from Dresden.
~~~
jeff_marshall
Not to detract from the fine work done by the sel4 folks, but there is a large
gap between what they have and what DO178 C requires for level A software.
Like many other bureaucratic organisations, the FAA (and other regional
equivalents) have a process with it's own set of rules (MCDC testing,
requirements/design traceability artifacts, etc).
It would cost a significant amount of money to develop the necessary artifacts
and engage the FAA to obtain a certification.
~~~
jacquesm
That's absolutely true but something like this could be a good starting point.
What I think the whole thread above misses is that the economics simply aren't
there, cost isn't the limiting factor for the OS licenses for avionics but an
extra certification track (especially for a fast moving target) would be,
besides, it is not just the OS that gets certified but you will also have to
(separately) certify (usually) the hardware that it runs on (unless you're
going to use a design that has already been certified).
That means that modifications are expensive and that 'known to be good' trumps
'could be better' or 'could be cheaper in the longer term'.
Someone would have to come up with a very good reason to see open source trump
the existing closed source solutions.
------
__Joker
I remember a legacy web service system we used to support which will crash
after couple of days, after hogging all the resources. The first thing we did
was to set up a monitor with a daily restart scripts. That was much cheaper
and quicker fix than the fixing the memory leaks which took 3 months to reach
to production.
~~~
dvirsky
I had a memory leak in a Python program (that's a really rare thing), that
would trigger OOM kills in about 3-4 days. After a few days of investigation
that yielded nothing, I put a restart job every day or so, and returned to it
only after a few months when I had some time. Eventually it came down to
someone replacing dict.get() with dict.setdefault() in a lookup dictionary in
some utility library, causing each miss to leak a small, non GC-ed empty entry
in an otherwise small lookup table.
------
tzs
This and other stories are claiming it is an integer overflow, but I've seen
no source for that. It seems to be just speculation based on the observation
that a 100 Hz 32-bit counter would behave similarly.
------
stox
Coming soon: OTA updates for Boeing aircraft. What could possibly go wrong?
------
serf
well, at least it's not a pacemaker.
It's a terrible oversight, and makes me wonder about the rest of the code, but
are there very many airliners that are online for that long at once? I don't
know much about how commercial air travel works behind the scenes.
------
varjag
The Lord could not count grains of sand with a 32-bit word
------
xnull2guest
This reporting comes on the heels of an GAO study on hijacking airliners. It
is not clear why the Congress ordered a study on hacking airliners, though
there's a long list of things (MH flights, Carter's claims of a 'cyber Pearl
Harbor') that some people might speculate over.
Does anyone know the impetus behind the study?
~~~
VonGuard
Probably part of a larger security initiative with money to pay for studies.
I'd wager there's a Congressional committee tasked with writing policy to
secure critical infrastructure like power plants and such. After 9/11, you can
bet planes and FAA systems would be a part of this.
~~~
xnull2guest
There are definitely security initiatives like this, there have been since
before 9/11 (and an uptick afterwards), but it is unusual for the Congress to
be involved or to demand a study.
------
dschiptsov
How come it is not Java?
~~~
falis
In its current incarnations, it is considered uncertifiable for high
criticality levels under DO-178C. May be used in entertainment systems and
such though.
~~~
dschiptsov
You mean it is considered to be crap?)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What Sort of Exercise Can Make You Smarter? - robg
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/what-sort-of-exercise-can-make-you-smarter/?hp
======
donw
My vote is for rock climbing. A lot of tech people do it, and it takes serious
problem-solving skills. Figuring out how to contort your body to be able to
extend your reach that last inch towards the next hold, and how to position
yourself to move after that, takes a lot of thinking.
Plus, it's an amazing whole-body workout.
------
trapper
I would wager that a "fit" worker is more productive than a sedentary worker,
even taking into account the time for training.
~~~
randallsquared
That depends strongly on the amount of time it takes for getting fit, doesn't
it? In my experience in Basic for the Army, even very high levels of exercise
do not prevent one from putting on fat ("Oh, just eat as much as you want;
they'll work it off you!", I was told. I believed them. I shouldn't have).
~~~
abas
Being fat doesn't mean you aren't fit.
I've been thin my whole life, but am working to get fit now after a year or
two of largely sedentary existence and it is making a big difference for me.
~~~
randallsquared
Well, _not_ being fat doesn't mean you _are_ fit, but being fat is certainly
incompatible with being fit. I speak as a fat guy who's probably less unfit
than 95% of people at my weight (over 320 lbs): I'm still not "fit".
~~~
SwellJoe
Is it wrong that I chuckled at this revelation that gives new meaning to your
nick, "randallsquared"?
~~~
randallsquared
Heh. People used to spontaneously call me that when I was a kid (due to my
name "Randall Randall" rather than my size, I expect), and it's way easier to
google for. :)
~~~
ojbyrne
Curious if you've read Catch-22. One of my favorite characters in the book was
called "Major Major" (and of course his rank was Major). At some point they
managed to get a 4th one on the end too.
~~~
randallsquared
I know about the novel, and about that character, but haven't read it (or seen
the movie).
------
Novash
Play Go, Chess, Sudoku and Dual-N Back. Learn another language. Learn to play
an instrument. All this can make you 'smarter'.
~~~
mediaman
Interestingly, I remember one study that tested the effects of "brain games"
versus exercise on the mental cognition of people as they age. The result of
the study surprised me because it indicated that brain games do not seem to
have a significant impact on the prevention of cognitive decline among the
aged, but aerobic exercise did -- which, in some sense, aligns with this
article.
Apologies in advance because I am having trouble finding the citation.
Edit: based on some searching, it appears that mental exercise does enhance
neurological function among seniors. However, aerobic exercise has an equal or
greater impact. I suspect combining both would be the best.
~~~
Novash
If you want to do an interesting experience, doing sprints teach your brain to
think faster (because it has to keep up with the information of your steps).
~~~
logicalmind
Based on your theory, Usain Bolt must be extremely intelligent.
~~~
cruise02
That conclusion really doesn't follow from the stated proposition. The
proposition is that doing sprints will make you smarter than you are now,
_not_ that it will make you smarter than someone _else_ who doesn't do them.
The only conclusion about Usain Bolt that you can reach from the stated
proposition is that he's now smarter than he was before he started sprinting.
</pedantry>
~~~
logicalmind
I read the point as "doing a high speed exercise makes your brain have to work
at a faster rate". Sprints being the example chosen as increasing the brain
processing speed. Which is quite interesting because there are other
activities that require high speed mental abilities. Playing an instrument in
a thrash metal band for one. According to this theory, a member of Megadeth
would be a faster thinker than a classical musician. Interesting thought.
~~~
cruise02
My point is that you can't draw conclusions about two _different_ people this
way. If playing speed metal is a good mental exercise, then the only thing you
can conclude about Dave Mustaine is that he's smarter now than when he started
playing. You can't conclude that he's smarter than anyone else, no matter what
activities they participate in. The classical musician very well may have
started out at such a high IQ that no amount of mental exercise will allow
Dave to catch up.
------
myth_drannon
"Mens sana in corpore sano" - a healthy mind in a healthy body
------
dpapathanasiou
I'm surprised the article didn't mention martial arts training: it's terrific
for improving mental relaxation and awareness.
~~~
SwellJoe
It didn't mention it because the study wasn't _about_ martial arts. It would
also likely be difficult to get mice to do martial arts.
~~~
dpapathanasiou
_It would also likely be difficult to get mice to do martial arts._
Cute.
------
gibsonf1
P90x has given me amazing results both mentally and physically, so I think the
article is right on. (The program is split between muscle building and
aerobics, including Kenpo and Yoga as well as good old push ups and pull ups
and dumbbells, etc.)
------
jpwagner
Can they show that it was because of the "exercise" and not _the adrenaline
rush of being forced to move your body torturously and indefinitely by a power
much greater than you?_ among other possibilities...
------
latortuga
It would seem that the last sentence of the article isn't substantiated by the
study and sounds rather off the cuff. I wish they wouldn't make a sweeping
generalization based on a specific study or two; the human body just isn't
that simple.
~~~
xiaoma
The last sentence of the article is a direct quotation from Chauying J. Jen
(任卓穎), the co-author of the research. It's very doubtful that Jen's analysis
of the results of his own study are "off the cuff".
------
figital
I've tried Brain Gym a few times with a licensed instructor and found it to be
quite helpful: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_gym>
------
kingkongrevenge
> Jen says researchers suspect that treadmill running is more intense and
> leads to improvements in muscle aerobic capacity, and this increased aerobic
> capacity, in turn, affects the brain more than the wheel jogging.
So the subjects didn't know how to lift and the researchers didn't know how to
instruct the subjects to lift. The suggestion that a proper 20 minute lifting
session would be less intense than 20 minutes on a treadmill is ridiculous.
Done correctly lifting will leave you gasping for air.
------
c00p3r
Different. Literally.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
High-reproducibility and high-accuracy method for automated topic classification - jestinjoy1
http://amaral-lab.org/publications/high-reproducibility-and-high-accuracy-method-automated-topic-classification/#.VMzwjSiN1WU
======
matt4077
I had some sort of violent dopamine release just reading the headline.
I'm working on a project to make (EU-) law more accessible. So if anybody here
knows good methods to visualise/summarise long legal texts (30-300 pages) you
could do something for humanity by posting a reply.
(Word clouds just don't cut it in these cases.)
~~~
bane
A classic summarization method is:
1\. Split your text into sentences
2\. Remove stopwords (keeping a copy of the original sentence)
3\. For the remaining words, calculate the synthetic TF-IDF score of all the
words in the sentence (tf-idf each word then sum them).
4\. Keep the n-highest scoring sentences (in the order they appear), or all
the sentences with synthetic TF-IDF scores above some threshold.
There's your summary.
~~~
riazrizvi
I find it works better with additional step 2.5) Lemmatize remaining words,
using for example Python's NLTK library.
~~~
ccleve
When you lemmatize, what are you doing exactly? Are you merely reducing words
to a more common form, thereby reducing IDF? For example, are you reducing
"walking" or "walked" to "walk", and then using the IDF of walk?
~~~
bane
Yes, exactly.
related is the idea of "stemming" which uses an algorithm to try to reduce
inflection, to find a common form of a word that various versions come from.
Porters algorithm is a well known stemming algorithm. However, sometimes you
end up with weird "non-inflected" tokens at the end. (e.g. 'enhancement' might
become 'enhanc')
However, lemmatization is considered "better" in that it uses a dictionary of
inflected forms that map back to the non-inflected form. So in theory, if the
dictionary is comprehensive, you can properly replace inflected forms with
their correct non-inflected forms. (e.g. 'enhancement' -> 'enhance')
If your dictionary isn't comprehensive and comes across a token it doesn't
recognize, you can try falling back onto a stemming algorithm.
------
abeppu
I find it interesting that this appears to be written by a group of physicists
rather than NLP or ML researchers, and I think you can kind of see that in the
way they approach the problem. I think a bunch of the work done after LDA
among ML and NLP people tended towards (a) using Hierarchical Dirichlet
Process models as a platform from which to explore Bayesian nonparametrics
more generally (b) better inference algorithms for topic models and (c)
somewhat richer models (i.e. author topic models, syntax aware topic models,
etc).
And it's not like the people in this field haven't been aware of network-
oriented methods. But rather than using community-detection as a mechanism for
topic discovery, instead people either focused on networks among topics to see
how topics are related, networks among authors such that social network
information informed topic discovery, or networks among documents where
link/reference information was explicitly part of the model.
These authors seem to get solid results in part by having totally different
values/aesthetics. Unlike the Bayesian nonparametrics people, they clearly
don't care about picking arbitrary, inflexible parameters (e.g. the 5%
threshold), nor do they want their model to have a clear, generative form, nor
are they particularly concerned about having a new algorithmic insight (since
they throw their hard work to InfoMap, and discuss none of its details), nor
do they attempt to advance the expressiveness of their topic model (they
proceed with the most basic bag-of-words model available). But it does seem
like they get good results on the basic task with a very pragmatic, pipeline
approach.
~~~
shanusmagnus
Two of the authors (Kording and Acuna) are definitely not physicists; much of
their previous work you might describe as psychology with a strong math
modeling background. Interesting that the pub is in a physics journal though.
------
jetsnguns
It was interesting to see a take on the problem from the researchers outside
of NLP or ML fields, but the authors only considered classic LDA and PLSA for
comparison. I am not currently involved in topic modeling, but I know there
exist techniques and modifications to classic models that improve topic
discovery (like tf-idf weighting). Can you suggest any modern methods from NLP
and ML communities that address the same issues and can rival the authors'
findings?
------
helderts
Modeling words co-occurrence graph and then pruning "weak" edges (or achieving
similar pruning by using community detection to find clusters) works kind of
like a "feature selection" based on something that resembles a bare mutual
information or tf*idf.
I'm not entirely familiar with LDA, but from what I was able to understand
from their intro, it feels like their LDA application could have used some
feature selection.
------
avyfain
You can see the source code of a previous iteration of the algorithm here:
[https://bitbucket.org/andrealanci/topicmapping/src](https://bitbucket.org/andrealanci/topicmapping/src)
------
b0b0b0b
I'm confused by the discussion of multi-lingual corpora. Is it common in topic
modeling to consider documents drawn from disjoint vocabularies, or is it just
a kind of thought experiment?
~~~
3pt14159
Pretty common when you don't control the data source or for multi language
goverment agencies (for example in Canada you may have your court case in
French if you desire).
------
b6
I haven't dug into the details of the paper yet, but I want to commend the
authors for 1.) making it possible to actually download the PDF and 2.) giving
some indication, within the actual document, when the paper was published. I'm
being a little bit snarky, but I'm very sincere in thanking them.
~~~
rcpt
>making it possible to actually download the PDF
The journal they published in, Physical Review X, is a newer open-access
journal from APS (along the same lines as PLOS ONE or Nature Scientific
Reports). I think it's great but not everyone agrees. To read more on the
debate around the open-access phenomenon look at
[http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2013/10/04/open-access-is-not-
the-...](http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2013/10/04/open-access-is-not-the-problem/)
and
[http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6154/60.full](http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6154/60.full)
------
curiously
is there an open source implementation I can use?
What about that sentiment analysis NLP tool that someone posted on HN last
year? That was also very good.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
House arrest for doctor who molested, photographed patients at free Calif.clinic - binjoi
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/09/28/house-arrest-for-doctor-who-molested-photographed-patients-at-free-calif-clinic/
======
od2m
Not defending this guy... but RCC is a death sentence. He got his.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Why is Google Analytics free? - ClosureCowboy
What does Google gain by offering Analytics for free? Do they harvest each users' sites' usage information?
======
staunch
Google Analytics is a way for Google to buy massive amounts of web traffic
data in exchange for some pretty charts.
They use the data if sharing is enabled, which is the default mode:
[http://www.google.com/support/analytics/bin/answer.py?answer...](http://www.google.com/support/analytics/bin/answer.py?answer=87515#0.1.1_4)
It's strategically useful for them to have so much visibility into the web.
------
michaelperalta
I read an article pertaining to a similar topic to this about why, for the
most part, all the services that Google offers the public are free and it
really is the fact that Google, at its heart, is a marketing firm first. Every
feature they offer you is designed not to generate profit so much as it is to
keep you with them. By giving away their services for free it obviously
increases their brand name, encourages brand loyalty, but also levels the
playing field. They set the bar by offering these services for free. No one
will pay for a service that is at least comparably offered for free. For this
reason if Google makes gmail free then every other website has to offer their
mail services for free, the same goes with Google Calendars, and all of the
other apps they offer. Why would they want everyone to offer their apps for
free? Because then the difference between them and Yahoo or Bing or any other
site is on marketing abilities and few companies in the world come close to
challenging Google's marketing capabilities.
------
mattgratt
Allegedly they don't take information from analytics. (Most of the important
metrics they could probably get from something like G-bounces (when you press
the back button and go back to the results page) or other sources like data
from Chrome or social data.)
It's free b/c it helps marketers measure and optimize their Adwords spend, and
justify it to their managers. (Most search advertising requires cumbersome
custom tagging - in Google Analytics, Adwords is basically integrated
automatically or with one click.)
------
benologist
It gives them direct insight into a whole lot of websites that
don't/can't/won't use AdSense.
I don't know if they actually use the data for anything but I've read it's not
used at all for search results.
------
polyfractal
Brett Cosby (founder of Urchin / Google Analytics) was interviewed by the
Stanford Entrepreneurial Thought Leader seminar. He touches on why Analytics
is free, as well as a weath of other interesting information:
<http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1905>
------
sneak
It drives sales for AdWords.
------
revorad
To sell more ads. That's the answer for why most things online are free.
------
ddemchuk
Because they mine the everliving shit out of the data for improving ranking
algos and getting people to buy more ads
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
HBGary emails expose law firm Hunton & Williams - jonmc12
http://abovethelaw.com/2011/02/hunton-williams-gets-wikileaked/
======
makethetick
Will be interesting to see how Hunton & Williams come out of this one..
~~~
billturner
Well, at the moment, it appears their site is suffering from a DDOS. It's
unreachable for me.
------
vijayr
How do these firms get away with such "strategies"?? Unbelievable.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Email Validation: Why and How to Do It - RomanProofy
https://proofy.io/email-validation-why-and-how-to-do-it/
======
RomanProofy
Looking forward for this article ([email protected])
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Is Kaspersky Lab a Victim of a Cold War Witch Hunt? - Stillraging
http://www.cbronline.com/news/cybersecurity/protection/cold-war-kaspersky-lab-security-software-us-government/
======
ElectronShak
True, I agree with the statement that Kaspersky "is caught in the middle of a
geopolitical fight where each side is attempting to use the company as a pawn
in their political game."
------
Stillraging
Doesn't look good for Kaspersky's future in the US
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Epic’s stunning new Unreal demos show off high-end ray tracing and photorealism - Alupis
https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/20/18273832/epic-unreal-engine-demo-troll-rebirth-ray-tracing-gdc-2019
======
justfor1comment
Looks absolutely gorgeous. Just imagine another 30 or 40 years of advancement
in gaming. I think at some point the real world will just start feeling
mundane compared to the incredible journeys you can take in gaming
environments. Most people might choose to spend large parts of their lives in
these digital worlds.
~~~
mycall
Smell is the next thing they need to software control
------
iforgotpassword
I'm impressed. All the demos and games so far that demonstrated RTX made it
look like a silly gimmick, a band aid to make rasterized gfx look a bit
better. Now as far as I remember, tech demos for previous generations of the
unreal engine always looked way better than what was to come in the following
one or two years, but if those videos show what game studios will be able to
deliver in two years, than I'd be tempted to consider this the first really
notable jump in gfx card tech in quite some time.
------
teamspirit
This, coupled with things like nvidia's AI creating images from doodles, and
you can see the beginnings of a holodeck. Only 400 years to go.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The ins and outs of research grant funding committees - danieltillett
https://theconversation.com/the-ins-and-outs-of-research-grant-funding-committees-49900
======
p4wnc6
In the spirit of "betting is a tax on bullshit", this seems like an
interesting opportunity to try it out.
Why not find some way to make panelist rankings public (or some function of
panelist rankings)? If you serve as a panelist and you rank grant proposals
highly that ultimately don't meet success criteria down the road (spawning
high-profile publications, generating citations, coming in under-budget,
whatever...) that should reflect badly upon you as a panelist, in a public
way. And over time, your "score" as a panelist would modulate the extent to
which your rankings are weighted in a panel discussion. Similar to how each
major European football league gets a coefficient from UEFA, and based on the
coefficients, the number of direct and playoff slots into the Champion's
League tournament is decided.
Imagine if academics who want to serve on a panel must agree to also have such
a 'coefficient' published about them. Now, their ranking is something they
must openly bet their reputation upon, and over time those who place correct
bets will be given more weight when panels select grants.
Obviously this isn't perfect. The coefficient scheme could be manipulated in
the same way that network connections lead to manipulation of the rankings as
it is now. If we don't trust the central body measuring and adjusting the
coefficients, that would be a problem (cough... FIFA).
But still, wouldn't some version of this idea -- making academics pay a public
reputation price in order to vote for their preferred funding recipients -- be
better than letting people rank and vote without reputation effects? In
theory, it should also mean that only those with a real stake in the decision
will risk the reputation price to vote -- and you could imagine even beginning
to open up grant funding decisions to much wider voting bodies. Instead of a
small panel, just drop all of the proposals onto a site like arXiv, and allow
absolutely anyone at all to vote -- so long as the weight of their vote
corresponds to their public score, and that their future score will be
affected by the success/failure of whatever they vote for. No more small /
closed-off committees, just open speculative voting like a prediction market.
~~~
nonbel
>"success criteria down the road (spawning high-profile publications,
generating citations, coming in under-budget, whatever...)"
I wouldn't handwave this aspect. Creating incentives to optimize the wrong
thing can be worse than using an arbitrary filter. Your first two sound like
they encourage hype, popularity contests, and quantity over quality.
How about something combining reproducibility of analysis,
availability/sharing of the data, precision of theoretical prediction, and
consistency of quantitative estimates from independent replications?
------
Asbostos
It sounds about as hopeless as many things in science. There are too many
researchers and no good objective measurements of success. Even the author
essentially said "I prefer to fund people according to whether they have
recently published in a luxury closed access journal".
I had the same thought as danieltillet while reading it - if they're all
equally good, then choose randomly instead of being consistently biased
towards an arbitrary criterion that's going to skew the system.
------
friendzis
Disclaimer: I have never been on a grant committee myself.
I see two problems with grant committees. 1\. Some of us are more theorists,
others - engineers. Some of us want to solve mysteries, others - practical
problems.
Which means that if the panel is composed primarily out of theorists then
applications possibly yielding highly cited papers (solving general problems
vs specific) are more likely to get funded. This also creates incentive to
split the work up into as many papers as possible.
Likewise, panel composed primarily out of engineers is likely to undervalue
deep problem research without physical deliverables. I have absolutely zero
idea how to adjust for both these cases, though.
2\. Another problem is relevance/urgency. Some problems/proposals are always
actual and can be polished and reapplied every year. Others can quickly get
practically irrelevant or competing technology become _de facto_ standard.
E.g. analogue television (terrestrial), Magnetic Cassette (solve practical
problems why those got phased out). Do we rank ones over the others or keep
them in the same pool? I have no idea.
~~~
danieltillett
I have actually been on grant committees before and the basic problem is you
only have enough funding for 10% to 15% of the proposals. Almost all of the
applications are really good and from good people. The reason for this is it
is so much work (at least 6 to 8 weeks full time) to write a grant application
that only the really good people put them in. On top of this the universities
will “pre-review” all the grant applications internally before they go in to
make sure that all the weak proposal are weeded out and all the obvious flaws
removed.
The end of this process is that almost every grant is really, really strong
making it impossible to rank them consistently. The committee ends up ranking
on trivia, or in the worse case on “old-boy” connections. We are asking these
committees to do something that we know is impossible.
If we can’t rank grant applications by quality then lets stop pretending we
can. Just decide if they are strong and then put all the strong ones into a
lottery and fund as many as we can.
------
danieltillett
Interesting to see this resurface after it died yesterday. Dang working his
magic again.
What I find most frustrating about this story is that the panelist recognises
that whole process is not able to determine which grants should be funded
(basically they are all good), yet he still continues to try and do so. If you
can’t tell which of the good grants is better than the other just put all the
good grants into a lottery and fund as many as you can - every other option is
worse.
Edit. I should add that my experience of being on committees like this is that
excluding yourself when you have a conflict is a highly effective way of
getting your grant funded. The people left in the room can hardly decide to
not fund you to your face when you come back into the room. This is why the
competition to get onto these committees is so great despite them being very
laborious.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Confirmed: Nasa Has Been Hacked - Elof
https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2019/06/20/confirmed-nasa-has-been-hacked/
======
ktpsns
What terrifies me about cyberwar is that it happens silently between three-
letter-agencies. We may have a world war III threat or may be "right within
WW3" without knowing it. One can only speculate that this is the answer of
Russia to Trump's "we will hack you announcements" a few days ago. And this
smell might be very wrong, even intentionally wrong. Everybody gets part of
this weird world of misinformation and manipulation.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Major US Telcos Teeter Toward Bankruptcy - tiXi
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20191111/14172643362/apathy-isnt-business-model-major-us-telcos-teeter-toward-bankruptcy.shtml
======
triceratops
The headline refers to multiple companies, but the article itself discusses
only one: Frontier. The reason for Frontier's potential bankruptcy is
attributed mostly due to them taking on debt to acquire Verizon customers in a
few states in 2015.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Venezuela Tries to Silence Critics - iKenshu
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/08/opinion/venezuela-tries-to-silence-critics.html
======
PauloManrique
And this is what socialism is bringing to Latin America. Brazil is about to
explode, Argentina's president is accused of murdering the prosecutor on Iran
case, Chile is also on a shitstorm of corruption, just like Bolivia.
Looks like USSR, China and Cuban examples wasn't enough.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How Many Decimals of Pi Do We Really Need? - bouncingsoul
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news/2016/3/16/how-many-decimals-of-pi-do-we-really-need/
======
drewolbrich
If you know the diameter of the observable Universe and you want to calculate
its circumference with the accuracy of the diameter of a proton, the number of
digits of pi that you need is 43.
~~~
gmuslera
The smallest possible distance is the Plank lenght, 1,6 _10^-35 (1_ 10^-15 is
the diameter of a proton). And for that you only need around 60 digits of pi
to calculate the circumference of the universe.
Of course, that is just for the simple operation of calculate the
circumference given the diameter, more complex operations with pi may require
more precision.
~~~
ghayes
Never heard it stated that way. Can you elaborate on "the smallest possible
distance is Plank's length"? Is that the smallest _observable_ distance?
~~~
jaseemabid
If you have some time to spare, watch this talk "The astonishing simplicity of
everything" by Neil Turok. He explains all this so beautifully.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1x9lgX8GaE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1x9lgX8GaE)
~~~
mstade
Well presented and really gets you thirsty for more, excellent talk – thank
you very much for sharing!
------
WalterBright
This overlooks the issue that for repeated calculations, such as numerical
integration, the trouble comes from accumulated roundoff errors. Even 16
digits of precision can become 0 digits pretty quickly if you're not very
careful.
~~~
julie1
A branch of physics used to be taught a long time ago called "numerical
analysis" to deal with this issue.
We even used to be careful about the difference between 'precise and exact'.
Pi = acos(0) is absolutely exact. But computer don't know about symbolic
calculus. So to put the value in a register we used tricks.
Pi as a the converging value at the infinite of the Taylor development is
awesome. But computer don't know about infinite.
3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971 is precise.... it has a lot of
digit and people loves that.
In ana num 3.15159 +- 0.00001 is exact. It bounds your result. Hence you can
estimate your error and its propagation.
Because we thought humans were smart we thought that 3.14159 would be so
meaningful people would understand that a constant should be considered to be
exact with the implicit meaning that 9 was the last significant digit and
people would be wise to use upper and lower bounds to estimates their results.
Then Computer Science was taught in university.
People not understanding why they had to study math and physics to simply
program 2 + 2 and thought, stop bothering us. We just compute TVA we don't
send a rocket to mars. Why learn boring math (integration, derivation,
Newton's methods for approximation, Taylos's development, Cauchy Suites,
condition of converging Suites, Integration in the complex field to compute
generalized integrals, simplex, LU/RU matrices ....)
Yes people loves recurrence. They cannot apply the reasoning to simple maths
series.
And that's how we have funny stuff like a lot of coder not understanding why :
1.198 * 10.10
12.099799999999998
Yes ... why are computers' maths so odd. What can we do about it?
Having a look at HP Saturn opcode makes you wonder if the lack of solution is
because it does not exists or because people forgot.
[http://www.hpcalc.org/details.php?id=1693](http://www.hpcalc.org/details.php?id=1693)
~~~
xiaq
I can't speak for other nations, but they still teach numeric analysis in
Chinese universities as an undergraduate course. In my university it is a
required subject. Many of us have countless dreadful memories of Runge-Kutta
method, Euler's method, Newton's method, rate of convergence, numerical
stability and error margins, just to name a few of the dreads...
~~~
julie1
And this ?
[https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%91%84%E5%8A%A8%E7%90%86%E8...](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%91%84%E5%8A%A8%E7%90%86%E8%AE%BA)
(pt
[https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teoria_de_perturba%C3%A7%C3%B5...](https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teoria_de_perturba%C3%A7%C3%B5es))
(fr
[https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9orie_des_perturbations](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9orie_des_perturbations))
~~~
ovis
Yes, perturbation methods are still taught and are still recognized as
important. The first math course I took during my graduate degree (Intro
analytic methods) covered it, for example.
------
13of40
According to Google NGrams, World Wars I and II both primarily used 3.1416 to
represent pi.
[https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=3.1416&year_st...](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=3.1416&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2C3.1416%3B%2Cc0)
~~~
lovemenot
I think this is a typo. Right?
~~~
13of40
Yep. Fixed.
------
sharkjacobs
This story is frustrating to me because it makes it sound like 15 digits of
precision isn't a lot. Fifteen isn't a big number, but fifteen degrees of
precision is almost incomprehensible.
If you measured your height with fifteen degrees of precision, you would have
a measurement in femtometres. A femtometre is roughly the diameter of a
proton.
That's really precise!
------
sago
In the 'Frontiers in Astrophysics' course on Open Yale, professor Bailyn says
that, for the purpose of the course, pi = 3, and pi^2 = 10.
Pi = 3, coincidentally, is the Hebrew Bible's approximation too.
~~~
KMag
> Pi = 3, coincidentally, is the Hebrew Bible's approximation too.
Certainly it's not explicitly spelled out. The example I've heard was the
outer diameter and inner circumference of a vessel's circular rim were given.
Pi comes out to 3 only if the thickness of the rim of the vessel is zero.
~~~
sago
Yes I was over-egging the cake.
It is a large cast bowl in 1 Kings 7:23ff. It's beloved of a certain kind of
'gotcha' internet skeptic "Proof that the bible thinks Pi is 3 !!1! How dumb
are teh Christians!".
But the passage itself even mentions the thickness of the bowl, and there's no
reason to assume the numbers are anything more than a description of a
particular bowl (which inevitably wouldn't have been perfectly circular).
------
gunnihinn
I remember back in high school physics when we were calculating the volumes of
a few stars and my teacher said "Just round out 4\pi/3 to 4". I completely
understand why we'd do that -- the error terms in the radius of the star
completely drown out that approximation -- but goddammit it still feels wrong.
I guess I'm a mathematician and not a physicist for a reason.
~~~
marcosdumay
:)
Physics is full of dirty shortcuts. I dread every time I see somebody using a
natural units system.
------
mchahn
15 digits is about the precision hand-held calculators provide, right? Many
early NASA missions took HP calculators along in missions with trajectory
routines in case the computer failed.
~~~
todd8
Hand-held calculators might have been carried on many NASA missions, but not
the early ones. The first missions started in 1961 and hand-held HP
calculators weren't invented until more than ten years later. By that time we
had already been to the moon 6 or 7 times.
The first actual hand-held calculator I every saw was a Bowman Brain (simple 4
function calculator) it was for sale in 1971 at the MIT COOP (the bookstore).
I only knew one person that bought one; the rest of us continued carrying
around our slide rules (they came in handy leather holsters with belt loops.)
The HP that came out about a year later was a real scientific calculator.
Years before that, sometime between 1965 and 1968, on an episode of Lost in
Space (a TV program with a family of early space explorers lost in outer
space) the son, Will Robinson, was carrying around a large device about 3
inches thick and a foot tall that looked like a calculator. I thought the idea
quite marvelous and went to bed thinking about it and how much better it would
be than my slide rule for playing around with calculations. (I was a weird
kid.)
~~~
skykooler
Did the astronauts use slide rules? I know the E6B is pretty common for pilots
still.
~~~
mchahn
> I know the E6B is pretty common for pilots still.
I've used that before. It is not a standard logarithm stick but a vector
addition tool. Does one thing very quickly.
~~~
yuubi
The other side from the vector adder ("front" side at
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/StudentE...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/StudentE6BFlightComputer.jpg)
) includes a circular slide rule with perfectly normal log scales for fuel,
time, distance calculations, an extra scale to help with hours/minutes
conversions, and some marks for various conversion factors, including lb/gal
fuel and lb/gal oil for use in weight/balance.
The main difference between a straight and circular rule is that it has only
one appearance of the index, so you don't have to move the slide around as
much, and it's round so the equivalent of a 10" rule has around 3" diameter.
It also has other scales for converting altimeter/airspeed (really pressure
gauge) readings into other numbers more useful for certain purposes like true
altitude (good for missing obstructions) and "density altitude" (for
estimating takeoff performance, also helpful for missing obstructions).
~~~
lostlogin
This is amazing. The idea of converting units of multiple types in a hurry
when it matters with a slide or circular rule in imperial units is terrifying.
Somehow doing that in metric seems less so, but the fact that the system got
people to the moon relatively recently is still amazing.
------
jacobolus
In this particular case, they’re just using a standard double precision IEEE
754 floating point number. So I assume they do all of their arithmetic (“for
JPL's highest accuracy calculations”) using double precision floats.
------
tremguy
I think this is a bit of an oversimplification. You must consider compounding
when talking about rounding errors. A single matrix operation with hundreds of
rows and columns can easily have millions of multiplications. At every
multiplication the previous error gets multiplied. That's why I don't feel the
answer was exhaustive.
~~~
carlob
> At every multiplication the previous error gets multiplied
This is a bit of an oversimplification as well, it's not like you keep
multiplying pi with itself over and over again and it's not like the error you
introduce is random, if you've rounded pi once, you're gonna keep make a
slight error in the same direction.
If you were right there'd be no hope of ever getting sane results when
multiplying largish matrices of doubles regardless of the presence of pi.
I'm not saying that accumulation of error doesn't exist, I'm just saying that
it's not to the extremes you're describing.
~~~
marcosdumay
Pi is kind of a worst case, because you round it only once, every operation
will add errors on the same direction. Because of that you either use way to
many decimal places, or make sure you don't keep multiplying pi with itself as
you said. But both are optional, and must be designed into.
A matrix of measurements, by its turn, normally has unbiased errors, what
makes the resulting error grow much slower.
------
desdiv
>The primary purpose of the DATA statement is to give names to constants;
instead of referring to pi as 3.141592653589793 at every appearance, the
variable PI can be given that value with a DATA statement and used instead of
the longer form of the constant. This also simplifies modifying the program,
should the value of pi change.
Xerox Basic FORTRAN and Basic FORTRAN IV Manual[0], attributed to David H.
Owens.
[0]
[https://www.textfiles.com/bitsavers/pdf/sds/sigma/lang/90096...](https://www.textfiles.com/bitsavers/pdf/sds/sigma/lang/900967D_Sigma2_FORTRAN_Aug70.pdf)
------
brandmeyer
Not quite Pi, but something very closely related to Pi is retained to
extremely high precision in computers.
libm frequently contains 2/pi to very high precision. For example, Newlib's
math library contains 476 decimal digits of 2/pi as part of its routines for
calculating sine and cosine of numbers outside the range [-pi/4..pi/4].
See e_rem_pio2.c for more. Many of the open source math libraries are
ultimately descended from the same root: the Sunpro fdlibm, archived at
netlib: [http://www.netlib.org/fdlibm/](http://www.netlib.org/fdlibm/)
~~~
x4m
Here is an article how precision of Pi could affect trigonometry
[https://randomascii.wordpress.com/2014/10/09/intel-
underesti...](https://randomascii.wordpress.com/2014/10/09/intel-
underestimates-error-bounds-by-1-3-quintillion/)
------
gmuslera
Maybe for astronomy a few could be enough, but for computing all are needed
for the perfect filesystem
[https://github.com/philipl/pifs](https://github.com/philipl/pifs)
------
Houshalter
The best way of looking at problems like this, is that it's an exponential
process. The number of values you can represent with n digits increases
exponentially. Each additional digit increases your precision by a factor of
10. If you have 15 digits, well imagine multiplying 10 over and over again 15
times, it's pretty big.
The word "quadrillion" is rarely used in the English language. Because it's
very rare you need numbers that large. And when you do, being off by a few
digits doesn't matter. Calculators commonly only display up to 8-10 digits,
for example.
This applies to programming, since computers often only have a limited number
of bits. Programmers often complain about floating point. One of the things
about neural networks is that they don't actually need that many bits of
precision, since they are by nature very "fuzzy". We can build computers that
are bigger/cheaper by sacrificing a lot of bits.
But one of the problems is, when adding a bunch of small numbers together, it
rounds to the nearest whole number every time. And the inaccuracy builds up.
So to really take advantage of less precision, we need to somehow build
computers that can do _stochastic rounding_ , where they sometimes round up,
and sometimes round down, so the expected output is the same.
------
mabbo
I have heard, but never done the math the verify, that with 50-ish digits of
pi, one's error on a circle the size of the Universe would be smaller than a
plank length.
~~~
kurthr
Although this really should have been posted 4 days ago, 2pi x 3x10^8 x
40x10^10 / 1.6x10^-35 is just over 10^54 so that's about all the digits you
need to memorize. Unless you're looking for a really strong password, reciting
100,000 digits is probably more than necessary:
[http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/how-much-
pi...](http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/how-much-pi-do-you-
need/)
------
cnvogel
The ratio of the observable universe's circumference to a proton diameter may
be 10^-35, but that doesn't really say anything for the precision of Pi you'd
need in practice for any calculation involving these scales.
Because for everything involving real-world data, you'll have to measure
quantities, and this is hardly ever done to more than just a few decimal
digits. Whenever I want to state the circumfence of anything I know the
diameter of down to single numbers of proton diameters, I first have to
measure the diameter of to a precision of 1/3 proton diameter. Only when I
reach such an absurdly nonsensical precision, I'd introduce errors by using an
inadequately runded value for Pi.
More practically: I might know that I could line up 2.611*10^25 protons
(disregarding the fact that due to their charge they would repel each other)
around the earth, but to calculate that I only need 5 decimal digits of the
earth's diameter, and only 5 decimal places of Pi.
------
albertzeyer
Some other approximations:
[http://www.math.tamu.edu/~dallen/masters/alg_numtheory/pi.pd...](http://www.math.tamu.edu/~dallen/masters/alg_numtheory/pi.pdf)
And:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approximations_of_%CF%80](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approximations_of_%CF%80)
Babylons and early Chinese just used pi = 3.
Romans used pi = 3.125.
------
gaur
Non-metric units... sigh...
------
bbtn
Universal constants [1] have about 6-9 significant digits today. I wouldn't
use more than 10 digits of pi, if I am working on some physical calculations.
[1]
[http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Constants/index.html](http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Constants/index.html)
------
justifier
i wonder if interest in measuring error of previous calculations is what
encouraged this direction of computational rigor
respecting accuracy encourages a self awareness with an almost conscious stead
ignorant error
i am always intrigued when it is discussed how a calculation began and the
error of the initial values
the first known attempt at measuring the speed of light(o) had an ignorant
error of ~26%
the first known attempt at measuring the circumference of the earth(i) had an
ignorant error of ~15%
> our planet Earth.. the circumference ..
> .. would .. be if you used the limited version of pi above?
> It would be off by the size of a molecule.
our conscious error is the size of a molecule, but what will our ignorant
error be? how will its significance manifest?
the ignorant error is a result of the tools of measure, in this case
observable measurements and numerical approximation
for those who calculated using pi equal to 22/7, for the circumference, their
error would only be ~.04% of the 15 digit rounded value
>>>2*(22/7)*(7926/2)>>> 2*(22/7)*(7926/2)
24910.285714285714
>>> 2*(3.141592653589793)*(7926/2) #from the article
24900.2633723527
>>> 24910.285714285714/24900.2633723527
1.0004024994347707
>>> (1.0004024994347707-1)*100
0.04024994347706645
(o)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light#First_measureme...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light#First_measurement_attempts)
(i)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eratosthenes#Measurement_of_th...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eratosthenes#Measurement_of_the_Earth.27s_circumference)
.. edit, percentage error, left out the *100
~~~
eggy
That should be 0.04% not 0.0004%, no? You need to multiply by 100 for percent?
~~~
justifier
and the ever present undiscussed other..
add human error to the list
------
jstoja
I really thought that the reason would have been for technical reasons, like a
compromise between precision and how fast they can actually calculate with pi.
The answer is simply awesome.
------
sunstone
355/113 gets you more than you'll ever need.
------
rurban
So they are using simple and fast double, not long double. Which makes sense.
------
julie1
btw Pi = 4 (in taxicab geometry aka L1)
[http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/96835/are-there-
any-...](http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/96835/are-there-any-
geometries-spaces-where-pi-is-a-simple-or-at-least-rational-cons)
Euclidean geometry is not the only one and some physical problems are solved
using spaces in which pi is NOT 3.1459
;)
------
joss82
Tl;dr: 15
------
dang
Url changed from [http://kottke.org/16/03/how-many-digits-of-pi-does-nasa-
use](http://kottke.org/16/03/how-many-digits-of-pi-does-nasa-use), which
points to this.
------
oniMaker
We need all of them. Keep going until you reach the end.
------
brador
Miles and inches? Please learn and use standard international (SI) units. It's
important.
~~~
wtbob
He's an American, writing for an American audience, and thus he's using the
units Americans use. There's absolutely nothing more scientific about one set
of units or another (although different sets of units may be more convenient
in different situations).
~~~
brador
It prevents mistakes when we all use the same units and the SI are agreed by
an international committee of scientists and engineers. It's one less thing to
go wrong.
~~~
niccaluim
This isn't flight control software. It's a blog post. There aren't any
"mistakes" to prevent. The website is not going to crash into Mars.
Good writers write for their audience. His audience is accustomed to thinking
in miles.
~~~
lostlogin
It would be interesting to see the analytics - I'm not disagreeing and the
site is presumably funded by American taxes, but people like the site aren't
all American.
------
kordless
Maybe the new decimals are information from beyond this realm. Thanks, Sagan.
------
hzhou321
So it proves that the concept of irrational number is rather useless in
practice ...
------
ryanobjc
The real answer:
As many as it takes.
Also, what about the quest for finding the largest prime? #keepthedreamalive
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Which jobs could a 100-year-old do? - SimplyUseless
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34465190
======
Tepix
The obvious answer would be non-physical jobs. Administrating obscure obsolete
boxes running ancient Linux kernels such as v4.3 perhaps? :-) Who will still
know these systems by heart 20 years from now?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Progress Tracker iOS App with beautiful charts - jrudolph
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id974012022?mt=8
======
jrudolph
This App is a side-project of mine as I was looking for a simple App that
would allow me to visually track a handful of things that I want to improve on
(e.g. my current 10 rep. max in the Gym for various exercise). Looked at a lot
of other Apps for that purpose out there but found none I really liked, wanted
something that:
\- is as simple to use as possible
\- allows me to record a value in <10s without jumping through a lot of hoops
\- is not pestering me with Push Notifications
Details: Native Objective-C App, spent ~18hrs total including design,
submitting to App Store etc. Uses [https://github.com/Boris-
Em/BEMSimpleLineGraph](https://github.com/Boris-Em/BEMSimpleLineGraph) for
charting and flat csv files as database (exportable too!).
Inspired by Nathan Barry's Commit App for iOS which I really like.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
My Dad Has Coronavirus. I Don’t Know If I Should Say Goodbye. - pw
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/opinion/coronavirus-family-grief.html
======
soganess
This is my greatest fear at the moment. My grandfather is 93; my parents,
aunts, and uncles are all over 60. They keep asking me to drive home and WFH
with them, but I keep making excuses why I can't.
