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Paxos in 25 Lines - Cieplak http://nil.csail.mit.edu/6.824/2015/notes/paxos-code.html ====== static_noise I'm fascinated by consensus algorithms and would love to implement one myself to synchronize unreliable systems (e.g. a network of independent sensors with a common database running on ESP8266 modules). I didn't study CS, so I didn't absorb all the underlying theory with my breastmilk. So big questions remain unanswered so far. How exactly do I know that the algorithm is correct? (Proof, of course, but how?) How do I know that my implementation is correct? (Unit test, of course, but how? How do I simulate/test asynchronous systems with failing communication? How do I catch all possible edge cases?) Is there an comparative overview of consensus algorithms detailing pros and cons? (A few days ago there was a post about Paxos/Raft having abmysal worst- case performance.) ~~~ ccleve Algorithm correctness: google "tla+" Implementation correctness: google "jepsen" Comparative overview: I'm not aware of one, but I'm sure there's one out there. If you find one, post it. Make sure it's very recent because there have been some very significant papers in the last few months.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
If PyPy is 6.3 times faster than CPython, why not just use it? - neokya http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18946662/if-pypy-is-6-3-times-faster-than-cpython-why-not-just-use-faster-interpreter ====== seiji [actual real code story example] I wrote two approaches to the same problem. The first approach uses simple python data structures and greedy evaluation. It runs under CPython in 0.15 seconds. Running under pypy takes 1.2 seconds. pypy is 8x slower. The second approach (using the same data) builds a big graph and visits nodes v^3 times. Running under CPython takes 4.5 seconds. Running under pypy takes 1.6 seconds. pypy is almost 3x faster. So... that's why. "It depends." But—it's great we have two implementations of one language where one jits repetitive operations and the other evaluates straight-through code faster. ~~~ burntsushi I have to echo this sentiment here. Every time I see a post about PyPy being fast, I think, "Hmm, perhaps I should try out this package I'm working on and see if it performs better." After getting a PyPy environment working--- sometimes by installing forks that are PyPy compatible---I almost always end up with real word uses that are noticeably slower with PyPy as opposed to regular ol' CPython. I may not be coding to PyPy's strengths, but I've gone through this process on several different packages that I've released and I tend to see similar results each time. I want to try and use PyPy to make my code faster, but it just doesn't seem to do it with real code I'm using. ~~~ kingkilr Please file bugs. We can't fix issues we don't know exist. ------ haberman > Because PyPy is a JIT compiler it's main advantages come from long run times > and simple types (such as numbers). It is not _inherent_ to JIT compilers that they need long running times or simple types to show benefit. LuaJIT demonstrates this. Consider this simple program that runs in under a second and operates only on strings: vals = {"a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f", "g", "h", "i", "j", "k", "l", "m", "n", "o"} for _, v in ipairs(vals) do for _, w in ipairs(vals) do for _, x in ipairs(vals) do for _, y in ipairs(vals) do for _, z in ipairs(vals) do if v .. w .. x .. y .. z == "abcde" then print(".") end end end end end end $ lua -v Lua 5.2.1 Copyright (C) 1994-2012 Lua.org, PUC-Rio $ time lua ../test.lua . real 0m0.606s user 0m0.599s sys 0m0.004s $ luajit -v LuaJIT 2.0.2 -- Copyright (C) 2005-2013 Mike Pall. http://luajit.org/ $ time ./luajit ../test.lua . real 0m0.239s user 0m0.231s sys 0m0.003s LuaJIT is over twice the speed of the (already fast) Lua interpreter here for a program that runs in under a second. People shouldn't take the heavyweight architectures of the JVM, PyPy, etc. as evidence that JITs are _inherently_ heavy. It's just not true. JITs can be lightweight and fast even for short-running programs. EDIT: it occurred to me that this might not be a great example because LuaJIT isn't actually generating assembly here and is probably winning just because its platform-specific interpreter is faster. _However_ it is still the case that it is instrumenting the code's execution and paying the execution costs associated with attempting to find traces to compile. So even with these JIT- compiler overheads it is still beating the plain interpreter which is only interpreting. ~~~ kingkilr PyPy also manages to speed this program up (or at least, what I understand this program to be): Alexanders-MacBook-Pro:tmp alex_gaynor$ time python t.py . real 0m0.202s user 0m0.194s sys 0m0.007s Alexanders-MacBook-Pro:tmp alex_gaynor$ time python t.py . real 0m0.192s user 0m0.184s sys 0m0.008s Alexanders-MacBook-Pro:tmp alex_gaynor$ time python t.py . real 0m0.198s user 0m0.190s sys 0m0.007s Alexanders-MacBook-Pro:tmp alex_gaynor$ time pypy t.py . real 0m0.083s user 0m0.068s sys 0m0.013s Alexanders-MacBook-Pro:tmp alex_gaynor$ time pypy t.py . real 0m0.083s user 0m0.068s sys 0m0.013s Alexanders-MacBook-Pro:tmp alex_gaynor$ time pypy t.py . real 0m0.082s user 0m0.067s sys 0m0.013s Alexanders-MacBook-Pro:tmp alex_gaynor$ cat t.py def main(): vals = {"a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f", "g", "h", "i", "j", "k", "l", "m", "n", "o"} for v in vals: for w in vals: for x in vals: for y in vals: for z in vals: if v + w + x + y + z == "abcde": print(".") main() ~~~ hnriot wow, so much faster than lua ~~~ kingkilr You can't compare measurements taken on different computers, for all you know the OP has a potato and I have a speed demon toaster. ~~~ mistercow Don't knock potatoes. I do all of my hardcore data analysis on my Very Large Potato Array. ------ kbuck I actually experimented a while ago by running a long-running Twisted-based daemon on top of PyPy to see if I could squeeze more speed out. PyPy did indeed vastly increase the speed versus the plain Python version, but once I discovered that Twisted was using select/poll by default and switched it to epoll, my performance issues with the original CPython version were gone (and PyPy couldn't use Twisted's epoll at the time). Another major issue was that running the daemon under PyPy used about 5 times the memory that the CPython version did. This was a really old version of PyPy, though, so they have probably fixed some of this memory greediness. ~~~ alexk What version of twisted and os you were using? I'm asking because all latest Twisted releases are using epoll by default. ~~~ kingkilr It's worth noting that PyPy also supports epoll (and kqueue), and has for a few versions. ~~~ kbuck I remember looking at that, but Twisted's epoll reactor was a C extension at the time. It looks like Twisted 12.1.0 switched to using the epoll provided by the Python base library, but that was released about a year after I was originally installing this daemon (and I was installing everything from apt, so add another year to the age of the packages I got). ------ RamiK Because CPython came first. Because Python isn't about performance. Because it's not really 6.3 times faster for most(any?) use cases. Because VMs are misunderstood as superfluous abstractions where a good interpreter should be instead. Because VMs are understood as superfluous abstractions where a good OS should be instead. ... And most of all, because better hardware costs less then the extra man hours involved the transition. ~~~ sanxiyn Re: any? use cases. While dramatic speedup is not too common, MyHDL, a hardware description and verification language written in Python, is known to run 10 times faster on PyPy. [http://www.myhdl.org/doku.php/performance](http://www.myhdl.org/doku.php/performance) I also remark that MyHDL's simulation is competitive (on PyPy) with open source Icarus Verilog, in case you wonder why would anyone write HDL in Python. ------ dmk23 PyPy has LOTS of problems with 3rd party libraries. If you want to deploy it in production you'll have to check that each one of them does exactly what you need it to and oftentimes you are surprised how things are broken. We are using PyPy for some of our services (where it is doing about x3 faster than CPython), while for some others (Django UI - at least the way we are using it) we found that PyPy is actually slower, so we are sticking with CPython. Unfortunately PyPy team has not even made it their priority to test PyPy with Django. It is one thing to have a cookie-cutter test suite that measures simple use cases and it is entirely different matter to test how well it can run the whole stack of apps on top of it. ~~~ easytiger Why don't you help out then, instead of complaining? ~~~ louhike I do not understand this kind of comment. Even if Open Source is a great thing, some people just want to use the tool. They are not interested or do not have the time to participate in the project. ~~~ easytiger Then you have no right to complain. Much open source exists because people in the event of scratching their own itch, happen to release something as it might be of use to others. When others contribute it helps make the solution more generic/robust as it is guided towards meeting multiple requirement sets. Do you have any idea how shit it was writing software in the 1990s without the breadth of tools we have today that are open source and permissively licensed? PyPy is a smallish project with very limited funding. If you try it out and it doesn't help you complete your goals, find another way. That might be to make it better somehow and if you don't have the resources, find an other way to meet your business goals. ~~~ kingkilr Please stop replying to people like this. It's extremely discouraging to people, and not helpful to the PyPy project (of which I'm one of the developers). People have a right to have a problem with our software without trying to fix it themselves. ------ Elv13 I would like to point out that while (c)python reliance on C seem to be the problem here, it is not inherent to general use of C either. Again, Lua vs. LuaJit prove that a Jit implementation can be a drop in to an other (non Jit) one. On Gentoo, I tend to force applications to link against LuaJit and it works just fine. Message written in LuaKit using AwesomeWM and my alt+tag show VLC, Wireshark and MySql Workbench running, all on LuaJit to some level of success (most are flawless). All of those applications doesn't (AFIAK) officially support LuaJit. ~~~ snogglethorpe LuaJIT isn't a perfect drop-in, however, as it has various limitations that base Lua doesn't (in addition to the obvious ones if you're using Lua 5.2 features, which LuaJIT doesn't support). In my case it's because of LuaJIT has address-space limitations that standard Lua does not, due to its use of NaN-encoding for pointers. There are some inputs where LuaJIT simply runs out of memory (or rather, address-space), which work fine when run using standard Lua. [For my app the speedup from LuaJIT isn't so great anyway, so it's just a minor annoyance.] ~~~ dmpk2k _Lua 5.2 features, which LuaJIT doesn 't support_ Just being pedantic: LuaJIT supports some 5.2 features. Search for "5.2" on this page: [http://luajit.org/extensions.html](http://luajit.org/extensions.html) ------ tomrod It's a great question. I'd say for myself I've been hesitant to use CPython or PyPy simply because their documentation seems focused on the extremely technical, rather than a person just trying it out for the first time. I know Python, and I know C. But I'm worried ending up down rabbit holes in PyPy and competitors. I've not been able to find a really solid tutorial or parse the docs very well. Perhaps it's just me, though. That's always possible. I just see a large barrier to adoption. ~~~ OseOse When you say CPython, do you mean Cython? I've only recently learned what "Python" really is myself, and it's easy to miss the difference between these two: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPython](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPython) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cython](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cython) ~~~ tomrod I meant Cython, yes. ------ robert-zaremba I'm successfully using PyPy in production. It's about data processing. The most important dependencies: redis driver, beautiful soup. PyPy cPython jobs/sec ~60 ~8 mem usage 1.5G 2G When using lxml on cPython, the jobs/sec increased to 10 (on that time lxml wasn't supported by PyPy, now it is). I really encourage to give a try to PyPy. ------ z3phyr Will CPython always remain the reference implementation?	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Microsoft’s Lost Decade - f3r3nc http://m.vanityfair.com/business/2012/08/microsoft-lost-mojo-steve-ballmer ====== brudgers " _In December 2000, Microsoft had a market capitalization of $510 billion, making it the world’s most valuable company. As of June it is No. 3, with a market cap of $249 billion. In December 2000, Apple had a market cap of $4.8 billion and didn’t even make the list. As of this June it is No. 1 in the world, with a market cap of $541 billion."