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Learning Swift: Building an App from Start to Finish - ronyr
http://www.airpair.com/swift/complete-guide-to-swift
======
culturestate
I'm interested to see what Swift adoption will look like in the App Store
going forward (now that it's at 1.0 [1]) especially on iOS vs. OS X. I wonder
if it will be a glacial Carbon -> Cocoa style shift, or move faster thanks to
the now-much-larger install base.
1\.
[https://developer.apple.com/swift/blog/?id=14](https://developer.apple.com/swift/blog/?id=14)
~~~
melling
Swift is going to gain quick adoption. Why wouldn't developers move to a more
modern language? The fact that you can easily integrate Swift with ObjC means
it's easy to start. All the pre-release blogging is a good sign. I've gathered
almost 100 links. I've got more that I'll add after my vacation.
[http://www.h4labs.com/dev/ios/swift.html](http://www.h4labs.com/dev/ios/swift.html)
------
sebmos2
I looked into Objective C a bit last year but couldn't wrap my head around a
lot of conventions. Swift on the other hand I'm looking forward to. That
tutorial looks like it'll help :)
------
aerosmile
Interesting to see the migration process of an app from Objective C to Swift.
I didn't know that an app can include both codebases at once.
~~~
melling
It was covered in the main WWDC video. There's an Apple iBook. You can find
the book on Apple's site.
[https://developer.apple.com/swift/resources/](https://developer.apple.com/swift/resources/)
------
prtkgpt
Badass tutorial. :)
------
stevejpurves
nice tutorial! been looking forward to getting started with some Swift
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
STFU About What Women Want - mikeleeorg
http://usersknow.blogspot.com/2011/12/stfu-about-what-women-want.html
======
9oliYQjP
There's a group in Toronto called Ladies Learning Code
<http://ladieslearningcode.com/>. The group holds events for learning how to
program and constantly sells out. Once while I was in Toronto, I walked into
the event and it was so jammed pack that you couldn't walk from one side of
the room to the other. The women were diverse and evenly distributed in age
and ethnic background.
What interested me most is that the group session was held at 8 am on a
Saturday. A couple of speculative thoughts later and it seemed to make sense
to me. A lot of traditional developer events are held on weeknights and
evenings and involve drinking at bars. If you're a woman with a family, it's
probably preferable to carve out a Saturday morning, let your partner
(hopefully, if you have one) take care of the kids and come home (not sloshed)
to your family than it is to head down to the bar after work to have a couple
of pints. It's just a lot more feasible.
~~~
angrycoder
It is incredibly ironic that the top comment on an article blasting
stereotypes is itself full of stereotypes.
~~~
TechNewb
Agreed. And would a man be welcome at such an event? Why name the
event/group/org based off of a gender? Why not name it "learning code", and
have marketing based towards women. Why exclude an entire gender, even if it
is potentially already dominating the given market.
I personally am not a believer in excluding, to argue for including. It seems
counter productive.
~~~
heatherpayne
Hi there! I'm Heather, the founder of Ladies Learning Code. Men are welcome at
our events, and we have had a few men attend each workshop. The name was
designed to be a specific invitation to women, but we don't exclude men. (That
being said, I personally support the idea of separate men's groups and women's
groups in general, so I encourage someone to start "Men Learning Code" if they
are so inclined.
~~~
makmanalp
Let's try this in reverse:
"Women are welcome at our events, and we have had a few women attend each
workshop. The name was designed to be a specific invitation to men, but we
don't exclude women. (That being said, I personally support the idea of
separate women's groups and men's groups in general, so I encourage someone to
start "Women Learning Code" if they are so inclined."
I'd just like to point out, without opinion one way or the other, that I
believe the above paragraph would cause major outrage and claims of sexism and
separatism, along with "this is why there are so few women in software".
~~~
dgabriel
Ok, now make it a nursing seminar, or an education seminar directed toward
men. No outcry of sexism. See how that works?
~~~
makmanalp
I actually hadn't thought of this. So it's okay to do this because of the idea
that most men are not interested in nursing, and most women are not interested
in programming?
~~~
pyre
I think it's more along the lines of:
It's ok to discriminate when you're trying to target/encourage a specific
minority (i.e. women in software), but it's not ok when you're targetting a
majority, because it looks like you're trying to encourage the majority while
discouraging the minority
Whether or not people say this out loud, or think it consciously is a
different question.
"Ladies Learning Code" is discriminatory towards men, but it's less of an
issue because it is in the furtherance of encouraging a minority (women) into
the field. On the other hand, "Men Learning Code" seemingly discourages women,
who are already in the minority.
~~~
ajross
This is very close to my feeling too. The "principled irate male" demographic
tends to get upset over the double standard. But it's all a big case of a bad
optimization metric.
The point to organiations like this isn't to eliminate "discrimination" in the
abstract. It's to eliminate the inequality of opportunity. There is a very
large practical and moral difference between being excluded from a single
meeting of techincal people and being excluded from (or have limited access
to) an entire career path. Spending a few "discrimination" points on the
former to reduce the cases of the latter seems like a good idea to me.
~~~
scott_s
Thank you, ajross and pyre, for clearly and reasonably explaining why this
sort of targeted marketing is not also discrimination (the bad kind).
(Yes, upvotes say this too, but now that votes are not public, I wanted there
to be a visible commendation. These sorts of things set the tone of the
thread.)
------
vacri
I always find it weird when people say "what women want". As a man, I find it
easiest to illustrate the problem to other men by simply asking them to
substitute 'man' for 'woman'.
Who can say "what men want". Sure, if you listen to comedians, all men want is
sex sex sex and maybe some cars and sports.
But even before you look at what individuals are like, if you just look at
male archetypes, there are clear and common contradictions. The 98-pound
weakling versus the musclebound beach bum. The hot stuff young programmer and
the technically clueless grayhair. The expensively dressed high finance wizard
and the smelly protesting hippy. The sex-mad pickup artist and the asexual man
who simply isn't interested. The sports-mad bloke who hates literature and the
literature-mad bloke who hates sports. The deadbeat dad versus the father who
lives solely for his children.
And these are just archetypes, not actual individuals. They all have different
wants, needs, skills, and desires. How stupid it is to say "what men want", to
lump half the race into one generalisation. If you're a man, you should feel
viscerally just how bad this kind of generalisation is; why should women feel
any different when the same is applied to them?
~~~
mbell
I don't think the archetypes correspond to 'what people want'. The 98-pound
weakling may be playing world of warcraft all day telling everyone he is a
muscle bound beach head for example. People often want what they are not, "The
grass is always greener".
There is an artificial idealization of a 'Man' and an idealization of a
'Woman' in almost all societies around the world. The closeness of the
individual to the idealization doesn't always change their want for the
idealization. This is how we get media that often portrays the 'ideals' in
various forms. People live vicariously through that which they want to be but
aren't willing to work to be.
~~~
Fliko
This might be accurate with some people, but it can't be applied to everyone.
I am working towards everything I want, and honestly I think the journey is
much more desirable then the end result. A big part of Zen is killing your
ego, and I think this is a very powerful mentality to have.
~~~
mbell
I certainly wasn't intending this post to apply to 'everyone', that is a silly
claim to make. However generalizations about a group are often valuable. In
the NH context there are articles about A:B testing a UI all the time which
gives you generalization of your target users. Just like years of show testing
has provided TV channels generalization of their audience. I probably read at
least 3-5 'interesting statistics' posts a week on HN that are all about
generalizing a group. Why? because this is in fact valuable information,
especially for the target audience of HN. Understanding what a populous
'generally' wants and does is a huge first step to providing a solution to a
problem.
------
Vivtek
Second this, on behalf of my wife, who is a theoretical physicist. Most women
also don't want to do physics, because they'd rather have babies, or so she's
always been told. And got passed over for a grant because she had a husband
and therefore didn't need the money. I'm still pissed, not least because she's
naive enough to believe it's right for her to be treated this way.
~~~
einhverfr
My grandmother was a theoretical physicist (G. R. Caughlin, co-author of the
FCZ papers on element formation in stars). She found it difficult to succeed
as a woman in physics. She also raised four kids (without child care). She
taught at Montana State University, Caltech, and others, and worked with
Willie Fowler, Fred Hoyle, and other great minds of her day.
However, having talked to women in academic sciences today, she had it easy.
No long post-doc programs, tenure was an easier process, and so forth. I hear
over and over from such women that they have to choose between having the
family life they want and a tenure track. This is an indication of an
institutional barrier to women in the field (as is your wife being passed up
for the grant).
These are the sort of things that need to be fixed. I am afraid simply asking
how we encourage interest among women will make the problem worse because it
will make the positions more competitive and hence lead to longer post-doc
programs and more family sacrifices in order to achieve tenure.
This gets back to my point. Focus on _institutional_ issues only and stop
worrying about outreach.
~~~
klipt
> choose between having the family life they want and a tenure track
This is probably true to some extent for men too. Ultimately, the only
biological difference is that men can delay family life longer with less risk
of infertility (provided they have a younger partner).
------
microarchitect
Both Klein and Trunk seem to be missing the point that just because women are
choosing do X instead of Y doesn't mean there's no sexism in the Y.
Anyway, to me the arguments here about babies and startups are eerily
reminiscent of the arguments against women becoming professors. Stuff like:
women want to have babies, how will they advise their students when they're
pregnant? They can't bring in grant money for a whole two years! Blah blah
blah. Think of our academic standards.
Fortunately that argument has been thoroughly debunked by the large number of
successful female professors who are also mothers. Frankly, I don't buy the
argument that having a pregnant co-founder hurts a startup. If women can get
tenure at a top-10 university while raising a kid, I'm pretty sure they can
also keep your startup going while raising a kid.
EDIT: Heh, I've been downvoted. Why am I not surprised?
~~~
natrius
_"Fortunately that argument has been thoroughly debunked by the large number
of successful female professors who are also mothers."_
The argument hasn't been debunked. I don't have the facts to back this up, but
I'd guess that on average, men work more hours per year than women with the
same jobs, because women tend to give birth and take care of children more
than men. The reason there are so many successful female professors is because
we've decided as a society that optimizing for hours worked per year is a bad
idea with detrimental effects on our lives.
If someone were choosing between a man and a woman of equal skill to work at a
startup, wanted to maximize hours worked per year, and didn't care about the
law or the effects of their decision on society, they'd pick the man.
Fortunately, there are far better indicators than gender of how prone an
individual is to take extended leave.
~~~
briancooley
_I'd guess that on average, men work more hours per year than women with the
same jobs, because women tend to give birth and take care of children more
than men._
I can't help but wonder if this is significantly influenced by an imbalance in
compensation.
When my daughter was born, my wife and I decided that one of us would stay
home, and income was certainly a large factor in determining that she would be
the one to stay home. If our incomes had been reversed, then I would have
become a stay-at-home dad.
~~~
da_dude4242
The way you frame it is a catch-22 but data shows that when matched for age,
marital status, and children single women with no children make more money
than their male counterpart.
As soon as a man becomes married this switches. A man is more likely to take
on extra hours/responsibilities and a woman is more likely to work part-time
at this point. It's the over-time and hazard pay that is associated with the
wage gap. A person working 80 hours per week should not have the same hourly-
wage as someone working 30 hours per week regardless of gender.
------
sgentle
What you think women want is clearly not what women want, because you're only
one woman, and women are complex and varied, and want different things.
Also, I want a different thing to what you want, and lots of women want what I
want. So you are twice as wrong! Not only for assuming other women want what
you want, but also that you want what other women want!
Ahem. Now that "want" and "women" have started sounding less like words and
more like an arbitrary sequence of sounds, is anyone willing to contribute
actual science to the discussion? People yelling at each other "women are like
me!" "no, women are like me!" has, I fear, outlived its usefulness.
Are there any studies covering, say, startup success by founder gender? Any
documentation on attrition rates from school -> university -> startup? Has
anyone even been bothered to go out and survey the attitudes of women towards
startups rather than just projecting out their own?
Rather than shutting up about what women want, I think a better idea would be
to actually find out what women want. Gender balance is clearly an issue in
the startup community, and not talking about it isn't likely to help. Are
there few women because women don't want startups, or because startups don't
want women?
I don't know, but there comes a point where more opinions are not useful.
~~~
lauraglu
Women do have startups - they have run businesses for generations.
Women _leave_ technology because of overt and subtle sexism and harassment;
[http://rachelappel.com/stats-data-and-answers-as-to-why-
ther...](http://rachelappel.com/stats-data-and-answers-as-to-why-there-are-so-
few-women-in-technology-fields)
And there are plenty that get cut off in the "university" step of your funnel
because they aren't equal there either:
[http://web.mit.edu/fnl/women/women.html#What%20the%20Committ...](http://web.mit.edu/fnl/women/women.html#What%20the%20Committee%20Learned)
That being said, the trend is moving towards women running both the business
and the home, solo if need be:
[http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2010/07/the-end-
of...](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2010/07/the-end-of-men/8135/)
Do those help?
~~~
sgentle
Yes!
Wow, that's fantastic. Did you see the numbers change in the 2011 MIT
report[1]? And that LPFI report[2] is just mindblowing.
"The vast majority of men in startups believed their companies spent an
adequate amount of time addressing diversity (82%). Almost 40% of women,
however, believed not enough time was devoted to addressing company diversity.
Additionally, women in startups were much more likely to endorse companywide
practices to increase diversity than their male counterparts in startups (65%
versus 41%)."
"Female status and underrepresented racial/ethnic status were both significant
predictors of negative workplace experiences suggesting that negative
workplace experiences increase with membership in both demographic groups
(F(1,555)=15.4, p<.00, and F(1,555)=7.47, p<.01; B=.68, SE=.18, p<.01 and
B=.73, SE=.29, p<.05; Appendix 2)"
Now that's the way to shoot down a "there's no problem here it's just that
women don't want to do startups" argument.
Thanks, I had no idea the numbers were so compelling. I wish there was more of
what you're posting on the front page.
\--
[1] <http://web.mit.edu/faculty/reports/pdf/women_faculty.pdf>
[2]
[http://www.lpfi.org/sites/default/files/tilted_playing_field...](http://www.lpfi.org/sites/default/files/tilted_playing_field_lpfi_9_29_11.pdf)
~~~
lauraglu
Here's one more to add to the mix: [http://io9.com/5867401/there-really-is-no-
difference-between...](http://io9.com/5867401/there-really-is-no-difference-
between-men-and-womens-math-abilities)
------
jyrkesh
> So, when a publication like TechCrunch spews some nonsense about what women
> want, it means that the next time I go into an interview with a male founder
> (and they are overwhelmingly male for some reason that I’m not going to
> address here, but that Penelope assures us has nothing to do with bias) who
> has read that nonsense, he may be thinking, consciously or subconsciously,
> “she doesn’t really want to work at this startup because she wants to have a
> baby.”
I don't think this is true at all. As the original TC article pointed out, the
VC community bends over backwards to get as many women as they can working for
and speaking about startups. And frankly, regardless of whether someone has
told me or whether I believe that "most women want to have babies", when a
woman walks into an interview for a startup position, I'm going to assume that
she wants that position and probably doesn't want babies. That makes sense
since she probably wouldn't be there otherwise.
------
einhverfr
I agree. It seems a reinforcement rather than a critique of the TechCrunch
piece though.
The point abut the Tech Crunch piece was exactly this. Stop saying "we want
women to..." and simply stand back and let women do what they want.
~~~
lauraklein
I hope that wasn't the point I was making. The point I was trying to make was
that telling people that, "most women want x" isn't helpful, regardless of
whether it's true right at this moment in history. More to the point, it makes
life harder for women who DO want to work at startups (whether or not they
want to have babies), because it reinforces the stereotype that we don't want
to work full time.
I don't want an investor thinking that's true when I walk into a meeting to
ask for money. I don't want a CEO thinking that's true when I'm looking for a
job. I don't want them thinking it's true about all women, because it's not
true about the woman who matters most to me - ME.
It's about more than letting women do what they want. It's about believing
women can do the things they want to do - in this case work at startups. It's
about believing that many women do, in fact, want to work at startups and that
more will want to work at startups if we talk about how awesome it is. It's
about the fact that what we do want changes based on a lot of things that have
nothing to do with biology or nature, and that sometimes changing what we want
is a really good thing for everybody.
Thanks for reading and commenting. I appreciate the feedback.
~~~
einhverfr
I do work in an area where women are extremely underrepresented--- open source
software development. By some estimates, 1.5% of open source software
developers are women (in contrast nearly 1/3rd of software developers with
jobs are women).
I have noticed a few things. The first is that women tend to report being hit
on fairly frequently just because the gender ratios are skewed. This isn't the
end of the world and workplace/professional society romances and sexual
encounters are are not that uncommon so it's going to happen unless we decide
sex isn't part of the human condition (which isn't going to work).
The second is that the single most consistent annoyance mentioned to me is
everyone asking "how do we get more women involved in open source?" This
drives women _away._
The third is hard to quantify but my sense is that of the women who come to
open source, the vast majority come to it through employment. They have a job,
and this is a means to get that job done. You see a lot more men who are
independent consultants and hobbyists, and these make up the bulk of most
projects. I would say the ratio of hobbyists/consultants of men to women in
open source is probably 100:1.
If men get a job in open source it is more often through open source work, in
other words participation is usually a career investment while for women it is
more often something to do for a job.
There are exceptions of course. And one shouldn't underestimate their
importance--- my grandmother was programming computers in Fortran, as she was
an astrophysics professor. However at some point I think it is important to
realize that asking the question, "how do we get more women involved" misses
the point, and in fact drives women away. It's a counterproductive strategy.
Simply saying "you are welcome at the table" is IMO a far more helpful way to
proceed.
~~~
hendrix
This. "How do we get more women in OSS?" is the same as saying "How do we get
more male nurses"? If men want to become nurses, then they will become nurses,
if women want to become open source software developers they will become OSS
developers.
~~~
einhverfr
I'd agree with this.
The only exception really is to look at institutional (not cultural) barriers
IMO. "Are we doing something that keeps people from being willing to have a
seat at the table?"
Cultural barriers are beyond our immediate control where they extend beyond an
immediate institution. If nursing is seen as unmanly, then there's not a lot
one can do about that. And very often well-meaning attempts to "fix" cultural
problems ends up re-inforcing them. Culture is a very resilient, homeostatic
thing, and indeed, the idea that "we know what's better for women than they
do" is pretty obviously sexist, but it is the same thing that comes up when
saying "how do we get more women involved in X."
In general the only culture you can change is that of your own institutions,
including your business and your family. That's it.
Edit: Downvotes are a bit amusing. Guess someone finds the idea challenging?
~~~
davedx
Because you're talking rubbish.
Are you an anthropologist, to be able to say how resilient culture is to
change? Can you produce some studies to back up this claim?
How do you explain the anti-slaving and civil rights movements? They didn't
take 1000's of years, yet the idea black people were inferior was pretty
deeply ingrained in the white culture's psyche.
Saying "we can't change the bad things in our culture" is self-defeating and
destructive.
------
peterwwillis
The problem with this article is that you're basically telling a stupid person
to stop saying stupid things because other stupid people will listen to it.
Also the post could be shortened to: "please don't make sweeping
generalizations because the assumptions they create breeds stereotypes and
hurts others' credibility."
~~~
wpietri
I'm not seeing a problem there. TechCrunch is still somehow widely read.
Pointing out stupidity there is a public service.
~~~
DanBC
The only problem is that stupid people don't stop being stupid just because
you ask them.
I agree with you that it's still important to point out that they're being
stupid - if nothing else it lets isolated people know that there are people
who don't agree with the stupid ones.
~~~
wpietri
Hmmm... I don't know about that. I've definitely stopped being stupid about
some things because people have pointed out my idiocy to me. And I've
certainly seen stupid people stop being quite so loudly stupid after feedback.
Perhaps even Techcrunch can learn.
~~~
peterwwillis
We all sometimes say and do stupid things, sometimes without knowing it. We're
flawed creatures and that's fine. But there's a point where some people just
can't be helped. If a single editorial article in a tech blog will change how
an individual thinks towards an entire gender, that person is so stupid that
they will probably believe anything (or at least anything that confirms their
already existing personal beliefs) and a response like the OP's will do little
to help this person become less stupid. But that's just my stupid opinion.
------
davros
There seems to be an assumption that people (specifically women but same logic
applies to men) can either be entrepreneurs or take care of young children,
but not both.
I believe that startups can provide the flexible environment that bigger
corporations really struggle with. Focus on results not attendence,
telecommuting, flexible hours, etc. Maybe some VCs would struggle with the
concept, but I know it can work because I've seen it done.
~~~
Mz
Would you know of resources that help share practical information on _how_ to
make that work? Often, simply don't know how and making some sweeping
statement that "it can be done" is typically insufficient to help spread the
practice.
(I know from first-hand experience as my attempts to tell people "X can be
done" often fail to fill them in adequately on the how and this gets me lots
of ire. I struggle with that. I am often shocked at what other people do not
know that I take for granted they "should" know. I continue to try to work on
that.)
Thanks.
~~~
davros
There is tons of HR documents that I researched, but in the end I found that
the most important way to be genuinely flexible and family-friendly is to
listen to your team and then think creatively about finding ways to fit with
their needs but also of course be part of a dynamic business. I think its more
about attitude and approach than the specific way you do things.
Our business won two awards for our flexible practices and I believe that the
reason we were ahead of the competition was that when the judges visited I was
able to point to real results not just reams of HR policies and documents.
Founders and early staff really understand that they need to get a lot done
and they should also be highly motivated to contribute to the business
success. If the business takes the view that it can give people some
flexibility in return then this can work out really well.
Some of the people who 'need' the flexibility should be founders or part of
the key management team. In a startup you have tremendous control over the way
your systems and business practices are set up - think about your family needs
when doing this. Allow people to find what works for them. One of my
cofounders found that she worked best after your children went to sleep and so
we got a huge amount done between 9pm and midnight. We built all our systems
so people could work from home and told our team that if their kids were sick
they could work from home to look after them. That safety net makes a big
difference.
------
skrebbel
(offtopic) Genuinely wondering: I once said "fuck" in an HN comments and got
10 downvotes. Used some other form of very slight rudeness (often considered
humour where I'm from), downvotes again. Assumed it was an American thing,
tried to adapt.
Now here's an article full of profanity, and an _excellent_ read also because
of that, and nobody complains. Don't get me wrong: I love it. I wish everyone
on the internet would get their heart out so well. I'm just surprised HN digs
it so much. Anything cultural I'm missing?
~~~
peterwwillis
Though using curses or any kind of emotional outburst is generally frowned
upon intellectually, this is ignored if the person doing the outburst is seen
to be fighting bigotry. 'Fuck Node.js' is not an acceptable use of cursing,
but 'Fuck Sexism' is.
------
gldalmaso
I strongly agree to the issue at hand where we our patriarchal culture tends
to drive women into choosing between career and babies.
I also abhore the fact that our patriarchal culture makes it very very easy
for men to have very little participation in taking care of our own children,
therefore agravating the issue.
I would suggest that 'maternity-leave' be exchanged for 'family-leave'. Why
don't we allow fathers to participate in the care of a newborn baby, or
rather, why don't we _enforce_ it.
Not only the care of the child is made a burden on women only, also they have
to shoulder the career burden as well.
Maybe then the whole thing would be less of a career problem and turn into a
career fact, where it'd just acceptable that anyone employee might at sometime
in the future need a leave to care for their respective babies and it would be
just normal to do so.
~~~
lemming
_I would suggest that 'maternity-leave' be exchanged for 'family-leave'. Why
don't we allow fathers to participate in the care of a newborn baby, or
rather, why don't we enforce it._
I believe that this is the case in many places in Northern Europe. From
memory, in Sweden parental leave is 6 months and can be divided between the
parents as desired. I believe there may also be a minimum for each of them.
Edit: Wikipedia says it's actually 16 months, with 2 months minimum for the
"minority" parent, usually the father.
------
rythie
"Twenty percent of women in their 40s do not have children" -
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/us/13generations.html?_r=1>
------
Tichy
I might be old fashioned, but I prefer science and statistics over anecdotes
and political correctness.
I don't have the numbers, but I think women wanting to have children is still
a pretty likely thing.
More women studying law could also happen for any number of reasons.
------
nevinera
This is an appropriate argument basically _any_ time somebody claims that
[insert group here] [insert behavior of an individual here]. Groups of people
do not behave uniformly; when they behave in statistically significant ways,
it is not for uniform reasons.
It's difficult to reason abstractly about groups as they actually are, so we
abstract that group into a uniform body - that way we can make abstract claims
about their behavior _without_ the benefit of an education in applied
statistics and research methodology. It's a useful tool for intuiting
behavior, but try to avoid making non-statistical claims about the members of
a group of people; you will almost never be correct.
~~~
da_dude4242
I agree with you but in how many other cases are stats so clear? It's not like
we're talking about slight margins of significants. ~80% of women have
children and most of them do in what would peak years of career development.
It doesn't explain why the female involvement for CS is so pathetically low
compared to other traditionally male careers but I think it explains the
values with which many woman are making lifestyle decisions.
------
thewisedude
<Quote>...who has read that nonsense, he may be thinking, consciously or
subconsciously, “she doesn’t really want to work at this startup because she
wants to have a baby.” </Quote>
Based on the above quote, looks like the author is more concerned about her
interviewers being prejudiced against her(since she is a woman) rather than
actually delving into the veracity of Tech Cruch's article!
Stereotypes exist. Women like this. Men like that. Men are more good at that,
Women are better at something else etc. As an interviewer if he is prejudiced,
its not your fault. I would not think that it is right to control his
prejudices by censorship of inconvenient truths!
~~~
Anechoic
> _Stereotypes exist. Women like this._
The specific problem she is addressing is that when a _woman_ promulgates a
stereotype about women, that makes it more believable (and acceptable) to men
and, therefore, makes her life worse.
~~~
thewisedude
True... are we not taught to NOT judge based on prejudices? There are so many
stereotypes not just about women and men that is. There are also stereotypes
about Black, Latino, Asian communities etc. Sometimes they are spread by the
people of these communities itself. However, its unprofessional or wrong(? for
the lack of a better word) on anybody to judge them based on these stereotypes
however tempting it might be, and that is what I think our education should
teach us? I must admit they do make good late night comedies and hopefully
nothing more!
~~~
einhverfr
The thing is, though, we think in patterns. Patterns mean prejudices. I.e.
This person like this treated me like that. This other person is also like
this so he will probably treat me similarly. When you look at how people in
oral cultures think (see "Orality and Literacy" by Walter Ong and "Myth and
Reality" by Mircea Eliade), it is entirely in this pattern-centric approach.
This means I meet you and I assess you based on how you conform to everyone
else I have ever met. Maybe that's not the same as judging you, but if it
isn't the difference is quite narrow.
I don't think there is an easy way out of this, nor do I think that would be
productive. Instead I think the correct approach is to be aware of limitations
and simply allow people room to break out of one's pre-conceived assessments
(prejudices).
I don't think you can wave away hundreds of thousands of years of human
development just because for a few centuries here and there we've had
widespread literacy with a largely phonetic writing system (note that excludes
Arabic and Hebrew from consideration because of a lack of vowels in how the
languages are usually written).
------
desushil
Well, I agree to how you pointed things out but look closer to the article in
TC, she says: "People are pretty good at making choices for themselves. Men
can stay home. Women can do startups. The thing is, most don’t want to. And
that’s okay." And there is the word 'most' in her phrase.
She's expressed her opinion pretty clearly. And believe me, most of the time
you, me and all of us runs on generalization. So this is no exception, except
you just freaked out because you just didn't fit in this generalization. And
frankly, you are just as an exception to that.
Now really, tell me how many of womens really think as you do?
------
yason
The whole question seems to come from the fact that once there were a number
of things women _weren't allowed_ to do and it was deemed a good thing to work
on making the playfield equal for both sexes. Turns out, when the gates were
opened for one particular activity, many women did indeed want to engage in it
and over the decades the gender distribution converged towards 50-50.
However, from that, some people extrapolate that if the gender distribution in
some field is too far from 50-50, then there must be something in place that
is horrible and sexist and blocking women from that field. Even if technically
women can apply and graduate, they conclude that the field still has some
implied male chauvinist bias against women. Whenever it gets to that level,
it's simply not an option that _women might not want it_ that much.
Other professions took maybe decades before women started to want them, even
if they were already allowed to work as such. We can conclude that women today
don't want programming badly enough. Those who do are already enrolled or
working in the field. They are few in number but merely because they all had
no alternative they could themselves live with.
The situation today is that it's not mainstream for women to want to be
programmers. _It's not wrong, people just aren't sure yet._
This is a very different statement that women aren't explicitly or implicitly
allowed to become programmers in the contemporary society. Barring a few
ploughers, people often don't know what they can want unless they see a
supporting example many enough times. If you're a young woman and you don't
know what you want to do, you could become a nurse. Many nurses started like
that, regardless of whether they actually like their job or not.
It might be a few decades forward when enough women get into programming, that
the field also begins to appeal to women. It may also never happen, or it
might happen to an extent. Maybe roughly 1% of women would like to do
programming where as roughly 2% of men want to do it. If so, then eventually
roughly one programmer out of three will be women some day, in the average.
Thanks for the article writer to voice a loud counterexample that hopefully
reset people into confusion about the true state of matters.
~~~
Jem
It's thinking like yours that makes it harder to get into fields where women
are "under" represented.
I battled sexual harassment and derogatory comments about my ability to work
in tech (specifically about being female) to stay in the industry.
If I'd have bowed out years ago, it wouldn't have been because I "don't want
programming badly enough" - it was because I had better things to do than
prove my vagina makes absolutely no difference to my ability to code.
------
level09
Just because the writer or a few women decided to do a startup or decided not
to have children doesn't mean that most women are doing the same thing.
I'm not a fan of tech crunch but their article was more of a general fact
based on statistics and biology/nature, it should not be taken as an insult,
starting a blog post with STFU won't make your point any more valid.
------
captainaj
I heard people telling women to have babies and quit learning (let alone
starting their own companies) more than what Penelope has portrayed. Matter of
fact, NO ONE has ever told me to join a startup or start one. This is not a
first time Ms. Trunk has lectured us about what women think and want. Please,
you don't present every female and all this talk should stop. Just do your job
or whatever you want.
------
seejay
If everyone STFU about what others want or don't want and just focus more on
they want out of their lives, world would be a far better place.
~~~
davedx
Would the world have been a better place if the civil rights movement didn't
have support from non-blacks?
Positive change requires social awareness and participation in that change,
not just from the disenfranchised.
------
seanp2k2
Good read that pretty much matches my thoughts on this issue. Thanks.
------
zeeed
maybe it's just me but I can't see how either the original article nor the
response is in any way significant. If I want to work in a startup wearing
heels, then I'll do that. I don't need TC's permission for that. And, being in
a startup, neither will I have the time to get upset about someone's opinion.
~~~
refurb
I think the same way. If I want to do X and someone says "You shouldn't do
that" or "that's weird" or "you don't have the skills" or whatever, I usually
reply with a "OK", then go and do what I want to do.
I certainly don't waste my energy trying to make sure that everyone else
agrees with my choices in life.
------
deepkut
Favorite Line: "I want to wear heals, and write jQuery, sometimes at the same
time."
------
leeoniya
no one says ALL women. but MOST women DO want to dedicate time to families.
just like many good drivers suffer high insurance premiums because of
statistical truths about gender, age, car color, # of doors, etc. how about
custody of children during divorce? there are many biases that also favor
women because of statistics.
we all have to deal with unfairness every day because we don't fit some
stereotype. that's life, it's not fair.
------
cafard
What if I never Opened TFU?
------
mkramlich
Almost all discussions involving women with respect to stereotypes or gender
oppression will devolve into the same pedantic, non-productive patterns of
fuzzy thinking and inability to discern causation from correlation. It's a
topic where cherry-picked beliefs are so strong (on multiple sides) that it
pulls you in like a black hole, and nothing truly useful, not even light, can
escape. Just noise. I've learned to try to ignore it when I can. Especially
here on HN, where the "college" demographic is particularly strong, and
particularly susceptible to it.
The takeaway I wish everyone would have, instead, would be something like, in
short: _that women and men are actually different. Get over it. Individuals
vary. No shit! Unfair things happen. Get over it. Men get shit too. Not all
things you don't like are because of your gender. Get over it. And there are
plenty worse things, by orders of magnitude. Get over it._
~~~
5hoom
People (still) want to discuss complex issues that effect their career and
everyday life. Get over it.
------
skeptical
I'm getting a bit tired of this fake modern-thinking. I don't think anyone is
disregarding women right to self determination by making an observation that
is obvious.
There are jobs and social roles that are clearly perused mostly by men and
some mostly by women. That's because man and women are different. There's
nothing wrong with that, do we need to pretend that men and women are equal to
grant equal rights to both?
So this woman is an exception, minority if you prefer, but so what? I feel
that is rather frustrating that people doesn't accept simple facts because
they are not fashionable in today's ethics or are not politically correct.
Everytime someone touches a sensitive subject concerning a group, there comes
the sh*tstorm "you're stupid, I am the proof of the contrary". This is
particularly sad among circles were one would expect to hear opinions of wise
people. I guess even wise people have a hard time getting rid of taboos.
~~~
wpietri
Making an observation isn't in itself problematic. It's all the bullshit that
people tack on after that. To wit:
_There are jobs and social roles that are clearly perused mostly by men and
some mostly by women. That's because man and women are different._
This is either tautological or fatuous. You've gone from a simple observation
(in 2011, some jobs are held at different rates by men and women) and
suggested that it's somehow a natural feature of the universe, like the
gravitational constant. There are a lot of possible explanations for the
different occupational frequencies, and you seized on one of them with no
proof and no apparent thought about alternatives.
200 years ago, women (and, say, black people) weren't doctors. People argued
then, as you do now, that the current situation was just the outcome of
natural differences. They said that not because it was true (it wasn't) or
because they had any real evidence (they didn't). They said it because it was
convenient for them to believe that.
~~~
bermanoid
_200 years ago, women (and, say, black people) weren't doctors. People argued
then, as you do now, that the current situation was just the outcome of
natural differences. They said that not because it was true (it wasn't) or
because they had any real evidence (they didn't). They said it because it was
convenient for them to believe that._
That people in the past argued that something was due to natural differences
doesn't necessarily mean that natural differences don't exist, and that they
had no evidence then doesn't mean that we have none now. Men and women differ
genetically by about the same amount that humans and chimpanzees do, so to
discount the possibility that there just might be some real differences in the
way we are prone to behave is just as ridiculous as to suggest that those
genes account for the entire difference.
There are very solid biological reasons to believe that men should always be
more genetically inclined to seek out reproductive risk than women (male
reproductive success is more variable than female success by a good margin).
It's not a very big stretch from there to conjecture that perhaps nature
achieved that by cranking up the overall risk tolerance knob in men, since
that would probably require fewer bit-flips than hard coding a condition for
reproductive risk - in fact, to a large extent, we know that testosterone does
exactly what this would require. That would explain a lot about why men are
more likely than women to go in for high-risk high-reward ventures like
startups...
I'm not saying that social factors are not in play, too, but quite frankly,
these social factors are far less oppressive than they were 50 years ago, yet
we've seen relatively little progress in terms of gender ratios. This makes me
suspect that there are probably some other causes in effect, and the genetic
one is an obvious suspect that I don't think has been properly debunked,
excepting attempts to do so by overreaching appeals to equality that are, IMO,
not justified by the relevant biology.
~~~
wpietri
I have never suggested natural differences don't exist.
I'm suggesting that a) using the idea of them without evidence to justify
apparently unfair outcomes is bullshit, b) historically people making those
arguments have often been spectacularly wrong, and c) people who make that
argument when it's personally convenient are perhaps fooling themselves.
You're also rampantly committing the naturalistic fallacy. What's natural
tells us nothing about what's right. Even if we have made a perfectly fair
society (which we certainly haven't) and discover that there is some
difference in outcomes that is explainable by genetic differences, that
doesn't mean we should accept the result.
If some people are genetically likely to be less good at math, should we
cancel their math classes? Or should we give them better ones? I say the
latter: as a society we want people to understand and appreciate math.
If some group of people is more prone to a disease, do we go with what's
natural? Or do we work against it? Consider heart disease for African
Americans, or skin cancer for white people. As one of the naturally pale, I
appreciate having sunblock available, and cultural reminders to put it on or
cover up. And if I do get skin cancer, I'd rather be treated instead of being
told it's "natural" for me to die of it.
I've also heard it argued that psychopaths make "natural" CEOs, and that we
should therefore accept their various depredations. That ignores that CEO
isn't some sort of ecological niche; it's an artificial, societally-
constructed position. We may have reason to want CEOs to be more responsible
than average rather than less, no matter what's "natural" in this context. And
we may have reason to want startups being created by a broader collection of
people than those who might "naturally" most incline (after a lifetime of
unnatural conditioning) to play the entirely artificial game we've set up for
them.
~~~
bermanoid
_You're also rampantly committing the naturalistic fallacy. What's natural
tells us nothing about what's right. Even if we have made a perfectly fair
society (which we certainly haven't) and discover that there is some
difference in outcomes that is explainable by genetic differences, that
doesn't mean we should accept the result._
This is what's frustrating about these conversations, the worst is always
assumed. Given that I absolutely do not believe that "natural" implies
"right", I'm annoyed at the accusation, which comes up with some regularity
even though I (like most others in the "not-only-nurture" camp) specifically
disclaim such a view and never said a single thing about what is right or not.
_If some people are genetically likely to be less good at math, should we
cancel their math classes? Or should we give them better ones? I say the
latter: as a society we want people to understand and appreciate math._
First, let me be clear: I think that the evidence that women are genetically
worse at math is shoddy, at best. I think the evidence that their performance
is less variable is very robust, but that's a very different claim.
Second, if either one is provably the case, then no, I very strongly don't
think we should just throw our hands up. I think we should try to look at what
causes the difference in statistical distribution of talent and figure out how
to exploit/correct it - it's evolutionarily inconceivable that math talent is
directly hard-coded genetically, so it's got to be emerging as a second or
third order effect of genes, perhaps related to stress response (learning math
is a process of experiencing micro-stresses over and over, and dealing with
them in a way that makes you learn rather than get frustrated or angry - the
"mathy" emotional state is a very delicate balance, even in people that are
good at math). This is true even if the male/female gap is not genetic, since
it's pretty clear that there is some sort of heritable component to math
ability. Figuring out how this sort of thing affects performance could be very
helpful, because even though it's partially innate (and somewhat based on
brain chemistry), it can often be directly trained.
But if we declare by fiat that performance in math is primarily guided by
factors outside the student's head (which is implicit in the "sexism keeps
girls out of field X" argument), then we'll never figure out what's really
going on, and we'll never discover how to help people that aren't predisposed
to be good at math get better.
------
billpatrianakos
I thought the point of the original TC article was that we should stop
pandering to women and it's jus a fact of life that a majority don't want to
do startups. That's fine and it's not knocking women. I can see how the thing
about babies could have confused people into missing that point though.
I really think you don't see many women doing it because there aren't a whole
lot trying to. When you've got an applicant pool that's already a minority and
you know that a good portion of any applicant pool won't get a particular job
then it's not at all surprising to see that not many women get into startups.
If there aren't many trying to start and a good portion won't make it to the
finish line then this isn't surprising. I think it's more wrong to try to find
minority candidates for the sake of finding minority candidates. Let the cream
rise and if it doesn't consist of minorities then it's not our fault.
------
shpoonj
Umad? Stop whining and go make something.
------
gcb
The writer of this article haven't read, or understood, the article it's
arguing against...
------
ygmelnikova
"I'll be a wife and mother first, then First Lady". Jackie Kennedy
Class, pure class.
~~~
einhverfr
_Class, pure class._
And increasingly, limited to the _upper class._
------
hendrix
It does not matter what women want if the government is going to helpfully
step in and make it impossible to function. Consider the federal law in
regards to descrimination of women:
[i]Sex Discrimination
Title VII's broad prohibitions against sex discrimination specifically cover:
Sexual Harassment - This includes practices ranging from direct requests for sexual favors to workplace conditions that create a hostile environment for persons of either gender, including same sex harassment. (The "hostile environment" standard also applies to harassment on the bases of race, color, national origin, religion, age, and disability.)
Pregnancy Based Discrimination - Pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions must be treated in the same way as other temporary illnesses or conditions.[/i]
Ok so you can't as an employer treat your [women] employees having babies as a
life-changing [and work-productivity reducing] event? WTF that might work at
wal-mart or a retail-bank or even possibly a law firm, but that will not work
at a startup where you have to give it 100% for >8hrs/day. What will actually
happen is that the woman will be passed over for a man who has none of the
associated liabilities. Then the VCs and unhappy bloggers will be scratching
their heads as to why there are so few women in startups. Some of those VCs
will also seek out women founders in some sort of PC guilt trip.
<http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/qanda.html>
What needs to happen to fix this and ensure equality for women who do not want
children is to get rid of the workplace discrimination laws regarding women.
Then you can have a woman sign a contract that she will not have babies for x
amount of time. Otherwise we will just have the current under-the-radar
discrimination.
~~~
rat87
Or you could sue the startups? Also have maternity leave for mothers and
fathers like in other countries?
~~~
mbell
While I'd love to look at the world with rosy colored glasses I think this is
simply unrealistic. While the parent post wasn't worded all that well (sorry).
Its just a fact that it isn't realistic to expect a startup or even an early
stage company to go without a critical member for several months, regardless
of the cause of the absence. Male, Female, Trans-gender, pregnancy, bar fight,
rehab, base jumping, whatever. The cause doesn't really matter, the effect is
extremely destructive to the company and I feel it's reasonable to expect
those in critical positions to protect themselves against such absences. Just
to be clear, not singling out women here, there are many things everyone can
do to avoid issues that could result in such an absence.
~~~
Fliko
I find it ironic that you would say this about a type of business that is
usually praised for it's ability to be flexible with work hours, granted that
the employees finish what they are expected to finish.
This obviously varies with position to position, but flexibility shouldn't be
thrown out of a window because it might be an inconvenience. It's important to
treat your employees well!
~~~
mbell
There is a large difference between flexible work and under going a life
changing event during the development of the business.
Given a situation where you were picking between two individuals for a co-
founder or other critical role, equally qualified, one telling you they are
free and clear, no outstanding obligations for the foreseeable future and the
other saying "well, there is a good chance I'll be heavily engaged in an
outside issue for a couple months next summer", which would you choose?
Disregard all gender / cause for the issue.
~~~
Fliko
I totally agree, picking someone as a cofounder that will be taking leave for
their newborn baby is insane, but I had 'lower' positions in mind when I was
talking about flexibility.
------
Caligula
Sigh. Another useless fucking article is #1 after 1 hour. It is the same tired
discussion repeated ad nausea.
~~~
captainaj
This is actually necessary because of the first nauseating article. If you
correctly remember, another Techcrunch post also made the round before jwz set
the record straight.
------
sktrdie
Okay, now all we need is a "STFU women" post and we'll be back to regular HN
interesting stuff :D
~~~
coridactyl
Durr hurr yeah cuz women complain all the time about stupid shit amirite
fellas?
You are the problem.
------
maz123
Conjecture is common and there’s an irrefutable buzz in the air: Big Brother
Bingo is about to drop anchor! Bingo pundits come in all shapes and sizes.
We’ve got the small old ladies, the hip, hop and happening trendsetters, the
carefree youth and even the up-and-coming professionals all turning to bingo.
Is there something these folks know to the rest of us don’t? Learn more please
go to-<http://www.bigbrother-bingo.com>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hong Kongers avoid China's internet censorship with peer-to-peer mesh network - BrandonMarc
https://legalinsurrection.com/2019/09/hong-kong-category-1-insurgency/
======
BrandonMarc
From the article:
_How do you communicate when the government censors the internet? With a
peer-to-peer mesh broadcasting network that doesn’t use the internet._
_That’s exactly what Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters are doing now, thanks
to San Fransisco startup Bridgefy’s Bluetooth-based messaging app. The
protesters can communicate with each other — and the public — using no
persistent managed network._
_And it’s led to swift growth for Bridgefy: downloads are up almost 4,000%
over the past 60 days, according to Apptopia estimates (Apptopia is an app
metrics company)._
_The app can connect people via standard Bluetooth across an entire city,
thanks to a mesh network. Chatting is speediest with people who are close, of
course, within a hundred meters (330 feet), but you can also chat with people
who are farther away. Your messages will simply “hop” via other Bridgefy
users’ phones until they find your intended target._
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: HN for science? - geuis
I think this has been asked before, but can't find any references. Is there an HN-style place specifically for science news?
======
mixmax
A subreddit called hardscience was created just the other day with emphasis on
submitting scientific papers. I don't know whether it'll fly or not but it
might be worth a look.
<http://www.reddit.com/r/hardscience/>
------
bbgm
Different format, slightly different crowd, but if you are interested in the
life sciences, the Friendfeed room is a great community
<http://friendfeed.com/the-life-scientists>
~~~
MrGunn
Seconding this from Deepak. There are professional scientists from every stage
senior scientist to grad studentwho participate in the life scientists room.
------
Stasyan
There is academic hacker news: <http://www.cs.toronto.edu:40106/>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Twice on the front page of HN, but no journalist is interested. What to do? - bozho
I have submitted my algorithmic music projects - computoser.com and the related android app to hacker news and both times it got to the front page, with many positive comments.<p>That made me think I can get the algorithm covered in some tech blog/magazine, so I wrote to news@..., but nothing happened.<p>Then I tracked down journalists that have written on the subject of computer-generated music, got their emails (around 15 people), and emailed all of them, each with a personalized message, mentioning why I've picked them. No reply.<p>I've also written to multiple editorial teams with a suggestion for a guest article on computer music - no reply.<p>These include Mashable, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Ars, Wired, TheNextWeb, The Verge, GigaOm.<p>Why is it that something seems to be much appreciated by the community, but no journalist seems interested? Should I continue writing emails to these people until they either block me or reply? Or should I skip tech journalists and try to find another way to make service visible to more people?
======
coldtea
For what is worth:
1) Try music tech journalists first.
Computer Music, Keyboard, Future Music, The Mix, Electronic Musician, and
such.
2) Also try "Popular Science" style of magazines.
3) Make sure your emails dont go directly to the SPAM folder. No plethora of
URLS (looks like spam), capitals (looks like spam) etc. They should also not
look like desperate pleas for publicity, or they will trash them manually.
Better send a short message to each journalist, to pitch the idea (1-2
paragraphs), and only then send the full thing, when they will be waiting for
it.
4) Go with lesser players than Wired, Gizmodo et al. If those lesser players
pick your story up, there are high chances it will also be picked by the
majors (most news are recycled from source to source).
------
leowidrich
That's a good one. And it seems you've made the common mistake to email news@.
My general advice is: Never, ever email news@. A news site doesn't cover you,
a writer does. So go after writers, not publications.
This article should outline all the steps you need to follow:
[http://onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/80121/How-To-Get-
Media-...](http://onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/80121/How-To-Get-Media-
Coverage-For-Your-Startup-A-Complete-Guide.aspx)
(It should be easy to get a post based on the traction you have shown above)
~~~
bozho
Thanks, I knew that, that's why I also found people that could be interested
because of previous related articles.
------
mindcrime
_Why is it that something seems to be much appreciated by the community, but
no journalist seems interested?_
Hard to say. Bloggers are usually always hungry for content, but the popular
blogs are harder to crack, as they get enough eyeballs that people compete to
get on their sites. Remember that they're ultimately eyeing everything through
a lens of "What is going to get me the most ad impressions and generate me the
most revenue"?