Really, I'm just worried. I work at (and live blocks away from) one of the
first hospital in the USA that treated someone with COVID 19. My partner just
did rounds directly interacting with patients at a different hospital. I don't
work with patients and I feel fine. Yet, every time they ask, I think about
the last time I had a sore throat from eating food that was too hot, or the
last time I coughed unexpectedly and I wonder if I'm just carrying it.
It's hard to explain to the people you love, the people you think are strong,
that you're worried they're "too frail", and you're too high risk. So you just
keep coming up with excuses and hoping this will pass.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
HuffPo: Violence Against Trump Is Logical - zo1
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jesse-benn/sorry-liberals-a-violent-_b_10316186.html
======
drdeca
This doesn't seem very well put into a single thing to me.
a paragraph by paragraph summary, which will be followed by why I disagree:
[summary starts here]
Trump is bad because he encourages oppression. People react to this in some
ways that are not violent, and in some ways that are violent. "This isn't a
coincidence."
Trump has incited violence, and his supporters have been violent in oppression
flavored ways. Trump defies the norms of politics in a bad way, and groups try
to make it seem like it is normal politics. Because Trump has encouraged
violence, and violated norms of political discourse, it should not be
surprising that people respond "in kind". Even if you think using violence is
bad, you should agree that normalizing trump is bad. Violence reduced
normalizing trump. Apparently liberals think that using violence is somehow
worse than the bad things trump is doing / the normalization of trump.
Some people are saying that using violence to go against trump being
normalized is bad, and people who say that it is good are criticized/punished.
The people saying that it is bad are wrong because they blame the people
responding with violence instead of the thing that the people being violent
are responding to, they misunderstand the purpose of the violence, and they
are like young children who don't know that sometimes violence is better than
nonviolence for accomplishing things. [i.e. they are
stupid/uneducated/childish for thinking that]
For the first part of that, it is ok to use violence because trump is moving
the Overton Window, and is generally radically bad. Treating trumpishness like
something that should be responded to in a way that respects norms in politics
causes it to be more accepted as being a legitimate political viewpoint. This
is unlike Cruz, who is also very bad, but is bad in a normal way.
Politicians and "liberals" act like the goal in resisting trump is to make
trump not be elected president, but the real goal is to make it so the ideals
associated with trump (trumpishness) do not become politically accepted as
normal.
Trump is a result of republicans supporting oppression, and also "attacking
the credibility of media, scientists, and the federal government". Stopping
these systems of oppression is more long term than preventing trump from being
elected. We can see why violence is useful in anti-fascism things from its
usefulness in Europe as part of anti-fascism things.
Third, violence is useful because it helped reduce oppression in the past, as
can be seen from a list of examples. [list not included in this summary]
Fascism wasn't stopped in Europe because people elected a non-fascist but
because other countries defeated the fascist countries in war. Also Hillary is
a market centrist.
It is "problematic" for "people with privilege" to say that the use of
violence to oppose trumpishness is wrong or illogical. Whether you would use
violence doesn't impact your ability to understand justifications for it.
Privileged people who argue that using violence is bad are oppressing those
people who are too oppressed to be able to afford to determine if something
other than violence would be enough to protect them.
[end of summary]
tl;dr: Author of article is a Marxist. Says that its fine for violence against
trumpishness because oppression.
(note: I tried to be relatively fair in my summary, but because I disagree
with the article, I cannot really be wholly objective about what it is saying,
so if you are reading my summary instead of the article, bear that in mind I
guess. Quotes are indicating that I am using the same wording in the summary
as the article uses. Things in brackets are side notes.)
Worse than that, they are a Marxist that didn't even bother to put the things
they were saying together. The main part where they make any sort of argument
to attempt to morally justify the use of violence is just in the last
paragraph. The rest of it mostly only argues that violence is useful. Well
/duh!/ it is "useful"! Why do they think people use it? There are ends it can
accomplish. When people are saying that violence is bad unless certain
conditions are met, they aren't saying that it can't accomplish ends. They are
saying it is wrong or bad.
OK but really, look over the paragraphs or my summaries of the paragraphs, and
see which ones actually make points that the article uses to support its claim
and which actually connects them to it.
It makes some attempt to make the reader more sympathetic to using violence to
oppose trumpishness by pointing out the violence used by proponents of
trump/trumpishness, but it does not actually say that this is a justification.
Just that it is not surprising, or things like that. ( Seems like moral
relativist / nihilist stuff. Moral relativism and moral nihilism can both go
fall down a well.)
Now, some of the things that they say seem like good points, but none of these
are things that actually justify using violence for a political cause.
It is true that trumpishness seems to reflect a cause or change in the overton
window in a harmful direction.
But the thing about political norms of discourse, is that each group generally
views its opponents views as being harmful! If everyone considered an opposing
view being harmful to be sufficient to justify violence, then all groups would
consider violence against all of their opponents to be justified! That would
make for either a very violent political setting, or a setting where one group
is sufficiently dominant, and likely not because that group is the one that is
most correct.
I have already said that violence being "useful" is not enough to justify it.
The article is full of things along the lines of "even if you personally would
not use violence [...] ". This reeks, or at least smells, of moral relativism.
Moral relativism can go fall down a well.
Use of violence in a particular situation is either justified or it is not. If
it is not justified in a certain situation, it does not matter if one "does
not have the privilege to consider" whether violence is permissible. It either
is or it isn't.
Further, if someone truly could not take the time, or whatever resource the
author supposes they lack, to consider whether violence is justified, what
possible harm would there be in someone else arguing that it is not justified?
Either the oppressed person cannot consider the argument, and the argument has
no bearing on them, or they can, and therefore they can consider it after all.
I suppose the idea might be that the line of reasoning would cause other
people to treat them in a harmful way, but, which people would do that? Who
are the people who would be treating someone badly because they disaprove of
that person's use of political violence? If it would be some large
organization such as the police, or perhaps their boss at their work, I don't
think that even the opposite argument instead of the one argument would cause
these institutions to treat the person differently. Otherwise, what is the
impact? If it is not the impact, is the author claiming that arguing against
violence is inherently wrong even if it has no practical consequences? Surely
this is not what they mean.
tl;dr2:
Author barely makes any arguments towards their point, the one they make are
not any good. Author seems to define ethics based on oppression vs oppressed,
etc.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: news.ycombinator.{com,org}? - SandB0x
What is news.ycombinator.org, and why does Google auto-complete that URL instead of news.ycombinator.com? E.g.:<p>http://i.imgur.com/pPwJX.png
======
steventruong
I don't have that. I get the .com (tested on two different Google browsers).
It could be due to your browsing history that is causing that. Or at the very
least, I'm unable to replicate your results.
------
switz
I always visit the .org. Maybe I'm just weird.
~~~
profitbaron
You're not alone, I always use the .org
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Three Steps to Kickass Customer Service - the best investment a company can make - supaspoida
http://spreadsong.com/three_steps_to_kickass_customer_service_and_why_its_the_best_investment_your_company_can_make_
Another good tip is to actually respond to your customers, especially when they are trying to give you more money.<p>Currently waiting for Libyan Spider to respond to my third ticket trying to get access to my account so I can renew two domain names I have with them. Not pleased.
======
supaspoida
Another good tip is to actually respond to your customers, especially when
they are trying to give you more money.
Currently waiting for Libyan Spider to respond to my third ticket trying to
get access to my account so I can renew two domain names I have with them. Not
pleased.
------
arfrank
The best thing I've found that works is to put yourself out there. Making it
as easy as possible to contact your company and get in touch with an actual
person keeps any small problems from exploding into a huge one.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Software development: do good manners matter? - cpeterso
https://peerj.com/preprints/1515v1/
======
nickbauman
People are less creative when they feel disrespected. If you're running a
military or places like UPS, where your work value can be boiled down to time
and motion studies, it makes a ton of sense to break down people's sense of
self: they are being asked to become machines, after all.
Torvald's recent screed on _Management via perkele_ , where rudeness is
encouraged, interestingly, was born from his time serving in the Finnish
military. Could Linux be even better if he dropped this mentality? Maybe. He
insists that by being rude you stop tacit political behavior which would
undermine technical excellence. But this seems contradictory. _Management by
perkele_ is by definition a form of tacit politics.
Torvalds position:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ017D_JOPY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ017D_JOPY)
Other points of interest:
[https://hbr.org/2013/01/the-high-cost-of-rudeness-
at-w/](https://hbr.org/2013/01/the-high-cost-of-rudeness-at-w/)
[https://hbr.org/2013/01/the-price-of-incivility](https://hbr.org/2013/01/the-
price-of-incivility)
~~~
jerf
The Linux project is probably not the best place to look for this sort of
thing. It's _huge_. It's completely plausible that a project big enough to
have multiple layers may have different optimal levels of politeness in those
different layers.
It's also plausible that larger projects may simply not be able to function
with total politeness, as they face threats that smaller projects can only
dream of facing. Even if you've only followed the kernel development via HN
over the years, you've heard of any number of instances of someone who has a
very strong opinion about where the kernel should go, and basically can only
be fended off with a flamethrower. Sometimes the fault lies not in the person
wielding the flamethrower, but in the person who would not be dissuaded by
anything less. (That's a general comment, not about any specific controversy.)
It's also possible that Linus' attitude is a complete disaster, that the only
reason the project is successful is a major case of right-place-at-the-right-
time, and in the parallel universe where Linus is a perfectly polite person
Linux is much farther along.
Again, my real point is that the outlier projects may not be the best places
to look, because they intrinsically live in environments very unlike the
environments most open source projects live in.
~~~
nickbauman
I think your point is valid (and I agree).
However, your argument is _not_ what Linus himself has emphasized. He
emphasizes that his abrasiveness comes from the idea that _people must earn
respect._ Which is more than just wrong, it's completely idiotic. If life were
about _earning_ respect, what are you supposed to do if people disrespect you?
Aren't we right back to marching from Selma to Montgomery?
~~~
kazinator
It occurs to me that you might be touching on the difference between "earn
respect" and "earn freedom from disrespect".
Also, the need to distinguish what different respects mean. There is respect
as a person, versus respect as a knowledgeable kernel developer.
(They are not always easy to separate. If someone keeps pushing their bad
development ideas even though they have been thoroughly debunked, just because
of their ego, I think my respect for them as a person will drop somewhat not
only as a developer.)
Still, the default toward some new person should be: basic respect as a
person, neutral as a developer. I think that this is the case in the OSS
project model; but then where it breaks down is that if the latter respect
tanks, then the former does also. I.e. you're a good person if you're a good
hacker (in particular one with mostly the same opinions as me), otherwise
you're _non grata_ scum.
~~~
nickbauman
Yes of course. I would prefer if Linus made the distinction you're making by
actually saying something like "respect _as a programmer_ " But he didn't do
that.
When you program something correctly, it's expected to be correct _to the
keystroke._ Here I think we should be able to expect correct _to the point of
distinct idea_ which is not what's coming across. It's almost to the point
where Linus appears as an old man from pre civil rights days about things.
~~~
simoncion
> When you program something correctly, it's expected to be correct _to the
> keystroke_.
Are you saying that this is the philosophy Torvalds holds? If you are not,
then please disregard the rest of this paragraph (and, if you have the time,
please let me know what you _did_ mean.). If you are, then I'mma slap a big
[citation needed] on that comment. While searching for that citation, do keep
in mind that writing code for OS kernel is usually going to require _much_
more in-depth knowledge of _how_ a compiler optimizes things and the like than
writing code for some CRUD application. This means that -not infrequently-
single-character errors _do_ have substantial significance.
~~~
nickbauman
Uh, It sounds like we're in violent agreement? What I'm saying is that if you
code it wrong it's completely wrong, even if it's only off by one keystroke.
There's no guessing. Computers aren't flexible in interpreting what you're
writing. I don't think this requires a citation from Torvalds. It's just a
fact.
~~~
simoncion
> Uh, It sounds like we're in violent agreement?
So we are! I -somehow- _completely_ failed to understand the subtext in your
statement. :(
Mea maxima culpa. Please disregard my stupidity.
------
antirez
In this thread I see a few comments assuming that polite VS blatantly rude are
the only options. If for "polite" we mean, accepting bad contributions, ideas,
code, yep that's a problem, but to refuse contribs that don't match the idea
of the person in charge of a project does _not need_ to be as bad as we see in
certain cases. It is possible to say negative things about ideas or code in a
decent way and very firmly at the same time, without attaching persons, and
without creating an environment where new ideas are limited since, well, you
are going to be insulted if your idea is less than excellent. A couple
examples:
Behavior A: This code is a good example about _how you should never write
code_ , it's going to explode in the hand of users, it's going to make our
project a piece of crap. Please don't do that, how many times I've to repeat
that... you are a long time contrib, it is unacceptable you send me such a
crap of stupid patch.
Behavior B: Sorry, I think the patch is not good because it does not test
correctly for <some-technical-reason-here>. Without this check the code works
today but may fail tomorrow. Because our project needs an high level of
stability, we can't merge such a contribution. Please could you review it or
perhaps even rewrite it in a way that's going to be very stable? Thanks.
I think both A and B send the same message, but with "A" the problem is that
the contributor may never return back or may be offended. Life is already
tough, there is no need to be offended randomly because you are trying to give
code for free.
~~~
maratd
How about C:
We have a tight deadline. Why don't you approach this by doing x and y. After
we're finished and have production code deployed, you can refactor into z.
In the process of implementing x and y, the developer will soon learn that z
is inferior. If he doesn't, you need to get rid of him because he's incapable
of learning.
~~~
davidw
antirez is approaching it from the open source point of view - businesses are
different in many ways.
------
ggreer
A lot of comments are voicing opinions about politeness, but I'd like to focus
on the study. In particular, I'd like to disagree with the conclusion. If you
look at their stats and box plots, its a mess. They should run the Wilson test
on all their data, not split it up by project. Also, the effect size is
miniscule. In a couple of cases, it's negative, though p > 0.05 for those.
Before reading this study, I thought politeness helped fix issues faster. Now,
I'm of the opinion that it has little or no effect. Of course, polite
discourse is more pleasant, so I'll continue to be nice when communicating.
~~~
mucker
Well done.
~~~
mucker
I should go further. There is a significant amount of data that doesn't work
well with their conclusions. I also find the example of "impolite" comments
hilarious. It seems to be detecting the imperative vs. detecting impoliteness.
------
slavik81
There are people out there who will take your politeness and use it against
you like a weapon. Telemarketers, for one. The only way to get off the phone
is to interrupt them and unilaterally end the conversation.
Fake monks are another good example. They ask you a question, like "what do
you want most in the world," which you answer just to be polite. They then
write your answer on a token, and give it to you. You feel obligated to accept
it because they made it just for you. Then, they ask for a donation in return
for the gift you just accepted. Again you feel obligated, this time because
you accepted their gift.
The entire thing depends on your polite response to each of their actions.
Unless you know where they're going with this, it's impossible to politely
escape. By the time I was handing over the money, I _knew_ it was a scam and I
still gave them $10 because I felt stupid.
While I have never personally had cause to be impolite during my professional
work, sometimes politeness is an improper response.
~~~
fsloth
Influence scams are no reason to skip on politeness. The scams use a few well
known psychological switches. Once you realize you are being under a dishonest
influence attempt it is very easy to disconnect from the process - still
politely, if firmly. I suggest "Influence" by Robert Cialdini as a well
written general survival guide against the influence artists of the world and
as a guidebook as well..
~~~
BookmarkSaver
I think the more useful way to look at his comment is that similar tactics as
these "influence scams" can be used within projects. I've personally found it
difficult sometimes to walk the line between bluntness and rudeness. There are
going to be instances where a co-worker will continue down the wrong path or
make the same mistakes or just not conform to the proper design philosophies
or decisions, but things will keep stalling during any polite discussion as
they keep walking around the issues while you try to come to the correct
decision that they don't want to do (either through ignorance or perceived
excessive effort required). At the end of the day, you can't always rely on
your manager to step up and say "you are wrong, do it the other way", and
informing a stubborn co-worker that their work/decision is stupid can be
difficult to do politely if they engage in delaying or obstructive tactics.
------
iamleppert
Is it really shocking that people's feelings about things are closely tied to
motivation? My level of motivation absolutely plummets when someone is mean to
me. It doesn't matter if they were right or whether it was deserved or not.
People need to take people's feelings into consideration when they are making
comments on other's work.
~~~
segmondy
My motivation rises when people piss me off. I have something to prove, the
best way I can say "fuck off" is by working hard and proving you wrong.
Telling me the truth might hurt my feeling but that is not disrespectful or
rude. If I fuck up, tell me so. If you work with me, I'm not going to take
your feelings into consideration when making comment's about your work. I'm
going to take your experience tho. If you are new, I'll be gentle. But if you
have doing this for a long time and should know better or/and like to act like
you know it all, you have it coming!
------
FussyZeus
If you have a problem with someone's code, tell them about it, and be an adult
about it. I've read Linus' numerous public outings of what he thinks are less
talented developers, and it's childish, end of story. Nobody works well in
that environment.
It's a simple cost/benefit thing for me; the costs are you lose talented
developers who may be more sensitive to criticism, which people like Linus say
is a good thing because apparently the quality of your work is partially
determined by your ability to handle assholes. The benefit side is you get to
act like a child publicly and not be treated like one. The cost doesn't come
close to justifying the benefit.
In short: Linus and everyone like him need to grow up.
~~~
btilly
_I 've read Linus' numerous public outings of what he thinks are less talented
developers, and it's childish, end of story._
Not the end of story.
I've read many of the same articles. Carefully. And most of the time I've
learned something good about software development.
Not necessarily about how to express myself to co-workers. But about software
development.
~~~
FussyZeus
I've never once questioned his competence, he's clearly great at what he does.
But you could be the best software dev on the planet, you act like that toward
me, there isn't enough money on the planet to make me work with you. I'd
sooner change careers.
~~~
asgard1024
Interesting. I guess it comes down to personal preference. Would you rather
work with somebody exceptional but abrasive, as opposed to somebody average
but nice? I think many people would choose the former.
I think the reason exceptional people are abrasive is that they are primarily
harsh to themselves, and that's the reason of their success. Being harsh to
others is merely a side effect.
And there are people like that in every profession, for example in modern
magic Dai Vernon (one of the most respected magicians that ever lived), who
was also infamous for being very critical to bad magicians.
~~~
FussyZeus
Abrasive and abusive are too very different things. Linus frequently slides
into the latter. Abrasive, to me, means if you do something stupid you'll be
called out and told what's wrong. Abusive is when that conversation turns into
name calling.
You can be as hard on yourself as you please, and we are often our own worst
critic. When those complaints let fly to other ears, they should be phrased a
little better.
Again, your preference may vary. Me? I work with adults, I don't care how good
the other kids are.
~~~
asgard1024
> Abusive is when that conversation turns into name calling.
I don't think so; it depends on context. If someone calls you names in context
of you doing something stupid, then it's not abuse, it's just being abrasive.
Abuse would be had he done it without you giving a reason. And I think we
should save the word abuse for the latter (and also perhaps for something
where is a profit motive).
I mean, every post from Linus where he uses harsh words has some context like
that. He just doesn't randomly throws insults to his colleagues. You can read
the insults as an abuse or you can read them as a big yellow warning signs -
your choice.
> When those complaints let fly to other ears, they should be phrased a little
> better.
Here the "should" is a cultural choice. It's a universal, safe option. It's
like being polite to people you don't know, or being diplomatic in diplomacy.
But in the cultural context of kernel development, you're already part of the
in-group. And in that particular in-group, being called names is normal and
accepted by the insiders. That it happens on the Internet, for the outsiders
to see, doesn't change the fact that the cultural choice was made _freely_ by
insiders.
And people who prefer the former to the latter (as per my previous post)
probably don't care to much about being called names when they do stupid thing
(being abused, as you call it, but they actually don't want to be really
abused or tolerate it either) - because with that mentality, it's results or
your own improvement that matters, not so much who is polite. I think Linus
would be OK if other people called him names when he does something stupid,
however it doesn't happen mostly because people respect him and he doesn't do
stupid things very often.
------
AndyKelley
How to be a delightful open source contributor:
* Of course you are not obligated to respond at all or in a timely manner, but if you do, it's a real treat for the person filing an issue.
* Respect the other person's abilities and skills. When troubleshooting, use language that recognizes the abilities of the other person. For example, instead of "Did you read the documentation?" say "Can you double-check the documentation, especially the section on ____?"
* Keep issues open until the person who filed the issue feels like their problem is resolved. Of course, if the person does not respond for a long time, then there's no harm in closing the issue.
* Get invested in the user's use case. Perhaps this is a "won't fix" scenario, but to truly understand that the issue is out of scope, you should understand exactly what the user needs, up to and including suggesting an alternative solution that is not your software. Sometimes when doing this you realize that in fact the user was correct and their problem _is_ in the scope of your software.
* Be ready to embrace humility. It is common for a user to stop by and drop a piece of information that makes you realize you made a design choice long ago that would be costly to change, both in time and emotionally. At this point you have two choices: humbly admit that you made a mistake and that your software has a limitation due to the mistake, or, humbly admit that you made a mistake and that you'll be working on fixing this mistake in the next major version bump.
* Don't leave code rotting in the main development branch for a long time. Release that code!
* When someone submits a patch, don't nitpick the code conventions. How hard is it to change tabs to spaces and rename a few variables? If the idea behind the code is sound, just merge it and fix the conventions yourself. Style conventions are arbitrary and meaningless. Reduce the friction here for people who bother to look at your source code.
* When you feel you do not have the resources to continue maintaining one of your projects, but users are still filing issues and sending patches, try to hand off the maintainer hat to someone competent. Keep the project alive!
* If your software has a bug, but it's the fault of one of your dependencies, keep a bug report open in your bug tracker too, with a link to the dependency's open bug. Your dependencies' bugs are your bugs too.
I'm sure there are more; that's just what I thought of off the top of my head.
------
vorg
This study doesn't account for the "good cop bad cop" tactic many projects
run.
Politeness is maintained on the mailing list, but undesirable posters are
tracked down and bullied behind the scenes where proof who's doing it is
difficult. This happened to me 10 yrs ago when I started posting casually on a
mailing list for a new programming language. I've found overall (not by
statistical analysis, but by personal impression) that this tends to happen
more when the project leader has a management rather than technical
background. Many open source contributors learn their skills in paid
employment first so the political skills of online project managers are often
more developed than what you find on the job. And because open source
contribution is far more global and with a more permanent record than a local
job somewhere, the effects are often long-lasting for those involved.
In such good cop bad cop behavior, maybe the real situation tends to show
itself over time, just as shown in the study. That project I was trying to
politely join has evolved into a blatant "smoke and mirrors" environment that
few people trust.
~~~
peterevans
You're right, and they do acknowledge this to some degree in section 5
("Threats to Validity"). The projects they monitored were unaware of having
been so, therefore the authors would have had no way to observe much nuance.
They could only what was publicly visible.
~~~
AUmrysh
Even though they weren't able to see the offline arguments, it's still telling
about a project when the arguments are brought out into the open.
------
brd
The results don't surprise me but I do think there is more than one way to
have a thriving development culture. While not mutually exclusive, I think
blunt/transparent environments are just as, if not more effective, than polite
environments.
A blunt environment requires a certain level of professionalism but actively
knowing you will be challenged when its called for and knowing everyone is
simply striving to do whats best for the cause can be really refreshing.
I'm known to request that people tell me when I'm full of shit. I'd much
rather have a moment of subtle hostility than a stretch of time where I
operate under false assumptions. Once people acknowledge it's not personal, it
allows everyone to move much faster.
~~~
cjcenizal
I can appreciate the need for gut checks, and have asked people for feedback
so I can get a better idea of how I'm being perceived. But the burden of
knowing when you're full of shit should really fall on the individual. So to
that end I think we should all strive to be conscious of how our words and
actions affect those around us and the task at hand, instead of relying on
someone else to rein us in.
------
yakult
Politeness is a nice thing to have, in theory, but any attempt at enforcing
politeness is a tax on creativity.
Human processes are extremely imperfect and subject to all kinds of biases and
conflicts of interest. The cost of attempts at enforcement will be huge and
not immediately obvious to everyone. It will silence dissent. It will create
chilling effects. It will alter the balance of power towards the rules-lawyers
and away from those that just want to get their work done.
I am against any sort of standard here for the same reason I am against
government censorship: because it will be turned around and used against us as
a weapon, for reasons that will have nothing to do with improving productivity
and everything to do with some petty squabble for territory and influence.
------
cprayingmantis
I think it may be a good thing to agree on what good manners are. I almost
wish there was some sort of standard practice on this.
I know when I was starting out my career I had no idea what good manners were.
One time at a milestone review I simply said: "I had to rewrite X's first pass
he was using some older tech and there's better ways of doing it now." and it
really blew up. My boss took me in his office afterwards and told me that
probably wasn't the right thing to say that I had in fact insulted the other
guy and he was hurt. Believe me it was never my intention to hurt anyone I was
just stating what I did and what I knew. I apologized and we got along
afterwards no harm in the long run.
That incident taught me to always be wary of corrections or talking about
someone else's work. They put their heart and soul into what they do and I
should respect their code and them.
~~~
simoncion
> I simply said: "I had to rewrite X's first pass he was using some older tech
> and there's better ways of doing it now." ... My boss ... told me that ... I
> had in fact insulted the other guy...
...what? The other guy is too attached to his code.
> [People] put their heart and soul into what they do and I should respect
> their code and them.
One thing that _every_ good programmer _has_ to learn to do is to be able to
disentangle one's ego from one's code. It's _very_ _good_ to be proud of one's
accomplishments. It's _bad_ to become so attached to one's work that one
suffers injury from criticism of or attempts to improve the work.
If you love your code too much, it'll be harder for you to see (or let others
help you see) where it needs improvement and when it needs to be thrown away.
------
vox_mollis
Intuition on this issue is not that politeness in itself matters, but that
politeness would be correlated with patience. Patient development schedules
are likely to result in less technical debt, fewer defects, and greater long-
term throughput.
------
sz4kerto
The article is an methodological disaster. Calculating p multiple times and
declaring that in most cases the result is significant? Just wow.
------
yarrel
This result is going to be abused by people whose ideas of good manners a)
don't cover themselves because hello important work and b) are essentially a
demand for deference.
~~~
13thLetter
Unfortunately true. A lot of the people talking the most about good manners
and civility in software development turn out to themselves spend a lot of
time bullying and insulting those they disagree with, and a lot of the
requests for politeness are actually thinly disguised demands for political
litmus tests, backed up with threats of online mobs for those who don't fall
into line.
This is a pity, as I'm open to being convinced that a more polite and pleasant
environment is also better for productivity, but that well has been thoroughly
poisoned by its loudest advocates.
------
whatever_dude
The effect doesn't seem that clear. That it varies from project to project
makes me believe it's just some weak correlation.
They should have tracked developer retention to those projects. People might
still contribute and fix issues if someone's being a jerk, but are they going
to stick around and contribute further? That's the real question to me.
Someone actively contributing for a project for years is much more desirable
than someone doing drive-by PRs.
------
deadprogram
How does this explain communities where there is a lot of rudeness and
bullying, and yet the projects themselves are successful?
Are those projects successes despite their manners?
~~~
this_user
If you had bothered to at least read the abstract, you might have found that
there is no claim that projects like that will always fail, as you insinuate.
The authors merely claim that politeness is positively correlated with with a
number of key metrics like time required to fix an issue and duration of
project participation.
~~~
garrettheaver
Speaking of being polite...
~~~
eropple
I tend to draw a distinction between "impoliteness on its own" and
"impoliteness in response to impoliteness". Not reading TFA is, to me, the
latter, and a mildly sharpish response isn't the worst thing in the world.
------
sanderjd
Summary of answer from both common sense and the article: Yes. I suspect the
answer would be the same if the question were simply "do good manners
matter?", but that is probably much harder to study. This is not meant to
diminish the study; confirming seemingly obvious things is important.
~~~
bryanlarsen
It's not necessarily an obvious conclusion. Many people look at the success of
Linux and of Apple under Steve Jobs and conclude that a rude leader is a
positive.
~~~
rm_-rf_slash
One wildly successful rude leader gets thousands of times more attention and
consideration than the thousands of amiable managers who do their jobs well
without hurting people's feelings.
------
chipsy
I don't think it's about the surface politeness factor, but about what kind of
discussion is conducted.
The ideal for an intellectual discourse is to have questions be responded to
with more questions. If question is met with answer, then old ground was
covered, there was nothing new to see. If answer is met with answer, you're
just ramming into each other. (And yes, there are disingenuous questions, but
those tend to be "Jeopardy answers".)
Politeness/rudeness does factor into that in that it "bulks up" the rhetoric.
You can be a polite bullshitter or an insulting truth-seeker. You can use
rhetoric tactically to goad the other person into the questioning mode, or you
can use it to shut down the discussion.
------
the_cat_kittles
sometimes people get away with being assholish when they are the best at
something in a group. but to combat that tendency in yourself, just remember
what you would look like if someone showed up who was better than you, and not
an asshole.
------
kabdib
Yes.
Thinking that you have "politeness capital" that you can "spend down" by being
occasionally impolite is very wrong.
I've run into people that I refuse to work with, ranging from choosing not to
do projects with them to trying really, really hard not to ever have contact
with them again, by any means.
I have probably _been_ a guy that people avoided. It sucked. My advice is
that, in the long game of doing stuff with other people, being professional
and polite is worth it.
------
sjclemmy
Stick to the facts. Be respectful.
What else is there?
------
xiaoma
Serious question here: Of those who have led the development of hugely
successful OS in the past generation, who had the best manners when giving
feedback?
Was it Bill Gates, Linus Torvalds or Steve Jobs?
~~~
jleyank
It would be useful to learn if the BSD folks and their successors, or the
original Bell Labs/Unix folks share these personality traits. Has anybody
dealt with Bob Cutler, who had much to do with VMS and NT? Bill Joy? Fred
Brooks seems to have a different reputation, and he helped create an OS as
well. Is it generational?
Being unable to alter one's personal-interaction style to reflect the
interaction will shed talent, so it's only safe to do in a talent-rich
environment (or an environment where the talent's constrained in some way).
People working in what they consider hostile environments act to minimize
stress, which results in fewer ideas, fewer discussions, way less criticism
and crappier products. Or they walk.
Yeah, Linux development "works". It has sufficient talent to continue. Until
it's displaced, we won't be able to tell whether it was run as well as it
could have been.
~~~
xiaoma
There was a lot less competition back in the Bell Labs days.
From what I've heard of people working at MS in the 80s and 90s, feedback was
possibly _more_ searing than it is on the linux mailing lists. I hope it's not
the case, but based on available evidence it looks like there may be
advantages to hostile environments. Maybe some people channel the stress into
more ideas, fiercer discussions and better products (as Amazon does).
I've never been in one of those environments first hand though.
------
htns
Looking at the names being named, rudeness seems to come with being foreign. I
guess Steve Jobs is a counterpoint in that he is at least second generation.
------
calebm
Yes.
------
mucker
I'll let Job's ghost know about the results. It will change everything.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
"I am the Orson Welles of PowerPoint" - valgaze
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-am-the-orson-welles-of-powerpoint
======
hdesuyo
I liked the way the author describe a Powerpoint. Excellent!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Mathematical Foundations of Computing (2015) [pdf] - lainon
https://web.stanford.edu/class/cs103/notes/Mathematical%20Foundations%20of%20Computing.pdf
======
zallarak
I took this class. Keith is a wonderful teacher. This class sparked a love of
math within me and was a mind expanding experience.
~~~
mturmon
These notes are a great example of simple ideas (like summation of integers,
basic inductive proofs, etc.), presented with clarity and in an inviting way.
It's fun to read the structure of the arguments even though one knows the
result already.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Anorexic Startup: A Tale of Sex, Drugs, and C++ - NYCTech
http://www.anorexicstartup.com
======
colig
I couldn't find anything related to anorexia or eating disorders in the story.
It is frugal, perhaps, but not anorexic.
What a misleading title.
------
eraad
I read it completely to look for the C++ part. Did not find it.
------
pumppump
Some good laughs. Worth the read
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
EFF’s “Spying on Students” Report Highlights Tech Companies’ Data Collection - DiabloD3
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/effs-spying-students-report-highlights-tech-companies-data-collection-parents
======
Icedcool
This is yet another example of a need for some level of a bill of rights for
our online lives/information.
Something that guarantee's proper and fair usage, with privacy. The decision
making of which I'm sure would be a long and deep debate.
If someone stuck an rfid tag in your ear, and tracked where you moved and what
you did, I would expect some compensation for that information. Yet we get
cookies attached to our browsers, we are profiled and tagged to watch
everything that we do online.
The de-regulation of the consumer information protection is important in that
it is bringing attention to a bigger issue. The ISP's just want to do the same
thing other companies have been doing all along.
~~~
ocdtrekkie
One of the things that strikes me as so crazy we don't have this here in the
US, is the UN considers it a _basic human right[1]_.
[1] [http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-
rights/](http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/)
~~~
refurb
The UN can make whatever they want a right. They don't really have any way to
enforce these rights.
~~~
ocdtrekkie
This is true, and I wasn't claiming anything further. However, according to
Wikipedia, the United States was one of the 48 countries who voted to proclaim
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. There were 8 abstentions, but none
opposed.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a document which is globally
accepted, therefore, to represent what human rights should be. The fact that
the US, the supposed "land of the free", falls short of this, is just
particularly sad.
------
hackuser
I agree with the EFF's position but what the EFF, I, and others with the same
point of view lack is an elevator pitch on the harm of losing privacy (or the
benefits of privacy). The EFF and I generally assume know the risk is well-
known, but it's not. When people ask me, 'what's the harm?' or 'so what?', I
don't have an effective answer prepared.
So what is an _effective_ answer? Requirements: Short, high-impact, memorable
(it must spread), crystal clear for the completely non-technical, not easily
refuted.
~~~
mysterydip
In my opinion: it's permanent. Simple as that. Even if the info is harmless in
isolation today, any new bit that can be identified as you becomes part of
your aggregate.
Ten years from now, or tomorrow, People You Don't Like could be in charge of
any given agency or company, and deny you things then based on what you did
today that was perfectly legal or ethical.
There are more extrapolations from that but it should be enough to be short
but get the gears turning.
~~~
dhimes
Nobody cares. What I hear? "So what?"
~~~
pdkl95
Insurance companies mining as much data as possible to find reasons to deny
claims. There is a very good chance that they will be (are already?) able to
infer prohibited information to raise prices.
If they are concerned with racial issues (or similar), try pointing out how
data analysis can hide institutional racism (or other biases) - even
unintentionally - into the algorithms behind finance, criminal
sentencing/parole, future employment opportunities, _etc_.
Even if none of that happens to apply, there are two big reasons they should
care. First, the unknown. In the circus we call our current political
environment, do they really want a future $POLITICAL_ENEMY to have a detailed
map of who they are, what they do, what they like, where they move during the
day and who was with them (COTRAVELER), and anything else modern machine
learning techniques can find?
The final reason is... because it isn't always about them. _Other_ people
might be in worse situations and it's important to stand with them by
_normalizing_ sufficient privacy. In his essay[1] on why he wrote PGP, Philip
Zimmermann said
>> "What if everyone believed that law-abiding citizens should use postcards
for their mail? If a nonconformist tried to assert his privacy by using an
envelope for his mail, it would draw suspicion. Perhaps the authorities would
open his mail to see what he's hiding. Fortunately, we don't live in that kind
of world, because everyone protects most of their mail with envelopes. So no
one draws suspicion by asserting their privacy with an envelope. There's
safety in numbers. Analogously, it would be nice if everyone routinely used
encryption for all their email, innocent or not, so that no one drew suspicion
by asserting their email privacy with encryption. Think of it as a form of
solidarity."
This is similar to the concept of _herd immunity_ [2] with vaccines. Vaccines
are not 100% protection and some people cannot take them for various reasons.
Those people still benefit from the general vaccine use producing fewer
opportunities for infection. Similarly, when enough people protect their
privacy, there is less incentive to abuse data thanks to lower profits and
increased political costs.
[1]
[https://www.philzimmermann.com/EN/essays/WhyIWrotePGP.html](https://www.philzimmermann.com/EN/essays/WhyIWrotePGP.html)
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity)
~~~
dhimes
I've made the "insurance companies" argument before, most recently with the
isp regulation rollback (visit webmd and watch your rates go up). I just can't
sell it (but I don't seem to be able to sell much of anything, sadly- that's a
different story lol).
Do you know of any evidence where that has happened? I wanted to say that
those things they blamed on Obamacare were actually because they were posting
pictures of themselves at barbeques on facebook- but it's hyperbole to my
knowledge.
The "getting rid of envelopes for mail" argument might work on some.
------
pizzetta
While the right to be forgotten can recall "sanitization" or some kind of
censorship, kids should be able to have their histories and everything
associated with them pre-adulthood expunged. As kids we all did silly and
regrettable things. It'll be a shame if we allow those things to follow people
thought-out their lives.
As kids we're exploring all kinds of ideas --some good, some regrettable, but
we should be able to explore them without fear these crumbs of exploration
will follow us in to the future as if we were fully mature and aware as we
explored ideas.
~~~
jstanley
> As kids we're exploring all kinds of ideas --some good, some regrettable,
> but we should be able to explore them without fear these crumbs of
> exploration will follow us in to the future as if we were fully mature and
> aware as we explored ideas.
Why shouldn't everybody be allowed to explore ideas without consequence?
~~~
pizzetta
When you are a kid you can get into the wrong crowd and easily want to explore
stupid things (bullying, drugs, bias, prejudice, etc.) Adults don't have the
luxury or excuse of youth to say, "it was a stupid thing to say, but my
thoughts were immature and my mind and self are still developing". There are
some things that one as an adult should not "get away with" where non-adults
should, in my estimation.
~~~
Silhouette
_Adults don 't have the luxury or excuse of youth to say, "it was a stupid
thing to say, but my thoughts were immature and my mind and self are still
developing"._
Perhaps we should, at least more than we do in practice today. I'm not sure
enforcing conservative views or limiting open debate on controversial subjects
is good for either the individuals involved or society as a whole.
------
liquidise
One thing that is rarely mentioned in the online privacy discussion is how it
stands to influence elections in 20 years.
Right now we take ideological issue with statements of candidates past
preachers or professors. Imagine when a simple leak will spill every horrible
thing a candidate said during their teenage years to friends on Facebook
messenger or aim. It will be a lagging indicator of privacy policy, but one
that stands to influence American politics in a couple of decades.
~~~
_iao
That already doesn't matter. Trump openly said he molested women.. No one
cares apparently.
~~~
Silhouette
Lots of people cared. Just not quite enough or in the right parts of the US,
unfortunately.
------
squozzer
Finally, a "for the children" argument that doesn't take away rights. Given
the situation, my emotional state is hopeful, but not sanguine.
~~~
Bartweiss
...before this, I'm not sure I've _ever_ seen a "for the children" argument
that supported individual rights. And perhaps worse, I never even noticed
until this moment.
It's a bit funny, I regularly argue for youth rights, but standard "for the
children" arguments are purely rights-restrictive.
------
trendia
When the telecoms wanted Congress to lift that pesky ISP consumer information
protection, they argued that the regulations allowed Google to get ahead while
they were left in the dust. Will educational companies lobby for the same kind
of freedom?
~~~
pryelluw
I used to work in EdTech. One of the most common issues school admins told me
face to face was how big tech corps were storing all of the students data with
merely a promise to not exploit it. Its one ofnthe few great advertising
opportunities that are left and companies are itching to get to it.
------
mirimir
I'm reminded of Cambridge Analytics' claims about profiles for everyone in the
US. So now profiles will include stuff from parents' social media: prenatal
sonograms, baby pictures, first step videos, etc. Also logs from interactions
with toys. And their social media. Plus the educational records.
I can't imagine that will work out well for them :(
------
Animats
If you have access to a school-provided tablet, see if it's doing a MITM on
SSL/TLS connections. Go to some web site like a big bank, and examine the
site's certificate in detail.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
An Unauthorized Founder's Story - SparksZilla
http://refer.ly/an-unauthorized-founder-s-story/c/eeae5fc486d311e2bfbf22000a1db8fa
======
peterjancelis
Has there been a rationale posted somewhere for the 'pivot' of refer.ly?
For some reason I see refer.ly and Danielle Morrill being featured again and
again on Hacker News and TechCrunch, but it's mostly about personal stuff
rather than the business.
------
Zikes
Danielle who?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Early Canid Domestication: The Farm-Fox Experiment - WickyNilliams
http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/early-canid-domestication-the-farm-fox-experiment/
======
MikeTLive
this is from 1999. I was hoping for an update as its 13 years out of date...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Comcast neighborhood WiFI - antiffan
https://wifi.comcast.com/hotspots.php
======
ljk
not sure if this is the same thing, but i've seen something like this a few
months ago. To connect to the interwebs, just select the "xfinitywifi" network
to connect to, then sign in to xfinity account in the landing page! ..
..BUT
the connection _sucked_ since the signal was from other units in my apt.
building....
~~~
theophrastus
Here's my humble head-scratch: you pay for a comcast internet access, you
might have bought or you're leasing the cable modem + wireless router, and
perhaps there's an opportunity to opt-out (somewhere), but nonetheless my
neighbor (who must at least have an xfinity account) is streaming their
content through my connection. Somehow it seems like wireless usury.
~~~
ljk
you're right, i'm no longer mooching off of my neighbors now(maybe because the
connection was so bad) but i feel like it's not unethical because comcast made
it available, so why not use it?
------
antiffan
Like most people, I'm not normally a Comcast fan, but this is really
interesting.
It's really convenient in San Francisco because I can almost always find a
network to connect to, but I do wonder about security implications of having
this feature enabled by default on my home router.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Mass Shootings Are a Bad Way to Understand Gun Violence – FiveThirtyEight - rbanffy
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/mass-shootings-are-a-bad-way-to-understand-gun-violence/?ex_cid=story-twitter
======
celticninja
> Gun violence isn’t one problem, it’s many. And it probably won’t have a
> single solution, either.
Actually there is a single solution, just because it may be difficult doesn't
mean it doesn't exist. Look at what Australia did after the Port Arthur
Massacre or the UK after Hungerford and Dunblane. There is an easily
identified solution but most US politicians are either too cowardly (want to
be re-elected), too corrupt (taking lots of money from NRA) or too stupid to
make the connection.
~~~
throwawayknecht
Unfortunately, it's not just the politicians. Key to the making the buyback
work was that people were willing to sell. If you tried it in America you'd
get white militias in standoffs - think a new Cliven Bundy every week - and
cops slaughtering any black person hesitant to turn over their weapon.
~~~
nnfy
Why? Why immediately turn this into a racial issue?
You dont think there will be minorities clinging to their guns?
Dont you think your comment is a bit racist?
~~~
throwawayknecht
> Why immediately turn this into a racial issue?
Gun control in America has _always_ been a racial issue. Black people have
never been able to own guns as freely as white people, from the Black Codes to
the Mulford Act to Marissa Alexander and Philando Castile today.
> You dont think there will be minorities clinging to their guns?
That there will be is entirely the point of my comment!
> Dont you think your comment is a bit racist?
No. I think America is a lot racist. And I think that will have implications
on enforcement if gun control policies are enacted, and so we need to keep
that in mind when considering _what_ to enact.