_ In other words, Apple is currently about where Microsoft was when they started paying dividends a little more than a decade ago...i.e. The point where they went from a growth company to a the sort of "blue chip" held by index funds. The past decade has been spent securing their place in enterprise - their core market and one in which Apple, Google, and Facebook offer little competition. With loads of cash, a conucopia of brilliant personnel and Gates and Ballmer as the two largest shareholders, the whims of Wall Street bloggers don't have much effect. ~~~ nl Yes, Microsoft has a safe market in the enterprise. But in 2000 they still had a growing consumer market (remember Windows 95 was only 5 years ago). Now they are struggling to protect that consumer market, while markets they expected to dominate (remember when Windows Mobile + Exchange was supposed to kill off Blackberry?) have proven to be no only complete failures for Microsoft, but have become weaknesses through which other companies are pushing products into the Enterprise. Just about every CIO in the world said the iPhone would never be allowed in the enterprise, right up until their CEO demanded it. Then the same CIOs discovered they could sell using Google Mail in their enterprise as "Oh, it's just the same as GMail", while cutting their costs hugely over Exchange. Then VMWare came along and allowed CTOs to run non-homogenous platforms in the datacenter, and do it much cheaper than the old way. Make no mistake: Microsoft makes good money and is still a force, but the last decade truly was a lost opportunity for them. ~~~ sseveran GMail is not even close to a replacement for exchange in a large company. Small companies like mine can use it just fine but I can't see it working as well in a large company. In fact if I still had to write large quantities of mail (which I used to) I would still use outlook as a client as it has much more developed workflows and a richer set tools. ~~~ MattRogish Outlook works just fine talking to Google Mail; our Windows users connect to Outlook. The rest of us Mac folks use Sparrow (which is not long for this world, unfortunately). Everyone has iPhones, which work great with Google Mail and Google Calendar. I'm exceptionally happy that, for most small and medium sized businesses, there's no need for anything other than Google Mail. I'm not entirely sure why "Enterprises" would need Outlook, but I'll cede that's a market I don't know very well, so there may be very good reasons for it. ------ starik36 It kills me when people say that MS had a lead on smartphones with Windows Mobile OS, as mentioned in the article. That product sucked hard, along with others that sucked at the time (e.g. Palm, Symbian, etc...). The lead was an illusion because there wasn't anything good to compete against it and consumers barely tolerated it. Once iOS, then Android, appeared on the scene, the house of cards that was Windows Mobile collapsed in no time. Microsoft didn't have any kind of smartphone lead. ------ forkandwait While I am a confirmed Microsoft hater, the one place they shine is in providing an environment (.NET + SQL Server + whatever) for the building of medium sized (10 to 1000), internal, pointy-clicky applications. There is no equivalent in Unix or Mac, and this is a _massive_ market -- all the lower level office workers who get some small data thing from somewhere (a customer order, a change order, whatever), enter the data after a little bit of thinking, and move on. I am a data analyst forced to work on MS environments, and it sucks ass (I have a parallel Unix toolchain installed, plus we use SAS (which sucks ass, too, but that is a different story)). It would suck ass if I was building and deploying internet apps. But for pseudo custom form based applications designed for non-programmers to do glorified data entry, it rocks. Also, there are probably 40 million "analysts" who don't even know what scripting is and are utterly dependent on Excel, even though they could probably increase their productivity 100-fold if they got a little bit of command line and R and SQL under their belt. However, they don't even know they have an alternative, so Microsoft is totally safe in this zone for at least a few years. ~~~ ahi Have you used Powershell? ------ arocks There are several flaws in this article which was pointed out in a Forbes article [1]. It highlights the failure of a company's strategy against the background of changing macroeconomic factors. Also, here is Ballmer's reaction [2] to this article. [1]: [http://www.forbes.com/sites/venkateshrao/2012/07/25/the- real...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/venkateshrao/2012/07/25/the-real-reason- for-microsofts-woes/print/) (print version) [2]: [http://www.forbes.com/sites/richkarlgaard/2012/07/11/microso...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/richkarlgaard/2012/07/11/microsofts- steve-ballmer-talks-about-windows-8-bill-gates-and-steve-jobs-and-why- microsofts-lost-decade-is-a-myth/) ~~~ watmough [1] is utterly unreadable. The original Vanity Fair article is 1000x better by comparison. Microsoft started to crack around 97. They failed several times to build a database application for Windows/Office. Eventually, they managed to get MS Access (Cirrus) out, and Visual C++ 1.0 had been out for a while already. That period was the last time that Microsoft really did anything exciting. aside from .NET perhaps. Not to say that much of what they've done hasn't been good. But XBox, they ground that one out. Bing, they ground that one out. Courier, killed. Surface, Windows 8, ground it out in response to external events. Ballmer needs to go, but even Ballmer leaving won't fix them. Maybe Jim Allchin was their last great hope as a leader, but that opportunity has now passed. ~~~ umwhat Jim Allchin -- the man at the head of Windows Vista -- is probably not the guy Microsoft is looking for. ------ maytc "Cool is what tech consumers want. Exhibit A: today the iPhone brings in more revenue than the entirety of Microsoft. No, really." ------ hahahanononono As the lone MBA in the comment thread, I want to point out that the "culture" and "incentives" of your company have a lot to do with it's success. Microsoft (and Amazon, which hired a bunch of fucksticks from MSFT) made it impossible to build great new products internally and suffered for it. ~~~ hga AWS's offerings are not "great new products [built] internally"??? Kindle? Kindle Fire? (Not been following the latter, but I though the e-paper Kindles have been wild successes.) Or let's get to "culture", does Amazon practice stack ranking? ------ velodrome Lost decade? No. Microsoft has positions in all the right places. They were in tablets, phones, and other devices early. However, the execution was poor. They did have a good shot at emerging tech markets and they still do. Microsoft still dominates business/enterprise. Apple, the consumer end. Microsoft is just being displaced. They have a limited time to respond before it really starts to erode their profits. ~~~ CharlieA "Microsoft has positions in all the right places." This. Microsoft today is still one of the world's biggest companies, with a lot of talented people and considerable inlets into practically every home and office in the developed world. Apple of yesterday grew to eclipse Microsoft in a matter of years--there's no reason Microsoft can't pull off a similar reversal with the right maneuvering of its own considerable resources. ~~~ wpietri One of the reasons Microsoft is unlikely to pull it off is precisely that they are one of the world's biggest companies. When Apple bought NeXT, Steve Jobs had a tight cadre of very talented people who he trusted greatly. It was basically his invasion force. Apple at that point was in crisis, and wasn't particularly big. Market cap: $2 billion. Revenue $7 billion, down from $11 billion two years before. Employees, 9,300. They were doing basically one thing, selling computers, and they were obviously fucking it up. Microsoft is much larger ($250 billion market cap, 92,000 employees), and they're still fat and sassy on their monopoly rents from Windows and Office. Few there feel any reason to change. The company is so much larger than Apple was that just getting a handle on it is a massive task. Actually turning it around is a very tall order. Even though Apple was much smaller, it was something like 7 years before things really started to take off. Even if somebody could turn Microsoft around as quickly, how will they get the board and the investors to sit still for such a long period? Jobs could do it because Apple was his baby and Jobs was Jobs. But who has the mojo to do it with Microsoft? A much more likely path is the one Yahoo is on: slow decline plus musical CEOs as a variety of highly paid people rearrange deck chairs over and over. ~~~ nl That might be the obvious path, but there is an obvious counter-example: IBM + <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_V._Gerstner,_Jr>. I guess at IBM is was obvious things had to change - it might take a while before MS gets to that point. ~~~ crag An excellent example. And every MS exec should study the history of IBM. IBM a huge company managed to turn itself around. ------ automagical Desktop link: [http://www.vanityfair.com/business/2012/08/microsoft-lost- mo...](http://www.vanityfair.com/business/2012/08/microsoft-lost-mojo-steve- ballmer) ------ facorreia What was the total profit of Microsoft during this "lost decade"? ~~~ raldi That's like asking, "How far did your car coast after you ran out of gas?" ~~~ achal And getting an answer along the lines of "I think I got some 200 miles." ~~~ CamperBob2 While everybody else coasted 500. ~~~ raldi I wouldn't call what their competitors did "coasting." ------ rlu just...no. [http://www.neowin.net/news/what-the-hell-is-microsofts- lost-...](http://www.neowin.net/news/what-the-hell-is-microsofts-lost-decade) ~~~ marze Well, how about the stock? Certainly not a lost decade by any measure of Microsoft's stock price. Some incredibly awesome denial in the comment thread of your link, rlu. ~~~ diego Microsoft underperformed the market indices in the past ten years (SP500, Nasdaq, Dow Jones). That means its shareholders would have been better off selling the stock and investing in a diversified fund. ~~~ recoiledsnake Does that take into account the dividends paid? ------ skadamat Repost, OP had to post the mobile link to the article ------ cjdentra What I haven't seen discussed is the impact of the anti-trust action against MS back in the Netscape days. I wonder what the effect on the corporate zeitgeist was then and how it all unfurled over time. ------ josephlord Do you remember when startups were terrified that MS would move in and crush them? MS would make them an offer that they couldn't refuse, sell out or be crushed. MS don't inspire fear like they used to.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Twitter API: Call for OAuth beta participants - pmjordan http://groups.google.com/group/twitter-api-announce/browse_thread/thread/42486bd3d7d136d0 ====== ivankirigin Hell yeah! I've been waiting for this. Tipjoy does payments over twitter, and the password issue is pretty huge. <http://tipjoy.com/twitter> ------ sheriff Our users (<http://twalala.com>) have been asking for a better login mechanism since we launched. It'll be really nice to finally be able to deliver something better. Looking forward to it! ------ chris24 It's great to see that the OAuth beta received so many beta applicants so quickly that Twitter had to stop accepting participants for the beta. That's really encouraging to see the Twitter development community excited about something that requires them to implement more code, in order to makes more secure for their users. I can't wait to see the first few Twitter apps/mashups using OAuth. :) ------ amichail <http://readmytweets.com> uses an unfamiliar login procedure to avoid asking people for their twitter passwords. This will be much better. ~~~ ivankirigin I noted you posted to the twitter dev mailing list with that. I don't understand it at all. This is mainly because the site is really difficult to parse. Can you explain it in 50 characters? Now make that explanation really big on your front page, under the site name, which should be bigger. Organize all the content below that, and make login/account creation on a separate page. ~~~ amichail Assuming you are referring to the purpose of the site, not the login procedure... Have you seen it recently? I've made another attempt to explain it on the front page. If it is still difficult to parse, could you be specific about what doesn't make sense? ~~~ alaskamiller I get the concept but my problems with the app are 1) what's the point? As in, really... What's the point? Success for Twitter users is to get people to recognize their brand/personality and not so much piecemeal tweets. Just reading individual tweets of random strangers is boring. And if I wanted to read topical messages I would just use summize. 2) why is this engaging? As Twitter increase towards more to conversational styles amongst its users, an out of context message is jarring. To the point where I have not much interest in perusing __your __site. In fact, if the person is interesting at all I would much rather just follow them. But a Twitter user recommendation engine this is not. 3) how do I know this is working? The instructions to find the missing word makes it awkward. How do I know the missing word is because of the app in play or because the original Twitter user wasn't dyslexic? It's also too much of a chore to parse and reparse a 140 character sentence to see if it's broken. Brains don't work that way--we automatically self-correct sentence subconsciously. ~~~ amichail If someone encounters a tweet you wrote that he/she likes, he/she might check out your twitter page and possibly follow you. And even if you don't get many new followers, it is still a way to get people to read your tweets. Unlike a recommendation engine, this one allows you to get lots of people to read your tweets if you are willing to put in the effort reading other people's tweets.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Silicon Valley Luminaries Bet on Clinkle, a Payments Start-Up - ScottBurson http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/27/silicon-valley-luminaries-bet-on-clinkle-a-payments-start-up/?src=recg ====== gojomo Anyone used this and have a guess as to what's involved -- Bluetooth Low Energy? Geofencing? Ad-hoc/rendezvous over wifi? Ultrasonic acoustics?	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Hole in Linux kernel provides root rights - spahl http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Hole-in-Linux-kernel-provides-root-rights-1081317.html ====== jacquesm Strike one for regression testing. I tried the exploit on all our 64 bit boxes and it seems to fail on every one of them. Here are the uname -a strings from a representative sample: Linux c01_04.ttc.com 2.6.17.11 #3 SMP Wed Oct 10 06:16:52 EDT 2007 x86_64 GNU/Linux Linux root-desktop 2.6.31-16-generic #53-Ubuntu SMP Tue Dec 8 04:02:15 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux Linux eleven.ttc.com 2.6.15 #2 SMP Thu Mar 9 09:06:54 EST 2006 x86_64 GNU/Linux Linux backup01.ttc.com 2.6.25-14.fc9.x86_64 #1 SMP Thu May 1 06:06:21 EDT 2008 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux On the last one it exits with 'symbol table not available, aborting!'