Getting press coverage isn't necessarily as simple as "get on the front page
of HN, get mentioned by $FOO publication". The field of PR is a big area, with
a lot of accumulated idioms, patterns, experts, relationships, etc.
_Should I continue writing emails to these people until they either block me
or reply?_
I would. What do you have to lose? Don't be annoying or whiny or turn into a
stalker, of course. But there's a lot to be said for persistence.
_Or should I skip tech journalists and try to find another way to make
service visible to more people?_
One thing I'm a big fan of, is the work of Ryan Holiday, author of _Trust Me,
I'm Lying: Confessions of A Media Manipulator_ [1]. You might also find some
value in a fairly basic book on PR like _The New Rules of Marketing and PR_
[2] or some of the "Guerilla Marketing" stuff by Jay Conrad Levinson[3].
Also, if it's really important to you to get coverage, hiring a PR person
isn't always a bad idea. I know there's been a lot of negative stuff said on
HN lately about PR agencies and startups, but part of the "secret sauce" is
the pre-existing relationships these guys have with journalists. It may or may
not be fair, but a good PR person can help you get coverage that would be hard
to generate organically. If you're even slightly interested, I know a good PR
guy who might be able/willing to help. Shoot me an email and I can arrange an
introduction.
One final thought, is to try using a press release submission service like
PRWeb[4] or PRNewsWire[5]. It will cost you a little bit of money, but it's an
option to get some attention. Note that you won't get TechCrunch / Gizmodo
type coverage out of this (well, probably not anyway), but your thing should
at least wind up listed in Google News.
There's also a lot of interesting PR related advice on Quora. Check out this
question[6] and some of the "similar questions" links around it.
[1]: [http://www.amazon.com/Trust-Me-Lying-Confessions-
Manipulator...](http://www.amazon.com/Trust-Me-Lying-Confessions-
Manipulator/dp/159184553X)
[2]: [http://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Marketing-PR-
Applications/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Marketing-PR-
Applications/dp/1118026985/)
[3]: [http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-
alias%3D...](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-
alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=guerilla%20marketing)
[4]: <http://www.prweb.com/>
[5]: <http://www.prnewswire.com/>
[6]: [http://www.quora.com/What-are-some-blogs-and-sites-a-new-
sta...](http://www.quora.com/What-are-some-blogs-and-sites-a-new-startup-
should-send-press-releases-to)
~~~
bozho
Great, thanks for the extensive tips. I'll try these. I'll probably even try
the PR option. This is my side project, so I'm not super-keen on getting it to
market (I'm not sure if the business model is workable), but I do like the
idea and I think I can afford to thrown in some money.
------
illuminate
Music blogs/forums will be interested.
Matrixsynth, Muffwiggler, Gearslutz, check all of these out.
"I've also written to multiple editorial teams with a suggestion for a guest
article on computer music - no reply.
These include Mashable, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Ars, Wired, TheNextWeb, The
Verge, GigaOm.
Why is it that something seems to be much appreciated by the community, but no
journalist seems interested?"
Because they specialize in people who consume, not creators.
Actual creativity on the internet that isn't "viral" is niche and doesn't
bring in pagehits.
"Tech journalists" really are catering and pandering and not interested in all
aspects of technology. Pay attention to the content that gets published, is it
really ~that~ interesting or is it pushing popular nerd'ry to a mass audience?
------
dmor
Can you paste the copy of one of the emails you sent to these journalists
here? Right now you are the common denominator in the problem, so maybe there
is something in the way you're communicating or asking that could be improved.
~~~
bozho
Hello,
I'm contacting you, because I read an article of yours about computers and
music ([article title]), and thought that you might be interested in my
project as well - <http://computoser.com>
It provides a very simple web interface to a (practically) unlimited set of
music tracks, generated without any human input. And although it is not the
first algorithm to generate music, I think it's the first web-based, user-
friendly interface to such an algorithm.
When I first released the project, I submitted the story to HackerNews to
gather initial feedback from fellow "hackers", and the it was very positive -
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4819269>, which inspired me to make some
improvements.
The improvements are already in place, and although the algorithm is not
perfect, I think it's worth taking a look at. I'd be happy to get your
feedback, or in a best-case scenario - get it covered.
~~~
Mz
You need to work on your PR-speak. Simple = "dumb". You need a word without
such unfortunate connotations, like elegant or uncluttered. Try something like
this:
I recently read your article about computers and music titled ([article
title]). Thus, I thought that you might be interested in my project as well <a
href="[http://computoser.com>Computoser</a>](http://computoser.com>Computoser</a>),
which provides a very accessible and intuitive web interface to a virtually
unlimited set of music tracks, all generated without any human input. Although
it is not the first algorithm to generate music, to the best of my knowledge,
it is the first time such an algorithm has been available via web with a user-
friendly interface.
Announcement of the project, and later the related app, made the front page of
Hacker News, an accomplishment in itself. Initial feedback from fellow tech
professionals was very positive (See
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4819269> and {the other hn link}). I was
surprised that it did so well on such a large and competitive forum. The
experience inspired me to make some improvements. Those improvements are
already in place. There is no doubt still room for improvement but initial
response is extremely encouraging.
I am currently looking for feedback from industry insiders like yourself and
offering you the chance to be the first to cover the story, assuming you find
it worthy.
Thanks so much for your time.
Respectfully, Bozho
Edit: "Computoser" should be clickable but it should be the name of the site,
not the url. Similarly, you should name the two hn links. But hn is mucking up
my formatting etc.
~~~
bozho
Thanks :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Android vs. iPhone: Why Openness May Not Be Best - peter123
http://gigaom.com/2009/02/22/is-being-%e2%80%9copen%e2%80%9d-an-absolute-in-mobile/
======
nazgulnarsil
no, google doesn't have to "support everything". Did the author miss the boat
on what open source software is? each vendor can modify android as they see
fit if they need it to do something different. It is up to the vendor to
support their products, just like now.
~~~
tmilewski
@nazgulnarsil - I agree.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Apoorva Mehta had 20 failed startups before Instacart - elmar
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-himi-apoorva-mehta-20170105-story.html
======
11thEarlOfMar
Tracey Lien completely missed the punch line: Mehta got into YC 2 months late
by ordering a 6 pack and having it delivered to Garry Tan at YC Offices [0]. I
thought this was legend.
[0] [https://techcrunch.com/2012/08/18/how-instacart-hacked-
yc/](https://techcrunch.com/2012/08/18/how-instacart-hacked-yc/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Verizon launches Yahoo Mobile phone service - altaaf_baatli
https://www.msn.com/en-us/finance/other/verizon-launches-yahoo-mobile-phone-service/ar-BB112SiY
======
weare138
> Verizon is launching a Yahoo-branded mobile phone service called Yahoo
> Mobile in an attempt to use consumers’ total apathy toward familiarity with
> the Yahoo brand
Why? To remind us how much we didn't like Yahoo to begin with or do they
figure consumers can't possibly have a worse opinion about the brand so
there's no way to go but up?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
It's Official: AOL Acquires TechCrunch - taylorwc
http://www.businessinsider.com/its-official-aol-acquires-techcrunch-2010-9
======
carlos
congrats to Mike!. Will he move out from Seattle now?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
CS researchers find way to derive laws of nature from stacks of data - jkopelman
http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2009/11/48443-deep-data-dives-discover-natural-laws/fulltext
======
dmlorenzetti
I'm a modeler who works with experimenters. Their general attitude is that
unvalidated models are about as useless as unexamined measurements.
In that context, this sounds like a nice piece of work-- it integrates the
data analysis and model validation steps.
However, it's also clear that the algorithms were fed pertinent data from a
meaningful physical setup. In other words, good experimental design carried a
lot more of the burden of the discovery, than the computer algorithm that
sorted through the data.
~~~
chasingsparks
I spend a lot of time modeling and have used genetic algorithms and similar
paradigms in the past. They are great -- if you can somewhat narrow down the
relevant parameters. If you can't, the search space is insanely large.
------
bh23ha
This is very neat, but for some reason I'm not super impressed. I don't mean
to be glib, but genetic algorithms have been producing impressive results for
a while. And if you feed them a huge amount of raw experimental data, I have
no doubt and I am not the least bit surprised they can discover and fit
equations to it.
I suppose there is a possibility that for some more complicated things
formulas don't converge and thus a brute force search would not be able to
optimize a solution. However for most thing, I do expect solutions derive from
other solutions and things converge.
Still, often the most brilliant things seem obvious in hindsight, kudos to the
team.
~~~
randallsquared
The article _seemed_ to say that their system derived the law of conservation
of energy from pendulum data. That seems pretty impressive to me, but maybe
that's because I don't know enough physics to see how it's an obvious
conclusion?
~~~
joeyo
They derived laws that were already known. It won't be until their system
derives _unknown_ laws and relationships, then we'll have something.
------
JoeAltmaier
Hm. They were looking for conservation laws, threw out all trivial equations
and kept the next set they found. Weren't they in fact building an engine to
find what they knew was there? Isn't this just a program to fit coefficients?
When did they stop running data thru their engine - when it found the "right"
equations?
~~~
roundsquare
Not at all. Coefficient fitting is when you know what output you want, and you
have a lot of inputs, and you have some idea of the functional form. In this
case, they didn't say "I want to predict the position of the pendulum based on
time given these initial conditions." They just said "here is a bunch of data"
and it came back with useful equations.
------
AndrewDucker
This is amazing.
Computers are fantastic at deductive logic - taking a set of data and
performing operations according to a ruleset to get something useful out of
it. But they've been terrible at forming the rules themselves up until now.
If we can give computers inductive abilities then that's worldchanging.
~~~
javanix
This wasn't actually inductive though.
_Given crude initial conditions and some indication of what variables to
consider_
The only induction done in the whole process was done by the researchers in
this step - otherwise the algorithm wouldn't have had anything to "evolve" to.
------
wicknicks
I don't understand why computers need to figure out laws of the universe.
There are so many dying concerns already on this planet - which can be solved
by a man machine symbiosis. Personally I think such ideas are cool, but are
not of great/immediate use. It reminds me of the machine built to find the
answer to the question "What is this life about?" in "hitchhiker's guide to
the galaxy". 42!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Cryptocurrency stunt to climb Mount Everest reportedly turns deadly - spking
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/05/25/cryptocurrency-stunt-to-climb-mount-everest-reportedly-turns-deadly.html
======
perl4ever
Odd they don't name the deceased.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Nike Open Source Software - jonbaer
https://nike-inc.github.io
======
pacofvf
Looks like their iOS app already uses swift and the android one is neglected.
I hate that I feel like a 2nd class citizen when comparing Android vs iOS
running apps, the Android one is just so inferior and buggy, once I lost like
4-5 runs because it could sync with its servers.
~~~
pbrewczynski
You have to take into account that they have strong partnership with Apple.
There have been a lot of Nike products that were working only with Apple-
branded devices. This could be the reason why they treat Android like the 2'nd
class platform.
~~~
wlesieutre
Not to mention Tim Cook has been on the board of directors for the last
decade.
------
cloudjacker
If you submit a pull request, don't forget to separately mail the company the
license agreement and all associated patents
[https://github.com/Nike-Inc/nike-
inc.github.io/blob/master/C...](https://github.com/Nike-Inc/nike-
inc.github.io/blob/master/CLA.md)
~~~
slimsag
Isn't it true that all open source projects need a Contributor License
Agreement like this, or else someone could contribute code that is patented by
them and later say "I contributed the code, but never said you could use my
patented technology. You owe me money." in court?
If that's the case, how do so many open source projects get away without them?
Do companies individually vet patents for projects they use? (doubtful.. but
maybe)
~~~
ak4g
The reality is that a contributor license agreement is of near-zero help to an
open-source project; it's only present here because Nike's lawyers required
it. But the surface area of 'contributions that infringe on patents held by
the contributor' is infinitesimally smaller than 'contributions that infringe
on any patent held by anyone else'.
Non-trivial, inclusion-worthy patches don't just fall from the sky; certainly,
if it ever were to happen, you can be sure that other developers will be doing
a search for patents issued to that author. If anything were found, the patch
author would be advised that the contribution could not be accepted, due to
the patent.
If and when a project's developers become aware that a technique used is
patented, or even just potentially infringing pending some legal outcome,
whatever would have to be ripped out is ripped out. But the patent, and the
potential infringement, will not be discussed publicly. Open-source projects
can't work any other way - the liability is on the users, not the developers,
and it's not in their interest to expose their uses to "willful infringement"
liability. Even public discussion of actual or potential infringement in is
toxic - you would be asked to stop (privately).
It is what it is. It's also not _too_ problematic, in my limited experience.
But that may well simply be because nobody tries to find infringement, for
obvious reasons.
~~~
slimsag
So, to summarize part (but probably not all) of your argument, "a CLA doesn't
help because _any change that could be patented_ would be caught by the
reviewer of that change"?
I wonder, in all honesty, how often do people search for patent infringement
when accepting large inclusion-worthy PRs? I doubt very often, personally..
------
orsenthil
This is inline with the common theme these days, the company that wants to
survive has to has to become a software company in some part. The other day, I
saw Gap Inc, publishing a report of using "Gurobi" linear programming software
for optimizing online store prices.
Are there other consumer "goods" companies that have interesting open source
stuff published?
~~~
chrstphrhrt
Walmart Labs believe it or not: hapijs.com
~~~
shas3
Walmart Labs is basically a Bay Area software/analytics start up- Kosmix that
was acquired by Walmart. Hardly surprising they do this.
On another note: a quirky thing I encountered on Twitter was Target hiring
category theorists.
[https://twitter.com/sigfpe/status/734129734569709568](https://twitter.com/sigfpe/status/734129734569709568)
~~~
npkarnik
Very cool - I actually have a friend who works on that Target team. There are
smart, talented, "modern" people everywhere. I wonder what the dinosaurs will
look like in 10-20 years.
------
__derek__
It's cool to see this trend. I wonder if they're still using Adobe Experience
Manager (formerly known as Day CQ). At a former employer, that relationship
was a big reason why management pushed to build on top of AEM. Engineers
objected because it had little in the way of online community or
documentation, meaning that most implementation questions received answers
along the lines of "Buy some time with one of these consultants."
~~~
creativityhurts
Yes they're still using AEM and struggling with the same issues it comes with.
------
ocdtrekkie
I like that companies are realizing you don't necessarily have to be a tech
company to see value in publishing open source software!
~~~
moby
Indeed - we see some really innovative uses of OSS on GitHub from companies
you wouldn't expect. Software is an enabler of their business, initially;
then, it becomes totally interwoven.
One of my favorites? John Deere.
[https://github.com/johndeere](https://github.com/johndeere)
~~~
fgandiya
John Deere are pretty cool. My college is 20 minutes away and they hire a lot
of interns throughout the year.
~~~
jabl
I recall John Deere became infamous for trying to DRM their tractors to hell,
so that only official authorized ($$$) workshops are allowed to fix anything.
Ah, yes, a bit of googling brings something up:
[https://boingboing.net/2015/05/13/john-deere-of-course-
you-o...](https://boingboing.net/2015/05/13/john-deere-of-course-you-ow.html)
I mean, if I were a farmer or had a reason to own a tractor for some other
reason, I'd avoid them. Then again, the cynic in me thinks that everybody is
doing this, JD just got caught and their ham-fisted PR response made it an
order of magnitude worse for them.
~~~
moby
It'll be interesting to see how they progress on this front in the near term.
I recall just a few years ago that Ford was extremely closed off with their
developer toolkit on their SYNC systems; slowly, as they realize that
collaborative development can take place with no impact to central functions
of the vehicle's operation, they can open up the ecosystem a little bit.
That's all an ideal state, of course; reality is wrought with questions over
who owns what, etc. but I'm optimistic.
------
joobus
Their github website is written in mithril.
~~~
teddyh
I think you mean Khuzdul, or possibly Cirth?
------
roflchoppa
Dude this was supposed to happen back in 2013 with the fuel band.....
------
ZalandoTech
The Tech team at Zalando also has an open-source projects dashboard:
[https://zalando.github.io/](https://zalando.github.io/). It's searchable by
language, with some popular projects for PostgreSQL, APIs/Swagger spec, and
Python.
------
kbody
Wasn't a massive layoff in the Nike Fitness Tracker department during the
"Secret"-era? Or is this for plain mobile apps that have nothing to do with
the fitness trackers?
------
fgandiya
Interesting. I don't think of Nike as being really interested in tech, besides
Nike+
------
Animats
Oh, the shoe guys. I was hoping for Nike missile guidance.
------
mariusmg
Why does a company who makes shoes writes a "JSON parsing framework" ?
~~~
davidlumley
Because they also make apps that integrate with the fitness trackers housed in
some of their shoes.
~~~
jessedhillon
I think parent probably means, why do they write their own instead of using
one of the several off-the-shelf solutions available.
~~~
ctvo
Hey look at these other companies writing their own software too. It's crazy:
A taxi company: [https://github.com/uber](https://github.com/uber) A hotel
company: [https://github.com/airbnb](https://github.com/airbnb) A clothing
company: [https://github.com/gilt](https://github.com/gilt)
~~~
choward
We're talking about JSON parsing here: a solved problem. Do those companies
write their own JSON parsers? I don't think so.
~~~
ctvo
I'm sure they had no idea it was a solved problem in Swift and are very
embarrassed...
The level of arrogance to think we know better than the developers working at
a company on what they should / shouldn't write is astounding.
Nike doesn't need to justify anything to any of us, though as someone who
writes apps using Swift, it looks distinctly different from other JSON
parsers. I'll explore using it in a future project.
Thanks for contributing to open source, Nike!
~~~
girvo
> _The level of arrogance to think we know better_
Somewhat prevalent here on HN, I've noticed. Middlebrow dismissals and
condescending comments that fail to consider context seem to be even more
regular than normal lately, though that's probably just my mind playing tricks
on me.
------
downrightmike
Yeah, but where in the code are the instructions for the slaves to make the
shoes? This is the important part.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Taser Will Use Police Body Camera Videos “to Anticipate Criminal Activity” - Futurebot
https://theintercept.com/2017/04/30/taser-will-use-police-body-camera-videos-to-anticipate-criminal-activity/
======
I_am_neo
Pre-crime
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Unpatched Wordpress Instance on Yahoo Blog Leads to Cookie Theft - georgek1029
http://labs.bitdefender.com/2013/01/unpatched-wordpress-instance-on-yahoo-blog-leads-to-cookie-theft/
======
caseyf
Yikes. Any site with a publicly accessible swfupload.swf is open to XSS.
[https://nealpoole.com/blog/2012/05/xss-and-csrf-via-swf-
appl...](https://nealpoole.com/blog/2012/05/xss-and-csrf-via-swf-applets-
swfupload-plupload/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How to get a job in US? - chromer
I am a python-django developer in India looking to move to US. I have sent my resume to a few people now and they like what they see but when it comes to relocation(work permit) they say sorry. I was wondering is there any company in NY, LA or SF willing to offer relocation.
======
subrat_rout
It will be hard to land a job in US. For Indian national, there are mostly two
ways you can do. One is by H1b which is the common route but the company needs
to sponsor you for that. If a US company can n't find any talent in US and you
apply and convince them that you will bring tremendous value then they will
sponsor you. The other route is to work for a MNC in India and get an
intracompany transfer(L1).
------
eli_gottlieb
The first step is to have a job in the US.
------
rprasad
There are plenty. They do not advertise open positions because that always
results in a flood of applications that overwhelms their ability to scrutinize
the applicants.
Find someone in the U.S. who is in the django market, and get to know them.
(Google Plus, etc.) They can get you in touch with the right company (i.e.,
willing to help relocate, including visa issues) at the right time. You will
probably have to do some contract work for U.S. companies first, however, so
they can scope out whether its first going through the expense and hassle of
relocating you.
~~~
chromer
nice tip will try some networking on google plus but its creepy.
~~~
wyan
Why is networking creepy?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The itch list - smritim
http://www.theitchlist.com
======
smritim
One day. That’s when we plan to do all the things we absolutely MUST do on
this planet. Climb Mount Everest. Learn to salsa. Hug Ryan Gosling. Judging
from the number of things we’ve left for this day, chances are we won’t get to
do most of them (there are no salsa instructors on Mount Everest or
nearabouts).
So it’s best to start now! You don’t have to do everything you’re itching to
do today but keep yourself focussed by putting a scratch-by date to it. Next
week. Christmas. Before Justin Bieber hits puberty... Make a plan and invite
your buddies to help, or buddy up with like-itched strangers and start
scratching. You will keep finding stuff to add to your itch list but this way,
you’ll also build a Scratchbook worth bragging about!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Glui – The simplest way to capture, annotate and share screenshots - razola
http://glui.me
======
shortformblog
I've been doing sort of a hand-made version of this for a while. It's a useful
trick and one of my favorite quick-blogging techniques.
This doesn't have annotations, but it's a free alternative:
<http://grabbox.devsoft.no/>
------
fharper1961
<http://collabshot.com/> is free, does the same thing and supports Linux, Mac
and Windows.
------
Skoofoo
Neat, but $5? As an /introductory/ price? I don't have a Mac, but I can't
imagine it's that troublesome to capture, annotate and share screenshots on
one. I guess I'm just not the target market for this sort of thing.
~~~
rdouble
There isn't another app that does it all (capture, annotate, quick share, host
the screenshot) besides Skitch, which was bought by Evernote.
~~~
egze
There is monosnap. Much better than Skitch.
<http://monosnap.com/>
~~~
rdouble
Thanks... a link to an app I didn't yet know about was what I was hoping for
when I posted my comment. :)
------
imwhimsical
What's the difference between this and CloudApp set to "auto upload
screenshot" ?
This is a genuine question. Am I missing something here?
~~~
tuananh
CloudAPp doesn't allow you to annotate the screenshots though.
~~~
huhtenberg
But it has robust backend infrastructure and it has been around for a while.
You know... trivial extra feature vs. maturity and reliability... it's not a
hard choice. Besides there are CloudApp clients that support annotations if
that's what someone really needs.
~~~
imwhimsical
Also, You can install plugins, called "raindrops" to add a few neat features,
or make your own plugins since they have a raindrops API.
And the free package covers almost everything that 'Glui' does, for free.
------
MortenK
Www.jingproject.com is a great solution for this as well. One click to upload
and url to the annotated screenshot is in the clipboard
------
nathanpc
Nice. Simple applications is what we need 90% of the time.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How do you fire a startup employee? - zaph0d
We have a small startup and we hired one guy a couple of months back. His programming skills were OK, but when it came to delivering, he scored a blank. Apparently he had never shipped software before and seemed to be more of a "software processes" zealot than being a hacker (which we intended to train him to become).<p>I understand that it was probably a bad hire, but the question is how do we fire him with a nice Email now?<p>Any example of a informal but nice termination letter (with little legalese) would be appreciated.<p>Edit: s/funny/informal
======
philwelch
"Your programming skills are OK, but when it comes to delivering, you scored a
blank. Apparently you've never shipped software before and seem to be more of
a "software processes" zealot than a hacker. You'll probably do alright at a
larger firm where you have a better chance to develop but you don't really fit
what we need. We wish you the best of luck finding another job."
I don't see any reason to be less honest with him than you're being with us.
Save the hand-wringing over how to "nicely" fire someone for when you're big
and rich enough to hire an HR department and get back to real work.
~~~
zaph0d
Thanks. That helped a lot. I really need to be honest with him.
~~~
DanielStraight
You should be straightforward and honest, but you shouldn't judge him. You
don't need to give him a list of his faults. Simply tell him, "It's not
working out; I'm letting you go. Best of luck in the future." IF he asks for
more detail, give it, but criticize his performance NOT him. Do not tell him
what he is ("you're a software processes zealot"). That's for him to figure
out. Do not asses his motivations (something like, "you don't seem to care
about...") or his experience ("you've never shipped software before"). Assess
strictly his performance. Period. _Even if he asks you to assess him_. It is
not your place to judge who someone is, what their values are or what they
would be good at. It's your job to assess whether they are doing what you
hired them to do.
On a further note, if this surprises him in any way, there's a deeper problem.
Employees should know at all times whether they are living up to expectations.
If he wasn't, he should have known and had a chance to fix it.
Further, I agree this should be done in person, and another more important
point, it should be done privately. Do not call him out in front of his
coworkers. Give him a chance to leave quietly without embarrassment.
------
igrekel
I agree with lot of posters but there is one point I haven't seen addressed so
far: do you expect this to be a surprise for him? If not, you've probably done
something wrong. Were your expectations made clear to him?
Since I have had to fire someone in the past (not a pleasant experience even
if it went well), when I announced it, it wasn't really a surprise to him, his
attitude was more "it's sad but fair". But it went that way because I had a
few discussions earlier about what I was expecting in terms of actions and how
what he was doing was not meeting these expectations. Also make sure he knows
which things you don't really care for right now and find unnecessary right
now. It is possible he is not delivering because he is putting more energy on
things you don't care for. Creating this shared vision is one of the most
important things you need to learn when managing employees.
------
pclark
wow, firing via email. Man the hell up and take him aside, look him in the eye
and explain the situation.
You're a startup founder - lead from the front.
~~~
zaph0d
I completely understand. But as I have already said, I would have told that to
him in person, but he bunked office again today. I am fed up with his lack of
professionalism.
~~~
pclark
ring him and tell him to come in to chat.
------
budala123
Hacking sucks, BTW. You guys are always looking for grade A slaves and peons
to fill these roles. But hey, you are the "Big Idea" people, the rest of us
are little helots. Try walking a mile in the slave's shoes for a while, maybe
you won't be so harsh. Here's a suggestion: maybe out-source to Bangalore?
It's what the big boys are doing.
Anyway, more to your point:
Dear <loser>,
<paragraph of lies follows below>
we are very pleased with your work to date but due to a strategic rebalancing
forced upon us quite suddenly by exogenous forces, we need to make some
painful cutbacks. We have elected to pare back our newest hires, your position
included. If the financial condition of our company improves, we would be
happy to reconsider your employment at a later date. However, it is not
certain if the situation will resolve itself in the short term and so I would
advise looking for other positions in the interim. Let me say that it has been
truly a pleasure to work with such a keen and incisive mind as yours. I hope
there are no hard feelings between us.
Best of luck in your future endeavours <fuck off and die you piece of shit. we
hope never to see you again>.
signed
<greedy corporate asshole>
~~~
zaph0d
Haha! Now that was really funny. By the way, we never treated him as a slave.
He was also promised a fair amount of equity.
------
ionfish
Why do you need to be funny? What's wrong with an honest, clear explanation
that you need to fire him, and the reasons why?
Getting fired isn't (generally) a funny thing, and if you're an employer you
should probably be considering the well-being of your employees (even if
they're about to become ex-employees), not trying to make yourself feel better
about the process by "making it go down easier" with a jokey dismissal.
~~~
philwelch
"Getting fired isn't (generally) a funny thing"
Totally off-topic, but one time I did a crap summer job doing phone surveys.
It turns out that I'm not very qualified for jobs that require being civil to
people who are cussing me out. Getting fired wasn't funny, but the
circumstances that led up to it certainly are.
~~~
clistctrl
wow, that needs way more explaination
~~~
philwelch
You'd be surprised how polite most people are with unsolicited calls. Most
people just hang up. I worked there 30-35 hours a week for over a month until
someone even cussed at me. You actually learn more than you'd think at that
kind of job. You learn how it's difficult to distinguish between a male voice
and the voice of a lifelong female smoker. You learn all kinds of fascinating
regional accents. You learn how much fun it is for people to say bad things
about companies they've had bad experiences with (some rich guy in Texas
really had it in for Smith Barney). You learn that hockey fans don't like
being interrupted during the Stanley Cup ("do you know what time it is! It's
the Stanley Cup finals!"). (Drinking beer and watching sports does tend to
give people the illusion that it's the most important thing in the world,
which is probably where stadium riots come from.) You learn that some mothers
feel a little insecure about not being able to judge the quality of the meat
they buy.
There's something that happens to people in customer service jobs where they
have to be polite to people. Addressing people as "sir" and "ma'am" just gets
habitual. One day I learned that habit isn't automatically broken when someone
manages to trigger my "get into a cussing match" reflex. Some people will call
you a son of a bitch for trying to do a survey with them on Father's Day. That
wouldn't have bothered me, but some people have just the right type of voice
and inflection to get my goat. Instinct got the better of me. When that
happens, you learn that shouting "fuck you too, sir" into a phone loud enough
for the entire call center to hear you is cause for summary termination.
Going in there the next two Fridays to pick up my paychecks while getting the
evil eye from the managers was oddly fun. It was around that time I learned
that I was one of the few people there who _didn't_ smoke weed to get by
during the day. It might have mellowed me out enough to make more money. But
I've also learned that having a bit more money isn't always as rewarding as
having a story to tell.
~~~
clistctrl
its a pretty good story too
------
mbrubeck
Do it in person if possible, not by email. It's harder but it's more
respectful of the fact that this is an important decision. And it's too easy
to misinterpret tone in email.
~~~
zaph0d
I would have told that to him in person, but he bunked office again today.
~~~
rubinelli
Then schedule a meeting. Tell him to be there early tomorrow because you need
to talk, and then deliver the news face to face. Have a list of events in
which he didn't perform as you expected him to, explain that while he had an
acceptable performance, your company is too small to survive with less than
absolutely stellar work, wish him best of luck, and say you are available if
he needs references. I think being nice and respectful is much more important
than being informal. In fact, I think informality may give the impression that
you don't care.
------
ismarc
Did he have a salary or associated pay for any of the work? Have you sat down
and explained things to him yet (ie, how he is performing compared to what you
were expecting)? If you haven't told him, he may have just misunderstood the
primary focus. If he's been working for potential of equity only, let him
retain that potential based on work already completed, or give him a
reasonable payment of having worked for several months for free. I know I
would not be willing to ever be in any sort of business arrangement with
someone ever again after them getting months of free work from me and then
going "oh, hey, nah, not working out, sorry we didn't tell you so you could
correct it, and no you don't get to keep anything you've been working on, good
luck!"
~~~
zaph0d
He did have a reasonable salary, so compensation is not a problem.
------
lsc
be gentile, but firm.
Don't lie to him, but don't be an asshole or act like it's all his fault. The
valley is very small. Like it or not, this guy will be the face of your
company for some time to come. You will almost certainly work with someone
else who knows that person in the future.
Personally, when I have to fire someone, the way I see it, it was primarily my
mistake. I chose the wrong person for the job. I mean, I'm still going to let
them go, but I do it with the attitude that it was me who screwed up.
------
zaph0d
Okay, thanks everyone for the wonderful advice. I have decided to tell him in
person when he comes to the office again.
I will not judge him and I will clearly tell him that he has not performed to
my expectations. And no, I don't think it's going to be a surprise to him; I
have given him ample ways to figure out that his ways of doing things (or not
doing them) is wrong.
By the way, just to clarify, I am not from the Valley (I wish), and the place
is not that small :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Apple Watch: “Don’t concentrate on the finger” STFU and listen, golden marketing - lessthunk
http://lessthunk.com/2015/03/11/apple-watch-dont-concentrate-on-the-finger-stfu-and-listen-their-marketing-genius-is-golden/
======
thomasFischer
>Apple WATCH is a mass market platform for greater things Agreed -- it's
complimenting the phone to save time.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Gay Marriage: The database engineer's perspective - jlangenauer
http://qntm.org/gay
======
tptacek
Dupe. Burn it with fire.
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1183686>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Remember Backing Up to Diskettes? I’m Sorry. I Do, Too - ohjeez
http://www.druva.com/blog/diskette-nostalgia/
======
SixSigma
Floppies, how advanced, I still have a box of C15 cassette tapes with my data
from the 1980s on them!
~~~
ohjeez
Yeah -- but how would you get the data _off_ those tapes?
I have one computer system that's 10 years old (running OS/2) which is wholly
unconnected from the computing universe, much less my network. It has floppy
drives, a CD player (and no software to burn anything to CD), a SCSI and
serial ports. And I've a bunch of data on that system that I'd like to pry off
of it, though it'd take a rube goldberg setup to do so... which means I never
do get around to doing it.
~~~
SixSigma
I have a plan, as it happens. I'm going to leverage HTML5 audio processing
soon, as a bit of an exercise really, and work on Javascript processing of my
300 baud tape collection, that's why it was in my mind to make the comment.
I have my 8 bit computers - ZX81 and BBC Micro still working, for years I have
wanted to use my PC audio for data transfer and now I have some time to play
at it for a bit. I even have the idea that I might try and connect my ZX81 to
the internet in this way, writing a REPL in ZX basic and using the ZX81 as a
dumb terminal.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The big puzzle in economics today: why is the economy growing so slowly? - jseliger
http://www.vox.com/2016/8/1/12131216/theories-gdp-growth-slow
======
aurizon
As China increases their creative capability they are increasingly capable of
matching US products at higher and higher levels. They started with dollar
store stuff, made cheap, sold cheap - but now it is made better and the range
of products that attack US products is moving upmarket from the dollar stores
to all level of technology - bar none. IP protected items, movies, designs,
trademarked, patented etc are gaining fewer premium dollars every year. Costs
of city and state unions ratchet up inexorably, same with the manufacturing
unions. How soon before China has a well designed car that will kick the snot
out of what Detroit makes? (as if the unions have not already nearly killed US
cars and Detroit)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Hacker Papers (1980) - salgernon
http://www.textfiles.com/news/hackpape.hac
======
rguzman
This reminds me of at least a few people in college. I tended to avoid the CS
department computer lab for fear of becoming something like the essay
describes. I didn't do too much better, though. I did decide to snap out of
it, ironically, when I moved to SF to do a startup.
One thing that surprised me upon arriving in SF, is how well-balanced and
adjusted lot of the 'hacker' types seemed. I think computer programming has
developed another subculture, or maybe a couple other subcultures that are
very different from the hacker subculture.
~~~
TeMPOraL
> _I think computer programming has developed another subculture, or maybe a
> couple other subcultures that are very different from the hacker
> subculture._
I agree. Programming went mainstream in the last decade (I noticed the
transition in an interesting way - it used to be that any girl look at me
weirdly for being "into computers", now every other girl just says "hey, my
boyfriend is a programmer too!"). And now your average coder is indeed well-
balanced and adjusted. Also not a hacker. Those are two different subcultures
now.
~~~
MatthiasP
There is just way more money in the business than in the 80s and the internet
and smartphones made using a computer way more mainstream.
------
TeMPOraL
> _The hacker will probably not strongly disagree with what has been said so
> far. But he will ask the question, "So what?"_
Exactly. So what?
I fit a big part of this description, though I also disagree with a lot of
conclusions of this essay.
INB4 I apologize for the tone, but generally this essay pissed me off.
> _We are precluding the human values so necessary for the wise application of
> this technological achievement. The most brilliant young minds at our top
> universities are learning how to play with multi-million dollar toys first,
> and how to utilize them constructively second._
If by "utilizing them constructively" you mean playing Farmville, mindlessly
balancing spreadsheets at work or using machines for getting more money for
yourself then well, I don't want to be anywhere near this "constructive" usage
of computers. There are creative things to do with them. There are also
important problems to solve that will determine the future of human
civilization. I care about those.
> _On the level of actual learning, the same students shut off outside
> subjects even more completely than their grades would indicate._
Now do they? I'm sorry, but actual hackers are the only people I know that are
interested and capable of comprehending many distinct disciplines at once.
Most of people seem not to bother. They do some job, they have a hobby, and
they spend time with family. It's not an english major I will go to if I want
to learn the intricacies of English grammar. I'd rather find a hacker with
interest in English, because from my experience, he tends to acutally
understand the subject better. Same for history. Or pretty much anything.
> _The second thing to go is a normal living pattern. Eating and sleeping are
> completly rearranged to fit the addiction. The typical hacker thinks nothing
> of eating one meal a day and subsisting on junk food, or of sleeping from 4
> a.m. to noon almost every day of the week._
Well, so what? The junk food addiction seems to be disappearing among geeks
anyway, and as for sleeping from 0400 to 1200 - I do that too because hell,
the night is the only time I can get anything done. Because people are
sleeping then, there are no errands to run, no need to be in the office and
waste your time, etc.
> _It is simply that the parents of hackers are ignorant of the subculture and
> cannot relate._
That might be true. But the only cases I know are from somewhat dysfunctional
families (I wonder how many of us became geeks thanks to that), and well -
it's harder to relate to people with totally different outlook on life, who on
top of that can't and don't want to understand your interest. Even though
programming is becoming mainstream, too much (i.e. non job-related)
programming is still treated as something weird. The society expects people to
respect each other's interests and try to at least grasp the basics out of
politeness. But strangely, when you're a geek, no one wants to do that with
you.
Your average geek is probably well-read about a lot of different things, much
more so than an average person, therefore they can hold any kind of non-
technical conversation with people. But soon they find it's the _only_ kind of
conversation they can hold. So how can one be surprised hackers tend to
isolate if no one gives a fuck about their interests?
> _Relations with nonhackers become strained, so why force the effort? It is
> so much easier just to accept social rejection and isolation, and to do it
> with a spirit of camraderie that 's shared by the rest of the subculture._
Yeah, that's true. But can you really blame hackers for that? It's not hackers
that do the rejecting.
> _Weak-willed people, people with unstable social lives, people in formative
> stages of their lives, should not become involved in computer science. It
> should be left until they are truly able to make decisions and be aware of
> all the consequences. Computers are most often used by people who start when
> they are immature. This is what causes the single-minded addiction._
Now really? First of all, there is no such time when a person is "truly able
to make decisions and be aware of all the consequences". It's always continous
learning.
Secondly, this whole paragraph reads more like "people should be prevented
from developing intellectual intrests, because they won't fit in well with the
dumb grey mass of the rest of society". Well I'm sorry, I prefer my "single-
minded addiction" of curiosity, skills and caring about important problems
instead of petty soap-opera issues.
Also sadly, in a way this essay has won. Most of the programmers now are not
geeks. They're well-balanced part of mainstream society. And it's as hard to
relate with them as with normal society. So you can't now just use the proxy
of "good programmer = hacker" to find people to do interesting or important
work with.
~~~
room271
So I agree that is a provocative essay. A more generous interpretation of what
the writer means might be:
\- a broad social interaction is vital if are to lead enriched lives, and also
if we want to help others
\- a genuine intellectual mind is one which is curious about learning in
varied forms (in point of fact, a lot of good programmers are musicians too)
Now, even if you agree with the above, it doesn't follow that programming is
especially bad compared to other ways people spend their time. Playing
Farmville all day, as you argue, is not likely to be conducive to the good
life or society either. Not that either hacking late at night, or Farmville
are bad - it's more the point the article makes about addiction I guess, and
lack of balance or outward-turning in our lives.
Sounds like a load of pretentious waffle, but hopefully some of that makes
sense or conveys some of what (I think) the article is saying.
------
shanxS
The observation regarding change in behavior and social interaction is
probably valid even today - but what difference does it really make ?
~~~
paxcoder
The hacker will probably not strongly disagree with what has been said so far.
But he will ask the question, "So what?"
------
paxcoder
Wow.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What's the status of Diaspora? - waterlesscloud
Any news since the Kickstarter funding hype ended? Their last blog post was 4 weeks ago, nothing at all about what they've done since getting funding far past their expectations.<p>The Kickstarter approach seemed interesting, but it seems like massively public funding would best benefit from public communication of progress.<p>I'm mostly curious about how they've modified their plan based on their funding, though something more techy in the way of specs would be welcome too.
======
holman
Open source distributed open protocol networks made possible through public
funding are always best developed in total secrecy.
Naturally.
~~~
wmf
To be fair, bikeshedding is equally bad.
------
carsonbaker
In principle, you should be able to follow their progress on the project's
posts page: <[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/196017994/diaspora-
the-p...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/196017994/diaspora-the-
personally-controlled-do-it-all-distr/posts>). Their latest post was 5 days
ago, but "for backers only."
~~~
techiferous
This link works: [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/196017994/diaspora-
the-p...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/196017994/diaspora-the-
personally-controlled-do-it-all-distr/posts)
------
netmau5
These guys are young and I'm not aware of any previous work they have
accomplished. The expectations of their work and their obvious inexperience
doesn't lead me to think they are going to totally solve the problem by the
end of summer. That being said, they are -young and inexperienced- and I am
always optimistic that those ingredients can lead to interesting and useful
solutions.
I'm happy to sit back and see what happens at the end of the summer. Cut
through the extraordinary expectations and just hope they can contribute to
this space. They now have the funding to keep the dream alive even after the
summer so I think all they need is to iterate one step closer to the solution,
not solve it completely. If they show as much, I think it opens up the door
for others to join their cause and collaborate towards something greater.
Kickstarter only told me that alot of people were interested in social media
privacy. A few people on here noted a while back that the attention and money
they did get may ultimately play a role in the failure of this project. IMO,
that is a little bit of a reach, but it is also perfectly reasonable.
Regardless, I don't think it matters if these guys win- people voted with
their money that they think there is room in town for another breed of
Facebook, ultimately it will come.
I will agree that it would be nice to see a little bit more public
communication, but how can we know they aren't communicating at all? The media
they have gotten has had to allow them a foot in the door with all kinds of
experts in academia, open source, and the commercial world. I'm sure they are
up to their eye-balls in collaborations.
------
samratjp
I can't find this one presentation of theirs on scribd. But it had some
inkling of their projected path. Technically speaking, I believe they were
using Ruby on Rails and MongoDB at the time and of course a lot of encryption
details.
Edit: Here's a relevant yet detailed look at what they proposed they'd build:
[http://www.joindiaspora.com/2010/04/30/a-response-to-mr-
vill...](http://www.joindiaspora.com/2010/04/30/a-response-to-mr-villa.html)
------
jchonphoenix
I don't believe this project will succeed. It is a project that was completely
based on hype. Couple that with the fact that there was a lot of talk over
facebook's open graph, Diaspora got a lot of press. Now that that's over, they
have to rely on their own wits to make it, which isn't something their team
strikes me as capable of doing.
------
dannyr
I heard that they got some office space in SF with the help of Pivotal Labs.
------
alexkiwi
Raising money before they know what they even really want to do... sounds like
trouble. Maybe they could come up with something though. Time will tell.
------
skbohra
This project is over hyped. Over expectation may kill the project. What is
supposed to be a facebook killer may end up being a disaster.
~~~
motters
I hope this isn't the case, but you may be right. Too much money/fame at too
early a stage in the project might not be such a good thing.
~~~
xenoterracide
Don't get high on your own supply.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Iranian web developer faces death over photo uploading tool used by porn sites - hoag
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/02/10/iran_web_developer_smut_site_death_sentence/
======
hoag
Sorry for the delete & resubmit: I realized the original title of the post
totally missed the point, i.e., that he is not faced with the death penalty
for developing a porn site, but rather because he had developed a photo
uploading utility that was subsequently used -- without his knowledge or
consent -- by a porn site(s). AND he has a wife back home in Toronto. This is
disgusting. That's like saying that a guy who builds beds should be put to
death because an unmarried couple made use of one.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
L++ Language - throwaway344
https://bitbucket.org/ktg/l
======
espadrine
In principle, it is very similar to the design of Chicken Scheme, a transpiler
from Scheme to C:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_Scheme](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_Scheme).
The L++ source also looks very much like this lovely write-up on how to write
a Scheme x86 compiler:
[http://scheme2006.cs.uchicago.edu/11-ghuloum.pdf](http://scheme2006.cs.uchicago.edu/11-ghuloum.pdf)
~~~
falconfunction
There's also ECL, but I don't know if it uses the same continuation style as
Chicken though.
~~~
aidenn0
It does not. Nearly all of the common-lisp to C transpilers are decedents of
Kyoto Common Lisp. One notable exception is mocl, which I believe to be a
decendent of CLiCC ([http://www.informatik.uni-
kiel.de/~wg/clicc.html](http://www.informatik.uni-kiel.de/~wg/clicc.html))
------
BruceIV
Usually I love looking through new programming languages, but the docs here
don't give me any motivation for the language, or even any reasonably non-
trivial examples. Is it just supposed to be C++ with Lots of Irritating Silly
Parens?
~~~
cjensen
Silly Parens are easier to parse. Automated manipulation of programs might be
fairly easy to accomplish.
If there were Lisp-style Macros available, that would beat the pants off the C
Preprocessor for boilerplate.
~~~
NAFV_P
> _Silly Parens are easier to parse._
I thought silly parentheses are just as easy to parse as in an imperative
language like C. Are you referring to the Polish prefix form being easy to
parse?
~~~
loumf
It's more like, the text is easier to turn into an AST, and it's easier to
manipulate that AST. It's not so much the parens, but the nested structure
(and that all of the code is in that structure)
~~~
NAFV_P
> _It 's not so much the parens, but the nested structure (and that all of the
> code is in that structure)_
I should have explained myself more clearly, I thought that the operator
appearing at the beginning of the list means that operator precedence is no
longer relevant. With infix operators the precedence is important.
~~~
aerique
Yes, this is also correct. In most (if not all) Lisps the generic structure is
"(operator [arg1] [arg2] [...] [argn])".
------
JoelMcCracken
the source, in its entirety:
[https://bitbucket.org/ktg/l/src/cb93b589c03ec1e39007c1907deb...](https://bitbucket.org/ktg/l/src/cb93b589c03ec1e39007c1907deb03d0787f9f17/l%2B%2B.rkt?at=master)
------
agumonkey
Not his first "parenthesis", see
[https://bitbucket.org/ktg](https://bitbucket.org/ktg)
~~~
john2x
Heh, guy loves creating lisps..
~~~
agumonkey
Who could blame him.
------
616c
Racket is so much fun. A single rkt file to C++ transpiler? Awesome stuff.
Anyone who has done things like this before: is it peformant? The Racket
documentation mentions against compiling out C/C++ sources it can emit,
because it misses the JIT and other optimizations. Would the emitted C++ code
be worthwhile?
Ironically, this seems to be exactly what Naught Dog was doing for the
infamous Racket on PS3 talk, even though it was not actually running on the
PS3 (it was MzScheme that transpiled to C++ code that could be compiled to
patch together game demos).
~~~
1_player
I'm curious, why infamous talk?
~~~
616c
I meant in the sense few watch it and no Racket is not running on the PS3.
------
aidenn0
For those interested in C++ and lisp, there is someone who has a nearly
complete common-lisp implementation written in C++, with a strong focus on
easy calling to C++ (Which is a serious weakness of the FFI for most
languages, Lisp included). I don't know if there is an ETA for it being
released yet though.
------
nkozyra
If you've ever wondered what it'd be like if Lisp and Python got drunk at a
party and 9 months later gave birth to a beautiful 800 lb C++ application.
------
joshstevens
Ah, Clojure changed its name.
------
NAFV_P
To whoever down voted my earlier comment, linked here [0], thank you for
responding to my query, I'm guessing that you consider bit-bucket not to be
superior to git-hub.
It could have been easier if you just replied to the comment, then I wouldn't
have to extrapolate an answer.
[0]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7712428](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7712428)
~~~
S4M
I didn't downvote you, but I suspect the reason you were downvoted was because
it was off topic - we are talking about a new dialect of Lisp here, not github
and bitbucket.
~~~
moron4hire
But it wasn't hugely distracting. There are a lot of down votes in this thread
for ultimately ignoreable comments.
------
NAFV_P
Quick query - is bitbucket better than github?
~~~
jafaku
Unlimited private repositories for free, yes.