------
thisisit
John Oliver's coverage during his time on Daily Show on gun control:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pOiOhxujsE&list=PLOKWcH1zBl...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pOiOhxujsE&list=PLOKWcH1zBl2kfnCwyyZWk5MW28lgaNa7L)
~~~
BadassFractal
[https://i.redditmedia.com/qkF5x4YvGmByK2jjWYbn56QolZTrvBK9Qj...](https://i.redditmedia.com/qkF5x4YvGmByK2jjWYbn56QolZTrvBK9QjbrFtgoBjQ.jpg?w=647&s=026072d5154e5d27831738e7729875e3)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
TransferWise - aaronsnoswell
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-13/london-s-lonely-unicorn-two-frugal-expats-and-their-billion-dollar-startup
======
aaronsnoswell
30s in to the video the narrator explains how TransferWise works. Am I correct
in thinking that this problem is very NP-hard?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Goldman Sachs asks: 'Is curing patients a sustainable business model?' - belltaco
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/goldman-asks-is-curing-patients-a-sustainable-business-model.html
======
cmurf
If companies are in fact amoral and are not compelled to be moral, and the
only good is profit, then it is rational to conclude given the choice they
would prefer development of a pill you have to take every day for the rest of
your life, than a cure.
------
HarryHirsch
This is important: Goldman Sachs ask who is financing medical innovation and
what should be financed for best returns. They do not say the FDA is bad for
business, it's the medical field itself that has problems delivering returns.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: my website seemingly sucks, but I'm not sure why? - x03
Hi there,<p>I've developed a website to act as "an ad hoc perpetually published online journal of publication-worthy essays written by a global community of (egotistical) undergraduate International Relations students to act as a platform for the dissemination of and discourse on their new, interesting and engaging takes on international affairs." As the homepage spiel puts it...<p>I've done a little bit of advertising with StumbleUpon, where I received a "thumbs up" rate of about 1.5% of my total hits, with 0 "down thumbs" -- but also 0 new sign ups. I've had the link passed around to friends-of-friends who the site is aimed at, but registration still remains extremely low and site interaction is practically at a standstill.<p>The site is, to me, relatively polished, straightforward, easy-to-use and otherwise a relatively neat little concept that does hold some sway in its target market as there are other sites that convey revision material and such as part of gigantic "student portals".<p>Thus, my question is: does the way the site operates suck? Is it a poor execution of a good idea, or the other way around? Is there anything I could do to help highlight the benefits of registration right from the index page? Being a member lets you submit papers and discussions, comments and also earn "points" (upvotes)...<p>I appreciate that the site doesn't fall into HN's typical remit of being a "start up", but any feedback on the website from a few Internet-wise veterans would be welcomed.<p>The site URL is: http://www.thesjia.net<p>Thanks,
x03.<p>Edit: I think what I've failed to convey is that this is essentially meant to be an online study group for undergraduates who want useful summaries of topics written by undergraduates rather than as a proper and full Journal to compete with well established ones. It's called a Journal semi-mockingly and doesn't really aim to take itself too seriously...
======
SamReidHughes
As any teaching assistant could inform you, nobody wants to read essays by
undergraduates. Nobody wants to read international relations essays by
undergraduates. No undergraduates studying international relations want to
spend their spare time writing essays that nobody will read. Nobody wants to
write essays and then have them distributed as PDF files with little sense of
ownership.
Let's look at what you see when visiting the site.
Abstract: "An analysis into the genesis and development of Cosmopolitan
Thinking and to what degree it can cope with the realisation of its desired
World Order as the very mechanisms it sought come to strangle its progress."
Word Count: ...
And right from the opening copy (which you quoted) the site markets itself as
a celebration of being long, verbose, and obscure.
If undergraduates want to egotistically talk about international relations
they can go to the inevitable debate section of virtually any phpBB forum.
They're bound to find more vibrant, better-written, and better-argued essaying
there.
~~~
x03
The slight angle of being egotistical was included to almost make fun of the
Journal itself: it's not meant to be a serious publication, per se, in that
academics and others want to read it but merely a place for undergraduates to
share with one another.
It is basically meant to be a site for undergraduates to read essays on topics
that are similar to their own for their own understanding at their level: it's
fairly common for undergraduates to let their undergraduate friends on the
same course read their essays, especially around exam times. So while I
appreciate that some embittered TAs might read essays with a sense of loathing
for minimum wage waiting for the sweet release of deathm viewing this site, or
any for that matter, from such a tainted perspective is somewhat unfair.
I appreciate your comments regarding the verbosity and obscurity of some of
the text though and I'll look into making everything a bit clearer! :)
------
sebastianhoitz
It all starts with the heading:
The font makes it really hard to read. I actually have to concentrate to find
out what is written in the heading.
And honestly, I wanted to stop reading after the first paragraph:
An ad hoc (ok?) perpetually (uhm...) published online journal of publication-
worthy (oh dear...) essays written by a global community of (egotistical)
(omg...) undergraduate International Relations students (wtf..) to act as a
platform for the dissemination of and discourse on (what?!) ...
I mean, the writing is good. But not for web pages. And especially not for the
first paragraph. There are so many foreign words in this, that it seems like
you just tried to link as many words together as you can.
Simplify this first paragraph! Make it less "complex".
Also the paper listings all look the same. The image caught my attention at
first, but then I realized that every paper has that image. Why is it so big,
then, if I can't use it do distinguish the papers?
There is also nowhere mentioned what benefits I get when registering.
The site does look pretty simple, but I think this is too simple. There should
be at least some structuring elements and something to make the papers more
appealing.
Besides that it is an interesting idea though. After reading the topics they
quite caught my attention :)
~~~
x03
I didn't realise that introductory paragraph was such a barrier -- I'll look
into getting that amended. As for the images, you're right: they're too same-
same and identical, it was just meant to provide something other than text-
text-text though.
I appreciate all your points and I'll look into them!
------
middus
According to your twitter account, you launched 5 days ago. What did you
expect to happen in that timeframe? Did you set yourself any specific goals in
terms of, e.g. submitted essays?
Regarding StumpleUpon and the likes: is this where you expect your targeted
userbase to be? I'd guess that people on SU are their primarily for
entertainment... Maybe it would be better to promote your site elsewhere. Have
you thought about getting in touch with some of your university's professors,
political debating clubs, Facebook groups etc.?
Before you do this, you should have more content, though. At the moment you
only have five essays. As far as I understood, the site is run by you and
another undergrad. Why don't you two put up more of your own essays on the
site before you expect other people (friends of friends) to do so?
I hope this helps and did not come across too harsh. Good luck with your
endeavour!
/edit: why do all the essays have the same icon? Moreover you should really
work on your introduction. At the moment you seem to need content, so explain
to your potential writers the benefits of putting up their essays on your
site.
~~~
mkr-hn
Stumbleupon can drive good traffic if you have stuff to link to. PDFs don't
stumble well (they're probably banned), and homepages don't do well unless
they're interesting on their own.
~~~
middus
It might be, but how many stumblers are students of International Relations?
~~~
mkr-hn
Stumleupon is like Reddit. You can pick your topics. There's bound to be an SU
category for that somewhere.
edit: <http://www.stumbleupon.com/discover/international-relations/>
:)
------
wybo
I wouldn't have hopes that are too high for it. I attempted something similar
with <http://www.logilogi.org> over the last few years, but for philosophy,
and it was similarly successful (not :)
I tried most tricks in the book: fancy innovative hypertext features, badges
for on ones blog, even got my GF to do a demo video, but I guess there is just
no demand for such things (apart from the very few with too much time on their
hands, whose work most people prefer not to read)...
(at some point there might be, but the feedback cycle of journals and tenure
keeps academics out, while those that appreciate in-depth reading/conversation
(on other things than news, which for a short wile gets the focused attention
of a lot of people) either shift into academia (as I did for the last few
years), or find other smart people to work with on a startup or something
alike...)
Anyway, it is all (AGPL) Open Source, so if you want, feel free to check it
out.
The reddit platform is (also) a good platform to consider, as the people at
<http://lesswrong.com> seem to have got a community going (though their topic,
singularity and such, is especially suited, as many tech-savvy people are into
it, while at the same time it has not really taken off in most of the academic
world yet...).
------
rst
Well, the question I find myself asking about this is, "why do I want to read
essays about international affairs"? The answers boil down to:
1\. Author has a unique personal perspective (background knowledge, historical
insight, whatever).
2\. Essay has a striking thesis, and defends it well.
3\. Author is a big shot, and it's useful to know what they think.
There's undergraduate work that meets criteria (1) and (2) --- but it's rare,
and effectively lost amid the ton more than that that doesn't. To attract
repeat business, you've got to attract the good stuff, and establish filters
which separate it out. Around here, the problem of attracting the content is
called the "chicken-and-egg problem", and Google will turn up some discussion.
Two further thoughts: First off, the pointers to the essays should state a
thesis. As I write, the top one analyzes "the cause of piracy and the
solutions available to the International Community ... using several concepts
that are relevant to the failed state of Somalia ...". OK, fine (prolixity
aside). He's talking about Somalian piracy. What does he have to say about it?
If I don't know, I'm moving on.
Also, if you're trying to convince people your essayists' stuff is worth
reading, there might be a better pitch than "undergraduate"; even "young"
might work better.
~~~
x03
Okay, great, points noted. Thanks for your feedback! :)
I think the critical point from your reply is that instead of there being a
summary of what the essay is about, there should instead be a summary of what
the essay is saying -- to basically relate the authors points quickly and
succinctly as a teaser. We need to work on that.
Thanks!
------
petervandijck
\- The papers in PDF is an interaction killer (you are increasing friction)
\- You have basically no content right now: 5 PDFs and the discussion is low
quality.
Fix those two problems and you might get something. If the place feels empty
(as it does now), people will never come back. There is no reason whatsoever
for people to create an account right now.
~~~
x03
Okay, there generally seems to be a feeling of anti-PDF sentiment so I'll look
into providing just a standard HTML+CSS page as an alternative. (To note
though, almost every academic article is provided as a PDF directly by
Journals or through repositories like JSTOR).
It's kind of the chicken and egg problem: there's no content because they're
no users, and they're no users because there's no content. I'll try and
"force" a few friends on to drum up everything up a little and increase the
excitement of the site.
Also, thanks for the link!
Cheers, \--x03.
------
michael_dorfman
It seems to me that the problem is one of focus, and branding.
To put it bluntly: who in their right mind would want to read essays by
undergrads? Even when I was an undergrad, that's not where my interest was. I
wanted to read insightful, thought-provoking, well-researched articles. If
those happened to be written by undergrads, well, that was incidental.
So, my suggestion: rename the Journal as "The New England Journal of
International Relations" (or some such), and kill the "undergraduate" angle.
~~~
x03
That's a fair point: the idea of it being a "Journal" isn't so much that it's
Nature or Foreign Affairs or anything carrying such weight, more that it's a
collection of well-written essays that cover topics that undergraduate
students of IR typically cover so they can turn to them for inspiration, ideas
and as revision material...
It's kind of like a synopsis of a lot of "insightful, thought-provoking, well-
researched articles" as that's what undergraduate essays tend to be, rather
than necessarily outstanding works of original thought.
It's an option to consider though and I'll definitely look into it...
Thank you for your feedback! :)
------
mkr-hn
The titles on each item blend in too much, and my eye kept looking around for
some idea of what I was looking at.
I'd also use alternating background colors for each item (like white and some
light color) to help them stand out from each other. That's also helpful
because people are used to alternating colors indicating a list of items (like
in webmail and forums), so you can lean on user expectations a bit.
Other people have already commented on the copy.
------
tshtf
Clickable link: <http://www.thesjia.net>
A few months ago, a site called Feedback Roulette
(<http://feedbackroulette.com/>) was discussed here. You may want to submit
your site there for some additional feedback into what can be improved on your
site.
~~~
x03
That looks super-useful, thanks!
------
mooism2
From the front page, I clicked on "Discussion Points", then on the top speech
bubble. I got the error message "error-id, yes."
The papers only being in PDF does not appeal to me, but you know your target
market better than I.
~~~
x03
Whoops! I fixed that error in Discussion Points. Thanks for catching it...
That's a good point, perhaps I can provide an alternative HTML+CSS option to
display them in so it's kept in the browser. Journal articles are typically
PDF and students are used to dealing with them, hence it was my default
option. I'll investigate alternatives though...
Thanks for the feedback! :)
~~~
middus
Maybe this would be a good starting point: <http://docs.google.com/viewer>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why Developers Are Flocking to Amazon’s Alexa - johnwheeler
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/amazon-alexa-developers-echo-skills
======
vanattab
How much did amazon pay for this article? I know it's a tough market for news
out there but this shit is not the answer.
------
ketralnis
Are they? The list of skills available is a graveyard of horoscopes and "guess
the number" games.
------
tdb7893
This reads like a marketing piece
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
EFF, ACLU Sue Over Warrantless Phone, Laptop Searches at U.S. Border - DiabloD3
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-aclu-media-conference-call-today-announce-lawsuit-over-warrantless-phone-and
======
ironix
I'm going on a trip to Canada within the next month, from the US, as a US
citizen.
I want to be let into Canada without issue, so am taking a burner smartphone
connected to a non-critical gmail account that is plausibly-maybe my "real"
personal one. But not really. The maximum threat to me is detention, or more
likely, refused entry. If I am asked to unlock the device, I will.
Crossing back into the US, I am less concerned. If I am asked to unlock the
device, I will NOT. The maximum threat to me is semi-indefinite detention, and
I know at the end of it, I can reach out to the EFF to seek representation in
a larger action.
Does anyone else have any tips/tricks/ideas here? I realize trying to subvert
any Canadian border search is not a good idea, but it's a good middle-grounds
vs. "don't go to Canada" or "give them all your private data", I think. On the
other hand, I am willing to be more stringent with the US border because (A) I
am a citizen, I cannot be refused entry, and (B) this is a cause I would like
to participate in, so invite any negative outcome caused by my refusal to
unlock the device or share any logins.
~~~
iamatworknow
>Does anyone else have any tips/tricks/ideas here?
The trick is to not worry about it so much. In fact, I'd say that worrying and
looking nervous would make it _more_ likely that you would be searched.
I live on the US/Canadian border (on the US side) and go over probably 2 or 3
times per month. I regularly drive from New York state to Ottawa (going
through Canadian customs), then fly into the US (through US customs) and then
back again through Canada (Canadian customs again) driving home to the US (US
customs again) with no problems. It's closer than the nearest commercial
airport to me in the US and even with the customs delay, much more convenient.
I also just go over to have fun in Ottawa and Montreal regularly.
My vehicle has been searched 3 times in probably 6 years. My phone has always
stayed with me, in my pocket, un-searched.
I have only ever personally heard of one case of someone having their
electronics searched, and the extent of the search was Canadian customs using
the Windows search to look for files with "boy" or "girl" in the filename --
presumably looking for child porn.
To be clear, I'm not saying this doesn't ever happen, or that it will 100%
never happen to you, but the chances are very, very slim that they'll even ask
you more than a few questions, let alone do any sort of search. Your mileage
may vary, of course.
~~~
iamatworknow
To perhaps back my point up even further, look at the link that the EFF posted
showing CBP's data:
[https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/cbp-
rele...](https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/cbp-releases-
statistics-electronic-device-searches-0)
189,594,422 people processed at the US border between October 2016 and March
2017 with 14,993 electronics searches.
0.008% of people processed had electronics searched.
~~~
Canada
That would mean that in all of the ports of entry to the United States only 82
phones per day were searched. That's absolutely ridiculous. There are
approximately that many international airports. Just airports. Nevermind the
enormous flow of land traffic with Canada and Mexico or all sea traffic.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_airports...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_airports_by_country#United_States)
CBP is claiming that they searched, on average, less than one phone per day in
each airport? Give me a break.
Their claim is probably the number of times they've done some kind of deep
analysis with forensic tools. Surely the number of times a border guard
casually looked through emails and texts is far higher.
~~~
snowwrestler
EDIT: I'll leave my comment below up for the record, but I'm probably wrong,
and Canada above is probably right. CBP is not clear about what kind of
"searches" they are counting in these stats, and they could well be only
counting forensic searches, not cursory (the quick scroll through).
\---------
That number sounds reasonable to me. CBP has no reason to hide their
activities because they believe they are faithfully enforcing the law.
Electronic searches are not something agents do casually; federal agents do
very few things casually on the clock. They're far too busy.
Typically it has to be either a decision in advance (targeting a specific
person) or a big set of warning signals at once that create a suspicious
profile.
I could be wrong about this; I don't have personal experience. But I've
discussed these sorts of cases with friends who are federal agents and
prosecutors.
~~~
Borealid
There is something I don't understand about this whole debate: why is it
considered a "search" of a phone when data is decrypted or exfiltrated?
If one "searches" a safe, and finds inside a paper with some random characters
on it, the safe has been searched. The paper was there, it was discovered, the
interior of the safe was viewed. The meaning of the characters may not be
understood, but the safe was searched.
If one "searches" a phone, and finds inside some random pattern of bits, why
is the search "not completed" until the bits are deciphered into something the
agent understands?
It seems to me that the act of searching doesn't imply understanding what was
found, yet for some reason all the public discourse - including legal
analysis! - is predicated on the idea that "searching" a phone means
deciphering its digital contents.
------
greymeister
The US extends the border-search exception to anywhere within 100 miles of an
airport with international fights, meaning something like 60% of the US lives
within a "border zone" as most international airports are close to dense
population centers.
~~~
djrogers
This is tangential, and I'm sure you didn't mean to, but you've come close to
implying that a CBP agent can stop, search, and detain _anyone_ within 100
miles of an International airport. That's not the case, it would have to be
someone who actually crossed the border in to the USA.
That said, and I can' believe I have to make this disclaimer as it feels about
as obvious as saying I'm against torturing kittens, but I am against the
overreaching searches the EFF and ACLU are suing over here.
~~~
tbrownaw
_it would have to be someone who actually crossed the border_
... And if they want to detain you, who gets to decide whether that happened?
~~~
lovich
It's fine they just have to check your papers real quick. Also, never question
if they can do that unless you want to be arrested for resisting arrest
------
aey
Donate to the eff. They will send you an awesome hoodie.
~~~
abtinf
A few years ago, I considered starting regular donations to the EFF.
Unfortunately, I did not realize they had taken pro position on state
intervention and control of the Internet, a concept generally described with
the orwellian phrase "net neutrality." This position directly contradicts much
of the their advocacy that I wanted to support.
~~~
natch
I am glad you commented, so that others could rebut your misguided position.
It's not usually kosher to comment on voting here, but I think in this case
it's worth making an exception to help keep you readable: I un-did my downvote
of you because I hope that others who, out of innocent ignorance perhaps,
currently share your position, will be able to read your comment (I don't want
you to go to full invisibility) and then read and consider the responses to
it.
I would advise anyone who agrees with this guy (abtinf) to really think it
through a bit. The "regulation is bad therefore ALL regulation is bad" trap is
easy to fall into. Even if you are a strict libertarian, net neutrality is a
case where regulation is stopping really bad things from happening, and,
though it sounds paradoxical, enabling MORE freedom, not less.
~~~
nunyabuizness
> net neutrality is a case where regulation is stopping really bad things from
> happening
I'm fairly anti-regulation and I from what I understand, net neutrality is a
(federal) regulatory solution to a problem created by explicitly by (state +
local) regulation.
I honestly don't understand why people think that net neutrality is a better
solution than a (currently non-existant) federal policy to remove state and
local regulations that created ISP oligopolies which limited internet freedom
in the first place.
~~~
literallycancer
You don't have regulation forcing companies to share infrastructure with
competitors in the US? Like the electrical grid or water pipes?
Building things from scratch to compete with an established competitor at that
scale is nearly impossible, you'd never see any new players entering the
market if they had to build a new grid.
Why is net neutrality different?
>I honestly don't understand why people think that net neutrality is a better
solution than a (currently non-existant) federal policy to remove state and
local regulations that created ISP oligopolies which limited internet freedom
in the first place.
You'd have to break up the oligopolies first, right?
------
rdiddly
I wish I could thank these guys with big hugs but instead I'll probably have
to settle for donating.
~~~
StavrosK
No reason why you can't do both!
------
derefr
Interesting question to me: is any country offering easy-to-attain diplomatic-
courier status, such that I could (legitimately) label my laptop bag as a
diplomatic pouch to protect it from search?
(Yes, it's more complex than this; you'd have to be able to upload a manifest
of what's in the bag and what it weighs to some service of that country's
government, and then the country's embassy here would forward the manifest to
the State Dept and they'd send you a sticker for your bag, etc.)
~~~
azernik
No. This would be in direct contravention of the Vienna Protocols [1] that
define a diplomatic pouch and its protections. You are not allowed to stuff
your personal shit in a diplomatic courier pouch, and any country openly and
intentionally allowing the abuse of the Vienna Protocols for these purposes
would be in very hot water internationally. Like, international-incident,
embassies-expelled hot water.
[1] Article 27 Section 4: "The packages constituting the diplomatic bag must
bear visible external marks of their character and may contain only diplomatic
documents or articles intended for official use."
~~~
derefr
It's still not clear to me that e.g. the Queen of England couldn't travel
around with her shopping list in a diplomatic pouch. A country's government
gets to decide for itself what is and isn't for its "official use", no? So if
a country says your laptop contains materials intended for their official use,
then it _does_. It's just a matter of you being important enough for them to
be willing to make that claim on your behalf.
~~~
azernik
And as soon as they get caught, the countries so offended against will call
that (rightfully) a flagrant _lie_. The treaties were written specifically to
_prevent_ such a use of diplomatic privilege. That adjective "official" in the
Convention is literally meaningless if a country is allowed to claim anything
is "official", and trust me, treaty writers do not insert any words without a
reason.
------
basseq
I hope this one goes to the Supreme Court, as that's the only place this will
be resolved. Otherwise, U.S. Criminal Law is clear: searches and seizures at
the border are exempt from requirements for warrants or probable cause.
Multiple circuit courts have upheld the Government's right to do this, and
that this right extends to electronic files and information. Only the Ninth
has disagreed ( _United States v. Cotterman_ ).
------
wallace_f
Isn't the US Constitution the highest law in the US? The Fourth clearly states
people should be secure from search or seizure of their personal effects and
papers, which obviously extends to electronic devices.
So my question is, shouldn't there be extroardinary consequences for breaking
laws such as these?
Why does it appear so easy for government to get away with this? Is it a
really bad thing thay constitutional rights are being easily trampeled on? It
seems like a bad deal to me.
~~~
int_19h
4A says "secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
_unreasonable_ searches and seizures".
The exact definition of "unreasonable" is subject to interpretation by the
executive agencies and the courts. Search at the border for the purposes of
detecting contraband has been considered reasonable from the moment
Constitution was in force. Right now, we're finding just how far this can be
stretched.
~~~
wallace_f
>Search at the border for the purposes of detecting contraband has been
considered reasonable from the moment Constitution was in force.
Is this really true, though? Would you be able to provide a sourced example of
this -- Searching a person's personal effects and papers at the border,
ideally in a case that went to the courts?
~~~
int_19h
It is generally assumed to follow from the fact that the United States Customs
Service was established back in 1789, and its duties, from the very beginning,
involved dealing with contraband.
I poked around a bit, and while the first SCOTUS decision addressing this head
on seems to be from 1977, it goes into more detail:
"That searches made at the border, pursuant to the longstanding right of the
sovereign to protect itself by stopping and examining persons and property
crossing into this country, are reasonable simply by virtue of the fact that
they occur at the border, should, by now, require no extended demonstration.
The Congress which proposed the Bill of Rights, including the Fourth
Amendment, to the state legislatures on September 25, 1789, 1 Stat. 97, had,
some two months prior to that proposal, enacted the first customs statute, Act
of July 31, 1789, c. 5, 1 Stat. 29. Section 24 of this statute granted customs
officials "full power and authority" to enter and search "any ship or vessel,
in which they shall have reason to suspect any goods, wares or merchandise
subject to duty shall be concealed . . . ." This acknowledgment of plenary
customs power was differentiated from the more limited power to enter and
search "any particular dwelling-house, store, building, or other place . . ."
where a warrant upon "cause to suspect" was required. The historical
importance of the enactment of this customs statute by the same Congress which
proposed the Fourth Amendment is, we think, manifest. This Court so concluded
almost a century ago. In Boyd v. United States, 116 U. S. 616, 623 (1886),
this Court observed:
"The seizure of stolen goods is authorized by the common law; and the seizure
of goods forfeited for a breach of the revenue laws, or concealed to avoid the
duties payable on them, has been authorized by English statutes for at least
two centuries past; and the like seizures have been authorized by our own
revenue acts from the commencement of the government. The first statute passed
by Congress to regulate the collection of duties, the act of July 31, 1789, 1
Stat. 29, 43, contains provisions to this effect. As this act was passed by
the same Congress which proposed for adoption the original amendments to the
Constitution, it is clear that the members of that body did not regard
searches and seizures of this kind as `unreasonable,' and they are not
embraced within the prohibition of the amendment."
([https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=610713613239826...](https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6107136132398268257))
~~~
gsnedders
This provides a justification for customs to carry out searches, but very few
countries undertake customs checks on departing passengers.
What about searches at security, be it by the TSA or otherwise? They're
obviously very different (you can always opt-out and travel by another means),
but I suppose one can both argue that they're a) reasonable and b) justified
by contractual means (i.e., a requirement to pass through security before
boarding).
~~~
int_19h
TSA searches for air travellers are not done under the border search
exception. They instead claim something called "administrative exception".
It's a much more tenuous construct: it's basically saying that the search is
reasonable, because "the primary goal is not to determine whether any
passenger has committed a crime but rather to protect the public from a
terrorist attack" \- which is a valid and important public interest - and
because the means used are the least intrusive that are necessary to secure
that interest (are you laughing already?).
Here's some more on this.
[http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=16...](http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1683&context=wmborj)
------
meri_dian
If they can search your bags without a warrant at the border, why can't they
search your phone or laptop?
Edit: Contraband can be both physical and digital. If the government can
conduct searches for physical contraband then searches for digital contraband
in certain circumstances like border crossings seems reasonable.
~~~
martinflack
Your phone / laptop is now digitally connected to everything in your life.
Giving access of that over to a government agent is like handing them a diary
of everything you ever thought, a list of everyone you ever met, a record of
everywhere you ever went, a list of every book you've ever read, a list of
every medication you've ever taken, a list of every game you've ever played, a
list of every off-color joke you've ever cracked with friends, etc.
Would you hand that over on paper?
~~~
derefr
Another thing that contains all those same things is "your brain." It's harder
to get the facts out of it, but those TSA interview rooms represent an
attempt. If that is allowed, then I don't see what's better/worse about
searching your digital exobrain instead. Either way, you're handing over "you"
on a silver platter.
~~~
adekok
Answer one: speed
Assuming you have perfect recall, and answer all of their questions
truthfully, it will still take time for them to troll through all of your
memories and actions.
They can do the same with a telephone / laptop in minutes.
Answer two: perfect recall
You _can 't_ recall everything perfectly, and you _don 't_ write everything
down. So after a while, they won't have anything to go on. "What did you do in
Thailand last Wednesday?" ... "I dunno, I got drunk with my friends?"
Versus "we searched your phone and you took pictures last Wednesday of someone
who looks underage. Please turn around for the handcuffs".
In general, I have _everything_ to hide from state actors with near-infinite
resources, zero accountability, a deep understanding of the law (i.e. how to
get you for almost anything), and their own personal agenda to push.
They should need to prove to me why they need to look at my stuff.
~~~
macintux
You can plead the 5th. Your phone cannot.
~~~
tonyztan
Exactly. All the more reason to make sure the 4th is upheld.
------
tonyztan
Dupe:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15240700](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15240700)
Edit: Saw the downvotes, so just wanted to note that the linked post was
submitted before this one, and hence this comment. Not that it matters. :)
~~~
tonyztan
To clarify, I meant to say that this thread (id=15240781) is a dupe of the one
I linked to (id=15240700). HN marked the wrong dupe! :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Building your own apps with Zengine - ca98am79
http://research.gigaom.com/2014/09/building-your-own-apps-with-zengine/
======
lazylizard
minor nit: Plugins allow you to customize or extend a Zengine applicatoin by a
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why Google Yanked YouTube Access From Microsoft’s Windows Phone App - samspenc
http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/15/why-google-yanked-youtube-access-from-microsofts-windows-phone-app/
======
mmariani
Same happened to iOS which once had a nice youtube app written by Apple in
ObjC. Now we have a crappy youtube app written in ObjC by Google.
I guess these moves make sense to Google from a business perspective. However,
they hurt users and ultimately it will hurt the company image. Don't be evil
was nothing more than a marketing hack.
~~~
briandear
Don't be evil. To borrow a Clintonism, "It depends what the definition of
'evil' is"
------
jarjoura
I think it ultimately came down to this...
"It was also not pleased that Microsoft had built its own system to interface
with Google’s ads so that they could be delivered to the application. It might
break, and so forth."
It's still douchey of Google to outright block Microsoft, since the original
Apple made version of YouTube only shows videos that do not want advertising
(granted a smaller and smaller # of videos).
------
briandear
Ok 'closed ecosystem' iOS haters. Where's your google outrage? When it comes
down to it, every major tech company has some variation of a walled garden.
Just Google is a little less obvious about it.
------
bowlofpetunias
Let's just get this straight once and for all: Google is an _advertising_
company.
Anything that even remotely threatens that, and the mask of the nice open and
ethical tech company comes off.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Regenerative stem cell identified and isolated in planaria flatworms - assblaster
https://www.hhmi.org/news/searching-source-planarians-regenerative-powers
======
program_whiz
the deadpools of the animal kingdom. I want to be able to chop off a tiny
piece of skin, then make a clone to do my bidding.
------
assblaster
Tldr: planarians, which are flatworms that can regenerate an entire organism,
have a specific stem cell that a single cell can regenerate an entire
organism. This specific cell has finally been found.
This can allow, hopefully, the study of human regeneration and perhaps
drugs/cellular techniques that can restart human regeneration after previously
impossible to fix injuries.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
PyTorch – Tensors and Dynamic neural networks in Python - programnature
http://pytorch.org/
======
Smerity
Only a few months ago people saying that the deep learning library ecosystem
was starting to stabilize. I never saw that as the case. The latest frontier
for deep learning libraries is ensuring efficient support for dynamic
computation graphs.
Dynamic computation graphs arise whenever the amount of work that needs to be
done is variable. This may be when we're processing text, one example being a
few words while another being paragraphs of text, or when we are performing
operations against a tree structure of variable size. This problem is
particularly prominent in particular subfields, such as natural language
processing, where I spend most of my time.
PyTorch tackles this very well, as do Chainer[1] and DyNet[2]. Indeed, PyTorch
construction was directly informed from Chainer[3], though re-architected and
designed to be even faster still. I have seen all of these receive renewed
interest in recent months, particularly amongst many researchers performing
cutting edge research in the domain. When you're working with new
architectures, you want the most flexibility possible, and these frameworks
allow for that.
As a counterpoint, TensorFlow does not handle these dynamic graph cases well
at all. There are some primitive dynamic constructs but they're not flexible
and usually quite limiting. In the near future there are plans to allow
TensorFlow to become more dynamic, but adding it in after the fact is going to
be a challenge, especially to do efficiently.
Disclosure: My team at Salesforce Research use Chainer extensively and my
colleague James Bradbury was a contributor to PyTorch whilst it was in stealth
mode. We're planning to transition from Chainer to PyTorch for future work.
[1]: [http://chainer.org/](http://chainer.org/)
[2]: [https://github.com/clab/dynet](https://github.com/clab/dynet)
[3]:
[https://twitter.com/jekbradbury/status/821786330459836416](https://twitter.com/jekbradbury/status/821786330459836416)
~~~
PieSquared
Could you elaborate on what you find lacking in TensorFlow? I regularly use
TensorFlow for exactly these sorts of dynamic graphs, and it seems to work
fairly well; I haven't used Chainer or DyNet extensively, so I'm curious to
see what I'm missing!
~~~
Smerity
When you say "exactly these sorts of dynamic graphs", what do you mean?
TensorFlow has support for dynamic length RNN unrolling but that really
doesn't extend well to any dynamic graph structure such as recursive tree
structure creation. Since the computation graph has a different shape and size
for every input they are difficult to batch and any pre-defined static graph
is likely excessive, wasting computation, or inexpressive.
The primary issue is that the computation graph is not imperative - you define
it explicitly. Chainer describes this as the difference between "Define-and-
Run" frameworks and "Define-by-Run" frameworks[1].
TensorFlow is "Define-and-Run". For loops and conditionals end up needing to
be defined and injected into the graph structure before it's run. This means
there are "tf.while_loop" operations for example - you can't use a "while"
loop as it exists in Python or C++. This makes debugging difficult as the
process of defining the computation graph is separate to the usage of it and
also restricts the flexibility of the model.
In comparison, both Chainer, PyTorch, and DyNet are "Define-by-Run", meaning
the graph structure is defined on-the-fly via the actual forward computation.
This is a far more natural style of programming. If you perform a for loop in
Python, you're actually performing a for loop in the graph structure as well.
This has been a large enough issue that, very recently, a team at Google
created "TensorFlow Fold"[2], still unreleased and unpublished, that handles
dynamic computation graphs. In it they tackle specifically dynamic batching
within the tree structured LSTM architecture.
If you compare the best example of recursive neural networks in TensorFlow[3]
(quite complex and finicky in the details) to the example that comes with
Chainer[4], which is perfectly Pythonic and standard code, it's pretty clear
why one might prefer "Define-by-Run" ;)
[1]:
[http://docs.chainer.org/en/stable/tutorial/basic.html](http://docs.chainer.org/en/stable/tutorial/basic.html)
[2]:
[https://openreview.net/pdf?id=ryrGawqex](https://openreview.net/pdf?id=ryrGawqex)
[3]:
[https://github.com/bogatyy/cs224d/tree/master/assignment3](https://github.com/bogatyy/cs224d/tree/master/assignment3)
[4]:
[https://github.com/pfnet/chainer/blob/master/examples/sentim...](https://github.com/pfnet/chainer/blob/master/examples/sentiment/train_sentiment.py#L125)
~~~
PieSquared
Ah, fair enough, I see your point. An imperative approach (versus TensorFlow's
semi-declarative approach) can be easier to specialize to dynamic compute
graphs.
I personally think the approach used in TensorFlow is preferable – having a
static graph enables a lot of convenient operations, such as storing a fixed
graph data structure, shipping models that are independent of code, performing
graph transformations. But you're right that it entails a bit more complexity,
and that implementing something like recursive neural networks, while totally
possible in a neat way, ends up taking a bit more effort. I think that the
trade-off is worth it in the long run, and that the design of TensorFlow is
very much influenced by the long-run view (at the expense of immediate
simplicity...).
The ops underlying TensorFlow's `tf.while_loop` are actually quite flexible,
so I imagine you can create a lot of different looping constructs with them,
including ones that easily handle recursive neural networks.
Thanks for pointing out a problem that I haven't really thought about before!
------
smhx
It's a community-driven project, a Python take of Torch
[http://torch.ch/](http://torch.ch/). Several folks involved in development
and use so far (a non-exhaustive list):
* Facebook * Twitter * NVIDIA * SalesForce * ParisTech * CMU * Digital Reasoning * INRIA * ENS
The maintainers work at Facebook AI Research
~~~
tsomctl
Not only that, but it appears to use the same core c libray (TH) as Lua torch.
~~~
smhx
we actually share the same git-subtree between Lua and Python variants. TH,
THNN, THC, THCUNN are shared.
~~~
divbit
I have been running in the back of my mind the idea of attempting a julialang
interface to torch for a few weeks now, using the ccall interface:
[http://docs.julialang.org/en/release-0.5/manual/calling-c-
an...](http://docs.julialang.org/en/release-0.5/manual/calling-c-and-fortran-
code/?highlight=ccall). Do you have any thoughts / recommendations w'r't'
that? (This would be more of a fun / weekend(s) project for me than anything
else) My goal would be to have the tensors override the .* and * operators as
used here:
[https://gist.github.com/divbit/ec57ad2f1989bf13aecdf9e1e1056...](https://gist.github.com/divbit/ec57ad2f1989bf13aecdf9e1e10563f0)
------
spyspy
This project aside, I'm in love with that setup UI on the homepage telling you
exactly how to get started given your current setup.
~~~
artursapek
Agreed. Reminds me of this scary page I found the other day when googling
"certbot setup":
[https://certbot.eff.org/all-instructions/](https://certbot.eff.org/all-
instructions/)
------
programnature
Actually not clear if there is an official affiliation with Facebook, other
than some of the primary devs.
~~~
throwawayish
Copyright (c) 2016- Facebook, Inc (Adam Paszke)
Copyright (c) 2014- Facebook, Inc (Soumith Chintala)
Copyright (c) 2011-2014 Idiap Research Institute (Ronan Collobert)
Copyright (c) 2012-2014 Deepmind Technologies (Koray Kavukcuoglu)
Copyright (c) 2011-2012 NEC Laboratories America (Koray Kavukcuoglu)
Copyright (c) 2011-2013 NYU (Clement Farabet)
Copyright (c) 2006-2010 NEC Laboratories America (Ronan Collobert, Leon
Bottou, Iain Melvin, Jason Weston)
Copyright (c) 2006 Idiap Research Institute (Samy Bengio)
Copyright (c) 2001-2004 Idiap Research Institute (Ronan Collobert, Samy
Bengio, Johnny Mariethoz)
Notably absent is the otherwise Facebook-typical PATENTS license thing. Which
I see as a good sign.
Also, it doesn't look like this has happened just now? PRs in the repo go back
a couple months and the repo has 100+ contributors.
~~~
smhx
it's the same license file as
[https://github.com/torch/torch7](https://github.com/torch/torch7) and
[http://torch.ch](http://torch.ch)
The C libraries are shared among the Lua and Python variants
------
tdees40
At this point I've used PyTorch, Tensorflow and Theano. Which one do people
prefer? I haven't done a ton of benchmarking, but I'm not seeing huge
differences in speed (mostly executing on the GPU).
~~~
sandGorgon
Keras is going to be the interface to Tensorflow -
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13413487](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13413487)
~~~
tdees40
Yes, but Keras works just fine using Theano as a backend as well...
------
taterbase
Is there any reason this might not work in windows? I see no installation docs
for it.
~~~
smhx
the C libraries are compatible with Windows, they are used in Torch windows
ports. We just dont have any Windows devs on the project to help and maintain
it :( .
~~~
randomx89
Are you guys looking for Windows devs to contribute or help maintaining it?
I'd be interested in helping out if I can. I currently use Chainer, but I'd
like to try pytorch
~~~
apaszke
Yes! There's an issue on that, where we'll be coordinating the work:
[https://github.com/pytorch/pytorch/issues/494](https://github.com/pytorch/pytorch/issues/494)
------
EternalData
Been using PyTorch for a few things. Love how it integrates with Numpy.
------
theoracle101
Most important question. Is this still 1 indexed (Lua was 1 indexed, which
means porting code you need to be aware of this)?
~~~
apaszke
No! Python 0 based indexing everywhere.
------
rtcoms
I've never fiddled with machine learning thing so don't know anything about
it.
I am wondering if CUDA is mandatory for torch installation ? I use a Macbook
air which doesn't have graphics card, so not sure if torch can be installed
and used on my machine.
~~~
itg
It's not mandatary, but for some problems such as using image data, it
provides as substantial speedup when training a classifier.
------
baq
Very nice to see Python 3.5 there.
------
jbsimpson
This is really interesting, I've been wanting to learn more about Torch for a
while but have been reluctant to commit to learning Lua.
~~~
veli_joza
Lua is a pleasure to learn and use. The language core is so simple and
elegant, you can learn it in a day. Standard library is also very light, which
is both strength and weakness.
I use it more and more for hobby projects. Combine it with LuaJIT (which torch
uses) and you have the fastest interpreted language around. Give it a try.
~~~
etiene
I want to reiterate this. I started learning it for guilt because it was
created in the university I studied. Then I realised it was really a pleasure
to use it. I still use it in many hobby projects nowadays whenever I can.
------
ankitml
I am confused with the license file. What does it mean? Some rights reserved
and copyright... Doesnt look like a real open source project.
~~~
yincrash
It is a standard 3-clause BSD license. The "All rights reserved" portion
definitely adds ambiguity (and only exists in the BSD license out of all major
OSS licenses). There is StackExchange answer that goes into the history of
it[1].
[1] [http://opensource.stackexchange.com/questions/2121/mit-
licen...](http://opensource.stackexchange.com/questions/2121/mit-license-and-
all-rights-reserved)
~~~
ankitml
Got it. It makes sense now.
------
gallerdude
What's the highest level neural network lib I can use? I'm a total programming
idiot but I find neural nets fascinating.
~~~
visarga
Keras requires just a few lines of code, it's designed for easy use and
practicality.
~~~
apaszke
torch.nn offers a very similar interface to Keras (e.g. see Alexnet definition
at
[https://github.com/pytorch/vision/blob/master/torchvision/mo...](https://github.com/pytorch/vision/blob/master/torchvision/models/alexnet.py#L13)).
------
aaron-lebo
Is this related to lua's Torch at all?
[http://torch.ch/](http://torch.ch/)
~~~
zo7
They don't seem to explicitly say it, but it might be using the same core code
given the structure of the framework and their mentioning that it's a mature
codebase several years old. The license file also goes back to NYU before
being taken over by Facebook, similar to Torch.
~~~
apaszke
The core libraries are the same as in Lua torch, but the interface is
redesigned and new.
------
0mp
It is worth adding that there is a wip branch focused on making PyTorch
tensors distributable across machines in a master-workers model:
[https://github.com/apaszke/pytorch-dist/](https://github.com/apaszke/pytorch-
dist/)
------
shmatt
i've been running their dcgan.torch code in the past few days and results have
been pretty amazing for plug and play
------
vegabook
Guess there's no escaping Python. I had hoped Lua(jit) might emerge as a
scientific programming alternative but with Torch now throwing its hat into
the Python ring I sense a monoculture in the making. Bit of a shame really
because Lua is a nice language and was an interesting alternative.
~~~
jjawssd
Lua is extremely flexible to the point where there is basically no standard
library. This causes problems with code reuse and moving between codebases
because everyone does things drastically differently. Compare this to Numpy in
the Python world, a single fundamental package for scientific computing in
Python.
Lua is less used than Python in the scientific community, and a lot of the
most innovative machine learning researchers already work with C++ and Python.
Using yet another language with only marginal benefit increases cognitive load
and drains from the researcher's mental innovation budget, forcing the
researcher to learn the ins and outs of Lua rather than working on innovative
machine learning solutions.
Lua is a nice language. Python 3 is a nice language and there are many new
exciting features and development styles (hello async programming?) in the
making which will prevent a monoculture from forming in the near term.
~~~
vegabook
Thanks for the interesting and informative comment. Do I sense just a tiny bit
of regret though? Yet another Python interface. YAPI. You heard it here first.
And no, Py3 is not that nice. Too much cruft by far. And lua is miles faster
than Python when you're outside the tensor domain, ie while you're sourcing
and wrangling your data. Arguably luajit obviates the need for C , something
you can't say about Python. Disclosure: I am a massive, but increasingly
disenchanted, user of Python. I had actually started looking at Torch7,
foregoing tensorflow, precisely because of Lua. But the walls are closing
in....
~~~
jjawssd
A very large portion of performance problems can be mitigated with the use of
cython and the new asyncio stuff.
asyncio success story: [https://magic.io/blog/asyncpg-1m-rows-from-postgres-
to-pytho...](https://magic.io/blog/asyncpg-1m-rows-from-postgres-to-python/)
cython: [http://scikit-
learn.org/stable/developers/performance.html](http://scikit-
learn.org/stable/developers/performance.html)
~~~
vegabook
Luajit is at least 10x faster than python and easily obviates the need to mess
around with cython. That's an easy win for Lua. Let's be honest: Torch has
decided that if you cannot beat them, join them. It is about network effects.
Not about Python better than Lua intrinsically.