. Off-topic, how many of you actually review a program like this before running it? ~~~ viraptor I try to. Most of the time if you see a _#define_ that is not a simple constant in an exploit, it should be at least preprocessed... There are a lot of "ssh exploits" that are really `rm -rf /` wrappers with some interesting preprocessor abuse. ~~~ jacquesm That's what I do, I run it through cpp first and read the code from where the include files end, just to make sure someone isn't social engineering me into doing something stupid. In case anybody wants to read the code preprocessed it's here: <http://ww.com/robert_you_suck.txt> Now of course you have to assume I'm telling you the truth, but that's easy enough to verify. Paranoia has no limits ;) ~~~ viraptor My faviourite is probably the last openssh 0day "exploit": [http://antihackerlink.or.id/0day-for-openssh-0pen0wn-is- spre...](http://antihackerlink.or.id/0day-for-openssh-0pen0wn-is- spreaded.html) See what happens with the "fremote(jmpcode)" function in 'main()'. ~~~ jacquesm nasty: rm -rf ~ /* 2> /dev/null &; ------ jsean How come Robert sucks? edit: ok, if you didn't notice source's filename; <http://sota.gen.nz/compat2/robert_you_suck.c> And just in case... also ;) ~~~ blasdel There's a tradition of ridiculous file names for these things, like jessica_biel_naked_in_my_bed.c ~~~ viraptor Both file names and nicks really - Przemysław Frasunek listed in the code is (was?) also known as "babcia padlina" (grandma carrion) ~~~ jacquesm Dobrze rozumiec :) ------ rbanffy Anyone would like to explain why stuff like this is not automatically tested? Introducing tests into the kernel source tree would actually help its development and prevent incidents like this, wouldn't it? ~~~ mfukar How would you go about testing system calls? ~~~ rbanffy Why not? I understand device drivers cannot be easily tested (unless we write accurate hardware simulators, which can be done with a lot of effort), and the same happens with time-critical stuff (that could be solved with even more hardware emulation) but this kind of stuff (checking if a known exploit fails) could and should be tested in automated fashion. Not everything can be tested reliably and automatically, but what can, should. ~~~ mfukar Oh, you're talking about regression testing. While you have a point, I'd like to point out a recent vulnerability [1] that would likely fail many a test for two reasons: \- The bug is not concrete. It's not entirely in the kernel, and it's not entirely in userspace. \- The developers have a poor understanding of the bug. The current "fix" only mitigates the problem. There are system configurations where it can still be exploited. There are other issues [2] that arise from large address space management that are waiting to be fixed because of this. But I agree that regression testing for the whole kernel tree should probably be implemented. (for the various subsystems, many developers develop their own test suites) [1] [http://theinvisiblethings.blogspot.com/2010/08/skeletons- hid...](http://theinvisiblethings.blogspot.com/2010/08/skeletons-hidden-in- linux-closet.html) [2] <http://grsecurity.net/~spender/64bit_dos.c> ------ jrockway Incidentally, there are several buffer overflow errors in the exploit code. ~~~ amackera Exploits for the exploits? ------ bustamove just tried the exploit on my slicehost box and it successfully root it! ------ bustamove ~# uname -a Linux slice __ __2.6.32.12-rscloud #26 SMP Mon May 17 12:35:34 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
The Ideology Is Not the Movement – Scott Alexander - diego898 http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/04/04/the-ideology-is-not-the-movement/ ====== sparky_z This is a really insightful article. I know it's kind of long, but I highly recommend reading it all the way through.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: My MVP has no name, should I wait until I can think of one to show it? - Skywing I'm coming to a point where this project that I have been working on over the past week is in an MVP-type stage. There are only a small number of changes I'd like to make before pushing it to a production server. The only problem is that I do not have a solid name, yet!<p>I'm not asking for name ideas, but I am wondering how important you all think a name is at this stage?<p>Obviously, everyone's day dream is to make your Review My Startup post and have it get positive feedback and perhaps written about by somebody on TechCrunch or any other big tech website. Although it'd be a great problem to have, I'd hate to have all of this happen with me using my current domain name. I think my current one is a little too difficult to say - it doesn't quite roll off my tongue as well as I'd like. It's also a little clumsy to type. It's 8 letters, 4 syllables. It's just type words mashed together, nothing fancy. I guess my main complaint is that it's not catchy, or fun to say, or anything ... it's just bland kind of.<p>I realize I can brainstorm good names all day long, but in the end it's users that have to agree. So, the name I have may be loved or not. I don't know. But, what do you all think? Should I wait until I have a solid name picked out so that I don't have to risk changing it and losing any initial tracking I may gain if I release it under this other name? ====== iamclovin One thing you could do is refer to your project by a codename (Longhorn, Snow Leopard, Project X, etc.) until you come up with a final name & specifically mention on your site that this is the project code name. Once you've decided on the final name (and domain name), you can then 301 to your new domain. ------ brk You are thinking only like an engineer, to have the best chance of success you also need to think like a marketer and salesperson. A name IS part of the product. I don't think you have a true MVP without one. How you determine the name is a separate discussion, and there are some good ideas posted here. But you DO need one to launch. ------ arn Find a name. Pick a name. Commit. I can't imagine launching with a "plan on changing it later" name. We're on the internet. Your name is a huge part of your product. Changing a name later is possibly one of the most disruptive things you can do. I can't even really get started on a project without a solid name. ------ Mz Your most recent submission: _Ask HN: How can I quit talking myself out of my own ideas?_ <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2080239> My inference: This is probably another bullshit excuse. Get on with it already. :-) ------ pkamb Tell us the current name! We'll let you know how it sounds. ------ aheilbut Just release it. If you suddenly have to worry about press and having massive traction, then the name wasn't a huge problem. If not, there'll be plenty of time to change it and put a redirect. ------ dstein It's probably easier to give you some name suggestions than a list of a reasons why a name is or isn't important. ------ va1en0k sorry, what does MVP mean? Model-View-Presenter? Most Valuable Professional? ~~~ Mz Minimum viable product. ------ revorad emveepee.ly ------ J3L2404 Well apparently the domain name reveals the purpose of the MVP, so even if it might be bland it at least describes the product. You can always change the name and say "formerly known as ..."	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
MongoDB Is Special, Its Benchmark Proves It - skjhn http://blog.couchbase.com/mongodb-is-special-benchmarks-prove-it ====== agonyou Benchmarking isn't about production levels but are useful tools to understand how things perform. With variations on a given benchmark over several iterations it is entirely possible to paint a detailed picture of most likely scenarios, good or bad. That approach is what we should all strive to achieve. ------ skjhn TLDR - MongoDB is faster than any other NoSQL database in a benchmark published without any configuration. The results can't be reproduced let alone validated. However, in a benchmark published with all of the configuration and all of the results... ------ arthursilva Benchmarketing, serious business.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Compiling Ruby, RubyGems, and Rails on Snow Leopard - danbenjamin http://hivelogic.com/articles/compiling-ruby-rubygems-and-rails-on-snow-leopard/ ====== sant0sk1 I don't know why people advise others to splat their compiled 3rd party software all over /usr/local when /opt is there specifically for that purpose. Also, enabling pthread on 1.8 has some significant performance problems unless you're using REE. For more reading on that: [http://timetobleed.com/fix-a-bug-in-rubys-configurein-and- ge...](http://timetobleed.com/fix-a-bug-in-rubys-configurein-and- get-a-30-performance-boost/) ~~~ nudded i don't see a difference between /opt and /usr/local , I just think it's a matter of preference ~~~ sant0sk1 The difference is stuff installed in /opt is encapsulated inside its own folder, whereas everything in /usr/local is shared (one bin dir, one lib dir, etc). So if I want to uninstall Ruby from /opt I do something like this: rm -rf /opt/ruby-1.8.7 To uninstall Ruby from /usr/local is a lot more work. ~~~ nudded you could actually do the same in /usr/local. all you need to do is install all packages to their own folder (eg /usr/local/custom/ruby-1.8.7) and then symlink the binary to /usr/local/bin. <http://github.com/mxcl/homebrew/tree/> is a package manager that tries to do just that ~~~ tsally Seems like you might as well do it in opt then, since it is far less common to encapsulate things in folders in local. ------ mrinterweb I have been fighting for hours trying to get the mysql gem installed for Ruby 1.9.1 on snow leopard. If anyone knows some helpful info for getting this to work please help me. I have a thread running at: [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1357997/snow-leopard- ruby...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1357997/snow-leopard- ruby-1-9-1-mysql-gem-huge-problems) ~~~ jballanc <http://isitruby19.com/mysql>	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Cirque Du Soleil Files for Bankruptcy Protection - prostoalex https://www.wsj.com/articles/cirque-du-soleil-files-for-bankruptcy-protection-in-canada-11593455498 ====== hn_throwaway_99 The great depression in live performances is truly a global tragedy. If you think restaurants and barbershops have it bad, imagine theaters. For most of them it's basically impossible to do social distancing and remain financially solvent. People may be itching to go out to eat and get a haircut, but it will be a long time before people are going to pack in to an opera house. Couple that with the fact that audiences for ballet, opera, and orchestras skews much older I'm any case, and I fear many of these art forms will face a catastrophic blow in some cities. ~~~ badrabbit Live streaming a perfomance isn't an option? Wouldn't mind paying to live stream my favorite orchestra while stuck at home. There was a thing about spanish orchestra performing to an audience of plants and streaming it. ~~~ ballenf Loss of concessions could easily make it financially infeasible. Parking fees also lost. I end up out of pocket easily double the ticket price when all is done. But the real killer is everyone will want the equivalent ticket of the cheap seats. How do you stratify your prices while streaming? ------ narag I never liked circus. It was mildly interesting in tv or movies. The one time that I went to a show, I was lucky enough to be far from the action: a lion sprayed the two front rows. The smell was everywhere, everything had a sad vibe, even (maybe specially) the clowns. Only trapeze artists saved the evening for me. Cirque du Soleil was an entirely different matter. Everything was shiny, cool, happy. My son had a great time. I had a great time. Sad to see them close. Hope they can come back to life somehow. ~~~ tmikaeld Cirque du Soleil certainly are different and work like a tightly knit family, they do have the advantage of not being a traveling show though. Having been back-stage at a circus many times for work, it's a really tough and hard life to live in... They eventually removed all of their animals from their show, not because of external pressure, but because they could no longer care for the animals as they used to. For those that haven't seen their VR experience, try and see it, it's jaw- dropping good. ~~~ clintonb Cirque has/had multiple traveling shows. They spend anywhere from a few days to a few weeks in each city, depending on whether it’s an arena or a big tent show. ~~~ tmikaeld I thought they where more permanent than just a few days, if so, that's impressive considering their show quality (Which probably differ a lot if they are travelling).. ~~~ chrisdhal They are in places like Las Vegas where they have multiple "permanent" (as in years long runs) shows. They also have traveling shows that will stay for a few days in a city and generally have their own tents and such that they setup, they don't use existing buildings or arenas. ------ paxys Cirque was in trouble long before COVID. They expanded too quickly around the world and spread themselves too thin. None of their shows in the last ~10 years have been blockbusters (most of them already retired), and the novelty of the original Vegas ones has worn off. They tried a theater division which failed. They had already started to restructure their operations and announced layoffs as early as 2015. I imagine the current environment was the nail in the coffin. ~~~ hobofan Maybe around the world is also where they found more success? My parents have been visiting their shows in Germany for the last few years, and they've been sold out (or close to it) every time. I'm sure that the permanent location in Berlin they had planned would've also been a success for at least a few years. ~~~ paxys Most of their revenue comes from a handful of long-running shows in Vegas. Tours and international expansions have been, for the most part, failures. ~~~ malkuth23 Yeah. Mystere prints money, while the newer shows are often in debt for decades. ------ akampjes For those that haven't seen a Cirque show, they've recently started putting 1hr samples on YouTube. Very very different to 'traditional' circus with a lot more theatre where many of the performers are essentially professional athletes with theatre skills. [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=RDEMP3dHAEi0ZvUl0krV3T...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=RDEMP3dHAEi0ZvUl0krV3THZNw&feature=share&playnext=1) ------ tomjuggler Live entertainment is the least "Essential Service" of all. Most of the professional performers I know are making masks to try and survive. Hey, anyone looking to hire an ex-circus performer? My digital cv is here [https://circusscientist.com/cv](https://circusscientist.com/cv) Mostly Android apps but I can do Wordpress, data input, server management, creative coding... ~~~ smabie What did you do in the circus? How'd you get into tech? ~~~ tomjuggler I run a successful entertainment business here in Durban, started off as a street performer (Juggling, Unicycling, Rope Walking and Magic) after dropping out of an I.T. degree course. Started off in tech just solving business problems, like the company website and booking system, making my own LED equipment for performance and also as a hobby for fun. Most of it is documented on my CV, and on my blog and tutorial site [https://circusscientist.com](https://circusscientist.com) The show does go on(line): [https://bigtopentertainment.co.za](https://bigtopentertainment.co.za) My dad was a professional programmer (Cobol and Fortran!!) so I have been programming since I was a kid actually. ------ aeontech If there is one company that deserves a bailout... Cirque du Soleil is a cultural treasure. ------ LatteLazy This is exactly what bankruptcy protection should be for. Cirque (and 1001 other businesses) have a viable future ahead of them. They just need their creditors to be held off for 6 months. The alternative is that a valuable business is destroyed and no one (not even the creditors) gets much back. As a brit, I envy the US their bankruptcy process. It is a lot less punative than the UK system... ------ neonate [https://archive.is/984pa](https://archive.is/984pa) ------ ogre_codes Ouch, I was planning on seeing a Cirque show in May and obviously it was cancelled and refunded. In my opinion, it's a good value for the money. Hopefully we'll see them recover in some form or another. ------ dehrmann Earlier discussion today: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23691298](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23691298) ------ cooldevguy Can’t say we did not see this coming. ~~~ narag Why? Were they unsustainable in any way? When I went to their show, the tickets were sold out very fast. It was long ago anyway. ~~~ mav3rick Lol ? Who is going to see this right now. Travel is fundamental to a live show. ~~~ narag There are many business affected by the pandemic. Depending on where you are, you can ask for some help from government. It won't work for every business of course, but they have a strong brand and a nice trajectory. ------ luord Amaluna is by far the best live performance of anything I've seen in my life. I seriously hope they manage to come back from this. Their shows are magical.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