~~~
NAFV_P
Thank you.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Need Advice on building a product for US market - udayaprakash19
I am a co-founder at an India based hardware startup. We build routers that can bond multiple 3G and 4G connections together and give you a higher combined bandwidth output. Simply put you can insert AT&T, T-mobile, and a Verizon SIM into our device and get an aggregated output of about 20-40Mbps(depending on signal strength).<p>Our product currently is aimed at the B2B segment in India and other developing countries. We are exploring the possibility of building a consumer grade version specifically for the US market. Something on the lines of Karma wifi, but with multiple redundancies built in and giving a higher bandwidth output. We provide high-speed internet in last mile delivery, where there is no feasibility for wireline internet and you require high-speed internet on the go.<p>The device would cost less than 300 USD and will have built in battery and can accommodate 3 cellular connections. The form factor will be similar to a power bank. I am looking for advice from people who currently live in the US and who understand markets there. What is the possibility of this device selling in the US? Do you see a market there? kindly advice. Personally, never traveled outside India. So kindly share your thoughts and opinions
======
blurrywh
Interesting product. The only use case I see (from an European perspective)
is:
You move into a new office building with your small startup team and depending
on the country and Internet provider it can take up to six weeks or even
longer until you get an Internet connection (even if you just take over an
existing account, it's a mess sometimes). Then your device paired with good
data plans would be an awesome substitute.
However, nowadays small teams go rather into turn-key team spaces from
coworking spaces where all is set. So the real need might be quite small
(because there are just so many good offers). Big teams/companies usually move
once the target location is fully setup, so they shouldn't need such a device.
Edit: Another thing: Since LTE you can get constant 150Mbit down and up with
one SIM and device. There are already plans which offer this 150Mbit up and
down and unmetered for 200 EUR/month which is a very good deal considering the
specs. And you just need a normal smartphone as the hot spot. So, I wouldn't
build such a device.
------
brudgers
One area where people are rolling their own solutions is live broadcasting by
independent journalists.
My advice on the US market is to continue to focus on B2B because:
1\. It is a natural extension of what you are currently doing and that
provides the potential for "viral" sales when users change companies or
companies expand to new markets or justs because people love your product.
2\. The consumer use cases are probably few and reaching those few will be
really hard because the communication channels are very noisy.
3\. A $300 price point is high for consumer networking hardware in the US.
4\. The costs are even higher because of the way consumers consume wireless
service in the US. Typically, they have locked phones and a multi-year
contract with a single provider. Unlike other parts of the world, consumers
tend to _not_ purchase unlocked phones and consume data by purchasing SIMS.
5\. In the US, wireless data only service plans tend to be a premium product.
6\. The existing wireless infrastructure tends to support normal high
bandwidth consumer use cases such as watching Netflix.
Good luck.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Release Notes: How to tell a developer's passion - joeybaker
http://forrst.com/posts/Release_Notes_How_you_can_tell_a_developers_pa-9xd
======
namank
You must be a developer yourself. Me too!
But I`ve found that nothing targeted at the general public should contain
stuff they can`t understand or don`t care about. Just like when companies hire
designers for front end stuff and a developer for backend, indie devs need to
think like a marketing person when doing copywriting
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
In a weird sneaker-net way we have implemented a human DNS - davewiner
http://scripting.com/stories/2010/12/03/wikileaksOnTheRun.html
======
commieneko
In Soviet Russia ... no wait, seriously ... in Soviet Russia, when they tried
to control copy machines and fax machines, people used typewriters, pen and
ink, and good old sneaker net to create and distribute their samizdat.
~~~
bonaldi
This works both ways. When everyone can see the communiques, the communiques
go offline.
~~~
sedachv
That's exactly what Assange wants to do - make it more inconvenient for people
in power to collude in secret.
What's really working both ways here is the samizdat analogy. Wikileaks is the
next logical step after samizdat in the fight against tyranny.
~~~
bonaldi
Depends on how much you trust them, really. What you call collusion is, for
them, co-operation. There were a lot of powerful internal voices in the
security industry against the kind of online information-sharing that makes a
leak like this possible.
The reason they were overruled was because 9/11 in particular showed how badly
joined up the information services were. Now the pendulum will swing the other
way again, inevitably.
I'm not yet convinced this a great outcome. Shouldn't diplomatic staff be able
to send back accurate assessments of political figures in countries where the
US has interests? If internal comms are sanitised for potential public
exposure, who benefits?
The "taking on tyranny" rhetoric surrounding wikileaks is overheated, too.
Assange is taking on the softest Western governments; the ones who will go
after him with arrest warrants. Were he _actually_ to take on tyranny he knows
he'd end up in a London clinic with radiation poisoning.
~~~
sedachv
"Shouldn't diplomatic staff be able to send back accurate assessments of
political figures in countries where the US has interests? If internal comms
are sanitised for potential public exposure, who benefits?"
Why do you think Wikileaks is only about the US? Right now the cables leaked
out are from the US, but the point is to do this to every government. Everyone
opposed to statism and nationalism benefits.
"Were he actually to take on tyranny he knows he'd end up in a London clinic
with radiation poisoning."
Except Litvinenko wasn't interested in revealing state secrets, but in making
schemes with Russian oligarchs. Which is probably why he's the only Soviet or
Russian defector to have died under suspicious circumstances since 1959.
~~~
bonaldi
"Why do you think Wikileaks is only about the US? Right now the cables leaked
out are from the US, but the point is to do this to every government. Everyone
opposed to statism and nationalism benefits."
I think a dog only barks because that's all I've heard it do. I think you're
choosing a "point" that chimes with your hopes, not the facts.
Your "benefits" too need made more explicit. I'm opposed to nationalism and
don't see any short or long-term benefits for me, here. Doing actions contrary
to the welfare of a national state doesn't automatically amount to a benefit
for anti-nationalists.
On the contrary, there are serious questions to be asked about what this will
do to things that actively help nations to work together, such as diplomatic
backchannels. Severing those is no more laudable, and far more potentially
lethal, than when TC posted Twitter's internal emails.
As for 1959, your answer's a little fine in its splitting of the hair -- the
KGB went after plenty in its time, including assisting in the bizarre murder
of Markov, and the "suicide" of Shevchenko's wife. There were also the many
sentenced to death that had to be hidden by the CIA. Lets not start on the
Stasi, either.
If your point was that tyrannies don't murder their citizens for treason,
you'll have a tough sell. That's why actually taking them on is a lot harder
than taking on a government that -- as the cables are showing -- is actually
relatively close to plain-speaking in its dealing with other nations. A lot of
the embarrassment has come from second-hand revelations about what _other_
countries have been lying about.
~~~
sedachv
"Doing actions contrary to the welfare of a national state doesn't
automatically amount to a benefit for anti-nationalists."
I don't know if you've seen this already, but this summarizes Assange's views
well: [http://zunguzungu.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/julian-assange-
an...](http://zunguzungu.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/julian-assange-and-the-
computer-conspiracy-%E2%80%9Cto-destroy-this-invisible-government%E2%80%9D/)
"I'm opposed to nationalism and don't see any short or long-term benefits for
me, here."
I see a lot of potential benefits for people currently being murdered in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
"On the contrary, there are serious questions to be asked about what this will
do to things that actively help nations to work together, such as diplomatic
backchannels."
Nations working together towards what? The whole point is that nations work
together for the benefit of those governing them. The only reason you and I
aren't property of god-kings at this point in history is because in the past
people have resisted tribal/nationalist/statist power.
"As for 1959, your answer's a little fine in its splitting of the hair -- the
KGB went after plenty in its time, including assisting in the bizarre murder
of Markov, and the "suicide" of Shevchenko's wife. There were also the many
sentenced to death that had to be hidden by the CIA. Lets not start on the
Stasi, either."
Do you think Africa is a country? How is it splitting hairs to be aware that
"Eastern Europe" isn't a single place?
"If your point was that tyrannies don't murder their citizens for treason,
you'll have a tough sell."
Every country punishes its citizens for treason. Assange isn't a citizen of
the United States. Bradley Manning is.
~~~
bonaldi
"I see a lot of potential benefits for people currently being murdered in Iraq
and Afghanistan."
1\. Expose internal documents. 2\. ???? 3\. Fewer people being murdered in
Iraq.
Going to need to spell out 2 here, because nothing wikileaks has done so far
has done anything to stop those deaths, and isn't likely to. Assange's, yours
and Winer's stances all assume that the states involved won't change their
methods in response to informational insecurity, and will instead continue
business as usual. This is a strange assumption.
"Do you think Africa is a country? How is it splitting hairs to be aware that
"Eastern Europe" isn't a single place?"
It was you who took my allusion to Litvinenko and turned into it something
exclusively exclusively about Russia. My point was, and remains, that
tyrannies murder to protect themselves, and high-minded rhetoric about
bringing them down comes to naught when you just pick on the soft targets.
~~~
sedachv
"Assange's, yours and Winer's stances all assume that the states involved
won't change their methods in response to informational insecurity, and will
instead continue business as usual. This is a strange assumption."
Please read Assange's manifesto, I posted the link for a reason. The whole
point of Wikileaks is to force states to "change their methods in response to
informational insecurity" and make their functioning less efficient. Armed
revolution isn't popular these days, and this is a bloodless, scalable, and
morally unassailable (well, for normal people's morals, anyway) way to attack
the functioning of a government.
\------
Also, I just learned about this:
[http://www.boingboing.net/2010/12/03/wikileaks-cables-
rev.ht...](http://www.boingboing.net/2010/12/03/wikileaks-cables-rev.html)
Let's see what the outcome will be.
~~~
bonaldi
I read the manifesto; it's troubling for people who, like me, are in support
of the general principle of greater transparency but don't support an
ideological reading of the US as an authoritarian conspiracy.
As for "morally unassailable", that's a ridiculous assertion. HN can't even
decide whether or not TechCrunch was right to publish the Twitter emails; this
is at a much more morally complicated level. The potential to put people in
harm's way is being used by politicians as a stick to beat WikiLeaks, but
nonetheless there's something to it.
When Amnesty International says you're putting people in danger, there's more
than just hype to it.
------
sudont
Well, they can always just twitter their current IP...
And if their servers are shut down, create checksummed files released into the
bittorrent cloud.
Eventually this will either end sanely, or in another Great Firewall.
~~~
eldenbishop
Twitter would make a fine DNS actually.
~~~
wmf
History of unreliability, check. Centralized, check. Business model that has
nothing to do with replacing DNS, check. Will probably give in to the US
government without a fight, ?
------
wwortiz
I think there is some lack of technical knowledge with the people who are
running wikileaks as they are still using the same free dns service with a new
domain rather than switching to another dns that might be able to handle their
traffic (DDOS) with a known domain name.
(everydns.net is the dns service they are using)
~~~
qjz
Since moving a host to another IP address practically requires temporarily
setting a low TTL (which may have been what actually caused the DDoS),
creating an entirely new domain with a high TTL is a reasonable (albeit
desperate) attempt to reduce the load on the authoritative nameserver. I doubt
it's a lack of technical knowledge as much as it is lack of resources in what
amounts to a perfect storm (hot potato content, inherent DNS weakness,
scalability during surge of popularity, etc.).
~~~
wwortiz
I was coupling it with the fact that they used the same dns service that
previously dropped them.
------
Abid
"Amazon cuts them off, then says the Lieberman call had nothing to do with it.
We have no reason to doubt Amazon. It's consistent with their philosophy of
not taking sides in political battles."
Seriously? Is there some memo addressing this self-evident truth that I
missed? What Amazon did was politically expedient. That doesn't mean they
didn't take sides.
~~~
jerf
"We have no reason to doubt Amazon" != "It is clearly obvious that their
stated motivation is true." It's a claim that there isn't a lot of evidence
for the claim that Amazon has bowed to politics in the past, which is not the
same as saying that they didn't this time. I do not have enough evidence to
judge the claim myself, I'm just observing what you're reading the text as is
not what it says.
I would also point out that large service hosts also have a vested interest in
resisting government intrusions, because it's bad for Amazon to have a
reputation of trashing your service every time some government somewhere
burbles something to them. Exactly how "expedient" this is overall is actually
a tricky thing to judge and the evidence isn't all one-sided. Again, I don't
have enough information to judge.
------
guelo
What I don't understand is EveryDNS's claim that the DDoS was affecting them.
Why would the bots be making repeated DNS requests? It seems like an efficient
bot would cache the IP in order to speed up the flood.
~~~
wmf
Is the DoS targeted against WikiLeaks or EveryDNS? Attackers have been known
to target DNS servers instead of HTTP servers if that's the weakest point.
------
pyre
Saying that a torrent can't be DDoS'd is wrong. The tracker can be DDoS's and
DHT doesn't seem (at least to me) to be as good at distribution as using a
tracker.
~~~
cryptoz
I'm sure that there are at least 10 - 20 _different_ trackers, though, that
are tracking this torrent. If they all disappear, more will pop up.
~~~
borism
the problem with official cablegate torrents is that there are very few
trackers in them and DHT is reportedly disabled. Not sure why they did it this
way.
------
Estragon
At the end a respondant mentions a torrent offering the wikileaks information.
Anyone got a link to it? I am having trouble finding it.
~~~
Estragon
Found it: [http://www.alivetorrents.com/torrent/9087183/wikileaks-
cable...](http://www.alivetorrents.com/torrent/9087183/wikileaks-
cablegate-20101203-mirror)
~~~
Groxx
size: 8.50mb
I doubt that's all of it.
~~~
Estragon
No, it's about 0.25% of it by number of cables released, to be precise.
------
known
<http://bit.ly/WiKiLeaks>
------
known
<http://goo.gl/fGrjo>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Alternative Lending Platforms Should Not Own the Loans They Originate - prostoalex
https://medium.com/@alibhamed/why-alternative-lending-platforms-should-not-own-the-loans-they-originate-and-the-danger-of-asset-d5862f800f14?_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_zAfQkok8WmILxGIwRmVEz8h96VrfeTQ5xrVE7E6EZ5j0Oq8-26Ij_jMtevyVO7xccfI-13sv5iZJGxMQ84O7qeySoUw&_hsmi=22715035
======
rahimnathwani
"Companies should focus on their core competency of origination, underwriting
and servicing — not managing their credit holders."
This makes no sense, as it could apply to any business which gets secured
loans from a bank.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: “Crafting Interpreters” chapter, control flow and Turing-completeness - munificent
http://www.craftinginterpreters.com/control-flow.html
======
ASipos
A bit of nitpicking:
"the function to compute the truth value of a given proof" should be "the
function that returns the truth value of a given statement" (1st change
because it is confusing to use the word compute in two different ways, 2nd
change is simply an error correction)
"equivalent in power" should not link to the Church-Turing thesis, as the
former is a mathematical statement, proved in any introductory course on
computability, and the latter is a philosophical one.
w.r.t. the Neil Gaiman quote:
[https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1407558-misattributed-q...](https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1407558-misattributed-
quote)
~~~
justinpombrio
More nitpicking:
> You can prove that by writing a simulator for a Turing machine in your
> language. Since Turing proved his machine can compute any computable
> function, by induction, that means your language can too.
That's not by induction, that's by composition or something.
> We almost have the third too. You can create and concatenate strings of
> arbitrary size, so you can store unbounded memory.
That's not true! Eventually you'll run out of memory & disk space. Turing
machine tapes are _infinite_ , you can't fit one in this puny universe.
EDIT:
> Syntactic sugar has a bad rap among the PL intelligentsia.
Um, what? I presume the author isn't aware of the large PLT group at
Northeastern that continuously writes papers about macros, i.e. user-defined
syntactic sugar, and develops Racket, a language built almost entirely out of
syntactic sugar. Or maybe they're defining "syntactic sugar" to not include
macros: if so, they should be more clear about that.
Also, I'm doing a PhD focusing on syntactic sugar, so I probably have
authority to say: syntactic sugar has a very good rap among the PL
intelligentsia. Languages with a needlessly complicated _semantics_ have a bad
rap, but that's different from having a large _grammar_. PL researchers are a
lot more concerned about semantics than syntax.
~~~
munificent
> That's not by induction, that's by composition or something.
Good point. I'll fix that.
> That's not true! Eventually you'll run out of memory & disk space. Turing
> machine tapes are infinite, you can't fit one in this puny universe.
Sure, but in practice, most people loosen that requirement. Otherwise, no
implemented language is Turing-complete.
> Um, what? I presume the author isn't aware of the large PLT group at
> Northeastern that continuously writes papers about macros, i.e. user-defined
> syntactic sugar, and develops Racket, a language built almost entirely out
> of syntactic sugar.
The mini-essay is about what syntactic sugar the _language designer_ chooses
to add _to the language_. Language features that let users extend the syntax
are outside of the scope of that.
I do note:
> Lispers famously claim their language “has no syntax”, while Smalltalkers
> proudly show that you can fit the entire grammar on an index card. This
> tribe has the philosophy that the language doesn’t need syntactic sugar.
> Instead, the minimal syntax and semantics it provides are powerful enough to
> let library code be as expressive as if it were part of the language itself.
~~~
justinpombrio
> The mini-essay is about what syntactic sugar the language designer chooses
> to add to the language. Language features that let users extend the syntax
> are outside of the scope of that.
What counts as part of the language? If you've coded in a lisp, you've used
`and`, `or`, `cond`, `let*`, `letrec`, etc. All of those are defined by
macros, but I don't think it's realistic to exclude them from being considered
part of the language.
~~~
kazinator
> _What counts as part of the language?_
Very simple: the arbitrary set of requirements documented in the reference
manual for the language and (consequently) provided in the implementation.
------
DanPristupov
I just want to thank Bob for the amazing "Game Programming Patterns" book. I
can't recommend it highly enough. And since I'm also interested in compilers,
I will buy "Crafting Interpreters” without a hesitation.
~~~
munificent
Thank you!
~~~
khedoros1
I'm reading it too, bit by bit! I've been writing file importers for an old
game that I'd like to recreate, but I've never built a game engine before, and
I'm getting to a place where I need to start tying things together to build
the cohesive whole.
~~~
EamonnMR
Which game?
~~~
khedoros1
Ultima Underworld. About 5 birds with one stone: game dev, reverse
engineering, real mode X86 assembly (covered a subset of ARM in college),
technical details of DOS, OpenGL graphics, and a dip into writing software
renderers too.
I consider it a long-term hobby; it's not exactly a quick solo project.
I'm also looking at another one called Solar Winds. It came out at a similar
time, but the whole game is smaller than just UW's binary, with a lot more of
the game's content encoded directly in the binary. UW tends toward deep call
stacks, and significant portions are written in C. SW is pretty flat with very
few function calls, and I think that about 1/3 of the code is made of Sound
Blaster drivers linked into the binary.
I took a look at Lemmings, but that was going to be kind of annoying. Most of
the binary was encrypted and would be decrypted on the fly, sometimes in a
2-step operation, where it would be decrypted then copied _backwards_ into a
new location. There are already engine implementations for that, so it didn't
seem worth the effort.
------
ejanus
Some typos : cook it down to a small number of primitives that the "back end"
can do its magic on. __backend __. Most other syntax trees always evaluate
their subtress. __subtrees __. Good read, thanks for sharing.
~~~
munificent
Thank you! I'll upload a fix for "subtress" when I get a chance. I believe
"back end" as two words is still the most common formulation:
[https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=backend%2Cback...](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=backend%2Cback+end%2Cback-
end&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cbackend%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cback%20end%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cback%20-%20end%3B%2Cc0)
------
pacaro
The author asks why && and || need different precedence (Unless I
misunderstood).
This is because `a && (b || c)` has a different truth table than `(a && b) ||
c`
~~~
rspeele
&& having higher precedence than || makes sense because && is boolean
multiplication and || is boolean addition.
~~~
DonaldPShimoda
This makes so much sense but I never thought of it this way before so
explicitly. Neat!
------
TekMol
This is not a Show HN.
~~~
dang
It is because it's a substantial project (a book), posted by the author, and
free for everyone to 'try out' (i.e. read). It's fair to have different
standards for different categories of project.
It's overdoing it a bit to post the same project every few weeks instead of
every few months, but that's a separate issue.
~~~
TekMol
Is the posting of a book chapter different from a blog post? The Show HN rules
say blog posts can't be Show HNs. And the reason given is they "can't be tried
out".
~~~
dang
Yes, it's different. A book (assuming it's a real book and not something
slapdash) is a major piece of work. Obviously some of the finer distinctions
(e.g. what counts as a book chapter vs. an article) can get pretty arbitrary.
But the broader lines aren't. The intent of Show HN is for people to share
what they're working on. If we applied the strictest definition, the only
thing anyone could easily 'try out' would be web apps, and that's much too
narrow.
~~~
munificent
> A book (assuming it's a real book and not something slapdash) is a major
> piece of work.
It is, I hope. But if you're prefer I post these without "Show HN", I'm happy
to. I thought it was worth doing it to make it more obvious that I was self-
posting, but I can not do that if that's what others would prefer.
~~~
pvg
_to make it more obvious that I was self-posting_
Not really what Show HN is for, though, so if you skip it for just chapter
updates (rather than the whole book) you'll probably get less guff.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How have lack of travel and increased social isolation affected mathematics? - theafh
https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-has-coronavirus-affected-mathematics-20200428/
======
btrettel
> “Mathematics used to be a much more individual activity,” Minsky said.
> “Maybe in the next year or so, we’ll be back to some solo projects.”
Seems that most research used to be more individual. I'm not sure why research
has shifted towards being collaboration-heavy and I don't think that this has
necessarily improved the quality of science. In my experience, papers with
many authors tend to be worse. (Could be field specific.)
A few months ago I got reviews back for a paper I wrote which had only me as
the author and one of the reviewers was _suspicious_ of this and brought it up
in the review. They didn't say what they were suspicious of but I'd guess that
they assumed that the work couldn't have been done by an individual. I replied
that the work was done one my own and anyone with a small contribution not
worthy of authorship was mentioned in the acknowledgements. I'm still waiting
to hear if that would satisfy the reviewer.
~~~
nil-sec
Many current problems are simply too complex to be solved by a single person,
often because it requires expertise from very different fields. High energy
physics, biology and neuroscience come to mind. There is not a single person
who understands all aspects of CERN. Likewise there isn’t a single person who
understands how to 1. Build a large scale Electron microscope to acquire high
res images of an entire brain 2. Analyze hundreds of terabytes of data to make
these images usable and 3. Analyze the results which would require highly
specific domain knowledge of neural circuits or other biological features of
the system you are looking at. My experience is opposite to yours. You are
lost as a lone researcher in many fields and the best papers these days are
written by enormous collaborations.
~~~
redis_mlc
The topic is math, not building megamachines.
I've been following the progress in number theory proofs for the past few
years, and email and forums have worked fine.
~~~
nil-sec
The parent explicitly talks about science in general. There is a tendency of
some (often of those outside of science) that feel like science is getting
worse over time and nothing of value is found anymore. The parent seems to
echo this sentiment and gives very shallow anecdotes to make his point. Still
it is the top comment as of writing. It’s just plain wrong in my opinion.
~~~
btrettel
I didn't argue that science is getting worse in general and that nothing
valuable is being done now, and that's not what I believe. I could see how
someone could infer the former from the number of authors per paper increasing
and me thinking that papers with many authors tend to be worse. My experience,
at I said, could be field specific. (I work in fluid dynamics.) My view is
more that science has never been particularly well done as a whole, though
some recent things like the reproducibility crisis in social science and
verification and validation in engineering have been promising.
That some projects require a large amount of expertise that no single person
is likely to have is true. But there are disadvantages to having more authors
as well, e.g., "design by committee" immediately comes to mind. And I don't
think a majority of current projects require expertise that no individual
could have to an extent that would explain why collaboration is expected in
science. Ultimately I think a mix of the two would be ideal for science in
general, with a larger contribution from individuals than is seen at present.
Also: If my example is a shallow anecdote than your CERN example is as well. I
don't have hard data on any of this and you didn't mention any either. I'd be
happy to look at any hard data that exists, but I don't know if there is any.
------
redis_mlc
> No one I talked to had gotten much new math done. They were preoccupied with
> the news, distracted by kids at home, and pulled between online Zoom
> meetings.
So, it's a time-management issue, nothing to do with math here.
------
mr_gibbins
I have a genuine question, as someone with an interest in mathematics but
alas, no natural ability in the area.
Is there some kind of 'map' or list of mathematics areas, problems, etc. that
professional mathematicians consult for ideas when conducting research?
Likewise physics?
It strikes me that we've collectively had at least 5,000 years of math-related
research stretching back to ancient civilisations. Surely most discoveries
have been made? How much more math ore is there to mine?
When I read Richard Feynman claim (paraphrasing) that the joy of physics, math
is the theoretical discovery of new knowledge without applications, I wonder
where on earth today's mathematicians are looking for new ideas and
discoveries?
And how do they get research funding? As a CS researcher, funding is hard to
come by if I don't propose a tangible product. When I say, e.g., let's re-
examine the relational model and extend it, or do something interesting in AI,
the question is always the same: what is the product? Mathematicians on the
other hand never create a 'product', so I'm confused who, why and where they
get their money?
Lots of questions, I know, but I'm missing something here.
~~~
GaussBonnet
Background in pure math here. Generally researchers learn about what problems
are fashionable as they talk to others in the field. As a PhD student, your
advisor should give you ideas for problems to work on. Solutions to old
problems tend to open up new lines of inquiry. It's a potentially infinite
process, with the only limit being the capacity of the human mind.
The odd perfect number problem has been unsolved for thousands of years:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_number](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_number)
Why would anyone want to know the answer to this problem? The truth is that
the motivation for most pure math research is purely aesthetic. You could also
ask arts or english departments "How can you apply your paintings or
novels?!?". Some mathematicians (mostly geometers and topologists) are
inspired by problems in physics, but most aren't. In truth you never know what
structure or theorem might have some future application; number theory was
totally "useless" until modern cryptography made (some of) it useful.
For just a tiny taste of one small area of modern math, I dare you to click on
any of the links here:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floer_homology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floer_homology)
We are flush with structures to investigate. The idea that "most discoveries
have been made" is nonsensical in a domain where the discoveries to be made
are literally infinite. To give a hint as to the infinite nature of
mathematical inquiry, you probably are familiar with the idea of a function
mapping a number to another number. A good deal of modern math is involved
with much higher order functions; we can have functions that map functions to
numbers, functions to functions, functions to spaces, and so on and so on. And
then we can consider functions between those functions (and so on). Category
theory is an attempt to give a framework to some of these "meta" relations. It
should be obvious there is no limit to these structures and no limit to the
number of problems one could pose about them.
------
albertshin
If you're interested, there's a paper on a more "extreme" situation that
mainly related to Soviet mathematics developing solely within USSR apart from
the rest of the world (see the "Luzin affair").
The paper examines the aftermath.
[https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-
abstract/127/3/1143/192...](https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-
abstract/127/3/1143/1921708?redirectedFrom=fulltext)
~~~
redis_mlc
Note: that's in an economics journal, "The Quarterly Journal of Economics".
Not sure what, if anything, that has to do with math.
~~~
albertshin
Yes, it's one of the more reputable economics journals. Modern economics seeks
to answer research questions (e.g. impact of research collaboration and global
knowledge diffusion) using quasi-experimental settings (e.g. the unexpected
fallout of the Luzin affair to mathematics research). Would be surprised to
find this in a math journal if anything!
------
lidHanteyk
While folks might not be getting many papers done, the research has hardly
stopped. There are many many maths seminars [0] moved online.
[0]
[https://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2020/04/online_seminar_...](https://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2020/04/online_seminar_lists.html)
~~~
williamstein
Indeed - Check out the amazing
[https://mathseminars.org/](https://mathseminars.org/)
------
vidanay
Those books look like they'd all fit on $300 worth of shelving from IKEA.
The library probably cost $800k to remodel.
~~~
throwphoton
You could also fit a large assortment of gourmet meats into a stack of
shoeboxes, but it's preferable to display them in a way that whets the
observer's appetite.
~~~
dhosek
I don't know, I find a bunch of yellow-spined Springer texts to be appetizing
just shelved together. I didn't realize the shelves weren't empty until I saw
the top comment and went back to look.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
People call me Aaron - kevindeasis
https://medium.com/@swartzcr/people-call-me-aaron-3761481871e5#.r1zszbieg
======
zck
Previously:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10881413](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10881413)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Common Start-up Mistake You Don't Want to Make - palidanx
http://www.inc.com/margaret-heffernan/common-startup-mistake-you-dont-want-to-make-timing.html
======
palidanx
*Sigh. Story of my life.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What do you do for healthcare checkups? - doctossaway
Hi HN -<p>I had a small health scare recently despite generally taking great care of myself.<p>Through the experience I realized I haven't had a primary doctor in years.<p>I am not even sure what I should be doing on that front to ensure I'm getting the proper annual checkups, screenings, and so forth.<p>What does HN do to leverage primary care doctors or other annual screenings to ensure you are on track?
======
gshdg
1) get a primary care doctor
2) see your primary care doctor for an annual physical
3) while you’re there for the physical, ask the primary care doctor what other
checkups and screenings you should be doing this year and on a regular basis.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Babydux: Paper-thin, 100% typesafe Redux for babies - bcherny
https://github.com/bcherny/babydux
======
acemarke
I find the tagline to be rather confusing. Why "for babies"?
Also, while this appears to be _inspired_ by Redux, it's definitely not the
same as Redux. In particular, it has separate event emitters for each top-
level key in the state instead of a single change event, no middleware, no
store enhancers, etc.
~~~
bcherny
Thanks for the feedback. The "for babies" part came out of a conversation with
coworkers a while back, where people were complaining that Redux is too
complicated. Ie. To add a property to the store, you also have to define an
Action and a type for that Action, then add the type to your Actions sum or
enum type, then define a case for one of your reducers, and finally use the
property in your React component. I thought this could be simplified quite a
bit for the 90% use case where an action maps directly to a property on the
store.
Babydux is certainly a Redux. From the Readme:
> Babydux is like Redux, but reducers are already baked-in. Babydux
> automatically creates an action and a reducer for each key on your state, so
> you don't have to write tedious boilerplate. Babydux still emits Actions
> under the hood (which you can listen on to produce effects), but gives you
> an incredibly simple get/set API that covers most use cases.
There is an undocumented top-level emitter (`onAll`), but I'm not sure there
is a use case for it where targeted emitters wouldn't be a better fit.
There is certainly middleware support (see
[https://github.com/bcherny/babydux#effects](https://github.com/bcherny/babydux#effects)).
Unlike Redux, middleware fires _after_ the state has been updated, not before.
The effect is to fold the concepts of middleware and subscriptions into one. I
want to keep the API as simple as possible, but I could see a future where
before-write middleware could be a good fit for simulating transactions and
preventing writing bad state to the global store.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Cloud SSH Key and sudo management - jamiesonbecker
https://userify.com
======
jamiesonbecker
We just launched our full SaaS product to go along with our self-hosted/on-
prem products. Founder/CEO, AMA!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Millions of Americans Can't Afford Water - walterbell
https://www.consumerreports.org/personal-finance/millions-of-americans-cant-afford-water-as-bills-rise-80-percent-in-a-decade/?EXTKEY=AFLIP
======
yardie
One of the things I noticed since moving back to the US is Americans are
averse to spending money on anything that doesn't improve their social
standing. Municipalities included. Brand new skyscrapers get built and the
taxes and fees raised from it are spent on stadiums, arenas, and
beautification. But that luxury skyscraper is still plumbed into tired, 50
year old infrastructure that needs replacing now.
~~~
Shivetya
The problem is best labeled as Ribbon Cutting.
Politicians love to cut ribbons but spending money to maintain does not impart
any name recognition. The second motive is anything that fills their campaign
coffers.
However it should be noted that one of the most major expenses in cities is
paying their payroll and in particular their pension requirements as public
employee unions pretty much have them over a barrel and politicians trade
public money for political favor without regards to the costs.
finally it also comes down to the penalties, fees, and such, of government
services affect the poor far more than any other group. That twenty dollar
renewal for your license might be nothing to you but it doesn't work that way
when your poor. Throw in that municipal fees tend to be a lot higher and you
can see the difficulty.
Atlanta was only forced in fixing their sewers which of course exploded their
service costs after they kept dumping into local rivers.
PDF of city of Atlanta budget [https://s3.amazonaws.com/saportakinsta/wp-
content/uploads/20...](https://s3.amazonaws.com/saportakinsta/wp-
content/uploads/2020/05/FY2021-Proposed-Budget-Book_Final-05032020.pdf)
~~~
nervousvarun
Exactly...the same reason many of our public schools are conducted in
immaculate modern buildings (easily visible from the road/campaign commercials
and identifiable as something the current politician spent on 'education') yet
our teachers are paid a relative pittance.
~~~
Exmoor
I would encourage people to actually look their local teacher's salaries, they
should be a matter of public record. The "teachers make terrible money"
talking point has been a talking point my entire life so I was surprised when
my wife pulled up our local elementary school records and showed me that our
child's kindergarten teacher made over $100,000/yr. Her school's PE teacher
made $120,000/yr. This is in a county where the median household income is
$66,000/yr so I wouldn't call it a pittance.
I'm sure there are plenty of places in the country where teacher pay is lower
than it should be, but teacher's unions have benefited greatly by the
perception that they're universally underpaid.
~~~
yardie
In many cases teachers salaries are based on a schedule. If you know how long
they've been teaching you can pretty much figure out where they are on the
band. And there are additional grants subsidies; Title I school teachers get a
Ed Dept supplement for teaching at poorer schools. They also get paid more for
having a Master's or Ph.D. A teacher who has a M.Ed in early childhood
development and also designs the curriculum (lead teacher) at a Title I school
with 10+ years of experience will be pretty far up there. My college roommate
became a biology teacher and his starting salary for a small T1 school
district was $28k. If I remember the schedule correctly it was going to double
once he completed his Masters and gained 4-5 years of experience.
> teacher's unions have benefited greatly by the perception that they're
> universally underpaid.
The union would still be closer to correct, teacher salaries, on average, are
still low [0]. School performance and property prices are intertwined so maybe
your district has decided that to retain good teachers they have to pay good
salaries. 200 $500,000 homes will kick in over a $1.2-1.4MM/year in property
taxes.
[0] [https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2018/a-look-at-teacher-pay-
acro...](https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2018/a-look-at-teacher-pay-across-the-
united-states-in-2017.htm)
~~~
Exmoor
> The union would still be closer to correct, teacher salaries, on average,
> are still low [0]
A spot check of the linked BLS.gov numbers with Wikipedia's list of household
income by state [1] showed that about 2/3 of states I checked paid teachers
above the average household income and the rest were within about 10%. As you
say, there's likely a large amount of variation in there and there are likely
a lot of young teachers who are not getting paid fairly since union members
have an inherent tendency to enact policies benefiting current members over
future members. But with that said, I still stick by my original point which
is that teachers do not, on average, make a "pittance." They make pretty close
to an average household income, on average, and typically also have
significantly better than average pension benefits and vacation benefits.
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States#Income_by_state)
~~~
pseudalopex
The BLS numbers appear to be mean wages for secondary school teachers. Mean
wages are higher than median wages. Secondary school teachers make more than
other teachers, too. The BLS numbers also include pay for extracurricular and
summer programs.
The median secondary teacher makes about 95% of the median person with a
bachelor's degree.[1][2]
[2] [https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2020/data-on-
display/mobil...](https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2020/data-on-
display/mobile/education-pays.htm)
------
roenxi
> Nina Lakhani is an environmental justice reporter with Guardian US, where
> she's reporting for the Our Unequal Earth project.
I'm not really up to date on American water politics. Is this article
presented with a partisan slant or is it fairly neutral?
Job titles like that were a fair signal of things being partisan pieces a few
years ago but the style might be changing.
~~~
igammarays
Partisan bias notwithstanding, the plain facts presented in the article seem
to indicate pretty objectively that there is a major nationwide problem with
water infrastructure. Denial is blindness.
\- "Nationwide, the rising cost of water has significantly outstripped the
consumer price index over the past decade."
\- Federal funding for water systems has fallen by 77 percent in real terms
since its peak in 1977.
\- The U.S. is the only country in the industrialized world without a
regulatory system, responsible for monitoring rates and performance, according
to Stephen Gasteyer, professor of sociology at Michigan State University.
~~~
roenxi
Yeah, and if the piece is neutral those are quite persuasive. But if it is
partisan, those facts could be carefully selected to be highly misleading. It
is easy to lie with true statistics. Every group of loons has a set of
favoured statistics that they can trot out.
Hypothetically, if it was decided in 1975 that there was going to be a
transition from Federal to State management of water then the last two points
would be evidence of a system working as intended. It isn't a fundamental
truth that the US Federal government in particular has to be the body that
regulates and funds water infrastructure. After reading the article I doubt
there was such a deal but that is assuming the article is neutral despite a
signal that I usually assume shows strong bias.
It would be absolutely routine for a partisan to assume that their pet issue
requires national funding by the Federal government. Happens in every country
on every topic and it is often a stupid assumption.
------
mschuster91
That truck driver guy with the 30.000 US$ bill - what? Let's generously assume
he hasn't paid a single bill in 10 years to have that bill in 2013. That's
3.000 US$ a year or 250$ a month?!
How is this possible? Here in Germany average water bill is around that _in a
whole year_!
What is the US _doing_ with all the money? People pay a roughly thousand
dollars on average based on the numbers in this article, and have abysmal
service, no maintenance, and sometimes outright toxic water (Flint, the
fracking areas where the water is flammable). Where is that excess money
going?
[0] [https://www.t-online.de/heim-
garten/energie/id_77342378/wass...](https://www.t-online.de/heim-
garten/energie/id_77342378/wasserkosten-in-deutschen-staedten-extrem-
unterschiedlich.html)
~~~
christophilus
I can't speak for the rest of the US, but I have a family of 4, and we pay
maybe $50/mo for our water bill, so maybe $600/year. More than the German
average, but not egregious. Relative to a lot of other countries, the US is
kind of more like strong union of a bunch of countries (states)-- each with
unique environments and ecosystems-- than it is like a united, single country.
So, you can say: "Americans are like ___", and you can almost certainly find a
spot in the US where your statement holds true.
As for costs, the US has wildly variable costs on most things, depending on
where you live. For example, I pay $1.50 per gallon for gas, but one state up,
it's above $2.00. I live in a comfortable house, and pay less for my mortgage
+ taxes than folks in New Jersey pay just in taxes on a smaller house. This
variance is a side-effect of a more decentralized governmental system where
states have a lot of power, combined with a wide variation in environments /
scarcity across the country.
~~~
zaarn
Germany isn't that much different, the federal government has a bit more power
but generally people from one state differ much from another. Compare Berlin
and Bavaria, if you want an example. Bavaria is one of the more expensive
states to live in and Berlin is somewhat cheap (other former ostblock states
are even cheaper) and on the other hand we have the highest average income and
pay into the other federal states the most.
Cost of water, electricity and food differ between states. A Döner Kebab in
Berlin costs around 3.50€ by my experience, in Bavaria a comparable one costs
around 5-7€.
You can't easily say "Germans are like ___", most of the international
stereotypes are born out of the WW2 occupation of bavaria, not much else.
~~~
this15testing
Germany is smaller than Montana. The sheer size of the US means that people
live in wildly different environments and climates, and operate very different
local governments/civic infrastructure state by state. Like the parent says,
if you make a generic statement it's very likely that there _is_ a place where
that applies, but it certainly cannot cover the entire continent.
~~~
zaarn
Due to it's structure, Europe experiences wildly different weather, climate
and culture. Every german state has slightly different average weather. The
north is more often exposed to rain and extreme temperatures, the south has a
more temperate climate, etc. Just because it's smaller than some arbitrarily
sized state in the US doesn't mean a place can't be diverse.
------
rabanne
>Austin, Texas, where the average annual bill rose from $566 in 2010 to $1,435
in 2018
How can anyone justify people paying more than $110 for water and sewers? I
pay $20 and even that seems a lot to me.
~~~
bluedino
I live about 3 blocks from a friend of mine, I'm in township, he's in the
city. His water bill is $120/month, mine is $90 every quarter. We get the same
water/sewer from the same place.
~~~
quickthrowman
Your neighbor either has huge water needs for watering/a pool or he has a
leak/leaky fixture in his supply lines.
$120/month where I live would be 33,200 gallons a month. That’s nearly a
gallon a minute.
~~~
danaris
> I'm in township, he's in the city
They're in different municipalities, so the _rates_ are different. They could
easily be using the exact same amount of water each month.
------
AuthorizedCust
Part of high water costs are certain cities charge increasing per-gallon rates
the more you use, to discourage lawn irrigation. This isn't just a drought
measure. Dallas's predatory water-pricing scheme is permanent, even when our
reservoirs are so overfull that we're just dumping excess water into the
rivers, which is a surprising amount of the time. It's been years since
there's been any legitimate need for pricing to discourage water use.
~~~
Scoundreller
In the electricity world, things are divided between production, transmission
and distribution. You might have tons of generation, but insufficient capacity
to get it to markets.
Then there’s the discharge/storm water issue. Farmers may not contribute to
that, but urban/suburban usage does. A well-watered lawn doesn’t hold much
water when a storm rushes in.
------
driverdan
None of this makes sense to me. Water is still extremely cheap. Prices
_should_ go up in drought-prone regions they mentioned (eg Austin) to help
incentivize reduced water use.
If you're paying $100/m it means you're using too much water. If you can't
afford that use less. Excluding laundry I currently use less than 5 gallons a
day between myself and my dog. It's not hard to do.
~~~
Scoundreller
I’d prefer tiered billing. The first X gallons/day cost $x, then it goes up.
That way you subsidize sanitation, but charge for washing your car or watering
your lawn.
Many places have complicated programs to do that in reverse (get this credit
for removing your lawn or this tax credit for a new washing machine).
California lets you run your washing machine drain into your backyard without
a permit, that’s one regulatory way to reuse gray-water. If gray water reuse
requires $hundreds-$thousands in permits and plumbers, people won’t bother.
~~~
nickik
I totally agree, that is the way to do it.
However, we must realize that, specially in California, its actually
agriculture that uses most water. Standford university turning of their
fountains and other 'publicity' stunts will not fix anything.
You need to fix the pricing in the broader water market, change the intensives
for California farmers so they plant things that require less water, or have
more intensive to limit water consumption.
~~~
Scoundreller
Right. It also depends on geography.
Sometimes water is easy, but sewerage capacity is the limit, so gray water
reuse makes sense to encourage where possible.
Water is measured, but sewage discharge isn’t.
I’d like holding tanks for gray water re-use for toilets. Apparently still
gray water becomes septic after a day, but if it’s your toilet, shouldn’t you
assume the water in there is septic anyway??
------
splitrocket
"Late Stage Capitalism" really starts to make sense when you realize that
profit is literally the measure of inefficiency in a market.
edit: A perfectly efficient market has no profit margin. As a market increases
in efficiency, the profit margin of all participants approaches zero.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_competition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_competition)
~~~
abstractbarista
Profit is the carrot on the economic stick, driving productivity and
innovation.
------
dreen
How are we doing on desalination technologies?
~~~
pjc50
There's a fundamental lower bound on the energy usage of desalination. The
current state of the art - reverse osmosis - isn't perfect, but we should not
expect factor-of-ten reductions in energy usage.
~~~
whb07
Somewhere like Austin could definitely use solar energy to boil water couldn’t
they? Not only solar panels but those mirror/reflective panels into a
concentrated spot to shine?
~~~
pjc50
Austin is ~150 miles from the sea, so you'd incur substantial pumping costs.
Solar thermal "flash" desalination is one of those things that sounds obvious
but is hardly ever done, so I suspect there are good reasons for that.
------
microcolonel
> _Water bills that exceed 4 percent of household income are considered
> unaffordable._
This seems extremely arbitrary. It's not that they can't afford water, it's
that it's a relatively important expense rather than a trivial one. Most
people in these income brackets don't even pay water bills directly.
~~~
exabrial
Agree... There are plenty of items to cut from the budget first: tattoos,
cigarettes, fast food, soda, energy drinks, Netflix, iPhones, or... Just
moving to a cheaper area to live that's not an expensive coastal city.
~~~
gspr
Entirely regardless of any cuts made to the expenses side of things, can we
agree that having to spend 4% of household income on water in a developed
country is absolutely bonkers?
~~~
onefuncman
Isn't everyone insolvent, in 2020?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
TSA Needs a Risk-Based Approach to Airport Security - jazzdev
http://reason.com/blog/2010/11/17/tsa-needs-a-risk-based-approac
======
gojomo
Strange days indeed: Reason Magazine advocating a federally-issued biometric
ID card.
I suspect that the body-scans and frisky-frisks are just door #1 and door #1
in a grand plan to get people to enthusiastically adopt (as yet unannounced
but coming soon) door #3, national biometric ID cards and/or an official
federal 'risk rank' per person, that would be based on background checks or
even 'Total Information Awareness'-style data mining.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
MIT’s Liquid Metal Stores Solar Power Until After Sundown - adventured
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-06/mit-s-liquid-metal-stores-solar-power-until-after-sundown.html
======
jessaustin
TFA is pretty thin on info. The "$500/kWh" goal seems to come from Musk's
battery marketing rather than something inherent to this technology. And the
technology itself isn't even hinted at. The description of "earlier versions"
seems to imply a chemical reaction like regular batteries. However,
speculating based on "liquid metal", maybe they've identified a metal with a
melting point around ambient temp (or ambient temp of a sufficiently insulated
vessel)? With high enough specific heat (typical for metals anyway), it could
soak up energy by melting, and release it by freezing.
~~~
throwaway_yy2Di
Very thin:
"Sadoway, who is also the John F. Elliott professor
of materials chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, wouldn’t say what goes into liquid-metal
batteries."
Here's a description from an earlier article -- same idea with different
materials:
"After hitting upon the idea of the liquid-metal
battery, Sadoway searched for the perfect electrodes:
he ended up choosing magnesium and antimony because
they are cheap and separate naturally when in liquid
form, the lighter magnesium rising to the top. A
liquid-salt electrolyte rests between the magnesium
and antimony electrodes, creating a cell with three
layers."
[http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/511081/am](http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/511081/am)
So it's a chemical battery where the electrodes are liquids. (FWIW: Magnesium
melts at 650 °C).
------
tjmc
I hope this works out, but it bothers me when inventors use slick lines like
"If you want something to be dirt cheap it needs to be made of dirt." It
suggests to me they've been spending more time polishing their TED talks and
investor presentations than in the lab.
~~~
andrewflnr
Hm, not really. I see what you mean, but that's the kind of thing you start
thinking about in the shower or when you're stuck on the real problem and need
a break. Even before that, it's been circulating in your subconscious and may
just pop out whole. It's not evidence either way of their technical ability.
------
tlb
They claim under $500/kWh, but classic lead-acid costs only $170/kWh.
Source: [http://www.allaboutbatteries.com/Battery-
Energy.html](http://www.allaboutbatteries.com/Battery-Energy.html)
~~~
sp332
I would guess those aren't deep-cycle batteries, and can be damaged by
draining them even a few times.
~~~
hengheng
Nothing a good controller couldn't solve.
~~~
tedsanders
Are you being serious here? (I cannot tell.) A controller cannot prevent
structural damage to the electrodes. I once did research on using lead acid
for grid applications. Shallow cycling doesn't save you much. You may double
your cycles but if you get just half the energy from each cycle, then the
battery's lifetime energy return is not all that dramatically improved.
------
JumpCrisscross
In 2012, McKinsey & Co. reported on hybrid-electric, plug-in hybrid, and
battery-electric vehicle (EV) competitiveness [1]. The focus was the impact of
rising petrol and battery prices (measured in dollars per kilowatt hour).
U.S. gas prices are, as of 3 March 2014, around $3.48 per gallon [2]. This
means EVs need battery prices south of $300/kWh. Even hybrid-electrics want no
more than $400/kWh. The $500/kWh mentioned in the article, around Tesla
Motors's costs, is not game-changing for automobiles.