~~~
baq
but why do you care if luajit is faster than python if everything that matters
is computed on the GPU anyways?
------
plg
Every time I decide I'm going to get into Python frameworks again, and I start
looking at code, and I see people making everything object-oriented, I bail
Just a personal (anti-)preference I guess
~~~
apaszke
But it is possible to write your model in purely functional style. Check out
the PR to examples repo with functional ResNets
[https://github.com/pytorch/examples/pull/22](https://github.com/pytorch/examples/pull/22).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What do people use for managing a software project at the beginning? - matthewcarriere
Its easy to reason about tickets/issues/stories for something that's established. Maybe in JIRA, Basecamp etc... what about the very beginning? Do you create JIRA tickets? straight to Github issues? TextEdit/Excel? Curious how other teams get started.
======
__d
I use a basic Markdown document, with a bullet-point list of "todo" items.
For things that need further breakdown, I use indented sub-items to decompose
features into achievable chunks.
I then use strikethrough formatting to mark things as done. On GitHub this is
done with tilde characters; other (proper) Markdown parsers might need to use
<del>.
I find it usually means a 1-page overview of the initial scope of the project,
which helps me refine the concept as well as the todo list.
Once the initial work is done, I tend to use GitHub issues. That might not be
until I've done a few iterations of the Markdown doc though.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: I've been making one HTML5 game per week. Here's my 10th game - lessmilk
http://www.lessmilk.com/10/
======
sillysaurus3
Not sure if you're looking for critique, and giving critique has sometimes
been discouraged on HN, but:
It's pretty good for a week of work. Though there's a difference between being
challenging and being annoying. Many of the level design elements could be
classified as a "dick move." An example would be not making it clear the goal
is to collect _all_ the coins until after the player has bypassed some of them
and reached the end.
In general the controls are too sluggish. It's as if triple buffering is
enabled, or maybe quad buffering. If you're at a university, you should try to
borrow a high speed camera and measure the time difference between when
someone presses the spacebar vs when the character starts to jump. I don't
know if it's a Chrome thing or what, but I fell off cliffs several times due
to the input delay.
The gravity could be better. I'd recommend spending some time with Cave Story
to get a feel for how to make gravity really work in the player's favor,
rather than against them. In general it's a bad idea to make velocity strictly
linear. Some acceleration adds to the experience and precision.
A checkpointing system would be good. I can see how most players will give up
after getting mostly to the end and then dying. I think you should just
restart players from the last point that they were on the ground without
dying, that is, the most recent ledge that they were standing on.
It shows promise. If you're looking for feedback about how to advance as a
game developer, one step would be to make sure you're not rewriting your
entire game engine from scratch for each game. It's excellent that you're
writing your own engines rather than trying to use other people's, so be sure
to keep doing that. It's important for gamedevs to have an idea of the
underlying principles and limitations, and the best way to do that is to write
your own engines. I got the feeling that most of the week was spent on the
engine rather than iterating on the gameplay or level design though. Teaming
up with an artist or a level designer might be a good match.
~~~
lessmilk
Thanks, I love feedback! You make some interesting points.
About input lag, I'm a bit surprised. On my computer the input is super
responsive. Maybe it depends on the OS/browser? I'll have to look into this.
Gravity could definitely be better. I'll look at Cave Story then.
I have only 5 short levels, so adding checkpoint will make the game too easy I
think.
~~~
zheshishei
I'm not a game developer, but I found the jump key to be slightly
inconsistent, specifically pressing jump while running towards a ledge.
Whether or not the jump registers seems to depend on how close to the edge you
are. The closer you are, the less likely the jump is to register.
I guess depending on what you want out of the game mechanics, you could leave
it as is or extend the "range" of a valid jump to slightly beyond the edge
(perhaps half the width of the character). I guess some good questions that
you could ask are: \- Is it a faster paced game where jumping from platform to
platform quickly matters? \- Do you want to focus more on fluid movement and
the ability of the player to think about their moves ahead of time? \- Are
there any gaps in any level where the jump is nigh impossible without
performing a "perfect" jump. If so, is that a feature? (maybe it's supposed to
be that difficult?)
EDIT: I've been looking at the source and I'm pretty sure it has to do with
how Phaser checks whether the character is on solid ground or not
(body.blocked.down). I'm not too sure how it calculates it (I couldn't
understand the SAT.testPolygonPolygon function[1]. If anyone wants to help me
with that, I'd appreciate it). I think the tilt of the character when it's
running potentially makes it worse too.
[1][http://docs.phaser.io/SAT.js.html](http://docs.phaser.io/SAT.js.html) line
605
~~~
panic
Most platformer games actually let you jump for a short time after you run off
the edge of a platform. The lack of this mechanic is what causes the jump to
feel inconsistent.
------
fiblye
I'm a hobby/hopefully someday profitable game developer who recently jumped on
the "develop a short game in X days" bandwagon. My most recently made game was
developed in 2 days [
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ektomarch....](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ektomarch.PanicCircle)
], and damn did it feel good to get something done that fast!
My current plan is to make a bite-sized game comparable to this at least once
a month (it'd be a little stressful to force myself to come up with something
fresh every single week) and maybe just experiment with small projects with no
plans for completion in between. I also have a long-term project that I'm
expecting will take ~2 years, and honestly, sometimes I feel like I've run out
of ideas. Taking time away from my main project to work on these little
"distractions" actually ends up helping with my main work. I spend less time
idly waiting around for a good idea or solution to a persisting problem, and
more time solving new, smaller problems that can later be applied somewhere
else. Hell, I actually find myself actively switching between tasks every 10
minutes and ending up even more productive than I would be focusing on just
one project. Also, I had no real experience with Unity before this game, and
just taking a couple of days to force myself to learn it opened some doors for
future big projects.
In short, work on tiny projects whenever you find yourself doing nothing. You
might end up more productive or just happier knowing what you're capable of.
~~~
bluedino
What consists of a 'day'? Coming home from work or school and working on it
until 10pm? Spending an entire Saturday pounding away at it?
~~~
fiblye
It was a full Saturday and Sunday of work--about 12-15 hours total. A large
portion of that was adapting to C# and reading up on Unity documentation.
------
WesleyJohnson
I've been following your progress with these games and there are several I
really like, most of which is I think #5 with the cube jumping. I can't sing
you enough praise on posting these as inspiration to others and sticking with
the one game per week timeline. The motivation alone is inspiring.
That said, this one is frustrating. I feel the keys are off. I like to run
before I jump and in some areas, it's not possible because the responsiveness
of the keys just isn't there. It takes too long for my guy to jump after I
press up. Also, it seems like you're possibly doing your left/right code in a
way that gives left priority. If I press both left and right, my guy goes
left. I feel like he should stay stationary in that situation.
Other than that, I like the gameplay, tutorial text that's part of the scene,
the sounds and music. I really like the cube slanting to show motion, too.
Clever.
Keep it up!
------
michael_nielsen
Here's an article with lots of interesting background info from the same
author (lessmilk), "What I learned while doing my 'one game per week'
challenge":
[http://gamasutra.com/blogs/ThomasPalef/20140225/211663/What_...](http://gamasutra.com/blogs/ThomasPalef/20140225/211663/What_I_learned_while_doing_my_quotone_game_per_weekquot_challenge.php)
Worth it especially for the following superb link:
[http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130848/how_to_prototyp...](http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130848/how_to_prototype_a_game_in_under_7_.php?print=1)
~~~
lessmilk
If you subscribe to my newsletter, you'll get an updated version of the
gamasutra article that you linked.
~~~
michael_nielsen
I really enjoy your games and (especially) the tutorial side. Great stuff! But
I have been a bit put off by the frequent plugs for your newsletter. Of
course, you couldn't have known that before commenting here, and so I
hesitated a while before posting this. But I figure it may be a useful data
point.
In any case, I hope you keep up the great work, I'll certainly be following!
------
Brashman
I'm slightly afraid of clicking on game links on HN after 2048.
~~~
biesnecker
Seriously. I thought I was fine until I was reading HN on my phone and thought
to myself "hmmm... I wonder if the game works well on a mobile browser."
It does. #fml
------
lessmilk
OP here. Let me know if you have any questions about my project.
~~~
jaxytee
Any chance you release these on mobile?
~~~
lessmilk
You mean releasing native iOS/Android games? Yes, I'm thinking about it.
~~~
Romoku
You could trying porting the web games using phonegap[0] or titanium[1].
[0] [http://phonegap.com/](http://phonegap.com/)
[1] [http://www.appcelerator.com/titanium/titanium-
sdk/](http://www.appcelerator.com/titanium/titanium-sdk/)
------
tantalor
A significant number of devices on the web _don 't have keyboards_. They use
touch as their primary interface. Please support touch devices.
~~~
codezero
For this kind of experience building project I think it's fine to be a bit
feature limited, however it would be great to try doing at least one touch
only game to help build out other interaction options.
~~~
lessmilk
Game #7 works very well for touch devices.
------
MichaelTieso
How experienced were you before you started? Have you coded before? Any reason
you're not open sourcing your code? Seems like it'd be a great idea
considering you're still learning and could use some feedback from others.
Great job btw. Never heard of Phaser but now looking into it.
~~~
lessmilk
I have a bachelor's degree in computer science, and I coded a few side
projects.
And I'm considering going open source.
------
keerthiko
I'm impressed with the general quality:time-spent ratio.
I think the basic level design and polish steps are fairly well done. Even the
sluggish controls (as a number of people have pointed out) feel more limited
by lack of engineering time than your understanding of what feels good, and I
would guess that through some rigorous testing and closer scrutiny of your
code that could easily be fixed.
However, I think you exhibit some game design anti-patterns. I am referencing
Zileas' List of Game Design Anti-Patterns[1], that I think game designers
should reference more often until it's a quick checklist whenever they design
any game.
Most notably I think Dark Blue succumbs to "False Choice" and "Or We Could
____the Player. "
[1]
[http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=...](http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=293417)
------
eric_h
I think these are the best set of flappy bird clones that have come out yet
(except perhaps the flappy bird orbital game).
Admittedly, only a couple of them truly qualify for that title (annoyingly
difficult gravity games with stupid simple controls), but I think they all
adhere to the same theme - extremely simple game ideas that are nevertheless
compelling.
In the Atari-NES era, technical constraints forced this style of game design
upon developers, and they (well, some of them) still produced compelling games
by focusing on the details of these simple interactions. There are admittedly
somewhat similar constraints on this particular canvas (ahem) but I believe
the tools have evolved so much that you can spend a lot more time on the
mechanics, rather than fitting it into RAM (hence, 10 rather polished 8-bit
style games in 10 weeks).
I think it's good to get back to basics. I played all 10 games, and I enjoyed
it (though the typing game was downright cruel; it's amazing how difficult it
is to read and understand a misspelled word, then type it misspelled, let
alone the gibberish). Well done.
------
tripzilch
Well done! A few bits of constructive criticism, based on my own experiences
with making platformers in GameMaker:
\- you need to fix the gravity so it doesn't feel like it's on the moon. I
used to get the gravity wrong as well, but it makes for so much more fun and
snappy gameplay when you get it right (or actually, a bit _more_ right, cause
nobody really jumps that high anyway).
\- assuming your game logic goes a little something like, if the player is
standing on something solid, they can jump: instead doing that, give the
player a few frames (3-5) of leeway while they still can jump even though they
just walked off a platform ledge. it's a very subtle thing, and if you don't
pay attention you won't see that most platformers do this, but it makes all
the difference in gameplay (if the player feels like they would have totally
made that jump, but drop off the ledge instead, it feels like their character
just stumbled or something).
the last one is also based on one of the golden rules of gameplay: try to make
the game behave as the player wants, which is _not_ always necessarily exactly
how the controls are input.
(the following stuff is not really critique of your game but some things to
keep in mind as you continue)
similar tricks involve making the hitboxes of "good" objects larger than they
actually are, and the hitboxes of "bad" objects smaller (player thinks: "phew!
cool! I _barely_ missed that enemy!!"). btw Flappy Bird subverts this rule,
which makes part of its interesting frustratingness, but as always you gotta
know the rules before you break the rules.
and remember, you can always make your _levels_ harder, if you think such
tricks make it too easy on the player. you'll find that in such cases "harder"
translates to "challenging" instead of "frustrating".
good luck!
------
zhemao
Nice. Reminds me of the game Thomas was Alone.
------
joezo
I love the way the tutorial is part of the background, seamless!
A colleague of mine made a similar type of game a while ago, this reminded me
of that.
[http://www.tyasdev.com/MrBandana/](http://www.tyasdev.com/MrBandana/)
~~~
WesleyJohnson
I can't get through level 2.
------
davbryn
It seems pretty stuttery on Safari running on my Mac, but was fun for a while
- good job!
I didn't actually like the explanations throughout the first few levels:
sometimes it would be nice to figure things out on your own; feels like you
rob the player of the reward for completing the level when you explain it to
them before letting them figure it out? Especially since they can restart
pretty quickly: case in point, let them fall into the red and die early on
rather than explain it?
------
collyw
As a mainly backend developer, I just signed up for the book, realised it
didn't contain too much, but links to the tutorials. I had a quick read. and I
would say it would be more accurate to call the title "One Javascript game per
week". I got a bit excited thinking you could produce that sort of game using
just HTML5.
Hope I don't sound overly critical, as its a cool game and I appreciate you
posting it.
~~~
kibibu
It uses HTML5 canvas and audio APIs.
~~~
collyw
All front end Javascript uses HTML elements.
I thought it meant pure HTML 5.
------
Rusky
Pretty good game for a week. Most quick and/or beginner platformers I see have
a lot of glitches with collision detection and response. You pretty much
nailed it.
Critique-wise, the low end of the variable jump height is a little high, and
if the game lags it messes up the physics (e.g. in the first tunnel of the
last level the player stayed up against the ceiling longer than usual, missing
the platform).
------
aravind_b
A Hack to jump farther and higher in Game#10!!
Try this,
1\. open Game#10 in chrome
2\. Open the web inspector
3\. Go to profiles, choose Record Heap Allocations, and start
4\. Now try playing the game. You should be able to jump farther and higher.
In some levels, even overcome multiple climbs in a single shot than otherwise
Also notice kind of slowdown overall. But not necessarily a drag since all the
key events are still taken in seemingly the same speed
So why is this? Or is it another Chrome one-off?
------
atom-morgan
Thanks a lot for posting this as well as one of your posts I saw a few weeks
ago.
Because of your website I tried making my own simple game with Phaser and
found it to be very fun. For someone who'd never programmed a game before, it
was interesting to see how everything comes together. Just a simple game was
very fulfilling to me.
------
sauravt
@lessmilk, I love all your games. Great Job.
~~~
lessmilk
Thanks a lot! :-)
------
jakobe
This is great! It's incredibly awesome how much you can take away from Mario
and still have a fun game. I love how the rectangle slants to show that you
are moving. The game feels really responsive! (Macbook Air, Safari 7.0.2)
The progression in difficulty seems just right. This is exactly what casual
gaming should be like.
------
deletes
You hit detection is off. It you make a game with pure rectangles the
detection should be completely precise.
~~~
user24
I'm also seeing this issue. Example, I died right after taking this
screenshot: [http://imgur.com/Egy49Kv](http://imgur.com/Egy49Kv)
~~~
diydsp
yes i died catching my breath in the same place. i repeat what person above
said about rectangles meriting perfect collisions.
still a nice diversion. i like the way on my system, several bitmap redraws
occur per screen trace, giving the character a parallelogram shape.
subjectively, it looks like he's in a hurry :)
------
canadev
That was awesome. I finished it. I died 92 times.
The jumping mechanics reminded me of "air control" in strafe jumping in Quake
2. Can you tell I haven't played games much lately?
Love the music. I have had the tab opened for a few minutes now that I'm done
playing just listening to it loop through.
------
yangcanvas
I've seen/played a couple of your earlier games as well as this one. They all
have a good look and feel and are pretty legit mini-games.
I'll also take the opportunity to plug my HTML5 game collection:
[http://yangcanvas.com/arcade](http://yangcanvas.com/arcade)
------
gschier
That's so good for a day. I made a similar game a while ago that took a few
weeks! [http://platformpixels.com/](http://platformpixels.com/)
I would be interested to know what you used for collision detection (If
anything).
------
jonalmeida
After a little self-psychoanalysis I've realized that when I see "this is a
hard level, you can't beat it", it makes me want to try even harder which is a
neat idea to use in more games to get more people playing.
------
Ellipsis753
It's a great game. Just my sort of thing really and I really like the music.
It only took a couple of minutes to beat though so it's a little short. Then
again for a weeks work it's fine. Keep up the good work.
------
OWaz
Have you been writing anywhere about the things you've learnt so far? The
challenges with the framework you've used or anything you started to do to
speed up development?
------
beingProgrammer
I have been trying to write a small game. But after having seen this. Holy
Cow! It's so minimally(don't know if that counts as an adjective) Awesome.
Thanks for sharing.
------
Dogamondo
I may have bagged this game for being way too simple a few weeks ago. But
after Flappy Bird, the genre seems to live on. It's annoyingly great. Keep up
the good work!
------
knackers
Loved the 'artwork'. Simple but immediately familiar. Like some other
commenters, I felt that sometimes my jumps weren't being registered.
------
atulagarwal
I loved the games. They aren't simply demo projects, but real, interesting &
challenging games! Good game play, actually enjoyed them! :)
------
stefan_kendall3
Responsiveness of the controls needs work, but the game was just frustrating
enough. I died 19 times. Not nearly as brutal as super meat boy :P
------
meylingtaing
Don't know if it's just me, but opening up the webpage crashes my browser. I'm
using Firefox on an Ubuntu virtual machine.
------
blinkymach12
These are excellent, well done! Thanks for both documenting your progress and
taking the time to inject character into your games.
------
listic
1\. What do I need to learn to start making games like this? 2\. Is it hard to
make games that fill the browser screen?
------
TrainedMonkey
Beat it. Last level is pretty hard. In order to make important jumps register
press jump first, then start moving.
------
soapdog
This series of games is an inspiration. I decide to take another look into
phaser after seeing your stuff!
------
Havoc
Clever thread title. I bet "one HTML5 game per week" made quite a few people
click on it. :)
------
cyphunk
americans love to be positive but ill just be honest: the game play sucks. a
great project for hitting out code and learning but pretty brutal for actually
game play and enjoyment. but keep banging away at it, im sure a hit will come
out eventually.
------
mehulkar
May favorite part is the sound byte when you finish a level. "Yeaaah"
------
xwowsersx
This game is awesome. I love the "yeeah" at the end of a section.
------
jordan0day
I literally LOL'd at the "yeeeeaahhh" upon level completion.
------
trevoragilbert
Fun game, hooked me for longer than I'd have liked. :)
Curious why you chose HTML5?
------
zakqwy
Easy to learn, difficult to master. Great game, needs more levels.
------
ultimatedelman
can't beat it my ass!
[http://i.imgur.com/xKTvH81.png](http://i.imgur.com/xKTvH81.png)
:) great game. i enjoyed it! very similar to super meat boy
------
pla3rhat3r
Love the spirit of this. Good stuff. Keep building! :)
------
razorsese
Do you make any revenue from it?Or just pure hobby?
~~~
lessmilk
It started as a pure hobby with no revenue. But now that my project is getting
a lot of attention, I might start making iOS/Android apps, or maybe write
ebooks about how to make games.
------
joshferg
reminds me of this game
[http://www.avalanchegame.org/](http://www.avalanchegame.org/)
------
elyrly
Check out MelonJS to beef up the themes
------
juleska
i loved the second one xD ... it sends me back in the atari's days hehehehe,
nice job man.
------
jtcain
Awesome work! Keep it up!
------
watermarkcamera
that's very good ,if can run mobile,it's a good idea!
------
P4u1
kudos man, your creativity is impressive, good work.
------
BostX
GREAT!!!
------
cognivore
It takes longer to load than Skyrim.
~~~
lessmilk
That's the HN effect. Google Analytics tells me that there are more than 600
active visitors on lessmilk right now.
------
Fasebook
Glad to see the technology HTML5 is capable of has come so far.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Regular Payments in 20 minutes with GoCardless - hcm
http://blog.gocardless.com/post/15733539109/implement-gocardless-in-20-minutes
======
jamesmoss
This looks like the first UK alternative to Stripe however it appears you
can't accept cards from outside of the UK:
Can I charge non-UK customers? You can charge anyone with a UK bank account.
Very soon you will be able to charge anyone with an EU bank account.
Source: <https://gocardless.com/faq>
~~~
bravolima
given the 1% transaction fee I'm guessing they don't accept credit cards at
all - payments are exclusively through bank transfers. Can anyone from
gocardless confirm is this is correct? If so, I think the site could be a
little clearer.
In any case, this looks like a useful service with or without card processing,
and the more "instant" payment alternatives there are to paypal, the better.
Also +1 for some innovation on this side of the pond.
~~~
tomblomfield
Tom from GoCardless here.
We currently accept UK bank-to-bank payments - customers enter their account
number and sort code on the checkout page. We'll work on making this clearer
on our landing page - thanks for the feedback. We'll be rolling out across
Europe in the next few months.
GoCardless is particularly good for subscriptions & regular variable payments,
as we're based on the UK direct debit network.
~~~
sc00ter
Bank accounts and sort codes are not particularly secure - I might for example
give these out to someone making a payment to me, and some businesses publish
this information as a matter of course.
What additional checks do you undertake to ensure that the person using the
service to make a payment is the owner of the bank account in question?
(I'm not saying Credit Cards are perfect, but they do allow for a lot of
additional information to be verified to confirm the cardholder.)
~~~
tomblomfield
We work with the banks and a number of third-party identity-checking providers
to verify that the bank details match the identify given. There's also a lot
of additional stuff going on to match the person at the keyboard with the
identity provided.
It's worth noting that there's a very strong consumer guarantee in case of
fraud:
[http://www.bacs.co.uk/bacs/businesses/directdebit/collecting...](http://www.bacs.co.uk/bacs/businesses/directdebit/collecting/pages/customersrights.aspx)
------
estel
I've always liked the idea of GoCardless, and we've been seriously considering
implementing it on an upcoming service, but our main concern has always been
that clients will be far less likely to want to set up a direct debit than
they will do a one-off payment on a card.
People are really used to buying stuff with a card online, but a direct debit?
Not so much. Does anyone have any figures on how GoCardless affects conversion
rates?
(I'm aware that it would always be possible to have GoCardless as an option,
but that would have its own impact on conversion rates).
~~~
tomblomfield
I think if you're talking about one-off, it's a fair point. With regular
payments, UK consumers are much more comfortable setting up direct debits.
Just under 80% of UK adults currently have at least 1 active direct debit set
up, for example.
~~~
estel
Sure, most people have active direct debits set up, but isn't the number of
those are set up solely through the internet somewhat smaller? Furthermore,
most people seem to associate direct debits with a certain class of business,
usually utility companies. In my experience, it just isn't common for someone
to set up and manage a direct debit online.
So yes, whilst one-off payments are significantly larger, I'd still be wary of
a reduced conversion rate through GoCardless. Of course, if I had a very
narrow margin, your incredible rates might easily redeem the difference in
revenue, but without hard numbers it's difficult to make a business decision.
------
ViktorasJucikas
Great to see Matt & team starting a blog, can't wait to integrate GoCardless
into our upcoming mobile app.
~~~
MattRob
Thanks Viktoras! Just drop us an email at [email protected] if we can do
anything to help
------
accountoftheday
a much better name than the previous groupay (this appears to be the same
company).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Why is everyone's privacy policy changing? - unethical_ban
I notice Trulia, Square, and just now CNN Money are all in recent days sending privacy policy update notices. I intend to research soon, but in the meantime, is this tied to the recent legislation holding site operators responsible for user content? Or some other law/regulation?
======
mtmail
European privacy laws require full disclosure what data you collect, whom you
share it with. Opt-in for any non-essential feature, justification for data
usage and how long you keep it. Companies start to require their data
processors to sign agreements, thus pushing them to be compatible, even
outside Europe. For example a Mailchimp or Sendmail would loose a lot of
customers if they didn't update their documents (and hopefully processes).
It's a huge deal in Europe. Starts May/25th.
[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=GDPR](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=GDPR)
(I can't explain why CNN Money or Trulia would change it though).
~~~
WorldMaker
> (I can't explain why CNN Money or Trulia would change it though)
Most likely the same CYA reasons they would have also implemented the Cookie
Disclosure in recent years. Even if US-based and expecting primarily US-only
traffic, major company doesn't want to be legally liable for any issues arises
with EU compliance, just from curious visitors. (Not to mention the obvious
gray areas of EU citizens residing in the US.)
The more hopeful answer is that possibly because of GDPR and indirectly recent
Facebook/Cambridge Analytica, at least some companies may be doing it simply
because it is a good idea, whether or not they think GDPR applies to them.
------
twunde
GDPR enforcement starts soon. This is a European privacy law WITH teeth. It
applies to all companies with European customers including Europeans living in
the US. There are several components, but one of the big changes is disclosing
everyone that your data is shared with and making sure that you have gotten
consent for all the data being shared. I would guess that 99% of US companies
have to update their privacy policy and terms of service in order to comply
------
inetsee
I use Yahoo email for some purposes (and GMail for some other purposes), and I
just got an email from Yahoo about "Important update to our Terms of Service &
Privacy Policy". I tried to understand the changes (which involved plowing
through pages of legalese on several web pages). One thing I noticed was that
there was very little specifically addressing Yahoo Mail. There were some
brief mentions that would apply if I lived in South America (or other non-US
regions), but almost nothing for US users.
What I did read made me think that I really need to look into replacing my
webmail provider by something else, like ProtonMail. Unfortunately, changing
would require getting a lot of family members (who are less tech savvy than I
am) to switch my email address from one they've been sending email to for
decades.
~~~
staticautomatic
I sympathize, but is it really that big a deal to switch email addresses? If
you changed mailing addresses then your family would have to send snail mail
to the new one.
------
bsvalley
The average user needs an attorney to understand those privacy policies. In
other words, we're legally getting screwed by these companies.
~~~
bitxbitxbitcoin
“Take it or leave it.”
~~~
bsvalley
Sucks that we need those services in the 1st place. I don't mind sharing data
while using a service I need for free. But using privacy policies is just not
right for the users because they don't understand the meaning of it. Make it
simple and easy to understand for everyone WHILE maintaining your legal stuff
up to date so you don't get screwed making money selling our data.
I don't think the original problem is like "if you don't like our privacy
policies then don't use our service" versus "you guys are screwing us selling
our data" type of problems. Let's make a fair trade. Again, I don't mind
sharing some of my data if you guys can generate money to support your
service. Just tell me exactly what it is so I can make a fair choice.
------
ecesena
Gdpr is coming into effect on May 25 and requires more details or changes in
how companies deal with user’s data.
------
muphet
internet was never private. idk what's all the fuss about
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
WikiLeaks wins case against Visa - Kenan
https://rt.com/news/wikileaks-visa-court-case-040/
======
asdfasdghasdf
This is a pretty poor article, unsurprising coming from an arm of the Russian
government that employs Julian Assange. Here's a summary without any politics
or conspiracy theories.
So, each payment that Visa or Mastercard process comes with a risk. If that
payment was made with a stolen card, Visa and Mastercard are on the hook for
it. Because of that, for example, the fee the merchant pays per transaction
can be wildly different depending on its nature.
In-person transaction with a signed receipt at a coffee shop: pretty safe.
Internet payment: riskier. Require a CCV from the customer, a bit safer.
Customer is from a foreign bank? Risky again. Online pharmacy: even riskier.
Check this out:
[http://www.mastercard.com/us/merchant/pdf/MasterCard_Interch...](http://www.mastercard.com/us/merchant/pdf/MasterCard_Interchange_Rates_and_Criteria.pdf)
Merchants also are subject to credit checks... they do a lot to make sure they
won't be on the hook for a bunch of chargebacks.
Some categories of purchase are considered too risky to even consider. From
Visa/Mastercard's perspective, if you're going to be receiving a ton of
donations from paranoid hackers who took down your own website and probably
think they're being tracked and monitored by the US government (which they
very well may be), it's probably safe to guess there may be some stolen card
numbers in there and are not going agree to let payments to Wikileaks go
through their system.
So, Wikileaks and their data host came up with a brilliant idea: their host,
DataCell, will sign up to receive payments with their credentials, and then
it'll give the money they raised to Wikileaks. They entered into a contract
with Valitor (which isn't a subsidiary of Visa or anything: it's just one of
three card processors in Iceland, who handles acquiring services for Visa and
Mastercard) saying that they will be collecting payments for their data
hosting services.
They write a donation page and get everything set up, test it out, and then
after a couple weeks turn it on. About a week after that (or possibly the same
day, according to one source
[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-12/iceland-court-
order...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-12/iceland-court-orders-
valitor-to-process-wikileaks-donations-1-.html)), Visa and Mastercard call
Valitor up... kinda like how they call you up if you make an unexpected $1000
purchase in another country out of the blue. They say, "hey, you guys are sure
selling a lot of servers, or whatever. What's going on there?"
Valitor has to come clean and say that people are paying Datacell with the
expectation of that money going to Wikileaks. Visa and Mastercard say, "oh,
that's pretty clearly not what we signed up for here: this is, like, millions
of high-risk payments. You're gonna have to cancel that account." And they do.
So now Datacell sues them for breach of contract. The contract pretty clearly
states that Datacell is not allowed to use their account to process payments
for other parties. This is Valitor's only defense. Datacell's argument is
super weak. They say they are not processing payments for other parties, but
that their core business includes allowing their customers to collect
payments. The payments intended for Wikileaks are part of the principal
business and they're collecting that money to offset the cost of paying
Wikileaks.
The judge pretty much ignores that argument but finds in favor of Datacell
anyway. Valitor had full knowledge going into the contract that DataCell was
going to be processing payments for Wikileaks. Its employees provided help in
designing and creating the Wikileaks website, and they tested the website for
them. Because Valitor knew this was going to be used for Wikileaks
fundraising, they cannot now argue that that isn't allowed by contract.
So, Valitor will appeal this decision, but if it holds up, they'll probably
just wind up going out of business (unless they decide $6000/day is
affordable). Visa and Mastercard are just gonna turn them down as customers
because this was some fraudy shit they pulled. They'll go out of business, and
Icelandic merchants will just have to sign up with one of their two
competitors instead.
~~~
dangrossman
There is no situation in which Visa is left on the hook for accepting a
fraudulent payment. AFAIK, they have zero liability. Customers have no direct
relationship with Visa in which they can demand money for misuse of their
card, they have only a member agreement signed with the card issuing bank that
makes such anti-fraud guarantees. So the bank is on the hook.
Except not really. The bank passes on full liability to the merchant that
accepted the payment. When the chargeback occurs, the payment is taken back
from the merchant, plus a bunch extra as a chargeback fee to cover the costs
of pushing around the forms between banks and taking the report from the
cardholder over the phone. Knowing this only works when the merchant still has
the money to take back, any hint of a merchant going over 1% of their monthly
volume in chargebacks will generally trigger the bank to start holding back
some or all of their payments in a reserve fund to cover the potential
chargebacks.
The only way for the bank to be on the hook is if the merchant (like
Wikileaks) passes the risk assessment enough to start accepting cards, and has
a clean chargeback record up until the point a massive number of them come in,
AND when the bank tries to recover that money, the merchant's already drained
their bank account so there's nothing to recover.
If that happens, the bank's screwed, but Visa's still perfectly happy having
taken 1-4% of every charge, even the fraudulent ones, with no liability for
the stolen cards.
Why bother expanding on that tidbit? Because if Visa has zero liability, then
why would Visa corporate be telling anyone not to accept cards from Wikileaks?
That's not normal. The people that decide who can accept Visa cards are the
underwriting departments at individual banks that back merchant service
providers, not employees at Visa Inc.
~~~
anona
The 1-4% you mention is the interchange rate. This is collected by the issuing
bank, and not Visa. Visa typically receives a separate flat fee per
transaction. Although often payment processors will charge the merchant a flat
percentage fee which includes the interchange fees, acquiring bank fees,
association fees, and the payment processors fees.
Visa Europe (a separate company from Visa USA) would likely have to assume
liability for chargebacks in the event that the acquiring bank went out of
business without transferring it's Visa business to another bank. I'm not sure
if such a situation has ever happened though. In general the liability goes:
Merchant -> Payment Processor -> Acquiring Bank -> Visa.
------
beggi
The headline is a little misleading. DataCell, Wikileaks hosting provider,
actually won a case against the local company Valitor, VISA's issuer and
processor in Iceland. Also in case you're wondering as I was, Wikileaks was
not awarded compensatory damages but Valitor must reopen their payment gateway
within 2 weeks (although they can still appeal to a higher court).
~~~
tokenadult
The source of the submitted article, rt.com, is not known for careful
journalism. I'll check what other sources say about the full implications of
the case.
After edit: Now I've had time to check some other news sources.
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/lawyer-wikileaks-
wins...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/lawyer-wikileaks-wins-
icelandic-court-victory-in-financial-fight-against-visa-
mastercard/2012/07/12/gJQAe0kPfW_story.html)
"The implications of the judgment, which Valitor plans to appeal, weren’t
immediately clear.
"Even if Valitor is eventually forced to comply with the judgment, it isn’t
clear whether Visa or MasterCard would allow their customers to make donations
to DataCell or WikiLeaks. Both companies have refused to deal with WikiLeaks
for the better part of two years, leading to allegations that they had bowed
to U.S. pressure to starve the organization of funds."
[http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/07/wikileaks-visa-
bloc...](http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/07/wikileaks-visa-blockade/)
"The Associated Press reports that Valitor can appeal the decision, but even
if it chooses to comply with the judgment, it’s not clear that Visa or
MasterCard will still allow customers to make donations to DataCell or
WikiLeaks."
~~~
maratd
> The source of the submitted article, rt.com, is not known for careful
> journalism.
Understatement of the year.
~~~
alexqgb
Remember, that's "R" as in "Russia", which really isn't a region renowned for
reliable reporting.
~~~
ZeroMinx
As opposed to the United States of Murdoch (?!)
~~~
tptacek
Yes. Because Fox News exists, US journalism is totally no more reputable than
Russian journalism.
~~~
fffggg
My father once said "The difference between American and Russian propaganda is
that Russians know that Pravda is propaganda."
The problem with American media is certainly not limited to Fox.
~~~
tptacek
That and the Russian propaganda machine might at any moment decide to have you
killed.
How convincing do you think these epigrams actually are? The reality is that
the US media market provides a vastly more credible stream of current events
information than Russia's ever has. Does that make the US media credible? It's
hard to say. Russia is a _very, very low bar_ to clear.
~~~
fffggg
The best lies incorporate as much truth as possible. I believe you're
suggesting the same thing I am -- that the US propaganda machine is much more
subtle, and therefore more credible.
A false narrative is a false narrative, regardless of how skillfully it is
intertwined with truth.
~~~
davidw
I think he's suggesting that terms like the "US propaganda machine" are, to
use a technical term, "bullshit", in the sense that there are a great deal of
competing interests and players in the news market in the US, as well as
various competing interests in politics. Talking about _a_ machine makes it
sound like you're talking about one centrally controlled system that in
reality does not exist.
That's not to say there aren't problems with the news industry in the US and
elsewhere, but it's not some giant conspiracy either.
~~~
fffggg
There's no need for a conspiracy or for central organization when incentives
align. In this case, the incentives to manipulate are often financial or
political. You have misunderstood my meaning of "machine" -- not all social
systems involve a central authority.
I hope you can agree that American media can be influenced, for profit, by
monied interests. If you agree, then you acknowledge the system I have
described above.
~~~
davidw
But there are many different monied interests! Sometimes they conflict with
one another. Sometimes they conflict with popular interests. For instance, Fox
News certainly isn't on the same page as Obama, or the Clintons, and yet they
are pretty powerful in their own ways. It hardly sounds like _a_ machine, but
a competitive environment. Certainly not a perfect one, but not nearly so
sinister as a label like "the US propaganda machine".
~~~
fffggg
Nowhere did I suggest the message was cohesive. It is very much an arena of
competing propaganda. The mention of a unified conspiratorial message was a
strawman introduced by tptacek, not I.
As for your complaint about the sinister tone, I think offering deference to
those with money rather than those with truth is quite sinister. I think it's
sad you disagree.
------
pvnick
Was this really the main obstacle for donations involving Visa? Does forcing
the Icelandic arm of Visa to accept donations mean that Americans will be able
to donate to Wikileaks? It seems farfetched that an international company as
large as Visa would actually follow these orders, seeing as they probably want
to protect themselves from leaks involving their own interests.
~~~
JoshTriplett
If a company has a branch in a given country, that country can hold the local
branch legally responsible for the actions of branches elsewhere, including
non-compliance with local rulings. Unless VISA wants to close VISA Iceland
(Valitor) completely and write off the entire country, they either have to win
their appeal or comply with the ruling.
------
batgaijin
RT also did an awesome program with Assange while he was under house arrest:
<http://assange.rt.com/>
------
SoftwareMaven
Didn't _Citizens United_ effectively say that donating money is protected
speech? Apparently we need a Wikileaks party in the US.
~~~
einhverfr
No. It said that spending money on advertising was protected speech. _Citizens
United_ actually stated that direct donations, or advertising in concert with
candidates (essentially gifts in kind) could still be criminalized.
(I actually read the opinion.)
~~~
vishaldpatel
So, basically.. you can get your guy elected by helping spread the message by
pouring money into advertising, just not buy him, or buy votes etc...?
~~~
einhverfr
And you can't coordinate your message with him. In other words he can't tell
you what to say and you can't run your message by him.
~~~
caf
This seems a bit strange - protected speech is no longer protected if you
consult someone about it before you say it?
~~~
einhverfr
It gets worse, I am afraid. Look at Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project.
It's protected speech if you blog saying "Terrorist organizations should adopt
non-violent methods of resistance instead of blowing up cafes. Here's how it
might work as an overall strategy, using Hamas as an example...."
However if you print this out and mail it to Hamas, that's not protected, and
may be offering expert assistance to a foreign terrorist organization....
Apparently the First Amendment no longer protects the question of who you talk
to.
~~~
einhverfr
It's kinda funny this was downvoted since both Citizens united and HLP both
drew this funny line at "who you talk to or with." It's a line I don't
understand the justification for and it seems dangerous to me, but it is what
we are stuck with.
------
linuxhansl
How can Visa or MasterCard censor what I can do with my money, especially when
it comes to an entity that has to this day not even been charged with a crime?
It speaks to our "obedient sheep" nature that there has been no outcry about
this.
Some will say: "Well Visa and MasterCard are private companies", which is
technically true of course, but when they handle the majority of all private
money transaction there are other factors at play.
------
nhangen
Don't credit card providers' terms of service give them the right to block
payments to those that use the service in violation?
~~~
trevelyan
In violation of what? Journalism is not illegal.
~~~
nhangen
I'm not arguing for or against Wikileaks as illegal, I'm just wondering if,
from a purely legal standpoint, Visa has a right to refuse service to a
business based on their terms of service?
------
gruuuuuuuu
It's funny to read a comment here a couple days ago
(<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4237027>), bemoaning the quality of the
reddit frontpage, for this 'story' just appearing there.
Two days later, it's the second highest story on the Hacker News frontpage.
------
maeon3
Visa, helping shady soveriegn's levy secret and illegal financial warfare
against political international opponents since forever. Priceless.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Angular 4 server-side rendering made very simple - clbond
http://www.npmjs.com/package/angular-ssr
======
clbond
I wrote this platform-server alternative to make it simple to render your ng4
applications on the server (on-demand in an HTTP server, or as part of your
build). You can use @angular/material, @angular/flex-layout, jQuery, and just
about anything else that would break @angular/platform-server or
angular2-universal. You can access document and window. It boasts very good
performance and is simple to use.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Evenly distributing points on a sphere - Signez
http://extremelearning.com.au/evenly-distributing-points-on-a-sphere/
======
extremelearning
Author here. So amazed to find that my blog post got featured on Hacker news.
Happy to answer any questions that I can! :)
~~~
gerdesj
I've seen the phylotaxis thing before but was unaware of the rather lovely
Fibonacci Lattice. My maths is only Civ Eng grad level from >25 years ago but
even I can appreciate this stuff. Your writing style is very approachable and
well illustrated.
Thank you.
~~~
extremelearning
Thanks for the kind words. I’m glad you found it interesting and useful.
I think one of the advantages of writing blog posts rather than academic
articles is that they are often more readable to a wider audience as the
authors can be a little less formal in tone, expand on things (including
copious illustrations), without worrying about space constraints.
~~~
gerdesj
For me, your style of writing provides a very decent balance. I'm not a
scientist, nor engineer, mathematician or similar but I am a common (or
garden) variety of nerd!
Quite often I will plough through papers and some of the more challenging blog
posts that are linked here. A post like yours is challenging but only for the
right reasons. You avoid a too "chatty" and "pally" style and present facts
concisely but with a bit of context - enough to point amateurs in the right
direction.
------
mrep
If you are interested in spherical math, you should check out google's S2
library [0] which uses hilbert curves to classify areas on a sphere. Here is
an overview of the cell hierarchy [1]
[0]: [http://s2geometry.io/](http://s2geometry.io/)
[1]:
[http://s2geometry.io/devguide/s2cell_hierarchy](http://s2geometry.io/devguide/s2cell_hierarchy)
~~~
kjeetgill
For anyone who was scratching thier head about how a plane filling curve gets
mapped into a sphere; what S2 really does is project the sphere onto the six
sides of a cube _and then_ fill each face with a Hilbert Curve index.
~~~
mrep
Lol and Holy shit! That totally explains why the s2 cell lengths vary based on
where they are located in one of the six faces (aka, sides of a cube) of which
the documentation does not explain clearly. I have spent many hours using this
library and your comment has explained so much of what I was confused about
it.
Thank you
~~~
kjeetgill
I'm glad I could help! I just picked up that fun fact from recently.
You're going to get a kick out of:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17765388](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17765388)
------
nayuki
A somewhat related article recently on the HN front page - "Generating random
points inside a sphere": [https://karthikkaranth.me/blog/generating-random-
points-in-a...](https://karthikkaranth.me/blog/generating-random-points-in-a-
sphere/) ;
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17688599](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17688599)
------
ianai
Couldn’t this be used to model qubit states? Ie calculating function values on
the resulting pairs.
------
aj7
In 2D, this is the porno theater problem.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Microsoft: Could holograms soon be seen with Skype? - dewiz
http://us.generation-nt.com/microsoft-hologram-skype-news-4101592.html
======
dewiz
[http://microsoft-news.com/microsoft-is-creating-immersive-
te...](http://microsoft-news.com/microsoft-is-creating-immersive-telepresence-
realistic-physical-body-double-or-proxy-in-a-remote-meeting/)
[https://careers.microsoft.com/jobdetails.aspx?ss=&pg=0&#...</a>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Harvard Initiative in Innovative Computing Video Archive 2006-2009 - niels_olson
http://iic.seas.harvard.edu/featured_events/featured-presentations
======
pama
Thanks for posting -- this is an amazing resource. Here is the link to the
successor institute for computational science at Harvard:
<http://iacs.seas.harvard.edu/>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Firefox Multi-Account Containers - nachtigall
https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/introducing-firefox-multi-account-containers/
======
ff_
I LOVE this feature, but it has only one problem: when I'm in a container and
I press Ctrl+T (new tab), the new tab opens in the default container. This
doesn't make sense, I want it to stay in the same container.
This was also discussed in the issue tracker, in a now closed issue, in which
the intuitive behaviour (staying in the same container) was proposed, but got
sidetracked and in the end implemented something totally different.