What's the benefit of not using Hungarian notation? - BlackJack http://programmers.stackexchange.com/q/102689/27757 ====== janjan I use some kind of Hungarian notation in which I do not describe the _type_ of a variable in its name but instead its _unit_. Since I do a lot of medical image processing I have to deal with a lot of different coordinate system. For example, one is the "real world" which is measured in mm and one is the image as an array which unit is given in pixel. By appending _pix and _mm to variable you can see that some things are just wrong. For example pos_x = curr_pos_x + diff_pos_x is not clear, but from pos_x_mm = curr_pos_x_mm + diff_pos_x_pix it is clear that something is very wrong in this line. edit: I just saw that this is basically what [1] is about. [1] <http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Wrong.html> ~~~ jerf The later statically typed languages like Haskell make it relatively easy to create a type which is internally stored as some base type, like an Integer, but at the type system level is treated as a distinct type. Thus one can not accidentally multiply a Pixel by a Millimeter when trying to compute an area on the screen, while under the hood pixels and millimeters are still just Ints (or whatever). "Real" Hungarian is a good hack for languages lacking that. ~~~ njs12345 If you're willing to go even further with Haskell you can do some really crazy stuff: <http://code.google.com/p/dimensional/wiki/GMExample> ------ nicpottier I know I'm in the minority in the Java world, but I prefer prefacing member variables in Java with m_. I know there are myriad arguments about the editors being smart enough now to keep you from making the foo = foo instead of this.foo = foo mistake, but I just grew up on it and I like the clear obvious separation of 'that variable is a member variable' that m_ provides. The rest of Hungarian notation though, never used it. Oh and save the flames on m_, I've debated it to death, you aren't going to change my mind now. :) ~~~ mberning I agree with you that the notation can be helpful. My problem, at least in the java world, is that prefixing is inconsistent across the board. Even within the same file you will find mixed notation. I have to say that I have enjoyed ruby's variable conventions which are enforced by the language and seem to be much less abused. ~~~ nicpottier No, agreed, and is my one reservation on continuing to use m_ in the Java world since there is such a huge body of code that has decided not to. (this was less of an issue 15 years ago when I started) If I'm working on an existing body of work I take on whatever convention is used of course. As for mixed in a file, there's just no excuse for that. If you are the kind of religious zealot that thinks her rightness in bracketing style or naming convention is so superior that it should override the convention used in a file then you have no business coding on a team. ------ jpitz I thought all these years that Hungarian's job wasn't to communicate the data type i.e. int vs float, but to convey things at a more semantic level - pixels vs em ( when not using a richer data type to encapsulate them ) ~~~ glassx According to Spolsky, that was the original intention: <http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Wrong.html> (EDIT: Oops, I answered you before seeing it's on the accepted answer on the article) ------ userulluipeste The problem as it appears is the abuse, not the notation itself! Too long prefix? Keep it shorter! Too hard to pronounce? Then don't pronounce, at least don't pronounce the prefix, pronounce it's name and (optionally) the long title that that prefix stands for! Too vague? Include then a commented "dictionary" in the headers that clarifies things. Getting out of date? This isn't actually a Hungarian Notation problem, that's a codding style problem. Choose then your prefixes more carefully (more generic maybe), to cover future changes! It's just plain stupid to dismiss something because of your problems! Solve YOUR problems (naming, pronouncing, etc.), because these aren't gone simply by dismissing a notation. ------ jasonwatkinspdx I think using hungarian prefixes for the language types in a statically typed language is absurd. For semantic differences (eg Joel's absolute vs relative coordinates example) I think it's more reasonable, but I still dislike it as an idiosyncratic abbreviation. For example, why not just RelativeOffset vs relOffset. Or for locals, I prefer ruby style: relative_offset, though that's more of a nitpick. I think well chosen names really limit the usefulness of abbreviated prefixes. ~~~ starwed I don't quite follow -- in Joel's case, it's assumed that you're tracking the position of all sorts of things -- there isn't _one_ variable that's the relative offset, but a whole host of them that you'd want to give particular semantic names. Prefixing them _all_ with "relative_offset" would be unwieldy, so a concise, consistent prefix makes a lot of sense. ~~~ jasonwatkinspdx Short version: Google "lParam vs wParam". And yes, you're feeling lucky. Long Version: Sometimes what I'm suggesting is equal to unabbreviated Hungarian. But sometimes there's a nice semantic bonus, where from context it's clear what we're talking about. For example, in a game you might have objects at some position that can move around in space, be organized in hierarchies, etc. So you're dealing with a lot of vectors. Sometimes these are vectors from the origin, sometimes vectors from one object to another, sometimes unit vectors. Assume we're working in a language or library situation where we'd really prefer to just keep all these vectors the same type, say a vec3f type with 3 float members, xyz. We could decide that hungarian notation would be a good way to avoid making mistakes due to interpreting a vector wrong. So we use the prefixes ov, rv, uv to indicate vectors from the world origin, vectors from one object to another, and unit vectors. Imagine some actual typical variables we might have, say Position, Parent and SurfaceNormal. Is ovPosition, rvParent, uvSurfaceNormal really superior? In each of these cases, the semantic content of the hungarian prefix is redundant. Position vectors are always from origin. Parent vectors obviously relate one object to another. Surface normals are always going to be over the unit sphere. So it's not really adding any comprehension. But it gets worse. Let's say that we implement some more complicated scene tree to our game, like to do articulated animation of a robot. Now our position vectors are actually relative vectors. If we were being hungarian, ovPosition would be a lie, so we have to change all instances. Which is great if we can just let Eclipse do it. But what if we've published a library or otherwise are committed to a name? Oops. This is one of the reasons why pseudo hungarian for parameter names in web services is a HORRIBLE idea. ------ gfaremil The questions like this are the reason why your first job should be working on large scale very-well maintained projects and not some small startup. By working on these kind of project you will understand that there is a clear need to have good nomenclature and naming standard for a project and modules which, in many cases, reassemble Hungarian notation (describing method's or variable's purpose, portability, performance implication, etc.). ------ njharman 1) less maintenance 2) less wrongness (when type has changed but the hungarian was not updated) 3) more readability and all that falls from that (although, this is an opinion and I'm sure others believe that hungarian is more readable) 4) better(faster to unique) tab completion 5) discovering the disease that hungarian was just a symptom of. That is a bad type system. There's only two good ones Strong and Duck. Proly more but that's enough for me. ------ thought_alarm lParam, wParam Enough said. ------ msg 1) It's unmaintainable. 2) It's ugly. If you ever need a semantic naming convention for closely related variables that are crucial to use correctly (encryptedCustomerInformation vs decryptedCustomerInformation), make up your own ad hoc. ~~~ JoeAltmaier SO, ad-hoc techniques are more readable? I lost you. It may be trouble to determine what the prefixes mean. To have no pattern at all, IMO is not at all an improvement. ------ signa11 i think the _only_ true value of hungarian would be in helping "paul" a sense of identity i.e. "pointer to an unsigned long" :) ------ saturn These days all variables created by me, in any language, are in descriptive_snake_case. I just can't see any reason to use anything else. ~~~ div Consistency and familiarity would both be good reasons to me. Non camelCase variables and CamelCase classes in Java for instance would really feel out of place to me, whereas using the same case conventions for some ruby code would feel equally 'wrong'. When it comes to conventions like this, I don't think there's a substitute for having a "when in Rome" attitude. If you're writing some greenfield code, Rome is all the other projects in your language of choice. If you're adding some functionality to an existing piece of code, that existing piece of code is Rome. ~~~ saturn > I don't think there's a substitute for having a "when in Rome" attitude Yeah, this is a good point. I come across as gung-ho in the parent but I have to admit I do submit to the "when in Rome" effect. That said, if Rome is an absolute shambles, I might feel empowered to start anew .. ~~~ div It's always very painful if a codebase is not internally consistent. I usually try to find some sort of dominant naming scheme to follow and clean up old code left and right, but yeah, sometimes starting anew can be the only sane thing to do. ------ georgieporgie I think the people railing against 'Hungarian' notation have never had to deal with BSTR, std::string, and TCHAR* all in the same function, along with a BOOL and a bool. I will happily name variables simply and according to their true meaning, but as soon as I start mixing in different variations of similar types, 'Hungarian' is my go-to convention.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Why do dead whales explode? - lukashed http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/2/5674734/why-do-dead-whales-explode ====== jacquesm Cows will do this too (Warning, gross picture): [http://pics.ww.com/v/jacques/trips/us2/dscf0622.jpg.html](http://pics.ww.com/v/jacques/trips/us2/dscf0622.jpg.html) Basically any animal that's got a pretty good seal going and that is in a prolonged state of decomposition will eventually puncture like a balloon at its weakest point. The reason is simply the gases created by the bacteria that decompose the body have to go somewhere, the better the seal the bigger the eventual bang.