[1]
[http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/energy_resources_materials/...](http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/energy_resources_materials/battery_technology_charges_ahead)
[2]
[http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/](http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/)
~~~
marvin
Just as a side note, Tesla Motors's battery costs are probably lower than
this. (In the region of $200-$400/kWh)
[http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/17590-Model-S-...](http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/17590-Model-
S-Battery-Pack-Cost-Per-kWh-Estimate)
------
ColdHawaiian
It's cool that this new storage system is 1/3 the cost of current battery
technology, but I wonder what the environmental impact of "liquid metal"
batteries would be. The article says one of their prototypes used antimony,
which is toxic, with effects "that are similar to arsenic poisoning"[1].
[1]:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimony#Precautions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimony#Precautions)
Lithium-ion batteries, at least, "contain no toxic metals"[2].
[2]: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-
ion_battery#Environment...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-
ion_battery#Environmental_concerns_and_recycling)
~~~
troymc
Lithium and lithium compounds can be toxic:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium#Precautions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium#Precautions)
The batteries envisioned by Ambri would be enormous, shipping-container-sized
things sitting (stationary) in the same place (e.g. electrical substations)
for decades. If one cracked open, it would be a bad day at the plant, but
nothing like a nuclear reactor meltdown. It could probably be back to normal
in days or weeks.
The fact that the Ambri batteries are made using abundant materials means that
those very materials are already present, in vast quantities, in the
environment.
------
csense
How much energy has to be used to keep the metal liquid? Can you switch the
heating system off and let everything solidify without damage if you don't
plan on charging or discharging in the near future? (Likewise with unexpected
power outages.)
------
DennisP
> Earlier versions used molten magnesium and antimony
I once calculated about how much magnesium and antimony would be needed to run
the world on solar, using these batteries for storage. Based on the numbers I
found in articles like this, and a little wikipedia, it came out to a thousand
times our annual production of one of these metals, and ten thousand times our
annual production of the other.
For a similar calculation using lead-acid batteries, see this post at Tom
Murphy's Do the Math blog: [https://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-
math/2011/08/nation-sized-ba...](https://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-
math/2011/08/nation-sized-battery/)
------
jccooper
Seems like this is a similar setup but different chemistry along the lines
sodium-sulfur batteries (which are a molten salt). I had thought sodium-sulfur
batteries were already at or better than $500/kWh; pretty sure new generations
will be. There's already several hundred MW of NaS installed already.
------
joshlegs
I'm pretty sure one of my high school friends is an engineer at that compnay.
He lives in boston and told me he's working on batteries for a company backed
by Bill Gates. That's pretty awesome
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Path — Introducing The Personal Network - ssclafani
http://blog.path.com/post/1576969971/introducing-the-personal-network
======
jamiequint
The production quality here is really really good.
However, I agree with the excellent presentation posted here a while ago 'The
Real Life Social Network' ([http://www.slideshare.net/padday/the-real-life-
social-networ...](http://www.slideshare.net/padday/the-real-life-social-
network-v2)) that the issue isn't number of people I want to share with. The
issue is that the groups of people I want to share content with are completely
separate. There are a number of pictures I would be happy to share with all my
friends but would not want to share with my parents, or pictures that would be
relevant to share with my co-workers but not all my friends. Until that issue
is solved I'll continue to not share as much as I would were I to have more
flexible (and easy to use) permissions.
~~~
shadowsun7
I agree with your reference to the 'Real Life Social Network', and I'd also
point out that keeping your groups separate is a _hard_ problem to solve. To
execute, you have to have something that's easy, simple to use, opaque when
you want it to be (and vice versa), and you have to model the way your groups
see each other (or can they? Should they?). I'm very interested to see who
finally manages to find the solution to that (and what that solution might
possibly look like.)
~~~
stuntgoat
What about a tab for each Path share group indicating which friends you share
photos with? If you want to share photos with "work: medium-good friends" you
can and insure that the "work: ok friends" or "family: mom's side" don't get
the same post. I feel like the hard problem is not to keep groups separate,
but to re-factor existing infrastructure to support separation and making it
'easy' for users.
~~~
Timothee
I feel the hardest part is making it easy for users. Facebook has offered
lists and groups for a long time, and it's fairly easy to post something to
just a specific list. However, I found that the difficult part is the
housekeeping of these different groups.
Even if you take the time to create lists for your different social groups,
these groups will evolve over time, because of new friendships, fights or
whatever; which means that you need to spend time maintaining who belongs to
what group. That will generally not happen.
The other solution is to rely on intelligent systems that manage your groups
(Facebook could do that kind of things based on who interacts with whom, and
what kind of subjects, etc.) or who sees what (Facebook already kind of does
that from the point of view of showing you what you will find interesting, not
what other can or not see at all) but relying completely on systems like that
is difficult and scary, and will still hinder sharing stuff blindly.
~~~
austinchang
things starting/stopping - groups, interests, friends is actually a good thing
and what keeps things interesting.
things coming and going should be a feature not a flaw of the way people
interact online...
------
fabiandesimone
This is quite interesting (and sorry for the long post)
About three years ago I started working on a sharing engine that offers what
Path seems to be offering. Three years later and two startups (built using
that sharing engine) closed, I can share a few thoughts (and a couple of
stories):
_Sharing Engine:_ We thought sharing was broken. Privacy, permissions,
different media files, social networks all around were making things
complicated for the average user, etc.
We had this situation at home were my sister just had her first son. She was
living in Madrid and my folks back at home in Venezuela.
They wanted updates of their grandson and my sister wanted to send pictures,
videos, etc. about him but there was no “definitive” way to do it.
She wanted the sharing experience to be private (or at least we thought so. In
retrospect I think we assumed she wanted this) and there wasn't a simple way
to do this.
We sat down and came up with this sharing engine that was going to be unique
and was going to allow her (and many like her) to share her sons life (and her
own) with whomever she wanted, have complete control and was going to be
incredibly simple to use. After many brainstorming sessions we finally found
the perfect combination:
Users were allow to create their own sharing contexts (in the first startup
their were called "buckets" and in the second they were called "albums").
These contexts were by invitation only: only the people you gave access to
that context could "interact" with the media inside the context.
These contexts had a set of rules (permissions) that were unchangeable once
the contexts was created: the reasoning here is that if you invite someone to
that context and the person joins, it's doing so based on a certain promise*
Available in every platform: Desktop, web, mobile.
This simple, yet powerful combination gave birth to what I personally think
holds more value that the engine it-self: what I called the “smart news feed”.
This new smart news feed, was smart because it only showed what was really
interesting to me. And between you and me, it was not really smart per-se, it
was just that you only received notifications from the contexts you were a
part of.
This had two mayor benefits:
-My news feed only showed activity (comments, uploads, etc) about the contexts I was a part of.
-I was 100% sure that people, not part of a context would receive notifications of my activities in that specific context.
For example:
I had a context that I shared with my folks. We shared pictures, funny videos,
football news, etc (my dad loves Football: Go Napoli!)
I also had a context that I shared with my wife. The contents of this contexts
were quite different from the one I shared with my folks.
Here is where the newsfeed was important: My folks only got notifications of
my activities in the context we shared but not on those activities I did on
the context I shared with my wife. Is quite simple, yet very powerful.
Of course this engine has a lot of neat stuff, like the ability to share all
types of media you can think of, highly scalable, very fast and so much more.
About our two closed Startups:
On the first one this engine was a part of a bigger app that integrated your
entire online life: mail, contacts, Calendar, RSS, IM, etc. We never
officially launched so I can’t give you to much insight about the idea (the
sharing part at least).
After that, we took the engine and built a Twitter app out of it:
Twitalbums.com
The idea was simple: private sharing on Twitter. No one was doing this and we
thought, heck let’s be the first ones to do it. The engine is built, all we
need to do is connect with Twitter, put it out there and see what happens.
We did and we got some initial traction about 800 users and a
review:[http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/twitalbums_private_coll...](http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/twitalbums_private_collaborative_content_sharing_v.php)
, but looking back, a couple of things worked against us:
-Our execution was... meh. I mean, we were so focused on the engineering part, that we forgot about the user experience.
-Nature of the platform: Twitter users want to broadcast and be heard. They don’t want to share privately. It seems obvious now... but you know how it goes.
About Path and Instagr.am
I like this dichotomy, because I have actually thought hard about this two
apps long before they existed.
First let’s say this: mobile is the correct approach. I think this is were you
want to be with either one.
Path: is what I wanted to do with the engine we built.
However, it turns out people are social creatures (go figure!) and being
social outweighs the need for privacy.
Instagr.am: is were I evolved our sharing engine (we went from private by
default, to public by default, making EXTREMELY easy to be make it private).
Instagr.am is going to win on the traction game but loose on the monetization
one.
Could Path win on the monetization game? I think so. Closed groups have some
benefits: You could display HIGHLY targeted advertising to an specific group
You could identify users that get real value out of your service as a group
and charge for use Etc.
However, I think the real value of private sharing (and were the money is) is
in the small and medium business and how a tool like (in this case) Path could
benefit to mobilize and facilitate communications between employees. I think
if the offer is right business will be willing to pay for this (and employees
will have no choice but to use it. Remember, Instagr.am already won the
traction game)
------
peteforde
Would anyone care about this if it wasn't launched by highly visible Facebook
alums?
Quality should be judged on merit, not who made them.
If there's magic here, somebody lift the kimono.
~~~
evansolomon
I don't believe you don't take into account who makes something in judging it,
at least initially. Few things are impressive on day 1, either because they
actually aren't that impressive or because it often takes more than 1 day to
understand an impressive thing. Who makes something is a good way to
understand the thing faster, and I don't think that's the least bit
unreasonable.
------
ajg1977
I wonder how much of their funding they spent on the domain name.
I kind of like the idea, and the world is becoming ripe for a simpler
Facebook, but christ - I can only imagine the difficult conversations about
why I didn't reciprocate when someone 'pathed' me. "Sorry, you're not in my
top 50".
~~~
stoney
The limit of 50 does seem like a bit of an awkward conversation waiting to
happen. Surely _someone_ must have pointed out to the developers that someone
out there has a large close family and a lot of close friends?
I'd also be very worried about the even more difficult conversation: "sorry,
you were in my top 50, but I've bumped you for my new friend Dave"
~~~
daniel_iversen
What do you think people told the Twitter guys about 140 characters? ;)
~~~
gabea
The "Twitter guys" had a reason to make twitter use 140 characters since
twitter initially was built solely for use with SMS and they had to deal with
SMS's 160 character limit. 140 for the tweet and 20 for your twitter handle.
As others have stated 50 is an arbitrary number.
~~~
jasongullickson
_"We chose 50 based on the research of Oxford Professor of Evolutionary
Psychology Robin Dunbar, who has long suggested that 150 is the maximum number
of social relationships that the human brain can sustain at any given time.
Dunbar’s research also shows that personal relationships tend to expand in
factors of roughly 3. So while we may have 5 people whom we consider to be our
closest friends, and 20 whom we maintain regular contact with, 50 is roughly
the outer boundary of our personal networks. These are the people we trust,
whom we are building trust with, and whom we consider to be the most important
and valued people in our lives."_
------
ssclafani
It looks like they scrapped their original idea. ReadWriteWeb reported in
February based on a Google cache of the site before it was locked down that
Path was "a tool that facilitates the creation, sharing and correlation of
lists."
"The site so far is a list of lists. You make a list, give it a name and add
items to it. Then you can see who else has made a list with the same name,
what's on their list and what the most popular items are across all lists with
the same name. Lists are things like "best coffee in San Francisco," or "evil
corporations."
[http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/first_peek_at_pathio_th...](http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/first_peek_at_pathio_the_stealth_startup_from_face.php)
~~~
hiroprot
Somehow I was more excited about the list idea. I thought they'd build a
really solid version of <http://listiki.com/>
Oh well, maybe we haven't seen everything yet.
------
jchonphoenix
So these guys who were big names at facebook leave facebook to found... a
social network?
And the only major difference is that you can only have 50 friends...
~~~
ericflo
No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
~~~
smackfu
The number of poor products that quote has been used to justify...
------
kschrader
I wonder if they pushed this out of the door because of the traction that
Instagram is picking up right now. It feels very similar, although not as
refined at this point.
~~~
uptown
I'm surprised they launched it right before Facebook's big email announcement.
Seems like that announcement may overshadow anything else "social" that comes
out today.
------
ScottBurson
Looks interesting. I'm not a social-network user -- I closed my Facebook
account a couple of months ago, and I've never used Twitter -- but this I
could see using.
That could be the bad news: the site might appeal most to those like me who
value our privacy -- and I'm not sure how many of us are left :)
But I'm not an iPhone user either. Currently using a Pre but contemplating a
switch to Android.
~~~
austinchang
The idea of a personal network is a good one but the problem is that there
isn't just 1 personal network but clusters of networks. how do you address the
different type of interaction in a limited network of only 50?
------
fraserharris
For anyone trying to take down Facebook, this presentation (link below) on
real life social networks by Paul Adams (Senior User Experience Research,
Google) is a must consume. A social network that forces you to bin friends
based on groups you create, and forces all interactions in terms of the groups
would be a huge step forward.
[http://www.slideshare.net/padday/the-real-life-social-
networ...](http://www.slideshare.net/padday/the-real-life-social-network-v2)
------
ImperatorLunae
Here's what will kill this:
When a social network starts, its membership is sparse. Not everyone uses it,
and the odds that your best friends will all pick up and use it off the bat
are improbable. Therefore, in the lonely wasteland of a newly colonized social
network, people tend to make friends with acquaintances. Of course, you're not
super good friends with these people, but it would be rude to deny their
requests as well.
What do you do when your real friends finally show up? Frump your
acquaintances? Sure, you weren't really good friends with these people, but
you don't want to isolate yourself from them either.
Frumping/defriending/depathing actively demonstrates to them that the budding
friendship you could have had is not there. People in real life move on, but
they also get back in touch too. Having to squeeze back into someone's "path"
is unnatural. Sure, it happens in real life, but to have to actively mimic
that on a website--what if you are overestimating the value another person
sees in you? That could have disastrous consequences. I don't maintain 500+
friendships at once, but I wouldn't want to tell 500 people "sorry, we're not
friendly enough to be pathed."
Path really seems to have a flawed premise. Considering the hype, they've
probably got quite a big chunk of funding too. I see it degenerating into a
popularity contest--social groups have an ebb and flow, but they rarely have
official declarations. What happens when people wander apart? Do you declare,
"our friendship is not important enough to be in my path anymore?" I could
never imagine doing that to anyone. What if you have forty relatives you'd
like to keep in touch with? Can you only have ten friends?
------
joshuamerrill
I absolutely love both the concept and execution of this. I hope it offers
some of the intimacy that Facebook eschews.
My only gripe? 50 is too many "friends." I doubt many of us interact
meaningfully with 50 people in a given week, let alone in a given day.
I also wonder how much more users would be willing to share if 50 became 10.
------
bl4k
So another photo sharing app but with some personal network theory wrapped
around it in its limitations?
These guys have been working on this for a long time, and atm the app looks
like a prototype. In the interim instagram and a dozen other services went
out, launched, and gained traction.
You can talk about the network theory stuff but most users aren't interested
in that
I hate being Mr Negative, I am just a bit underwhelmed considering the hype -
these guys have already been covered a lot in the national mainstream press
------
joshu
The photo wars are heating up: Dailybooth, instagram, picplz, path, etc...
exciting!
(I am an investor in both dailybooth and picplz)
~~~
brlewis
Do you think picplz can beat instagram to having an API? I'd like to give this
user an alternative: <http://ourdoings.com/burgerlife/>
------
j_baker
This is possibly the worst name for an iPhone app one could choose. It's like
on page three of the app store when I search for "path".
------
dotBen
Overall I like the concept, but my main gripe is that if you don't have an
iPhone the web-based service is useless.
I can't add any friends even if I know their url - I can only hope they add
me. I'd have thought letting people add friends by visiting their url on the
website would be a reasonable feature of even the most basic MVP iteration.
As it stands the web site is useless to non-iPhone users and so I don't see
why they bothered to launch that aspect.
~~~
bl4k
I agree. I couldn't work out how to add people - no import from Google or
Facebook or whatever. While I do believe in release early, these guys may have
blown it only because of how much attention they have (or had).
~~~
dotBen
So after making my comment, I went and wrote this:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1907504>
------
Jabbles
Their login page is https by default! Well, that's one thing better than
facebook...
------
daniel_iversen
This app not available in the Australian iTunes store... I wonder why? Is it
only available in the US? Is this short term? (i imagine so)
------
cabalamat
The rationale for the 50 person limit is:
> _Because your personal network is limited to your 50 closest friends and
> family, you can always trust that you can post any moment, no matter how
> personal._
But as others have pointed out, 50 is just an arbitrary number. There might be
more than 50 people someone is happy to see a photo, or there might be less.
For risque photos, someone may only want a subset of their friends to see it.
A better system would be to allow users to have multiple overlapping subsets
of visibility, with one being the default.
------
zalew
_Practically all of us carry a camera phone,_
not all of us an Apple one. should I feel sorry I'm not your target or you
should be sorry because you restrict a social network to one platform?
~~~
ibrow
> not all of us an Apple one
Which is probably why they are looking for an Android developer:
<http://twitter.com/path/status/26431179050>
~~~
pclark
and blackberry
~~~
arethuza
But no mention of Windows Mobile 7....
~~~
pclark
too nascent i imagine
------
soamv
The feedback feature of conspicuously showing who's seen a photo is
interesting. It prevents people from lurking -- you're always visible to the
people who's content you're seeing. This seems, IMO, more interesting than the
50 friends limit.
I wonder if it will make people think twice about opening a photo, knowing
that that action will be logged publicly and conspicuously. I also wonder if
it'll come with an on-off switch analogous to facebook and linkedin's profile
views feedback.
------
prawn
I wondered recently on HN if there was an idea around a social network that
limited the number of friends/contacts you made:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1855890>
One respondent suggested that this would limit growth. If a cap of 50 doesn't
quite limit growth, I wonder if it's different enough to Facebook that it
might have any success?
------
mrcharles
Unfortunately their system doesn't appear to accept strong passwords. When
trying to sign up with a 12 character password with symbols, while I get a
green checkbox, submitting causes me to get a "Requires password" dialog.
edit: This is from within the iPhone app.
------
chrisbroadfoot
Unfortunate that they restricted their initial launch to iPhone users only.
I want to try it, but all I see is a blank page. I suspect I'll have forgotten
entirely about Path by the time they launch apps for other mobile platforms
(or a web interface!)
~~~
cmelbye
Web interface: <http://path.com/>
~~~
chrisbroadfoot
It's not useful on its own.
------
jordanbrown
Instagram you win. The use case for path is if you don't have any self control
for who you decide comes into your life on other networks. (Facebook, twitter,
instagram, etc)
Props to a strong team though.
------
robgough
For whatever reason, this doesn't seem to be available in the UK app store.
------
erikstarck
57 comments and not one mentions Dunbar numbers. Surprising, I must say.
------
ojilles
It's a bit unhandy to not use the build in contact finder. Theirs doesn't
filter well.
Also, when I need to fill out my phone number, just let me pick "me" from my
contact list, easier.
------
irq
Kinda weird they don't have a direct link to their iOS app from their web
site, isn't it?
~~~
cmelbye
It's the huge "Available on the App Store" button.
------
michaelfeathers
So 50 is the new 140?
------
schammy
While I agree with some of you that this probably wouldn't get nearly as much
attention if there was an unknown team/investors behind it, I still find all
of the negativity surrounding startups these days on HN and other sites like
TechCrunch to be annoying and totally counter-productive. If you think
something is stupid or lame, fine - whatever. But do you really need to tell
us all about it? Why do you think any of us care? My guess is that most of
these people are probably failed entrepreneurs and the only thing that makes
them feel better is wishing the same failure upon others trying to make it.
As for myself, I am not particularly interested in this service and have no
plans to use it, but that doesn't mean it's lame or that there's no market for
it or that it can't be a success.
~~~
itg
It would be one thing if the negativity was constructive criticism but it
seems to be extremely whiny and angry in tone.
~~~
schammy
Yes, that's what I meant. Constructive criticism is fine and is much
appreciated by most parties, but most of the comments I read (this story is a
perfect example) are just proclaiming that something is stupid and will
certainly fail.
------
binaryfinery
That's a lot of text, I thought. Yet I ended up reading all of it.
Interesting. Looks pretty. Can I be arsed? Will I not care about the feelings
of friend 51? Good timing after that great TEDxSD talk.
------
zackattack
dave morin's company. he was previously head of developer platform at
facebook. GREAT guy!
------
svnv
Their layout instantly made me think of OhLife: <http://ohlife.com>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The untold story of the vegetable peeler that changed the world - ryan_j_naughton
https://www.fastcompany.com/90239156/the-untold-story-of-the-vegetable-peeler-that-changed-the-world
======
smileypete
Not sure if a peeler can be world changing, but these articles on Joe Ades are
a well worth a read; a true character and gentleman, he sold the Swiss made
Zena Rex/Star peelers which are arguably a design classic.
[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/magazine/27ades-t.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/magazine/27ades-t.html)
[https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2006/05/grafter200605](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2006/05/grafter200605)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
DXR: a smart code browser using instrumented compilers for static analysis - saulrh
http://quetzalcoatal.blogspot.com/2011/06/alpha-release-of-dxr.html
======
saulrh
See also <http://dxr.mozilla.org/clang/>,
[http://dxr.mozilla.org/clang/clang/include/clang/AST/Recursi...](http://dxr.mozilla.org/clang/clang/include/clang/AST/RecursiveASTVisitor.h.html),
and [http://quetzalcoatal.blogspot.com/2011/07/dxr-
alpha-2-releas...](http://quetzalcoatal.blogspot.com/2011/07/dxr-
alpha-2-release.html) for some more information and a demo. DXR does a bunch
of static analysis to provide an explorable, informative view of source code,
with special emphasis on dealing with C and C++ macros.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How Writing 1000 Words a Day Changed My Life - sebkomianos
https://medium.com/on-publishing/3895f4d045d2
======
dyladan
tl;dr Actively maintaining a blog is incredibly difficult and kudos to you. I
hope I eventually have that kind of self discipline.
I really wish I had the drive to do this. Every 6 months I sit down and tell
myself that I'm going to start writing a blog or a journal. It usually starts
out well. I create content that I truly believe is good, and I post fairly
regularly for a while.
This is when problems begin to arise. The better my content becomes, the more
I feel the need to make good content. I become snobbish with myself,
discarding ideas that I would have deemed worthy when I started. My life
begins to take over my time (I have a 40 hour job and 4 college classes right
now) and I begin to have less time to post. These things build and build until
eventually I am out of ideas that I think are "good", I don't feel properly
qualified to post about the ideas I still like (because the things I am
curious about tend to be things I'm still actively learning), and I begin to
post less and less.
The thing that usually puts the last nail in the coffin is that my start and
stop nature, and my ever changing set of interests prevent me from gaining any
significant readership. I look back at old posts I have made and always think
the same things: "This is no longer relevant.", "People interested in this are
probably not interested in my current work.", or "How did I start out so well
and fall off so far?".
I have a tremendous amount of respect for people that can actively maintain a
blog at all, let alone write 1000 words a day and create truly great content
on a weekly basis. All I have to say is keep going, and I hope that one day I
have what it takes to keep my fingers moving on the keys for more than a
month.
~~~
sebkomianos
But that's the point, he clearly says his content is far from great quite
often but he keeps producing.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Hyperapp – A tiny framework for building web interfaces - Al0neStar
https://hyperapp.dev/
======
PufPufPuf
I have tried Hyperapp some time ago. It's usable for small apps, but the lack
of ecosystem makes it unfit for anything larger -- as is usual for all niché
JS frameworks.
Funnily, the "ecosystem" page contains just Lorem Ipsum
([https://hyperapp.dev/ecosystem](https://hyperapp.dev/ecosystem)) and the
Awesome Hyperapp section for V2 is almost empty
([https://github.com/jorgebucaran/awesome-
hyperapp](https://github.com/jorgebucaran/awesome-hyperapp))
~~~
foobarbecue
Is niché a portmanteau of niche and cliché?
~~~
bigblind
No, it's niche with a French accent
~~~
sqrt17
Fun fact: niche is a French word that doesn't have an accent. So niché is the
heavy metal ümlaut version.
------
mr0010110fixit
So I have extensively used hyperapp (1 and 2) for hybrid mobile applications
that run the cab of big rigs. We actually won best in show this year at
Freight Waves for our two apps.
These are medium/larger apps, with lots of functionality, need to hook into
native device features (done with ionic capacitor, and custom plugins), and
need to be fast, robust, and flexible. Hyperapp has allowed all of those
things.
Hyperapp can and will work, with larger applications, but hyperapp does not
have super strict "guide rails" like other more popular frameworks do, so its
up to you to design, and implement a clean code base. It ships with minimum
overhead, and you can either roll features you need, or see if someone in the
community has created them.
I have worked with angular (1,2,4,6) and react for quite a few projects, and I
actually work faster, and end up with a better end product using hyperapp. Its
an amazing little framework. Sure, not having stricter guide rails you can
write very poor apps in hyperapp, it will let you do stuff poorly, but if you
play to its strengths, and get comfortable with it, it really shines.
~~~
keb_
Hey there, really happy to hear of the success you've had with Hyperapp. I've
played with Hyperapp v1 in the past for small toy projects, and it was
relatively easy to become productive with. I'm wondering if you have any open
toy projects or boilerplate you could share for v2, as I'm looking to jump
back on it when I get the chance, and would love to see what a scalable
project skeleton looks like.
~~~
mr0010110fixit
I do not have anything that is open as of now (but about to start a new
project soon)
I would check out [https://medium.com/hyperapp/a-walk-through-
hyperapp-2-b1f642...](https://medium.com/hyperapp/a-walk-through-
hyperapp-2-b1f642fca172)
to get your toes wet though, good resource, also feel fee to join the hyperapp
slack [https://hyperappjs.herokuapp.com/](https://hyperappjs.herokuapp.com/)
nice community and super helpful.
------
mrozbarry
Bit of a Hyperapp fanboy here, so bare with me.
First, I think Hyperapp can make both small and big applications, opposed to
u/PufPufPuf's opinion. A lot of people have this opinion because they are more
familiar with v1's wired-in actions, which can become quite unruly. In the
latest version, actions are decoupled, and can be organized/extracted however
you see fit.
I've made a handful of applications in both v1 and the current released
Hyperapp, and they work very well. If you want to see the latest Hyperapp in
action, you can check these out:
\- A timer for mob programming:
[https://github.com/mrozbarry/mobtime](https://github.com/mrozbarry/mobtime)
\- A canvas game, using Hyperapp for dom/state:
[https://github.com/mrozbarry/smash](https://github.com/mrozbarry/smash)
\- A router for Hyperapp: [https://github.com/mrozbarry/hyperapp-
router](https://github.com/mrozbarry/hyperapp-router)
I have a handful of older youtube videos regarding v1, you can check them out
here:
\- Intro to Hyperapp (v1):
[https://youtu.be/uWIyjI8nkz0](https://youtu.be/uWIyjI8nkz0)
\- Hyperapp (v1) forms and localstorage:
[https://youtu.be/qpt6aaMxm1E](https://youtu.be/qpt6aaMxm1E)
\- Unit testing hyperapps (v1): [https://youtu.be/5wvPUj--
HaA](https://youtu.be/5wvPUj--HaA)
Note, they are outdated, but there isn't much on youtube about Hyperapp in
general.
One thing to keep in mind is the naming. A lot of people talk about "Hyperapp"
as the first version, and "v2" as the current version, but this is wrong. It's
more like "v1" (legacy) and "Hyperapp" (current). It gets confusing, because
not everyone is on the same page with that, but this the the naming Jorge
(primary author/creator of Hyperapp) has mentioned several times.
~~~
franciscop
> "A lot of people have this opinion because they are more familiar with v1's
> wired-in actions, which can become quite unruly."
u/PufPufPuf only mentions the lack of ecosystem, nothing about the wired-in
actions/etc, so it's odd that you defend v1 vs v2 instead of the lack of
ecosystem here. This should probably have been a reply to that thread as well
because otherwise it's two very unrelated comments in the list.
~~~
mrozbarry
Yeah, I should have split things into a reply and a separate thread for the
other stuff. That said, I didn't have any comment on the ecosystem - there's
definitely a lack of userland things for Hyperapp, and that's for a number of
reasons, the biggest being the latest is still in a bit of a transition period
from v1, and as a community we didn't think someone would be posting about
Hyperapp and make it to the top of hacker news. That really put us on the spot
to try and get on here and explain the state of Hyperapp since we're probably
more in a release candidate/late-beta situation rather than a full blown
release.
------
Shish2k
Been using this for a while and loving it - it feels like functional
programming for GUIs (“describe what you want the end result to look like, and
the framework makes it happen” as opposed to “describe what steps to
execute”).
I’m pretty sure a lot of frameworks have similar mindsets, but Hyperapp is the
one that I found works with the fewest headaches :P (as opposed to eg React,
where I spent hours simply trying to untangle the knot of thousands of
dependencies before I could get step 1 of the quickstart tutorial to
compile...)
As an example of how trivial problems require trivial code:
[https://github.com/shish/divetools2/blob/master/src/screens/...](https://github.com/shish/divetools2/blob/master/src/screens/mod.tsx)
[https://scuba.shish.io/#screen=MaxOperatingDepth](https://scuba.shish.io/#screen=MaxOperatingDepth)
------
ptu
I'm a big re-frame fan from the Clojurescript world so this all looks rather
familiar. For me it's a great framework and worth learning Clojurescript for.
Seeing the h() function makes me realise how much I miss Hiccup syntax for
HTML and your component tree, especially with editor support for parens it's a
joy. But it looks nicer than JSX.
I'm going to give Hyperapp a try, I like the small size aspect especially, and
familiarity of the overall architecture, my fear is that if you're going off-
piste enough to avoid the React/Angular well trodden track on an app, you
might as well go the whole way and use Re-frame which is very pragmatic, with
JS interop it's possible to do pretty much anything you want. And whilst the
type system and compiler of Elm is nice, the slightly more 'infamous' parts of
restrictions to JS extensions make it more limited in the real world.
------
beders
Someone got inspired by re-frame, I see :) I like the approach. Wondering if
there's a way to get ever closer to hiccup (without having to resort to JSX)
Also, letting the framework decide if a function inside the markup should be
called or not gives opportunity for more optimizations that go beyond VDOM
diffing. That would require an even more declarative approach.
i.e. [h1, {}, [MyComponent, {}]]
vs.
h("h1", {}, MyComponent({}))
If the framework figures out that MyComponent wasn't changed, it can re-use
the VDOM nodes.
~~~
jorgebucaran
Yep, there's a feature called Lazy (will be renamed to memo for the official
release) that allows you to do just that! :)
------
queuep
Haven't been using react because of the JSX, but is this really where we are
heading? [https://hyperapp.dev/tutorial#rendering-to-the-
dom](https://hyperapp.dev/tutorial#rendering-to-the-dom)
Looks like som obfuscated JS-code..
~~~
raziel2p
Mithril was doing this exact thing before React became big - it's what we're
moving away from (with JSX), not where we're heading.
~~~
pjmlp
Going back to PHP and ASP you mean.
~~~
marcosdumay
Text templates are the technology for web development. They are so much better
than anything else that there's no comparison.
There are some bad templates implementation, and some good ones. The original
PHP and ASP are bad. But that doesn't mean templates are bad.
~~~
pjmlp
Text templates are a good idea, placing them into the middle of JavaScript
code, not really.
~~~
enobrev
I absolutely disagree, but I also feel it's unfortunate that HTML, CSS, and
SQL aren't first-class citizens in most languages. It's strange to treat
things backed by entire standards bodies and with fully developed ASTs as
plain-text.
It seems unnecessarily limiting, and I'm not sure why; For the sake of
history? "Division of Concerns"? How is it that using libraries meant for
string manipulation upon a standardized format not a concern in and of itself?
The reason JSX, Mithril, PHP's template tags, ASP, Mustache, Twig, etc, exist
is because we want to generate HTML - a language that has been standardized
for decades - so why are we still playing around with string manipulation
tools?
~~~
marcosdumay
It's an evolutionary constraint. Text templates are initially much more useful
than HTML and CSS ones, so people adopt the first, despite a bigger potential
usefulness of the later.
The tendency for SQL is even weirder, it's for replacing it with languages
that are much less useful for querying data.
------
dang
If curious see also
2018
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17126670](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17126670)
2017
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15467819](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15467819)
2017
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15264053](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15264053)
2017
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15178535](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15178535)
2017
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14629414](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14629414)
------
bshimmin
In the tutorial it says: "In this tutorial we'll stick with `h` to keep it
simple and close to the metal." I'm pretty sure they put that in there just to
aggravate the HN crowd.
~~~
jorgebucaran
There's a a JSX-like ttl for Hyperapp too, check it out:
[https://github.com/zaceno/hyperlit](https://github.com/zaceno/hyperlit)
------
davydog187
Just use [https://preactjs.com/](https://preactjs.com/) and call it a day
~~~
ggregoire
What are the caveats? Why doesn't everybody use preact instead of react?
~~~
davydog187
There’s not many. I used it for several years on theoutline.com and it was
great
------
czechdeveloper
I love it, but I actually stuck with version 1, which was way more intuitive
for me.
Just a side note, I'm not fulltime front-end, so keeping up with modern
frameworks is out of my capacity.
It's great for smart components to my standard multi-paged systems, but I used
it even for small PWA applications.
~~~
hellcow
I resisted the change to v2 for a long time. In the end I found that v2's
state management is much better, so it might be worth a look for that alone.
~~~
czechdeveloper
I read about it but it just did not click as V1 did. Also I will not rewrite
old code just for sake of change and I want all system to be on same framework
if possible. I may actually do my own fork where only difference will be
passing root state and root actions in addition to partial ones, which will
fix great amount of issues I have.
~~~
hellcow
Agreed.
The lack of lifecycle events in v2 complicates things a great deal for
seemingly no reason. Subscriptions and Events are similar enough that they
could have become a single thing, instead of having two highly similar but
not-quite-the-same things to grok. The tuple syntax it uses is very strange
coming from v1.
I wish I could call it a strict upgrade instead of saying "some things are
worse, but other things are better."
~~~
jorgebucaran
It's my fault for not fully understanding the functional universe I was
getting into when I first started working on Hyperapp. The latest Hyperapp is
more strict, but it's all in good measure. Lifecycle events are impure, that's
why they're no-good.
I can tell you that Hyperapp is not for everyone. If you want to write pure,
immutable, functional JavaScript and think hard about client side app
architecture (unidirectional state management, controlled side effects,
toggleable subscriptions), then you'll love it. I also suggest looking at Elm
while you're at it.
If you are looking for a more accommodating, meet-in-the-middle kind of
approach where you can mix programming styles, you might be better served by,
say, P/React.
~~~
_old_dude_
If we talk about functional API, did you consider providing a push method,
like with a Promise, to express the updating of an effect or a subscription ?
(the function 'update' in the code below)
app({
init: 0,
view: state =>
h("div", {}, [
h("h1", {}, state),
h("button", { onclick: (state, event, update) => {
window.setTimeout(() => update(state => state - 1), 1000);
} }, "subtract"),
h("button", { onclick: state => state + 1 }, "add")
]),
node: document.getElementById("app")
})
~~~
jorgebucaran
We built it into the framework, if you happen to be familiar with Elm, this
should make sense right away, but here's how you'd write something like that
using Hyperapp:
import { h, app } from "hyperapp"
import { delay } from "@hyperapp/time"
const Decrement = (state) => state - 1
app({
init: 0,
view: (state) =>
h("div", {}, [
h("h1", {}, state),
h("button", {
onclick: (state/*, event*/) => [state, delay(100, Decrement)],
}, "subtract"
),
h("button", { onclick: (state) => state + 1 }, "add"),
]),
node: document.getElementById("app"),
})
See how you never actually called setTimeout as that would be a side effect.
Instead, we have "controlled effects" in Hyperapp. This `delay` function
doesn't even call setTimeout itself, but return an object that tells Hyperapp
how. Just like how `h("button")` or `<button>` with JSX doesn't actually
create a button, but an object representation of it.
Finally this part: [state, delay(100, Decrement)], only placed here for
convenience (as you'll usually want that in its own action) is how you tell
Hyperapp to do the effect when the button is clicked. This is the same (model
Cmd) continuation pattern used in Elm.
~~~
_old_dude_
I'm familiar with Elm but i think the model of Hyperapp is better than the
[state command] pattern. This is how i see Hyperapp, the event part of
Hyperapp is not about commands, it's about transition functions, functions
that takes a before state and returns an after state. Hyperapp doesn't let the
user to control the state by itself.
But there is worst, the problem with the pattern [state command] is that it
doesn't work well with async method, because at the time the command is
called, the state which is passed alongside the command and the state
maintained by Hyperapp may be different.
With your example, the issue is that Decrement may be called on a previous
state and not on the actual state.
The idea of the updater is to provide the function that takes the transition
function as parameter, so delay will be written that way
function delay(updater, timeout, fun) {
window.setTimeout(() => updater(fun), timeout);
}
If you want to decrement the state after a delay using the state at that time
h("button", {
onclick: (state, _, updater) => delay(updater, 100, Decrement),
}, "subtract")
(from the Hyperapp perspective, the event listener return undefined so you
don't have to update the state at the time the event listener is called)
and if you want to decrement the state using the state at the time the user
click
h("button", {
onclick: (state, _, updater) => delay(updater, 100, _ => Decrement(state)),
}, "subtract")
The other benefit is that because delay() takes an updater as first argument,
it's clear that the function delay does a side effect. Conceptually, the idea
is that instead of trying to hide the side effect, you make it clear to the
developer (more like Haskell does).
~~~
jorgebucaran
My example actually has no issues, but [here is an example][1] so you can
confirm that. I included the implementation of `delay` there as well so you
can also see what happens behind the scenes.
\---
So, in Hyperapp there are no async/await functions. Or Promises. Can't use
functions that create side effects. Can't use setTimeout, setInterval, new
Promise, fetch, add/removeEventListener, etc.
delay(100, Action) looks familiar to setTimeout, but it's just a function that
returns an object that tells Hyperapp what to do. It doesn't do anything by
itself. You can write your own delay function too if you want as long as you
give Hyperapp what it wants.
The state becoming stale is never an issue in Hyperapp, because you get a
fresh copy of it inside actions, which is the only place where you can
"update" the state.
[1]: [https://codesandbox.io/s/hyperapp-minimal-counter-with-
effec...](https://codesandbox.io/s/hyperapp-minimal-counter-with-effect-for-
hn-old-dude-evvm4?file=/src/index.js)
~~~
_old_dude_
Thanks for taking the time to explain me how it works. So you're right that
you can not use a previous state.
And if i want to get the dispatcher directly, i can write a helper function
function effect(fun) {
return state => [state, [dispatcher => fun(dispatcher)]]
}
and use it to access to the dispatcher/updater
h(
"button",
{ onclick: effect(updater => setTimeout(() => updater(Decrement), 1000)) },
"subtract"
)
Thanks a lot !
~~~
jorgebucaran
Basically, yes!
In practice, we don't advocate users to reach out for dispatch, as Hyperapp
intends to provide all the fx/subscriptions building blocks you need to create
the right abstractions and stay within the safe, declarative side of things.
The reality is, though, that crafting these building blocks takes time and
thought, so we don't have them all yet. But people in the community have
created fx/sub libraries that are already available, see e.g. this one:
[https://github.com/okwolf/hyperapp-fx](https://github.com/okwolf/hyperapp-fx)
that
Cheers!
------
bharani_m
I've used this for building the browser extensions for my app [1].
It is simple, easy to understand and easy to reason with. However, I would
recommend this only for small apps. As soon as your app's features/complexity
increases, you end up writing a lot of biolerplate code that libraries like
Vue or Preact already handle you for.
[1] [https://www.emailthis.me](https://www.emailthis.me)
~~~
shash7
Your open source browser extension framework was really helpful to me a few
years ago!
~~~
bharani_m
Glad you found it useful.
I had sort of neglected it for a while, but during the course of the lockdown,
I have started working on a major rewrite - replacing Gulp with Webpack,
adding support for Edge, etc. Will release it soon :)
------
pgt
To me every JavaScript framework feels to me like it wants to reason about
components as data, ala Hiccup: [https://reagent-
project.github.io/](https://reagent-project.github.io/)
~~~
jorgebucaran
Reagent is amazing, thank you for sharing it.
------
wackget
Does modern web development just completely abandon the idea of "separation of
concerns"? Looks like content is freely mixed with markup and logic and
results in a horrible, difficult-to-read mess of code.
~~~
Kiro
There has never been any separation of concern in web development. Just
because you put your scripts, HTML and CSS in different files doesn't mean
they are separated.
~~~
wackget
Isn't that the definition of separated? If you want to edit content or markup,
you open the HTML file. If you want to edit business logic, open PHP or JS.
And so on.
~~~
ng12
Yeah but then your JavaScript spews out unholy tendrils that mutate the DOM
and dynamically add/remove CSS classes and style attributes. Separating
HTML/CSS/JS made a lot of sense for web sites but separating by component
makes more sense for web applications.
------
Glaeqen
It seems that scrolling is somewhat broken. Scroll position under one route
affects position in others.
~~~
drcongo
That was enough to make me not consider using Hyperapp.
~~~
jorgebucaran
Yeah, the site is a WIP, but that should be fixed soon when V2 is officially
out.
------
manx
How is it 2x faster than react? Where does this claim come from?
~~~
DigitalSea
A lot of other frameworks/libraries are faster than React. I know React used
to be touted as the fastest option, but the reality is that it isn't.
------
ancarda
Just shows a blank page without JavaScript. Does Hyperapp have any way to
render out an HTML fallback if JS doesn't load?
~~~
jorgebucaran
That's an issue with the site that'll be fixed when Hyperapp is officially
released.
------
shroom
Dang, I registered hyperapp domain because I thought it was a good name and
wanted to build something cool there. Like all side projects it’s not about
the idea but the execution. I’ll put this in my bin together with slackday
(Should have registered slack:)
On topic: This looks interesting and I Will be giving it a try. Well done!
~~~
jorgebucaran
Do you happen to own hyper.app?
------
nailer
React was made in 2013 and is pretty old at this point. How does Hyperapp
compare to current tech like Svelte?
~~~
jorgebucaran
This deserves a much better answer, but I'll just say this for now. Svelte is
declarative/imperative (but mostly imperative) and also not based on
functional principles. React is definitely more on the declarative side. And
Hyperapp is essentially Elm in JavaScript, so it's as
declarative/functional/immutable as the definition allows for.
Maybe the person that said Svelte was more declarative was only familiar with
an older incarnation of Hyperapp that wasn't completely based on functional
principles, or maybe they're using a more loose but inaccurate definition of
declarative (kind of like how people often say "theory" when they actually
mean "hypothesis").
~~~
RivieraKid
What do you think the advantages and disadvantages are? I remember briefly
looking into Hyperapp and mostly liking it, but still wasn't sure which JS
framework is the best choice (the other one I liked was Vue).
Some time after that I learned about Svelte and very quickly concluded that
this would be my choice, everything just feels right about it. For the record,
I've only done a small project in Svelte.
~~~
jorgebucaran
That's fine. If you're already happy with Svelte, I encourage you to explore
more with it. Try building a couple of non-trivial projects and keep learning
about your craft. If you're also into computer science, I recommend you look
into functional programming if you haven't done so yet. Then look at Svelte
again. Try React too. Check out Elm.
I can tell you that Hyperapp is not for everyone. If you want to write pure,
immutable, functional JavaScript and think hard about client side app
architecture (unidirectional state management, controlled side effects,
toggleable subscriptions), then you'll love it.
If you are looking for a more accommodating, meet-in-the-middle kind of
approach where you can mix programming styles, and don't want to think much
about those things I mentioned above, then React, Vue, Svelte are all great
choices.
V2 will be released in a few months, so do circle back to Hyperapp then to see
how you like it again.
~~~
onetom
what else is missing other than docs? in hope you won't remove the current
state, just because you don't consider it released yet :)
~~~
jorgebucaran
Finish the site and docs, merge the minimizations branch (has memory
performance improvements, and brings it down to 1690 bytes gzipped / 1528
bytes brotlified total), add tests, then we can officially proclaim V2.
Definitely not planning to remove the current state or anything haha.
------
schwartzworld
When last I checked, Hyperapp was basically the elm architecture implemented
in JS, a gateway drug.
~~~
k__
I had the impression it was the other way around.
People starting with Elm, love the idea, but not the ecosystem, and come back
to JS in the end.
That's how Redux was created.
------
recursive
I wish people would stop demonstrating new languages or frameworks using fonts
with ligatures.
"Surely, you couldn't use an actual arrow here... right?"
I find myself having to copy and paste the text to find out for sure.
------
wooolfgang
Love the website aesthetic!
------
ehutch79
This page does not inspire confidence in the framework.
I don't need a non-ui piece of software to have the slickest site... but no
lorem ipsum please.
~~~
jorgebucaran
I put it there, so I apologize for it. We were in the middle of a rewrite
while working towards the official V2 release and weren't expecting to be on
HN right now haha. Thanks for chipping in!
~~~
ehutch79
Ouch. that's rough.
I've seen some incidents before where backend frameworks were posted before
they had things like authentication ready.
------
loustak
What are the difference with Mithril.js? Both seems to embrace the same
philosophy in almost the same way. Or am I missing something?
~~~
jorgebucaran
They're similar, but Hyperapp is purely functional and more comparable to Elm.
------
oweiler
I love hyperapp! It has very few concepts to learn, and the source code is
less than 500 lines. Sadly its ecosystem is non-existant.
------
RyanGoosling
Just another transient DOM API abstraction library
~~~
WealthVsSurvive
Almost like the DOM Web API isn't useful for its intended purpose anymore and
should be replaced or built upon to avoid all this abstraction churn. Why is
simplicity the enemy of the Web APIs? Why is everything useful left to user-
defined dependencies? Are the spec creators even checking to see what their
code looks like when people have to cobble it together to create something
useful? I suspect they are NOT.
~~~
jorgebucaran
Hyperapp only makes sense if you want to write immutable, purely functional
SPAs in JavaScript. There's no Web API or native abstraction for that. And if
your site was only content, then I'd say why even bother with JavaScript.
~~~
WealthVsSurvive
Okay, so there's no Web API or native abstraction for what? Immutability?
There is, but it's somewhat semantically obtuse to express natively with
Object freezing, not even to mention some other variably-efficient jiggery-
pokery with proxies or something (or maybe there's a new language feature for
this that I've forgotten about, so many after all, or was it a proposal?).
Purely functional single-page application: oof, such a mouth-full. Can mean so
many things too. So this entire new abstraction is for a front-loaded SPA?
Maybe the Web should be reinvented, slightly at least. Maybe it would be a
good thing if Web Assembly in conjunction with HTTP3 or something akin to it
ate the whole beast, ecmascript and all.
~~~
jorgebucaran
Just saying "purely functional SPAs" was lazy, but it's usually enough to
convey what makes Hyperapp different from other frameworks like React, etc.
Let me try harder.
There's no native API for representing apps as finite-state-machines (Moore
style) [1]. Admittedly, we could do a better job at explaining why you should
care.
Hyperapp actions (Elm messages) correspond directly to FSM "events". Hyperapp
effects (Elm commands) correspond directly to FSM "actions". The "single-
global-state" corresponds to the fact that an FSM is always in just one of a
number of "states".