So if anyone from Firefox is listening here: please PLEASE consider
implementing Ctrl+T in the same container :)
~~~
groovecoder
(Someone from Firefox here)
It's a popular request; about as popular as everyone who wants Ctrl+T to open
in the default container. :)
So, for our core experience we picked the default behavior that helps maximize
the privacy and security protections of Containers.
The good news is that, with the contextualIdentities extension API (exclusive
to Firefox!), add-on authors can make their own add-ons to change this
behavior. Like Taborama is doing:
[https://github.com/kesselborn/taborama](https://github.com/kesselborn/taborama)
Check out [https://developer.mozilla.org/Add-
ons/WebExtensions/API/cont...](https://developer.mozilla.org/Add-
ons/WebExtensions/API/contextualIdentities) for more info on making Container-
aware extensions.
~~~
iamvfl
If both are equally popular, it would make sense that this be an easily
configurable option in the browser's settings. Favouring one option over the
other will inevitably alienate about half the consumers of this awesome
feature, which seems like a bit of a waste to me.
~~~
Jarwain
It seems like the Firefox team intends to only have what maximises the privacy
security protections, and that this extra functionality (hereafter referred to
as SameCon, versus the current DefCon) is ideally implemented as an add-on.
I'd imagine they're thinking that if a user wants SameCont, that user can just
add it as an add-on
I don't think this is the ideal solution, because I'd imagine there are a
population of users who just wouldn't consider the possibility that SameCon
could Be an add-on. Especially if the community is split roughly down the
middle.
I think yours is the ideal solution, making SameCon a configurable option, but
having the default option be DefCon. That way, the privacy and security
protections are the Default behavior, but a user has the option to change it
Built In
~~~
groovecoder
Very good point; and you get a +1 for "DefCon"
------
nicoburns
This is incredibly useful. It's basically like Chrome's 'profiles', except
per-tab rather than per-window. So I can now have my personal gmail, my work
gmail, and the 3rd gmail account for a client set next to each other, and
colour coded.
This, along with the speed improvements (both the UI and content processes) in
Firefox 55 have made it my default browser for the first time since Chrome was
released.
~~~
dingaling
However it doesn't appear to containerize extensions / add-ons, so it's
probably still prudent to use a separate clean profile for banking to avoid
the risk of malicious data-slurping add-ons.
Despite their claims for it: "Maybe you want to keep your bank’s website
farther away from your Pinterest board"
~~~
oAlbe
Would you trust using a potential "data-slurping" add-on at all? I honestly
wouldn't, neither for my bank info, nor for my search queries.
Just be mindful of what add-ons you install.
~~~
grok2
I think the OP is sorta saying the same thing -- they perhaps don't want their
banking container to see add-ons (except the container add-on :-)). It's
perhaps okay to be relaxed about some add-ons in some environments, but not in
all environments.
~~~
jlgaddis
Isn't this what profiles were designed for?
~~~
efreak
I always thought profiles we're designed for multiple users on one login;
they've been around for ages, and I assumed it was because windows 98 wasn't
good with multiple profiles/users.
------
notheguyouthink
Cool!
As an aside, I've been migrating away from Chrome for a while - and I posted
here a while back being dismayed by how terrible Firefox was, how slow/etc it
was, etc. Many people suggested I switch to nightly.
Nightly is .. a night and day experience. I've been fully switched from Chrome
now, thanks to Firefox. Note that on OSX I've had no complaints with Safari as
my Chrome replacement, so I've stuck with them - but on windows it's all
Firefox.
Keep up the great work guys, the new stuff is amazing. Hope you can push it to
stable branch soon for people. :)
~~~
sinaa
Just installed Nightly thinking "how can it be any different from the
Developer Edition?" ... Wow, I couldn't be more wrong!
It is indeed a night and day experience! More approachable UI, and much faster
performance... Big well-done to everyone working hard to keep Firefox
competitive :-)
~~~
SubiculumCode
As an aside, whenever I click on a Slashdot article about Mozilla and
Firefox...ALMOST ALL the comments bash Mozilla and Firefox to pieces...and
mostly from anonymous posters.
On HN we seem to get reasoned arguments for or against Mozilla and Firefox,
but not seemingly mindless hate.
Now I know that HN is a higher class forum these days--Slasdot is not still in
its heyday--but I have to say it is refreshing.
------
wslh
For historical reasons I cannot avoid to mention that I achieved this with my
Cookiepie extension 11 years ago (a billon Internet years ago indeed):
[https://youtu.be/2Pfg-kJ4nAw](https://youtu.be/2Pfg-kJ4nAw) Cookiepie was
written only in JavaScript and was very hackish because Firefox APIs didn't
have a way to correlate network requests with the tab in the UI, so I
traversed network and UI objects recursively to find unknown relationships
between them. It was very difficult to support because even minor Firefox
releases broke it.
I even posted my Cookiepie extension for the first Firefox extension contest
[1] and there was no prize or mention for it.
[1] [https://blog.mozilla.org/press/2006/03/mozilla-announces-
win...](https://blog.mozilla.org/press/2006/03/mozilla-announces-winners-of-
extend-firefox-competition/)
~~~
groovecoder
As a Firefox engineer, then, let me say props for being ahead of your time!
(And waaaaay ahead of mine - I'm new to PrivSec engineering at Firefox)
I'm not sure if Cookiepie directly inspired the engineers who built
originAttributes and Containers features here, but after working with this
Firefox team I can definitely say that the core Containers tech is not hackish
at all - great engineers here.
Anyway, thanks for contributing!
~~~
fabrice_d
originAttributes and Containers can be traced back to the appId cookie/storage
separation implemented for b2g (aka FirefoxOS) apps. I remember that baku
wrote an early Fx add-on abusing appIds and docShells to provide a container-
like functionality.
~~~
bholley
In more detail:
For the original FirefoxOS security model, sicking and jlebar rototilled all
the security checks in the codebase to switch from comparing origins to
comparing (origin, appId, isInMozBrowser) tuples.
Later on, for the eventually-abandoned FirefoxOS New Security Model (NSec), we
needed to pass around a signed package id instead. So the options on the table
were to rototill the codebase again, or to do something out of band with the
cookie service (sicking's proposal).
When I found out about this I wasn't particularly happy with either option,
and used my sec module ownership to insert myself into the discussion, and
push for a more general approach (i.e. OriginAttributes). Sicking was
initially kind of peeved about this, because they were on a deadline, but
eventually came around. So we did one more pass of the rototiller to switch
everything from appId+mozBrowser to the general and extensible mechanism.
Years later, FirefoxOS is no more, but OriginAttributes are still used to
implement Private Browsing, Containers, and First-Party Isolation. Here's to
general/reusable solutions!
------
raimue
I am a long-time user of the deprecated Multifox extension and I have switched
to the Firefox containers ever since they have been introduced to the stable
releases about a year ago. This feature is actually builtin in Firefox, you
only need to change some config settings to enable the UI (probably this is
also all what the linked extension does?).
As Multifox was one of the old XUL/XPCOM extensions, I am glad that this
functionality was integrated natively before Firefox 57 will disable all
extensions that are not WebExtensions.
It is a great way to login to multiple accounts on various sites such as
Twitter, without going through the hassle of a full logout/login cycle. You
can use the accounts side-by-side in different tabs, which will be color coded
to indicate which container they belong to.
More details can be found on the Mozilla wiki:
[https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Contextual_Identity_Projec...](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Contextual_Identity_Project/Containers)
~~~
groovecoder
The add-on flips the config setting, but also:
1\. Implements the browserAction pop-up UI for managing containers & tabs 2\.
Adds the ability to assign sites to always open in a certain container
~~~
xahrepap
how do you do #2? I can't find it? For example, I want Facebook to always open
in my "Facebook" container.
EDIT: I guess I just had to ask then my brain figured it out. :) Open the page
in the container you want, right click the extension icon and choose "Always
open in this container"
~~~
groovecoder
You can also assign the site to the Container in the browserAction pop-up UI.
------
ihateneckbeards
That's great, I hate when Youtube recommends me all kinds of videos about
turtles just because I stumbled over a video of turtle 6 months ago
~~~
mjard
I've found it useful to purge my Youtube history every once in a while. If I
click on random Youtube links on irc, they always get opened in a
private/incognito session. I'm annoyed this is something that I think about.
~~~
efreak
It's not terribly useful for people who open stuff from within the browser,
but for the past couple of years I've actually had my default browser in
Windows set to incognito/private mode of whatever browser I'm using. This way
I don't have to think about it, and I also don't have to deal with things like
Gmail deciding that I've already seen some emails because my inbox loaded in a
background tab.
~~~
breakingcups
Heh, a bit like Firefox Focus on Android. That's a great idea.
------
Jeaye
I was in the test pilot for this and I had one singular gripe which I don't
think has been addressed or brought up anywhere else I've seen: _I want to be
able to move a tab from one container to another._
It's so easy to open a tab in the default container, or the wrong container,
and being able to move that tab, along with all the data it has spawned (like
cookies) would make this a killer feature for me.
The only other thing, which admittedly makes my one singular gripe less
singular, is that I didn't see any separation in the history, as far as what
was in a given container. In an ideal world, each container would have its own
"Show all history" data.
~~~
groovecoder
[https://addons.mozilla.org/nn-no/firefox/addon/context-
plus/](https://addons.mozilla.org/nn-no/firefox/addon/context-plus/) does the
first part.
~~~
Jeaye
Thank you! This is absolutely essential for a good container experience.
------
mey
I use Chrome profiles heavily, so I am very happy Firefox is exploring this
feature. When doing consulting, I like to keep different client activities
isolated to their own profile, so I have less things to juggle if they use the
same cloud service (AWS, G Suite, Jira, etc).
One limitation I currently see to that workflow (that works better for me in
Chrome) is that this appears to all reside under a single Firefox Account
which essentially creates master set of data to Sync. I would like to be able
to setup Containers to be pegged to different Firefox Accounts (or not at
all).
~~~
Manishearth
I mean, this is distinct from Firefox Profiles, which work pretty much exactly
like Chrome profiles and sync the same way.
~~~
mey
Learned something new, thanks. This doesn't look terribly user friendly
[https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-
create-...](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-..).
Edit: And in testing I can't have multiple profiles open at the same time.
~~~
poiru
You can also use about:profiles, which is a little nicer than the profile
manager.
~~~
mey
So that seems broken as well, when you click "Launch profile in new browser"
it doesn't actually appear to be creating a browser tied to that profile, as I
just setup my personal sync account it caused all the open browsers (across 3
profiles I setup) to all sign into that account.
------
emerongi
This has been extremely useful for the past month or so that I've been using
it. I separate work accounts and personal accounts and that has tremendously
simplified using the browser. For Youtube, I can use a different Google
account without logging out of my main one. I call it my "Entertainment"
container - maybe it will also make it harder for agencies to connect my
leisure activities to other activities.
I even have a "Testing" container when I'm testing a webapp and need to log in
with 2 different users in the same window. Very convenient.
~~~
sleavey
This is exactly how I would like to use this feature, but from what I read,
Firefox Sync only supports one of the accounts. Does that affect containers?
I'd like to sync all of my bookmarks, history etc. from both work and personal
containers.
~~~
482794793792894
Bookmarks and browsing history are not separated by Container Tabs. So, it
will sync both personal and work bookmarks, just like it would without
Container Tabs. The idea being that you look towards the internet like several
users, but on your end it still behaves like a single user.
If you do want bookmarks and browsing history separated, then yeah, as the
other guy said you'll want to use classic profiles. Easiest way is to type
"about:profiles" into the URL-bar and then the rest should be self-
explanatory. Another (scriptable) way is explained here:
[https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-
create-...](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-and-
remove-firefox-profiles)
And then you'd create a second Firefox Account and give each profile a
different Firefox Account to sync to.
------
SubiculumCode
I've been using containers in test pilot for about a month and I love it.
Google is separated from my news reading, is separated from my banking, is
separated from my shopping, is separated from my leisure activity, is
separated from my work activity. Once you set it up to aways open a site
within a designated container it is all smooth.
However, I wonder. What is the technical reason for not making it default to 1
container by site? Sure that would mean hundreds of containers...but does that
pose performance problems?
~~~
Sylos
> However, I wonder. What is the technical reason for not making it default to
> 1 container by site? Sure that would mean hundreds of containers...but does
> that pose performance problems?
It would break some webpages. Also, yes, the vast majority of broken things
will be tracking, but as a browser vendor you sort of need to not piss off
webpage owners (which often benefit from tracking, directly or indirectly), as
otherwise they'll stop testing their webpage against your browser.
Also, as far as I understand things, Tor Browser actually has what essentially
is a separate Container Tab per domain. It's described somewhat more precisely
here:
[https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Contextual_Identity_Projec...](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Contextual_Identity_Project/Containers#An_extended_origin)
------
newscracker
I've used this from the days of it [1] being in Test Pilot (an add-on for
experimental features) [2] and really loved the idea. Usually I'd use a couple
of different browsers or shuttle between normal and private browsing/incognito
modes for using multiple logins on services (from a privacy standpoint, I
don't like linking accounts together on any service, like for example how
Google allows users to do).
I did provide feedback to the developers on the following:
1\. Opening new tabs should have better intelligence about which container a
user wants to go with.
2\. Improving the look of the tab bar for better tab visibility and clarity on
which tab was the current one.
3\. Detailed and clear documentation on how containers work across normal
windows and private windows, because I certainly wouldn't want to use
something believing that it's providing me isolation while it does not in
certain scenarios. In my limited knowledge, the behavior of different
browsers, in keeping cookies/storage isolated, in private/inprivate/incognito
mode varies when it comes to multiple windows, multiple tabs and closing
windows/tabs. That is already not clear enough (to me) that I don't open more
than one private/inprivate/incognito window at the same time.
I would love for this to get into Firefox main instead of being an extension!
[1]:
[https://testpilot.firefox.com/experiments/containers](https://testpilot.firefox.com/experiments/containers)
[2]: [https://testpilot.firefox.com/](https://testpilot.firefox.com/)
------
kodablah
I am building my own Chromium-based browser with a similar concept called
"bubbles" [0][1]. Not doing a show-hn on it until next week because I need to
build another release but feel free to try it out (I recommend building over
using the one in the releases area as a lot of bugs have been fixed in
master).
Oh and for the commenter wanting Ctrl+T in the same container, a Ctrl+Shift+T
in Doogie does open a child page in the same bubble.
0 - [https://github.com/cretz/doogie](https://github.com/cretz/doogie)
1 -
[https://cretz.github.io/doogie/guide/bubble](https://cretz.github.io/doogie/guide/bubble)
~~~
akerro
Instead putting your effort into a single person project you could do it for
Brave browser or ungoogled-chromium, it would be more useful and you would get
more users.
~~~
kodablah
I have fundamental disagreements with those projects (primarily the UI).
Adoption is not an explicit goal.
------
tjoff
I _really_ like this, but why for everything that is holy does it not work in
Private Windows?
I use Private mode _a lot_ and it doesn't really make sense to group
everything together just because it is "Private".
------
the_common_man
Press and hold in the '+' button shows the container menu. Took we a while to
figure this out.
------
josefresco
I implement "containers" simply by using different browsers (one for each
screen). Chrome runs my (Google) email, calendar, drive. And then I use
Firefox for my client work, where I log in/out of various client identities. I
have Firefox set to "nuke" all session data on close - an absolute must-have
feature for testing caching issues and making sure I don't end up with
"hidden" active sessions around the web.
------
gangstead
I've been wanting something like this for Android / ios.
I've had the problem that many restaurant rewards program have gone from "10
punches on this card and your next sandwich is free" to "type in your phone
number / scan this card" on each visit and have now become "install our app"
to get that free sandwich. That's more than I'm willing to give up for a cheap
meal once every few months.
~~~
foobar20198
My equivalent is to use incognito/private browsing (depending on browser of
choice). However, once again, browsers are opinionated, and don't offer to
save passwords in private/incognito mode (with no overrides). Which means I
just avoid the whole experience when possible.
Similarly, things like Focus let you access a throwaway experience even more
easily. Still no password saving though.
------
nothrabannosir
I've been using this for over a month now, and while I'm convinced it's the
right idea, the implementation leaves much to be desired. Currently, it costs
more effort than it's worth.
[EDIT: comments show this does exist! great] Missing: easy way to open a new
tab in a specific profile. ctrl-T always opens in Default profile, not the one
you're on. So have to go File menu -> New tab -> select profile. And that menu
changes items around slightly, so no muscle memory. I end up going to a tab
already open, middle clicking a random link, ctrl-L, and using that as a fresh
tab. I see on their little drawings they show some cool drop down under the +
button at the right of the tab row, but I can't find any such functionality.
[EDIT: Comments show exists. Good enough!] Missing: a way to fix certain hosts
to certain profiles. E.g. { _XXX_.myclient.com -> always open in "Client X"
tab}. E.g. with links from GitHub (which is client independent) into custom
CIs (jenkins etc). You forget, "why isn't this logged in? oh, profiles", go
back, right click the link, open in new container -> select container. Ugh.
Missing: a way to disallow any non-whitelisted hosts from a tab. E.g. having a
gmail tab is useless, because every link you click will open in that profile
(and you won't notice because hey, it works) and now your gmail credentials
and cookies are available there. Again defeats the purpose. Especially for a
"Banking" tab, for example.
Missing: clear warning that this doesn't do _anything_ meaningful against
tracking. It's a complete waste of time to separate your Facebook into a
separate profile if you don't want to be tracked across other domains.
Fingerprinting goes _well_ beyond cookies. They don't need your account cookie
to link your visits.
Missing: segmentation of plugins!! Different NoScript or µblock settings per
profile? yes please! Or even just native Firefox settings (3rd party cookies,
clearing policy, etc) per website per profile would be lovely.
All in all: I'm stubborn so I'll keep using it, but I'll be honest: there's
quite a low ROI on them, as they are. Good start, hope they improve.
EDIT: Another missing: clear cookies only from a certain profile. E.g.
discover I've accidentally been browsing youtube in work profile (or
whatever), I want to delete all youtube cookies _but only from that profile_.
Can't do it. I encounter this problem often with GMail, where I want to clear
a friend's login but not log out all my sessions from different containers.
(PS: Sorry for using "profile" and "container" interchangeably---it was a bit
stream of consciousness. I mean "container" for both words).
~~~
daenney
> Missing: a way to disallow any non-whitelisted hosts from a tab. E.g. having
> a gmail tab is useless, because every link you click will open in that
> profile (and you won't notice because hey, it works) and now your gmail
> credentials and cookies are available there. Again defeats the purpose.
> Especially for a "Banking" tab, for example.
You can mitigate some of this with Cookie AutoDelete which has support for
contextual identities. After you close a tab it'll nuke cookies for any non-
whitelisted domain for that context.
~~~
drdaeman
I think parent comment wanted something more like First-Party Isolation
(privacy.firstparty.isolate and
privacy.firstparty.isolate.restrict_opener_access in about:config, use with
caution - it _will_ break things, including breaking Cookie Auto-Delete
extension)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/6y7lpw/what_is_fir...](https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/6y7lpw/what_is_first_party_isolation_how_does_it_work/)
(sorry, don't know any mozilla.org link for FPI that has any good description
what it does and how it works)
------
provemewrong
Another fan of containers. I switched to Chromium/Safari a long time ago, but
installed Nightly 57 the other day out of curiosity, and containers is
definitely the best feature in it. Only thing I would love even more would be
a private/incognito container (or basically private tabs alongside regular
tabs without the need for opening a private new window).
------
rb666
Great feature! I switched to FF Nightly some months ago, and I can confirm the
performance is great. Sadly I had to switch back to Chrome, the quality of
extensions in Chrome is just much higher.
Now, I only just learned recently that in theory you can use Chrome extensions
in Firefox, does this actually work well? Or just so-so.
~~~
482794793792894
So, this extension quality problem isn't new. Firefox's current extension API
is really powerful, but really complicated and it's not really an API, it's
more-so just a way to fuck around with Firefox's source code, so if Mozilla
changes things then generally extensions break and need to be updated.
Because of that Mozilla has wanted to move to a different extension API for a
long time, they just couldn't really afford to, because it would require
breaking all extensions for good.
Now they are at the point where they do feel like breaking all extensions
weighs up with the benefits. Another big factor here is the new multiprocess-
architecture, which is the foundation for most of those performance
improvements that you've seen, and also requires breaking all extensions.
(Currently those old extensions can still be used, but Firefox will then drop
back to singleprocess - another quality problem that you likely encountered.)
So, now they needed that new extension API. And instead of writing and testing
a completely new API, Mozilla decided to base it off of Chrome's extension
API.
Some smaller Chrome-specific APIs were left out / adjusted, but short of that
and potential bugs in the implementation, Firefox is going to be compatible
with Chrome extensions. (They are also adding new APIs that Chrome does not
support, because they want to offer more extensibility, so it's essentially a
superset of Chrome's extension API.)
For most extension developers, the only porting work is going to be to test
it, work around bugs if they run into some and then upload it to
addons.mozilla.org.
The more or less 1.0 release of that implementation is going to be with
Firefox 57 on November 14th, which is also when the old extension API is going
to be disabled. But most of this new extension API (called "WebExtensions") is
already in Firefox as of today, there's just still some bugs left to be
squished.
So, that's why and how you can run Chrome extensions in Firefox. It's up to
the individual extension developers to port their extension.
Well, that's the normal path, which is not going to be so-so.
As I said, the porting work is often minimal. So minimal that it can almost be
automated. That's why this extension can exist:
[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/chrome-
store-...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/chrome-store-
foxified/)
Assuming there's no bugs, then the only part which can't be automated is
signing the extension. Haven't done it myself yet, but from what I hear, it's
a matter of creating/having a Firefox Account, uploading the extension-file
and then waiting for a few days or so.
So, to summarize: Firefox now supports Chrome extensions with minimal porting
work necessary, meaning that lots of those will get ported over. You can try
to port things on your own and if there's no bugs then it shouldn't be hard
(and it's not hard to find out if there are bugs). And lots of old,
unmaintained and problematic extensions will get thrown out with Firefox 57,
making it much easier to find the qualitatively better ones.
------
ComodoHacker
I doubt this will help much with privacy. People's laziness plus cognitive
effort needed to track what container you are in plus various tricks from
advertisers and publishers will keep vast majority of users perfectly
trackable.
Chrome's approach at least helps to keep multiple profiles visually separate.
~~~
zimbatm
Yes it shouldn't be used for privacy-sensitive identities. Right now opening a
new link in a new tab will use the default profile, this makes it super easy
to link profiles. Even if that was fixed, all the tabs have pretty much the
same browser settings.
The main use-case is when you have home/work split with multiple accounts.
------
dexzod
The article says: "online trackers can’t easily connect the browsing", which
seems to imply that they can still connect the browsing. Why can't they be
completely prevented from tracking other browsing. The second question I have
is how is this different from Firefox profiles?
~~~
stefano
They can still track you through your IP address, or by a combination of many
browser/computer/OS properties available through JS, for example window size,
browser agent, OS, fonts installed, etc. All these things don't identify you
by themselves, but with enough of them you can build a fingerprint which is
(almost) unique.
------
feanaro
I wonder if there is any reason each tab isn't spawned in its own container.
It seems the natural thing to do once you have implemented this, since it
maximizes privacy. Unless the resource usage is the limiting factor, I don't
see a downside. Am I missing something?
~~~
groovecoder
That's what Containers on the Go does:
[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/containers-
on...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/containers-on-the-go/)
It wasn't our core use-case, but there's a Web Extension API for others to
build on!
~~~
feanaro
Very interesting. I'm thrilled that there's a Web Extension API, this sounds
like a killer feature.
Now if only Pentadactyl/Vimperator could be reproduced on top of Web
Extensions without loss of functionality... ;-)
------
maxerickson
Can any browser historian explain why the original models of cookie sharing
weren't more like this?
I figure it comes down to some combination of lack of consideration and
performance concerns, but that is just speculation.
I suppose restricted cookie sharing is also a lot more complicated for the
user.
------
wutwutwutwut
I just want to be able to open a new tab in a brand new container. Similar to
File->New Session in Internet Explorer.
If I want to test my web app with say 4 different identities then figuring out
which container is "free" becomes cumbersome.
~~~
the8472
Extensions can spawn new containers, so this should be easy to implement if
you want to.
[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-
ons/WebExtensions/AP...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-
ons/WebExtensions/API/contextualIdentities)
~~~
groovecoder
In fact, "Containers on the Go" seems to do this:
[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/containers-
on...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/containers-on-the-go/)
------
hobarrera
I've been using the tests version of this for some time now. It's great.
Keeping work/personal sessions from mixing is really useful (eg: I want my
work google account whenever I visit gmail, but my personal one for youtube).
You can also set certain domains to open on certain containers by default.
It's available here for now, but I really hope this ends up making it into
firefox itself:
[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/multi-
account...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/multi-account-
containers/)
------
gaius_baltar
This is _great_! I have been emulating this feature for years with multiple
profiles, but let's get things right: it takes some work and it is hard to
teach non-techie folks how to do the same.
Time to test the thing.
------
jqs79
How does this compare with using multiple profiles and the -no-remote flag?
Does this manage only cookies, or does it also separate local storage (HTML5
session/local/global/web sql database), webcache, window.name caching (if the
same tab can use multiple profiles), web history, flash cookies, for those who
still have flash installed, etc.
People might get a false sense of security if all of these methods of saving
data in the browser are not also separated along with cookies.
~~~
groovecoder
Check out
[https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Contextual_Identity_Projec...](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Contextual_Identity_Project/Containers#What_is_.28and_isn.27t.29_separated_between_Containers)
for the details of what is - and isn't - separated between Containers.
~~~
jqs79
Thanks. So it appears that most of it is separated, with the exception of web
history and search and form data (which can be identifying). This was also
interesting:
"Users can log into multiple accounts on the same site, even when the site
does not natively support concurrent sessions. ... Current solutions: Users
open multiple browsers (this takes users away from Firefox). A user opens one
account in Private Browsing mode (this has a limit of 2 accounts, and forces
one to be ephemeral)."
There is no mention here of the -no-remote flag which has been available for
many years.
~~~
482794793792894
Well, the vast majority of users have no idea of the -no-remote or -new-
instance flags, let alone of Firefox profiles.
------
drvortex
So this basically replicates the functionality provided by
[https://sessionbox.io/](https://sessionbox.io/)
Is multi-process here already?
~~~
yoasif_
> Is multi-process here already?
Yes.
------
DoubleMalt
That might bring make me bring back part of my browsing to Firefox. The
identities functionality was what made me use Chrome almost exclusively the
last two years.
~~~
Manishearth
Chrome doesn't have this. Chrome has profiles, which Firefox has had for
years.
~~~
foobar20198
Switching between profiles in Firefox is the most painful experience ever.
Running multiple Firefox profiles simultaneously requires using a terminal
command.
Switching between profiles in Chrome involves clicking on an easy to find
button, and lets you easily run multiple profiles in parallel. No terminal
involved, accessible to anyone.
To be fair, running multiple chrome profiles in parallel kills my (somewhat
old) machine (mostly by virtue of having too many tabs in each profile), so
Firefox does win there.
~~~
poiru
Check out about:profiles! While not nearly as nice as the Chrome UI, it is
definitely more approachable than using a terminal.
------
35673567
Love that they have decided to add this feature officially. I was using using
sandboxed tabs -> Priv8 for years so that I dont have to be logged in to
facebook and old emails globally.
The one thing I miss over the old plugins is the ability to set home pages per
profile, which I know doesnt really fit in with the new tab ethos of default
Firefox, but I would love a plugin to be able to add the functionality back.
------
piyush_soni
Not sure. I've been using separate "Work" and "Personal" profiles at my
workplace, and can beautifully have two Firefox sync accounts syncing their
own stuff. This limitation of the new Container extension prevents me from
using it as I'd never want my personal and work set of extensions, bookmarks,
and history to mingle with each other. Big oversight.
~~~
482794793792894
Well, that's just the two different use-cases. Container Tabs are not trying
to replace profiles.
------
winterlight
I tried this feature when it was available only in pilot mode. It was very
nice and fitted quite well my uses. But the UX back then could use some
improvements. For example, opening a new tab in a specific container took way
too many clicks. And you couldn't just to CTR+T because it would always open
the tab in the default container, rather than that of the active tab.
------
greggarious
One issue I see is that it seems to be based on domains.
(Ex: if I want a container for my streaming apps, there's no way to segregate
Amazon Video from the rest of the "shopping" app)
Then again I may be getting too fine grained with my personas but segregating
Reddit, HN et al away from my Google account and away from my streaming
accounts seems to kick tracking in the ass.
------
Entangled
I've been doing multiple containers for multiple accounts opening five
different browsers (SF, FX, CR, OP, TR). Now I only need Safari for my regular
browsing, Firefox for multiple accounts and Opera for free VPN.
~~~
TheRealPomax
Free, but you get exactly what you pay for: a rather bad VPN bordering on
"this is not a VPN at all". Of course, you should not believe a random
commenter on HN for that, so hit up [https://thatoneprivacysite.net/vpn-
comparison-chart/](https://thatoneprivacysite.net/vpn-comparison-chart/) and
use that as a starting point to verify for yourself whether or not Opera's VPN
is any good.
If you want security rather than security veneer, use a real VPN instead, with
browsers set to either use or ignore the system proxy, depending on what you
want out of each browser.
------
mderazon
I like this but I like chrome multi profile model better.
I like that extensions are separate for each profile.
For example, I have two separate LastPass accounts. One for work and a
personal one. There is no way for me to keep them separate like this.
~~~
Rusky
Firefox already has that sort of profiles, though they are somewhat less
visible than the equivalent Chrome feature.
~~~
mderazon
Do you know how ? Through which extension?
~~~
Rusky
No extension at all- it's built in. Try visiting about:profile or launching
Firefox with the -p flag.
------
stevenhubertron
I would swap to Firefox in a second if I could live with their font
renderings. It's just so different than what I am used to in
Chrome/Safari/Opera and for some reason its really hard for me to read.
~~~
MattSteelblade
What OS?
~~~
yoasif_
Must be macOS. It looks fine for me in macOS, FWIW.
------
ams6110
Firefox has supported multiple profiles for a long time. How is this better?
~~~
groovecoder
This is a lighter-weight approach. It's per-tab so it doesn't require a whole
other Firefox process to run.
------
matt_f
Can anyone from Mozilla here explain what this is written in, or how it works?
"Containers" makes me immediately think of Docker-like containerized
applications, which I suspect is not actually the case here.
~~~
groovecoder
It's a Web Extension add-on, so it's written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
There should be a post on hacks.mozila.org soon.
------
amelius
Meanwhile, the websites I visit are tracking me across containers :(
------
thinbeige
This is my most wanted feature for a browser. Anyone knows if every instance
has not just a different cookies set but also different canvas fingerprints?
~~~
steveklabnik
I think you want to read this thread:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15258485](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15258485)
------
pbreit
This is the one feature that keeps me from using Safari.
------
mattacular
Can someone give a quick summary of how this differs from Google Chrome
"People" accounts? On the surface they seem very similar. Thanks!
------
witten
Dumb question: Does the implementation have anything to do with containers?
E.g., Docker? Or is this just overloading an existing industry term?
~~~
mrmekon
Docker didn't invent the term 'container' for... well, _containing_ an
environment.
It's not really overloaded here. 'Container' means a contained environment
that can see itself, and cannot see other contained environments on the same
machine/network. It has the same basic meaning for both Docker and Firefox.
Docker was released in 2013, so if you search for "software container" or
"software virtual container", or "chroot container" on Google filtered to
before 01-01-2012, you will find plenty of examples of it from the past.
LXC - Linux Containers – was released in 2008... Virtuozzo Containers since at
least 2000.
Here's something called Aurora for containerizing CORBA services in 1998:
[https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/BFb0054506?no-
acce...](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/BFb0054506?no-access=true)
~~~
witten
Sure, I'm familiar with the history. It's just that, all prior art aside, the
term "container" at this point in time has a pretty particular connotation.
------
wakkaflokka
I'm on the nightly and it says the extension is not compatible with my version
of Firefox. Is this only for <56?
~~~
jacobmischka
Nightly has this built in actually, though the icon looks a little different.
Enable it in about:preferences#general in the Tabs section. The icon looks
like a file cabinet.
~~~
chrismorgan
The built-in functionality doesn’t have nice things like “always open this
site in such-and-such a container”.
~~~
evilpie
You can still install the github version in addition to that, which should
give you that feature again! [https://github.com/mozilla/testpilot-
containers#readme](https://github.com/mozilla/testpilot-containers#readme)
~~~
chrismorgan
Indeed: that’s how I use it. (I use this to keep work and personal stuff
separate because of a couple of services that don’t support multiple
simultaneous logins.)
------
lucaspottersky
this is _AWESOME_!!!
maybe the best feature since HTML5 has gone mainstream!
i'm so tired of using Icognito Window for that!
------
Tajnymag
Do these separate history as well?
~~~
nachtigall
No, but please upvote if you also want this feature ;)
[https://github.com/mozilla/testpilot-
containers/issues/47](https://github.com/mozilla/testpilot-
containers/issues/47)
------
1024core
> and online trackers can’t easily connect the browsing.
For what definition of "easily" ?
------
teekert
Huh? Did I just add this and got a "Firefox screenshots" icon with it?
~~~
sp332
That's a built-in Firefox feature.
[https://screenshots.firefox.com/](https://screenshots.firefox.com/) I thought
it was only included in Nightly builds but I guess they pushed it to Beta?
~~~
pbhjpbhj
I think they pushed it to main? It appeared unsolicited on my toolbar (on
Kubuntu) with last update I did -- I would have thought they'd been warded off
adding unrequested feature buttons by now. Would it be that hard to have an
update page that says "do you want to add $commercialTieInButton"?
~~~
sp332
There's no commercial tie-in though. It's 100% first-party.
~~~
pbhjpbhj
It was more a general point, like for the Telefonica button, the Pocket
button, etc., this links to a particular image upload tool though doesn't it?
Only looked at it long enough to find if I'd got malware.
~~~
sp332
Yes but it's run and hosted by Firefox. It's even covered by the Firefox
privacy notice.
------
MadWombat
But is it going to work once FF drops add-on support?
~~~
yoasif_
Firefox isn't dropping add-on support, they are deprecating their old add-on
model.
But yes, this continues to work after Firefox 57.
------
lasermike026
Awesome! I wish the UI was a little tighter.
------
anovikov
Will be cool for many Upwork account brokers
------
Multiuser
I have just downloaded Firefox Multi-Account Containers but I can't find
information on how to use it.I am not an expert.
------
esaym
Is the "initial" version really "4.0.1"?
~~~
urda
Why are you so concerned with a version number?
It is just a number.
------
timthelion
I love this! I tried to do this by running multiple instances of firefox in
separate Docker containers using software I wrote for the task (see
subuser.org), and while it works, for more than a few different accounts it
gets slow to switch between them because my system won't keep all of the
instances of firefox in memory.
------
akerro
How did they know I have multiple personalities? Are they watching me?
~~~
fukusa
They are watching all of you.
------
doe88
Just a word of caution, anecdotely I installed the _Container_
extension/feature 2 weeks ago when this was discuted on HN, I opened some tabs
in different contexts, copied important links I wanted to keep, then decided
to _hide_ them, then finally yesterday I wanted to read one of these links, I
go look in the menu... Pouf gone, all my links gone... Least to say I was
happy.. Therefore not only I have uninstalled this feature but also _Test
Pilot_ altogether. I decided from now on to keep things simple because it
seems this is only what really works. Maybe I'm rambling a bit, but the sad
truth is I don't have much trust in Firefox anymore, I use it because it is to
me the least worst browser, not because I really enjoy using it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
RubyMotion - Ruby for iOS - acangiano
http://www.rubymotion.com/
======
stephth
I love writing Ruby code, but today I'm finally at a point where I also feel
happy and productive with Objective-C. What made my eyes bulge is this:
[http://www.rubymotion.com/developer-center/guides/project-
ma...](http://www.rubymotion.com/developer-center/guides/project-
management/#_configuration)
No XCode. Instead of obscure and impenetrable project files, a convention over
configuration Rakefile. Clean and Ruby-like workflows and repositories.
_While you can certainly configure an Xcode workspace to program in
RubyMotion, we do not provide any support for Xcode out-of-the-box. We do not
believe that Xcode makes a good environment for Ruby development (or
development in general). Ruby also makes it very easy to write great Domain-
Specific Languages that can be used as elegant alternatives to graphical user
interface or data modeling tools._ [1]
Laurent Sansonetti gets it. I've been writing iOS code for three years and
have never been able to figure out how to have a frictionless workflow around
XCode, everything about it is convoluted. The idea of automating frequent
development tasks with Ruby generators and DSLs sounds exciting and promising.
[1] <http://www.rubymotion.com/support/#faq>
~~~
petercooper
Which makes me wonder.. is it possible to rig up such an environment for
standard Objective C iOS app development? It could be huge.
~~~
lobster_johnson
It's entirely possible to use Make (or whatever you want) to build a project.
There's no magic to Xcode. You just need to invoke to correct compiler and
linker (Apple's GCC, usually), include the right flags and frameworks for
them, and probably invoke some Apple tools for things like code-signing.
------
jeremymcanally
This is from Laurent Sansonetti, the original author and long time maintainer
of MacRuby. It doesn't say that anywhere until _after_ you buy it, which they
should really change since that made me go from "Uh, did some random guys just
take MacRuby's code and hack in some extra stuff to sell it?" to "Holy crap so
THIS is what he's been working on!"
~~~
octopus
Actually they say that this is based on MacRuby:
<http://www.rubymotion.com/features/>
at the bottom of the page:
_RubyMotion is based on MacRuby, a widely-used implementation of Ruby created
and maintained by Apple for over 4 years. Starting from a solid and stable
code base, the guys who originally created MacRuby now work on RubyMotion.
You're in good hands._
~~~
jeremymcanally
Ah, now I see! I suppose I glossed over that. It should be bigger. ;)
~~~
100k
I agree, I looked at pretty much every page on the site wondering what the
connection was to MacRuby, until I found it in the FAQ.
------
octopus
A suggestion for Laurent Sansonetti will be to release this similarly with the
way Xamarin has released Mono for iOS. Basically you should be able to
download and use the library for free in the iPhone/iPad simulator and you
will need to buy a license if you want to be able to export the app to the
actual device. This licensing model has the advantage that is similar with
what Apple does for developing apps for iOS.
This will let you, as a developer, try and learn to use RubyMotion before you
actually buy a license.
~~~
grey-area
I'd second this suggestion. I love the idea of using ruby on ios, this looks
like a womderful solution, and it looks far more rubyish in syntax than
Mobiruby (which isn't there yet anyway), but I would really like to try it out
for myself in the simulator and develop a few simple apps before deciding
whether I would want to use it professionally. If they could limit it to
simulator only for free it would be much easier to tell if it is going to be
really useful or more painful than just putting up with obj c. Having a demo
might even boost adoption.
A question for the developers - did you consider this option and reject it for
some reason?
------
sjtgraham
I don't see the point of this. Objective-C is not hard to learn, and with ARC,
blocks, the new literals for NSArray and NSDictionary, etc, Objective-C has
actually become pleasant to write IMO. The example RubyMotion code also
doesn't look very nice either.
The problem with Rubyists (being one for the past 6 years I feel qualified to
say this) is _in general_ they want to use Ruby for everything. It's not
always the best tool for the job.
~~~
spacemanaki
Forgive my ignorance of iOS, but do the current Objective-C based tools
deliver "An interactive shell [...] for introspection, live coding and
debugging" ? If RubyMotion can actually deliver a real first-class REPL that
works, that would be a pretty huge deal. Lack of a REPL is the biggest reason
why I dislike mobile (Android) development.
~~~
jawngee
Yes, it's called GDB or LLDB, depending on your compiler. Not live coding
though, but I don't know if that's a big deal.
~~~
YuriNiyazov
Yes, it's a big deal. Being able to live code completely changes (and dare I
say, improves) one's ability to construct rather complicated structures that
work because the small building blocks are live-tested. It's fantastic.
~~~
jawngee
And now I'm left wondering how Apple ships anything without a REPL.
It's not a big deal*
* former smalltalker
------
sant0sk1
This is really awesome, but I found some bad news in the FAQ:
> Because RubyMotion implements a dialect of Ruby that is statically compiled,
> regular Ruby gems will not work in RubyMotion. We provide documentation
> which describes how to architect gems to work with RubyMotion.
~~~
deedubaya
Anyone who has done any serious MacRuby development would already tell you
that normal Ruby gems aren't usually the best way to go (slow, don't use
Objective-C frameworks).
I can see where this could be a problem if you typically just glue gems
together to make products, but if you're used to rolling your own solutions it
isn't a big deal.
Sucks, but not a show stopper.
------
zbowling
Part of me is happy. Apple pushed MacRuby before Lion and effectively killed
it internally going forward after the ARC announcement. MacRuby relies on the
GC capability of Objective-C which is incompatible with their new ARC baby.
Just a few days ago I wanted to take a backend framework we wrote and build a
command line tool to call some of it's methods in MacRuby (lots of command
line parsing and Ruby has good facilities for that) but forgot we converted
that framework to ARC. No dice.
This looks promising but at the same time I really wish the backend compiler
was open sourced and worked on Mac and not just iOS.
~~~
hlidotbe
Since Laurent Sansonetti is the author of MacRuby AND RubyMotion, he already
said feature from RM will be backported (and hence open-sourced) to MacRuby
~~~
jballanc
I'll simply point you at Laurent's email to the MacRuby-devel mailing list
about a month ago. I think re-reading it in light of today's announcement
could be...informative ;-)
[http://lists.macosforge.org/pipermail/macruby-
devel/2012-Apr...](http://lists.macosforge.org/pipermail/macruby-
devel/2012-April/008702.html)
------
jwarzech
I've played around with what seems like ever alternative framework under the
sun (Titanium, Rhodes, PhoneGap, MonoTouch, Corona) and have been pretty
frustrated with how clunky they usually feel. However with everything its
claiming and the decent price point I'm toying with purchasing site
unseen...just wish I could try it for a few hours first.
~~~
acangiano
Two suggestions:
1) [http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/05/exclusive-
build...](http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/05/exclusive-building-
ruby-ios-applications-with-rubymotion.ars) (Review with code)
2) <http://pragmaticstudio.com/screencasts/rubymotion> (Screencast)
------
spicyj
This looks really cool -- would be nice if there was some way to try it out
before buying.
------
tommy_m
Cool free 50 min video on RubyMotion -
<http://pragmaticstudio.com/screencasts/rubymotion>
------
bherms
Just a note, not sure if this is intentional, but the audio on the video is in
stereo, but with no right channel.
edit: also, please stop the heavy breathing into the mic. Driving me crazy!!
:)
~~~
SeoxyS
I could not watch the video (on headphones) because it is physically painful
to do so. That's a _HUGE_ problem.
~~~
bherms
Exactly.
------
jballanc
Be sure not to miss all the sample code:
<https://github.com/HipByte/RubyMotionSamples>
In particular, for those looking for a side-by-side comparison of what it
means to use Ruby instead of Obj-C, be sure to check out the GestureTable
sample:
[https://github.com/HipByte/RubyMotionSamples/tree/master/Ges...](https://github.com/HipByte/RubyMotionSamples/tree/master/GestureTable)
which was based on the JTGestureBasdeTableView:
<https://github.com/mystcolor/JTGestureBasedTableViewDemo>
------
smoody
"At the end, a RubyMotion app looks _pretty much_ the same as an Objective-C
app." ( from bottom of: <http://www.rubymotion.com/features/> ).
pretty much the same as an Objective-C app? Anyone have any clue as to why
they didn't state apps in the two languages would look identical?