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Rand Paul: Big Brother Really Is Watching Us - jedwhite http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324634304578537720921466776.html?mod=WSJ_LatestHeadlines ====== DanielBMarkham "No one objects to balancing security against liberty. No one objects to seeking warrants for targeted monitoring based on probable cause. We've always done this. What is objectionable is a system in which government has unlimited and privileged access to the details of our private affairs, and citizens are simply supposed to trust that there won't be any abuse of power. This is an absurd expectation." I think one of the reasons we libertarians have had such a hard time over the years talking about the security state we're building is that Paul is right: this is absurd. People simply do not believe that such a thing is actually happening. Sure, they think, some bad guys are being monitored, and the usual crackpots are complaining, but overall the government is doing a good job. After all, there hasn't been another 9-11, right? I appreciate Paul's efforts, but we're going to need _massive_ reform in the surveillance policies of the U.S. As a start we need something like another Church Committee. One thought is this: how about making it a felony _not_ to disclose information that an agency is clearly violating the constitution. ~~~ rayiner > "No one objects to balancing security against liberty. No one objects to > seeking warrants for targeted monitoring based on probable cause. We've > always done this. What we've always done is get warrants for searches. No warrants were required to monitor someone (say, to have a cop follow them around). That is still the case. The FISA warrants allow monitoring. An Article III warrant is still necessary for a real search. What's changes now is that people openly broadcast, in clear text, the kind of information that previously would've required a search pursuant to a warrant to find out. I understand why Rand Paul, as a libertarian, has to pretend that we're deviating from historical practice, though. It's much easier to redefine the status quo them claim you just want to go back to it than to admit that we face an unprecedented situation (protecting the privacy of a populace that seems happy to broadcast their private information all over the internet) which might require novel solutions. ~~~ jeffdavis People don't "broadcast" their information. They send it using point-to-point protocols to companies or people. The government is using special, secret authority to compel intermediaries or stewards of the information to turn it over en masse. If the government was just browsing Facebook or doing Google searches, nobody would complain. But they are using government powers to get the information, which means that it is a search. ~~~ jevinskie Precisely. Can rayiner obtain my call metadata? They cannot. I did not broadcast this information, the NSA obtained it by using state powers to secure a secret, unrestricted (in the most literal sense) warrant. ~~~ wwweston > Can rayiner obtain my call metadata? They cannot. That's what we suppose, anyway. Of course, we don't know whether or not rayiner has acquaintances who work for your carrier who have access to it, or perhaps law enforcement who have access to a portal that the carrier voluntarily provides. And we don't know if the carrier has freely entered into any private agreements to sell call data to others... which they might be free to do even in the face of aggressive bans on law enforcement or national security organizations ever even breathing at carriers. ------ u2328 Congratulations Obama, Feinstein. You've got me throwing in with Rand Paul. Though I could trust you with our civil liberties and privacy, but now I have to get behind the Ayn Rand loving libertarian on this. So be it; policy over party. ~~~ mindcrime Hey, ya never know, once you take the plunge, you might find that you like it here on the dark-side. :-) Libertarians are mostly pretty nice once you get to know them. Some of us are downright friendly at times. ~~~ zecho I have no problems with Libertarian individuals (or Republican or Democrats). I have serious issues with a national party that, when I watched their 2004 convention, a man in a Thomas Jefferson costume gave a speech about pot and guns. I thought it was a joke, but it wasn't. It was CSPAN. Unless I myself run for office, I don't think I'll ever find a political party that closely aligns with my beliefs and also takes them seriously. ~~~ DamnYuppie I am not joking when I say you could always start you own. Outline what it is you really believe and verify how your policies, derived from your core beliefs, improve society. All parties start with one voice, regardless the exercise will bring clarity to the beliefs and values you hold most dear. ------ salimmadjd As a progressive, I have conflicts with some of Rand Paul (and his father Ron) policies and positions. However, you have to admit they're beginning to sound like profits. Like it or not, they adhere to a fairly strict view of the constitution and that's admirable in the current poll-based world of politics. That said, Paul (and father) were never good communicators. Both vocally and even prosaically. I'm surprised he is not using the IRS scandal and tie it to the NSA's potential abuse of power. As we know the metadata can be used to see if a person had an abortion, may have sought mental health (calling suicide hotlines, etc.) may have feared STDs (calling aids hotline) may have had cosmetic surgery or slew of other things. Any of these information, can for example, be misused against a political contender running against the current administration. Comparisons to IRS' supposed targeting of certain political entity would have been tangible and palpable example of the unchecked power of NSA and would have been farm more visceral than the heady, "Big Brother" argument. ~~~ dnautics Actually I liked this: "We fought a revolution over issues like generalized warrants, where soldiers would go from house to house, searching anything they liked." The traditional narrative that youngsters in the US are taught is that the revolution was fought over taxes, but if you closely read the declaration of independence, that's not really the bulk of the argument. Historically speaking, it was violations of personal freedoms and the "home is a man's castle" principles that rankled the colonists the most. ~~~ wavesounds this is one of the reason why the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are making us less safe. We barge into peoples houses and search through their stuff all the time. People seem to forget how important Respect is to people, people will fight revolutions for it. We did, the arab spring is doing it, a persons personal space and thoughts and communications are their most sacred human rights. ------ michaelwww It's unfortunate that he believes the government should control a woman's uterus, which is an even more serious invasion of privacy and more likely to cause harm than this data collection. ~~~ zecho I'm unsure why exactly you're being down voted, but unless someone who down voted you comes forward, I'm guessing the answer is in part misogynistic and also in part myopia on the importance of data collection vs. women's reproductive rights. Regardless, it's an important point to make that politicians are complex creatures, just like the rest of us. It's best not to hold them in high regard as people and to instead focus on their policies. ~~~ a-priori I don't blame people for downvoting michaelwww because their comment is an ad hominem attack on Rand Paul. Paul's attitude on abortion has no bearing on the PRISM lawsuit. ~~~ zecho Yes it does. It calls into question his motivations when it comes to civil liberties. He could build a much stronger coalition among civil libertarians if he were more consistent in his beliefs about the extent to which the government can monitor and control the people who give it power. ~~~ nathan_long >> It calls into question his motivations when it comes to civil liberties. Only if you accept _a priori_ an answer to the core issue which is debated in the abortion issue: whether an unborn baby should be protected as a human life. Nobody argues that government is invasive if it forbids stabbing a toddler to death behind closed doors. People do argue that one may stab a fetus to death behind closed doors. The point of contention is not privacy, but the definition of human life. Pretending that the issue is already settled even as you argue for a particular policy is either naive or disingenuous. ------ Quequau Getting excited about Rand Paul speaking out about this is exactly like getting excited by candidate Obama talking about how he was going end the wars, close Gitmo, and stop torture. ~~~ nathan_long It is a good point that we should focus on track record, not speech. But: 1) don't we have more track record on Paul regarding this issue than we did on Obama? 2) isn't it possible that having a senator express this opinion publicly could influence other elected officials? ~~~ Quequau I at least, have read/seen much more about Rand Paul and the polices he promotes than I had about Obama as he took office for the first time. Reading his statements regarding his commitment to the Republican party & its goals as well as the right-wing "Libertarian" principles he habitually talks about and then comparing that to the analysis of the actual text of his proposals; it's obvious that he is simply using these "Libertarian" talking points as blunt weapons against the Democrats. Many of Rand Paul's proposals don't actually do or change anything at all, instead they are designed only to make the news cycle and then to disappear. Many lack many of the details actual legislation is required to have or because they are designed such that a voting majority is impossible to develop. It's clear that they were never intended to go further than a news cycle... and they don't. Besides often being couched in language Democrats are unlikely to ever accept, they're also consistent with the proposals from other Hard-Right Republican's who don't associate themselves with the right-libertarian political movement at all. So it's not like he's making non-partisan basic pro-freedom proposals, which the Democrats (being the anti-freedom party) reject. He's only making proposals about issues which can be expressed in the hyper-partisan language and which support the hyper-partisan strategy that is currently dominating D.C. politics. Moreover, he's studiously avoided good-faith, non-partisan, basic policy reform proposals which could get through the legislation process. Assuming that Rand Paul continues to be successful with this gambit, the obvious influence it will have on other elected officials is that this sort of deceptive and manipulative strategy is politically effective and that they should be doing it too. ------ tptacek _"... If someone is attending speeches from someone who is promoting the violent overthrow of our government, that’s really an offense that we should be going after — they should be deported or put in prison."_ [http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/05/31/232182/rand- pau...](http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/05/31/232182/rand-paul- criminalize-speech/?mobile=nc) ~~~ mcnees287 Do you support the violent overthrow of the government? Many people would die. ~~~ zecho Since when is listening to one's positions, however awful they may be, indicative of support? ~~~ ericd Also, we're pretty protective of our right to espouse even very unpopular and radical beliefs... ------ mtgx Why is the focus only on the phone records? Getting all the online data seems a lot bigger to me.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Having big goals and stating them proud - GVRV http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2601-having-big-goals-and-stating-them-proud ====== kilian ...except that announcing your goals makes you less likely to follow through with them. This TED talk by Derek Sivers explains it far more eloquently than I could: [http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_keep_your_goals_to_you...](http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_keep_your_goals_to_yourself.html) ~~~ dhh Good pitch, I haven't personally found this to be true with the goals I've shared with other people. I get much more fired up to prove that I'm actually going to do it once it's out there. But obviously the science shows that might not be true for all. ~~~ zck It makes a difference that you're a polarizing person -- there will be people next week mocking you because 37signals isn't a $100million company yet, so you have more impetus to actually achieve it compared to a person who tells his or her friends, who will be supportive and forgetful of failures. ------ mjfern Collins and Porras suggest companies should establish Big Hairy Audacious Goals: A BHAG is "...an audacious 10-to-30-year goal to progress towards an envisioned future...A true BHAG is clear and compelling, serves as a unifying focal point of effort, and acts as a clear catalyst for team spirit. It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal; people like to shoot for finish lines. A BHAG engages people—it reaches out and grabs them. It is tangible, energizing, highly focused." A few examples of compelling BHAGs that guided and motivated people: \- John F. Kennedy's BHAG of landing a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s \- Microsoft's BHAG of placing a PC on every desk in every home \- Google's BHAG of organizing the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful ~~~ cglee I think you left out the most important thing - a BHAG focuses money. It's a giant bet. SCO's BHAG is the lawsuit, Netscape's BHAG was the browser, Pets.com's BHAG was serving every pet - all bets that didn't pay off. ~~~ mjfern Establishing a BHAG per se does not mean you've selected a good goal or that you will achieve the goal. ------ dmix > If we’re going to turn 37signals into a $100 million/year company Posting generic self-help articles would be a good first step towards this goal. ~~~ dhh You wouldn't believe the millions we bring in on free web articles. Or, I should say forecasted millions. They don't make any real money right now, but I'm sure we'll make it up on bulk! ~~~ dmix I was being facetious about it being a serious business. But I _was_ serious about this post being straight out of a self-help book. Although self-help has consistently been one of the top selling topics on Amazon, right below romance novels. So the former might have somes grounds as well. ------ Eliezer It's always nice when someone starts a contest you've already won. ~~~ Kutta ^I laughed out. ------ edw519 _So what’s your big goal? Make it public and we’ll egg you on._ I'm going to buy the Pittsburgh Steelers and beat the New York Jets so badly that we'll make Gary Vaynerchuk sorry he ever made his big wish. (Are you sure you want to egg me on?) ~~~ umjames Any chance you want to buy the Philadelphia Eagles and turn them into a Super Bowl-winning franchise? But seriously, does that mean you are actively working towards that goal now? Do you think you can realistically achieve it? ------ gruseom I suppose "ly" is considered harmful as a suffix now too then? ~~~ hugh3 Using adjectives as adverbs is apparently acceptable English in the dialect of the American South. I'm not sure why DHH is using it though. ------ mrduncan Let's get this started - what's your big goal? ~~~ sahillavingia Waking up in the morning without a big goal. :) ~~~ msg In other words nirvana. I prefer to wake up with a goal that is too big for one lifetime. ------ farawaygarry I can see why stating one’s goal is a good starting point : it helps getting the right mindset to then actually work to achieve this goal. But in everything I've done, talking about something not achieved yet brings unneeded attention and stress, that one doesn’t need in his process of accomplishing something. I'm not saying to hide while working on stuff, but I'm not sure making a lot of noise about it is helping the actual progress of the project. ------ T_S_ Underpromise, overdeliver. ------ Mc_Big_G Same goal I posted on the blog post: To steal the high-ticket classifieds market from craigslist and ebay. ------ Aetius This works, but only for natural extroverts, politicians, and DHH. For you, hacker, much better to keep a low profile until you've got something to announce.