Hyperapp is FSM architecture for JavaScript apps.
It is also bundled with a VDOM implementation optimized for immutability,
e.g., you must derive your UI from the state, can't produce uncontrolled side
effects, and can't use traditional DOM events, instead you think of every UI
interaction as a state transition.
One more cool thing about Hyperapp is subscriptions. An abstraction to
toggeable event streams: think bidirectional effects, e.g., global
mouse/keyboard events, time, animation frames, geolocation.
[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore_machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore_machine)
~~~
RyanGoosling
> can't use traditional DOM events
Wtf are you doing man?
~~~
jorgebucaran
Can't use DOM events to create side effects. What we do is define UI
interactions as state transitions. Transitions allow you to say [nextState,
myEffect] to update the state and create a "controlled" effect (just an object
representation of a side effect, very much like how VDOM uses objects to
represent DOM nodes). Effects in Hyperapp are the same as Elm commands.
------
jhardy54
Blank page when JS is disabled. :/
------
joelbluminator
How does this compare to Stimulus?
~~~
jorgebucaran
Stimulus is not so much concerned with rendering HTML. Hyperapp is almost
exclusively focused on rendering HTML and client side application architecture
(state management, controlled side effects, subscriptions).
It's more comparable to Elm than React, Vue, Angular, Svelte, etc., since it's
based on functional principles and you can only write pure, immutable code.
------
aabbcc1241
Now it looks like Elm
~~~
jorgebucaran
Exactly! And the latest version (which is not officially out yet) is even
closer to Elm that the first version ever was.
------
Nijikokun
Looks like mithril
------
jczhang
so.. a lighter react?
~~~
jorgebucaran
Preact would be the lighter React. Hyperapp is more comparable to Elm.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Memrefuting - wglb
http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=2212
======
jimrandomh
tl;dr: Scientific American published an article about an analog computing
technique that the author claims can solve NP-complete problems, but which
contains an elementary mistake that invalidates the result. Before SciAm
published it, an arXiv preprint circulated and commenters on HN and Reddit
pointed out the mistake. The editor either did not read these replies, or did
read them but decided to publish anyways.
This is an embarrassing fuckup on their part, but one that is endemic in mass-
market scientific publications, which want to publish sensational results but
lack the expertise to recognize them or to summarize results without major
distortions. The problem is so severe that I recommend avoiding these sources
entirely, because the frequent major errors will effectively leave you less
knowledgeable than you started.
~~~
pekk
The problem is the standard for reviews. It cannot become mandatory to read
_Reddit_ before publishing a paper. _Reddit_ has an endemic issue of
publishing sensational results with major distortions, _Reddit_ contains
frequent major errors which will effectively leave you less knowledgeable than
you started. It makes no sense to avoid scientific journals, but then trust
whatever you read on Reddit.
~~~
duaneb
> It cannot become mandatory to read Reddit before publishing a paper.
No, but if reddit does better than your review team, your journal is less
worth reading than reddit. That's not a good place to be.
------
xxxyy
The original paper on "memcomputing" has also been posted on HN[0], not that
it is worth reading in details.
But I can recommend Scott's paper "NP-complete Problems and Physical
Reality"[1], the whole thing is a brilliant piece of work.
[0]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8652475](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8652475)
[1]
[http://www.scottaaronson.com/papers/npcomplete.pdf](http://www.scottaaronson.com/papers/npcomplete.pdf)
~~~
pjungwir
Reading the comments in your [0], I'm confused about the relationship between
thermodynamic entropy and information entropy. In thermodynamics, I've always
thought of entropy as randomness, with the 2nd law saying that eventually the
universe will turn to static. That is, entropy is increasing and information
is decreasing.
But in [2] and [3] I read that information entropy _is_ information, and it
has the same formula as thermodynamic entropy! Am I missing a negation or
reciprocal somewhere? Is entropy information or lack or information?
Reading those Wikipedia pages isn't helping me. Can someone explain why my
intuition is wrong here?
[2]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_%28information_theory%2...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_%28information_theory%29)
[3]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_in_thermodynamics_and_i...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_in_thermodynamics_and_information_theory)
~~~
pash
No, you're right, it's just a terminological morass. Entropy and information
are different names for the same concept, one that in its full generality is
simply a measure of the uncertainty about the value of a random variable.
_Entropy_ is a bad name, one that will probably continue to confuse people
for generations. _Information_ is a decent name, but it's a bit backwards:
information is the resolution of uncertainty. Really, the concepts implied by
the names _information_ and _uncertainty_ are opposite sides of the same coin:
for each unit of uncertainty, you gain one unit of information when you
observe a random variable's outcome.
The problem is that in the conventional definition (with the negative sign in
front of the sum), a more positive quantity denotes more uncertainty. Perhaps
the conventional quantity should have been called _uncertainty_ and the name
_information_ should have been given to the inverse quantity, i.e., to the sum
without the negative sign.
As it is, people usually use the word _information_ as a synonym for _entropy_
or _uncertainty_ , but when they focus on resolving uncertainty they sometimes
use it to mean something like the opposite. In the end, so long as you are
confident in you understanding of the concept, it doesn't much matter because
it's easy to figure out what everybody means.
~~~
hackinthebochs
How about:
entropy := amount of disorder
information := knowledge of the system (knowledge of disorder)
uncertainty := unknown disorder (entropy - information)
And so entropy and information are opposites: as you gain more information
about a system the uncertainty is reduced. If the entropy of a system
increase, the amount of information required to describe it increases. If you
have an amount of information equal to the entropy, your uncertainty is zero
and the system is completely described. This seems to square with our usage of
the terms in the context of thermodynamics and information theory.
~~~
tjradcliffe
Another way to look at this is the process of reading a stream of bytes.
A high-entropy stream means that based on what you have read so far you have a
very small chance of predicting the next byte you read.
By the same token (as it were) in those circumstances the next byte you read
will contain a great deal of information about its value that you did not
previously have.
In a low-entropy stream the bytes coming in might be: 0, 1, 2, 3... and by the
time you get to byte N you can be pretty sure of its value, so the next byte
contains very little information you don't already have.
Both information and entropy are measures of the novelty of the next byte in
the stream, but information is measured from the perspective of what you get
when you read it and entropy is measured from the perspective of what you have
before you read it.
------
praptak
Subset sum is actually only _weakly_ NP-complete. What that means: best known
algorithms are only exponential in terms of problem size (number of bits it
takes to encode the numbers) but not in terms of the numbers themselves.
Dynamic programming solves subset sum in Poly(numbers) time, which is
obviously exponential in terms of bits.
So there's a danger here associated with demonstrating your superpowers on
subset-sum: unless the numbers are huge, you are actually solving a trivial
problem.
I didn't dig into the article enough to check whether the authors made this
mistake.
~~~
tlb
Yes, they also make this mistake. The frequencies correspond to the numbers
being summed, so if the numbers are huge (>100 bits) the frequencies will be
so high that the wavelengths would be smaller than atoms, where you can't
construct physical circuits. If you scale down the frequencies, the time it
takes for a complete period goes up exponentially with the number of bits in
the numbers.
------
frankus
I did the k = 0 case in an interview once (with nonempty subsets), and there's
a neat little trick to do it in O(n).
~~~
teraflop
Even with k=0, the problem is still NP-complete.
Are you referring to the "pseudo-polynomial" trick where you maintain a bit
vector of partial sums?
~~~
frankus
Now that I think about it, it was a sequence of integers (looking for sub-
sequences), not a set.
~~~
repiret
To be pendantic with terminology, if you take a sequence and remove some
elements, what you're left with is a subsequence. If you take a sequence and
you select some contiguous elements, what you get is a substring. So "amqz" is
a subsequence of the alphabet but not a substring. "lmnop" is a substring and
a subsequence.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Essential Swedish tech jargon all programmers in Sweden should know - YeGoblynQueenne
https://www.thelocal.se/20191101/essential-tech-jargon-all-programmers-in-sweden-should-know-tyreso-c3l-tlccu
======
eesmith
It's a paid-for advertisement, by a company selling a "Swedish for
Programmers" course.
~~~
NonEUCitizen
Looks like class is free to the student (but possibly charged to the
municipality -- "Your municipality needs to sign part 2 of the application
form").
Likely only for people already resident in Sweden.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Which book are you reading currently? - throwaway_yc
======
verdverm
Good leaders ask great questions
------
yesenadam
Treasure Island.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Breakthroughs Don't Pay - jawgardner
http://innovatorinside.com/2011/10/19/breakthroughs-dont-...
======
wisty
Oh, but Harry Potter _was_ a breakthrough. It's a little of Roald Dahl's
magical realism, a little boarding-school fiction, and a dash of Agatha
Christie. I can't think of any other writer who tried to write a magical
whodunnit for teens. OK, most of the parts are derivative. But so's a lot of
Roald Dahl's stuff.
According to wikipedia, he was influenced by Rudyard Kipling, William
Makepeace Thackeray, Frederick Marryat and Charles Dickens; and the Norwegian
fairy tales his mother (Sophia) told him.
A genuine breakthrough is a small part. It can be a nice "secret sauce", and
in some cases it can give you a competitive advantage. But a real hit needs
lots of parts, and lots of work, not just a single breakthrough.
~~~
jawgardner
The point is, I think, the one you're making. If you think a breakthrough is
going to make you rich, think again. Every product of the last decade that got
people rich had very little that was genuinely new in it... so I think we
agree.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Jeff Bezos warns US military it risks losing tech supremacy - DyslexicAtheist
https://www.ft.com/content/b38c5cf6-198a-11ea-97df-cc63de1d73f4
======
aurizon
China and Russia have a number of advantages. The biggest one is the top down
ossification in the US military where aged milpols (military politicians) with
old ideas and low mental capacity are in charge of all R&D as well as
purchasing. The USA has a lot of Aircraft Carriers, none of which could
withstand 50 time-on-target (hit at the same time) ship killers at 5000 MPH.
China could easily deal with them all. Russia less so, due to lack of missiles
due to budgetary limits. The same thing rules in the air, where unmanned drone
fighters that cost less than .1% of a new fighter each, with enough AI
internal to wiggle through. The USA planes will be swamped. Drones will also
take out tanks and risk no pilots. Drones are dirt cheap compared to F35s.
Military production and procurement is also 10 times as costly per unitof
weaponry compared to China or Russia.
This is due to the want-of-a-nail POV.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Want_of_a_Nail](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Want_of_a_Nail)
So much attention is placed at the nail level that costs can climb to 100
times as much as what a civilian pays for the same thing. Modern electronic
parts are made robotically and have very very good reliability - yet the MIL-
SPEC procurement process often demands xrays for each part = $$$.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Military_Standar...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Military_Standard)
Have you ever wondered why Russia was able to maintain it's place in line as
to space matters, to get the first satellite etc? People in the USA wanted to
make and launch satellites well before Russia, and even conceived the
geostationary communications nets. The same old farts sat on it. Those same
old farts pushed Amazon off-the-puck for the AWS contract. We have all seen
the mess Microsoft has made of the cloud services they launched, now the US
military will suffer through that same waste of time, money and performance
due to that same old boy network. So get used to it. China is going on top and
will stay on top, Russia will carry on being robbed by it's own milpols, but
will still hit waaay above it's weight due to the US Milpols..
~~~
friendly_fren
>The USA has a lot of Aircraft Carriers, none of which could withstand 50
time-on-target (hit at the same time) ship killers at 5000 MPH. China could
easily deal with them all.
Do you have any source on China's missile defense?
~~~
quantumfoam
You might be interested in watching the 70th National Day anniversary to
conclude what others in the military might have concluded; China has some
military superiority. These are just the highlights [1].
[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmp51YN-7wc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmp51YN-7wc)
~~~
adamsea
I saw a lot of people marching in uniform together and flying fighter planes
and wearing suits and making speeches. What did I miss? Not quite sure where
the superiority in that video is.
~~~
quantumfoam
It was the highlights, most of the full video shows China flexing its military
powers. Whatever man, we could all live in our bubbles and not admit that
other countries have a more disciplined military and one that might produce
and showcase offensive weapons that are a modern threat.
------
bmiller2
Jeff Bezos built a website / online marketplace. Why does anyone care about
his opinion on global military matters?
~~~
kevas
Supply chain & logistics is a huge part of what the military does. Don’t
understand why you’re so sour.
~~~
toomuchtodo
The US military is still a logistics leader. Amazon.com barely breaks even and
survives with poverty wages for last mile and air transport staff.
Jeff is sour AWS lost to Microsoft for the DoD contract.
~~~
quantumfoam
I thought this was still an ongoing battle between corporate lawyers?
~~~
toomuchtodo
The US government has unlimited resources. I’d bet a beer the Azure win
sticks, continuing litigation or not.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
iOS Apps Using Private APIs - tptacek
https://sourcedna.com/blog/20151018/ios-apps-using-private-apis.html
======
NateLawson
Hey all, I'm the founder of SourceDNA and happy to answer any questions about
how we found this or about binary code search in general.
We take a different approach to understanding code than the traditional
antivirus world. Rather than try to hunt for a needle in a haystack, we've
created a system for finding anomalies in code that's already published. For
example, you can build a set of signatures for "bad apps" and then repeatedly
search for them (AV model) or you can profile what makes an app "good" and
then look for clusters of apps that deviate from it (SourceDNA).
Consider an ad SDK like Youmi here. They weren't always scraping this private
data from your phone. There are some apps that have this library but that
version is a typical, only sorta intrusive, ad network.
But, over time, they began adding in these private API calls and obfuscating
them. This change sticks out when you track the history of this code and
compare to other libraries. There was more and more usage of dlopen/dlsym with
string prep functions beforehand. This is quite different from other
libraries, where they stick to more common syscalls.
By looking for anomalies, we can be alerted to new trends, whatever the
underlying cause. Then we dig into the code to try to figure out what it
means, which is still often the hardest part. Still, being able to test our
ideas against this huge collection of indexed apps makes it much easier to
figure out what's really going on.
~~~
vitd
One concern I have is that they'll just move this one step further down the
road. For example, I believe that you can get the address of a function like
dlopen() by manually loading the bundle and looking up the function name (via
something like CFBundleGetFunctionPointerForName()), constructing the name
"dlopen()" through some obfuscated method as they do with Objective-C symbols.
Then it becomes harder to detect that they're even using dlopen(). Any plans
on how to detect that? It seems like an arms race that can't easily be won.
~~~
NateLawson
You're exactly right. You can go even further in gathering environmental data
from syscalls and using it to construct strings at runtime. At some point, you
have to include dynamic analysis in addition to static analysis.
The iRiS paper we mentioned in the blog post describes a really great approach
to doing this. They do "forced execution" using a port of Valgrind to iOS.
They also do the exact right thing by resolving as many call targets as
possible statically, then using dynamic analysis only for the call sites that
can't be resolved. This saves on runtime and complexity, though you might
notice that even this approach didn't resolve 100% of them.
Ultimately, you're dealing with a variant of the halting problem, where the
app uses a specific value only on a full moon, on iOS 4.1, where the username
is "sjobs". And that's why computers are still fun.
PDF:
[http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~mohaisen/classes/fall2015/cse709...](http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~mohaisen/classes/fall2015/cse709/docs/deng-
ccs15.pdf)
------
makecheck
I'm actually very surprised this hasn't happened years ago. The power of
Objective-C's runtime has always made this pretty straightforward.
Apple can defend against unauthorized calls to even runtime-composed method
names though. I can think of a few ways.
They could move as much "private" functionality as possible outside of
Objective-C objects entirely, which requires that you know the C function name
and makes it obvious when you've linked to it. This should probably be done
for at least the really big things like obtaining a device ID or listing
processes.
Even if they stick with Objective-C, they could have an obfuscation process
internal to Apple that generates names for private methods. Their own
developers could use something stable and sane to refer to the methods but
each minor iOS update could aggressively change the names. If the methods are
regularly breaking with each release and they're much harder to find in the
first place, that may be a sufficient deterrent to other developers.
They could make it so that the methods are not even callable outside of
certain framework binaries, or they could examine the call stack to require
certain parent APIs. At least that way, if you want to call a private API, you
have to somehow trick a public API into doing it for you.
And, I think Apple does say somewhere that developers shouldn't use leading
underscores for their own APIs. They could hack NSSelectorFromString(), etc.
to refuse to return selectors that match certain Apple-reserved patterns in
all circumstances.
~~~
BooneJS
What's so magical about Obj-C's runtime that this cannot be detected by Apple?
If a third-party can scan for them, why can't Apple? If you're going to have a
walled garden, by all means please ensure the walls can't be scaled or dug
under.
~~~
K0nserv
AFAIK the combination of NSSelectorFromString and NSClassFromString would
allow you to build and make calls from obfuscated strings during runtime.
Since Objective-C uses message passing this is non trivial to catch. Compared
to C were you must explicitly reference symbols that are easy to automatically
check for detecting the use of third party APIs is more difficult.
I am not sure if you have to explicitly link against certain frameworks/dylibs
though, someone with more knowledge feel free to correct me
~~~
uxp
The article touches on how to dynamically link into a framework/dylib at
runtime with dlopen(3) and dlsym(3) to resolve it's symbols address space.
I've always wondered why Apple doesn't run all apps against a "debug" build of
iOS that asserts that the caller of private APIs is itself internal/private to
Apple, but instead relies on something akin to grepping the output of
strings(1)
~~~
K0nserv
This seems like a good approach, but you can still get around it by detecting
apple reviews and not doing anything with private APIs during them
~~~
kenrikm
It's quite trivial to setup a method that implements "NSSelectorFromString"
[1] etc.. and have it read from a Json payload send from a server. It's very
hard for Apple to check for that unless they have active monitoring on apps
after the review process.
[1]
[https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Genera...](https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/General/Conceptual/DevPedia-
CocoaCore/Selector.html)
~~~
NateLawson
Right. Any runtime behavior can be altered by observed state from outside the
phone.
There's even a paper on intentionally inserting security flaws into your code
and then exploiting them from your own server to change execution patterns:
[https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity13/technical...](https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity13/technical-
sessions/presentation/wang_tielei)
Ultimately, you need to enforce access control instead of just trying to
detect problems a priori. Apple's sandbox is a great start to that, and I
expect they'll keep improving it to block apps like these.
~~~
jandrese
The state doesn't even have to be from outside the phone. You could have an
internal timer that kicks off 2 weeks after you've submitted to the App Store
(to allow for unexpected delays) and switches on the evil behavior.
------
kinofcain
Seems like a lot of the things they're putting behind private APIs should
instead/also be behind a user permission. Getting the list of installed apps,
device serial number, and the users email address shouldn't be protected
simply with obfuscation.
~~~
musesum
Yeah, the user's email address is a surprise. It's pretty easy to bypass a
simple scan with objc_msgSend.
Conversely, it would be nice if the user could grant access to email and
iMessage sandboxes. This would allow us to apply machine learning to
personalize services. Ironically, by allowing opt-in, Android is an easier
platform for creating private services.
------
BinaryIdiot
I'm not an iOS developer (well, not really; I don't know what I'm doing) but
this seems like it would be a really easy thing for Apple to detect. Does
Apple simply not care about access to these to the degree of adding in better
checking or is there something fundamental about their platform that makes
checking for Apple seriously difficult?
~~~
RandallBrown
Objectiv-C works by sending a message to an object. If that object responds to
the message, it does something. The message is essentially just a string and
in fact you can use strings to build selectors.
Normally, these private API selectors would show up in a class dump and Apple
will reject you app. But, if you're clever, you can hide them from a class
dump. You could encrypt the strings, then decrypt them at runtime and Apple
could no longer find your private API usage in a static scan.
At runtime they _could_ detect you calling private APIs, but it would be easy
enough to code it so that you don't call any private APIs for a few days after
first launch or make them so they're turned on with a server side flag. That
way Apple would never notice the private api usage during an App Store review.
~~~
achr2
The question is why don't these APIs require authorization in the first place?
Obfuscation is a terrible security practice.
~~~
josso
Because as soon as Apple publish something as an API, they can't change the
method because third party apps could now be depending on it. As long as the
API is private and undocumented, Apple can change the method from release to
release as they see fit.
~~~
JupiterMoon
But what about making them private APIs that also require authorisation.
------
a3n
> Since we also identify SDKs by their binary signatures, we noticed that
> these functions were all part of a common codebase, the Youmi advertising
> SDK from China.
> We believe the developers of these apps aren’t aware of this since the SDK
> is delivered in binary form, obfuscated, and user info is uploaded to
> Youmi’s server, not the app’s.
Know your binaries?
~~~
adevine
Which is impossible with any app of reasonable size that uses third party SDKs
(which are often required for business reasons). Apple didn't catch it, how
can we expect hundreds of small developers to catch it?
~~~
mikeash
Apple spends a few minutes reviewing any given app. The developers have much
more time to examine this stuff.
~~~
NateLawson
I disagree that developers can be expected to find this kind of thing on their
own, say by digging in with a debugger. It's simply not a scalable solution.
I think you need a appstore-wide view of the entire software world and the
ability to query it for arbitrary behavior. But I'm biased since that's what
we've spent years building. :-)
~~~
a3n
In the case of the SDK in question, how much due diligence on the developers'
part would you say is appropriate? Not _necessarily_ binary analysis, but more
along the lines of knowing who you're getting your tools from, reputation,
whatever, etc.
Because as far as I, a user is concerned, that developer put that software on
my phone.
Maybe I as a user have a similar due diligence burden. One thing I might do is
never download an app from the affected developers again. But that doesn't
seem like a desired outcome. Nevertheless, I don't see how a user could do
anything more fine-grained and nuanced than that.
~~~
NateLawson
Really great question. Certainly, there are "too good to be true" offers out
there you might want to be concerned about, such as ad networks that pay crazy
high CPMs.
I'm biased, but I think developers should be using our service to track the
code that they're putting in apps (including their own code) for security,
quality, and app review problems. We watch third-party code for them, which is
how we found this issue. I think it's unreasonable to expect developers to
reverse-engineer every library they include.
I agree users really can't do as much about this. We are considering ways to
distribute the list of vulnerable apps/versions to help users find if they
have them.
------
musesum
This is not new. Check out "Microsoft AARD code" \-- an inverted example of
surreptitious analytics, in 1992. TL;DR: the beta version of Windows 3.1
showed a warning if user was using DR-DOS, a competing OS. The payload was
encrypted and could be triggered in the production version of Win 3.1 by
changing a flag.
~~~
yuhong
Yea, there was a reason why I mentioned DR-DOS when I was discussing the OS/2
2.0 fiasco.
------
peterclary
"The apps using Youmi’s SDK have been removed from the App Store and any new
apps submitted to the App Store using this SDK will be rejected." I'll be
interested to see what happens to Youmi now that they're blocked from iOS. SDK
developers: Consider yourselves warned.
~~~
knd775
I imagine that new versions with the private API stuff removed will be
allowed. I don't believe that this is some sort of lifetime ban on Youmi.
------
pradn
How did SourceDNA have access to millions of iOS app binaries? Can anyone just
download all the apps in the App Store?
~~~
asadlionpk
I think you can download .ipa file using iTunes. Alternatively, using iFunbox
to backup apps.
~~~
jevinskie
AFAIK you still have to run those on a jailbroken device, letting the kernel
decrypt the __TEXT segment for you, then dumping the decrypted binary from
memory to disk. Though every binary is encrypted the same, no matter the
device, so supposedly there may be some key that you can extract to enable
decryption off-device.
------
viraptor
Blog about 2 groups discovering the bad apps and reporting it to Apple, but
then: "Apple has issued the following statement. “We’ve identified a group of
apps that..." Stay classy Apple - great attribution.
------
anonymousDan
Is it just me or are they totally ripping off the research done by the Iris
team and making it sound like they came up with these vulnerabilities
themselves? I know they give the researchers a cursory mention, but it's
buried at the bottom of the article.
~~~
tptacek
No, that's not at all what they did. They discovered the issue independently
and, as you can see if you read the whole article, in a manner very different
from that of the other team.
(Fair warning: I am not just a disinterested observer of SourceDNA).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
"The 411 Parable": Goog411 vs Bing411 - Make sure you are playing the same game. - benhedrington
http://buildcontext.com/blog/2011/the-411-parable
======
indygreg2
I was working at Microsoft/Tellme at the time Bing411 was launched and would
like to state a few facts:
\- When launched, Bing411 was essentially a re-branding of Tellme's
1-800-555-TELL service.
\- 1-800-555-TELL has been running since 2000 or something like that. I
attended the 10th anniversary party, which I believe was in 2010.
\- Microsoft didn't need to launch a Microsoft-branded 411 to collect
utterances, for they had acquired Tellme and had many utterances coming in
under their umbrella of services
\- Tellme's bread and butter was speech recognition on the telephone and they
are still in that space today, so Bing411, 1-800-555-TELL are still relevant
for them.
I can also say that a lot of the speculation in the article about Microsoft's
"reaction" is just wrong. But, I won't go into specifics because they aren't
relevant.
I enjoyed the author's original point about making sure you are playing the
same game. Unfortunately, the example used is factually inaccurate.
~~~
sixcorners
Don't all those points fit into the story in that blog entry? No one is saying
that Microsoft needed voice data. From e40's comment: "I think the point of
the article is that they don't need to mine utterences with Bing 411, and that
they merely did the service to compete with Google, without knowing why Google
made the service in the first place." Isn't the speculation about Microsoft's
reaction the heart of the issue? If Microsoft did buy Tellme's service so that
they could compete with Google's that would explain how Microsoft wasn't
playing the same game Google was. Edit: I do agree that the blog post is all
speculation. I'm just saying that I don't think those points prove that it is
wrong.
~~~
anorwell
Microsoft bought Tellme (of which 555-TELL was a very small part) in March
2007 [1]. GOOG-411 was announced in April 2007. [2]
[1] <http://techcrunch.com/2007/03/14/microsoft-acquires-tellme/>
[2] [http://techcrunch.com/2007/04/06/google-launches-
free-411-bu...](http://techcrunch.com/2007/04/06/google-launches-
free-411-business/)
~~~
sixcorners
From that article: "This is actually a product that Google’s been testing in
various formats for some time. Steve Poland (a regular contributor here) is
pointing me to some posts (and here) by Greg Sterling from last year that
discuss this. The earliest reports on this are from October 2006, and the
service may be from an acquisition of 1-877-520-FIND. More information here."
Again though.. Pure speculation.. It's not implausible because big companies
do keep tabs on their competition. Also not sure if Microsoft's history with
their product goes back even further.
------
anorwell
The tone of this article bothers me. There are some smart people working at
Microsoft. The level of discussion is higher than "Hey, google made a thing,
we need the same thing."
Like the article points out, Microsoft has no shortage of utterances due to
their acquisition of Tellme. Why, then, do they need to mine utterances with
Bing 411? (Assuming they don't--I'm sure they do.) Bing 411 is a genuinely
useful service that adds value to the Bing brand. It needs no additional
reason to exist.
All this aside, the article is factually incorrect. It implies that localeze
was contracted to provide Bing 411. In fact, localeze provides listings
(according to the press release the article links), and are presumably one of
many listing providers used. Microsoft/Tellme provide the actual Bing 411
service. I don't know for sure, but Tellme's (now Microsoft's) 1-800-555-TELL
number almost definitely predates GOOG-411.
~~~
e40
> Why, then, do they need to mine utterances with Bing 411?
I think the point of the article is that they _don't_ need to mine utterences
with Bing 411, and that they merely did the service to compete with Google,
without knowing _why_ Google made the service in the first place.
------
varunsrin
Somehow, it doesn't seem like Google's plan was much of a secret, even back in
2007: [http://www.zdnet.com/blog/google/goog-411-isnt-what-you-
thin...](http://www.zdnet.com/blog/google/goog-411-isnt-what-you-think/852)
~~~
benhedrington
Yep, not saying it was a secret... Tim O'Reilly had it nailed back then... but
the story I have to remind myself of is that too many times we go off face
value rather than digging in and listening to people like Tim... This happens
all over the place and it was worth capturing the story that replays in my
head each time I see a new revision of it.
~~~
varunsrin
well, Marissa Mayer of Google explicitly stated in a public announcement in
October 2007 that it was going to be used for speech recognition algorithms.
And many, many news blogs published that.
[http://www.infoworld.com/t/data-management/google-wants-
your...](http://www.infoworld.com/t/data-management/google-wants-your-
phonemes-539)
Your article makes it seem like the fact that Google was using 411 for voice
analysis was somewhat 'unknown' until 2009, whereas I would say that the
knowledge was actually quite mainstream and, frankly, hard to ignore.
I would argue that assuming that the Bing team completely failed to see all
the news articles and press releases (from Google, no less) about this for 2
years, is perhaps a little presumptuous? Maybe, as another poster mentioned,
they are still getting value out of the 411 service?
I do agree with your point, and there are many many times I've seen companies
do this, but Bing 411 vs Google 411 might not be the right example since
Google's intentions were very clear, right from the start.
Disclaimer: I work on MS Office (completely unrelated to Bing & the 411
service, but still not what you would call an unbiased source)
------
tomerico
While I cannot speculate on Microsoft purpose of a 411 service, I think it is
pretty obvious why google dumped theirs - they now have access to an enormous
source of human speech through google voice.
~~~
brudgers
That's what I was thinking. But it also implies that Google could drop Voice,
or Gmail, or Maps, if something better comes along.
~~~
nuclear_eclipse
They certainly could. If you don't like that, don't rely on it, or make sure
to export your data regularly. That's true of any free service, tbh.
------
mxavier
I'll play devil's advocate here. Are we sure Microsoft is not doing the same
data mining on Bing411 as Google did on Goog411, and haven't dumped it because
it is either a valuable service in their eyes or they are not done gleaning
what google gleaned from their head start?
I somehow doubt this is the case but I'm not so sure we can assume that it is
not.
~~~
InclinedPlane
Microsoft doesn't play the same sort of long game that google does. Microsoft
plays a traditional long game: market penetration, brand loyalty, development
stack, "synergy" (real or imagined), etc. Google plays a much more subtle
game. They'll do something like GOOG411 just to get better voice recognition
algorithms. They'll also do things like develop a state of the art web browser
just to jostle the browser development community out of its laziness and
propel web standards and browser performance forward. That sort of thing is
just not in Microsoft's DNA to do or even conceive of doing.
------
spinchange
It still seems really odd to me that Google 86'd all explicit phone number
directory -related stuff. The "phonebook:" operator is no more either. Yes, I
know traditional web search and Maps are pretty good most of the time, but I
come across many cases where they are not. Especially when it's a residential
phone number (that is otherwise publicly listed) or a less web savvy local
business.
Phone directories may, in fact, be very antiquated but they're still a thing,
the data is there and often useful. Why not index it? Why not let me expressly
look-up a phone number anymore?
------
bimbly
Interesting read. But the best part for me was learning about a new free 411
service. At least once a week, I start to call Goog411 before sadly
remembering the service was discontinued.
~~~
tobtoh
Is it really an interesting read? (this isn't a criticism of bimbly, more at
poor quality blog posts in general (a particular bee in my bonnet at the
moment))
The blog post basically consisted of a made up example to make a point that
the blog author felt was valid. Now I happen to agree with the basic point the
author was trying to make, but I think it's a reflection on the really poor
quality of so many blog posts where people have some idea they want to pitch
as insightful and then they fail to do any actual research and/or wrap it in a
made up story. The 'parable' is pretty worthless when people like Indygreg
above state that the motivations that the author guessed at was completely
wrong.
------
contextfree
Even if we accept the very dubious premise that Bing411 was motivated entirely
by a misunderstanding of Google's aims for Goog411, so what? A good cautionary
tale needs to demonstrate the dire consequences of whatever you're cautioning
against, but you haven't actually showed anything bad happening to Bing or
Microsoft as a result of their alleged confusion. Really not the best vehicle
for your moral.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Most hilarious sites in the internet? - copycat22
======
nitin1213
mindreality.net www.bibliotecapleyades.net/
------
crazy_colonel
ajitvadakayil.blogspot.com,
secret.TV
------
osho
Facebook
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Debunking Dvorak vs QWERTY myths - gnosis
http://reason.com/archives/1996/06/01/typing-errors/1
======
jmillikin
Previous discussions can be found at:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=438124>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1062284>
The QWERTY vs Dvorak argument is silly; both were designed at a time before
any research had been performed into typing ergonomics, and the only reason to
pick one or the other is largely based on hearsay and rumor.
If you'd like an ergonomic keyboard layout, try one designed to be efficient
for common use cases, such as:
Colemak < <http://colemak.com/> >: More efficient than QWERT and Dvorak, while
preserving common QWERTY-based keyboard shortcuts.
QGMLWB < <http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/carpalx/?full_optimization> >: Highly
efficient, at the cost of sacrificing keyboard shortcut muscle memory.
Or, design your own with carpalx: <http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/carpalx/>
~~~
sjs
> The QWERTY vs Dvorak argument is silly; both were designed at a time before
> any research had been performed into typing ergonomics, and the only reason
> to pick one or the other is largely based on hearsay and rumor.
I grew up using my own odd way of typing with several of my fingers, but
didn't type by touch. When I started studying comp sci I decided to finally
learn to type properly. After a year or so of typing qwerty I had pain in my
wrists and fingers.
Obviously I couldn't afford any injuries before my career even started, so I
read up on dvorak and the decided the reasoning behind it was sound. I
switched and it was one or two weeks before I could type very well at all, and
a month before I was what I call proficient. Since then no more pain.
So whether my fingers actually travel less or not, I don't really care.
Something about it is better ergonomically, for me. It's been 5-6 years since
then without any pain or discomfort (apart from 20+ hour sessions, and I
deserved exactly what I got, that's just dumb).
AFAIK Dvorak wrote studies on this for some US gov't body, around WW1 or WW2
iirc. I haven't looked for them but to call his research hearsay and rumour is
not very fair. You need to back that up.
~~~
mnemonicsloth
> You need to back that up.
Besides presenting us with an unfalsifiable anecdote, you obviously haven't
read the article. It's _about_ backing that claim up:
_"Fast forward now to 1936, when August Dvorak ... patented the Dvorak
Simplified Keyboard...
The standard telling of [the Navy Study] story turns out to be false in almost
every important respect....
[Dvorak et al] compared students of different ages and abilities (for example,
students learning Dvorak in grades 7 and 8 at the University of Chicago Lab
School were compared with students learning QWERTY in conventional high
schools)...
Even in their studies, however, the evidence is mixed as to whether students
learning Dvorak retain an advantage, since the differences seemed to diminish
as training progressed."_
~~~
gjm11
No, the article is addressing a different claim about Dvorak from the one sjs
made. (Article: Can one type faster on a Dvorak than a QWERTY keyboard? sjs:
Is typing on a Dvorak keyboard easier on the wrists and fingers than typing on
a QWERTY keyboard?)
For what it's worth, I've heard a lot of anecdotal claims that Dvorak is
better in terms of pain, and scarcely anyone claiming it's better for speed.
This might, of course, be because the main thing that makes someone switch
from QWERTY to Dvorak is that they've started having pain and are searching
for something that might stop it.
------
kschua
I have converted to the Dvorak in Aug 09, to see if the Dvorak suits me. I
averaged about 70 words per minute on QWERTY and got back to this speed in
Dvorak after about 4 months. I don't buy the claim that a person can switch to
the Dvorak in 25 days. Took me almost that long just to be able to type with
the Dvorak without looking at the keyboard. The DVAssist program for Windows
was very helpful in the transition stage.
Wikipedia claims the fastest typist in the world uses a Dvorak.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard> so you draw your own
conclusions about speed from this
I am sticking to the Dvorak because I don't feel as much strain on my wrist as
compared to using a QWERTY. I have had a pain in my right wrist which hasn't
occurred since I started the Dvorak. (Note: It could also be due to the
slowdown in speed during the transition process).If I get an increase in speed
it is a bonus.
A small bonus on using the Dvorak is that I don't need to bother about people
looking at my keyboard when I am typing my password.
Cons: 1) Pair programming is a pain if the other guy doesn't use Dvorak.
Having to switch keyboard layouts often isn't fun, unless of course your
workplace allows you to install DVAssist 2) When using outside terminals, such
as Internet cafe, it is highly unlikely you are going to be able to switch
keyboard layout. 3) On a Mac, the shortcuts still follow the QWERTY keyboard,
so the Apple-C key is really an Apple J key.
Signed A QWERTY keyboard typist for 25 years
~~~
snth
I've been using a Dvorak layout for about 7 years now. I converted for
efficiency; at that time I had no wrist or hand problems. Within the last
couple years, intense typing sessions have give me lasting pain in my hands
(mostly emanating from my pinky fingers). The Dvorak layout actually seems to
be worse in this regard (pinky strain) than Qwerty, so I've switched to using
a Kinesis keyboard, which has helped somewhat. Though nothing seems to help
like backing off of typing for a while, and avoiding long laptop typing
sessions.
~~~
garnet7
Looks like the carpalx software (mentioned above) can be tuned to find you a
layout that doesn't work the pinkies so much.
------
richardw
The article is mostly about speed, not efficiency. If you care about speed
only, then many will argue it's a toss-up. If you care about efficiency over
your typing lifetime, then I'd strongly suggest Dvorak has a big advantage.
Small slightly loaded example. Try it yourself on any body of text: I just
typed your title on Dvorak and QWERTY layouts. The top line are the keys that
are on the home row of each, so fingers don't have to move to type them. The
second are those you have to move for. Ignores shift.
"debunking dvorak vs qwerty myths at reason.com"
Dvorak: (home row first)
deunindoasetthsateasono
bkgvrkvqwrymyr.cm
So in this contrived example, the home row has slightly more letters on it
than other rows.
QWERTY: (home row first)
dkdakshsaas
ebuninvorvmyttreon.com
Here, the home row has far fewer of the letters required, so _most_ of the
time you have to move your fingers. Oh, _and_ I removed QWERTY because it was
just unfair. Even if you remove the 'reason.com', Dvorak is more efficient. So
try it yourself for a few sentences. I suggest you'll find Dvorak has far less
finger movement in most cases. Maybe someone will code up a test, scanning HN
for home row keys :)
Is it for everyone? No. Like Sarah Palin, everyone has a different opinion. If
you're happy with QWERTY, use it - there are generally far better things to
learn about. Out of 4 friends who tried Dvorak, two of us kept it. I use
Programmer Dvorak because it makes coding nicer, but that's even more hassle.
------
dylanz
I had bad RSI, then took a couple weeks, and switched to Dvorak (it took a bit
longer to get proficient in Vim again though). Anyhow, RSI problems were gone,
and never returned.
So, regardless of any debunking myths, it prevented my pain from ever coming
back again.
~~~
gnosis
Or maybe the pain went away for some reason unrelated to Dvorak, and would
have gone away on its own even if you hadn't switched.
~~~
nostrademons
It seems unlikely given how many people report that same benefit. On this
thread alone, there are 4 people that report it's much easier on the wrists
(to which I'll add myself - I'm a Dvorak user and found it physically much
easier to type on than Qwerty) and 1 person that reports it's worse.
~~~
jauco
Ouch, I don't know the english word for it, but you're making a severe error
by assuming that pro's and cons are as likely to report here. If you really
want to know whether it's coincidental or not you'd have to phone people
chosen at random from the total population (just humans, just americans or
just american programmers for example)
~~~
nostrademons
"Selection bias" is the term you're looking for. ;-)
And yes, I know I'm making it, and choosing to make it anyway. Mostly because
it squares with my own experience (there's a term for that too: "anecdotal
evidence"), and because we don't have any evidence the _other_ way.
~~~
mnemonicsloth
_it squares with my own experience_
The placebo effect can make _cancer_ go away for a while. Vanishing RSI is
trivial.
You're especially at risk because you've already sunk time and effort into
retraining yourself, and have made a conscious decision to separate yourself
from everybody else. That's Big Magic, psychosomatically speaking.
None of this means you have to go back to QWERTY (or for that matter, that
QWERTY is any less broken). But if Dvorak's research really was shoddy and
self-serving, and you want to take care of the hands you presumably use to
earn a living, wouldn't it be a good idea at this point to look into other
keyboard layouts with better-documented benefits?
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalation_of_commitment>
<http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html>
~~~
richardw
I'd really like to find some research on people that were proficient with
Dvorak first and then were asked to learn QWERTY. I suspect the take-up (even
for those desperately wanting to be different) would be lower! There's quite a
cost to re-learning how to type, so let's not discount that some people
_still_ think it's worth it.
Personally, I did it because a couple of my mates were still happy with it
after a year and it started making sense on day 1, before any Big Magic kicked
in :)
------
bediger
I would like Liebowitz and Margolis work more if they'd actually done any
research. If you bother to go find the original _Journal of Law and Economics_
paper, you will see that the paper consists only of hand-waving criticism, and
has no original research. I suppose a paper of this form has a place, but
you'd think that in the intervening 20 years, someone, someonwhere would try
to confirm or deny.
But that hasn't happened, as far as I know.
------
Luyt
This is a funny webzine I found about Dvorak:
<http://DVzine.org/zine/01-toc.html>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Stop the presses: Facebook CTO says news next in social revolution - wippler
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12406171
======
tgriesser
Gotta love sensationalist headlines...
Should read: Facebook CTO says purchasing servers for a separate startup prior
to Facebook _might_ have been unnecessary
The idea that Facebook wouldn't need its own data centers is pretty
ridiculous, and that's what the title implies
EDIT: looks like "while at FriendFeed" was added for clarity ... Further edit:
The title is changed now, but the original said "Facebook CTO says purchasing
servers was his biggest mistake" or something of the like
~~~
butu5
yeah true.. title is completely mis leading. When I read this thought facebook
did mistake on purchasing it's own server and setting up it's datacenter.
But Bret (CTO of facebook, co-founder of Friendfeed) talks about Friendfeed
here. Considering friendfeed growing and struggling stage to make it's
presence. There is lot of other thing to worry than maintaining own data
center.
------
cagenut
friendfeed was built in 08, before amazon had released EBS as a feature. there
is no way in hell the instance-store disk i/o would have kept up with
friendfeeds mysql demands (you may remember the post Bret himself wrote on
their nifty approach to mysql: <http://bret.appspot.com/entry/how-friendfeed-
uses-mysql> ) Frankly, even EBS probably wouldn't have. Plus, back in 08 the
larger ec2 instances were still pretty low on ram compared to what you could
cheaply cram in a colo'd server, putting even more pressure on the disk i/o.
I think Bret's really wishing what almost everyone is, that these problems
would just go away and you could pay a reasonable premium for that, but we're
not there yet and certainly weren't in 2008. I don't think he really checked
his numbers on this one.
edit: however there is a happy medium. managed service providers will gladly
charge you ec2 prices (250/month for a low end server, 500/month for a beefy
one) while handling all midnight colo trips for you.
~~~
samvj
Don't worry, people are on it - <http://www.dotcloud.com> :)
------
johngalt
When someone says "My biggest mistake is doing X and not Y. X turned out to be
really hard." I wonder if they know how difficult Y would be as well.
------
petercooper
In other news, Amazon's CTO says his worst decision was to buy servers as they
could have just rolled EC2's API out on Dreamhost's Private Servers offering..
Less facetiously, this "regret" surprises me. I'd have though that of anyone,
Facebook would want to have full control and security over their own servers.
Agreeing to a contract where Amazon can pull the plug over "objectionable"
content or even adverse effects on their network poses a significant risk for
any large business to accept.
~~~
chime
He is not talking about servers for Facebook but his old startup, Friendfeed.
------
spitfire
Until some very smart people get together and restart tandem, buying hardware
will be a poor decision. Designing for a fail-by-design architecture will be
the right thing to do. and if you have fail by design, why not just ship the
executable to whoever's the cheapest virtual hosting at the moment.
PS: To very smart people: Please get together and start Tandem: the sequel.
Pretty, pretty please. With sugar on top.
------
CodeMage
The _only_ two paragraphs that actually match the headline:
_If we had to guess, it's probably going to be orientated around media or
news, because they are so social. When you watch a television show with your
friend, it's such an engaging social activity.
We think that there's a next generation of startups that are developing social
versions of these applications, where what Zynga is to gaming, they will be to
media and news, and we're really excited about that._
------
erik_p
In addition to the misleading title, you gotta love the "Yell" typo for "Yelp"
in the article...
~~~
rodh
Yell is the company that publishes the UK Yellow Pages. I'm sure Bret Taylor
meant Yelp. However: <http://www.yell.com/reviews/> "The places to go, by the
locals in the know". Or so they say.
------
marcamillion
It's funny the differences in headlines between one tailored for HN and BBC
audiences respectively.
------
bhoung
something about the t-shirt under the shirt look that detracts from the
article.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: I built a better way to watch music videos - freeslave
http://chartbrain.com
======
flexxaeon
nice job. nice mashup idea. i could see myself using this for various reasons
("what is that song i've never heard that i keep hearing people talk about
because i only listen to NPR?")
sole nitpick - (on chrome) while a video is playing, the 'All Charts' dropdown
falls behind the video. when the video is paused, it works as expected.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Free Responsive Bootstrap Admin Theme With Animations - manpreetrules
http://metaware.github.io/responsive_bootstrap_admin_theme/
======
jas1102
Nice work
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
ANSI Safety Code and Requirements for Dry Martinis [pdf] - surement
http://www.niso.org/apps/group_public/download.php/6140/K100.1-1974%20-%20American%20National%20Standard%20Safety%20Code%20%26%20Requirements%20for%20Dry%20Martinis%20.pdf
======
anonu
Who knew there was a "radiation mixing method"?? I still don't get why
though...
~~~
colorint
I'll explain the joke and thereby kill it: this standard is mostly an excuse
for ANSI members to drink large amounts of 90-proof gin. It's fairly clear
they don't really care about vermouth (see section 4.3 and table 2), so
radiation mixing is a way of lying about making a martini.
~~~
surement
Winston Churchill famously listed his martini recipe as something like
drinking a bottle of gin while gazing in the direction of France. I don't
understand this aversion for vermouth in some (vocal) martini drinkers: if you
don't like vermouth (and lemon peel...), then just drink gin and have some
olives and whatever other snack you want on the side. Personally I like a 4:1
with a spray from a lemon peel.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Mathematician laments about the state of math education - iwwr
http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/74787799?access_key=key-1q7eqk1yjq2t1i63jb8e
======
tokenadult
Even better than the lament article is "Mathematics Education." Notices of the
American Mathematical Society 37:7 (September, 1990) 844-850.
<http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/math/pdf/0503/0503081v1.pdf>
by William Thurston, a Fields medalist.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Raspberry Pi Tacho Projector Bike Fake? - Uchikoma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Nfk1-XMASrk#!
======
Uchikoma
I looked at that project and found it very cool.
Then I was confused, e.g. at 2:29 (and in some places before) the projection
against the car doesn't look right. Is it fake? Is it not projected to the
ground and I'm misunderstanding the project?
~~~
ColinWright
When looking from exactly behind a projector, the image will always look the
same, no matter what it's projected against. The 1st person view is from very
nearly behind the projector, so I would expect very little distortion, I would
expect it always to look like a circle with a number in it. From that point of
view, this looks totally reasonable.
~~~
Uchikoma
After some more thinking:
At 2:29 or 2:22 where it is projected to the bottom of a tire, the light
reflected seems evenly reflected, while it should not depend on the background
color (black) but on the angle it hits the tire. So I again tend towards this
being fake.
~~~
ColinWright
Doesn't look wrong to me, but I'm not an expert.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to effectively build and manage a remote development team - Evrone
https://evrone.com/remote-teams-management
======
onlyhackergirl
Thanks for the article! Very useful tips considering the current situation
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Dave Gorman on the 118 800 mobile phone numbers directory - swombat
http://gormano.blogspot.com/2009/07/118-800.html
======
TrevorJ
The problems he encountered with his phone getting prank called had nothing to
do with the 118 800 directory - it was due to a friend losing his cell phone.