~~~
cschneid
Different compilers will generate different compiled code, even on identical
input (ie, clang vs. GCC). So the binary will be different.
~~~
elsurudo
I think he's commenting on why they wouldn't LOOK identical, as in UI.
UI is a finicky thing, but assuming this allows you to use all Apple APIs,
there is no reason you couldn't get an identical-looking UI using this.
~~~
cmelbye
I'm fairly sure that section is talking about compiled code, structure of the
app, the archive, etc, considering it says "compiled ahead-of-time, never
interpreted, and you access the entire set of iOS public APIs." the previous
paragraph.
You're right though, there's no reason the UI wouldn't look identical as well.
------
tobiasbischoff
nice, but where is the advantage over just using objc? the hard part of coding
for iOS isn't objc, it's learning how to use all the API's.
~~~
hlidotbe
Having been part of the private beta I can tell you that it's a huge time
saver. Objective-C is nice be ruby is much more expressive, you can use the
same API with much less code, you can skip XCode altogether and use your
favorite editor, ...
I can't express properly how awesome it is, really.
~~~
mattgreenrocks
In the Ars article, I noticed the author mentions you can't use XCode's layout
tools.
In practice, how big a problem is that?
~~~
RandallBrown
Some people hate interface builder and don't use it at all. I really like it
and would have a really hard time getting rid of it. The amount of code you
would need to write to make all of your views would be terrible.
I would liken it to not using HTML when you're making a web app and you can
only use javascript to generate (by hand) all of the UI.
~~~
elsurudo
Except that I feel the control you lost by using IB is smaller compared to the
control you lose by using an HTML builder. But then again, it's been forever
since I last used an HTML builder.
In both cases, there are border cases that need to be handled in code (or
markup).
------
jgavris
I don't understand all the hate for Objective-C, and at the same time love for
Ruby. Objective-C is far easier to read, with named parameters and types
everywhere. Ruby is often so minimal that you need to interpret the whole
program yourself to understand what's going on...
------
e28eta
The most exciting part of this for me is the automation and integration with
Apple's tools.
For instance, built-in TestFlight rake task, or build and run on
device/simulator. I'd love to borrow some of that for a CI build system (which
for me is currently a large shell script that could be improved on).
I'm also very interested by the interactive REPL that can run code inside my
application. LLDB is good, but falls short for me occasionally.
------
melvinram
Will apps created using this have any problems getting approved with App
Store?
~~~
acangiano
No. From the FAQ (<http://www.rubymotion.com/support/#faq>):
"Applications submitted to the App Store must conform to the Review Guidelines
dictated by Apple. RubyMotion implements a dialect of Ruby that conforms to
those rules. RubyMotion apps are fully compiled, do not download or interpret
code and are using public iOS APIs through the exact same machinery as regular
Objective-C apps."
~~~
fourgone
I would rather see confirmation from Apple (doubtful) or developers who have
successfully submitted apps to the App Store.
------
derekorgan
Looks very promising. I love Ruby and I initially hated Objective-C but I have
to admit now I find it very powerful. The biggest missing link here seems to
be the Storyboard. Its a really nice option in xCode. Have I missed something,
how are layouts defined separately from code?
------
christiangenco
I love this. It looks like exactly what I've been looking for since the iPhone
SDK was first announced. I've been a web/RoR developer since high school but
could never find the motivation to get used to all of Objective C/XCode's
quirks. I've tried everything from PhoneGap to Appcelerator to mimicking
native feel in a browser, but it was never enough. This is perfect.
But quite frankly, I can't afford it. I'm a college student living on $25/week
for food - I can't justify spending 6 weeks of food on an experiment.
If I could try it out? If I could build my killer app first and know that it
works? It wouldn't hurt as much, but $150 is still a lot of money.
~~~
Zev
But you could justify spending 4 weeks food on an experiment? Because you'll
need that $100 to put an app on your device, as well.
~~~
christiangenco
Ahh yes, that's not particularly fun either.
------
robomartin
I am not criticizing. This is a perfectly neutral question:
Isn't the issue with a lot of these "look Ma, no Objective-C" approaches in
that there are always little nagging issues here and there?
I mean, Apple is constantly moving Objective-C/Xcode/iOS (notice I didn't say
"forward"). Isn't it somewhat dangerous to adopt peripheral approaches for
development rather than staying (suffering?) with the Apple-provided tools?
Now, if someone has an alternative IDE that truly allows me to record Xcode to
a DVD and perform a ritual burning ceremony of said DVD...that would be
something.
~~~
aiscott
I said this in another reply, but I'll reiterate here. It's not the lack of
Objective-C that is the big deal here. Afterall you are still interfacing with
cocoa, and are stuck with a lot of the verbosity in doing that.
The _real key_ to this is the REPL and interactivity between coding and the
_running_ app. Being able to edit bits of functionality and structure in the
running app, and immediately see the results is AWESOME!
~~~
robomartin
I don't know Ruby. Therefore, by my own admission, this comes out of complete
ignorance.
I am currently working on a project that uses a genetic solver and some fairly
complex state machines driven by fairly involved databases. I can't possibly
see how something like this could be made to be interactive in terms of the
development process. Generally speaking you are writing a lot of code before
you get to compile and see the results. And, personally, I don't have any
issues with the compilation process.
What do you mean by "interactive"?
~~~
kcbanner
Your application is something that doesn't lend itself to the problem that
this solves. With UI related things, it is often very helpful to be able to
tweak UI elements while the program runs, instead of the tweak, compile, run
cyle.
------
octopus
This is huge from a programmer productivity perspective.
------
sunjain
Now there is an alternative to Objective-C in iOS development(for Rubyists).
This is similar to development of Coffescript. There is nothing wrong with
Objective-C, it is just that folks who prefer the elegance and beauty of Ruby
have an option. I think this will be great combination - beautiful & elegant
language for creating apps on a beautiful platform.
------
instakill
Are there any example apps in the wild that were made using RubyMotion?
~~~
jamesjn
There's a few example rubymotion apps at:
<https://github.com/HipByte/RubyMotionSamples>
I find them really easy to follow.
------
drpancake
From the screencast it looks like they altered Ruby syntax by adding named
parameters to conform with Obj-C's way of specifying prototypes. I guess this
is a trade-off for the fact that Obj-C has some unusual syntax that has no
real analog in Ruby -- if you've ever tried developing with PyObjC you'll be
familiar with how odd it looks.
------
anuraj
Problem in search for a solution? Apple is walled garden - provides the best
integrated IDE for iphone development that is a pleasure to use. Language is
just a small part of the puzzle. For each task, the best suited environment
and language. There is no panacea.
------
toisanji
How does memory management work with ruby and iOS? I did not find the
information on the website.
~~~
acangiano
From the Features:
"It's Ruby, you don't need to think about managing memory. Ever. RubyMotion
will by itself release the objects you create when they are no longer needed.
Our memory model, similar to Objective-C ARC in design, does not require any
extra memory or processor footprint to allocate and reclaim unused objects."
~~~
webjprgm
I still wonder how they did that. The classic problem with reference counting
is correctly releasing cycles, which ARC handles by allowing "weak"
references. How does MacRuby know when to insert a weak reference as opposed
to the usual "strong" reference? If that could be automatically detected, why
does Obj-C ARC not automatically do it for you?
~~~
chc
"Object cycles, when two or more objects refer to each other, are currently
not handled by the runtime, but will be in future releases."
So, basically, you're stuck with retain cycles right now. My bet is that they
implement a way of marking weak references rather than becoming more
intelligent than ARC.
~~~
smparkes
I wonder how big a deal this will be. Relying on GC feels like it goes hand in
hand with dynamic languages. I'm used to not having to worry about cycles.
Of course, I guess I'm use to not having to worry too much about memory,
either ...
Weak references aren't a panacea. It's not that uncommon to have cycles where
all edges are equally strong. Any social graph ...
I use use counts to collect those cycles. ARC doesn't let you use use counts,
but you don't have to use ARC everywhere. You do have to access to the
underlying use counts ... MacRuby should allow access to that (it's just a
standard Cocoa call) as long as it doesn't keep stray retains around that
screw up my count balances ...
~~~
chc
You can still use counts — you just can't use Foundation's retain count.
And I think CoreData is the answer to problems like a social graph. It does
its own specialized memory management. But you're right, it's awkward to have
to think about it.
------
cm_richards
Ruby :
"The limits of my language define the limits of my world" if string =~
/foobar(\d _\w)/#
Objective-C :
NSError *error = NULL;
NSRegularExpression *regex = [NSRegularExpression regularExpressionWithPattern:@"foobar(\\d*\\w)"
options:NSRegularExpressionCaseInsensitive error:&error];
NSTextCheckingResult *match = [regex firstMatchInString:string
options:0
range:NSMakeRange(0, [string length])];
if (match) {
NSLog(@"The limits of my language define the limits of my world - Wittgenstein")
}
Enough said?
------
typicalrunt
What's with the price difference between Canada and US orders? It's CAD$152.82
versus US$149.99.
With the Canadian dollar currently worth about 1 cent more than the US, I'm
surprised to see that there is a price difference at all.
~~~
jamie_ca
The nominal exchange rate you see has only a passing resemblance to exchange
rates charged by CC processors.
------
EternalFury
I'll say this again: No programming language is fundamentally bad.
Bad programmers have a tendency to move from language to language, blaming
their tools for their lack of skill.
This stuff is exciting.
~~~
jbrechtel
I wholeheartedly disagree. There are bad programming languages. Brainfuck is a
good example. I don't mean that as a joke, but only as proof that programming
languages can be objectively bad. As an extension of that I'd say that
languages can be bad because of their constituent parts (syntax, semantics,
constructs, features or lack of, etc..).
Some languages have constituent parts that I'd say are objectively bad. I'll
argue all day that Objective-C's handling of nil is stupid beyond belief.
Nil/Null itself is bad enough...
------
jstepien
At the very beginning of the presentation he underlines the importance of the
static compiler RubyMotion is based on, yet at 7:30 when he compiles a file
with a name error in it the compiler doesn't even file a warning. Such non-
existent methods and other similar errors should be caught at compile time if
we're talking about solid AOT compilation.
------
pepijndevos
I thought Flash got in trouble for targeting iOS with something not
_originally_ written in JS or ObjC, is that still true?
------
dmitryso
I don't remember the last time I was excited about some new technology, but
rubymotion is a thing I was looking for since the release of iOS SDK. I was
doing ruby for 5 years, and switched to iOS/ObjC half a year ago, and I still
can't stand the Objective-C syntax.
------
vldo
missing trial period so i'd rather wait for mobiruby
~~~
jballanc
The difference is that, as far as I can see, mobiruby is a Ruby interpreter/VM
embedded in an Obj-C application. This is in contrast to MacRuby which is
implemented directly on top of the Obj-C runtime. So, MobiRuby still has to go
through the work of converting Ruby objects into Obj-C objects, whereas in
MacRuby a Ruby object _is_ an Obj-C object.
For a practical example of what this means, see the most recent sample code
that was released for mobiruby: <https://gist.github.com/2577620>
------
tlear
No interface builder? Depending on what type of apps you make it can be a big
issue I think
~~~
malyk
The problem with interface builder is that it only exposes some properties and
others you have to set in your class anyway. Why can't I set the background
image of a view in interface builder, for instance?
With RubyMotion you get to roughly lay out your controls, and then you get to
use the interactive interpreter for fine-grained adjustments. See around the
5:30 mark in the getting started video for an example.
------
sthulbourn
It's nice, I'm new to using ruby (I've been an iOS dev for a while now), I'd
give it ago.
But I assume it uses storyboards in the same way as ObjC, set it in the target
and in the Info.plist, and it figures it out... it'd be nice to see it working
though.
~~~
botj
I second this.
------
guynamedloren
> _RubyMotion is built on top of iOS. You have access to the entire set of
> public iOS APIs and can also use 3rd-party Objective-C libraries or Gems_
So this should be compatible with cocos2d right?
~~~
octopus
cocos2d is writen in Objective-C so in principle it should be compatible with
RubyMotion. Not so sure about the ARC integration (last time I've checked
cocos2d was only "ARC compatible"). I've seen some work arounds using a
cocos2d as a static library (no ARC enabled) linked with a main Objective-C
application that uses ARC. It should work ... but I can't give you a final
answer.
------
ScotterC
I could see this really taking off.
My worry is that it would take off so well that the ruby gem community could
get fragmented into libraries for RubyMotion and libraries for regular ruby
projects.
~~~
cheald
There are already exclusive libraries for MRI/JRuby, so adding a third
platform doesn't seem like it would break the world. Tools like Bundler do a
great job of keeping things moving smoothly.
~~~
ScotterC
Didn't realize bundler kept track of what ruby you were using.
~~~
cheald
Yeah, check the "platforms" directive.
------
funkyboy
I am wondering is anybody asked for a debugger/stepper. Will a dev survive
without those? Also, are you ready to write all the code behind xibs?
------
davidrupp
Purchased. Good job, @lrz. Glad to know your departure from Apple and
(apparent) distancing from MacRuby were in a good cause.
~~~
superalloy
He did not distance himself from MacRuby, though:
[http://lists.macosforge.org/pipermail/macruby-
devel/2012-Apr...](http://lists.macosforge.org/pipermail/macruby-
devel/2012-April/008702.html)
------
ef4
What annoys the crap out of me isn't objective C, it's XCode.
This looks worth it just to have an XCode-free toolchain.
------
daniel_sim
Should make for some good bridge FU on hypercritical this week...
------
damian2000
Sounds awesome - gives me another reason to buy a Mac.
------
hemancuso
Anyone know if this comes with the ruby stdlib?
~~~
dmarkow
It doesn't look like it. You need to use the iOS alternatives (in this case,
NSDate).
(main)>> require 'date'
=> #<RuntimeError: #require is not supported in RubyMotion>
(main)>> Date
=> #<NameError: uninitialized constant Date>
------
riffraff
anybody understood what rubymotion offers over the standard macruby? edit: got
it, static compile and no gc
------
TheSmoke
so, we need a mac for this. right?
~~~
wmboy
Yes... "You will need a Mac running OSX 10.6 or higher."
\- <http://www.rubymotion.com/support/#faq>
------
freditup
My thoughts: "Hey! This looks pretty neat. Oh it's $150 on sale, forget this.
Oh it's only for macs, glad I never bought this piece of garbage."
That being said, it could be great, I have no idea.
~~~
lectrick
Maybe that's because Macs don't generally deal with pieces of garbage. Whether
that's tools, or users.
~~~
freditup
If you really think one platform is so superior to another, you're missing the
point entirely.
------
shapeshed
There's a reasonably new language called HTML that is a good development
platform too. Works on all devices.
~~~
michael_f
"Good" and "Works" being relative terms, of course. YMMV, especially amongst
devices in the installed base where web views aren't GPU-backed (e.g, on one
common platform, that being the vast majority).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Lock screen bypass already discovered for Apple’s iOS 12 - ccnafr
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2018/10/02/lock-screen-bypass-already-discovered-for-apples-ios-12/
======
BetterCallMe
Isn't this a super easy way to bypass it? I think Apple should note this in
their manuals and make sure that everyone who has Siri enabled when the phone
is locked and is under risk knows about an option to disable it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Bash Infinity: A standard library and a boilerplate framework for Bash - daenney
https://github.com/niieani/bash-oo-framework
======
agentgt
I have wondered if there could be a CoffeeScript or TypeScript of Bash.
Basically a transpiler to Bash that is safer and more convenient to write in.
Then you just ship the bash script with no dependencies. The transpiler might
even be smart enough to take GNU/BSD differences into account.... ahh another
project idea that I do not have time to implement :(
EDIT: Apparently there is one and it is even the language I would have problem
implemented the compiler in (OCaml) [1] . It is shame though it doesn't seem
to have much functionality other than checking if files exist and string
manipulation. If they had just focused exclusively on Bash/coreutils (and
Powershell for windows) they could probably add a lot more features....
Windows seems to be holding them back.
[1]: [https://github.com/BYVoid/Batsh](https://github.com/BYVoid/Batsh)
~~~
boardwaalk
It seems to me there's little reason to not just use another shell or
scripting language (Python? Ruby? TCL?)
You're not constrained by the browser only supporting JavaScript here.
~~~
nine_k
Ability not to install a dependency (especially something relatively
sprawling, like Ruby) may be the whole point.
Some even constrain the scripts to sh, so that even bash isn't a dependency
and you can run on e.g. OpenWRT.
~~~
Scarbutt
For avoiding a dependency you can use Go instead of Ruby for example, I don't
use Go so I don't how well will it run in something like openwrt.
~~~
nine_k
It will likely run fine, but you'll have to prepare a binary for every
platform you support, while `sh` is already there.
------
massysett
If you need something this elaborate, you really shouldn't be writing it in
Bash in the first place.
Anytime I find myself wishing I had arrays, or real data types, or real
functions, I stop using shell languages immediately. Shell scripts are really
only suitable for the exact same sorts of things I would type myself at a Unix
prompt...and since those sorts of things are rarely more than a few lines
long, shell scripts shouldn't be longer than that either.
~~~
esmi
I can think of some cases where it might make sense depending on the specific
details. For example if you already had tons of scripts that you wanted to
wrap and one couldn't install things as root this could be the quickest path
forward.
The nice thing about shell languages (like sh and to some extent bash) is they
run everywhere with minimum dependancies. This makes them great for things
like build environment configuration. Those scripts can easily get very
complex and it's nice to have some built-in tools to help keep it under
control.
------
thesmallestcat
Cool idea. Wish it supported Bash 3 (did read the note on that). For some
strange reason, sourcing Lib/Array/Intersect.sh is an infinite loop. The full
library, apart from that file, sources in a few seconds which isn't terrible:
$ time { . lib/oo-bootstrap.sh ; for f in `find lib/ -type f -name '*.sh' -not -name oo-bootstrap.sh` ; do echo $f && source $f ; done ; }
lib/Array/Contains.sh
lib/Array/List.sh
lib/Array/Reverse.sh
lib/String/GetSpaces.sh
lib/String/IsNumber.sh
lib/String/SanitizeForVariable.sh
lib/String/SlashReplacement.sh
lib/String/UUID.sh
lib/TypePrimitives/array.sh
lib/TypePrimitives/boolean.sh
lib/TypePrimitives/integer.sh
lib/TypePrimitives/map.sh
lib/TypePrimitives/string.sh
lib/UI/Color.sh
lib/UI/Console.sh
lib/UI/Cursor.sh
lib/util/bash4.sh
lib/util/class.sh
lib/util/command.sh
lib/util/exception.sh
lib/util/log.sh
lib/util/namedParameters.sh
lib/util/pipe.sh
lib/util/test.sh
lib/util/tryCatch.sh
lib/util/type.sh
lib/util/variable.sh
real 0m2.490s
user 0m1.240s
sys 0m0.834s
Sadly it broke my already installed bash completion:
$ ls # + <TAB>
x UNCAUGHT EXCEPTION: quoted
gsed: -e expression #1, char 2: invalid usage of line address 0
|} [bash_completion:0]
|} * _filedir [bash_completion:1196]
|} x COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -P "$prefix" -W "${COMPREPLY[@]}" ) ) [bash_completion:1196]
! Press [CTRL+C] to exit or [Return] to continue execution.
I don't understand why somebody would use Bash in this way though, maybe just
for fun?
~~~
kbenson
It is odd. It's not like you can assume bash is everywhere, it's not installed
by default on some BSDs (unless this is really an sh standard lib, not bash).
You're probably better off going with Perl, it probably exists on the system
you are targeting (and it's quite heavy, but it you want to you can package it
into an executable for Windows if you need).
~~~
nickpsecurity
Do you know if anyone has done a survey of what software is on almost all the
BSD or Linux boxes for deployment purposes? Especially, transpiling
unsupported X to supported Y.
~~~
kbenson
No, but that would be wonderful! A caniuse.com for operating systems, listing
whether a major for of software (library, interpreter, compiler, shell) is
available as part of the default install, part of additional packages from the
core set during install, from additional packages blessed by the provider but
not available through install media, a third party repo, source compilation,
or is known to not be functional.
~~~
nickpsecurity
That's pretty nice link. Thanks for it. Yeah, that but for basic software.
------
ozten
This is a really interesting project for testing the boundaries between "shell
scripting", "scripting" and "programming".
The semantics are advanced enough and different enough, that if I needed them,
I would probably write the code in my favorite "scripting" language such as
Python or NodeJS.
If Bash Infinity became ubiquitous, would it displace that "scripting" sweet
spot that has been pretty constant with Perl/Python/Ruby for two decades? Or
are you better of with a dedicated scripting language?
Of course you can write "shell scripts" in Haskell (or insert your favorite
lang), but the tooling and rigor pushes you into "programming" territory.
------
brudgers
Project homepage: [https://invent.life/project/bash-infinity-
framework](https://invent.life/project/bash-infinity-framework)
------
Klasiaster
Recently xonsh became a very good drop-in for Bash and if you know Python,
then it's just a few things to learn.
[http://xon.sh/](http://xon.sh/)
------
gfaure
On another note, what is this rather distinctive monospace font?
[https://raw.githubusercontent.com/niieani/bash-oo-
framework/...](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/niieani/bash-oo-
framework/master/docs/exception.png)
------
shmerl
I often feel Bash is too limited, and the language really could be extended.
For instance passing anything by reference is a huge pain to deal with (using
global variables is a very ugly workaround).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
DuckDuckGo included in Opera - exterm
http://duck.co/topic/duckduckgo-in-opera
As of Opera 11.52, DDG is included in the default search engine list.
======
fleaflicker
Can you shed any light on the deal terms? That search box is a major source of
revenue for browsers. Did you undercut the other search engines?
I know it's sensitive business information but any information you can provide
would be great.
~~~
asadotzler
There's no way DDG can outbid Google or Bing. Also, it's not the default
search where all the money is so they probably didn't have to beat out the big
dogs to get into the list.
~~~
pbhjpbhj
Surely the minute DDG starts costing them revenue then Google, et al., will
simply cut them off from using their search results (eg via !) and
substantially reduce the utility of DDG?
------
fredugolon
While this is certainly an impressive feat, I've not found myself impressed
with DuckDuckGo's results. I love the principles of having search results be
free of personal information but, for a search provider that essentially
collects and organizes other search engine's results, I always find myself
back at Google. Often times the result I wanted was as many as 4 or 5 pages
back, whereas with Google it's usually in the first 5 or so results,
immediately seen on the first page.
~~~
epi0Bauqu
Thank you for giving it a try! We're always trying to improve and to the
extent you remember any specific examples we'd love to review them:
<http://duckduckgo.com/feedback.html>
~~~
robfitz
I prefer DDG for general search, but google was too good at digging up obscure
code errors. I end up spending more time looking for errors than general stuff
(which I guess means I'm a terrible programmer), so grudgingly switched back
to the googs.
------
skylan_q
I always found Opera to be ahead of the curve when it came to changes and new
features in web browsers.
But I made duckduckgo the default search engine in Opera almost a week ago!
C'mon guys, don't let me lead the way! (It's a scary thought)
------
JoshTriplett
Not just "included", but according to the linked post, Opera now uses
DuckDuckGo as the default search engine. That sounds like a major win for
them.
~~~
picklepete
Not quite - "is now in the default search engine list". It's still an
incredible achievement. :-)
~~~
JoshTriplett
Thanks for the clarification.
------
jeroen
more info at Opera:
[http://my.opera.com/ruario/blog/2011/10/19/the-hidden-
featur...](http://my.opera.com/ruario/blog/2011/10/19/the-hidden-feature-
of-11-52-duckduckgo-is-added-to-opera)
------
junktest
Hey, what's the point of DuckDuckGo when you have the NOTORIOUS FACEBOOK
TRACKING CRAP in the page <http://duck.co/topic/duckduckgo-in-opera> and the
forums ? see [http://nikcub.appspot.com/facebook-re-enables-
controversial-...](http://nikcub.appspot.com/facebook-re-enables-
controversial-tracking-cookie) and <http://www.identityblog.com/?p=1201>
<http://europe-v-facebook.org/EN/en.html>
defeats the intent and reputation of DuckDuckGo.
~~~
epi0Bauqu
Zoho runs our forums. I'll investigate and see what can be done. I saw your
post on duck.co as well.
------
nextparadigms
They should consider Blekko, too. I've found some very relevant results on it,
like if I was looking for a review of a laptop or something like that.
~~~
defconred
I've had good success with Blekko. Not crazy about the slash syntax, but it
certainly seems to work for me.
Btw, I'm a fan on DDG. It's slick and fun to use (although I still habitually
go to Google still). Bad habit to break!
------
sunnydaynow
Did they use their new funding to pay for this?
~~~
epi0Bauqu
Nope -- absolutely nothing to do with it.
~~~
sunnydaynow
That makes it double impressive. This market really needs competition, so all
the best.
------
antidaily
Cuil!
------
afdssfda
DuckDuckGo needs to change their name, imo. Secondly, they need to reduce the
number of links you have to click through to get to a site you are looking
for. The disambiguation step takes too long.
~~~
k33n
Yeah, a company that's just starting to build brand awareness should really
just up and change their name. Brilliant.
~~~
afdssfda
Well, it sucks. Better to fix something that sucks early on.
~~~
viraptor
Definitely. The name sucks. It sucks just as much as other crazy names that
make no sense... like GoDaddy - who would ever use a company like that? Sounds
like an escort service. Or Yahoo. Or Google. Those names just don't make sense
and should be changed ;)
------
phektus
achievement unlocked
------
vicngtor
Pardon me for my ignorance, isn't this somewhat considered to be some form of
anti-trust behavior?
If not, why does Google Chrome ask you to pick Google, Bing or Yahoo at the
first use?
~~~
dorian-graph
dangrossman has given an adequate explanation though I have a question? Why
couldn't the Opera people make it the default search engine? It's their piece
of software and you're free to change it to anything you want.
People seem so quick to cry wolf.
~~~
skylan_q
From what I understand, most of their revenue for the desktop browser comes
from the fact that google is the default search engine.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Founder Dilemma: Risk, Equity Dilution, And Term Sheets - oguz
http://tech.li/2012/02/the-founder-dilemma-risk-equity-dilution-term-sheets/
======
flom
I have a question for the more experienced HN users: is the author correct in
asserting that in the "real world," being a co-founder of a startup is
considered unemployed if there isn't a successful exit? I always thought that
building a product from start to finish that has users is considered good
experience to employers, even if it turns out not to be a sustainable
business.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Bloom distributed programming language released - gammarator
http://www.bloom-lang.net/
======
3dFlatLander
I think I'm a distributed computing fanboy. I'd like to pull a few EC2 (or
GPU) instances and see how quick brute forcing different encryption/hashing
would take, how big of a prime number one could compute in a few hours, do the
same pi/e/eulers, or let some genetic algorithms generate a huge wad of data.
No idea why or to what ends, just seems like a cool thing to do with spare
time.
~~~
jerf
You mean in general or with this project? This project appears to be a Ruby
DSL with aspirations to be its own language someday, but while it's a Ruby DSL
it's not going to be a great language for performance exploration. Ruby is
_slow_. Writing in a faster language(/implementation) and running it on a
single computer is like running a Ruby cluster of ~30 machines, for raw
performance work.
(Ruby being slow isn't a criticism. "Some of my best friends are slow
languages." But it's not where I'd start any sort of clustered/cloud computing
project.)
~~~
nathanmarz
What these guys are doing with Bloom/Bud are searching for dramatically better
abstractions for building distributed systems. Getting the performance right
should and will come later.
I'm a big believer in the mantra "First make it possible. Then make it
beautiful. Then make it fast." In the distributed systems community, there's a
lot of experience with "making it possible": Hadoop, Dynamo, etc. Bloom/Bud is
attempting to figure out the "make it beautiful" part by leveraging what we
already understand about the problem domain of building distributed systems.
Worrying about the kinds of constant-time performance things you mentioned at
this stage would be premature optimization. I commend them for building this
system in a language that allows them to iterate fast and experiment. I'm sure
in the future they'll look at using technology like JRuby to improve the
performance of the project.
I think what they're doing is very interesting and potentially groundbreaking
-- I can't wait to see where this project goes.
~~~
jerf
I get where you are coming from, and it's a good plan, as long as the plan is
to eventually fully detach from Ruby. Being even two or three times as fast as
Ruby, which seems to be an optimistic interpretation of JRuby's performance,
is still starting from a terrible position in so many ways.
I don't get the idea that some people seem to have that performance doesn't
matter for distributed systems, when the truth is the exact opposite. Desktops
and even cell phones, we see a great deal of sloppiness around performance,
because it doesn't really matter that much. Small servers or small clusters,
we still say throw more hardware at it and just hack some stuff together for
clustering. But when you're serious about distributed systems is also when you
are counting every one of something; maybe disk hits, maybe CPU cycles, maybe
bytes of RAM, but there is something you are obsessing over. And maybe you're
obsessing over more than one of these at once, all with an intensity that
would credit an Atari 2600 programmer. (Facebook apparently published the
specs for their machines today. Tell me they aren't too concerned about
performance.) I'm not sure leaving performance for later is a good idea, they
may well iterate their way into a cool abstraction that will _never_ perform.
Designing a distributed system abstraction without worrying about performance
strikes me as about as sensible as designing a new 3D framework without
worrying about performance... not necessarily a fatal flaw but I sure hope you
have a good plan.
~~~
jacques_chester
> I don't get the idea that some people seem to have that performance doesn't
> matter for distributed systems, when the truth is the exact opposite.
I think that investment in performance follows a curve.
A bowl, actually. And that this interest is based on the cost of optimisation
vs the payoff.
- -
-- --
--- ---
---- ----
------ ------
--------- ---------
--------------- ----------------
------------------------------------------------
<-- embedded ... SME web/desktop ... data-centre -->
Assume that an optimisation costs $X of programmer time and pays back $Y
dollars.
When your cost of production is very large, $Y > $X. That's what you see for
embedded systems with millions of units shipped and for data-centre computing
with tens of thousands of units installed. The cost of one programmer
optimising is well worth it.
But for the sunny plain of mediocrity in the middle, the cost of extra
hardware ($Y) will be less than the cost of the programmer time $X.
Here endeth the extemporising.
------
pumpmylemma
See wealth of background material: <http://boom.cs.berkeley.edu/papers.html>
------
gwern
FYI: the name seems to stem from the BOOM project, and have nothing to do with
'Bloom filters'.
~~~
joe_hellerstein
Leopold Bloom, not Burton Bloom.
------
mx2323
i feel like this is an interesting step in the right direction
but... what happens if i want to read, process and write a log message....?
thats three different bloom blocks that require 2 partial orderings.
instead of totally unordering everything, id rather have the ability to
declaratively order functions for a request, where a function is a typical
sequenced set of operations.
their examples arent particularly helpful, looks like most of these bloom
blocks are single lines...
~~~
joe_hellerstein
See the sandbox at <https://github.com/bloom-lang/bud-sandbox/> Some involved
examples there (including a GFS clone).
------
CoffeeDregs
I like it! umm... but what the hell is it? I STFA (skimmed-the-f*ing-article)
and don't know what's going on here. Quick! What does this mean?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: HackerRank's app guarantees an interview call after a coding challenge - rvivek
http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/12/hackerrank-jobs-takes-the-mystery-out-of-technical-recruiting/
======
sakopov
Are there actual licensed engineering professionals (ie electrical,
mechanical) who resort to some made up ranks to separate themselves from the
herd and use puzzles to judge the skillset of a potential employee? How does
this work in industries other than software? Just genuinely curious here.
~~~
krupan
Putting the most positive spin on this situation as I can, I think the
difference between software and other engineering disciplines is in software
we are often hiring people to do things that have never been done before.
Other disciplines can say, "we need you to design this, have you ever designed
this before?" and the engineers can generally say, "yes, and this is how it
went." For software the best way we can guess if people will be able to do the
thing that they have never done before is to assess their general cleverness
and problem solving skills, with puzzles.
Or something like that.
~~~
rahimnathwani
Is that true, or is it just that we're unaware of how much innovation exists
in other fields?
------
stared
Is "Show HN" an appropriate category for a link to a TechCruch coverage?
(Unless you are the creator of TechCrunch... and expect us learn about it from
this post.)
~~~
dang
The rules morph to accommodate the type of project. It's hard to show a mobile
app directly, so an article describing the work with a link to the app is ok.
In this case, since there's a web version, the Show HN post should probably
have linked to that, with a mention of the article in the comments. But it's a
bit late to change now so we'll leave it as is.
------
ry_ry
Is it wrong that I have zero interest in a new job, but want to sign up for a
ready supply of interesting puzzles?
~~~
akhilcacharya
Why not just use normal HackerRank then...?
------
tryitnow
I love the general principle of this and applies to other professions.
I work in finance and accounting and it's rare for someone's technical skills
to be evaluated in an interview.
The problem with that is that the profession becomes overrun with people who
have zero ability to actually get things done in an efficient manner.
Not everyone need to be a coder, but most professionals do need to know how to
leverage machines to automate their workflow and generate deeper insights.
If I were hiring people in my field (finance/accounting) I would love to use
something like this to make sure a candidate can accomplish some basic
analytic tasks and workflow automation tasks.
------
troy142
Looks like Uber and VMware are already using this product. Can anyone from
those teams tell us about their experience?
~~~
kbuck
My team (at VMware) has used HackerRank to hire. It worked out pretty well.
The biggest advantage was being able to vet many candidates quickly. It's
definitely improved our hiring process (it used to take us much longer to find
a suitable candidate). I think my team was one of the first at our company to
use it (and we haven't done much hiring since), so my knowledge about the
specifics is a little out-of-date.
------
akhilcacharya
It would be really nice if something like this existed for internships - some
of the companies listed (like Uber) seem to be extraordinarily hard to get a
response from if you don't go to a target school.
~~~
rvivek
We have 5 companies already ready to take interns. If you are interested, you
can just email me: vivek@
~~~
akhilcacharya
I'm down, will do.
------
yarou
While I cannot vouch for whether or not this will land you an interview,
HackerRank was very useful in preparing for interviews.
Also, the team is great - I signed up a long time ago and had some performance
feedback for Vivek. They promptly implemented the change within a day. I
haven't used it recently, but at the very least you'll get something out of it
if you need practice.
------
korymath
Canadian companies too?
------
minimaxir
*guarantees an interview call after a coding challenge
~~~
rvivek
Yes, that's correct. Guarantees after clearing the qualification score for a
coding challenge.
~~~
minimaxir
The point is that the omission makes your submission title somewhat
misleading.
An app that guarantees an interview _ipso facto_ would be interesting. An app
that guarantees an interview after passing a coding challenge is standard fare
for most tech job-hiring startups nowadays. (It also doesn't make much sense
to offer a coding challenge on a smartphone either)
~~~
rvivek
Got it. Will fix the title. However, the "guarantee" part if you pass a coding
challenge isn't a standard. For eg: if you would like to apply to Facebook,
how would you go about doing it now?
~~~
minimaxir
Standard for job-hiring startups like Hired and TripleByte, for example, not
for the normal interview process. (Although I double checked and TripleByte
does not do a programming challenge; they go straight to the interview)
~~~
rvivek
It involves a lot of manual work on both hired & triplebyte . For instance in
triplebyte, you get interviewed by the triplebyte team AND then proceed for an
interview. We are bypassing those steps and getting them connected directly to
companies.
------
swagv
Sorry, Hacker Rank can't make me guarantee anything.
~~~
dang
Please stop posting unsubstantive comments to Hacker News.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
People don't care how your product is built - dopeboy
http://dopeboy.github.io/people-dont-care/
======
Finnucane
They may not care about the particular technology you use, but they do care if
your product does not work very well. They may not know one framework or
library or language from another, but they do know what crap is.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Who Writes Wikipedia? (2006) - luu
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/whowriteswikipedia
======
quanticle
Wales is right about one thing, though. This fact does have enormous policy
implications. If Wikipedia is written by occasional contributors, then
growing it requires making it easier and more rewarding to contribute
occasionally. Instead of trying to squeeze more work out of those who spend
their life on Wikipedia, we need to broaden the base of those who
contribute just a little bit.
The problem is that, as a community, Wikipedia has gone out of its way to do
the opposite of that. New content is often treated as "guilty until proven
innocent", and it's up to the contributor to wade through Wikipedia's
idiosyncratic rules and definitions in order to justify to the moderators why
their edits should not be reverted or their articles deleted.
~~~
Mathnerd314
It really depends on what you edit. Sci/tech/math is pretty much un-monitored
in my experience. The economics pages are full of weird pet theories.
Meanwhile, as you say, current events, biographies, and a lot of other less
technical pages (that don't require the deep background that the article
refers to) are infested with deletionists.
~~~
shdjchduwne7
It really seems to come down to politics, specifically whether or not /any/
group considers a topic political. I've made a few reasonably long albeit
anonymous edits to the pages for specific regional cuisines and so far the
only thing that's been changed is someone altered my wording a little once by
breaking a sentence up into two.
------
onyva
From my experience with trying to contribute to the Hebrew version, try
contributing focusing on expanding an existing article and watch what happens.
In my case there was a very strong push back even against adding links that
expand on issues mentioned which imho helped to balance an obvious slant. I
gave up after a while. At university of course you’re warned not to use
Wikipedia, it’s not acceptable as a reference and many examples are presented
of experts in their field who contributed articles, which were then rewritten
to the point where there was nothing left, other than the revised version of
the moderators and the small mafia that runs the Israeli Wikipedia. There’s
also the examples of the Croatian version which was taken over by neonazis and
even the ministry of education had to publish a warning.
~~~
draugadrotten
The political bias of wikipedia editors is horrible in most smaller countries.
You mention Israel and Croatia. I can add Sweden. For an example, compare the
wikipedia entries of the two largest parties in the Swedish parliament. One,
Socialdemokraterna, starts with a blurb on how the party provides public
welfare and the party slogan ("av var och en efter förmåga, åt var och en
efter behov"). Compare with the second largest party, Sverigedemokraterna,
which has an entire section devoted to listing scandals, controversial quotes
and shunnings. Whatever you think about the two ideologies, these two
wikipedia entries alone should be enough proof that there is a (left)
political bias of wikipedia editors.
I use wikipedia often because it has a lot of information in it, but would
never rely on it as a source of fact. It is a google result like any other,
and must be treated with caution.
~~~
Proziam
Almost all social platforms on the internet have a left-leaning tilt because,
at least partially, the left (historically) organizes much better than the
right does. This is one of those "well duh" statements once it's said out
loud, considering the left's entire platform is about unification and social
issues in most countries. That said, there are signs that point to a change in
that recently (the second amendment rallies and sanctuaries around the US as
examples).
This is _extremely_ visible on Reddit, to the point that even moderates on the
left can find it exhausting.
~~~
defertoreptar
I was under the impression that this was because the left skews younger, and
Gen X and millennials are more active and capable online.
~~~
Proziam
Age is a component, but it doesn't adequately explain the difference in
movements that occur in the real world as well as online. Universities have
students organizing protests against right-wing figures quite frequently, and
it was almost exclusively the left who pushed for the $15 minimum wage -
despite both parties populations being affected heavily.
From what I've seen (living in US, Germany, and Sweden) no matter where you go
there is a difference in 'wiring.' [0]And according to some sources I've read
there appears to be some science behind that as well.
[0][https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/10/can-
you...](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/10/can-your-genes-
predict-whether-youll-be-a-conservative-or-a-liberal/280677/)
~~~
bawolff
Universities skew younger even more than the internet does.
I think there is an element of the left wanting to "fix" the world which
appeals to young people, and the right wanting to "protect" the world from bad
changes, which appeals to older more cautious people.
~~~
Proziam
The US military also skews young but leans more towards the republican party.
[https://news.gallup.com/poll/118684/military-veterans-
ages-t...](https://news.gallup.com/poll/118684/military-veterans-ages-tend-
republican.aspx)
~~~
defertoreptar
Looks like there are 1.29 million in the US military (0.3% of US population),
with an average age of 34.5. (All figures from top search result of Google.)
59% of millennials lean or identify as Democrat compared to 35% Republican
[https://www.people-press.org/2018/03/01/1-generations-
party-...](https://www.people-press.org/2018/03/01/1-generations-party-
identification-midterm-voting-preferences-views-of-trump/)
~~~
Proziam
[0]There were 18.8 million veterans living in the US in 2017.
I don't know a single person in the military today that is over 30, and I live
right by Nellis(Not exactly hard data, of course). Most people go into the
military right after high school. I'd be surprised if the average age is
actually that high, especially considering you _can 't even join_ the military
over certain ages - though that depends on the branch and other factors. IIRC
you cannot join the marines if you are >30
I suspect you probably are specifically looking at officers, which is an
entirely different story.
[0][https://www.ncsl.org/blog/2017/11/10/veterans-by-the-
numbers...](https://www.ncsl.org/blog/2017/11/10/veterans-by-the-numbers.aspx)
------
bawolff
It would be interesting to redo this analysis now. 2006 was a long time ago.
In 2006 wikipedia was in a very rapid growth phase; lots of topics still
didn't have good coverage yet. In 2020, I can't remember a recent time where a
mainstream topic didn't have extensive coverage on en wikipedia. Do the masses
still write most of Wikipedia now that the low hanging fruit has been written?
~~~
lkbm
I recently amazed several non-tech friends by mentioning that I, personally,
have edited Wikipedia. It's not something a lot of people think of as
something they can even do. They're not fixing typos, let alone making
substantive edits or writing new articles.
I realize "do most people edit Wikipedia" is different from "are most
Wikipedia edits from casual users", but it was an eye-opening interaction for
me.
------
kick
None of the comments in this submission's thread so far seem to be related to
the article's content (the headline _was_ tantalizing, but the article itself
is really cool), so to try and counteract that, here's one that's directly
related:
As it says, Wikipedia is written by vast amounts of people. The myth that only
a small number of people contribute is just that: a myth. Checking edit
histories on anything but the most niche of articles would demonstrate this,
but you could also do the same analysis he did today and see if you can
replicate his result; it's been a few years now, things probably look slightly
different.
This has gotten more relevant over time even though the people perpetuating
the myth have changed, along with their motives for doing so. One of the more
popular and long-lasting myths!
~~~
saagarjha
I don't get why you'd want to perpetuate the myth of Wikipedia editors being
this small, powerful in-group of people anyways…
~~~
thrwaway69
Possibly to discredit it as having a political identity of its own or
something because small group of people can be more biased openly than a large
group?
~~~
saagarjha
Right, but this is _Jimmy Wales_ pushing this.
~~~
kick
Ego in his case, though modern forms of it are generally what the above
throwaway said.
------
milsorgen
The small amount of people who work on Wikipedia is it's greatest weakness.
Petty power plays and individual politics all bubble up from those few into a
resource so many millions use. It deserves more but how can anyone even start
with all the rules, bots and reverts. It's really demoralizing to try and put
in any effort there as you'll quickly encroach on some editors "territory".
~~~
executesorder66
> It deserves more but how can anyone even start with all the rules, bots and
> reverts.
That's why I prefer contributing to smaller wikis. They have much less
political issues. However, I'd say more than 90% of the edits I've made to the
English Wikipedia are still live.
It really depends where you choose to edit. Some articles just have asshole
editors who think they own the article. And not everyone has the energy to
fight back against that.
~~~
pbhjpbhj
Is there a simple way to check if one's edits are live, so those that aren't
can be reviewed?
~~~
TuringTest
You can filter article history by user [1] to check whether their
contributions are still in the current version, or use Wikiblame creatively to
find who wrote some specific part of a live article [2].