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Space entrepreneur Charlie Ergen invests in UK government-backed OneWeb - samizdis https://www.ft.com/content/0eba0863-2a10-4711-bccb-2b6bad42b8b6 ====== samizdis Syndicated at: [https://finance.yahoo.com/news/space-entrepreneur-charlie- er...](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/space-entrepreneur-charlie-ergen- invests-000000952.html?guccounter=1)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Apple boycotts Fox News because of Glenn Beck - olefoo http://www.tuaw.com/2010/03/29/apple-boycotts-fox-news-because-of-glenn-beck/ ====== joegaudet I for one am glad about this. Glenn Beck is the worst kind of person, stirring up fear for his own personal gain. This along with google's decision to leave china, have been two great examples of companies doing (at least what I perceive to be) the right thing. ~~~ mynameishere Glenn Beck is not the worst kind of person. You see? You're saying something blatantly false and everyone agrees with you. It's sad. ~~~ RevRal I can't think of a worse _kind_ of person. Glen Beck obviously isn't the worst in this category. ~~~ endtime What about, say, Hitler? Don't get me wrong, I can't stand Beck, but I do think he compares favorably to Hitler, Stalin, et al. ~~~ stcredzero This is an interesting variation on Godwin's. What does it mean when someone is being compared favorably to Hitler? Reminds me of a friend's quip about another friend's father: "I was surprised to learn he leans a little to the left of Mao." ~~~ endtime I knew someone was going to call Godwin's, even though I don't think it's justified. The thing is, if you're going to make extreme claims (like that Beck is the worst kind of person) then you are really asking for it. ------ spamizbad It's more accurate to say they've withdrawn advertisement due to pressure from Color of Change. Given Fox's ratings I'm sure they can fill the void with less picky companies. The network's demos don't mesh with Apple's target market anyway. ~~~ krschultz I bet a lot of people in marketing disagree with that last statement. ~~~ spamizbad Are you one of those people in marketing? If so, straighten me out because I don't believe you! ~~~ pak There are conservative folks with plenty of expendable cash... it's not like Apple caters its products to liberals. In many ways Apple tries to position itself as a BMW or Mercedes Benz of the computer market; think of the target for those products. ~~~ Alex3917 Apple absolutely caters it's products toward liberals. Think different? 1984? The power of the imagination? Dancing hipsters with iPods? ~~~ torial Just to add to a good list -- Al Gore on the board is catering toward liberals and not conservatives! ------ nlwhittemore Totally reasonable decision. It's one thing when you're talking just political debate and a company explicitly backing one party. But Beck has created an entirely alternate universe that feeds the insane, irrational hatred that the GOP has turned to instead of coming up with good ideas in the last year. I hope there is a major shift in the political conversation and the Republicans actually have a platform again, but Beck is a whole different ballgame for now than someone like O'Rielly even, and I wouldn't want to associate myself with him either. ~~~ joezydeco I say let Beck go on and fracture the party. ------ brown9-2 Here is a longer list of other companies that have joined the same campaign: <http://colorofchange.org/beck/more/companies.html> Highlights: -AT&T -Bank of America -Best Buy -Citrix Online -Johnson & Johnson -Mercedes-Benz -Procter & Gamble -SC Johnson (makers of Ziploc, Off!, Pledge, and other products) -Sprint -Toyota-Lexus -The UPS Store -United States Postal Service -Verizon Wireless -Wal-Mart ~~~ adolph Did they pay for this brand placement, or is it as free as posting to ycombinator.news? ------ dschobel Interesting, the article mentions that ads from smaller companies have been running in place of the boycotting corps, didn't a HNer get his Google TV ad run on Beck's show a week or so ago? ~~~ dschobel found it: _How I Ran An Ad on Fox News via Google TV Ads_ <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1206394> $1300 got them seven airings on Glen Beck reruns. ------ delackner A friend in town from London reminded me that his show is actually shown outside the US, and said that British advertisers are quite understandably unhappy with his show. I've never seen it, but I can't imagine it appealing to an international audience. ~~~ mahmud I was once in a feel-good Arab-American lovefest summit where influential Arabs were being shown around NYC and DC at the behest of Karen Hughes and the Bush administration. I was in it for the free food. They bused an assortment of Iraqis back to their hotel after a day of sightseeing historic places in town. And I stuck around interpreting for one of the artists .. Long story short. The Iraqis gathered in the hotel lobby where the TV was set to Fox news and, I must say, a day's worth of diplomacy was undone with one hour of the O'Reilly Factor. I am all for freedom of expression, but Fox News is something I rather keep in the U.S. Fox can broadcast overseas as long as they supply traveling and expat Americans with Canadian-flag backpack badges. It's just embarrassing, eh. ~~~ chriskelley I know your last comment was in jest, but as someone from the US that travels a lot, I would like to mention that I think it is really important for educated/reasonable US Citizens to engage with locals and other travelers while abroad and let people know that what they see on Fox News (et al) isn't all we have to offer! Many of my friends and colleagues here at home are some of the most wonderful, intelligent, caring people I have met anywhere on the globe, and it does them a great injustice to let people around the world judge the US based on what they see or hear on TV. It's the responsibility of those of us that travel to spread the good word of the reasonable US Citizen! ~~~ dhyasama I couldn't agree more. I traveled to Croatia a few years ago and stayed with locals. One of the first things each of them said was some variation of "I don't like George Bush." Simply saying "I don't either" brightened them up considerably. ~~~ jdminhbg It's kind of sad to be so narrowly defined by politics like that. I'm not really interested in being friends with someone who would dislike me due to someone there's a 75% chance (totals + participation) I didn't vote for. Which doesn't even begin to scrape the surface of the importance of knowing and talking to people with opposing views in the first place. ------ ttrashh Anyone else notice Carbonite is a sponsor? I'm going to move to another backup solution. ------ gjm11 The TUAW article is just repeating a small amount of the content of this Washington Post story: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2010/03...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2010/03/14/AR2010031402312.html) ------ TomOfTTB This is just more proof that politics makes people stupid. Boycotting the whole network does the opposite of what they want because people tend to pull together when they're being jointly attacked. So this move is more likely to make Fox stand behind Beck than it is to get them to fire him (As has been pointed out Fox News has double the viewers of it's nearest competitor so it isn't going to be lacking for advertisers) A better move would be to move all their advertising to other shows. Cause all the other ships to rise while Beck's sinks. Then the network won't feel under fire and will instead be asking "Maybe this Beck guy is more trouble than he's worth?" ~~~ lallysingh Sure, but: (1) I can't imagine Steve's a fan of Fox. (2) I think Apple may get more favor with their key demographics this way than by supporting Fox. There's a pretty liberal bias in Apple's demographics, at least from my anecdotal experience. ~~~ TomOfTTB 1.You’re right but Jobs has shown that he doesn’t think it’s a good idea to mix politics and business: [http://gawker.com/505501/apple-crushes-iphone- developers-dre...](http://gawker.com/505501/apple-crushes-iphone-developers- dreams) 2.I would hope not. Say what you will about Fox News it’s no worse than MSNBC on the other side. Unless you truly believe Scott Brown is a “Irresponsible, Homophobic, Racist, Reactionary, Nude Model, Teabagging, Supporter Of Violence Against Women and Against Politicians with whom He Disagrees”. Apple’s fans clearly skew liberal but I’d like to think anyone would be opposed to that kind of hypocrisy. Edit: I don't mean to be rude but I just don't have the energy to argue with political nonsense. So all those who claim MSNBC is so much better than Fox News are just being ridiculous. One's left wing and one's right wing and the only reason a person would think one is better than the other is if they subscribed to the political agenda of that station. Citing Joe Scarborough is no different than Fox citing Alan Colmes (no longer on the network but who would still have a job there if he wanted it). And it's just silly to say someone like Olbermann is better or worse than Hannity or O'Reilly. ~~~ lenley Please, MSNBC is definitely biased, but... You are falsely equating the FoxNews and MSNBC. Further, FoxNews is run by Roger Ailes ... which says an awful lot -- just read his descriptions of FoxNews. MSNBC... 1.) Morning Joe in the morning is 3 hours of conservative programming every morning. 2.) Olbermann and Matthews are over the top, but nowhere near Hannity and Beck. 3.) Maddow's an excellent interviewer and actually allows her opponents to answer questions and engage in substantive dialogue -- unlike anyone else on FoxNews or MSNBC. Maddow is progressive/liberal whatever the folks call themselves; however, she is critical of Democrats and Republicans both all the time from her ideological positions -- not just by party like Fox hosts, anchors etc.. tend to do. ~~~ jbooth Matthews isn't even a liberal. He's one of those "definitely-not-liberal-and- drawing-contrasts-all-the-time-to-prove-it-so-he-can-keep-social-climbing" people who were uniquely produced by the DC climate over the last 30 years. ~~~ lenley Yeah, I'd agree Matthews is a poseur "hard-hat - union" Democrat, but not so much a liberal. ------ btilly (I can't believe that we have a Glenn Beck discussion without this comment yet.) I am not saying that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a young girl in 1990. I'm not saying that he didn't. But I'm asking why he hasn't _denied_ it. Also see Jon Stewart's take: [http://unreasonablefaith.com/2010/03/20/jon- stewart-becomes-...](http://unreasonablefaith.com/2010/03/20/jon-stewart- becomes-glenn-beck/) ------ sdfm I, personally, am a news junkie and I watch almost ALL of the news networks....CNN, MSNBC (when I can stomach THEIR own brand of vitriol), ABC, FOX, CBS and CSPAN. Other than CSPAN, FOX is the only network news channel that even attempts to balance its news shows with opposite points of view. I was watching Chris Matthews last night as he interviewed two people about some stupid subject.....including Matthews all three of those guys completely agreed with each other about what they were discussing and it was, of course, the leftist viewpoint. If you turn on FOX news shows they always have someone, whether it is Juan Williams or Mara Liasson of NPR fame or other liberal commentators on their Sunday Business News show to "balance out" their own conservatives. Yes, Beck is outrageous but what about that maniac Keith Olberman over at MSNBC? The problem with all this censoring of FOX or anyone else is that it is just that.....censorship. ------ hkuo The only reason Fox News has the numbers it has is because it is the only channel that panders to the lowest common denominator of idiots. Every other major channel has some moralistic sense, so all of the smarter people on the curve get spread out amongst them. ~~~ CWuestefeld Downvote because of your assertion that "Every other major channel has some moralistic sense". In fact, Fox is _intensely_ moralistic. You just happen to disagree with what those morals are. Also, you imply that holding these morals indicates that one is less intelligent than those that share _your_ morals. I'm sure this is incorrect, and it's certainly true that you haven't offered any reason to believe it. ~~~ roc Fox _markets to_ a certain group of intensely moralistic people. That's a very important distinction to remember. If the network were _actually_ moralistic, it wouldn't defend, promote and directly pay so many people who talk the talk, but have been exposed as acting in stark contrast to the network's stated morals. (I'm not claiming other news networks are different in this regard.) ~~~ CWuestefeld That's a fair clarification. But I'd claim this is turtles all the way down. The politicians that they're covering exhibit the same dichotomy of actual morals versus play acting for market share. I could go on for days with examples, but here are a few: * Apparently Republicans themselves were the first to suggest an "individual mandate" for health insurance. Yet they're opposed to it now. See discussion here ([http://volokh.com/2010/03/29/was-the-individual-mandate-a-re...](http://volokh.com/2010/03/29/was-the-individual-mandate-a-republican-idea/) ) for example. * Barney Frank and friends twisted the arms of mortgage lenders to get them to extend loans to people that wouldn't traditionally be considered good candidates. A few years later, he's on TV crucifying banks for doing just that. ~~~ roc Absolutely agreed. All the more reason to note the distinction between words and deeds (marketing/reality). If we point out the lack of clothes, refuse to discuss talking-head spin and instead stick to reality and actions, I think we'll be better off. We (private citizens) aren't served by allowing that marketing to be perpetuated as truth. ~~~ CWuestefeld Philosophically this is true. But in the real world... First, the "Myth of the Rational Voter" tells us that for any individual, deep research on politics doesn't pay off economically (their individual opinion makes little enough difference that what they lose due to a bad decision is smaller than what they'd have to invest to make the right decision). Thus, the actual democratic process is an example of the tragedy of the commons. Second, I wonder to what degree people _really_ hold the positions that they talk about. To what degree are the people trying to fit into the norms of their community? Perhaps the people are showing a behavior that's analogous to the "marketing" chameleon behavior of politicians and the MSM. ------ johnwh I know that many Fox News Anchors use Macs on their respective shows (Fox News is on the TVs at work, do not judge me!), I wonder if Fox will react to this by pulling those computers. ------ jsz0 As big business gets even more directly involved in politics through nearly limitless donation we need to become much more aware of which companies we choose to purchase products from. Realistically I don't expect people to totally change their buying habits but if it's a simple Coke vs. Pepsi sort of choice it's easy enough to make a