------
russell
I did some probing and this appears to be purely a UK problem, although I
sympathize. I know there were proposals to make mobile numbers public in the
US, but I think they were shot down. I occasionally get spam text messages,
but they were all from the telco.
------
devin
Why would anyone want to call Dave Gorman, anyhow?
------
bensummers
Not wishing to defend 118 800, but after the first prank call from that
service he could go "ex-directory" and get no further calls.
However, he's spot on when he points out that when you signed up for your
mobile, there were no questions about being listed in a directory nor any
expectation of such a listing.
~~~
aka-
Exactly. The point of this is not one celeb who's number inadvertantly became
public domain, it's the rest of us poor sods who are forced to use our unique
contact information like phone numbers and mailing addresses to get regular
services, and then watch that information get bought and sold until it ends up
in the hands of scumbags, at which point the junk mail, automated phone calls
and spam texts become a denial of service attack which is very hard to guard
against.
------
sielskr
Anyone know of a GSM cell phone that can be configured to ring only when the
incoming call is from a number in the phone's address book?
'Twould have eliminated the need for the OP (Dave Gorman) to change his phone
number
~~~
gort
Not necessarily - there's still voicemail to consider.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Should I go to college? - robotkilla
I'm in my mid 30s. I've been working professionally as a web developer for the last 13~ years, 4~ of which have been fully remote as a contractor. I can program in multiple languages (including Javascript, Python, PHP... and i'm currently teaching myself c# and cg as video game dev is a hobby of mine).<p>Prior to becoming a contractor I had around 10 years of solid on the job work experience.<p>My goal for the immediate future is to continue working as a contractor and self educating, however I'm 34 years old and I want to make sure that I'm making the right moves for the future.<p>I went to college (for design) back when I was 19 - 21 and dropped out with one credit left and started working for a small web development shop (I had been programming on and off since I was 9 years old).
I've never had a computer science course. Everything I know has been completely self taught or picked up from coworkers on the job.<p>I have been told by my grandfather that I should attend college for computer science, but I feel like this might slow me down.
I'm hoping I can get some good feedback here. Is college a good idea for someone in my position?
What benefits or drawbacks will it bring?<p>A bit more background:<p>* I have never been to school (100% homeschooled until my brief college years).<p>* I do have some gaps in my knowledge however I typically find myself surpassing others in certain areas (in other words, I feel the lack of college from time to time, but for the most part I have kept up or even passed other people).<p>* I want to make independent video games for a living (I have been teaching myself C#, CG, Unity, Pygame, 3d techniques, pixel art, and brushing up on my math for the last 2 years) - would going to college slow me down on my endeavours at this point or would it equip me with the skills I need to actually finish a game?
======
lsiunsuex
You sound exactly like me - same age, same skill set, same people telling you
to goto college.
I prefer a full time steady job (and have one) but if your happy with contract
work - great!
Every programmer needs to continue to expand they're knowledge - it's a
constant learning process. For the longest time I relied soly on systems
administration and PHP - I've expanded into Objective C and AngularJS most
recently - trying to teach myself React now as JS frameworks seam to be the
"wave of the future"
An example I always give and especially remind my godson who's 16:
My wife is a very bright person - went to a private school for high school,
full ride. She then went to a great college, full ride also graduated with a
3.9 and magna cum laude in Phycology. Wanna know the job she held after she
graduated from college and for 9 years after that? Secretary.
That's not to put my wife down; it's to explain that regardless of your
education, it's all about your drive and motivation. Some people goto college
and don't do much with it. Some of us didn't goto college; work our asses off
and succeed anyways (I make more then both my brother and sister who both went
to college and got they're MBA's)
Work hard; focus on your goal and don't worry about the degree.
(my wife is now back in school for dental hygiene - still with a 3.9 gpa)
~~~
robotkilla
Thanks for the feedback. I didn't want to sway the question with too many of
my own opinions but I have been feeling the same way.
The biggest hurdle I've faced is that of proving my worth to others. Have you
faced similar issues?
~~~
lsiunsuex
Fortunately it hasn't been a problem in the last couple years, but I can
absolutely remember a time when I had to "prove" myself.
A great resume is key as well as a portfolio site. I always bring my laptop to
an interview incase they want to see code; I always make sure I have examples
on my portfolio site that are up to date and have to do with the job I'm
applying for, etc...
What was funny - my 2nd last job - they need a Wordpress developer and
although I'm damn good with PHP, I hated Wordpress - so the weekend of the
interview (interview was on monday) I spent about a day reading the WP docs
and built a website on my portfolio site with a custom theme, custom plugin,
made it responsive, etc... (stuff they would expect) - showed it to them
during the interview and got the job (I like to think it helped) - it didn't
come out until months later that I learned WP in a weekend (roughly) and
everyone was pretty impressed.
My current job - they were looking for a very specific skill set (Rackspace
Cloud administration) and actually were more impressed with one of my side
projects then any job I held. So you never know what someone is looking for -
could be professional experience, could be a side project.
~~~
robotkilla
Things seem to have shifted on my end as of late. People are very skeptical
when if I'm interviewing for a job, more than in the past (I tried recently a
few times when work dried up bombed on the interview processes a few times...
i have comments about it in my history).
I need to get my resume cleaned up and put together a new portfolio site.
I'm starting to become disinterested in full time gainful enslavement. Three
reasons I keep contracting:
1\. freedom (i make my own hours and jump between contracts every 3 months or
so, taking a short break between... usually around a week). When I do work, I
only take on fully remote contracts.
2\. my "interviews" consist of asking how much I charge, asking what my
availability is, asking a few simple tech questions, and then having me sign a
contract. That's because I get my work through recommendations from other
people so I no longer have a need to prove myself on this front.
3\. i make more money than when i was employed.
------
Nelyah
I will take the point of view of someone who went to college. Actually I just
graduated from my 5th year(I think it's master degree) and going to PhD in
computer science. To understand what I want to explain, you need to know that
I began college with 3 years of biology, and then switch to computer science.
It is only in my 3rd year that I realised how much I loved computer science. I
worked my ass off to get directly from 3rd year of biology to 4th year of
computer science, so I basically learnt everything by myself too. In the end,
I felt that every "practical" classes were pointless. I don't need someone to
learn a new language, and it seems you don't either. But it is when I tried
some theoretical courses that I realized how much I had to learn in this
domain.
I never learnt anything about advanced algorithmic, or graph theory before, or
language semantics. But in the end, by knowing all that I really look at a
problem with a different point of view than before. I am able to imagine some
new tricky algorithm etc.
All of that to say : It depends on what you seek going to college. You will be
bored if it's just learning some new language, because you either know them
already, or you will go faster than the course. But if you want to learn some
more theoretical knowledge, you will learn some new stuff for sure. Then
again, I don't know where you live, and college might be quite expensive in
some country, so I can't tell if it's really worth the money (since you
already have some years as a developper). But it is totally worth the time
imo.
~~~
robotkilla
Thank you very much for this feedback.
> . But it is when I tried some theoretical courses that I realized how much I
> had to learn in this domain.
> I never learnt anything about advanced algorithmic, or graph theory before,
> or language semantics. But in the end, by knowing all that I really look at
> a problem with a different point of view than before. I am able to imagine
> some new tricky algorithm etc.
This is exactly what I have found myself going through since making an attempt
to switch to 3d video game development. Specifically with the game I'm
currently building and some other things I've wanted to get involved with
(I've taken an interest in AI lately... like everyone else). I can see how
having more math in my past would help greatly.
That said I've been studying algorithms and supplementing my math with books
from the library. I also have a list of bookmarks to various CS courses. I
just need to block out time and watch them.
------
jklein11
It sounds like you are perfectly capable of learning technologies on your own,
and that your primary concern is having a degree as opposed to an education.
Have you considered going for a bachelors in a non-technical field like
economics, or business administration, or engineering management?
Any bachelors degree and your work experience would probably be enough to get
your foot in the door of any company if you wanted to step away from
contracting and go for a corporate job.
------
dudul
I have a masters degree and have been a developer for more than 10 years now.
I really don't see what a successful professionals with 13 years of experience
could learn in college.
It s unclear from your post why you even feel the need to go back. Have you
been denied position because you didn't have a degree? Is it because you want
to learn more?
~~~
robotkilla
It isn't that I do want to go back, its that I'm trying to determine if the
advice of my grandfather (and a few other people) is something I should
follow.
I don't really see what I will gain from it either, but like I said I've never
had a computer science course so I'm not sure if I'm missing out.
------
brudgers
There is no right answer. A college degree, in CS or anything else basically
can provide three things: the college experience, vocational skills, social
validation, and personal enrichment.[1]
Anyway, how these suss out for a particular individual at a particular point
in their life varies. In the question, social validation and vocational skills
are explicit. Personal enrichment feels implicit in the overall structure, by
which I mean that there's a bit of "I wonder what I might learn if I took this
risk" lurking breath the surface. If there weren't there would be little
reason for a long question.
Your grandfather said what he said to give you permission to do something that
is locally suboptimal and entails social risk. That's about as good as a
grandfather can grandfather. Maybe you can talk some more with him. Probably
worth doing regardless.
Good luck.
[1]: a college degree can provide FOUR things...
------
a3n
Personal prejudice: I'd be very reluctant to give up earnings while in
college, particularly as you're already very viable.
In tech, college is _mostly_ a learning experience and certificate program for
entry level workers. You're not entry level.
------
ericdouglas
I did 3.5 years of Mechanical Engineering, but I realized that what I really
love is programming...
So I changed to a CS course, but I did just 1 semester and dropped out... The
educational model nowadays have countless problems.
For that reason, I created this list, for those (like me) that want to have
the knowledge offered in a CS course, but without spending too much
time/money.
[https://github.com/ericdouglas/computer-science-and-
engineer...](https://github.com/ericdouglas/computer-science-and-engineering)
------
gesman
Just to share: In my 20+ yr career no employer actually asked for any proof of
degree. Whatever I have written on my resume was fine with 100% of employers.
They (rightfully so) care about my ability to deliver stuff vs. stuff printed
on some paper.
Exclusions from this rule:
\- Really large enterprises usually hire some sort of background verification
services that would annoy you to no end to provide all kinds of proofs.
\- US Immigration (to get TN or other working visa) does ask for proofs of
your degrees.
------
saluki
I think it's good advice to get a degree in general. I would think about
testing out taking a CS course and see if you enjoy it and is something you
like. You'll never regret having a degree. That said at this point in your
career I'm not sure how many more doors it will open for you and you'll have
to weigh the time spent vs knowledge gained. Another option is maybe a BS in
Science in something other than CS that you could do online that would take
less time/focus, but CS would probably be the best fit for your skill set and
future employment.
Grandparents are great and have lots of knowledge. The employment landscape
has changed though, previously a degree was a ticket to a secure corporate gig
till retirement. Now you have companies laying off employees in their 40s to
hire lower cost employees, benefits are being reduced, etc. So I don't see a
corporate gig as more secure than contracting or freelancing. Another option
is to focus on leveling up to increase your salary/savings. Your grandfather
would probably feel a lot better if he knows you have the skills to obtain
contract employment easily and are making $50+/hr as a contractor. So maybe
share how much you're making and that you have multiple offers when you are
ready for a new contract position.
I would recommend leveling up to increase your earning power vs. a CS degree,
unless it's something you would enjoy/want to have personally.
I don't think you'll learn video game development at university. That's
something you would learn on your own making games.
Check out the startups for the rest of us podcast. It has good information on
planning for your own products/businesses while working your day/contractor
job . . . most of this will apply to making the leap to independent video game
developer.
I would say open your options up . . . success in independent video games
(Notch/Minecraft) is a bit like a lottery ticket. So this might be something
you strive for but realize it might turn in to a nice hobby or niche with a
small following with a chance of a billion dollar payoff or maybe a fulltime
income or maybe just something you do for fun/side income.
You probably don't want to do contract work forever. So plan to launch your
own products, maybe a SaaS app, some type of recurring revenue so you don't
have to chase contracts/projects full time. This could also help give you more
time to learn/run your independent video game development studio.
Check out everything by patio11 (lots of great articles/advice),
[http://startupsfortherestofus.com](http://startupsfortherestofus.com) podcast
(and previous microconf videos) and Amy Hoy's stacking the bricks video.
Good luck with the direction you go.
Good luck sounds like you're on the right track.
~~~
robotkilla
These comments are a big relief.
All except these:
> laying off employees in their 40s
> hire lower cost
which raises the question: what should a 34 year old developer be planning to
do by time he is in his 40s? I'm realizing now that this might be the crux of
my situation.
~~~
saluki
I wouldn't worry too much . . . just keep it in mind . . . the future is
filled with all sorts of unknowns . . . not 100% of developers will get laid
off/replaced by cheaper labor but it's a possibility (Disney, CA Power
company, in the news recently).
I'd recommend exploring having your own product/app/business if that interests
you vs. depending on a company long term.
But lots of changes are going to come about in the next 10 to 15 year.
Automation . . . interstate trucking, uber cars, garbage trucks, restaurants,
this will eliminate a lot of jobs and businesses that provide services (truck
stops, etc). So being a developer your job is more secure than a lot of
careers that are going to be going through major changes.
Don't fear, worry about change, just be prepared/ready.
If you're talented I expect you can be a contract developer for as long as you
want. But explore other options/opportunities.
------
tpeaton
I'm a relatively new developer at 33, with about 2 years of experience now. I
was in a different industry for 12 years, but always wanted to be a dev. I
dropped out of CS about 13 years ago after I chose a bad (for profit) school
that I didn't enjoy. I enrolled in a local state school a couple months before
getting the job I have now. I'm half way through my degree, working full time
and going to school about half time (6-9 credits per semester). I don't know
if I would reccomend it or not. I only went back because I needed to take
concrete steps to get myself on the career path I wanted. Now that I'm in it,
it's a bit of a struggle to stay motivated for school.
Pros:
-I'll have a degree at some point and will no longer have to have awkward conversations about why I don't have a degree. This is probably the #1 reason I'm doing it.
-It removes a way for employers to filter me without seriously considering me as a candidate.
-I'll be proud of my accomplishment at some point and won't feel bad every time I think about my relationship with college.
Cons:
-Money. At a local state school, nothing crazy, I'll be about $35k in debt by the end of it with plenty of up front costs (books, etc).
-Time. It eats an incredible amount of time. Some classes require an hour or so of study time outside of class, but many require a ton. Depending on how polished your math skills are, you'll have a huge wall to climb here. I hadn't been in a math class in 13 years and then get tossed into calculus. Yowch. In addition to 5 or so hours of class time, I probably put in 10 hours a week of studying/homework just for that one course.
-Scheduling. Your scheduling needs might be different, but I work a pretty standard workday of 9-5. The university's latest CS courses start at 5:30 two days a week, which means if I am taking two CS courses simultaneously, I'm in class four nights a week. That means studying has to happen on virtually every off night. It also makes it very tough to take more than 2 classes at a time. Keeping a decent pace is key to actually finishing in a reasonable time. It'll probably take me 5 years total to get through it all.
-Content. The actual courses will drive you crazy. Professor's requirements are usually a clinic in what not to do in the real world. Your good habits will be punished in many circumstances. About half way through, I can't say I've learned anything invaluable that I couldn't have learned better on my own if I were sufficiently motivated. I'm hoping the upper class courses are more interesting, but so far it's been a bust.
-Bandwidth. You only have so many hours in a day. You'll be spending your time on things you have to learn instead of the things you WANT to learn. I'd love to spend my evenings getting more proficient with modern tech, but instead I find myself reading about anthropology or the like. My university is very Java/C/C++ heavy, which is not what I prefer. I'm happy to learn these things, but I don't see myself ever being a happy Java dev professionally.
So there are a lot more cons than there are pros for me, but I think the pros
are still worth it. I'll let you know in a couple years. If you're looking to
be indy dev, I doubt a college degree will help you get where you want to go.
I'd spend that time and effort on a project of your own. By the end of it,
you'll have demonstrable skills and a product you can show off.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How can I move from domain email address from my host to DO? - siquick
I have a [email protected] email address with my current hosting provider.<p>I want to move my hosting for site www.mydomainname.com to Digital Ocean but don't want to lose my email address.<p>Can I use DO to service that email address or is there another solution? I would prefer to not stay with my current hosting provider.<p>Thanks
======
mattkrea
Most services will serve custom domains. Using DigitalOcean you'd of course
have to run your own mail server. For the domain part you'd likely just have
to update your domain's name servers to DigitalOcean's and then add at least
one MX record pointing to your current provider until you switch. When you
switch just update the MX record to point to your new mail server.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why Bootstrap? Because You Can't Succeed Unless You Persevere - aytekin
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/315208
======
aytekin
Bootstrapping takes more time but in the end you control your destiny. The
first year, it was only me. The second year, I hired my first employee, so it
was two of us. The third year, we were three. And so on. It has taken us 12
years to reach 100 employees and 3.5 million users. I have shared what I
learned during this long journey about bootstrapping in this post.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
There are ways to overcome surveillance capitalism - iafrikan
https://www.iafrikan.com/2018/04/13/deletefacebook-is-still-feeding-the-beast-but-there-are-ways-to-overcome-surveillance-capitalism/
======
klez
If I could highlight a passage from this article, it would be this one
> Plus, it is imperative to increase data literacy, raise awareness of how
> transparent a company’s data policy is, and improve consumer education in
> the digital age. How many people are aware, for example, the extent to which
> Facebook tracks your online activity and sells your data to advertisers?
The point being, I'm not sure whether people just don't care about data
privacy or they simply don't know what we're talking about.
Anecdote: my mother asking me what's the problem with Facebook since you
publish that data of your own will. That is, she doesn't know about shadow
profiles, how the data is used etc.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Obama issues whistleblower directive to security agencies [2012] - evolve2k
http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/post/obama-issues-whistleblower-directive-to-security-agencies/2012/10/10/5e2cbbfe-132d-11e2-ba83-a7a396e6b2a7_blog.html
======
johng
Surprised this hasn't gotten more exposure. Seems like Snowden should be
covered by this.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
JSTOR Statement on Aaron Swartz - darrellsilver
http://about.jstor.org/statement-swartz
======
redegg
For those unable to access their statement due to the traffic load:
\------
Aaron Swartz
We are deeply saddened to hear the news about Aaron Swartz. We extend our
heartfelt condolences to Aaron’s family, friends, and everyone who loved,
knew, and admired him. He was a truly gifted person who made important
contributions to the development of the internet and the web from which we all
benefit.
We have had inquiries about JSTOR’s view of this sad event given the charges
against Aaron and the trial scheduled for April. The case is one that we
ourselves had regretted being drawn into from the outset, since JSTOR’s
mission is to foster widespread access to the world’s body of scholarly
knowledge. At the same time, as one of the largest archives of scholarly
literature in the world, we must be careful stewards of the information
entrusted to us by the owners and creators of that content. To that end, Aaron
returned the data he had in his possession and JSTOR settled any civil claims
we might have had against him in June 2011.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service and a member of the internet community. We
will continue to work to distribute the content under our care as widely as
possible while balancing the interests of researchers, students, libraries,
and publishers as we pursue our commitment to the long-term preservation of
this important scholarly literature.
We join those who are mourning this tragic loss.
~~~
darrellsilver
Good call
~~~
slurry
Probably a good call. But "JSTOR killed a dude" will still be the internet's
takeaway from this.
~~~
mscarborough
No, it may be your takeaway but 'the internet' doesn't have one assigned, much
less society at large.
------
carbon8
IMO, JSTOR isn't directly to blame. They are operating within a broken system,
and it seems like they are doing what they can.
Academic publishing is what needs a serious overhaul.
After having worked in an academic library and, more recently, leading
technology operations for a prominent new ebook publisher and article archive,
the first two words that come to mind when I think of both publishing
(academic and trade) and librarianship are "waste" and "bureaucracy."
Librarians are supposed to be the ones advocating for the readers, but they
are hobbled by a culture of committees, conferences, and politics. They work
within organizations that are heavily stratified ("librarians" and "staff"),
with all the worst aspects of severely hierarchical organizations.
Recently I was also was privy to a variety of details during the formation of
a new academic digital publisher, and it was the same kind of top-heavy,
anti-"lean" structure you'd expect. The amount they were raising just to get
started seemed absurd, especially when we were in the process of building a
larger organization that did more with less funding.
The point being, when you look under the surface, it's no wonder that
everything in this space seems to cost more than necessary.
There must be enough of us fed up, skilled, and idealistic enough to disrupt
this space, creating new, actually modern publishers and/or publishing
platforms if necessary.
Does anyone with more domain expertise have any advice about where to start or
what to focus on?
~~~
superuser2
What is your alternative to libraries governed by boards and committees?
Cowboy developers can do amazing things in some situations, but cowboy
librarians? Given the extent to which a university depends on its library,
handing autocratic control to an individual is dangerous to the institution as
a whole. Or are you going to have a fractured set of competing, for-profit
libraries on every campus and let the market decide?
I understand that entrenched ideology is a problem, but boards and committees
are controls that exist for a reason. With what are you going to replace
bureaucracy? The lone-wolf visionary with no regard for other people's needs
is a proven model in technology start-ups (Jobs, Zuckerberg), but what makes
you think that's an appropriate way to run a university library?
------
michael_miller
In the Swartz case, I have to say that JSTOR acted professionally and did the
right thing. They saw someone stealing their data. They reached out to the
authorities to help stop the theft. Swartz returned the data, and JSTOR agreed
not to pursue (civil) legal action against him. It's unfortunate that the US
government couldn't match JSTOR's level of reasonableness. Yes, Swartz did
something illegal, but the time (~35 year prison term and $1m fine) did not
fit the crime.
I can't help but be reminded of the MPAA/RIAA vs. John Doe lawsuits that were
commonplace just a couple years ago. It's sad that our legal system lacks a
sense of proportionality for crimes. 35 years is what someone would get for
murder, rape, or dealing drugs - not for stealing property, and then giving it
back. I hope that the US government takes time to reflect on how they
mishandled the case. At least then something good will come of his death.
~~~
jdiez17
> Swartz returned the data
This... sounds super fishy.
~~~
tripzilch
Yeah, I wonder what that even means?
You can't "return" data. You can either _delete_ the data, or _hand over_ the
media that it's encoded upon.
It reminds me a bit of David Thorne's famous "spider" email exchange
<http://www.27bslash6.com/overdue.html> (fourth email)
------
ljd
"To that end, Aaron returned the data he had in his possession and JSTOR
settled any civil claims we might have had against him in June 2011."
Reminds me of that spider drawing comic [0].
[0] <http://www.27bslash6.com/overdue.html>
~~~
shmageggy
Seriously. The use of the word "returned" reeks of the same technological
backwardness that has hobbled the music industry. Just as it is nonsensical to
say that copying files constitutes "stealing", it is nonsensical to say that
one can "return" copied files. You can delete them, and that's about it.
However, I don't think JSTOR is technologically backwards, but their use of
that word reveals a very measured, legalistic attitude. You can tell they are
being very careful to use a vocabulary that reflects their legal interests.
~~~
an_to_nio
This was exactly my thought. The use of "returned" reveals a clinging to a lie
that's still lurking in the background.
~~~
tripzilch
I've been assuming it meant something along the lines of "we made him hand
over some of his gear as an early punishment". Seems to be a common thing to
do in nearly all cases of (alleged) "cyber" crimes. It's nothing to do with
"returning data" of course.
An old episode of _Friends_ really nailed the concept: "it's like trying to
take the urine out of a pool".
------
jacoblyles
> "We will continue to work to distribute the content under our care as widely
> as possible"
Hint: put the content on static HTTP server without an authentication system.
~~~
Permit
Do you want them shut down or something? They can't legally do that. They've
taken measures to try and get more articles out there in recent years for
free:
\- Alumni are soon going to be able to freely access all articles.
\- Registered researches can access all articles for free.
\- Anyone can now read three articles every two weeks for free.
Doing what you say would immediately shut down JSTOR and they couldn't
continue to process new articles, provide full-text search and so on.
~~~
jacoblyles
I want a world where the scientific enterprise grows beyond academia. I want a
world where the collective intelligence of humanity can be brought to bear on
humanity's most important problems. I want a world where the conversation of
science is conducted in indexible, searchable, linkable, accessible, and
modifiable public media.
Is JSTOR a friend or an enemy of my vision? Three articles every two weeks -
sounds like an enemy.
~~~
Permit
>I want a world where the scientific enterprise grows beyond academia. I want
a world where the collective intelligence of humanity can be brought to bear
on humanity's most important problems. I want a world where the conversation
of science is conducted in indexible, searchable, linkable, accessible, and
modifiable public media.
As lovely of an idea as that is, someone has to write the backend, design the
front-end, scan tens of thousands of documents and provide full-text search
for them. Prior to JSTOR, these documents were trapped in university
libraries, and you would have no feasible way to access them. I think they
share your goals, and any problems you have with their operation is due to
external factors (publishers, licensing, etc.).
Simply publishing everything for free is an absolutely sure-fire way to see no
new content from JSTOR and a huge setback for the digitization of physical
articles. Your proposal is a ridiculous over-simplification.
>Is JSTOR a friend or an enemy of my vision? Three articles every two weeks -
sounds like an enemy.
How often do you read JSTOR articles? Personally, I don't power through a math
paper in a single day, but maybe you're brilliant.
This limitation is not their fault. You're angry at the wrong people.
~~~
jacquesm
> As lovely of an idea as that is, someone has to write the backend, design
> the front-end, scan tens of thousands of documents and provide full-text
> search for them.
I volunteer, where do I sign up?
~~~
tripzilch
Silly man. You can't just do anything you like, for _free_! ;-)
Count me in, though (given that it'll actually be about opening access to
things that weren't open before).
------
jfaucett
"as one of the largest archives of scholarly literature in the world, we must
be careful stewards of the information entrusted to us by the owners and
creators of that content."
Tax dollars in every country I know of go to pay professors and researchers
salaries ie. the contributors to to all these journals, so why all the
articles aren't fully available public access has never been clear to me.
Frankly, it makes me angry to be double ripped by a system where a few big
players benefit and progress and the furtherment of human knowledge are
impeeded. The spirit behind fighting against this kind of thing is one of the
reasons why we're mourning Aaron so much.
~~~
mjn
I agree, but don't think JSTOR in particular can do a lot about it. Rewritten
to be more accurate, what "entrusted to us by the owners and creators of that
content" means is "licensed to us by the copyright holders". In most cases the
copyright holder is a journal publisher, and they control what terms JSTOR is
allowed to make their files available under. The only major exception are
public domain works, and they _have_ been moving in the right direction on
that: <http://about.jstor.org/service/early-journal-content>
I do think JSTOR could institutionally be run in a more progressive manner.
They can't fix the problem, but they could put a bit more pressure in the
right direction. I'm hopeful that moves like Early Journal Content are showing
some signs of that, though I could just be overly optimistic. But in either
case, ultimately they aren't the ones who can make the decision to do anything
about the post-1923 content. For past content, the journals who hold the
copyrights are going to have to be convinced to open it up, and for future
content, academics are going to have to start publishing in open-access venues
in the first place.
------
exit
the single most constructive thing JSTOR could do in reaction to this tragedy
is loudly denounce the District Attorney for drawing them into the persecution
of Aaron Swartz, for perpetuating the case after they - the victim of any
wrong doing - asked the government to drop its case [0].
from this statement alone it isn't clear to me at all in what sense they
"regretted being drawn into" the case.
if JSTOR is institutionally incapable of acknowledging that prosecutorial
abuse played a significant role in this tragedy, of specifically acknowledging
and denouncing abuse under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act [1], it can't be
taken seriously as a "member of the internet community".
0\. [http://lessig.tumblr.com/post/40347463044/prosecutor-as-
bull...](http://lessig.tumblr.com/post/40347463044/prosecutor-as-bully)
1\. [http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/feds-go-
overboard...](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/feds-go-overboard-in-
prosecuting-information-activist/)
------
tommorris
From the outside, JSTOR looks "as bad" as the other academic journal
publishers.
They really aren't.
I'm no fan of the copyright cabals and the continued locking away of academic
publications from public view. JSTOR is a non-profit that charges relatively
low fees to academic reusers for work that is not financially particularly
valuable (it's mostly humanities stuff; pharmaceutical companies and
technology researchers aren't desperate to read back issues of the British
Journal of Philosophy of Science), and they are digitising old, obscure and
non-English papers.
They are providing a very valuable service at a reasonable price for academic
libraries. The restrictions being placed on the content is just part of the
way that academic publishing works. JSTOR have done a bargain with the
publishers and scholarly societies because they believe that getting the
content scanned and online is more important than making sure there is
complete public access to that content.
They are working as best as they can within the constraints of the academic
system. If you want to hate on the academic system, the commercial publishers
are far more deserving of your ire. The commercial publishers are charging
extortionate amounts to academic libraries to sell papers back to the people
who wrote them.
Eliminate the bigger for-profit journal publishers and you'll force an
economic change on all of academic publishers. The whole system is at fault:
don't hate the player, hate the game.
------
WalterSear
This is bullshit.
Coming from academia, I can say that the only people who benefit from this
system are the publishers and the institutions. Everyone else is under the
wheel.
~~~
DannyBee
If you want folks like JSTOR to go away: Stop reviewing papers for their
journals.
------
igravious
You can't "return" copied data. How do I return that recent Hollywood
blockbuster I torrented via PirateBay? Should I courier the bits back to them?
I'm sure the MPAA would be just fine and dandy with that. If JSTOR mean that
they were assured that Aaron deleted what he copied, why not say that?
I recognise that it may seem that I'm being overly pedantic but to me it seems
that they are treating information like stuff when information does not act
like stuff at all. I'm not one of these techno-utopian "information wants to
be free" people, but at the same time we can't treat information the same way
we treat stuff.
JSTOR should get that the rules have changed, if Wikipedia can build a
competitor to Britannica then JSTOR can figure out how to provide (relatively)
inexpensive access to the information that they are hoarding. Given that this
is the very information that is meant to help us collectively build a better
world for ourselves this needs to be done asap.
I don't doubt they sincerely regret what has happened - perhaps it will cause
some much-needed introspection.
~~~
anglebracket
He _did_ return the data, in a sense. He gave JSTOR the hard drives containing
the articles he copied and assured them that it was the only copy.
Source: <https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/us/20compute.html?_r=0>
You're right in that return is probably the wrong word though, because it
implies that they were "gone" in the first place.
------
davidgerard
The "creators" did not charge them with this responsibility.
~~~
kenko
Nevertheless, it is true that Jstor got out of the "hassle Aaron Swartz" game
a long time ago, which is why they're able to post a message like this without
it coming off as totally opportunistic. The prosecutors in the case can't
exactly do the same.
~~~
tellarin
Nor MIT.
Which actually surprised me a bit, due to the culture of hacks/pranks that
used to be common over there.
------
DoubleMalt
"Careful stewardship" is the next neighbour to censorship.
------
3327
"since JSTOR’s mission is to foster widespread access to the world’s body of
scholarly knowledge. At the same time, as one of the largest archives of
scholarly literature in the world, we must be careful stewards of the
information entrusted to us by the owners and creators of that content"
...
------
don_draper
>> while balancing the interests of researchers, students, libraries, and
publishers
Almost all of whom got a sizable chuck of their money for doing research from
the taxpayer.
------
irollboozers
This is so woefully inadequate.
------
surendra_sedhai
JSTOR will be remembered in the history!! :(
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Barclays scraps 'Big Brother' staff tracking system within one week - joshuahughes
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51570401
======
Broken_Hippo
So, they basically treated people like low-level employees at a call center in
the US?
This sort of thing isn't actually new. Those cameras in retail stores are,
first and foremost, used to track employee theft - including theft of company
time spent talking to other employees. Are you a call center employee that has
to go poop often that day or are 3 minutes late from break? Expect a call from
HR for the bathroom breaks and an attendance issue for the tardiness.
I'm guessing if this were in the US and put in place for low-level employees,
it would have never been scrapped.
~~~
Loughla
>Those cameras in retail stores are, first and foremost, used to track
employee theft
In my history, before finding my terminal career, I worked retail management.
I worked for a chain that is no longer open, so I'm fairly certain I can say
whatever I want about it now.
I was fast-tracked for upper-level corporate management (I think it was the
combination of not-giving-a-fuck based on depression and low-grade sociopathy
that did that). During this process we were asked to optimize a store in our
region. This optimization process included outlining for store staff the
process to remove "internal shrink" read: employees stealing.
One of my stores had the highest "internal shrink" and "employee arrests" in
the entire chain. My solution was to make a differential pay scale for that
store. I increased all wages across the board by $3/hr up to the store manager
level.
"Shrink" stopped in the first month. Not just "internal shrink" but external
as well. The employees were actually NOT stealing and ACTIVELY stopping people
from stealing.
I was told it wasn't as cost effective as installing cameras in common theft
areas and outsourcing security to a third party, and it was scrapped after a
year.
That was when I decided to leave retail and the corporate world in general.
~~~
sidlls
What was the cost difference? Did the shrink reduction exceed the $3/hr raise
in value but not by enough? Or was the raise not offset at all by the
reduction?
~~~
pietrovismara
In the end who cares, everyone would have been way happier without resorting
to big brothery solutions and solving anyway he problem. But no, we gotta
chase that additional profit at the cost of any other metric!
~~~
megablast
I mean, the business cares how much profits they make. If it was cost
effective, it is easier to justify moving it to other stores.
~~~
pietrovismara
That's my point. Businesses care only about profit, even when its clearly
detrimental to everyone else. There's no consideration for happiness or
quality of life and no ethic if you only chase profit. For how much we've been
pushed to believe this is perfecly normal, to me it's insane.
~~~
sandoooo
You know what would quickly increase happiness and quality of life for a whole
bunch of people? If you would just donate your entire life savings to charity
tomorrow. Your not doing that is clearly detrimental to all those people you
would have helped. Please consider happiness, quality of life, ethics, etc,
and stop chasing profit.
~~~
pietrovismara
Oh please, do a favour to yourself and use your intelligence before engaging
in discussion. I as an individual have barely what I need to survive. My
choice is not between huge profit and slightly less profit, but between paying
the rent or ending on the streets. Businesses on the other hand have proven
again and again that they will do anything to increase the profit even when
already largely profitable.
------
quelltext
> "Managers would never get away with breathing down employee's necks,
> personally monitoring their screens or logging toilet and water breaks,"
They wouldn't? Isn't that reality for a lot of workers?
~~~
uk_programmer
This actually happens a lot in call centres. This is why I am very polite to
those on the phones because I know they are likely to be working in a horrid
office.
~~~
crmrc114
At least in the US I know a number of call centers that have been sued into
bankruptcy for attempting to use phone agent login status as a timeclock. The
worst of these were telling staff that they had to login to their computers
and get everything ready on their own time... then they would be paid once
they logged in... On another note, I feel that such abuses really need to
start to incur jail time for management since abuses like this still seems to
be pretty common in US Call centers.
To be honest (guessing from the 'UK' part of your username) I figured that the
UK would have better call center protections than the US.... from your post it
sounds like it may be just as bad as the US.
~~~
WaitWaitWha
>To be honest (guessing from the 'UK' part of your username) I figured that
the UK would have better call center protections than the US.... from your
post it sounds like it may be just as bad as the US.
Interesting. How will this revelation impact your future comparative thinking?
~~~
wolco
The US often offers more protection compared to most countries.
Many countries copy the US so it's important they act as a leader.
~~~
brokenmachine
You're kidding, right? Worker protections?
------
ropiwqefjnpoa
"The software, Sapience, claims to create "unprecedented transparency" within
companies."
The spin makes me dizzy.
~~~
peteradio
It is transparency, it was always wrong to think that transparency is some
universal good.
~~~
wpietri
Nah. It's only transparent like a one-way mirror is: it lets the powerful
watch the people they can control without being watched in return.
True transparency would make everybody visible to everybody, while making it
just as clear who is monitoring whom. Often the problem isn't information,
it's information asymmetry. In the offline world, we have a whole vocabulary
for peeping toms, nosey parkers, eavesdroppers, busybodies, creepy starers,
and outright stalkers. That's because observation is in itself generally
observable, and can often be countered with social pressure. It's when, as
here, that one group can observe without being observed or criticized, things
can very quickly get ugly.
------
grawprog
This makes me wonder if there's ever been any studies done showing worker
happiness over time at comparable jobs compared against the increasing rise of
workplace surveillance over time. It would be interesting to see if there's
any correlation between the two. I know personally i've always been happier
and more productive at jobs when I don't have employers breathing down my neck
and counting every second of work I do.
Humans need a level of autonomy and a small amount of freedom to 'fuck around'
as it were. Not to the point where productivity starts to fall, but there's a
balance between oppression and total freedom I feel creates the ideal working
environment.
------
mindcrime
It really does boggle the imagination to think that somewhere, out there,
somebody _actually_ thought this system was a good idea in the first place.
~~~
Broken_Hippo
They stole the idea from American call centers. This sounds similar to the
monitoring in place 20 years ago at a telephone company call center I worked
at.
------
indymike
If your employees love their jobs and trust their leaders, they will not
steal, and will not tolerate other workers who do. In order to be trusted as a
leader you must earn the respect of those you lead. Earned respect is hard,
but worth it.
------
geddy
> unprecedented transparency
I think where they can go a step further here is to install Spy cams in all of
the bathroom toilets so we know how much bathroom time is actually spent going
to the bathroom, and how much is spent on cell phones. It may sound invasive
but I'll bet the efficiency will go up and that's all that matters at the end
of the day, right?
Since efficiency can be broken down into money earned/lost, this should
probably start up the top-most level (CEO) since the highest paid positions
would yield the most gain/loss depending on efficiency changes. So once the
CEOs have spy cams installed in all of their toilets, we can really measure
how well efficiency improves!
EDIT:
I'm coming back to this because I don't think this is _quite_ efficient
enough. We should have a team of resident defecation experts who can detect
exactly when the CEO should start the wiping processes, and gradually phase
them out with AI that learns different pooping patterns. It can also give
recommendations to the employee in terms of eating more fiber to speed up the
defecating process and result in more solid stools, thus optimizing all
bathroom time and shortening the amount of wipes required to as little as
possible, again, to save more time and thus, money.
Not only that, but eating more fiber can prevent troubles like constipation as
well as other health issues, saving _even more_ money for the company when it
comes to healthcare.
These are just a few more ideas, but I have plenty more.
EDIT #2:
I feel stupid for not thinking of this earlier, but another good strategy to
prevent time away from the desk would be to simply remove all water and
refrigerators from the building, and naturally all bathrooms would follow
suit. The bathrooms would be replaced with closets filled with amphetamines,
which are huge efficiency boosters, and bananas, so the employees don't die of
hunger. The amphetamines will keep the heart rate so fast the bananas will be
burned off like fuel.
Now, I know what you're thinking, "but what about the pumping rooms for
breastfeeding moms? What happens to those?" It's a great question, with a
simple solution - Barclays doesn't hire parents anymore. This is about
efficiency, remember? Barclays will henceforth only hire asexual and sterile
men and women to nullify any risk of pregnancy.
However, for those parents who need to keep their job, Barclays will also
offer a free service called "reverse adoption" where you bring in your kids
and the company gives them away. This can save dozens of dollars per day from
employees getting distracted by things like "family" and "not working."
Between this, the spy cams in CEO toilets, the defecation expert AI, and
removing the bathrooms, there will be tons of money saved, a portion of which
will go towards financing the amphetamines and bananas. It'll be expensive for
all the drugs but the efficiency will be so high it'll be a drop in the
bucket!
~~~
tonyedgecombe
Pooping during work hours, that's like stealing from your employer. Just hold
it in like those dedicated staff at Amazon.
~~~
rudiv
I seem to remember a social media story about someone who was fired for
posting a meme on their Facebook account that said "Boss makes a dollar, I
make a dime; That's why I poop on company time".
~~~
consp
If my boss was monitoring me like that, out of work time even more, I would
place a GPS tracker on his car as privacy obviously doesn't matter and neither
does personal time.
------
chriscatoya
These sort of systems for desk workers is the equivalent of measuring
productivity by lines of code. Completely misses the point of generating
value.
------
loriverkutya
This reminds me of one of the big telco company I was working for:
Big announcement came one day that youtube and other "non work releated"
websites were blocked to "encourage" people to work "harder". After two days,
blocking is gone without futher announcement since some C-level started to
complain to IT, that they use it.
~~~
PopeDotNinja
I used to work for a company that turned on corporate blocking for a lot of
sites. I learned a lot about DNS to trying to get around all of that stuff :).
The system was also really stupid because it broke DNS for localhost when
using the corporate VPN.
------
Ididntdothis
I am pretty sure this will come back just slightly modified. And other
companies will do the same. It will be really hard to stop the trend toward
total surveillance. It gets cheaper and cheaper every year and more capable.
~~~
Mangalor
What should be the response of workers?
~~~
Ididntdothis
individually it’s very hard to do something. Unions or laws would help setting
up a framework for acceptable workplace conditions. But neither of them are
especially liked in the US.
~~~
jb775
I could see unions making a big comeback in the US. They are still alive and
well in the healthcare world (for nursing at least - my wife is a nurse at a
large hospital in the US and has been a member of multiple nursing unions).
If you compare profit margins to wage increases there's an obvious (and
expected via capitalism) disconnect. It's hard to galvanize this type of
activity though. And new unions would definitely need a constitutional
overhaul, probably based around transparency and making sure power and
decision making is distributed.
------
quadrifoliate
Stuff like this is common in the US. And newspapers are still amazed at why
the socialist candidate is leading in the polls for one of the presidential
election nominations.
Honestly, there is no fix for this sort of thing except through the political
system. Corporations will keep pushing the boundaries on maximizing worker
productivity because their CEOs get massive bonuses for squeezing 1% more work
out of terrified employees like this. Even if the initiatives fail, they can
always blame it on economic factors and get their golden parachute.
~~~
kbutler
With the corporations, you can go elsewhere.
With the socialists, you can't leave.
~~~
quadrifoliate
> With the corporations, you can go elsewhere.
Typical quote from the 60s. This may be the reality for in-demand jobseekers
in the current bubble, but it's typically not an option in the modern labor
force.
~~~
kbutler
Show me the machine guns. It may be difficult to leave - mostly because of
what you give up, and the disruption in your life - but nobody is going to
shoot you if you try.
Socialist regimes larger than a kibbutz have always been established and
maintained by force.
Our current economic system is not perfect, but the results over decades are
infinitely better than other systems - particularly socialism.
[https://fee.org/articles/extreme-poverty-rates-plummet-
under...](https://fee.org/articles/extreme-poverty-rates-plummet-under-
capitalism/) [https://reason.com/2019/01/31/global-poverty-decline-
deniali...](https://reason.com/2019/01/31/global-poverty-decline-denialism/)
Contrast with
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_killings_under_communist_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_killings_under_communist_regimes)
10s to 100s of millions killed under socialist governments, both direct and
also as a result of failures of the central planning. This includes mass
killings in Castro's Cuba, USSR, and Nicaragua, whose governments were each
endorsed in the 80s by Bernie Sanders. Mischaracterizing non-socialist
economies like Denmark is probably a better strategy.
~~~
amanaplanacanal
The thing is: you guys are talking about two different things but using the
same word. One is talking about Scandinavia and one is talking about The Khmer
Rouge.
~~~
kbutler
Well, Bernie was also endorsing Castro's Cuba, the USSR, and the Sandinistas'
Nicaragua.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhpVAkBDg5o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhpVAkBDg5o)
(He visited each of these countries in the mid-to late 80s, when the
atrocities were already well-known).
Not quite the Nordic model.
He praises socialist governments, ignoring their murders and killings of
people trying to escape, and when their economies inevitably tank, he shifts
to different examples (1980s Bernie "Castro...totally transformed society"
visited for the third time in 1989. The "special period" crisis began in 1991
with widespread famine. 2016 "The Cuban economy is a disaster" 2020 "Let's
talk about...Denmark!").
The new strategy of endorsing non-socialist economies (Scandinavian countries
with capitalist free market economies and strong social safety nets) is
probably a better long-term model. Danish Prime Minister: "I would like to
make one thing clear. Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark
is a market economy." [https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/denmark-
tells-...](https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/denmark-tells-bernie-
sanders-to-stop-calling-it-socialist/)
~~~
kbutler
When I wrote this comment, I certainly wasn't expecting Bernie would start a
new round of endorsing Castro as the front-runner for the Democratic Party
nomination.
If you have questions about Castro's contributions, you may consider
[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-
comme...](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-
commentary/no-fidel-castro-did-not-deliver-a-better-cuba/article33071380/)
"Pre-Castro, Cuba was already better off than most Latin American countries on
such indicators. Also, Mr. Castro's rule knocked Cubans to the near-economic
bottom of all Latin American countries"
------
riazrizvi
> Campaign group Privacy International said: "Data protection rules are very
> clear, strict and do not allow employers to carry out such monitoring unless
> they are able to prove that this is strictly necessary and proportionate and
> it does not severely impact employees' rights.
Is this an EU or UK thing? Does anyone know the law implied?
~~~
OJFord
They'll mean the 'Data Protection' Act:
[https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2018/12/contents/enacte...](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2018/12/contents/enacted)
But I'm not familiar to cite a specific section on needing to 'prove that this
is strictly necessary and proportionate'.
See also: [https://www.gov.uk/personal-data-my-employer-can-keep-
about-...](https://www.gov.uk/personal-data-my-employer-can-keep-about-me) \-
the implication might be that the burden is on the employer to prove that it's
_not_ 'sensitive' data _or_ it has permission, and that 'time away from
computer' has implications for health & habits and _is_ therefore 'sensitive'.
------
scotty79
I briefly worked for Barclays as a subcontractor and they would improve their
efficiency much more if they monitored in such detail how slow are the
(virtual?) machines they provision remotely to their contractors and
employees.
------
11thEarlOfMar
What problem are they trying to solve _really_?
Seems to me that their management skills, training, hiring is the issue. If
there is a perception among managers that workers are slacking or over-
working, they should be able to solve the issue without invasive tracking.
Moreover, if they are genuinely interested in improving productivity and
reducing work-related stress, they'd communicate all of that in advance and
resolve employee concerns before installing it.
Sounds like management does not have an open, healthy dialog with employees in
general.
~~~
lainga
Whatever physical or social friction stands in the way between me, an upper-
mid-level manager, getting mad because (?? someone cut me off in traffic?
indigestion?) and being able to express it by summoning a giant fist and
crushing one of my neo-slaves to death with a comical "splat" noise. They're
not genuinely interested in anything that doesn't relate to their own prestige
or comfort or ability to discharge discomfort.
------
wiradikusuma
At work, my staff (20ish developers) usually clock in/out sharp bcoz of
attendance, but they take 2+ hours lunch break and ~1hr for prayer breaks (2x
within work hour), which I don't mind. But what frustrates me is their work is
slow and low quality (not everyone), and I do thought about "short term"
tracking like this. Thoughts?
(I just joined, so I "inherited" this)
~~~
factsaresacred
'2 hours lunch break and 1hr for prayer breaks' and the work is low quality.
You don't need to track those people, you need to replace them.
~~~
speedgoose
A 2 hours lunch break is the standard in France.
~~~
fennecfoxen
"You can't fire these people" is also the standard in France.
Also standard: a stagnant economy (~0.25% GDP growth on 0.18% population
growth) and sky-high youth unemployment (20-25%).
~~~
speedgoose
You can definitely fire people in France. I don't know how you got the idea
you can't.