[1]
[https://tools.wmflabs.org/sigma/usersearch.py](https://tools.wmflabs.org/sigma/usersearch.py)
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiBlame](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiBlame)
[http://wikipedia.ramselehof.de/wikiblame.php](http://wikipedia.ramselehof.de/wikiblame.php)
------
WhompingWindows
I write/edit on Wikipedia most days. I've contributed to over 100 English
articles, on topics ranging from science to music to art. In my experience,
science/mathematics articles are VERY high level, often graduate-level
content, and they can use some softening of jargon and domain-specific
verbiage.
In the arts and music, many paintings, musical compositions, etc. don't have
much written, or it's poorly written, by a non-English writer, etc.
I tried to write an article about my college a cappella group and it got
rejected for not being famous enough. I thought that was a bit silly because
my group was just as famous as random tiny towns in the middle of
nowhere...shrug.
I'd encourage you all to join Wikipedia and make edits to anything you see
that's amiss!
------
giansegato
I miss Aaron so much
~~~
fergie
I miss him, and I miss people like him. At one point he embodied "web"
culture. Seems like a long time ago now.
~~~
commandlinefan
> At one point he embodied "web" culture
And is now the polar opposite of anything you might consider "web culture"
today.
------
greendestiny_re
For those who haven't read the linked article, it states that unregistered and
anonymous users create the vast majority of Wikipedia content; the registered
editors mostly move things around, delete commas and the like.
------
jokoon
Is there valid criticism on the accuracy of certain wikipedia articles?
It could also be interesting to have some study or writing on certain "edit
wars" on certain controversial subjects on wikipedia.
In general, the accuracy of wikipedia is pretty good, and generally wikipedia
is still very valuable.
I just wish wikimedia would do more do promote its high quality articles and
bundle them per fields to make quality textbooks on particular subjects. It
also seems articles are not really indexed per category, which makes it hard
to gather articles on a particular subject. Anyway it would involve a lot of
work.
~~~
zozbot234
Wikipedia does support article 'bundles' (they're known as Featured/Good
Topics) but open textbooks are covered by a separate effort, namely Wikibooks.
------
gwern
2006, using data primarily from Wikipedia articles written before then, was a
_very_ long time ago. Things have changed a lot:
[https://arxiv.org/pdf/1407.0323.pdf](https://arxiv.org/pdf/1407.0323.pdf)
~~~
gatestone
Small special wikis are very different fron Wikipedia.
------
milkers
R.I.P Aaron.
------
hnewsshadowbans
Wikipedia is written by a much smaller (from what I've seen) and far more
cliquish group than in the old days. The novelty of editing an open
encyclopedia has worn off and a far more vast majority now just visit for the
questionable facts while only the people with too much time on their hands
still edit.
Coincidentally theres even more territoriality than before with people setting
up fiefdoms on prime articles and don't you dare flout their authority. Its
worst of course on the politically relevant topics. A current favored tactic
is to frontload the very beginnings of articles about organizations and people
they don't like with negative/inflammatory information. For example compare
the current versions of Breitbart News, Conservapedia, One America News
Network, and Stephen Miller with Daily Kos, Rational Wiki, and Huffington
Post.
The defense if they're called on it is a tortured appeal to 'authoritative
consensus' where an editor will go on a fishing expedition for negative quotes
from the left of center media bloc like CNN or HuffPo and anything they find
on there even blatant opinion is automatically sacrosanct regardless of
whether it actually is a consensus among the entire media.
So basically the political articles are even more trash than ever. Again you
can draw whatever connection you want to the type of people left editing this
mess. I feel sorry for anyone who actually reads and believes it.
Another annoying thing is that they still haven't fixed their scientific
articles which for anything beyond the basics tend to be overly jargonish and
technical yet uninformative at the same time.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Threadless is shutting their iOS app down next week - dvydra
https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/threadless/id428853321?mt=8
======
dhendy
Hi. I lead the Digital team at Threadless and we're shutting down the app
because doing so allows us to spend developmental energy making the experience
of our main app better for everyone. It served the purpose at the time, but as
our focus shifted more into the Artist Shops platform over the last two years,
maintaining and updating the native app proved to not be the best use of time
or resources for the team. The web and phones have come a long way since we
launched it, and we feel that pulling it now is better than letting customers
use something that we're not giving our full attention to.
------
jorblumesea
I really think having a dedicated native app is a huge hassle for most
businesses today. The web has come a long way and is no longer plagued by the
perf issues of old. I'd imagine having to support both, sync up features and
styles would get extremely difficult both logistically and financially. Far
easier to just have a responsive site and be done with it. Probably save a bit
of money on the payroll side too, frontend engineers are usually cheaper.
~~~
pritambarhate
The problem is most of the companies think that what they are doing is too
important for the user not to use the app. They think that Push Notifications
are the holy grail to keep people engaged and bring the users back.
It will be good if Google allows developers to list pure progressive apps in
the AppStore. Since for many non-technical users, PlayStore is how one is
supposed to install apps, decision makers think it's important to have the
apps.
~~~
wtvanhest
One thing I can't firgure out is why reddit is pushing me to use their app
when the site is better. I dont even understand why they want to.
~~~
suprfnk
A reason might be because it's harder to block ads in an app than it is in a
browser?
~~~
WildGreenLeave
As far as I know it isn't possible to block ads inside the Android Chrome
browser? Only way to do that is using your own DNS, but that would work both
on native and progressive apps.
Correct me if I'm wrong, I'd love to block ads inside my Chrome browser.
~~~
jorams
It's not possible in Chrome on Android, but it is in Firefox.
------
dmerrick
Threadless has an iOS app?
I don't mean to be snarky, but I love Threadless and I had no idea, so maybe
that's why they're shutting it down.
------
untog
Doesn't feel that notable. The friction of a native app download vs just using
the web means that an app is rarely the right answer for shopping. Makes sense
to ditch the app and focus on web.
~~~
cheneytsai
Time to build a Progressive Web App? ;)
~~~
Zeppin
If Apple supports progreasive web-apps this decade I'll eat my hat.
It does nothing for their business and cuts off their revenue streams. It's
simply a bad idea for them.
I'd be curious to see what WASM means for progressive web apps on Android,
however. There Google does benefit but it does weeken their platform by making
competing hardware like Samsung's Tenzen or the near-death Windows Phone far
more viable.
So the question becomes, is Google invested in Android specifically or simply
the existence of mobile that they can profit from?
------
kneel
Threadless shirts are hands down the worst quality clothing I've ever bought
online. Great designs, terrible quality.
I didn't know shirts could be sewn up with so little material. Felt like I was
wearing a light handkerchief.
I instantly returned my shirt and had to cover shipping, sneaky bastards.
~~~
prawn
Must've changed since the early days when I bought 20+ of their shirts. Ended
up wearing most gardening, etc and never had any tear or feel flimsy at all.
Been many years since I bought from them though.
~~~
seattle_spring
They changed from American Apparel to in-house (read: crappy overseas garbage)
a few years back. Quality went down the drain, as did the fit.
~~~
ralfd
That is disappointing to hear. I have bought years ago from Threadless and the
American Apparel shirts still hold up well.
------
garganzol
The more RAM devices have, the more widespread web apps will be. A lot of
niches, originally covered only by native apps, lost their luster for native
development. Web does it all nowadays. See things like Basecamp, Tidal - their
apps are web based and they work just fine on recent devices. By a pure
coincidence, those apps have an outstanding quality. So web stack is a thing
nowadays.
------
strict9
Darn. Hope this isn't a reflection of their business health. Was hoping the
trend of individualized and/or unique clothes would swing back in their favor.
Can't remember the last time I wore a shirt that had a logo or graphic on it,
but think the world be slightly more interesting if people were just a little
more individual in what they wear.
Love their business model, technology and collaboration for something
tangible.
Edit: they still have it nice and big on their home page. And the landing page
seems a bit dated or neglected with the dislaimer "* iOS 7 only"
[https://www.threadless.com/app](https://www.threadless.com/app)
------
beager
If you have a decent number of iOS users, why pull the app? Why not just let
it spin out into deep space, and stop supporting it with updates?
That's an honest question, by the way.
~~~
iamaelephant
They may have a decent number of downloads, but none of us knows how many
users they have. I don't know how long the app has been on the store, but it
only has 53 ratings which indicates very little engagement.
~~~
yeukhon
There is almost no incentive to rate app. They can't reward user and why
should someone leave a comment? This is why I like what Amazon does with
comment.... but if most of these are real users I think the app did a good
job.
------
bnycum
Anyone know how they handled payments in the app? If it wasn't through Apple I
wonder if Apple was coming after them to get their 30%.
~~~
stouset
Apple only takes a cut from the sale of digital goods, not physical ones.
~~~
rubicon33
And even that can really fuck with a business. 30%.
~~~
stouset
Okay, but that has nothing to do with the original conversation we were
having.
~~~
rubicon33
I don't see how it doesn't? This was a discussion about a company shutting
down, and this particular sub-thread was regarding speculation that the
shutdown was the result of Apple 'coming after them' for their 30%... Your
comment that it was only for digital goods, while true, required further
elaboration that even that can be hard on a business. This comment is directly
related to the sub-thread's speculation on why Threadless shut down.
------
DashRattlesnake
So what's the backstory? The only thing the page says regarding the shutdown
is:
> We will be shutting down the Threadless iOS App on June 5, 2017.
~~~
dvydra
I have no idea. I'm hoping by posting here I might find out too.
------
bluthru
I wonder if Apple Pay for the web has something to do with this.
------
Overtonwindow
They have an app‽ I've always used TeeFury for the quality.
------
diziet
The app has had about 200k all time downloads~
------
resist_futility
Same day as WWDC keynote? Coincidence?
------
dafash
Harper
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Mlist – a better way to read email newsletters - noahtovares
Hey everyone! I want to share an app I released called mlist - a better way to read email newsletters. I built mlist because I found a bunch of awesome newsletters that I loved, but didn't like having extra stuff in my in my inbox.<p>Here's how it works: choose a username when you sign up for mlist and use it like an email address ([email protected]) when subscribing to newsletters. The newsletters are delivered right to the app. No more overflowing email inboxes!<p>Check out the website (http://mlist.io) or download the iOS app (https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/app/mlist-better-way-to-read-email/id987277316?mt=8)<p>I'm open to any feedback and happy to answer any questions!
======
Fudgel
The app store link on the page doesn't seem to work for me. Also, when I
signed up, there was no conformation on the page that my signup was
successful, the page just refreshed.
(I'm on chrome 43 on OSX and I disabled adblocking for that page.)
~~~
noahtovares
Thanks for pointing out the broken link! Not the best mistake to make. I also
added a nice confirmation message after signing up. If you did manage to get
the app, even with all my blunders, let me know if you have any questions!
------
Phogo
Clickable link [http://mlist.io](http://mlist.io)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
NAT66: The good, the bad, the ugly - qalmakka
https://mcilloni.ovh/2018/01/20/oh-god-why-NAT66/
======
saywatnow
> This is without considering the false sense of security that address
> masquerading provides; I cannot recall how many times I’ve heard people say
> that (gasp!) NAT was fundamental piece in the security of their internal
> networks (it’s not).
It bugs me when this dogma gets repeated without further explanation,
/particularly in the case of IPv6/. No, NAT probably doesn't provide as much
security as you think it does, but it does provide benefits. A NAT network is
a default-deny-incoming network that cannot fail open, protecting against
common boundary firewall configuration errors. A small (but once very
pervasive) class of firewall bypass attacks (fragmentation) is eliminated.
Obscuring information about the number of devices, and especially (IPv6) their
vendors is beneficial. When (inevitably) a bug in your firewall is discovered
by bad guys, the presence of NAT limits the kinds of attacks they can make. In
the world of IoT, These Things Matter.
It's commonly phrased "NAT is not a security feature, firewalls are", which is
midly nonsensical as NAT is a firewall feature .. one which often improves the
security posture of the network. Of course there are places you absolutely
don't want NAT, but I think it still belongs between the internet and most
networks made entirely of desktop, IoT & personal devices.
~~~
maccam94
> I think it still belongs between the internet and most networks made
> entirely of desktop, IoT & personal devices.
I think your belief has been shaped by the fact that adoption of P2P protocols
was hampered by NAT for over a decade, and that developers often write
software that trusts the local network. Default deny policies help protect
insecure servers for the time being, but I'd like to see servers that utilize
encryption and authentication instead of relying on simple allow all/disallow
all firewall policies at the connection level.
~~~
saywatnow
> developers often write software that trusts the local network
Yes, this is still a source of problems - DNS rebinding allowing websites to
attack random sockets on LAN and localhost makes my skin crawl. That the
protections are being implemented in the browser makes me sad.
> I'd like to see servers that utilize encryption and authentication
Me, I'd prefer architectural solutions further down the stack than /every
single service/ that happens to benefit from a TCP control socket having to
duplicate the work of encryption + authentication, with the attendant myriad
opportunities for it to go horribly wrong. I already mentioned IoT and we know
exactly what that's like when it comes to protecting itself.
Yes, I know, pipe dream .. and going off topic .. but I can wish.
------
wmf
The author's life would be a lot easier by switching to a better VPS provider.
~~~
sigjuice
Which VPS providers would you suggest for proper IPv6 support? Thanks!
~~~
wmf
Maybe Digital Ocean? Vultr? I don't really follow the VPS market.
~~~
dhess
Both will give your VPS a "home" IPv6 address, but if you also expect to
receive an IPv6 prefix/subnet, DO only gives you a /125 per VPS (8 IPs). I
moved my VPN nodes to Vultr for that reason; they give you a /112 (65K IPs)
per VPS.
Neither DO nor Vultr actually routes the assigned prefix to your VPS, so you
have to run something like ndppd [1] to answer NDP queries for IPs in the IPv6
prefix you've been assigned if you want the local router to send your VPS any
traffic on those addresses.
[1]
[https://github.com/DanielAdolfsson/ndppd](https://github.com/DanielAdolfsson/ndppd)
~~~
devicenull
It's actually a /64 at Vultr.
------
tgsovlerkhgsel
I've often seen criticism that "NAT is not a security boundary" etc., but
never seen them explained.
How is putting your network behind a NAT different from a stateful firewall
set to deny inbound connections (and allow outbound and related ones)?
~~~
maccam94
It's different because not only does it deny inbound connections, it breaks
the end-to-end principle[1] of the internet. You can have the security
boundary without NAT by using a firewall, so if that's all you want, don't use
NAT.
1: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-to-
end_principle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-to-end_principle)
------
stock_toaster
NAT66 is also used frequently used for multi-wan egress load balancing.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Swapfiles by default in Ubuntu - reddotX
http://blog.surgut.co.uk/2016/12/swapfiles-by-default-in-ubuntu.html
======
pixl97
Eh, I remember years ago on the LKML that Linus gave a few reason why you
should run a swap file. Those were much older kernels then we are using now,
so the question is, have the reasons changed for wanting swap in the first
place.
First, swap wasn't about 'extra' memory in modern large memory devices, it was
about being able to evict some pages from running memory that rarely need to
get used, leaving more space for filesystem cache. Memory defragmentation was
another reason why some swap should exist. OOM handling works differently on
systems with and without swap.
Myself, depending on the amount of disk space I have, I tend to only give the
system 1 to 2GB of swap space. This allows a temporary overcommit to occur in
smaller programs without OOM killer. If a service trys to allocate many
gigabytes of memory it gets killed without ruining system performance, and it
probably should be killed anyway as something has gone terribly wrong at that
point.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask Career HN: Go back to employer or start fresh? - thesisist
Dear Hackernews, I need some career advice from people that would know: After High School I interned at a small startup, at that time it was just me and the three founders. About a year later I went to College, but continued to do work for them, mostly dumb copy&paste HTML stuff, rarely more complex and time sensitive design work.<p>Fast forward six years: I am about to finish my M.Sc., I am still with the company (doing the same work at the same low rate, gotta pay the rent), the company now has more than 20 employees and was bought for a considerable amount by one of the largest media companies of the country/world. The founders are leaving the company (and while the company will stay independent, suits will be taking over) and approached me about a "frontend and usability" position at the company on pretty short notice: They liked how versatile and loyal I was, how I know the company, know the processes, etc<p>I was flattered, but also alarm bells went off: It's great to be offered a job without even applying for one, however, I am afraid that if I go back, I will continue doing the same stupid work I have done before, even though I now have Masters Degree and shifted my focus considerably (from design to development, which was advice from one of the founders, and I am really thankful for that). The company will definitely undergo some restructuring with interesting opportunities (and I think it will be interesting to experience a company transitioning from a small startup to something bigger), however there are enough people at the company that know I was the "HTML guy".<p>I was always quite busy with school so in terms of internships, my CV is lacking (just a couple of side-projects and freelance jobs). On the one hand, it has always been a dream of mine to go startup hopping and learn from many different experiences, but I am afraid that I won't even be considered for something remotely interesting and will become and stay unemployed. On the other hand is my current employer (with a very large parent company) offering a position that has the potential to open many doors (maybe some I would never get to otherwise) and would be a big name on my CV, potentially making getting internships later easier.<p>I am wondering what to do: Should I ask for an rather high salary to see if they really consider me an asset to the company? How can I make sure I will not be treated as an intern anymore? What looks better on a CV, many Startups or one large corporation? What would you do if you were 26 and broke? Any advice is truly appreciated. Thanks.
======
gregpilling
I would suggest asking for a market rate salary worthy of the position and
degree that you recently received. If they agree, then fine. If they don't
then move on. In 2006 I had a mechanical engineering intern that worked for my
company (manufacturing) about 10 hours a week. Once he graduated, he came to
me for advice about which jobs he should apply for. At that point I had to
choose between paying market rate or losing a guy that had the right talents
and experience, who was already up-to-speed with our company processes.
I decided to keep him, and doubled his pay to do it. He wasn't twice as good
as he was the day before, but we were at the point where company growth
demanded a full-time engineering presence and he was the best choice for the
job. My other alternatives would have been to spend a lot of time recruiting
to find another engineer that would need to be integrated into the company and
paid market rate anyway. Perhaps I was underpaying him as an intern, but the
workload he was given was not demanding and we were exceptionally flexible
with his hours and schedule. We also financially supported his Formula SAE
team at the University. He ended up staying for three years and then going
back to school to get a PhD.
As for your concern about being treated as an intern, don't worry. If they
increase your pay they will certainly increase your workload and
responsibility. After all, they are now paying for it. With founders leaving
the company you could end up one of the most senior people in that division.
------
SabrinaDent
It sounds like you're making decisions without data. You don't seem to have a
solid job description, reporting chain or salary ballpark. Were it me, I would
ask for those things so you could get a clear picture of what you're actually
deciding on and the parameters of the position.
Having said that, there's the old sawhorse where employed people are always
more desirable candidates, so the option to take the job to pay the bills
while looking for other work may be a good one for you.
------
aeontech
Look at it this way: what are you learning at this job? Chances are, having a
six year history of being an intern there (which is, btw, an extremely long
time to be an intern in my opinion), just getting a different title will not
make people treat you any different than they have up to now. Did they offer
you a single raise in six years? If not, they don't see any value in you that
is specific to you, rather, you are easily replaceable. We've had interns at
companies I worked for before, and they all either moved on after six months
to a year, or got hired full time. Not a single one has stayed an intern for
six years.
I'd strongly suggest looking for new positions for multiple reasons.
1\. You will have a clean slate and can grow as fast as you want, without the
history of being the eternal intern.
2\. You will get experience interviewing and talking to different kinds of
companies and teams.
3\. You will almost certainly get paid considerably more than you are now.
4\. You will almost certainly find a position doing work that is more
interesting/rewarding than dumb copy and paste grunt work.
That being said, if you like the company, like the team, and/or like the work,
definitely talk to them first. Ask for a competitive salary (do some research
of what the position you are being hired for normally pays). Ask what kind of
benefits they offer. If they really want you to stay on, they should have no
problem offering you a decent rate.
I wouldn't worry about staying unemployed. Engineers tend to take their skills
for granted and not realize how valuable they actually are. You can always
find freelance work if you work on it, and despite the economy, the hiring in
IT sector is not slowing down as far as I can see. If you are bright and good
at what you do, many companies will even pay for relocation if you are not
local.
You are young and just finishing college, this is the best time to take these
kinds of risks. You'll have a much harder time deciding to join a startup or
quitting an unsatisfying job if you have a family to support.
Companies that truly value you, will want you to be engaged and fascinated by
the work you're doing - that is how you get the best work from the engineers
and they know it. Companies that don't understand that, end up with teams of
unhappy engineers. In some companies, you can transfer to a different team,
work on new projects, and find new interests - other companies have a set hole
for you to fill, and if you are not happy being a cog, you are stuck.
In the end, ask yourself whether you feel like you are growing and learning
anything from the work you are doing and the team you are working with. If you
are stagnating, it's time to either change your position in the company if
they are simply not utilizing your potential, or look for a different company
if they have no work for you that challenges you.
------
brudgers
> _"I was flattered, but also alarm bells went off: It's great to be offered a
> job without even applying for one, however, I am afraid that if I go back, I
> will continue doing the same stupid work I have done before, even though I
> now have Masters Degree and shifted my focus considerably"_
> _"The founders are leaving the company"_
Given the founders exit, it is much less likely that your growth will go
unrecognized.
Good candidates are offered jobs without applying everyday.
Talking with the suits about a new role would be the place to start.
------
stoney
You don't mention any concrete alternatives in your post (i.e. other job
offers or project ideas). Assuming that you don't have anything else lined up
then I would take the job - you can always quit if the work pans out to not be
what you wanted or if they treat you like an intern. Worst case just use it as
a stop-gap to earn some cash and buy some time.
Quitting a job too soon after taking it can look bad on your CV, but not
always. In your case you've kind of been employed by them for a while, so I
don't think you need to worry about CV damage there.
What looks good on your CV really depends on who is looking at your CV. I
don't think corporation vs start up makes much difference. A broad range of
experience looks good, loyalty looks good. You can give the appearance of both
whichever way you go.
As for asking for a higher salary... decide what you think you're worth,
decide how much you want the job, guess what you think they'll pay, then
adjust your request accordingly. If you really want the job then be a bit
conservative, if you're not that bothered either way, and it sounds like
you're not, then aim high.
------
bwh2
Go somewhere else. You need to challenge yourself. It sounds like you know
this and have already decided, but you just want social verification. Here it
is.
------
phamilton
I worked for a summer at a pool plastering company in Los Angeles. While the
work was mindless and painful (LA can be hot!), there were actually a few
important things I learned.
We often finished pools in Beverly Hills. One job we did was a "grout demo".
The deck of their pool was tiled rock and they just didn't like the grout. It
"wasn't sparkly enough" apparently. We didn't want to do such a pointless job
that would take so much time. So the owner of the company bid on the job. He
gave them a figure that was so ridiculously high that he wouldn't mind doing
something that pointless. They agreed (crazy people live in Beverly Hills).
Moral of the Story: Find your price. Figure out how much they would have to
pay you to get you to do the same thing you've always done, regardless of how
much value you feel that adds to the company. If they balk at that price,
fine. You wouldn't want to work for less than that anyway. If they take it...
good, you are valued.
------
whatevers2009
1\. Finding a job in this economy is difficult. If you're on the verge of
graduating, find something to back up before you up and walk even if that was
a consideration.
2\. Always negotiate. Explain that when you started, you just finished high
school. Now, years later with a lot more experience and a better understanding
and nearly with a degree under your belt, you'd like to negotiate for pay. It
isn't unreasonable to ask. Base on their response, you can decide what to do
from there.
3\. I think in the long run, depending on how the above two scenario plays
out, you should be bright enough to play with the options you're given. But as
you've said, you're broke, out of school soon, will probably go into repayment
for student loans if you took any, and unless you got something else lined up,
I wouldn't purposely fudge this and think of it as either or. Negotiate and
talk to them. Figure out your choice after you've figured out what your
options are.
~~~
hallmark
Just because there is high unemployment nationwide, don't assume that getting
a software development job will be historically difficult. After long hiring
freezes, tech companies - more specifically, the team leaders who end up
interviewing you - are dying to hire new employees to fulfill pent up demand
in their own teams. The preference is for experienced candidates, but smart
new grads are also welcome. This is from my experience in the San Francisco
Bay Area.
I'll second the previous recommendations to go out and interview with other
companies. You didn't include many specifics, but I'll assume your master's
degree is in Computer Science and that you are smart. If you don't interview
well, treat each real interview as practice.
Your relatives may warn you about the economy and send you newspaper clippings
showing all the unemployment. I have a hard time convincing my own family, but
software development jobs _are_ different.
------
hedgehog
Bottom line is how you can help them and they can help you. Figure out what
projects you can work on that will be meaningful to the company. Then figure
out what you think a fair salary is. As an aside, I think it is usually better
to be a little underpaid than overpaid because it gives you better leverage
and flexibility in choosing your work. Anyway, if you can come to agreement go
for it. Control your expenses (don't buy a new car!) and in a year if it's not
working out you can move on graciously with cash in the bank.
------
djb_hackernews
So you worked at a growing company for 6 years and never asked for or was
given greater responsibility or significant pay raises? It sounds to me like
the core of the problem here is you don't know how to stand up for yourself.
Intern or not, you blew a great opportunity.
------
lsc
eh, ask for the higher salary, and take it, unless you have a better offer. If
the job ends up sucking, well, just look for a new one. Finding a job is
vastly easier when you have a job.
------
timcederman
26 and with a PhD, I asked for a competitive salary at a startup and got it.
You should do the same.
------
shareme
I would at least diplomatically present your concerns about the offer as it
may be they see it as 'stepping stone' to the actual position they see you at
in the future within the company and that you want, namely development.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Daily Coding Problem – Get a coding interview problem every day - lawrencewu
https://dailycodingproblem.com/
======
applecrazy
Not to be overly critical here, but don't you think your pricing structure is
completely disproportional to what you're offering? Have you ever asked anyone
whether they would be willing to spend $500 a year on 365 programming problems
when they could just IFTTT a feed of Project Euler questions into an email in
5min, or log on to HackerRank or similar using the reminder emails they send
you?
Additionally, (correct me if I'm wrong) but is having one-on-one support the
only difference between the "Plus" and "Pro" pricing tiers? Is it really worth
spending $475 extra/month for the opportunity to discuss problems with the
founders (whose names are nowhere to be found?)
Again, I really don't want to hate on anyone's product. I'm sure there's
something super amazing about this. I just want to understand the rationale
behind the pricing structure, since I've never seen a product like this
before.
~~~
egfx
Yeah, HN is probably not the best place to sell a service like this. But I
could see this being used by certain clientele. Maybe a better offer would be,
get an engineer to interview your candidate.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Y Combinator Introduces Safe, Its Alternative To Convertible Notes - hackhackhack
http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/06/yc-safe/
======
ccmoberg
This is really interesting. My company is currently funded with convertible
debt, and we have had to modify the conversion date at least three times thus
far as we progressed through various twists and turns in our business model
and funding structure. The SAFE mechanism would have likely alleviated a large
and (unfortunately) recurring headache.
------
conexions
Here are the Safe documents if anyone is interested.
[http://ycombinator.com/safe/](http://ycombinator.com/safe/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: When does a story get flagged? - MichaelMoser123
I noticed that the moderators are flagging a lot of stories lately, are there any guidelines that should tell if a story should be flagged? Is there a way to appeal the process?
======
Tomte
Most flagged stories were flagged by users, not moderators.
------
gus_massa
The Guidelines and FAQ are linked at the bottom, some parts may be relevant.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html)
Do you have two or three examples? It's easier to explain what happened in
those cases.
In case you see something that is wrongly dead/flagged you can "vouch" it. If
that fails you can send an email to the mods [email protected] . They usually
reply soon, but it's a manual process so use it wisely.
~~~
MichaelMoser123
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18706174](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18706174)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18696389](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18696389)
\- this one got flagged yesterday, now it is no longer flagged. Wonder what
happened.
~~~
gus_massa
As Tomte said, remember that flags are done by users.
Also, when enough users flags the story it gets a penalty and drops in the
order, then it gets a [flagged] tag and then it is killed. The numbers of
users for each step is not public, it is part of the secret sauce, and may
change from time to time without warning. And also the mods can remove the
penalty/flag/dead.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18706174](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18706174)
" _I hate Python. I hate it with a passion_ " (hackerfactor.com) I'm neither
know why it was flagged. Perhaps the title is too linkbaity. Perhaps python
fanboys get angry. Some claims are not accurate. I think it's a little too
controversial, but I don't agree with the flag.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18696389](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18696389)
" _The “Yellow Vests” Show How Much the Ground Moves Under Our Feet_ "
(criticallegalthinking.com) It's too political and about an event outside USA.
Both reason will case the article to accumulate flags from two sets of users.
In my opinion it's a big event but it's not something new. People don't like
to pay more taxes, and government will use any excuse to add more taxes, the
word has always be this way. Also, I'm from Argentina, so a big riot from time
to time is not surprising :(. I classified this article in the "ignore" bin,
no upvote, no flag, no vouch, just ignore it. (My only action is perhaps to go
to the comments threads and upvote a few gray comments (that are not offensive
or extremely wrong). I think that there are too many downvotes and it's better
to minimize the amount of gray comment to have a nice civil conversation.)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: BountyHiring: Refer friends and earn money - manuganji
http://bountyhiring.com
======
manuganji
Please share any feedback or objections. :)
------
JSeymourATL
I’ve got friends in LOW Places...
~~~
manuganji
Sorry, I don't understand :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Replacement backend for RRD - crad
I am currently re-engineering an stats tracking, analysis, and alerting application which is based upon rrdtool. There are currently roughly 20k data points being monitored every minute and pushed to rrdcached. I'm seeing a substantial performance impact as the quantity of data points grow, even though I am running it on a fairly big box, as the initial implementation of our app targeted roughly 1000 data points.<p>Ultimately I'd like to not stress about scaling the application to 100k data points. I've thought of using Redis, PostgreSQL and Hadoop/HBase, all which are tackling different domain problems. One of my concerns is if I remove the lossy trending of rrd, the size of the data footprint is substantial at 20k data points (20k * 1440 * data lifetime * per-row-overhead).<p>Do you have any suggestions on a data backend, preferably something lossy like rrd?
======
pedoh
At a previous job we were using Ganglia (<http://ganglia.sourceforge.net/>) to
collect both system metrics and custom metrics from our servers. At my current
job, we still use Ganglia for redundant storage of our metrics, but then we
feed the data into Graphite (<http://graphite.wikidot.com/>) for graphing.
Graphite uses Whisper for it's storage mechanism. It's very similar to RRD.
The author wrote a page about why he decided to write his own instead of
leveraging RRD (<http://graphite.wikidot.com/whisper>). We've got over 60k
metrics in our system; happy to talk shop if you want more info.
------
delano
I've worked a lot with Redis over the past 6 months (my own projects +
analytics for yellowpages.ca) and not so much with rrd. Would you be
interested in an email exchange?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Technology enables better User Experiences - ddispaltro
http://journal.paul.querna.org/articles/2011/12/03/technology-experiences/
======
keeperofdakeys
I've had a similar experience with a Samsung laptop and the consumer
electronics store I bought it through. The touchpad had stopped working, so I
took it to the shop's tech desk. After confirming the touchpad didn't work in
my OS, the consultant used a usb live disc to verify it was definitely the
hardware. Then they shipped it to Samsung, rang me when it came back, and I
received a detailed list of the tests and replacements that occurred.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Two-thirds of Hindu Kush-Himalaya ice sheet may disappear in 80 years, says IPCC - elorant
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/15/tibetan-plateau-glacier-melt-ipcc-report-third-pole
======
deftnerd
The IPCC has historically released "worst case scenarios" that line up with
the worst case that all of the people in the room can agree with. Because of
this, "worst case" often ends up being "likely outcome" while worst case is
exponentially worse.
We've been seeing events happen more and more with quotes from scientists
saying "This wasn't expected to happen for another 50 years" [according to the
IPCC reports].
Additionally, the IPCC notoriously makes their predictions algorithmically
based purely on existing observations and doesn't take feedback loops into
account. Those feedback loops are nearly guaranteed, but since they haven't
been triggered yet, the extent of the feedback is hard to predict and thus is
ignored.
It's because of these things that I tend to think that the IPCC reports are
milquetoast. Even though they shock the public, they're actually doing a
disservice by making people think they have more time than they actually have.
Plus, even if it was correct, most people will see this headline and think
that we have 80 years to fix the problem and not realize that the bulk of the
melting will take place before the 80 years is up.
My non-scientific rule-of-thumb with IPCC reports is to take the time and
divide it by 10 as the lower boundary and by 5 as the upper boundary. This is
to take into account the "1 in a 1000 year events" that seem to occur every
few years now.
I personally expect the Kush-Himalaya ice sheet melt to be complete between 8
and 16 years from now because of a drastic and "unforeseen" weather event that
accelerates it one year, like a stalled heat "blob" that camps over it for a
season or a season of above-freezing rain that carves up the ice and carries
it as melt-water downriver.
~~~
merpnderp
"Additionally, the IPCC notoriously makes their predictions algorithmically
based purely on existing observations and doesn't take feedback loops into
account."
This is not even close to true. The UAH and RSS global temperature sets have
shown rock solid rates of change of around ~.13C/decade for 40 years. Yet the
IPCC predicts much higher rates of change in the near future (the only
possible way to get to >+2C/century).
You can't just wave your hands and say the IPCC hasn't considered all the
possible outcomes better than you. What you're doing is FUD, what they're
doing is science.
~~~
chrisco255
Sort of. Modeling and predictions are just part of science. The IPCC never
throws out bad models, they just average all the models together.
~~~
merpnderp
It's nothing like that awful. Like I couldn't just come up with a model
tomorrow and have it approved and averaged - there are absolutely standards to
be met. And the IPCC reports go into great detail on the differences in the
models and why they predict different outcomes.
~~~
chrisco255
A model is a hypothesis. It doesn't matter how much work goes into an
incorrect hypothesis. If it doesn't align with reality, then it must be thrown
out. The scientific method demands this. But the IPCC continues to use an
average of dozens of models.
~~~
merpnderp
Can you point out which models which have been shown to be provably false are
still being averaged? I think the answer is far more complicated than you're
making it.
------
dzdt
For countries like the United States, sea level rise is basically a real
estate problem. Either shoreline communities will need expensive
infrastructure improvements to rise faster than the water or will have to
abandon the lowest lying areas and retreat.
If you want to experience a New Orleans Mardi Gras, you have only a few
decades left, but there are plenty of other places in the U.S. where
Louisianans could find a home.
The biggest brunt of climate change will be borne by low-lying countries. Most
of Bangladesh is at elevations in danger of flooding in the next century.
Where will those 164 million people flee? Will the refugees be accepted or
will there be walls and wars?
~~~
Diederich
I generally agree with this, but one with addition/clarification: it's likely
that climate change is driving the extreme conditions that the United States,
and the world, are seeing far from the coast, such as historic flooding in the
midwest and historic fires in the west.
It's also quite possible that the rate at which such extreme weather events
are getting worse is increasing.
Sea level rise is brutal, and will cause enormous impacts to many millions of
people. Weather weirding stands a good chance of bringing epic damage to many
millions more.
------
starvingbear
Is there any example of an IPCC prediction that actually turned out to be
accurate?
Honestly curious because when I look at insurance market it's clear nobody is
taking threats to sea level remotely seriously so that's one group that
ignores IPCC
~~~
lixtra
> when I look at insurance market it's clear nobody is taking threats to sea
> level remotely seriously
The typical insurance contract is max a few years till payments can be
adjusted to the new risk landscape.
~~~
starvingbear
For home insurance sure. Not for major investments though
------
Bantros
_The IPCC’s fourth assessment report in 2007 contained the erroneous
prediction that all Himalayan glaciers would be gone by 2035. This statement
turned out to have been based on anecdote rather than scientific evidence and,
perhaps out of embarrassment, the third pole has been given less attention in
subsequent IPCC reports_
Trust me, I'm with the IPCC
~~~
makomk
Yeah, from reading the linked New Scientist article that sounds like an
almighty cock-up. One scientist speculated in a media interview that all of
the glaciers in certain parts of the Himalayas could disappear by 2035, and
this somehow not only made it into the IPCC's report but got blown up into a
claim that _all_ of the glaciers in the Himalayas were _very likely_ to
disappear by 2035. Then the chairman of the IPCC accused the Indian government
of practicing "voodoo science" for questioning this.
~~~
Bantros
Haha wow!
------
folli
I'm wondering if there are any estimates/simulations on which countries or
geographical regions would be the least impacted (or perhaps even benefit)
from global warming.
It's very defeatist, but maybe it would make sense to consider emigration
before everyone else does so.
~~~
JoeAltmaier
Surviving rising water levels is trivial of course - just walk away from the
beach.
But its not about the weather changes per se; its about the global human
conflict when food gets scarce and hungry people have guns. You have to
survive that first.
~~~
irrational
So maybe Americans are not so crazy for having so many guns? /s
~~~
rayiner
No sarcasm needed. What do you think will happen when fresh water resources
get tight?
~~~
selimthegrim
What India is doing with the NRC in Assam is probably proactively violating
international treaties on refugees, etc
------
fwsgonzo
Wonder how much the sea level will rise because of this.
~~~
goatinaboat
Bad time to have bought beachfront property that’s for sure.
~~~
black6
30-year mortgages are still being underwritten for beachfront properties.
------
comradesmith
I hate to be that guy, but the himilayas aren't a pole. There can be only two
~~~
rkachowski
Yeah I was also wondering whats happening here. The article states that the
region stores ~15% of the earth's water in ice, so it has similar consequences
as the poles melting, but its completely distinct from magnetic poles
~~~
comradesmith
Or rotational poles
------
reportgunner
"may" in the title, so it really means "will not".
~~~
loxs
Yeah, and the author may actually acquire some common sense in 80 years, but
probably will not.
------
hluska
If this happens, it will trigger a humanitarian crisis of almost unbelievable
proportions. I likely won't be around to see it, but my three year old might.
Forgive the rhetorical question, but what if she has children??
What a horribly sad thought for 6am on a Monday morning.
~~~
growlist
It's almost like by having fewer children, we might ameliorate the problem!
~~~
hluska
Taken in the macro, reproduction is an important part of policy. And you’re
100% correct - we have more than enough humans.
But when I look at the micro, at the amazing little person who is still asleep
in her bed, it’s hard not to look at a subject emotionally.
~~~
srean
Its far from clear even in the macro setting. Without changes in mortality
rate this will lead to a shift in the age distribution of the population --
that can have consequences for the economy.
~~~
izzydata
If humanity is struggling to stay alive is the economy even relevant anymore?
~~~
rayiner
The economy fuels technological advance, and technological advance is the only
thing that can fix the problem. (It may not, but it's the only thing that can.
Social engineering will not.)
~~~
zackmorris
This is a widely held misconception. Humans tend to expand into every niche
and use up all available resources. Tragedy of the commons is an almost
certainty without some kind of government intervention (social engineering).
So we're projected to just keep using more and more and more energy,
regardless of where it comes from, or how cheap/renewable it becomes:
[https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2019/06/27/1561608044000/Green-t...](https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2019/06/27/1561608044000/Green-
technology-will-not-save-us/)
[http://www.roperld.com/science/energyfuture.htm](http://www.roperld.com/science/energyfuture.htm)
On top of that, even if the US and Europe get their acts together, the rest of
the world is going to keep speeding faster and faster to catch up to our
standard of living and waste at least as much energy as we do.
As it stands today, there is no solution. We're looking at ecological collapse
in all areas when approaching human lifetime timescales.
I think that a solution (if there is one) will come from the current gen x
generation (too poor), baby boomer generation (too greedy) and greatest
generation (too much in denial) dying out and being replaced by younger,
hungrier people who can change their minds and adapt when new information is
presented.
In other words, the answer probably isn't technology, it's education and
movements. We quit using leaded gasoline and CFC refrigerants, so maybe we can
quit using coal and single-use plastic, for example. Then it will come time to
quit using the heavy hitting stuff like non-recycled automobiles/housing and
factory farmed food. But nobody will do that unless the cost is comparable for
similar substitutes.
Which is why I think we'll all fail together and accept mundanity in a world
where 90+% of species are extinct and all habitable land is under private
ownership for exploitation. Basically global authoritarianism under late-stage
capitalism.
~~~
srean
Quitting leaded gasoline had much to do with the lead fouling up catalytic
converters. People do not buy converters that go bust in few days --in
otherwords, bad for business. That said catalytic converters came into the
picture because of rising pollution , so prrhaps there is hope, not entirely
sure.
------
growlist
We aren't planning to control global population. We aren't _anywhere near_ the
changes required to make a difference to climate change. The powers that be
are still promoting mass migration in order to increase the size of the global
economy and further enrich themselves. The global system still is still
founded on the idea of never-ending, compounded GDP growth.
Solution? Either some of the aforementioned changes, else Geoengineering, else
a drastic unplanned attentuation in global population.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Life Course Dynamics of Affluence - apsec112
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0116370
======
elbigbad
Abstract
Social science research finds that the only group to have experienced real
economic gains over the past four decades is the top 20 percent of the income
distribution. This finding, along with greater awareness of growing
inequality, has renewed interest in mobility research that identifies how
individuals and their progeny move into and out of upper versus lower income
categories. In this study a new mobility methodology is proposed using life
course concepts and life table statistical techniques. Panel data from a
prospective national sample of the U.S. population age 25 to 60 are analyzed
to estimate the extent of mobility associated with top percentiles in the
income distribution. Empirical results suggest high mobility associated with
top-level income. For example, 11 percent of the population is found to occupy
the top one percentile for one or more years between the ages of 25 and 60.
The study findings suggest that many experience short-term and/or intermittent
mobility into top-level income, versus a smaller set that persist within top-
level income over many consecutive years. Implications of the findings are
discussed in terms of inequality buffering, opportunity versus insecurity, and
the demographics of income inequality.
~~~
Domenic_S
Lots of claims not being sourced in that abstract.
~~~
adenadel
Abstracts typically do not include citations. They are left for the body of
the article.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why do most programming languages use commas in argument lists? - miked
Does anyone know the answer to this? I've been looking at these things for over thirty years, and it just occurred to me to ask this question. Note that argument tokens are (almost) always either composed of contiguous dark space or enclosed in matching delimiters (i.e., ", ', (). [], etc.)<p>Here are some possible answers, and problems I see with each:<p>-- They help separate arguments in argument lists.<p>==> Not for me. Apparently not for Lisp, Arc,
Scheme, and Clojure people either. In parameter lists that allow types as well as parameter names, commas make sense, as they help separate the groups. But in argument lists (and parameter lists without types) they just add noise, IMHO.<p>-- All the languages do it, therefore it's expected, and therefore, well, all the languages do it.<p>==> Lisp, Scheme, and Clojure don't, though Clojure treats them as whitespace and lets you put them where you want.<p>-- Math books have been doing this for ages, so it's a natural follow-on.<p>==> This makes some sense, but it really only shifts the problem around. Why do <i>they</i> do it?<p>This isn't the most earthshaking issue, but commas in arg lists are noisy.
======
jacquesm
Because we do it in regular language as well ?
It says "there is more coming, I'm not finished yet".
In COBOL you even use the '.' to indicate end-of-section, just like in written
language.
The trouble with that is that on a line printer those '.'s really don't stand
out very much and if you forget one you're toast :)
~~~
miked
Interesting answer, and goes to my suspicion that "this is the way we've
always done it" is part of the answer. But see the comments above.
_The trouble with that is that on a line printer those '.'s really don't
stand out very much and if you forget one you're toast_
That's not the half of it. Many years ago the US launched a satellite, part of
whose control was done by a Fortran program. Well, one of the developers used
a single period in a loop header where he should have had a comma.