difference. ------ quizbiz Is there a way to analytically test if Fox News is bringing in their target demographic? Aside from Girls Gone Wild and Comedy Central, I haven't observed matches that make really good sense. The web is such a better platform in my ignorant opinion. ------ cageface I haven't been very happy with several of Apple's latest moves but I have to applaud them for this. It's encouraging to see that some tech companies have the guts to stand up for their values, even if it costs them real revenue. ~~~ danudey They'll move their ad dollars from Fox to some other channel and get their sales there instead. I doubt Apple has a huge market among people who only ever watch Fox. ------ daniel02216 I love how they think their network's reputation is 'beginning' to change, and that it isn't already hopelessly ruined. ~~~ nollidge I wish it weren't so, but they do have a solid viewership. ------ Daniel_Newby Apple is just cultivating brand blandness. Steve Jobs aspires to be inoffensive to everyone, like Jim Davis does with Garfield the cat. If Glenn Beck had the personality equivalent of rounded corners and a shiny finish, Apple wouldn't be doing this. ------ shrnky Man I hate when entertainers start getting political. BUZZ KILL! ------ Neon2012 Glenn Beck primarily speaks out against progressivism and he believes that the United States is spending itself into oblivion. I, for one, completely agree with him. If we are lucky, one day we will all be able to make ipods for China. :) ~~~ pstuart Please define how 'progressivism' equals 'spending into oblivion'. Does that include the 2 wars the U.S. has been waging for the last 7 years? ~~~ anamax Let's make sure I understand. Someone says "X is bad". Your response is "bad person Y also did X". It's unclear how that's an argument for the goodness of X. Note that the person who said "X is bad" may have disagreed with it when Y did it. If you find X acceptable now, it's unclear why you're criticizing Y for doing it. And, FWIW, the Iraq/Afghanistan war has been cheaper than Obama's other adventures. And, for all the pre-election talk, Obama has followed the Bush timetable/plan wrt Iraq/Afganistan. Bush's errors do not justify or excuse Obama's actions. However, they do constrain them. WRT govt debt/spending, it's one thing to say "I'll start a diet tomorrow" if you're 20 pounds overweight and quite another if you're 200 pounds overweight. If you honestly think that Bush put us in a hole with spending, you can't seriously argue for digging it deeper. ------ CoachRufus87 "fair & balanced" -LOL i wonder why i'm getting downvoted...we all know that each news outlet has their own angle on the way our country is going. if you don't believe that, then you sadly have your blinders on. see things for what they are folks ~~~ jon_dahl You're downvoted not because you're right or wrong, but because this is not a political discussion forum. (This whole post is borderline, but at least most people have stuck to talking about the Apple/Fox News issue, not which side is destroying the country.) ~~~ olefoo I had some serious doubts about putting this on HN, and I'm glad to see that my worst fears weren't realized. What swung me towards posting it was the hope that someone on here would have some insight as to why Apple is following this course; unfortunately I have not seen anything solid in that regard. My own take is that to some extent, it's about social class. There may be FoxNews fans who are Mac fans as well, but Apple's brand is an aspirational one; and like BMWs or Volvos it ends up being associated with upper middle- class liberal values even though the product itself has no such bias.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: Have you had any old Gmail addresses hijacked? - kapnobatairza Recently, I tried to login to one of my older gmail accounts and discovered that the password had been changed very recently. Since these were old accounts I had not used in years, they did not have 2FA enabled. However, they did have very strong randomly generated 20+ char passwords with uppercase/lowercase/numbers/symbols. These passwords were stored on a password bank that was not compromised, and I don't even know these passwords by memory. I'm not the type to fall for phishing scams and I try to keep my systems secure, but I had not even used those passwords in over a year, so there is no possibility that I somehow exposed them sometime in the past month.<p>The recovery email for these accounts was NOT hijacked. He simply changed the passwords and recovery email and then he subsequently enabled 2FA himself.<p>However, these old emails were set to automatically forward to one of my new addresses and the hijacker forgot to disable that feature. What I've found is he started to use one of the emails for his own "business". Apparently he makes a living procuring YouTube, Gmail and Twitter handles for people. Judging from these emails, he is quite successful at doing so for YouTube / Gmail handles where 2FA is not enabled.<p>I realize that enabling 2FA is a must these days, but I find it troubling that this character seems to be able to hijack these accounts so easily. Especially when those accounts are inactive and without the use of phishing or a keylogger. Anyone have any clue how this is possible?<p>Also a PSA: If you haven't enabled 2FA on any old accounts you might care about, go do that now. ====== rasx One of my old Gmail addresses was hijacked by Google. They wouldn't let me in and I have neither a phone number nor a recovery email associated with it. The password is not changed, it's just the Google's notion of "security." And they wouldn't let you opt out of it when creating a new account.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
FAA can't oversee most airline maintenance, since it's done outside the USA - PcMojo https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/11/airplane-maintenance-disturbing-truth?verso=true ====== mimixco Two people well known to me who both spent their careers in aircraft maintenance told me after the Ethiopian crash that nearly all airlines, including US carriers, buy fake parts -- ones that are not approved by the original manufacturer. Obviously, I can't cite a source, but I wonder how long before _that_ scandal hits the news.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
How to break into homes (using an iPhone) - riaface http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-07/28/keyme-break-in ====== FatalLogic Previous discussion: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8091027](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8091027)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
FreedomBox 144% funded on Kickstarter - winthrowe http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/721744279/push-the-freedombox-foundation-from-0-to-60-in-30?ref=live ====== winthrowe See Also <http://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox> <https://freedomboxfoundation.org/>	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Should makers of viral videos get a cut of music sales? - ajg1977 http://techdirt.com/articles/20090731/0148415723.shtml ====== sidburgess Well that is an interesting idea. I have had music stripped from my videos I made in Iraq because they contained copywrited music. One of my videos was supposedly played by ESPN at a basket-ball game. I think it sounds nice in theory but you would have a hard time convincing RIAA that money can flow the other way.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Google admits citing 4chan to spread fake Vegas shooter news - pulisse https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/10/google-admits-citing-4chan-to-spread-fake-vegas-shooter-news/ ====== pilif _> We are working to fix the issue that allowed this to happen_ This is not some issue that you can fix. This is not some color being off, or some chat message appearing out of order. This is about AI in its continued infancy that’s now being actively and maliciously targeted. It’s also about a huge responsibility of the worlds two greatest media outlets that both think they can have machines do a humans job and miserably failing at it. Some users unable to log in? That’s an “issue” you “fix”. Bringing the world closest it has been to the brink of a world war in the last 30 years, that’s the point where you step back and f'ing take responsibility for your actions and start rethinking your approach. Sorry for the harsh words. I’m probably overreacting. ~~~ 8ytecoder You are understating and giving a pass for the real issue at hand - a lack of ability to think critically by a large portion of our population. Let's assume for argument's sake that Google News and Facebook shut down their feeds tomorrow - can you tell me with confidence that another one won't mushroom up and take its place or that people won't switch to "dark" networks - Whatsapp, Messenger, Email and what not? I'm not absolving Google and Facebook. There are more trustworthy places to get your news and information. Why do you think people flock to less reliable sources? Unless that's solved, democracy and with it culture and progress as we know it is destined to be doomed. ~~~ folksinger Lesson to be learned: Wisdom and knowledge do not come from technology. They come from wise and experienced educators working one-on-one with their students, not to tell them the truth, but to help them experience the truth. Nullius in verba! Ed-tech is confidence game. What technology offers is the productive capacity to support a world filled with actual human educators and actual human intelligence. ------ why_is_it_good I am amazed at how bad this situation is. > Something happens. > /pol/, being /pol/, flipped the switch that generates semi-random > information around a subject, seasoned with bias-of-the-day > some posters on /pol/ decide to blame Geary Danley for the Vegas shooting > google indexes /pol/ Given that: > Searches for _words_ yield content related to _words_ > Searches for a name yield content related to a name > Searches for "Geary Danley" yield content related to "Geary Danley" This ensues: > Media shitstorm because google is "citing 4chan to spread fake Vegas shooter > news" This only happens because: 1) We are expecting google to feed us only the truth? Otherwise we would say "someone took google seriously and arrived to the wrong conclusions" 2) We don't care the slightest what URL we follow from google? Otherwise we would say "someone who doesn't know what /pol/ is is taking it seriously" 3) We find it easier to blame some conspiracy than to take a step back and think? We ascribe blame to google. 4) All of the above? I feel I am living in some bizarro world where everyone's feelings and expectations must be met, and any deviation from this will result in riots and name calling[0]. Few things exist to serve your purposes. Think before using any tool. You wouldn't use a blowtorch to trim your nails. [0] [https://phys.org/news/2011-11-poop-throwing-chimps- intellige...](https://phys.org/news/2011-11-poop-throwing-chimps- intelligence.html) ~~~ DerfNet It's weird that people are blaming a _search engine_ for providing relative links for discussion on a topic. Again, it's a _search engine_ first and foremost, not a _media outlet_. It _indexes_ media outlets. It shouldn't be Google's job to vet articles. That should fall on the end user, and this push to hide "fake news" is just asking for more problems down the road. ~~~ mc32 Exactly, what happens when a credible news source has to _retract_ a need story? Do we crucify Google for surfacing an expost facto false story? It's not Google's job to verify sources of news. Could they algorithmically "guess" a credibility score and attach that to the newslink, sure, I suppose. ~~~ ominous > Could they algorithmically "guess" a credibility score and attach that to > the newslink, sure, I suppose. Then why bother with other sources? Just generate a random summary based on the search terms, rank it, and present it to the user if it is credible enough. Repeat as necessary. ------ SloopJon I don't know whether these automated news aggregators rely on machine learning per se, but this kind of reminds me of recent ML fails like Microsoft's Tay bot turning into a Nazi, or Google Photos labeling black people as gorillas. Andrew Ng interviewed Ian Goodfellow in the first course of his deep learning specialization on Coursera. Ian said that he's really interested in machine learning security, in part guarding against untrusted or adversarial inputs. Whether they're poisoning your network in the first place, or your network is misclassifying them because they're too weird, it seems like you need to treat random inputs as potentially adversarial. ~~~ reaperducer Part of the problem is that there's no quality control in AI or ML. "Good enough to show the investors" is the benchmark. ------ rightos I really don't like the "fact checks" being done by news sites these days - that's your responsibility as a reader, tech can't do it for you. Even more reputable sites like Snopes tend to draw absolutist conclusions about things which I find are certainly not absolute. ~~~ kartan > that's your responsibility as a reader I live in Sweden. How do I fact check what happens in a neighborhood in the USA? How do I know that a result of a clinical test is reliable? Do I check it on another on-line source? Do I spend millions on R&D and do my own analysis? Or just few thousands going to Las Vegas and gathering my own data? Or do I need to wait for a Newspaper that actually has fact-checking? > Even more reputable sites like Snopes tend to draw absolutist conclusions > about things which I find are certainly not absolute. Billions of citizens fact-checking every single news is not cost effective. It will be good to have a minimum of quality, and then you can apply any correction to the inherent bias of that medium. There is a difference between someway biased information and bullshit. ~~~ KekDemaga > I live in Sweden. How do I fact check what happens in a neighborhood in the > USA? I question the utility of you having any opinion on US politics, especially at the local level. You are certainly entitled to one but I don't know what it gets you without a vote. ~~~ eterm Well you've assumed they don't have a vote. US citizens are entitled to a vote while living abroad. [https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/abroad/legal-m...](https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/abroad/legal- matters/benefits/voting.html) ------ doktrin There's a recurring theme in this thread : > [insert internet company here] did nothing wrong! It's the reader's > responsibility to think critically! Obviously, there's a lot of truth to that. I'm sure everyone here broadly agrees