Also quality of life is perhaps more important than these numbers. People
don't care about the GDP growth, don't want to have artifical employment with
terrible and badly paid jobs (looking at you Germany), and prefer to eat good
food for 2 hours.
~~~
refurb
_People don 't care about the GDP growth_
They most certainly do when thinking about about the social programs GDP
funds.
------
abhijat
Does anyone here know if HSBC is still using this sapience software? I know
they bought into this a couple of years ago.
------
m463
"Barclays said axing the tracking system was a response to "colleague
feedback", but would not say if it was permanent."
Quietly put it in when the controversy has died down, and disable these
notifications:
"and sent warnings to those spending too long on breaks."
------
awinder
I’m amazed that someone would think that the investment banking division would
be an appropriate trial. I don’t know about long breaks but that seems like a
crew that definitely puts in over 8 hours a day.
------
freepor
Employee panopticons only work if you want your employees to perform a
precisely defined task with no improvisation. As soon as you watch someone
their creativity drops to ~0.
------
jamestanderson
> In a statement, the bank said: "We always intended to listen to colleague
> feedback as part of this limited pilot which was intended to tackle issues
> such as individual over-working as well as raise general productivity."
Riiiight.
~~~
GordonS
If they intended to listen, or indeed cared an iota about their employees,
they wouldn't have rolled this out in the first place. This level of intrusive
monitoring would very clearly be hated by those it monitored, and make then
feel very uncomfortable.
Seriously, in this day and age, how on _earth_ did this get enough support at
the management level to pilot it?
~~~
nonbirithm
> Seriously, in this day and age, how on earth did this get enough support at
> the management level to pilot it?
They valued maximizing the amount of profit one worker produces over privacy.
~~~
GordonS
I rather doubt that miserable, downtrodden employees are more productive than
happy, motivated ones are.
~~~
banannaise
They don't teach that in MBA classes. They just teach that employees who
aren't at their desks aren't being productive right now.
------
NullPrefix
Systems like that are actually great for the employees, because every minute
is accounted for and when you stay an hour longer at work you can expect to be
paid for it at overtime rate.
~~~
Loughla
Not when everyone is classed as Exempt staff and therefore ineligible for
Overtime.
~~~
Mountain_Skies
It's weird that exempt employees can be required to clock in and out. My
current employer does this but claims it for tracking capital vs operational
expenses and has nothing to do with productivity or policy enforcement. I'm
rather skeptical. One thing is for sure, the definition of what constitutes an
exempt employee has expanded far beyond its original intent.
~~~
jandrese
I'm exempt and have to do a timecard because of how we bill projects
internally.
~~~
scottmcf
Very common if you're handling government contracts/etc. too. Often a
requirement.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Category Theory and Declarative Programming - CarolineW
http://bartoszmilewski.com/2015/04/15/category-theory-and-declarative-programming/
======
mark_l_watson
Great writing!
The author should consider making that online book into a leanpub book - it
would be nice to get it in ePub or Kindle format.
~~~
gh02t
I've been following this book since Dr. Milewski started writing it. His
presentation really hits a chord with me and it's taught me a ton. I hope he
is planning on at least compiling it into an ebook, but I'm holding out hoping
for an ink-and-paper bound volume too. I feel like the pictures that accompany
all the chapters would look especially impressive in print and I'd love to
have a physical copy to pore over.
------
dkarapetyan
I'm not convinced. Nowhere is the categorical view more visible than in
Haskell and yet some of their most advanced libraries are designed for
providing OOP constructs, e.g. lenses. Another thing is The dreaded monad.
Even though it provides denotational semantics in the categorical setting for
various side-effecting constructs the thing is inherently non-compositional.
Like all things in programming the truth is a little more subtle than just
saying category theory is the right approach for structuring programs. I'm
with Felleisen and Sussman when it comes to these things: Types are stupid and
most of these things are useless when it comes to reasoning about large and
complex dynamic systems.
~~~
d4rkph1b3r
>Even though it provides denotational semantics in the categorical setting for
various side-effecting constructs the thing is inherently non-compositional.
You don't know what this means. Monads are precisely about composition.
~~~
rntz
Monads themselves don't compose nicely. There's no guarantee that the
composition of two monads is itself a monad, for example. That's why Haskell
has monad transformers. But monad transformers are quite hard to reason about
(they're not even commutative).
It's true that in a certain sense monads are "about composition", but that
doesn't mean they aren't without issues, and I certainly think it's
appropriate to call monads non-declarative. In fact, I think "being in a
monad" is more or less the essence of what it is to be imperative - which is
why they're useful! Quite often we _want_ to be imperative.
The word "compositional" is quite vague. I wish people would stop tossing it
around so lightly without explaining what they meant by it.
~~~
smadge
To add on:
For example, monads don't "compose" as nicely as applicatives. You can
automatically compose two applicatives and have a guarantee the the result
obeys the applicative laws. Like you say, for monads you would have to write
your own monad transformer, and hopefully verify it is still a law abiding
monad. You don't have to write a transformer for applicatives.
~~~
willtim
Monad transformers are not the only way of combining effects.
~~~
smadge
Can you elaborate? I don't follow the subject very closely anymore.
~~~
willtim
Here's one proposal for an alternative to monad transformers for Haskell:
[http://okmij.org/ftp/Haskell/extensible/](http://okmij.org/ftp/Haskell/extensible/)
------
mcguire
There's another version of this duality: small step versus big step
operational semantics.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Properly setting up Redis and Sidekiq in production on Ubuntu 16.04 - thomasrw
https://thomasroest.com/2017/03/04/properly-setting-up-redis-and-sidekiq-in-production-ubuntu-16-04.html
======
mperham
I disagree with the redis quickstart guide - making the user download a
tarball, compile source and install systemd service scripts is ridiculous. As
long as the Redis version is somewhat recent, they should install straight
from the distro. That should replace your first two sections with `apt-get
install redis-server`.
~~~
JdeBP
The problem for many third party softwares that motivates them to bypass the
package management is that the lag time for Debian and Ubuntu LTS releases is
huge. People going the apt route are going to be stuck with redis 3.0.6 from
2015 for years.
* [http://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial/redis-server](http://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial/redis-server)
Some softwares, such as MySQL Community Edition, come with third-party-made
packages, and the instructions are "Add us to your package manager's list of
repositories; and pull Debian/Ubuntu packges from us.". The downsides of this
are:
... for the system administrator, the necessity of a degree of trust that the
third-party package repository will not sneak in bad versions of other
packages. Package managers are not good at allowing system administrators to
control and to limit what systems will pull from individual repositories.
... for the third party developers, the need to know how to build
Debian/Ubuntu packages, and to keep up to date with all of the integration
work that the Debian/Ubuntu maintainers would be doing for them, including all
of the Debian/Ubuntu patches.
* [https://sources.debian.net/src/redis/2:3.0.6-1/debian/patche...](https://sources.debian.net/src/redis/2:3.0.6-1/debian/patches/)
This highlights a problem with the quickstart guide that you got wrong. It
does not make the user install systemd service scripts. It makes the user
install _van Smoorenburg rc scripts_ , complete with PID file nonsense, run
levels, hand-rolled log management, and a lack of correct (or indeed any) LSB
headers. This is two init systems behind the times for Ubuntu, which was
upstart before it was systemd, and which hasn't been van Smoorenburg rc for
over a decade now.
Ironically, the systemd service units are some of the very things that are
added on by the Debian/Ubuntu maintainers that one loses by not going the
Debian/Ubuntu packaging route:
* [https://sources.debian.net/src/redis/2:3.0.6-1/debian/redis-...](https://sources.debian.net/src/redis/2:3.0.6-1/debian/redis-server.service/)
* [https://sources.debian.net/src/redis/2:3.0.6-1/debian/redis-...](https://sources.debian.net/src/redis/2:3.0.6-1/debian/redis-sentinel.service/)
Adding systemd service units to redis proper, in contrast, has been stalled
for a while now:
* [https://github.com/antirez/redis/pull/2004](https://github.com/antirez/redis/pull/2004)
* [https://github.com/antirez/redis/issues/3251](https://github.com/antirez/redis/issues/3251)
~~~
mperham
Yikes, that's even worse. init.d is a tire fire.
As someone who maintains software that uses Redis heavily, I view 3.0 as
somewhat recent and very usable for most. There hasn't been significant
functional changes in Redis since 2.8 (the SCAN commands). Nothing significant
in 3.0; the GEO* commands are the major feature in 3.2.
I still have plenty of customers on Redis 2.8.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
2015 is going to be the year of Go - jdkanani
http://dave.cheney.net/2015/03/28/2015-is-going-to-be-the-year-of-go
======
zerr
Sure, if generics and error handling mechanisms will be added to it.
Guys (Go team), please convince Gilad Bracha to spend at least one day with
you...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What modern technology would be most revolutionary to ancient Greeks? - jmstfv
http://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/47694/what-modern-technology-would-be-most-revolutionary-to-ancient-greeks
======
jamam
Becomes scary if you think about it: Can we reproduce fraction of the stuff
that we take for granted today?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to get a merchant account - a series of hoops - swombat
http://danieltenner.com/posts/0006-how-to-get-a-merchant-account.html
======
asmithmd1
I just recently had very good luck with <http://paysimple.com/> They acted as
the "friend" wheb applying to the bank who has been there and done it before.
They took a look at my website before submitting it and warned me that banks
would not go for an annual subscription - keep it monthly among a couple other
pitfalls.
------
lsb
That was pretty interesting, but left me wondering, if you're selling web
services, why would one get a merchant account, versus signing up with Amazon
Simple Pay or Google Checkout or Paypal? It seems like there, all you need is
a bank account to dump funds into, and a little button on your site to send
people to give their CC details to A/G/P.
I haven't processed CCs before, but I'd love to hear people's stories about
it.
~~~
vaksel
Paypal, Google Checkout, ASP aren't really professional enough. You can offer
them as options, but you need to have a legit merchant service to gain user
confidence.
~~~
jhancock
I would like to hear more on this. Amazon and PayPal have similar published
fee structures for low volume accounts. Over half the things I buy online use
one of the big 3 or 4 "gateways". My feeling is that by buying through them I
am getting more protection. I certainly like the fact that my credit card info
isn't sitting around on many small mom and pop biz mysql DBs.
Are there any metrics showing my intuition is not correct?
~~~
simonk
That's what the article is saying if your storing it on "small mom and pop biz
mysql DBs" they won't let you get a account.
You may buy through Paypal; but, most buyers don't.
~~~
jhancock
That's what I'd like most substance on: most buyers don't like PayPal. This is
counterintuitive to me as PayPal, et al. is adding an extra layer of assurance
to the buyer on top of their credit card.
I am very interested in any metrics that show using a well known branding like
PayPal, Amazon, Google, etc.. gets less transactions than having your own
Vias/MC gateway.
------
maccman
I've been trying to obtain a merchant account for a US business I've started.
Problem is, I'm a UK citizen, not a US one. Although I've got a US company and
bank account, I've found every merchant requires a Social Security number
(because of the Patriot act). I'm wondering what to do next - and whether I
have to set up a UK company just to do the payment processing!
~~~
dhyasama
A federal tax id can usually be used in place of SSN.
~~~
aristus
The banks I've talked with want the SSN of someone who can qualify for a
revolving line of credit equal to your transaction volume. ie, you want to do
30K of money per month, you have to be wealthy enough to swing a $30,000
unsecured bank loan. The "reserve balance" thing is no longer being offered.
~~~
maccman
The standard is to require a signature (or two) of a guarantor. I don't think
they actually check the guarantor's bank account or credit limit though. That
said I've only gone to dedicated merchants, and not banks.
------
sachinag
We got our merchant account from Chase Paymentech, and I wish we'd have just
gotten it through PayPal directly. It's a two-step process. First, sign up for
Website Payments Pro: [https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_wp-pro-
overvie...](https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_wp-pro-overview-
outside) That comes with something that looks like an internet merchant
account. Then sign up for Payflow Pro (the former VeriSign gateway):
[https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_payflow-pro-
ov...](https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_payflow-pro-overview-
outside)
Here's their FAQ on the matter: [https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-
bin/webscr?cmd=_payflow-pro-fa...](https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-
bin/webscr?cmd=_payflow-pro-faq-outside#Does_Payflow_Pro)
PayPal won't support you against chargebacks, and they cost more, but if you
want to get set up without the headaches of applying to a bank, they're a
great option.
------
zaidf
In past I've applied for merchant account through a middle party(there are
tonnes across the web) that deals with the bank and authorize.net. It hasn't
been a problem.
I wonder what the process is like if you directly go through a bank.
~~~
dhyasama
I work at a payment processor (PowerPay) and we typically approve or deny
applications within a day as long as we have all the required information.
~~~
zmonteca
That's great to know!
------
mcav
If you _don't_ store CC numbers -- i.e. you use your gateway to store that
information -- does it make the merchant account application process any
easier?
~~~
swombat
Both yes and no.
In my experience, the bank _will_ trust you if you say that you've implemented
a secure, PCI-DSS way to store credit card details. They'll also trust you if
you say that you store the numbers on the gateway.
The important thing is to convey that you're aware of the issues, and you've
dealt with them.
There is a liability issue with storing card numbers on your own servers,
which, iirc, is that if you are breached, the numbers are stolen, and you are
subsequently investigated and found not to be in compliance with PCI-DSS, you
could lose your merchant account.
~~~
gommm
..additionally to losing your merchant account, you may also pay heavy fine to
visa and mastercard from what I've read
I've been looking at those things lately since I'm working on an ecommerce
platform and it will be my server dealing with the my customers (who sell on
my platform)' gateway... It's rather complicated..
------
aneesh
What's the best way if you're a non-profit? Are there any banks or credit card
processors who would waive fees for non-profits?
------
bravura
If I am interested taking pre-orders on selling an item, but don't want to go
through the hoops of a merchant account, what is the other options for
accepting payment?
~~~
aneesh
PayPal, Amazon's payments API, or Google Checkout. And possibly others I don't
know about.
------
ErrantX
Great post! I specifically like how it is written non-regionalised :) so the
advice applies pretty much anywhere.
+1
------
gommm
"Do you pay commissions to affiliates? You’re automatically a higher fraud
risk." Why is that? I can understand the reason for the other fraud risks but
I don't see why paying commissions to affiliates is a fraud risk....
~~~
swombat
Because then there is an obvious way to make "clean" money out of stolen
credit card numbers via your service.
This is not an insurmountable problem, but it does mark you as a likely target
for all sorts of internet fraudsters that would otherwise not be bothered
about yet another project management application.
~~~
swlevy
Even with your own merchant account, I would strongly advise against trying to
run your own affiliate program (I've tried). There are just a host of legal
and tax issues that will consume your time. Many of the largest sites (among
them Netflix) still outsource their affiliate programs.
~~~
gommm
What company do you recommend for outsourcing my affiliate program?
------
tlrobinson
Also: [http://stakeventures.com/articles/2009/03/24/how-do-go-
about...](http://stakeventures.com/articles/2009/03/24/how-do-go-about-
getting-a-credit-card-processor)
------
datums
I use cdgcommerce.com. I've tried a few different providers and they have been
very helpful in answering my questions and you have the option of using their
gateway or authorize.net
------
arjungmenon
I think at least for the initial startup period it would be a good idea to
rely on Paypal or some similar service. The hassle of getting a merchant
account might in some cases eat up too much of the founder(s)' precious time.
Some successful retailers (like this indie game one:
<http://2dboy.com/games.php>) continue rely on Paypal though they have a large
user base. I think the best time to get a merchant account would be once the
sales start rising above something like 10K/month or so. In that way, you'll
(hopefully) have an account before your sales (again hopefully) hits 100K or
so.
------
zmonteca
In terms of merchants, who can you say has been the best and easiest to do
deal with?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
On the Need for a Business Language - johnm
http://blog.vagmim.com/2008/04/need-for-business-language.html
======
tom_rath
Awesome idea! We can call it the Common Business-Oriented Language
Oh, wait...
------
donw
Is it possible that the need for a language tailored 'business logic' stems
from the simple fact that actual logic is at no point whatsoever involved?
~~~
johnm
That's why there will never be just one. :-)
------
suboptimal
Surely someone can cobble such a language together.
~~~
johnm
Personally, I don't think that there's a one-size-fits-all language for
"business". The needs and quirks are too diverse.
I do think that domain specific languages (to use the term du jour) that are
focused on the actual needs and quirks of a business built on top of good
fundamentals is a solution.
The argument about whether or not the DSLs need to be embedded (ala macros) or
external is a separate argument.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
7 Marketing Lessons Learned From Acquiring StrideApp - dylanlacom
http://www.quicksprout.com/2014/07/14/7-marketing-lessons-learned-from-acquiring-a-startup/
======
EveretteTaylor
"Perfect is overrated" \- so true.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What are the effects of a Trump presidency on Tech immigration? (H1-B) - jensvdh
As someone finishing grad school here. How does this impact my odds?
======
MichaelBurge
It's probably helpful. Trump has mentioned speeding up the Visa process, since
people were waiting years to get in.
It doesn't sound like you were planning to hop the border illegally, so his
campaign platform shouldn't affect you. I did find this statement in the news,
so HN commenters will probably not be affected:
"I'm changing. I'm changing. We need highly-skilled people in this country. If
we can't do it, we will get them in. And we do need in Silicon Valley, we
absolutely have to have. So we do need highly-skilled," Trump said.
~~~
jensvdh
Interesting. This makes me feel more at ease. Definitely doing it the legal
way (Am a European immigrant).
------
fredophile
If by here you mean the US then you should be okay. People with graduate
degrees from US schools get a different quota than everyone else. If Trump
does follow through on his threats to leave NAFTA that would put an end to TN
visas so there may be increased competition for H1Bs.
------
pravula
Numerical limits are set by Congress. If (and that's a big if) limits are
raised, he might not veto them. Other than that, nothing.
~~~
jensvdh
So you're saying not much is going to change?
~~~
pravula
Yes. He might push GC rules to skill based, rather than country based quota.
------
pcunite
It might make it more streamlined and easier to know where you are in the
process. He's seems a very binary kinda of guy.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Watch Mac OS X Leopard running on 2020 iPad Pro - ig0r0
https://www.cultofmac.com/701879/watch-mac-os-x-leopard-running-on-2020-ipad-pro/
======
mastrsushi
Please retitle this, it's an emulation.
I'll admit with the overhead of a VM, a snappy response is in some ways more
impressive than native.
But a lot of people scroll past headline titles without reading. Some of them
will think x86 Leopard is magically running on an iPad.
------
Wowfunhappy
> Everything works shockingly well, including the built-in apps and Microsoft
> Office.
Eh. It works impressively well for an emulator, but it didn't look great. It
looks like there's no graphics acceleration, which makes OS X quite unpleasant
to use.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Career advice for someone attending a coding bootcamp - biznerd
I graduate in about a month. It's been intense, a ton of fun too.<p>I don't know how "good" I am. There seems to be a lot of people smarter than me. Completing assignments faster than me. Particularly with OOP. OTOH I am average or faster speed with other aspects.<p>I'm hoping this probably doesn't mean a lot, especially since we're all new coders. But this has really gotten to me. I've had a job before (non-tech) where I was deemed incompetent and let go, so I want to try to engineer a smooth transition to the working world as soon as possible.<p>The bootcamp teaches Rails and javascript. I'm wondering - would a job in drupal have an easier learning curve? How would it be different? Obviously I'd have to self learn but it seems like a solid career path too.
======
smt88
Assorted thoughts, in no particular order:
1\. The speed at which you initially write your code doesn't matter that much.
The time cost of a program plays out over months or, if you're lucky, years.
Oftentimes, being thoughtful when writing a program at the beginning will lead
to massive time savings later on.
2\. If you're honest about your skill level and work for a well-run company,
you won't be considered incompetent again. You're going to have to do a lot of
extracurricular work, though. You should be upfront with prospective employers
that, while you may have gaps in your knowledge, you're happy to do homework.
3\. Drupal is pretty complicated. If you want to find a niche, you're better
off with WordPress, which will be slightly simpler and provide better job
opportunities.
4\. If you can't find a job coding, you may want to look into doing QA or
project management. Having the boot camp under your belt might make you more
attractive in one of those areas, and then you can work on your coding skills
in your free time and hopefully transition to coding.
5\. People are going to hate me for saying this, but go learn Java (start with
a Spring project). It's a pretty easy language to learn, and there are tons of
Java jobs. PHP and Node are also good things to learn. Ruby (with or without
Rails) is an absolutely tiny job market by comparison.
6\. If you have any interest in frontend stuff at all, go learn React. I'm not
going to comment on whether it's a good library or not, but it's popular and
fairly easy to learn, and it works in the browser as well as mobile devices.
------
percept
"Perhaps I could best describe my experience of doing mathematics in terms of
entering a dark mansion. One goes into the first room, and it's dark,
completely dark. One stumbles around bumping into the furniture, and
gradually, you learn where each piece of furniture is, and finally, after six
months or so, you find the light switch. You turn it on, and suddenly, it's
all illuminated. You can see exactly where you were."
\- Andrew Wiles ([https://vimeo.com/18216532](https://vimeo.com/18216532))
If you're having problems with specific concepts, I recommend focusing on
those through practice, and getting help as appropriate through the RoR
mailing list, Stack Overflow, IRC, a local Ruby User and/or Meetup.com group,
etc.
Almost any topic you can think of has been blogged about in RubyLand, and even
ten-year-old posts (particularly about more general concepts like OOP) can be
helpful and relevant.
Practice, practice: fire up irb or pry or write simple scripts and try
different things. What happens if I do this, or change this to that? Call
`.methods.sort` and see what behavior each object exposes.
Keep trying stuff, because that's essentially the job: messing around with
computers all day.
Good luck.
------
lollipop25
> I don't know how "good" I am. There seems to be a lot of people smarter than
> me.
Everybody is a Genius. But If You Judge a Fish by Its Ability to Climb a Tree, It Will Live Its Whole Life Believing that It is Stupid
- Einstein
In short, don't measure your skill by comparing it against others. You're an
apple, that other guy's an orange. We're all different.
> Completing assignments faster than me.
They're either really ahead of you, or they just ask on StackOverflow faster
(probably the latter, definitely the latter). Besides, if they were really
good, why go to a bootcamp? That doesn't make sense. :P
While coding speed is good, in real life, it doesn't matter. There are other
things that matter besides speed, like code quality, maintainability,
architecture. In real work, management takes care of you in terms of time.
You'll always be given a reasonable amount of time to finish things.
> I was deemed incompetent and let go
Past is past. Let go and move on. Past mistakes, present experience.
> The bootcamp teaches Rails and javascript. I'm wondering - would a job in
> drupal have an easier learning curve? How would it be different?
I can say working with Drupal is pretty nice. Most of your time, you'll be
site-building - configuring sites via an admin panel, looking for modules that
satisfy some requirement, download themes, maybe tweak some CSS. The only time
you get to write code is when you need to tweak something not built-in, or
when you need to alter default behavior. For the most part, it's in PHP which
shouldn't be that far from JS in terms of syntax and quirks. jQuery is built-
in to Drupal, so as long as you know jQuery, you're safe.
If you have a Drupal job offer, by all means go for it. You'll have to grind
gears at first, Drupal's documentation is terrible (I'll give it some slack,
_terribly organized_ ) and the forums replies gap months (but hey, it's open
source. everyone's a volunteer). But once you get the hang of it, you'll never
leave it.
------
crypticlizard
By all means switch to drupal, if you think that will better reimburse you for
attending the tech camp.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The best web browsers of 2016 - tomjacu48
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2365692,00.asp
======
just_observing
To save you the trip:
Mozilla Firefox Editors' Choice
Firefox can't be beat when it comes to customizability and features. It's also
fast, secure, and protects your privacy. It's our Editors' Choice for Web
browsers.
Google Chrome
Google's Chrome browser is speedy, includes leading standards support, strong
security features, and a clean interface, but it's no longer the fastest
browser and it lacks some features found in the competition.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google mobile search getting faster - briangonzalez
https://plus.google.com/app/basic/stream/z12isbkr2l2hdjjr504chrfidpb4s1vglfg
======
millstone
Why is this mobile-specific? It seems like desktops too could benefit from not
having to be redirected through Google.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Marijuana Cuts Lung Cancer Tumor Growth In Half, Study Shows - echair
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070417193338.htm
======
bprater
Wow, marijuana news is hitting a feverish pitch lately, especially with that
most-winning "Olympian pothead" making news.
I am glad to see studies like this being performed. If you are a pot smoker,
keep in mind that taking smoke in your body in any form is unhealthy.
I suspect that eventually one state (Nevada?) will attempt to legalize it and
the house of cards will begin to fall in the US. Until then, big business
(pharma?) who controls Congress isn't going to let it happen without a fight.
~~~
unalone
It's much healthier for you vaporized, or so I've read. Less lung damage,
anyway.
~~~
kragen
That would seem logical but I don't think large-scale studies have been done.
Large-scale studies on smokers _have_ been done and did not find an increased
lung cancer risk.
------
jfornear
Study: Marijuana May Raise Testicular Cancer Risk
<http://www.javno.com/en/lifestyle/clanak.php?id=232267>
------
jballanc
1\. Old (2007) 2\. Not the original source. I would be in favor of an informal
community contract here on HN, that any link to an article which starts off
with "Researchers have shown" or "A new study was published", that we must
include the original research paper in a link in the first comment. Here, I'll
help out this time (it only took me ~5 min):
<http://www.nature.com/onc/journal/v27/n3/abs/1210641a.html>
3\. Not horribly interesting. Know what else will shrink a tumor? Cyanide! If
anything, this link is a good example of what has been happening with science
reporting recently. Publications, especially those dependent on a page-view
model for revenue generation, have been increasingly sensationalizing science.
This is irresponsible.
------
CalmQuiet
I've watched this thread with puzzlement because it was almost immediately a
dead link. ...and I couldn't readily find it at sciencedaily.com Now that it's
a Phoenix from its ashes I understand its death: the article is from April
2007.
Unfortunately, mj research seems to produce "discussions" that combine the
fervor of religious + political topics. The cited study is just one more study
in the mj research legacy that shows _lots_ of possible damages and _several_
possible benefits of cannabis depending on the application and the population
concerned. Recommendation: cool heads, please (not for the pun).
------
giles_bowkett
this belongs on Reddit, not Hacker News.
hate to say I told you so. :-p
~~~
pg
If you think that, just flag it.
~~~
biohacker42
What should I do with this: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=472410>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
GoldenOrb: Open-source version of Google's Pregel released by Apache Hadoop - espeed
http://www.goldenorbos.org
======
espeed
This was just open sourced today. The code is here:
<https://github.com/raveldata/goldenorb>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Bill Gates on the Difference Between Elon Musk and Steve Jobs - rmason
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/18/bill-gates-difference-between-elon-musk-and-steve-jobs-as-leaders.html#:~:text=Bill%20Gates%20on%20the%20difference%20between%20Elon%20Musk%20and%20Steve%20Jobs,-Published%20Fri%2C%20Sep&text=Steve%20was%20a%20genius%20at,and%20his%20hands%20on%20approach.
======
MichaelZuo
“If you know people personally, that kind of gross oversimplification seems
strange,”
Gates is right on. These comparisons are more entertainment than anything,
like celebrity fantasy scorekeeping, most of the nuance and qualitative
differences are either papered over or exaggerated. Red team vs. blue team,
etc.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
India, U.S. Agree to Joint Exploration of Mars - ForHackernews
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014/10/01/india-u-s-to-agree-to-joint-exploration-of-mars
======
Naritai
While I'm a big supporter of international co-operation, remember that the US
has been striking a number of technical deals with India, as a part of a long-
term political investment in bringing up a large democratic power to balance
China. I think this has as much to do with that goal as it does with sharing
technical information.
~~~
sillysaurus3
I have a dumb question. What's a large democratic power, and how does it
differ from China? I'm not implying China is in any way democratic, but rather
inviting someone to further explain what the goal of the US is.
Is it likely that this is simply empire expansion rather than an altruistic
goal of balancing China? Mainly I'm just wondering what the concerns might be
if a large democratic power (and I'd still like to know what exactly that is,
and how it differs from other modern powers) isn't brought up in the region.
Forgive my ignorance. I probably should have taught myself these things long
ago rather than invested all of my time in programming and other pursuits.
Also, just to clarify, I am aware of the textbook definition of "democracy,"
"republic," etc, but it seems like those names are more of a flag for people
to fight under than a definition for a state of being in the modern era. So
I'm quite curious to understand the issues at play here.
~~~
andrewljohnson
_I am aware of the textbook definition of "democracy," "republic," etc, but it
seems like those names are more of a flag for people to fight under than a
definition for a state of being in the modern era_
You seem to be assigning moral equivalence to democracy and Chinese
communism/totalitarianism.
If you aren't just trolling, then differences include the right to travel, the
right to free speech, the right to read the internet uncensored, and the right
to vote.
~~~
sillysaurus3
More like there are a billion of them, and I'm sure they see us as morally
inferior, just as you see them. I'm here to understand the issues and make my
own decision.
Haven't you ever wondered about something that you knew nothing about? How
would you learn about it other than reading and asking questions? I have no
idea how you concluded that I might be trolling, especially after I both
admitted ignorance and asked to be cut a break for it.
Regarding your list:
\- Right to travel: There are many people from China living in the US. Do you
have more info about this point? I don't understand how their right to travel
is restricted.
\- Right to free speech: If you were to try to start a new news organization
to compete with CBS/Fox/etc, the organization wouldn't get very far unless it
had a clear political agenda and was funded by supporters of that agenda. I'm
interested to hear about what it's like in China in comparison to the US.
\- Right to read the internet uncensored: There's no debate on this point.
\- Right to vote: Candidates seem to be elected based on how well-funded they
are. Or rather, no one votes for an underfunded candidate, so these are
equivalent. Again, I am interested to hear about China's system, and why it's
morally inferior in comparison to this.
Thanks for your time. I realize I probably sound pretty dumb here, but I'm
here to learn, not to defend my position. In fact, I have no position. Only
questions.
~~~
ryanhuff
Nobody claimed that the Chinese people are morally inferior.
Your example of comparing the challenges of starting a news organization to
compete with the likes of Fox News to that of the censorship that has been
going on in China for years seems to a stretch, to say the least. Same goes
for your "right to vote" comparison.
I recommend you visit Amazon and pick up a couple of books on China if you are
interested in getting up to speed on what is going on. Also, check out the
events that have been going on in Hong Kong.
~~~
sillysaurus3
Do you have any recommendations in particular about which books I should read?
Thanks!
------
suprgeek
Exciting news but is it an unqualified positive for both? Sometimes
Constraints are what drives breakthrough innovations.
India's ability to Manage Significant space exploration programmes on a Shoe
string budget is driven in part by the need to innovate on a "ShoeString"
budget. What we as a race desperately need is low cost access to Space - which
perhaps may not become such a priority if NASA is allowed to influence ISRO.
On the other hand maybe ISRO will influence NASA & wewill get the best of both
- super low cost missions with super advanced payloads :)
~~~
cjensen
NASA had a "go cheap" program to try crazy stuff on a shoestring that just
might work. There were good results like Pathfinder ($150M) which tried the
crazy idea of landing using an airbag.
The problem is that the Powers That Be were not understanding about the
failures inherent in trying crazy ideas out. So we went back to expensive
spacecraft which were less likely to fail.
~~~
Ankaios
NASA has opportunities like the Small Explorers (SMEX,
[http://explorers.larc.nasa.gov/APSMEX/](http://explorers.larc.nasa.gov/APSMEX/)),
Discovery
([http://discovery.nasa.gov/p_mission.cfml](http://discovery.nasa.gov/p_mission.cfml)),
and New Frontiers
([http://discoverynewfrontiers.nasa.gov/program/index.cfml](http://discoverynewfrontiers.nasa.gov/program/index.cfml))
into which you can propose to conduct missions of different size/cost classes.
If you have low-cost mission concepts for achieving important scientific
objectives, _please propose them_.
------
peeters
This is exciting but makes me nervous. India is re-imagining "space travel on
a budget", but if all of a sudden they have to play by NASA's rules and
standards, their ability to innovate at low cost might be hampered.
Hopefully whatever form of cooperation they come up with lets India continue
to operate mostly independently.
~~~
shas3
You are implicitly assuming somehow they don't currently 'play by NASA rules
(and NASA-level) standards.' Any evidence that this is so?
~~~
peeters
I'm not disparaging the quality of India's space program. I'm more saying that
once you bring NASA into the picture there's the potential of inheriting 70
years worth of engineering requirements and process which could be detrimental
to a fledgling space program.
Edit: And you added the "NASA-level" which put words in my mouth that I did
not say nor mean. I meant what I said: "NASA's standards"; standards that NASA
has developed for their programs and contractors, which may or may not be
beneficial for India's space program.
~~~
swatkat
_> >>> I'm more saying that once you bring NASA into the picture there's the
potential of inheriting 70 years worth of engineering requirements and process
which could be detrimental to a fledgling space program._
Indian space program was started in 1962[1][2]; and over a period of time ISRO
has pretty much mastered technologies related to launch vehicles, satellites,
science missions etc. This new joint working agreement pertains to following
areas:
1) Mars exploration:
_" The joint Mars Working Group will seek to identify and implement
scientific, programmatic and technological goals that NASA and ISRO have in
common regarding Mars exploration. The group will meet once a year to plan
cooperative activities, including potential NASA-ISRO cooperation on future
missions to Mars."
"One of the working group’s objectives will be to explore potential
coordinated observations and science analysis between MAVEN and MOM, as well
as other current and future Mars missions."_
2) Earth observation:
_" The joint NISAR Earth-observing mission will make global measurements of
the causes and consequences of land surface changes."
"NISAR will be the first satellite mission to use two different radar
frequencies (L-band and S-band) to measure changes in our planet’s surface
less than a centimeter across."_
Moreover, ISRO and NASA have worked together earlier as well. Few examples:
ISRO's Chandrayaan-1 Moon mission carried NASA's scientific payloads[3]; NASA,
NOAA and ISRO share ISRO's Oceansat2's oceanographic data[4]. So, I don't
think this new agreement would be detrimental to ISRO's operations :)
[1][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_National_Committee_for_S...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_National_Committee_for_Space_Research)
[2][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Space_Research_Organisat...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Space_Research_Organisation)
[3][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan-1#Instruments_from_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan-1#Instruments_from_other_countries)
[4][http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/209482.pdf](http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/209482.pdf)
------
swatkat
Official press release: [http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/september/us-india-to-
collabo...](http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/september/us-india-to-collaborate-
on-mars-exploration-earth-observing-mission/)
And, NISAR Earth observation mission looks very exciting as well:
[http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=32478.msg12...](http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=32478.msg1237077#msg1237077)
~~~
mturmon
NISAR is a very interesting mission from a technological point of view. It
will have two radars, at least one of which gives 10m resolution, and they
will be obtaining global coverage. The data rate is huge, larger than any
Earth remote sensing mission to date (many TB/day).
Earth scientists are already having problems dealing with contemporary data
volumes, and NISAR really raises the stakes.
------
wilsonfiifi
I was really hoping India's Mars probe would mean that the public in general
would finally have a new independent source of information and data.
However this is great news and I'm sure the joint effort will speed up the
tough task of uncovering the planet's secrets.
------
krylon
I've been hoping for a while for more international cooperation on space
exploration. Going to space is not cheap, and if several countries pool their
resources, under _ideal_ circumstances the result should be more science for
everyone.
But politics has kind of prevented that. For governments, space exploration
seems to be more about showing off than about advancing science.
I hope that in the future, different countries cooperating on missions will
become the norm rather than the exception. I know I'm being somewhat
optimistic, but this article shows I am not being completely naive. Nice.
~~~
chelch
I'm pretty sure there is a significant amount of cooperation when it comes to
space exploration. Space missions often carry instruments from different
countries. For example, the lunar probe that discovered water on the moon,
Chandrayaan-1, carried instruments from different countries. Curiosity carried
instruments from other countries too, if I'm not mistaken.
It's just that you don't read much about this in the newspapers, because
newspapers would rather make it look like there's a space race going on.
------
WWKong
Just a friendly reminder that India follows metric system.
------
thearn4
I would consider technical collaboration in this space (pardon the pun) to
generally be a great thing. Missions to Mars have historically been very
difficult:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missions_to_Mars](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missions_to_Mars)
Hopefully, this kind of partnership doesn't get weighed down too heavily by
the intricacies of international politics.
------
danielweber
On one hand, this could be really encouraging, allowing India to increase its
home-grown engineering capacity.
On the other hand, "international cooperation" is often the death of many
projects, particularly space projects.
On the other other hand, it wasn't like NASA was about to do something huge
and cooperation with India puts that goal at risk.
~~~
teamonkey
> On the other hand, "international cooperation" is often the death of many
> projects, particularly space projects.
There are plenty of counter-examples. The ISS is an effort that spans the US,
Canada, Japan, Russia and Europe (ESA). Hubble is NASA-ESA.
~~~
danielweber
Why is that a counter-example? The ISS is incredibly more expensive,
complicated, and accomplishes less science because it's "international."
~~~
ZenoArrow
"The ISS is incredibly more expensive, complicated, and accomplishes less
science because it's "international.""
Accomplishes less compared to what? Skylab? Mir?
The ISS is designed to host up to 7 crew members. For purposes of comparison,
Mir could host 3. What makes you suspect 7 astronauts can do less scientific
work than 3?
~~~
danielweber
Skylab construction cost: 10 billion in modern dollars
ISS construction cost: 150 billion
ISS science projects keep on getting cancelled for budget reasons. I think
spending $150,000,000,000.00 building it has something to do with that.
~~~
teamonkey
Skylab was cheap(er) because it was launched in one single stage (IIRC it
literally was a Saturn V cargo bay).
The ISS was designed to be built up over several years, over several launches,
with each launch costing much less than Skylab but obviously more overall. It
was a design decision that favoured amortizing costs for an age that couldn't
afford another Skylab.
------
melling
I wrote this on the WSJ comments several hours ago but it's worth repeating
here. I believe that it would be valuable if the US invested more basic
research money in India. We might be able to greatly increase our research
output in the basic sciences. Start small then increase the budget as research
in India matures.
------
anupshinde
IF this works, this will surely accelerate the process of sending humans to
other planets (may be not Mars)
~~~
privong
Why do you say that? The techincal goals of this mission are fairly modest,
and do not seem to bush the boundaries of launch technologry or involve
technology that would be useful for human survival in space.
The agreement and mission are both good things, but I do not see how they will
have much of an effect on human spaceflight.
------
tauslu
As usual, action speaks louder than words. This co-operation would probably
not take place if India's mission did not take place or very few would listen
their Indian counter parts if such agreement were signed without the mission.
------
ps4fanboy
This is great news, I am surprised the EU doesnt have a more uniformed vocal
space program.
------
innguest
Why could they not have agreed to cooperate _before_ NASA spent $650M on the
Maven program which does the exact same thing that ISRO's $74M Mangalyaan
does?
I demand a refund.
~~~
ceejayoz
Oh, bullshit.
[http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-key-differences-between-
NA...](http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-key-differences-between-NASAs-MAVEN-
and-ISROs-Mangalyaan-Mars-Orbiter-mission)
------
nether
the desification of the US continues:
dean of harvard
ceo of microsoft
ceo of pepsico
ny ag
1/3 of mckinsey
------
tn13
India and US also agreed to fight terror while US continued to fund terror in
Pakistan.
Very likely US is going to put sanctions on Indian space research as soon as
India declares its ASAT capabilities.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Run and package HTML5 Apps using node-webkit - copesc
http://blog.joocode.com/js/run-and-package-html5-apps-using-node-webkit/
======
leoplct
404 - Not found
~~~
bdfh42
yup broken link - so the up-vote was interesting...
~~~
copesc
sorry about that, I had an issue on the site, the first page load led to a
404. On refresh, it worked. :|
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What MSFT did in 2K4 instead of buying all then existing internet companies - jaboutboul
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/21/technology/21gates.html
======
jaboutboul
Except for google. Got this from a tweet by @cdixon.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Freshmeat.net, 1997-2014 - ingve
http://jeffcovey.net/2014/06/19/freshmeat-net-1997-2014/
Includes an interesting comment from ESR:<p>http://jeffcovey.net/2014/06/19/freshmeat-net-1997-2014/comment-page-1/#comment-2111
======
liedra
I was an editor for freshmeat back in the early 2000s and it was a lot of fun.
I was there when fm acquired themes.org and was one of the main people tasked
with ensuring the HUGE db of themes was sanely migrated into the fm backend.
We had stupidly high standards, and I don't think a lot of people really knew
how much we threw out over the years, or how much we sanitised the entries (so
much broken English!). We also had to (to a certain degree) sanity check the
projects - make sure they looked like they did what they did. One of the best
projects I ever had to say no to was a "next-gen compression tool" which came
during a bit of a fad for these in the early 2000s and basically converted
everything to binary and got rid of the 0s. (Not surprisingly, there wasn't an
"unzip" tool!) Nice try, guy!
Another story I remember is all the flak we got when we opened the
osx.freshmeat.net section - we got so much criticism about how we'd sold out
etc. etc. but it actually turned out to be quite a good repository for OS X
apps for a while until iTunes kinda took over.
Good times :D
~~~
contingencies
Wow, never knew you did that! Hey, since you're in the UK, and he's just
passed his two year anniversary, as a fellow Aussie you should make some
academic excuses and go visit Assange in London already. I'm sure he'd enjoy
catching up on your area.
(Re: reply. Err .. as an ethicist I'm not sure how you actually wrote that! If
push came to shove - and I highly doubt they'll give you personal problems for
visiting - have you no faith in your institution to protect you? Talk about
chilling effects... you have to _make sure_ you go now, so you maintain some
self respect and score a fun lecture lead-in!)
~~~
liedra
Yes, I'm an ethicist, but I also am a realist. In the current HE environment
in the UK having a "permanent job" means very little these days. I'm all for
bucking the system, but I have to be able to be in the system to effect
change, and a lot of that isn't through token activities like this but working
to change policy and governance structures (and educate the next generation!).
I'd rather have a solid base from which to do that sort of thing than the
ability to lose everything. It's not a whistleblower situation, I have nothing
apart from a good story to really gain from meeting with him, and it's not
particularly a principle thing because I think you have to pick your battles,
and this isn't one of the ones I've picked.
~~~
contingencies
It greatly saddens me to read this, C. Best of luck with your future battles,
whatever they may be.
------
stonogo
Freshmeat stopped being useful when they converted the well-organized and
useful software trove into a worthless pile of tag garbage, _and deleted a
third of the information in the process_.
Before, it was possible to find, for example, a TUI email client written in
perl with a BSD license, thanks to the ability to drill down into the trove.
After the redesign, it was goddamn near impossible to find anything --
especially things with specific licenses.
I, and just about everyone I know who used it, stopped using it not long after
they started focusing on toy web programming more than information curation.
I'm sad they mismanaged it to death, but I'm not going to miss it in its
terminal state.
~~~
mariuz
I usually updated the firebird page before the big update but it bacame
useless and painfull to the the page updates after the redesign
For example befora i could do releases for beta and stable versions but after
i had just kind of worthless tags also i had svn branches for each kind of
relases
[http://freecode.com/projects/firebird](http://freecode.com/projects/firebird)
I guess in time also sourforge will die , almost all open source development
is moved to github these days
------
js2
For the LNUX IPO, VA made F&F shares available to anyone who had contributed
to Linux. They were fairly liberal in how they interpreted this, and I think
the contribution I used to justify my purchase was the "-e" switch to
chpasswd.
Anyway, as I recall I was able to purchase 140 shares at $30. The day of the
IPO it hit $300+ and I was too stupid to sell (gotta get those long term
capital gains rates..doh). I finally sold those shares years later at
something like $1.
Oh well. You win some you lose some.
~~~
chrissnell
Remember the post on Slashdot about suddenly becoming rich from the VA IPO?
Can't remember if it was Rob Malda or Eric Raymond or someone else but it
seemed so unreal and ostentatious at the time but was completely laughable
just a few years later.
~~~
nl
Eric Raymond: "Surprised By Wealth"[1], and "How I'll spend my millions"[2]
[1]
[http://www.linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/1999121000105NWLF](http://www.linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/1999121000105NWLF)
[2] [http://www.zdnet.com/eric-raymond-how-ill-spend-my-
millions-...](http://www.zdnet.com/eric-raymond-how-ill-spend-my-
millions-3002075791/)
------
Gracana
Here's an old archive.org snapshot for anyone who (like me) had trouble
recalling what freshmeat was all about:
[https://web.archive.org/web/20050301154742/http://freshmeat....](https://web.archive.org/web/20050301154742/http://freshmeat.net/)
~~~
jstsch
Funny how great that looks, even now. Of course, style-wise it's a bit dated
(style in the sense of web-fashion). But at the same time, the content is very
easy to scan and descriptions are short, to the point and quite consistent. I
mean, compare this to...
[https://packages.debian.org/stable/mail/](https://packages.debian.org/stable/mail/)
~~~
mattl
Looks an awful lot like reddit.
------
blablabla123
Actually the site used to be really useful. Somehow I forgot using it though.
One day Ubuntu came out, the package manager (including dep mgmt) worked
really well and there was a ton of great software in the repository.
But in the tar xzf ... ; ./configure && make && sudo make install time it was
really nice.
I wished something like that existed for JS libraries.
~~~
nathanstitt
Right there with you. Back in the "compile it yourself" days of Linux,
freshmeat was the place to look.
I find [http://jsdb.io/](http://jsdb.io/) works pretty well for JS libraries.
You might find it useful.
~~~
blablabla123
Thanks for the link, looks nicely sorted.
~~~
sitkack
The same thing for extremely small JS libraries,
[http://microjs.com/#](http://microjs.com/#)
------
matt__rose
Interesting perspective from esr on the rationale behind the takeover of
Andover in the comments
~~~
petercooper
_the U.S.’s crazy accounting rules more or less forced us to do an acquisition
to maintain our valuation_
Can anyone explain this and whether it's still relevant?
~~~
robryk
esr's explanation and resulting discussion:
[http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=5945&cpage=1#comment-887355](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=5945&cpage=1#comment-887355)
------
macintux
I recall my then-wife looking over my shoulder as my web browser auto-
completed "freshmeat.net". Unsurprisingly, she immediately grew suspicious and
expected to see a porn site pop up.
An institution for a very long time, definitely something from a different
era. Farewell old friend.
~~~
pierlux
I remember hitting my first summer job company's content firewall which
thought this was a porn site because of the URL lol
~~~
liedra
I remember having to go home and tell my mum I now worked for freshmeat.net,
looking at her face, then realising ... "NO! It's not a porn site!!!"
------
Zelphyr
"always heard that ThinkGeek, the online retailer, was by far the most (only?)
profitable part of the business for years on end"
As a former employee of [VA [Research[ Systems]|Linux|Software] SourceForge] I
also heard this. Though I believe Slashdot was also a profit center for
awhile.
~~~
bane
This is correct. TG basically carried the entire rest of the company for
_many_ years. Almost nothing else made enough money to support itself and the
profits TG pulled in were enough to run the company for a long while. This was
back when TG was still a pretty small outfit. As they've grown employee-wise,
I'm sure more of the revenue has gone to sustaining this part of the business.
The basic problem is that so many of the other properties were virtually
impossible to monetize and/or by the time attention got turned on them
audience had moved elsewhere and the result was a mess.
It also didn't help that many of the senior people brought in to help turn the
properties into money making operations really had never done business with
this demographic.