Unfortunately, in Fortran that was syntactically valid. Problem was, it was
hard on the printer he used to see the difference. So the satellite and a
bunch of US taxpayer money took a trip to the center of the sun. Ouch.
------
ajuc
About math books:
because in math space can mean multiply: f(ax - 1 b - 3 c y z) is not as clear
as f(ax - 1, b - 3 c, y, z).
~~~
miked
Good point. People sometimes use expressions with operators as arguments.
My take now is that, because comments are required for cases such as the
above, they require them everywhere. What should happen is that they be
optional.
Also, it just occurred to me that, while Lisp et al. don't use commas, they do
use parentheses to bracket subexpressions, so they don't have a problem with
the issue you just cited.
------
RiderOfGiraffes
In handwritten mathematics the end of one expression and the start of the next
is not always obvious. Putting the comma is almost a requirement.
Remember also that the original ForTran language definitions didn't bother
with spaces because it was hard to tell from the handwritten code (from which
it was transcribed) whether there were spaces or not.
------
Daishiman
If your only category distinctions lie between Lisp and non-Lisp languages,
then yeah, pretty much all languages do it. The real question is if you
consider another symbol to be more appropiate. Since the comma correlates well
to the purpose in question in natural languages, it's the most obvious choice.
------
Semiapies
This is more of a rant against non-Lisp style than a question.
------
balding_n_tired
Tcl doesn't.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Were people as skeptical in the early Internet days as of blockchain? - maxencecornet
Inspired by this reddit thread:<p>https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/7rego7/were_people_this_skeptical_in_the_early_days_of/<p>For those of you that are in their 40's, do you remember people being very skeptical as well?
======
apohn
I think hype results in skepticism, and things can be hyped on a far larger
scale now than ever before.
If I think back to my early internet days, I remember email (Eudora!!) being
the most useful and exciting thing. After that I remember Yahoo and ICQ being
really important for me. People were certainly excited in the 90s, but I think
the hype was less around the internet in general and more around some of the
things it would enable (e.g. Gateway PCs and PCTV or whatever it was called).
I remember more hype around the CD-ROM and CD-R's than I do hype about the
internet. The capacity of CD-ROMs and the ability to play video reminds me of
the current talk about VR/AR. What we got out of CD-ROMs was Windows 95 being
easier to install and cutscenes in video games - not what happened to Edward
Furlong in the "Brainscan" movie or Lawnmower man.
Compare that to blockchain or any of the current hyped technologies like Deep
Learning or Big Data(3 years ago). "Thought leaders", tech and non-tech
companies (small and large), journalists - everybody wants to show they are
the leaders and have the answers. You then have a strong reaction of
skepticism against this.
I feel old writing this post. I remember Brainscan and hoping something like
that was right around the corner...ouch.
------
Finnucane
People are always skeptical of new technology. And not entirely without
reason. It's not always clear what the advantages are (early versions of new
things sometimes are not actually better than the old thing), or what the cost
will be: progress doesn't come for free. In the early days of the Internet,
part of the problem was that most people just didn't have a way to access it
until there were commercial ISPs, and the Web made it relatively easy to find
and share stuff. And of course, new things often come with a lot of hype, that
may take a long time to really pan out.
And nowadays we sometimes use the phrase 'the killer appp--the function that
clicks with the new technology that drives adoption.
So, if you really want people to get people interested in blockchain, find a
way to use it to distribute porn.
~~~
selmat
"find a way to use it to distribute porn."
this made my day :)
i think if content can be verified via blockchain that doesn't contains any
malware it would be much more preferred.
------
hluska
I grew up in Regina, Canada. Regina is a rather conservative big Government
town where things change even slower than the climate. Consequently, my
experience may not be typical so do with this what you will.
The shortest possible answer is yeah, people were very sceptical of the
Internet in the early days. In the early 90s, I remember one very senior
government official who my parents knew say "there is nothing of use on the
internet." I would have been about fourteen then and had never even imagined
such blasphemy, but here was a guy who had done well for himself shitting all
over the only place I had ever wanted to work!
I remember how dismissive my Dad was of email when his employer gave him his
first email account. "Why the hell did they do this to me?" he'd fume.
"Interoffice mail used to take a few days, but at least I could open the
damned thing." Yet a decade later, he retired and bought himself a computer so
he could keep using email!
Ky biggest takeaway from those years is that only the most technical people
had any vision of what the web could become. In that early state, the web kind
of sucked. It was hard to even go online and once you were there it was even
harder to find anything of value. Thanks to some true visionaries, the web has
become indispensable. And I'm convinced that the same kinds of visionaries
will do the same with blockchain.
------
tabeth
It seems that the majority of "legitimate" uses surrounding blockchain concern
"trust", or rather try to eliminate mechanisms such that trust is inherent.
Imagine some authority, perhaps a non-profit that was 100% trustworthy. What
could blockchain [*] do that said "authority" could not? I'm curious if
blockchain could be used within an organization to make an organization itself
trustworthy, as opposed to make trustworthy tools.
\- keep in mind even if decentralized, many blockchain tools will likely have
some authority managing it, or have mechanisms such that a small collitation
could take control
\---
I'm really curious if blockchain is superior to a traditional approach for the
following scenario:
1\. You're a nonprofit
2\. You take donations on your website.
3\. You advertise that money donated will 100% be used for a stated purpose
(categorical in nature).
4\. You also say that you can see exactly when your money is spent and how it
is spent, including the quantity.
I see a way to build this with traditional tools, but it seems complicated and
also is prone to fraud. The problem with using Bitcoin is that your endowment
would be too volatile for your finance team to really manage. I suppose the
nonprofit could do an ICO, but you don't want people to actually own a portion
of your non-profit (as they cannot, by definition).
How can you ensure compliance, have transparency and minimize complexity?
------
sharemywin
\- I remember getting on mosaic and thinking what is that ugly thing. Besides
there are plenty of free editors out there already.
-couple years later, the internet that could be a pretty cool yellow pages.
\- couple years later, I remember a lot of people saying why would anyone buy
XYZ online with out touching it first.
------
itamarst
The Internet was very clearly useful in many ways, from very early on.
Blockchain has no real use cases so far except libertarian fantasies and get-
rich-quick schemes.
~~~
sharemywin
nasdaq thinks there's a couple:
[http://www.nasdaq.com/article/4-innovative-use-cases-for-
blo...](http://www.nasdaq.com/article/4-innovative-use-cases-for-blockchain-
cm901636)
30 non financial use-cases: [https://letstalkpayments.com/30-non-financial-
use-cases-of-b...](https://letstalkpayments.com/30-non-financial-use-cases-of-
blockchain-technology-infographic/)
deloitte 5 use cases: [https://www2.deloitte.com/nl/nl/pages/financial-
services/art...](https://www2.deloitte.com/nl/nl/pages/financial-
services/articles/5-blockchain-use-cases-in-financial-services.html)
~~~
SirLJ
Blockchain is been around for more than 25 years and nothing practical at
scale build yet, except for the token bubble...
------
potta_coffee
I don't see much skepticism about blockchain technology itself. Skepticism
regarding the value of bitcoin and other crypto-currencies are warranted, IMO.
------
babygoat
What average person has a need for blockchain? I seriously don't get the
comparison.
~~~
maxencecornet
>What average person has a need for blockchain?
What average person had a need for internet in 1994 ? People don't used and
don't use Internet as it, average joe use internet because of the applications
running on it.
Pretty much the same things with blockchain tech
>I seriously don't get the comparison.
A blockchain is a public distributed database, internet was a decentralized
public network
The trustlessness linked to the use of public blockchain is a major novelty in
the tech world.
~~~
BatFastard
My biggest issue with blockchain is scalablity, which is proving to be a
bigger and bigger problem as more people are into cryptocurrencies.
Are there actual solutions to this problem?
~~~
maxencecornet
>My biggest issue with blockchain is scalablity
Plasma MVP (built upon Ethereum blockchain) was just released. Plasma is
supposed to be able to handle more then 1 million transactions per second,
which is way more then what Visa handle right now
[https://github.com/omisego/plasma-mvp](https://github.com/omisego/plasma-mvp)
[https://blog.omisego.network/construction-of-a-plasma-
chain-...](https://blog.omisego.network/construction-of-a-plasma-
chain-0x1-614f6ebd1612)
~~~
BatFastard
Very cool, but as any chain, is not block chain only as strong as its
strongest(or slowest in this case) link?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Evolving Java Without Changing the Language - fogus
http://www.infoq.com/articles/evolving-java-no-lang-change
======
10ren
The article links to this example of support for XML literals:
[https://rapt.dev.java.net/nonav/docs/api/index.html?net/java...](https://rapt.dev.java.net/nonav/docs/api/index.html?net/java/dev/rapt/proposed/generators/DomLiteral.html)
It's in the spirit of machine code in REM statements. A ghastly, reanimated
spirit.
/**
<commands>
<command name="SOD" order="NEW">
<parameter slot="P2" name="N" value="4811980" />
<parameter slot="P2" name="N" value="4811980" />
</command>
</commands>
*/
@DomLiteral static Document testCommands = DomLiterals.testCommands();
------
mdemare
I found the part about IDEs fascinating: IntelliJ will recognize those ugly
anonymous classes, and show them to you as closures.
I wonder how far you could take this. A language like Duby gives you Ruby
syntax, while producing identical bytecode as Java. If you could translate
Duby into Java source code, and parse and show it as Duby, your IDE could let
you program in Duby _without anyone else on your project even noticing_.
Then you're in effect relegating Java to object code.
~~~
axod
I think it's a pretty bad idea. The more IDEs hide code from people, the more
verbose code will be produced.
Much easier to just setup a simple macro system to run over source files and
replace things before compilation.
~~~
eru
Where's the difference?
------
wingo
The initial Gosling quote gives me shivers of revulsion.
~~~
jrockway
Me too. I had a hard time reading on after that.
Java is absolutely chock-full of "things that sounded like a good idea" --
unboxed types, single inheritance, interfaces without the possibility of
shared implementation (or state), public / private / protected / default,
positional constructor arguments, "Type foo = new Type", etc. Actually, none
of those even _sound_ like good ideas. (But I guess after the brain damage
that was C++, it was inevitable that The Industry would overcorrect. Hopefully
we've learned one important lesson from Java -- making the language "simple"
won't stop people from writing bad code, but it will stop people from writing
good code.)
Java also popularized some very very experimental ideas, like virtual machines
and automatic garbage collection. (And I am very thankful for both.)
So now that I think about it, I don't get that quote at all.
~~~
axod
I'll have to disagree with you there.
Type foo = new Type() is a bad idea? why?
Shape myShape = new Rectangle(); seems pretty logical to me. If you want to
use static types, you can't really argue against that syntax.
single inheritance sidesteps lots of potential issues, and interfaces are
cleaner IMHO
>> "but it will stop people from writing good code."
I'd also strongly disagree with that. Arguing that Java prevents you from
writing good code is nonsense. As much sense as saying using French prevents
you from writing a good story. I've seen some brilliant code written in Java
(If you steer well clear of 'enterprise' etc).
~~~
jerf
Because "Type foo = new SubType()" comes up approximately never.
Note, I did _not_ say never. But don't give me a line about how you use it all
the time. You don't. If you think you do, go grep over your code; you may
think you do but I still bet you don't, it's probably a perceptual bias where
you notice the exceptions out of proportion to their actual occurance. If you
still pass that test, congratulations, I was wrong, you're one of the five
people who do it all the time. You should probably stop, as something is
probably very wrong with your design.
Meanwhile, optimizing the syntax for this case is a terrible optimization
decision. That's the real problem, forcing literally millions (conservatively)
of type annotations that are totally redundant.
"I've seen some brilliant code written in Java (If you steer well clear of
'enterprise' etc)."
You don't see the brilliant code that was never written because Java doesn't
offer you the ability.
I also point to the "brilliant code" that isn't Java code at all, but compiler
and bytecode hacks, which I suspect had you taken the time to mention some
examples of "brilliant code" would have been in the list. That's not
brilliance you can credit to Java, it's simply stuff that was so desirable it
had to be done despite the fact Java didn't permit it.
~~~
axod
I do use it every now and then, but personally even when types are the same, I
don't really have issue with it. Makes it easy to see which type something is,
and keeps things uniform and sane.
Shape foo = new Shape();
is often written separately:
Shape foo;
// Further down
foo = new Shape();
So in that instance it's easy to see in both places what foo is.
If you do have issues with the duplication, it wouldn't be crazy hard to just
write a pre-processor to insert the Types on the left if you haven't specified
them, before compilation.
I simply don't buy the notion that you can't write great code in language X.
Language is largely irrelevant to how great the code is or isn't. Also
irrelevant to how well you can scale, how successful your startup will be, etc
etc
Great coders write great code. Languages are just ways of communicating that
great code with machines, and other people.
~~~
jerf
Actually, it isn't that great coders can't write great code in Java, it's that
great coders, having virtually by definition a certain amount of experience in
a wide variety of languages, require a lot of incentive before they'll choose
to write their great code in Java, where the language is fighting them every
step of the way.
Some people have managed to put out the necessary incentives, so such code
does exist, but seeing a putatively great coder reach for Java as their first
choice without such incentives is like seeing a putatively great coder reach
first for Cobol... it pretty much proves they aren't a great programmer. Even
if you want the JVM libraries, there are better ways.
Yeah, it's an opinion, but it's one from someone with the aforesaid experience
in a lot of languages. It's like saying a great marathon runner can run a
marathon in concrete shoes. Yeah, maybe they can, but seeing them choose it of
their own free will would say an awful lot about their wisdom in shoe choice.
Java is a language that simply loathes great code.
Besides, you seem to have missed the core point that optimizing the language
for a case that doesn't come up often is a misfeature, no matter how you slice
it. Optimize the language for the case that occurs most. "var X"-type syntaxes
cover that. "var X" still works in your example, too; there's no reason that a
smart compiler can't deal with that sort of separation between declaration and
initialization.
~~~
axod
Well, agree to disagree :) I've used a fair number of languages, and don't
really understand the java hate. There's far uglier languages to look at. But
then I love writing in assembly - which some feel overwhelmed with.
Personally it seems like some programmers at some point dislike being
restrained by anything and become slightly high and mighty about the whole
subject - the whole "Unless you use lisp, you can't understand why lisp is the
best language" BS.
Why is "var X"-type syntax better? Why does that create better code :/ Sorry,
I don't buy it. "var X" would be less precise, and less useful than specifying
the explicit type you want.
FWIW, I just checked for fun my own comet server written in Java against
tornado (Python). Very similar functionality, except the Java one is a smaller
codebase. It's as verbose as you want it to be.
~~~
eru
> "Unless you use lisp, you can't understand why lisp is the best language"
Of course we all know that Lisp is just a semi-imperative hack. Real
programmers use something more pure like Clean or Haskell nowadays.
Anyway, I just wanted to applaud you two for the civility ouf your discourse.
It was an informative read.
------
ivenkys
At what point does managing the complexity of all the "add-on" pieces of
software - APT, Meta-model generators, IDE magic, the interconnecting build
tools et all - become too high ?
Why not strengthen the core language ?
~~~
bad_user
Because that was the philosophy from the beginning ... don't change the
language until it's too late, make sure to cripple all new features to
maintain backwards compatibility, leave the problems to the tool-vendors to
solve.
Actually this philosophy worked better for future-proofing the platform in a
weird way. God knows how they would've crippled the JVM if their generics
support wasn't made through type-erasure for example.
And so the JVM bytecode is pretty light, now only if they added tail-calls and
continuations. But I don't think that will happen too soon.
~~~
ivenkys
I understand the philosophy and yes that has in a way future-proofed the JVM.
The question is "Does it make sense to try and include advanced language
features in a round-about manner into Java ?" Surely this approach only leads
to additional complexity and broken features.
Why not put that effort into a newer language running on the JVM ?
------
nickyp
You mean without rewriting it so it is not an ad hoc informally-specified bug-
ridden slow implementation of half of Common Lisp? ;-)
~~~
ZitchDog
I would say it's more of a formally-specified mature pretty-fast
implementation of half of Common Lisp.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How Old Are Successful Tech Entrepreneurs? - jensv
https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/younger-vs-older-tech-entrpreneurs
======
denzil_correa
Previous Discussion :
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16794228](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16794228)
~~~
vonmoltke
What is the threshold these days for flagging something a dupe? I clicked that
expecting to see a post from, say, 5 days ago; I found one from 78 days ago.
~~~
slededit
There seems to be a middle ground where someone posts a link to the older
thread, and people upvote the current one depending on how interesting it is.
Dupes aren't against site policy unless they are spam; however they do seem to
offend a small minority.
------
computerphage
Link to the paper: [https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/jones-
ben/htm/A...](https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/jones-
ben/htm/Age%20and%20High%20Growth%20Entrepreneurship.pdf)
The abstract: Many observers, and many investors, believe that young people
are especially likely to produce the most successful new firms. We use
administrative data at the U.S. Census Bureau to study the ages of founders of
growth-oriented start-ups in the past decade. Our primary finding is that
successful entrepreneurs are middle-aged, not young. The mean founder age for
the 1 in 1,000 fastest growing new ventures is 45.0. The findings are broadly
similar when considering high-technology sectors, entrepreneurial hubs, and
successful firm exits. Prior experience in the specific industry predicts much
greater rates of entrepreneurial success. These findings strongly reject
common hypotheses that emphasize youth as a key trait of successful
entrepreneurs.
~~~
jasode
_> The mean founder age for [...] is 45.0. [...] Prior experience in the
specific industry predicts much greater rates of entrepreneurial success._
To me, "prior experience" favors B2B startups and those tend to be founded by
40-something entrepreneurs. (I made a previous comment about this.[1])
In contrast for B2C, many observers (VCs like Bill Gurley, Fred Wilson, etc)
have noticed that experience doesn't necessarily help consumer-facing internet
companies and viral smartphone apps. (E.g. Twitter founder Ev Williams started
Medium at age 40 but it's still losing money and it's not as successful as
Twitter.)
The counterintuitive conclusions about median age of 45 may be happening
because the study doesn't group the data between B2B vs B2C. It's the B2C
startups that have more exposure in mainstream media and they dominate pop
culture conversation. The numerous B2B startups become hidden as a sort of
"dark matter" in the business universe because they probably comprise most of
the successes but ironically get the least amount of news coverage.
[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16902662](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16902662)
------
jath
I presume one reason could be at 40 you dont make the mistakes you made at 20.
I was 20 once and when i built a product i tried to load it with
features/options. Now at 30 i make things as simple as possible. I don’t
discuss which DB to use. I straight away use SQL. I don’t discuss scaling
issues. I dont bother about 80% of the issues i used to discuss when i was 20.
I’m better of now.
~~~
TekMol
I don’t discuss which DB to use. I straight away use SQL.
That is a language though, not a DB.
~~~
kiloreux
Did you really have to be that guy ? What he meant basically is using a
relational database. Please refer to the HN guidelines before commenting. It
strongly encourages to have comments that add value to the discussion.
~~~
jazoom
I agree with TekMol that it's an important point. Nowadays we have new types
of SQL databases emerging. Some examples:
TiDB (distributed)
CockroachDB (distributed)
Crate (uses SQL but isn't even relational)
They all use SQL.
Picking between these and more established SQL databases is worthy of
discussion.
Heck, based on what I see on Hacker News, picking between the established ones
generates a lot of discussion, usually with people preferring Postgres over
MySQL, etc.
Then there's SQLite, which is completely different again.
OP probably has a favourite database as a go-to regardless of the application,
but for some projects SQLite might be a better fit than the others, for
example. That would warrant discussion.
In conclusion, I believe you were too harsh to TekMol.
Edit: Fix autocorrect fails and add clarity.
~~~
beaconstudios
one of the community practices here is that you should take the most
charitable interpretation of what is written. This precludes nitpicking. It's
clear that the OP was referring to "I just use SQL" in terms of picking the
most mature/standard database approach (relational databases) instead of
getting caught up in the quagmire of niche and specialist database schemas.
~~~
jazoom
That might not be so obvious to someone who isn't familiar with SQL databases.
To those people, the "nitpick" added clarity.
------
1ba9115454
The article talks of old and the young as if they were different people. All
of the old people were young people once.
If you consistently try to build businesses through side projects, or other
means, there's a good chance you're getting better at it as the years go by.
So it shouldn't come as a surprise to find you may eventually succeed.
~~~
jmartrican
In the article Zuck is quoted as saying "Young people are just smarter" or
something to that affect. If that's the view of the Valley as a whole, as the
article alludes to, does the Valley think that people get dumber as they get
older or that young people are just coming out of HS/college smarter?
~~~
technofiend
So has he set the date for his retirement, yet? I mean the board should have
his ouster lined up by the time he hits 30, right? Oh crap! He's already 34.
Nice knowing you Mark but it's time to move over, old man.
------
madaxe_again
You spend half your career being told that you are too young by prospective
clients and investors (I was rather astounded when we were turned down on this
ground at first, rather than anything to do with the product or service, but
eventually grew to accept it), and then the next half being told you are too
old by the same.
Ah, to be forever 34 and eight months.
~~~
onion2k
Whatever reason an investor gives for turning your investment down, it's
actually code for "I don't think _you_ can pull this off."
~~~
tonyedgecombe
Or "you look like the guy that ran off with my wife".
Like interview feedback, it's generally useless advice because people make
emotional decisions rather than rational.
~~~
ganeshkrishnan
Ha true! Regardless of the bullshit the VCs feed about traction, team and such
nonsense everything boils down to how charming you are. Worked with plenty of
startups that essentially sold perpetual motion machine but the founders could
convince you to buy ice in Antarctica
------
bitL
Could this be a result of wide-spread ageism? People >40 are basically forced
to be entrepreneurial and can't afford to waste time on unimportant stuff like
they did in their 20s.
~~~
codingdave
As someone in their 40s, that perspective is completely alien to me. As my
kids are getting older and no longer need 24x7 supervision, I am getting more
free time in my 40s to "waste on unimportant stuff". I'm doing more side
projects, more art, more reading, and still getting my job done and sharing
time with my family. Combine that time with more experience and a larger nest
egg to support time away from salaried work... and any entrepreneurial efforts
are not because I am forced into them, but because all the pieces of my life
are aligned well to try something new.
~~~
fapjacks
This is exactly my experience, as well. I started companies twice in my life
before out of necessity, literally to pay the rent. Now, I'm doing it because
I want to do it and I have the resources available.
------
DataDisciple
After parsing the comments, I have not seen one person mention management or
leadership. Someone with 20 years experience hiring and leading teams is going
to be much better than someone doing it for the first time in their life. The
ability to know your weaknesses, surround yourself with good people who fit
your vision/culture and address those weaknesses, is not something most 25
year olds can do. Most at 25 have no idea what their weaknesses are. which
makes it all the more impressive when people like Zuck, Spiegel can scale into
massive companies.
But I also understand why you would want to invest in a 20-something. On
average, they are going to be more aware of emerging tech, and guided with the
right advisors can get a company off the ground and then supported with the
necessary pieces.
------
amelius
Can we make a distinction based on:
\- High-tech/low-tech. It makes a difference if the entrepreneur simply glued
together existing technologies, or invented a new technology.
\- The amount of investment money.
\- The amount of failed companies of the entrepreneur.
------
andrewn32
Industry expertise and decades understanding how others solve problems in your
field, larger network, etc. make a successful outcome much more likely.
------
harrydry
How are people believing this shit. Complete BS.
There's several independent variables (money / trial and error / twitter
following / coding ability etc ...)
this clickbait paper makes it sound like age is the independent variable. when
age is merely CORRELATED with these independent variables. Age itself is of
little importance.
You may as well say:
"A person who has already started _5_ startups is 4.9X more likely to found a
successful startup than a person has _never founded a startup before_ "
Google "Multicollinearity" before you vend BS clickbait.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
HackMIT - Hackathon for students from any school, Oct 4-6 - epenn
http://www.hackmit.org/
======
vex
From someone who has to pass through Stata on the way to work every day, oh
god.
~~~
chatmasta
You registered an account just to say that?
~~~
vex
You checked my user page just because I wrote a comment?
------
D3nver
I'll be attending from Emory University in Atlanta. I don't know any local
developers and so I'll be looking for a team to join. If anyone wants to put
together an HN team my email is denverrayburn(at)gmail(dot)com.
Will this be like a normal startup weekend where the teams form there, or will
people already have their teams together?
------
alanctgardner2
I'm debating attending this, but I'm in Ontario so it'd be a full day of
travel each way to get there. I also don't know many local developers I could
coerce into attending. Any students from HN looking for a team?
edit: I should point out, email is in my profile or
alanctgardner(at)gmail(dot)com
~~~
chunky1994
There's a bunch of us going from UWaterloo.
~~~
alanctgardner2
Well, I'm a humble uOttawa student, but I did get accepted to Waterloo ;)
~~~
chunky1994
I'm curious as to why didn't you come here then!
~~~
alanctgardner2
I visited Waterloo-Kitchener a few times before choosing, but it never felt
very interesting as a place to live. People diss Ottawa for being boring, but
we have a pretty good number of attractions, and it's really easy to get
around without a car. Montreal makes a nice weekend trip if you want to go
someplace more exciting.
Academically I do feel like I missed out on a higher quality education / more
prestigious degree from Waterloo. I have to do a lot of legwork to make my co-
op program work and (hopefully) graduate on time next year. Ottawa also
doesn't (yet) have the startup/developer culture Waterloo has, but I think
we're working on it.
On the plus side, I did all 5 of my co-op terms without leaving Ottawa, met my
girlfriend of three years and have a sweet job coming out of school next year.
I wouldn't have done anything differently, but it is interesting to consider.
------
theg2
No love for the grad students (who should probably be working on their thesis
anyways). And for those of you out there...thesis while working full time is
not an easy task.
Very cool though, might stop by. Is there someone who might work as a press
contact?
~~~
igul222
Email [email protected] and we'll help you out :)
------
jhavilan
I'm thinking about heading up from the Baltimore/DC area. I was going to go up
as a single but if there is anyone from the area or looking to form a team
drop me a line at jhavila2(at)jhu(dot)edu or the email in my profile.
~~~
igul222
Try asking at
[https://www.facebook.com/events/1374512966106958/](https://www.facebook.com/events/1374512966106958/)
– someone else might be in your situation.
------
DuskStar
I think I'm going with a bunch of other people from UofM - we'll be filling 1
(or more) tour bus(es)! Thanks for organizing this, and I can't wait to come
hack in October!
~~~
rmason
Or you could head down to Detroit and help reinvent government in Michigan.
The state is releasing API's on five themes: jobs, tourism, safety, veterans
and foster kids.
[http://www.codemichigan.com](http://www.codemichigan.com)
~~~
gailees
Code Michigan should sponsor a prize at MHacks!
------
vlahmot
I will be attending and doubt there will be enough local interest. Send me an
e-mail if you would like to set up a team. trhlavat(at)millersville(dot)edu
~~~
igul222
Ishaan from HackMIT here. Regarding interest, in the past week, we've gotten
over 1500 signups –– more than we can handle, to be honest. But there's
definitely no lack of interest.
~~~
gailees
1500!? Is this going to be the largest hackathon ever?
~~~
alanctgardner2
Unfortunately, attendance to something like this won't be anywhere near 100%
of the people who express interest. Especially considering the prestige of MIT
and the publicity, I bet a lot of people are considering it but ultimately
won't be able to go because it's really far and a long event around midterms
time.
For reference (orders of magnitude different, I know), I organized a local
hackathon and heard from probably 100 'interested' people. We ended up netting
30 registrations, which was the cap for our venue, but I only actually turned
2 people away. So 2/3 of the developers that I spoke to and emailed personally
couldn't make it, and that was in the city they already live in.
------
mynjin
I'm near DC, seriously considering going if I could find someone else
interested.
------
jayzalowitz
I did t=0, if you can, I highly recommend hitting up an mit hackathon.
------
tylermac1
I'm coming from way out in the boonies (South Dakota State).
------
mgingras
I'm a Carleton CS student in Ottawa and thinking of going.
------
apaprocki
I'm a sponsor and will be there all weekend. Come say hi!
~~~
gailees
What company?
~~~
apaprocki
Bloomberg -- I'm planning on setting up the market data API for anyone that
wants to use it as part of what they're working on.
------
smith7018
I'll be there from Ohio State! [email protected]
------
Haasy
I'll be there for sure. ([email protected])
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Is Microsoft no longer unstoppable? - AndrewWarner
http://www.breakingviews.com/2009/01/22/Microsoft.aspx?sg=nytimes
======
russell
Segal argues that Microsoft should abandon marginal and unprofitable ventures
(Xbox, Zune, search) and concentrate on its cash cows, Windows and Office, I
presume. Segal's advice is off base. The problem with that strategy is, if
someone eats your cash cows, you are left with nothing. The only viable
strategy is to keep pushing the frontiers fo new revenue streams. Microsoft's
real problem is that it is a follower not an innovator.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Download HTC Home Time and Weather Gadget for Windows 7 - riteshtechie
http://beingpc.com/2010/10/download-htc-home-time-and-weather-gadget-for-windows-7/
HTC Home – is a free open-source widget for Windows. It shows time and weather on your desktop, like on HTC communicators.
======
riteshtechie
Which widget are you using
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Diagrams That Changed the World - ghosh
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/12/21/100-diagrams-that-changed-the-world/
======
xerophtye
Those are some really interesting pictures. Amonsgst the many, these few
really caught my attention: 1) The Rosetta Stone (so THAT's how historians got
an idea how to decipher hieroglyphs. i always wondered about that) 2) The
Leonardo Da vinci diagram. (I see it lla the time on tv but never really
understood what it was about until now. Its about human proportions ) 3) The
lunar eclipse diagram. Because as far as i know, that was way before any
telescopes were invented. Those guys did everything by observations and maths!
4) The Copernicus diagram. It's pretty cool because it was one of the first
diagrams in the west that opposed the "earth is centre of the universe"
concept. But what is more interesting about this is that Copernicus himself
cites the work of Arab astronomers who have been challenging that model based
on "The mathematics doesn't add up to your model of earth being the centre.
The maths denies that the sun revolves around the earth."
~~~
bazzargh
I like the story of how Linear B was deciphered better
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22782620](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22782620)
\- no Rosetta stone, but more like cryptanalysis; Alice Kober built frequency
tables and discovered patterns which (with a bit of insight and guesswork) led
to Michael Ventris cracking the code.
~~~
xerophtye
Kinda reminds me of the OTHER major cryptanalysis feat of the time! The
breaking of the enigma! (but they built a computer for that) so this story is
way more awesome!
------
josephagoss
Whenever I see things like this I try to imagine what sort of common knowledge
exited around that time and what the reactions of the people might have been.
Some are more immediately powerful than others of course.
I can imagine De Humani Corporis Fabrica being extremely startling to the
people of that time. In the modern day might that type of leap might even be
considered contemporary art.
Copernicus's "Heliocentric Universe" is probably one of the most powerful
drawings on the list, can you imagine the paradigm shift these views forced
upon the world? I don't think we have had any leap of similar magnitude since
the atomic age.
I really really love this, its like looking back in time.
------
petepete
The Beauty of Diagrams (an excellent BBC4 documentary) is worth tracking down
if this kind of thing floats your boat.
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w5675/episodes/guide](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w5675/episodes/guide)
~~~
hamsterlicious
I would also recommend that interested readers check out the Places & Spaces
exhibit ([http://scimaps.org/](http://scimaps.org/)) and _Atlas of Science:
Visualizing What We Know_ ([https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/atlas-
science](https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/atlas-science)).
------
bestham
The diagrammatic London "Tube map"[1] by Harry Beck is ought to be on that
list together with the previously mentioned Charles Minard diagram of
Napoleons invasion of Russia[2].
[1]:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_map#Beck.27s_maps](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_map#Beck.27s_maps)
[2]:
[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Minard.pn...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Minard.png)
------
moocowduckquack
On this theme, I love Charles Minard's diagram of Napoleon's invasion of
Russia where the width of the line is how many people are still left -
[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Minard.pn...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Minard.png)
------
bradleyland
I'm surprised that the Feynman Diagram didn't make the list. It's not a
specific diagram, but it's certainly the best example of a more recent diagram
that has had profound impact on the way we view quantum interactions.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feynman_diagram](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feynman_diagram)
------
mahoro
Haha, that host is blocked by Great Russian Firewall.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Help me to find Hackernews alternative for Economics - dprophecyguy
Everybody who is on Hackernews knows already what hackernews is for.<p>For Science and Math, I found the community on Brilliant.org pretty enthusiastic and passionate. But as I am highly interested in Economics and Psychology I want a community where people are discussing Economics in daily life and also some community based on psychology and something. I am not completely sure of psychology what I am asking for. But if you guys can relate to what i am asking help me pointing to good resources.
======
dotmanish
Not necessarily a Hackernews alternative, but possibly Stackoverflow work-
alike: ResearchGate has multiple forums for Economics.
Behavioural Economics is here:
[https://www.researchgate.net/topic/Behavioural-
Economics](https://www.researchgate.net/topic/Behavioural-Economics)
There are more forums here:
[https://www.researchgate.net/topics](https://www.researchgate.net/topics)
------
tmoot
ejmr is the anon job board/shitposting for economists
heavier on the shitposting though.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Phone credit low? Africans go for "beeping" - bootload
http://www.usabilitynews.com/news/article4211.asp
======
paulgb
Sounds similar to using collect calls requests to convey a message.. "Press
one to accept a collect call from <meetmeatthebusstop> _click_ "
I remember a TV commercial that involved this a few years ago. Oddly enough, I
think it was for a phone company.
------
dawie
In South-Africa, it was called Scotch-ing, as in the Tape. What would often
happen is people would say. Scotch me when you get to so and so's place, or
Scoth me when you are going for dinner...
One of the cellphone providers would also give you a code *147 or something
and someone's number and it would send a "please call me" text message with
your number included. People would say. Send me a "please call me" when you
are there...
Everyone does it.
~~~
ajm
My family used to "Scotch-ring", a play on the Scottish reputation for
frugality.
------
karzeem
On vacation in Lebanon three years ago, I learned that this same thing is
routine over there too. People work out systems about what one missed call
means as compared to two, and so on.
Funnily enough, a missed call probably conveys just about as much meaning as
the average text message.
~~~
lkozma
Even more funnily, it probably conveys as much meaning as an hour long talk on
the phone.
------
bents
Some time ago I was thinking that it wouldnt be hard to make software and
connects phone to computer and sends the text as Morse code trough prank
calls. So you would have free international communication device. Only
extremely slow.
------
zaidf
From my experience of hanging out with friends in India, every conversation
ends with something like "give me a missed call."
Though it originated as a way to save money especially for pre-paid mobile
users, it has come to mean a whole lot of things now. ie. if you are to meet
someone for coffee and he hasn't shown up yet, instead of calling you give him
a missed call so he knows you're waiting.
------
nickb
At my previous office, we had to wait 1+ month to get badges so we used to do
this all the time to get people to come down to open the door. No need to pick
up... if it rings twice, come to the front door and open it.
------
dmnd
I remember doing this when all my friends were on prepaid phones. We called it
'pranking', though: "Just prank me when you want me to pick you up."
------
danw
When I was a kid we used to call it "pranking"
------
yrashk
in Ukraine poor people used to use a first free 4 seconds to talk, but after
that per-connection fee was introduced.
------
alaskamiller
My friends and I do this all the time. I never leave voicemail, why bother?
The fact that I'm on the missed call list makes is good enough. And my
incoming minutes are free!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Bitter Pill - DeusExMachina
https://www.firstthings.com/article/2010/05/bitter-pill
======
brad0
> One important strategy that allows women both to create a safer exit for
> themselves and to increase their bargaining power going into a marriage is
> to develop relatively more market earning power—more market-rewarded human
> capital—than they would have in past decades.
This one is very interesting! Women are protecting themselves from bad
marriage deals by getting work that pays more, thus increasing their value.
Scandinavian countries are some of the most progressive in the world (equal
pay with gender etc). Yet there is a increasing amount of divorces and
children born out of wedlock in these countries.
[http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-
explained/index.php/...](http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-
explained/index.php/Marriages_and_births_in_Sweden)
------
zxcmx
The argument falls flat for me due to the assumption that one only
participates in the "marriage market" OR the "sex market".
Seems a false dichotomy, not backed by data,and the rest of the argument
depends on it.
~~~
brad0
I would say that people mostly participate in the sex market until they find
someone they’re willing to settle down with.
If you were seeing someone who you considered “marriage material” you wouldn’t
be on the sex market. Until that time happened I can’t see why you wouldn’t
participate in the sex market.
------
brad0
I'm only just into the introduction and I am very engaged. The intro brings up
some very interesting arguments.
\- Contraception is damaging to society
\- Massive redistribution of wealth and power to men
\- Suggestions that taxing men and subsidising women and children will fix it
I'll update this as I read through the article.
> Their graph, below, shows that, for example, the percentage of Americans
> married at age 30 fell from roughly 85 percent in 1960 to roughly 60 percent
> in 2000. Assuming that sexual activity has not decreased over the same
> period (clearly a safe assumption), this implies increased participation in
> the sex market over the same period.
I think this may be a flawed statement. Millenials are having less sex than
previous generations: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-
issues/there-isn...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/there-
isnt-really-anything-magical-about-it-why-more-millennials-are-putting-off-
sex/2016/08/02/e7b73d6e-37f4-11e6-8f7c-d4c723a2becb_story.html?utm_term=.bd7fc81479b0)
> It may be biologically inevitable that relatively more men will populate the
> sex market and relatively more women will populate the marriage market.
It's a little crude but biologically we're built that way.
> The average age at which men exit the sex market and enter the marriage
> market is higher than the average age at which women make the same decision.
I was going to make the argument that it's normally just a couple of years
but...
> This, in turn, means that at each point in time, more men will inhabit the
> sex market than women. Correspondingly, more women will inhabit the marriage
> market than men.
So there's an imbalance between the two markets. I agree with this - take a
look at Tinder or any other hook up style app. Heaps of men, comparatively
less women. The result is women getting hundreds of Matches a day where most
guys will be lucky to get one.
Oh and vice versa. Women trying to find a man that is marriage material is as
scarce as men trying to find a casual sexual partner.
Actually the marriage market even more scarce than the sexual market. Once a
man is taken off the market through marriage then the man pool becomes even
smaller, making the ratio even worse!
I'll continue making more points in other posts.
------
grzm
(2010)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Daily Standups That Don't Suck--With Slack - milest
https://medium.com/@MilesThibault/daily-stand-ups-in-slack-for-free-9828f75abc0e#.8y31q4vvw
======
cjbprime
Our team has remote members; having a standup where everyone gets to see each
other once a day is a feature, not an annoyance.
~~~
JoeAltmaier
We used Sococo for that, for 3 years. Worked pretty good; supported meetings
up to 30 or so with webcam and doc sharing. They're still using it; I moved on
to another job. I'm going to miss Sococo.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Why can I not record a mediation meeting? - jelliclesfarm
I have been asked by the board of the non profit managing the land I license for a mediation/dispute resolution meeting.<p>There are four on their side and just me representing my farm. I asked permission to record the meeting on audio as I won’t be able to take minutes. English is not my first language and even if I am fluent, there are almost always ‘no, that’s not what we meant’...<p>I now have resorted to referencing a dictionary to get my point across. I am just exhausted trying to decipher every sentence and making sure I understand the import of it as they meant it.<p>They refused, but said that I can bring a ‘friend or family member’ for support.<p>I don’t want support. I want documentation. Is this normal? I am in California.<p>It’s just bizarre to me. If both parties are aware and both can record the meeting, why is it not a fair means of keeping minutes of a meeting?
======
aphextim
I am not a lawyer with that being said from my limited understanding...
No you cannot record if not all parties agree. Mediations are generally
considered confidential and cannot be used in court so recording the
conversation for any purpose would be a violation of the confidentiality.
That being said, even if were allowed to record it, anything said in that
mediation cannot be used in any litigation, as the mediation is confidential.
If you want to record it instead of taking notes, that might be a legitimate
reason to record it. However, for all practical purposes, recording a
mediation is unnecessary. If you get the dispute resolved, a formal agreement
will be drafted. If not, you will continue to litigate the issues.
------
pwg
To add to @aphextim's comment, California is also a "two-party consent" state.
See: [http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/california-recording-
law](http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/california-recording-law)
That means (ignoring any other rules surrounding meditations) that to be
legally able to record the conversation, you need everyone who is being
recorded to consent. If even one person says no, you can not, legally, record
the meeting.
------
sarcasmatwork
Not sure if its state or federal, but I just did one in federal court as
Plaintiff.
Mediation is usually off the record, therefore nothing said or done can be
used against the other party. Mediation only goal is for both parties to try
and or settle the day of the mediation.
You should have a lawyer present and be able to ask them all the questions if
you dont understand something.
------
jelliclesfarm
Honestly, I don’t want to use it for litigation. I just want it for minutes of
the meeting.
I just find the language they use rather stilted and confusing. We end up
going round and round in circles clarifying meaning of words.
They are affiliated with the state and govt...so instead of stating something
simply in one sentence, it’s a bunch of words distributed amidst a couple of
sentences.
It’s frustrating because we are all speaking English. If I didn’t know
English, I could ask for a translator.
If mediation meetings can’t be used for litigation, what would their objection
be to be recorded? I am willing to be recorded too.
~~~
sarcasmatwork
This is the mediators role and duty/job is to make sure all parties are on the
same page and or speaking the same language.
You are always free to tell the mediator that you want to define something, so
both parties are on the same page.
You're assuming that all parties will be in the same room. Sometimes parties
are not. Sometimes parties are in the same room at the very start and then
split off to different rooms. Sometimes one party arrives early and they go
into a private room while the mediator gets their offers/story (usually
Plaintiff first) then the mediator goes to the Defense and see's their
side/demands/offers in another private room.
Not sure what stage your're in, but before the mediation even started we had
to go at least two rounds of offers in a 2-week period of time. I had a
federal judge (free) acting as my mediator, yours might be a judge, 3rd party
etc.. Depends what everyone agrees on.
It's not about you're okay with being recorded... its all parties and the
mediator. The mediator runs the show.
Please talk to your lawyer asap and PLEASE ask him/her as many questions as
you can before, and during mediation. There is no time limit and remember
mediation is not required unless the judge says it is. Mediation can last 1
hour, or 8 hours. You can always walk away and also have the choice to do
mediation again if all parties agree.
Good luck!
~~~
jelliclesfarm
Thank you. I appreciate all the pointers. It isn’t as formal as that they
follow protocols. That’s what throws me off. It’s all supposed to be
‘informal’ and ‘friendly’ but when I bring up something..they keep shaking the
contract I signed in front of my face. It’s very frustrating. I have never
encountered anything like this before. Getting legal representation is only
going to make things hostile. And I don’t know if is worth it for me except to
win a battle of hurt ego after feeling ‘wronged’. I am trying to act in good
faith but it’s very intimidating to face the board ..and being asked to just
bring ‘a friend or family member’ is just weird. I might ask around for other
options so I can feel better going into this.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How do telephone networks operate? - GaryNumanVevo
A curiosity I've had of late, particularly due to a bunch of spam calls. I was wondering what protocols telecom networks use and how my call (or a spammer's call) get routed from beginning to end.<p>I'm pretty familiar with the TCP/IP stack, I was wondering how it differs.
======
chmielewski
[https://www.nutaq.com/blog/overview-telecom-wireless-
protoco...](https://www.nutaq.com/blog/overview-telecom-wireless-protocol-
stack-layers)
Taken from the "Cellular Communications" Wikipedia page is the following
diagram:
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/GSM_Arch...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/GSM_ArchitecturePL.svg)
Along with
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_switching_subsystem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_switching_subsystem)
it should provide a general guide.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.