------
zeruch
I used to check FM every morning for years as part of my ritual to look for
"neat stuff" to install and play around with on my various boxen. It was great
while it lasted. I worked at VA and a common form of watercooler talk in the
late 90s was akin to "hey, I found $APP and I think it might really let me do
$USEFULTHING or at least be an interesting waste of time"
~~~
harrystone
Same here, I checked it every day for many years. It was one of those
fundamental parts of the linux experience in the late 90s.
It surprised me how much emotional impact this announcement had for me. I hate
to see freshmeat go, even if it wasn't much anymore compared to what it was.
Oh well, you can't go home again.
~~~
vidarh
It would have had more of an emotional impact if I hadn't checked in on it now
and again over the last few years, and essentially "grieved" already by
realising how uninteresting it had become. Largely because I have so many
other channels to discover interesting stuff without the chaff of a new
version of yet another irc client.
Also, when they tried to transition away from "Freshmeat", I pretty much
accepted it was over...
------
dspeyer
ESR is talking about building a replacement
[http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=5948](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=5948)
~~~
keithpeter
Well, I wish him and anyone who gets involved every success.
However, contrast esr
_" Freshmeat/freecode required that every project creations and release be
pre-moderated by humans. This was a serious bottleneck, and may have been the
site’s undoing by imposing staffing costs on the operators. We need to avoid
this."_
with the highest level post by user liedra above who worked for the original
project...
_" We had stupidly high standards, and I don't think a lot of people really
knew how much we threw out over the years, or how much we sanitised the
entries (so much broken English!). We also had to (to a certain degree) sanity
check the projects - make sure they looked like they did what they did."_
Am I thinking that we are collectively saying we can't afford to add value
through curation or editing?
~~~
wpietri
Hmmm. I think ESR's talk of cost is a bad framing to use when thinking about
businesses; I think in terms of value creation and sustainability.
If we imagine two sites, one with manual curating and editing and one without,
the former's clearly more valuable. The question for me is whether the value
created is enough that we can extract enough cash in return to make it
sustainable. If you eliminate the editors, it could be that the lowered value
makes the business less sustainable, not more so.
Either way, I think ESR's view is an interesting hypothesis, but it's one I'd
definitely test. But I'd also test the hypothesis that the Freshmeat model
just doesn't make sense any more, in that people who previously used it now
solve their problems in other, better ways.
~~~
mtdewcmu
Hacker News is auto-curated (at least partly). I'm not sure how much faith I
would put in an editor, and projects like Ubuntu and Homebrew already act like
gatekeepers. It would be valuable to come up with a good way of recording the
opinions of the crowd, though, and it would be more cost-effective, too.
Searching for free software on Google Code or Github isn't bad, but they only
index their own projects. There might be value in having an index maintained
by a neutral third party.
~~~
walterbell
How about [https://www.ohloh.net](https://www.ohloh.net) ?
~~~
vidarh
Ohloh might be good alternative if it was not so focused on tracking metrics
and contributors rather than information more interesting to users.
------
ben1040
It's amusing how VA has gone from a company that made and sold Linux systems,
to a company that makes and sells funny T-shirts to people who use Linux
systems.
~~~
Patrick_Devine
This pains a lot of us who used to work at VA. It was a combination of the dot
com bubble bursting and mismanagement which caused everything to implode. I
remember saying at the time "if we can't make money during the largest
economic upswing ever, when the hell are we going to make money?"
I think if we'd had any kind of fiscal responsibility we might have been able
to survive the rocky years. At the time though, the idea was to ditch
manufacturing and put everything behind SourceForge. In retrospect, that
probably wasn't a _horrible_ idea, except for that someone got the bright idea
that the only way to for SourceForge to make money was to sell banner ads. I
think GitHub proved that was a bad idea.
------
inDigiNeous
Ah, freshmeat.net, one of those essential sites back in the day, when
Slashdot.org was still relevant, when Slackware Linux was something cool to
use and when compiling source by hand was a fun thing to do.
I used to scroll down the front page every day, looking at some cool new
projects to test out.
Uploaded my first Open Source project, umix.sf.net, there too. Was really fun
to see people downloading my software and see the statistics for how many
clicks it had gotten.
Good time to kill it already, didn't even remember it still existing.
------
taspeotis
I'm not sure what Dice Holdings thought they'd achieve by buying Geeknet. Last
time I checked, they were busy curating slashvertisements and Business
Intelligence "insight" articles for Slashdot.
I wonder how that's working out for them...
[http://www.google.com.au/trends/explore#q=Slashdot%2C%20%2Fm...](http://www.google.com.au/trends/explore#q=Slashdot%2C%20%2Fm%2F02p0tdp%2C%20%2Fm%2F02vvdrt&cmpt=q)
------
adulau
The dataset/database of freshmeat/code is quite interesting on a historical
perspective of free software. Do you think that the owner would be able to
share freely the database? Someone in contact with them?
This would be a nice addition to [http://ckan.org/](http://ckan.org/).
~~~
mindcrime
That's a good question. The group that are looking at creating a replacement
site are definitely interested in this point. ESR commented on his blog that
he'd reached out to someone, so we'll see what happens there.
------
jimwalsh
That was an interesting article to read. I have many fond memories of the very
early days of Freshmeat and my introduction to OSS and Linux. Freshmeat helped
people share their products and was a great place to find new and upcoming
projects to check out or even help on.
I feel like the late 90s was such a Wild West time for Linux. Linux is in a
great spot now, best it has ever been, but for whatever reason the community
just feels incredibly different for me now. It's probably just me aging.
~~~
jcd748
There was definitely a feel of do-it-yourself, especially when installing
Linux meant either wiping a partition, or trying to resize an existing one
with very primitive tools. I remember using a weird variant called DOSLinux
for a while, because my 486 couldn't handle the "real" distros, and then
getting a new 350MHz machine and getting RedHat 6 installed. Then realizing I
could use X, spending endless hours on themes.net, tweaking WindowMaker and
finding new themes, and doing the Web 1.0 by learning perl to write a simple
blogging engine.
You're right, though. Different times, and the community feels very different.
The feel I get when I'm browsing web forums for answers to questions is a lot
of kids who use Linux because it's somehow "cool", and certainly it's
ridiculously easy to install these days. But I might just be making
assumptions based on the terrible grammar and incomplete sentences.
------
BillyParadise
You know, it's bad when you remember going to the site, but forgot what you
went there for. I thought I remembered it as a daily wacky-news site like
fark. I guess I was wrong :)
I'll echo several other replies - it was great - nay, essential - before
package managers became good.
Maybe they should have bought and changed their name to yum.com or apt-get.com
(instead of freecode) and then more of us would still remember why they went
to the site.
------
giis
At-least farewell mail to users would have been nice. I had around 5-6
projects with 70-80 subscribes at freshmeat.net . I'll be extremely glad, If
freshmeat.net allowed its users to inform their project subscriber a 'big
thank you' note for their support.
Thank you Freshmeat.net (aka freecode.com)
------
booleanbetrayal
RIP ... i actually did one of the earlier freshmeat logos back before it had
its own proper domain.
[https://web.archive.org/web/19980419152907/http://freshmeat....](https://web.archive.org/web/19980419152907/http://freshmeat.unreal.org/)
------
rg3
Wow. I was still using it to monitor new releases of iotop. I think this is
going to be shocking news for anyone who was running Linux or BSDs in the
early 2000s.
~~~
giis
Yes, you are right its a shcok, I used to monitor new releases of few project
via freshmeat. :(
------
jamespo
Still remember the days when I used to religiously read their NNTP feed, until
it got shut down. Still subscribe to the RSS, not for much longer I guess.
------
im3w1l
RIP. I have fond memories of freshmeat.
------
edwintorok
Is something wrong with the CSS on freecode.com? It looks very different from
how it used to be.
~~~
nandhp
They seem to have accidentally deleted it.
~~~
edwintorok
Seems fixed now.
------
fithisux
Disaster. I was relying on them for keeping my Windows 7 FOSS installation
updated. I did not use proprietary except windows (of course) and ccleaner /
skype. Simply disaster. I have to rely now on SF feeds/Filehippo and QT-
apps.org
------
natch
Writers, please don't assume your readers know what you are talking about. It
is your job to explain it. The article should have started with a short
explanation of what freshmeat was.
~~~
nacs
The very first sentence of the article contains a Wikipedia link that explains
it:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freshmeat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freshmeat)
~~~
natch
Good point, upvoted. I missed that link, but stand by my point for writers in
general. A short inline explanation is always helpful, with or without a link
to more.
------
inanutshellus
Oh thank god. I misread it as Red Meat had closed operations.
([http://www.redmeat.com/max-cannon/FreshMeat](http://www.redmeat.com/max-
cannon/FreshMeat))
Whew.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
“Why We Sleep” Is Riddled with Scientific and Factual Errors - AuthorizedCust
https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/#no-two-thirds-of-adults-in-developed-nations-do-not-fail-to-obtain-the-recommended-amount-of-sleep
======
raz32dust
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21546850](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21546850)
~~~
AuthorizedCust
While true, it appears to have been extensively edited and added to since
then.
~~~
Fnoord
Do you have a changelog?
~~~
AuthorizedCust
Only informal. The author mentions extensive time spent on this since original
publication, mentions questions he's responded to or sought more advice on
since publication, and I noticed that that last-updated date, near the top,
changes from 2-25 to 2-26. It seems to be actively maintained. While I
understand HN's preference for no duplicate posts, this seems to have evolved
significantly since original posting.
------
knzhou
I've seen this posted all over the internet to great acclaim, and honestly, it
just feels feverish and desperate to me, grasping at tiny points as if they
refute the central thesis.
For example, the point that you linked to says that the official
recommendations on sleep are "7 to 9 hours", which Walker simplified to "an
average of 8 hours". I don't see how this simplification is so bad. The point
is that these numbers are all much higher than the 5-6 hours many people claim
to subsist on. It doesn't even change the numbers that much: slightly more
than half of people sleep less than 8 hours, and slightly less than half of
people sleep less than 7 hours. This nitpick does not refute the central point
that having 5-6 hours of sleep generally impairs you, it only takes aim at
phrasing.
I find point #2 (of 5) in this article especially laughable. Here it's claimed
that sleep deprivation is actually a good thing, because it can be used as a
temporary treatment for severe depression. Under this logic, bulimia is a
healthy habit because you should induce vomiting after being poisoned.
~~~
AuthorizedCust
Also, I didn't read his point 2 as saying sleep deprivation is good. I see it
as refuting the idea that not having "enough" sleep absolutely bad.
~~~
knzhou
Respectfully, who cares? In biology, nothing is an absolute. All good things
have bad sides and all bad things have good sides, and that shouldn't stop us
from identifying things that are generally good. Nobody giving general advice
can or should be expected to cover every edge case.
~~~
sleepthrowaway6
Disrespectfully, for someone that harps on about the main thesis, you fail to
ascertain the blog author's main point:
Matt Walker is lacking integrity. Despite his Ivy League status, despite his
PhD and numerous accomplishments, and despite all his prestige and educational
attainment, he's still a high-quality conman.
That's the point. He twisted facts to sell a book and abused his position of
authority to mislead others for money.
------
fossuser
I got a strong motivated reasoning/bullshit vibe from Walker in this
interview: [https://www.npr.org/2018/07/20/630792401/sleep-scientist-
war...](https://www.npr.org/2018/07/20/630792401/sleep-scientist-warns-
against-walking-through-life-in-an-underslept-state)
Particularly this section:
> “Sleep is not like the bank. So you can't accumulate debt and then try and
> pay it off at a later point in time. And the reason is this - we know that
> if I were to deprive you of sleep for an entire night - take away eight
> hours - and then in the subsequent nights, I give you all of the sleep that
> you want - however much you wish to consume - you never get back all that
> you lost. You will sleep longer, but you will never achieve that full eight-
> hour repayment as it were. So the brain has no capacity to get back that
> lost sleep...”
I don’t think this follows - seems likely to me that sleep is not some linear
time thing and that there’s a standard overhead that doesn’t need to be
repeated to extend and make up the time. This feels like a symptom of not
understanding the mechanism and making a bad assumption.
I also found the “I won’t mention the cognitive failures I can detect”
irritating. If there’s some actual thing to mention, say it - this kind of
thing sets off alarms for me.
It doesn’t surprise me that the rest is similarly bad, I’m glad someone dug
into it.
~~~
aSplash0fDerp
Not to choose a side, but sleep deprivation can be related to running an
engine with low oil or running it while overheating. Extreme exhaustion is
usually a chemically imbalanced period.
If we see 6 hour workdays become the norm during the automation boom, we may
see that shifting to 12 hour business days with a well rested workforce was
the only way to keep up with the next wave of innovation while keeping 1st
world working conditions.
Would you invest an extra 2 hours a day to your sleep?
------
btrettel
While I can't speak to the accuracy of the book criticized, science in general
is riddled with similar problems. Follow the citation trail and you'll often
find that a cited article doesn't say what was claimed or says something
similar but not quite the same. Alternatively, you might see that the cited
article does say what is claimed, but the evidence is weak.
When researchers talk about all of the "low hanging fruit" being taken, it
seems to me that they're blind to all the nonsense that appears once you start
following the citation trail. Maybe every topic has been _touched_ , but even
something that seems definitive in a review article could have major flaws
when examined more closely.
I'm almost done a PhD in engineering, and this has been my experience at
least. I try to "debunk" something in roughly half my publications now.
Edit: I don't mean to suggest that identifying many of these problems is
_easy_ , just that it's not done frequently enough. For example, if you're
doing research in a particular field, you're probably basing it partly on
previous review articles. Take a look at some primary sources in addition to
that. This applies extra if you're _writing_ a review article. Don't just
mirror what some previous review articles say and cite some newer papers. Find
some old but good papers that were missed by previous reviews. Check primary
sources. Etc. This is the job of a someone writing a review in my view.
~~~
sleepthrowaway6
It's also quite jarring to come across a paper on a niche topic (e.g a
specific hormone's effects on certain biological processes), that completely
botches simple, fundamental and accepted facts in your field; facts that the
main thesis relies on.
It's absolutely silly and I find myself finding little of use in the author's
conclusions, or their observations. After spending way too much time parsing
through endless research papers, the only things I pay attention anymore are
methodology and data.
This tells me: is the data relevant to my work? And was the data collected
"properly" (I swear, half the time the researchers half-ass methodology that
the results are fairly worthless)
~~~
btrettel
> the only things I pay attention anymore are methodology and data.
> This tells me: is the data relevant to my work? And was the data collected
> "properly" (I swear, half the time the researchers half-ass methodology that
> the results are fairly worthless)
I've come to the same conclusion, and I'm a theorist myself. Theory is hit or
miss, mostly miss. I still read it just to find the nugget of truth if there
is one. If the data is relevant and was collected properly then it can be a
goldmine, regardless of the theoretical explanation given by the researchers.
But often the researchers measure the wrong thing, or measure the right thing
in the wrong conditions or with some other problem. (One major problem I've
found is that the uncertainties on many measurements in my field are enormous,
but don't need to be, and very few seems to have noticed or cared.)
------
pastor_williams
The author of "Why We Sleep" has written a blog post responding to the OP
article and other questions from readers:
[https://sleepdiplomat.wordpress.com/2019/12/19/why-we-
sleep-...](https://sleepdiplomat.wordpress.com/2019/12/19/why-we-sleep-
responses-to-questions-from-readers/)
~~~
Ono-Sendai
Random quote from the above: "The book’s misattribution of the CDC statement
to the WHO will be corrected in the next edition. "
~~~
guzey
Walker said this in [1] and I believe that this position is indefensible
At the time at the time of the book’s publication in 2017 (and today), CDC had
no documents and no pages on its site that would declare a sleep loss
epidemic.
As I noted in section Possible origin of the “sleeplessness epidemic” thing
[2],
>Between late 2010/early 2011 and August/September 2015 [3-6], CDC had a page
on its site titled “Insufficient Sleep Is a Public Health Epidemic”. More than
2 years before Why We Sleep was published, the page changed the word
“epidemic” to “problem”, so that its title became “Insufficient Sleep Is a
Public Health Problem”. … the fact that CDC itself changed the wording from
“epidemic” to “problem” more than 2 years prior to the book’s publication,
indicat[es] that they no longer believed in the presence of an “insufficient
sleep epidemic”
__Issuing a correction that would just change “WHO” to “CDC” in the next
edition of the book – as Walker suggested – is deceptive. __The CDC long ago
(more than 4 years ago) removed the word “epidemic” from the article, and then
removed the article itself.
If Walker believes that that is sufficient to state that CDC has declared a
sleep loss epidemic, he might as well say that CDC has declared an epidemic of
inhalation anthrax (and forget to note that it was declared in 1958 [3])
Also, Walker never explains why the source for this sleep loss epidemic claim
in the book is a random National Geographic documentary.
[1]
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csz3s6](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csz3s6)
[2] [https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/#possible-origin-of-
the...](https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/#possible-origin-of-the-
sleeplessness-epidemic-thing))
[3] [https://perma.cc/72CZ-L9DG](https://perma.cc/72CZ-L9DG)
[4] [[https://perma.cc/23UM-849W](https://perma.cc/23UM-849W)
[5] [[https://perma.cc/2E68-ZRL9](https://perma.cc/2E68-ZRL9)
[6] [[https://perma.cc/UJ4W-JHNY](https://perma.cc/UJ4W-JHNY)
[7]
[https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/1940-1970.html](https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/1940-1970.html)
------
kneel
>I have many stories of people who slept well on less than eight hours of
sleep, read Walker’s book, tried to get more sleep and this led to more time
awake, frustration, worry, sleep-related anxiety, and insomnia.
This is me. I get at most 7 hours, usually 6. I only feel impaired if I drop
down to 4.
Reading about Matthew Walker's research years ago caused much anxiety and a
loss of sleep, how ironic.
------
fireattack
Some of the points feel a little bit pedantic (or even semantic?).
------
xmprt
Not sure why this links to section 5 but the entire page is worth reading. It
a little ironic to say that this article changed my perspective on sleeping
(considering this article is showing how you shouldn't believe the first thing
you read) but given how little research I had done prior, I think I at least
know now that there's a lot more that I don't know.
~~~
AuthorizedCust
I accidentally kept an anchor in the URL. My apologies!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The ancestry and affiliations of Kennewick Man - shawndumas
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vnfv/ncurrent/full/nature14625.html
======
tokenadult
The reporting about this over the years has been very confusing, because a lot
of the reporters who were making best efforts to report on this story are
confused by the methods of anthropologists who ascribe population relatedness
to skulls or the methods of genetics who ascribe population relatedness to DNA
samples. The key finding in the article is "We conclude that the currently
available number of independent phenetic markers is too small, and within-
population craniometric variation too large, to permit reliable reconstruction
of the biological population affinities of Kennewick Man." In other words, we
don't have a good enough data set about skull measurement variation in human
populations to assign the Kennewick skull reliably to any population that has
been sampled.
The genetic findings are consistent with those of other studies, for example
the landmark review article "Toward a new history and geography of human genes
informed by ancient DNA" Pickrell, Joseph K. et al. Trends in Genetics ,
Volume 30 , Issue 9 , 377 - 389 DOI:
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tig.2014.07.007](http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tig.2014.07.007)
which found that every very ancient human DNA samples show patterns of
movement of human beings across long distances and much genetic admixture
between supposedly separated geographic populations.
The chapter about human biodiversity in a general handbook on biodiversity
says it well: "The massive efforts to study the human genome in detail have
produced extraordinary amounts of genetic data. Although we still fail to
understand the molecular bases of most complex traits, including many common
diseases, we now have a clearer idea of the degree of genetic resemblance
between humans and other primate species. We also know that humans are
genetically very close to each other, indeed more than any other primates,
that most of our genetic diversity is accounted for by individual differences
within populations, and that only a small fraction of the species’ genetic
variance falls between populations and geographic groups thereof." Barbujani,
Guido, and Vincenza Colonna. "Genetic basis of human biodiversity: an update."
In Biodiversity Hotspots, pp. 97-119. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2011.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The 5G BlackBerry could be 'the most American-made phone out there' - fortran77
https://www.engadget.com/5g-blackberry-keyboard-global-flagship-american-made-peter-franklin-175112005.html
======
fortran77
They really should go after Apple for its misleading "DESIGNED IN CALIFORNIA"
(and in tiny letters underneath "made in china").
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Operational Calculus for Differentiable Programming - bmc7505
https://arxiv.org/abs/1610.07690
======
whatshisface
One thing that is not entirely clear to me about constructions like these is
the behavior of array indexing. I understand how to differentiate the
assignment of x+y into the variable z, but if I use X as an index into memory
and then write Y at that location, the proper result of differentiation looks
a lot less clear. One reason for that is my memory locations are discrete
points, but X must be treated as if it was continuous, if functions over it
are to be differentiable.
~~~
radarsat1
My understanding is that the trick to differentiable key-value stores is to
treat the key as a probability over locations, and to treat the value as a
weighted sum using these probabilities. From (pdf)
[https://aclweb.org/anthology/D16-1147](https://aclweb.org/anthology/D16-1147)
------
amuresan
Could someone with a better understanding of the topic give a brief example of
how this can be used in practice?
~~~
ivan_ah
This is a theory paper so no immediate practical applications. Potential
applications would be generalizing derivative calculations used in currently
ML libraries, see
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_differentiation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_differentiation)
and [http://www.cs.nuim.ie/~gunes/files/Baydin-MSR-
Slides-2016020...](http://www.cs.nuim.ie/~gunes/files/Baydin-MSR-
Slides-20160201.pdf#page=6)
Useful quote from paper: "We have been inspired by the development of
differentiable programming to formalize a theoretical model, that encompasses
the ideas underlying differentiable programming and provides a more general
setting for investigations of differentiable programs. The presented
theoretical model enables analytic investigations of differentiable programs
through algebraic tools, that are closer to the field of programming; i.e. the
presented operators can take the same role as higher order functions in
functional programming."
------
keithalewis
It's funny/not funny nobody can give a concrete example of how to apply this.
AFAICT the last (only?) example in the paper is about copying memory. I know
an easier way to do that.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
GIMP 2.9.4 and our vision for the future - ashitlerferad
http://girinstud.io/news/2016/07/gimp-2-9-4-and-our-vision-for-gimp-future/
======
imurray
Gimp 2.8 frustrated me: I could no longer open a .png, edit it and easily
resave it back to .png. The Gimp developers knew better and made the UI
strongly favor saving as .xcf, which makes sense in some use-cases, but not
mine.
I found this fix, which made quick uses of GIMP less painful for me:
[http://shallowsky.com/software/gimp-
save/](http://shallowsky.com/software/gimp-save/)
I'm assuming the new save behavior persists in Gimp 2.9.x, but I don't know.
~~~
StevePerkins
> less painful for me
I realize that this is common UX jargon, but is it literally "painful" to
click "File->Export" rather than "File->Save"?
I frequently hear front-end developer peers arguing that it's "painful" to
read 10 or 20 lines of XML. Back-end peers retort that it's more "painful" to
look at large complex structures in JSON.
There's a hundred other cases in which this comes up. Are people really
walking around in crippling pain, due to various software having trivial
differences from their ideal preference?
~~~
phkahler
>> I realize that this is common UX jargon, but is it literally "painful" to
click "File->Export" rather than "File->Save"?
One can also make that statement to the person who decided the default save
format should be different from the one the user opened. IMHO most people want
to save in the format they started with and if they want to change it,
something other than "save" is warranted.
~~~
pfranz
This isn't just a problem with Gimp. It's a problem with Photoshop and
basically every discipline where there's a bunch of file formats that have
varying levels of support for features.
"Open" would then more correctly called "Import" for most file formats. If you
want Open and Save to work with all file formats, you'd then need to restrict
the UI to operations that work with the file format you have open. Otherwise,
you lose data when saving.
>> IMHO most people want to save in the format they started with and if they
want to change it, something other than "save" is warranted.
Most people when they save a file expect everything to be there when they open
it later. That's only possible when you save using that applications
proprietary file format.
~~~
chickenfries
If I open a PNG in Photoshop, crop it or resize it, it stays in PNG when I
save it. This is such a common workflow that it makes me wonder if you use
Photoshop.
I understand your points, but it doesn't mean that there aren't pragmatic UX
choices to be made here.
------
Kjeldahl
Be aware, if you recommend GIMP to people on Macs with retina screens they are
going to be very disappointed. TLDR; retina screens on Macs simply aren't
supported properly (everything you do will be at a minimum of 2x scale). See
[https://medium.com/@kjeldahl/gimp-and-inkscape-on-retina-
mac...](https://medium.com/@kjeldahl/gimp-and-inkscape-on-retina-macs-do-not-
work-9601c3052e86#.tq62wux1j) for more details.
------
phkahler
Still waiting. They need to prioritize 3 things IMHO, and those are 1) GEGL
integration - this was claimed to be 80 percent done in 6 weeks (several years
ago). Updating core code and libraries should be done quickly, not spread out
over years concurrently with other development. 2) Update to GTK3. How can a
flagship OSS program still be using a many-years-old GUI toolkit? And finally
3) Wayland support. This will be easier with GTK3 and is still slightly
future-looking, but I'm writing this on a Wayland desktop so it won't be long
before GIMP on the whole is completely built on outdated technology. I know
all of these are in the works, but it seems like a nice sprint could get each
one done in a month or two at this point. Yet here we are seeing another blog
about anything but these...
~~~
timonovici
It would probably be done in few months, if GIMP had a few full-time
developers. But as it stands, with people working in their free time, don't
expect miracles. If anything, I find it amazing that it's still developed at
all.
------
pritambaral
The action search feature is nice. I like it that more software is getting
search-across-all-menu-entries.
I'd have really liked Ubuntu's HUD menu-search to have become a standard on
the Linux desktop; adding search-across-menus would become much easier for
softwares, most wouldn't need any addition of code.
~~~
kozhevnikov
It's one of the better features built into OS X, ⌘⇧? will search through all
menu items, combined with ability to assign a shortcut to one even if it had
none originally.
------
oggedintocom
GIMP is an icon of open-source software, but do any professional designers use
it full-time over Photoshop?
Compare with Sketch, which has taken scores of users from Illustrator.
~~~
cobalt
unlikely, while a certainly poewrful piece of software that can do much of
what photoshop can (in the 2D realm), it has no support for 3D work, real
vector support, active filters (this is a huge one in traditional 2D work, esp
icons/logos)
~~~
maweki
The one feature that breaks it for me for professional work is that filters
happen to a layer instead of being attached to them an are able to be changed
on a whim. It's impossible to do any real work if you have to render and re-
render every shadow on every text and object when its size changes. I think I
could do without everything else but that.
~~~
kuschku
That’s why I love Krita so much – it can do all those things, can do
animation, and, partially, already 3D, too.
------
lnanek2
Really not a fan of this. In a link he says he took the code for
saving/exporting and split it apart:
[http://girinstud.io/news/2015/09/improving-the-export-
proces...](http://girinstud.io/news/2015/09/improving-the-export-process-in-
gimp/)
The only way I ever use GIMP is through forked builds that let you save as
whatever you want without the annoying save/export distinction, so they seem
to making it tougher for people who are making good forks of their bad
software to do their job.
~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Saving and exporting are different tasks: the former saves the current work-
in-progress project with no loss of data, the latter exports to a particular
image format and is inherently lossy. If you combine them, you risk misleading
users.
And by keeping them split, it makes some things more convenient. When I edit
images, I save a .xcf and I also export a .png. Having to manually switch
between these file-types and manually remember and reënter the (possibly
differing) filenames when saving would be a pain. Keeping Export and Save as
separate means I don't have to. It also means that Ctrl-S saves the project,
rather than overwriting my last export. And as the part you linked to points
out, this means you can do things like change the scale at export time.
~~~
userbinator
What's the difference, and why should it matter? I just want to persist my
changes to a file.
IMHO just keep things simple and use Save for saving in the same format as the
original (possibly if a warning if it doesn't support some things you've done
to the file), or Save As for saving in a different format.
~~~
pfranz
Simply, you expect Open > Save to persist your file format. In the use case
they target Save > Open persist what you were editing. Things like Live Text,
Smart Objects, alpha layers (for many file formats), etc will stay around.
It's a common approach I've seen in other image editors (including Photoshop),
3d tools, and I imagine text editors do this, too.
------
qwertyuiop924
GIMP is a handy tool: I use it for a lot of my image editing needs, for when
very basic tools won't do. I rarely need the power of PS, and can't afford it
anyway (although I do miss that magnetic lasso: GIMP's magic scissors don't
quite have a good enough algorithm). All of this talk about the future is
exciting.
However, yes, GIMP is quite rarely an acceptable replacement for PS, and I
find this unlikely to change any time soon.
Also, GAP is really, REALLY, _REALLY_ awkward and unwieldy to use. I would
reccomend Synfig Studio for animation instead.
~~~
goatface
GIMP's new (though not actually young) engine - GEGL, contains ffmpeg frame
sources and sinks, provides a good abstraction for creating interfaces better
than GAP for animation or video editing - see
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJJPgLGrSgc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJJPgLGrSgc)
for an example of a video that has been edited and encoded using GEGL this
year.
~~~
qwertyuiop924
Well, yeah, but why would I write a new interface, when Synfig is already
there and, to some extent, comparable to Flash?
~~~
goatface
Synfig focuses on more cartoon based vector animation. What GEGL provides good
foundations for doing is video editing/compositing with keyframed properties
for filters.
As mentioned in the linked article of this story - having an eco system of
applications using GEGL would benefit both these applications and GIMP - since
they would be sharing image processing operations and plugins.
~~~
qwertyuiop924
Well, I AM doing cartoon animation. Although video editing/compositing is
always handy. Do you know if sombody's created a UI for this stuff yet?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
When will machines outthink us? - schtog
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20676037/
======
mlinsey
Strong AI (the creation of a general intelligence capable of learning new
things in the way humans can, as opposed to weak AI which includes programming
machines to do specific tasks that are usually considered to require
intelligence, such as playing chess or flying a helicopter) is about 20 years
away...and it has been about 20 years away ever since the 1950's.
The traditional approaches to build a strong AI all involved forms of explicit
knowledge representation: where facts about the world would be stored in
memory and then pieced together to come to new (hopefully intelligent)
conclusions and plan actions. Most people quickly realized that this approach
doesn't scale at all: most knowledge that humans have about the world is very
context-dependent and fuzzy. The new approaches around machine learning and
probabilistic modeling are more promising but almost all of them involve
building mathematical models around a specific problem rather than building a
general learning machine.
Most leading AI researchers in academia aren't even trying to build a general-
purpose intelligence anymore, instead focusing on solving domain-specific
problems, and the field of AI has been much more successful over the last
fifteen years or so as a result.
~~~
sown
So do you think we are closer to getting to AI than we were in the past or
closer? Certainly, we have better understanding of cognition today. Modern
understanding of the mind like we have now didn't really exists in decades
previous along with better imaging technologies. Is there some reason why we
can't build a general learning machine?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why SSDs are worth the money - peteretep
http://www.boingboing.net/2011/06/17/why-ssds-are-worth-t.html
======
rkalla
Something to consider before going the SSD route: failure rates are high right
now.
The Intel X-25 series seem to be doing OK, but the Vertex2 and Vertex3 (brand
new SandForce 2k-based drives) have really terrible failure rates. I've heard
mixed things about the Crucial drives.
I am sure you guys have read Jeff Atwood's post[1] about how every SSD they've
put into machines in the last year has failed. I shared that around with a
group of friends scattered around Chicago and the bay area - the friend in
Chicago has a company with 30 employees. They have put SSDs in 12 of the
developer machines, by the end of the year 10 had failed (Vertex2 drives).
I think SSDs have a lot to offer, the performance is there for the right use-
cases (which is almost every disk I/O scenario save for a few), but for a lot
of folks the idea of having drives fail _regularly_ is a suicide-inducing
though (current company included).
I'm sitting on my hands for an SSD not because I don't think they are awesome,
too expensive or not big enough... I'm waiting because the failure rate seems
to be painfully high in these things. I want some more time in the oven before
I start sticking them in my work machines.
There also seem to be other non-failure related issues as seen with the
Vertex3 launch that everyone jumped on; Lookup "Windows BSOD Vertex3"[2] for a
long list of issues. At least enough to make you take pause in buying one.
I have a 11 year old Fujitsu drive that is still running, an 8 year old
Seagate 15k SCSI drive that is still chugging and the two SATA's in my desktop
now are both 3 years old (no RAID)... I expect 5 years out of a drive at this
point, turning the speed up to 11 at the expense of digging back into my
workstations or servers to replace busted drives and rebuild RAID arrays...
uggggg... at least for me that sounds super painful.
The only SSDs I would consider at this point if for some reason I had to get
one are the Intel series, namely the 500 series. The X-25's (as mentioned) are
still going strong with low failure rates and there is nothing to suggest the
newer releases are any different. I'd rather see some 5-year results from
those things before pulling the trigger though, which is why I haven't yet. I
also haven't needed the insane speed.
[1] [http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2011/05/the-hot-crazy-
solid...](http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2011/05/the-hot-crazy-solid-state-
drive-scale.html)
[2]
[http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8...](http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=windows+bsod+vertex3&qscrl=1)
~~~
jerf
Anybody have some detailed technical insight into why the failure rate has
been so high? (i.e., I can guess as well as the next guy, I'm asking for
knowledge.) One of their initial promises was reliability due to not having
moving parts, and, well, that sounds pretty reasonable as far as marketing
copy goes. Why isn't it true?
~~~
hristov
It is a physical quality of flash memory that each flash cell has only a
limited number of writes it can handle before it fails. If you want to know
the dirty details, what happens is that electrons eventually get trapped in
the dielectric of a flash cell and ruin everything. This cannot be fixed
unless someone invents a new electron capture proof dielectric.
Flash memories use all kinds of electronics to ameliorate this problem, but in
the end most they can do is try to equalize the number of writes each cell
experiences, which results in the drive working at close to its full capacity
for as long as possible but then failing very quickly afterwards.
~~~
Symmetry
If this was the failure mode experienced by most drives that fail, though, it
wouldn't happen for years and even after you were no longer able to write to
the drive you would still be able to read from it. This might be how the more
reliable Intel or Samsung drives end up failing, but all evidence is that the
failure modes of the highest performance but less reliable drives seem to be
more interesting than that.
~~~
hristov
Why do you think it would not happen for years? As I mentioned in a previous
post there is a trade off between price memory size and failure rate so some
of the higher density memories will have much lower life than what you may be
used to.
And no you would not be able to read from it. When a flash cell wears off the
ability to read it degrades or disappears. Depending on the memory you still
may be able to recover the data using ECC or the like, but this ability tends
to disappear as large numbers of cells start dying.
------
dlsspy
Amazing how many people are commenting about how SSDs don't help much. I am
stunned by how long it takes to do anything on any of my computers that don't
have SSDs now. IOPS matter to me.
~~~
lparry
It sounds like a bunch of people who havent experienced the difference first
hand, trying to convince themselves that they dont care.
~~~
wallywax
I have a laptop with SSD at work and an almost identical laptop at home,
except it has a hard drive. There are unquestionably a lot of operations that
the SSD makes much faster. But in normal day to day use, I can barely tell the
difference. Booting is fast as hell, but how often do I reboot? I don't
compile much on either machine, but neither do most normal users. I don't
think the average laptop user is i/o bound most of the time (unless they're
swapping, and then the solution is more RAM not an SSD).
To me, the biggest benefit SSD gives is battery life. I like that it's quieter
too. But neither of those is worth the price premium. Which is why I haven't
stepped up for my home machine even though I get to compare it on a daily
basis.
~~~
frankwiles
SSDs aren't going to help you compile faster anyway... Other than network I/O,
disk I/O is the slowest operation on a computer, speeding that up does speed
up most operations for most people. Everyone is I/O bound all of the time.
------
cowmixtoo
Since I posted this link last year:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1584998> .... I've put a few DBs on SSD
(Postgresql and Filemaker Pro). The real-world performance on extreme
concurrent usage was been insane, ie something like a order of magnitude
faster. For instance, a query on FileMaker Pro that would take up to 10
minutes on a heavily used instance (100 people accessing at one time) now
takes seconds.
------
mike_h
Dropbox is an awesome way to offset the failure risk. I keep all my
development projects on Dropbox, so the moment I write to disk, it's syncing
with at least one other running workstation plus the Dropbox remote storage.
(The brains of my homedir are symlinked to Dropbox as well: all dot files
including shell history)
~~~
Tichy
A very expensive way, though? My notebooks HD is 250gb, almost filled.
~~~
mike_h
Sorry to see this and respond late, but yeah, mine is pretty big too. Most of
that doesn't change hour-to-hour in my use case luckily, so incremental backup
to disk is good enough for the bulk. If you work mostly with code or other
text, you can probably find a few folders of frequent business that fit on a
small Dropbox plan and just sync those.
------
henryw
If your servers were doing as much write as reads, then SSDs might not be as
fast. I had (raid10) 4 intel 80gb ssd vs (raid10) 4 15k rpm scsi drives, and
the scsi drives were faster with heavy innodb writes. You might wanna do some
stress benchmarking before going into production if you have heavy writes. Now
I'm sure the FusionIO line of drives will probably be faster than SCSI's,
though I haven't tested them.
------
BoppreH
High failure rate, high price, low capability, but great speeds. So the ideal
setup is SSD for your OS and programs and a spinning disk for your documents?
~~~
gte910h
SSD for your OS, apps and documents where speed matters backed up to your
spinner.
------
cubicle67
here's something I'm curious to know - how often do you reboot your computer?
I've got two I use daily, one has an uptime of 47 days, the other (a little
macbook that spends all day on the road with me) about 32 days. They're just
never off. Do people still turn their machines off?
~~~
noarchy
My Macbook comes out of sleep mode almost instantaneously, so I come out of it
with uptimes that are similar to yours. My PC desktop, meanwhile, gets
rebooted when Windows Update demands it, so it varies.
There are workplaces where people might be rebooting daily, I don't know. I
just know that at home or at work, I don't.
------
unsigner
Everybody keeps talking of boot drives - and the guy in the video boots his
laptop. Do you really boot often enough to make a difference?
I think I see my machine boot about 10 times when I reinstall Windows (used to
be yearly 10 years ago, much less frequent now), then basically never, modulo
city-wide power failures and stealthy Windows Update ninjas in the night.
Is it something peculiar to laptops, e.g. when you forget to charge them and
they shutdown completely instead of sleeping?
------
keithnoizu
Running 3 raided SSD drives on my home workstation . . . seriously considering
upgrading to one or more raided hyperOs DDR2 Ram Disk Drives. The write
latency is nasty on compile time.
~~~
ChuckMcM
Curious about this, is it RAID-0 for speed or some other variant?
~~~
keithnoizu
Raid 0, Although I've heard something or other about a larger performance gain
being realized by other raid configurations.
------
MatthewB
My Macbook Air screams. I bought a macbook pro about 1 year ago and my brand
new MBA (top model) is noticeably faster. Not only boot and shutdown times but
overall snappiness of the machine. The main reason for this is the SSD inside.
I love it and will be installing one in my PC desktop soon enough. I can live
with the high failure rate although I haven't run into any problems myself
yet.
------
viae
I have seen the light and been converted to the Church of SSD. The expense
/is/ worth it. I routinely run Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 (running
Windows Deployment Server to reimage computers at different physical
locations) on my Macbook Pro via VMWare Fusion at all times (in addition to
all the other random apps I have open on the Mac). I haven't noticed /any/
performance penalties day-in-day out. Compare this to my previous Macbook Pro
from three years ago, which begged for mercy booting Windows XP. Sure, I have
more RAM and an i7 now, but it was always disk thrashing that killed me....
that's not a problem any more.
------
keyle
I have only good things to say about the Corsair SSD's. I'm all SSD now, and
they're very fast with very good reviews for a very decent price.
------
dekz
I recently bought from OWC to be shipped internationally. It took 32 days and
arrived a DOA drive and had consistent kernel panics (even when doing an
initial clone). YMMV but if you're wanting to do an SSD upgrade, get ready to
take into account failures.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Scoble: Facebook identities on VR are the biggest strategy tax of all time - Kroeler
https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2020/08/scoble-oculus-facebook-vr-business-strategy-tax.html
======
pinewurst
I didn't realize Scoble was still alive - was almost going to submit "(2008)"
:)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why won't you answer my question? - upofadown
http://rion.io/2017/02/09/why-wont-you-answer-my-question/
======
al2o3cr
I have an important homework assignment due this afternoon
at 5PM and it isn't working. Can you download it from here
{dropbox-link} and get it working by then?
IMO, the ideal response to this is to send back a quote at triple your usual
hourly rate.
~~~
brudgers
To me, the ideal response is either to ignore the question or stopping to take
the time to genuinely help. Stopping to take the time to be genuinely mean is
not a reflection upon the character of the person who asked the question and
the questioner's actions do not excuse the answerer's behavior.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Where Do the Smartest People Move? - Mz
http://www.citylab.com/work/2014/07/the-smartest-people-move-into-and-out-of-cities/373760/
======
Mz
Excerpt:
_The study 's overall takeaway? Smart people just don't like to stay put._
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Manage AWS EC2 SSH Access with IAM - hellomichibye
https://cloudonaut.io/manage-aws-ec2-ssh-access-with-iam/
======
throwaway2016a
This seems really cool but I just got in the habit of using AWS OpsWorks for
everything an OpsWorld handles this for you with Chef recipes and has a nice
front-end.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Emacs standing alone on a Linux Kernel (2004) - Ivoah
http://www.informatimago.com/linux/emacs-on-user-mode-linux.html
======
noir_lord
In concept it kinda reminds me of Oberon (I wish those had succeeded) though
the integration between the kernel and the language (elisp) isn't anything
like as tight.
For anyone who hasn't seen it (and a chance to look at the path not taken).
[https://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/wirth/ProjectOberon1992.pdf](https://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/wirth/ProjectOberon1992.pdf)
~~~
enqk
Link to the second (2013) edition:
[http://www.projectoberon.com/](http://www.projectoberon.com/)
~~~
noir_lord
Neat, I'd forgotten about that, there is also this
[http://oberonstation.x10.mx/](http://oberonstation.x10.mx/) which I keep
getting tempted by.
~~~
enqk
I thought your comparison w/ Emacs was apt.
When analysed as an interactive application Oberon makes me think the most
Acme, then Emacs. I'm struggling with defining the genuine distinctions
between operating system, application server and applications.
It seems the distinction has to do with boundaries and how they are enforced,
and by whom (I.e. the amount of user control one has on factors such as
security, isolation in contrast to the application writer)
~~~
sedachv
> When analysed as an interactive application Oberon makes me think the most
> Acme, then Emacs.
Rob Pike borrowed the UI/UX of Acme from Oberon: [http://plan9.bell-
labs.com/sys/doc/acme/acme.html](http://plan9.bell-
labs.com/sys/doc/acme/acme.html)
IMO the Oberon/Acme text-based command approach suffers all of the problems of
Unix shells, which are caused by lack of type information. Symbolics Genera's
Dynamic Windows used the mouse in a similar way to Oberon but with actions
guided by type information, concepts which can be found today in the Common
Lisp Interface Manager
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Lisp_Interface_Manager](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Lisp_Interface_Manager)).
There are Emacs modes like SLIME that do similar things and are widely used.
------
jbicha
It's appropriate to call this at least GNU/Linux, right?
~~~
peatmoss
Yes, though I'd rather this run on OpenBSD's kernel. I'd want all two of my
softwares to span the GPL/BSD divide.
~~~
amyjess
Nah, NetBSD. Let's see how many obscure architectures can run Emacs OS!
~~~
pedrocr
Linux supports more architectures than NetBSD apparently.
------
haylem
There's also always this, which I found pretty cool and somewhat functional as
well, though it goes beyong the bare "emacs on a kernel" concept:
[http://www.howardism.org/Technical/Emacs/new-window-
manager....](http://www.howardism.org/Technical/Emacs/new-window-manager.html)
I one had a VM at a workplace where all I had were outdated hardware specs and
outdated versions of Windows with few administrative privileges. It helped to
retain some sanity. For some time.
------
anon4711
PJB has become a bit (too little for my taste) of a persona non grata in the
common lisp world (which has a large overlap with the emacs world) ever since
it was suggested and so far not disproved (names match, nicknames match) that
he's the person behind
[https://twitter.com/ogamita](https://twitter.com/ogamita)
edit: To make it more precise, full names are identical and
[http://www.informatimago.com/index.html](http://www.informatimago.com/index.html)
links to [http://pjb.ogamita.org](http://pjb.ogamita.org) which uses the same
name (ogamita) as that twitter account.
~~~
omginternets
I dislike holocaust-deniers as much as the next guy, but I find it troubling
that one's political opinions should prevent us from considering a person's
work in a distinct domain. This is especially true in the present case: I see
no evidence that PJB has crossed the Hitler stream with the common lisp
stream.
People can be smart and respectable in one domain and stupid in another.
~~~
anon4711
A person can be smart in one domain and stupid in another, so much is clear
(think Grothendieck in maths and politics)
But a person cannot be both respectable and disrespectable at the same time, I
find, although I'm afraid now we might be disagreeing rather about words than
ideas. Respectability, to me, is a compliment to somebody's set of values.
~~~
omginternets
I agree, but the point was rather about censorship.
I find it troubling that we should censor (explicitly or otherwise) someone on
accounts of his respectability. I find this especially true when the source of
disrespectability stems from an unrelated topic.
------
wictory
Wouldn't it be better to port emacs to includeOS?
~~~
Ericson2314
includeOS + guile + guile-emacs
------
JulianMorrison
It's a nice operating system but someone needs to port a decent text editor.
~~~
cmrx64
spacemacs ;)
~~~
JulianMorrison
To clarify this gnomic reply: [http://spacemacs.org/](http://spacemacs.org/)
it's sort of a modal emacs with live keybinding display.
~~~
cmrx64
And it integrates many "vimisms" via evil-mode. I'd been a vim user for a long
time but was increasingly dissatisfied as I got deeper into extending it. I've
found the opposite of emacs (especially with spacemacs) almost a year into the
"conversion".
One example that I've come around with was an initial extreme distaste of
dynamic binding/non-lexical scope, from a PL standpoint of writing robust
software.
But it's also _super nice_ for incremental, interactive development.
~~~
sevensor
Having tried spacemacs, I bounced back to vim. Even though vim is just a tiny
bit more responsive, it's enough to make emacs feel laggy. Granted, I use
extensions very lightly, so I'm not feeling the qualitative difference of
being able to do something in spacemacs that's impossible in vim.
~~~
johanvts
What do you mean laggy? In the response time when typing or the time to start
a new instance of emacs? If it's the first did you try emacs -q to check that
you don't have something strange in you setup. If it's the latter, did you
check out emacs --daemon ?
~~~
sevensor
I did give emacs --daemon a try, and that definitely helped with the long
startup time. I went so far as to alias vim to emacsclient -t. But what I mean
when I say it was laggy is that typing and cursor movement are ever so
slightly less responsive. Not MS Word on Windows 3.0 laggy, just enough for me
to notice the difference. I dug into it a little bit with spacemacs and vim
open side by side, and according to top, spacemacs was using about 10x the CPU
of vim.
------
Koshkin
At least today they could have used yet another kernel for this. That would
hurd more.
------
gravypod
What's that saying? Emacs is a great OS it just needs a good text editor?
------
treuss
I always thought it was the other way around ... ఠ_ఠ
------
throwanem
Why Emacs 21.3? That's ancient.
~~~
JonathonW
Because this was written in 2004 (or earlier; 2004 is the first time
archive.org crawled it).
------
dschiptsov
What, no systemd?
------
TuringTest
So it has come to this
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
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