with the concept of personal responsibility. I just don't see how making this blatantly obvious point gets us anywhere. It's like working with a bad colleague who management won't fire. Of course they're failing at their duties, but so what? You're stuck with them. It seems weirdly nihilistic to just accept the situation, instead of trying to improve it by making the colleague suck less. Personally, I think it's OK to trust experts. We broadly trust doctors, engineers, researchers and lawyers to inform us about their specific fields. Journalism is different, in part because of the 1st amendment : the government can regulate who's qualified to give you legal advice, but not who's qualified to inform you about geopolitics. That's a feature, with some undesirable side effects. My contention is that curated fact checking is an acceptable, if imperfect, way to mitigate those side effects. Everyone's entitled to an opinion, but not every opinion is entitled to the front page of Google. ------ notahacker I mean, I'm all for Google deciding that in the interests of pluralism and avoiding partisanship in its filtering it can't rule out Breitbart, political blogs or even Infowars as news sources, but including a web forum which - quite apart from being an infamous cesspool - doesn't even pretend to be a news source in Google News results?! ~~~ Karunamon Indeed, this is the problem. If their algorithm is so naive that it accepts _frickin ' 4chan_, it's probably going to end up making the wrong decision in the other direction (that a reliable thing is not). ~~~ cisanti Yes, this this this. If they can't just rule out an image board famous for trolling, why should I buy all these stories about ai, machine learning and all the buzzwords. ------ bitL Ultimately, the issue is whether we allow freedom of speech or not (or suppressing it severely). Tech is becoming political now, it's going to end up regulated and meaningful advancements will be rare, as they will risk "rocking the boat". That is going to be the most likely result when all major tech companies bow down to "filtering", "censoring", "suppressing" unpopular opinion. Automation would in infinite limit allow perfect control; now the question is are we going to build a society for automatons, i.e. allow only predefined human interactions, or for actual humans? Freedom always brings horrible things with it, but also greatness not possible in restrictive societies. ~~~ dasil003 A distinction needs to be made between the Googles and Facebooks of the world, and "tech". In practice, huge corporations love it when they can serve as a proxy for a human rights issue like freedom of speech. But there is no reason that mega-corporations with unimaginable power and increasingly control of the world's information should have the same freedoms that we allow individuals or even smaller companies. To the contrary, they need government checks and balances because there is no other counter-balancing force to their power. Over the last 100 years or so American culture has been totally subverted to this idea that any restrictions on corporate activity are inherently fascist and will destroy our economy, and the only solution to overwhelming market dominance is deregulation and magical thinking about the efficacy of the free market. ~~~ bitL I think the distinction here is not about limiting corporations but about basic human issue of freedom (more specifically of "feeling of freedom"; unlimited freedom is out of reach even for the richest/most powerful humans). As official media are losing their raison d'être, i.e. medial control of population due to alternatives provided by self-inhibited freedom on the Internet, allowing all kinds of ridiculous information to pop up, the usual approach is to inhibit access to unapproved information sources, reinforcing the feeling of having one's freedom attacked via censorship. Word of mouth was always ridiculous, a sewer with a few pearls here and there, it was always there though... Obviously, corporations in favor of "feeling of freedom" would lose a lot where it matters, in popularity. To me it seems like the quality of "story tellers", conjuring believable lies as was the case in the past, went dramatically down and population overcame that paradigm and can't be fooled with them anymore. Trying to shove population back to ancient approaches won't work; new, smarter stories need to be invented for people to believe in. Anyone up to the task? ------ kylehotchkiss One thing I was thinking about was how to leverage Open Graph share details for less than reputable sites. If scammy sites lost the ability to have an image/description attached to share, wouldn't that be a powerful way to show maybe a link isn't reputable? So many fake news sites are using high quality stock images fo OG share, and we are more or less conditioned to believe a headline with a high quality image attached, right? ------ ng12 This is a problem as old as time. Just because you can find the Enquirer on the same rack as the New York Times doesn't mean they're equally valid news sources. Just read the material and decide for yourself. It's especially easy for sites like 4chan which publicly avow that all posts are "artistic works of fiction and falsehood". ------ fluxsauce In an unrelated note, Christopher Poole, the founder of 4chan began working for Google in 2016. ------ pukipumbam Google do not suprise me anymore.. its sad that we have greedy companies like google existing..	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Trov – Automatically track the value of every thing you own - jeffberezny http://www.trov.com ====== fataliss As someone commented on product hunt I kinda feel not too good about referencing all my belongings somewhere online. The day you want good targets for a juicy robbery you know where to look. ------ dang Url changed from [http://www.producthunt.com/posts/trov](http://www.producthunt.com/posts/trov), which points to this.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
What happens when you turn up for work and find out you've been evicted - dmn001 http://blog.import.io/post/overcoming-obstacles-what-happens-when-you-turn-up-for-work-and-find-out-youve-been-evicted ====== DigitalSea What a crazy story. Good to hear that you were able to secure some office space fairly quickly and get your stuff back. I love WeWork, when I was contracting in Seattle a few months ago the startup I was contracting for had a space at WeWork Seattle. What a great environment, tonnes of networking events, free beer on each level (all different types) that is filled daily, various games like foosball and ping pon you can play against other companies, they have definitely nailed great co-working spaces. ------ orionblastar At least they let you in to grab your laptops and whatnot. A bummer your landlord didn't pay the building with your rent money and you both got evicted. Good things people were able to work at home until finding the new office. ~~~ dmn001 Btw, I have no association with this company, other than I like to keep track of their blog and events regularly as it ties in quite closely with my line of work. Thought I'd post as it's an article that fits in the startup culture of being able to adapt quickly and dealing with situations you can't prepare for, whilst turning them around into a positive. ------ andrewfogg Thanks all for the support. It was a crazy and emotional week. The London team have ended up very happy at WeWork.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark - rayuela https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-17/blue-apron-plummets-after-amazon-files-for-meal-kit-trademark ====== pera Please Amazon, do something different about the _huge_ amount of material waste generated by companies like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh. This is the main reason why I stopped using these services, the footprint is just disgusting: plastic bags inside aluminum+plastic bags inside cardboard boxes with more plastic. Please, invent some form of reusable container that can be easily stored and delivered back so we can stop trashing the Earth. ~~~ chaostheory Amazon needs to do this with their regular shipments as well. They contain a lot of plastic insulation (air bags). Instead of throwing mine away, I've been saving it until it fills up a closet then I give it to a local UPS store to reuse. My closet fills up in about a month. It would be nice if Amazon had a formal program for this since you can't recycle them with your garbage company. ~~~ leokennis The problem is, if you want to cheaply ship cheap stuff quickly, you need to reduce costs. So no time to have your packers pick from 20 sizes of boxes; just toss everything in a huge box. No time to handle returns of broken shipments; just stuff those huge boxes with tons of air bags. No time to actually check what's in the boxes (towels or a vase) because you need to pack 200 boxes an hour to break even. If "we" want to stop trashing the world, first we need to show we are willing to pay for that. ~~~ r00fus > If "we" want to stop trashing the world, first we need to show we are > willing to pay for that. This is the typical supply-side dodge. Consumers have little to no power here. I can't dictate to Amazon or major shipping companies (I do buy AMZN's frustration-free when I can). What option is there? Do you propose I compete with the packaging with my own offering? ~~~ abandonliberty Wouldn't this paraphrase as "I have no power, so I will continue financially supporting them." ? Consumers blame suppliers, suppliers blame consumers. No one has to do anything. Long live the status quo! :) ~~~ r00fus > suppliers blame consumers That's the dodge right there. Easy as a supplier to simply say "we provide what the consumer wants" to justify all business decisions. Courage, that is. This is normally where the government or watchdog organizations get involved - those have been gutted or defanged in the past few decades... by business interest group lobbying. ------ 127001brewer An article called "The Slow-Motion Trainwreck Facing the Meal-Kit Industry" relates how the meal-kit industry faces the same problem(s) as Groupon: _" The problem Groupon faced was that their initial success validated a model that anyone could copy, and everyone who copied it increased both Groupon’s cost of customer acquisition and its churn rate."_ [https://medium.com/@byrnehobart/the-slow-motion- trainwreck-f...](https://medium.com/@byrnehobart/the-slow-motion-trainwreck- facing-the-meal-kit-industry-345f14df45ad) ~~~ acchow Wait, isn't this how capitalism works? Can someone explain what I'm missing here? ~~~ ams6110 Yes, ideally in a competitive market for something that is a "commodity" type of good, profits fall to (near) zero. Not what VC investors are looking for. ------ jonknee It would be a great fit given that the main challenge is logistics which Amazon is already a leader in. With Amazon Fresh they even have the ability to pick up the previous week's boxes and cold packs (along with delivering the rest of your groceries at the same time!). Blue Apron spends a fortune acquiring new customers, possibly up to $460 per sign up as of recently [1]. I bet the percentage of Blue Apron subscribers that are also Prime members is amazingly high. Amazon doesn't have to pay a dollar to advertise to these people, let alone $460. [1] [https://www.recode.net/2017/6/1/15727182/blue-apron- ipo-s1-a...](https://www.recode.net/2017/6/1/15727182/blue-apron- ipo-s1-analysis-customer-acquisition-marketing-churn) ~~~ dtien And possibly the ace in the hole, the Whole Foods aquisition. Local distribution centers via the whole foods stores, with fresh foods, even with premade foods if you wish. Could ultimately be a blue apron/munchery hybrid. Their advantage would of course be their world class distribution/fulfillment tech, but also the fact that the costs of the food parts are mostly sunk already into the Whole Foods biz. ~~~ petra I agree. The munchery/whole-foods combo is the ace here. They only need to figure out meals that last 7 days (chilled) with natural ingredients only, but since freshly(acquired by nestle) did it, it's possible. Or maybe there's some patent here, and it's really hard to achieve otherwise, and that's why nestle bought them. ------ bearton I've tried a few meal kit companies (blue apron and hello fresh) and I was underwhelmed by the product and the service. Whole Foods ingredients + Amazon delivery = game over for most of these meal kit companies. They would be able to provide users added levels of customization and probably same day or next day delivery whereas with most meal kit companies, you have to lock in your menu for the week the prior week, which is inconvenient if plans change. Ultimately, I'm excited about this move as I shop at whole foods regularly and look forward to the ease of delivery that Amazon provides. I wonder where Amazon will target next; they've already targeted grocery and meal kit delivery and revealed plans to compete with Zillow and Redfin this week in real estate. Which industry is next? ------ lubujackson As someone who has used and enjoyed meal kits (Good Eggs, not Blue Apron), I don't think this is a slam dunk for Amazon. Meal kits are a lot more than recipes and portioning. I have 2 small kids so meal planning is hard to do consistently. I can whip up a chicken breast and veggie, but what I get from Good Eggs is seasonal recipes and fresh produce sourced directly from local farmers PLUS prepared elements including marinated meat and sauces. So when I cook a meal kit I'm getting a much better meal (more like a dinner party meal) for about the same effort as a barebones meal I would make otherwise. I have used Instacart and bought prepared stuff from Whole Foods, and there just isn't a comparison. In SF, I often get or see old/bruised produce in Whole Foods which used to be consistently good. ------ mi100hael This was bound to happen. A lot of financial analysts have been saying for a while that Blue Apron is a good idea that will be successful under different circumstances. Right now, Blue Apron's cost to attract and retain customers is astronomical and ripe for a competitor like Amazon to undercut. ~~~ DaiPlusPlus ...especially with Apple's acquisition of Whole Foods. ~~~ elthran Amazon, not Apple ------ notyourday As I have said before with Amazon eating Whole Foods meal kit companies that are not currently ramen profitable are toast. Ramen profitable companies would have to learn how to grow out of their cash flow. No sane investor would be pumping money into them until they know what and how Amazon would be looking at this market. I think over next few years we would see a total implosion of meal-kit industry with the exception being whoever operates Whole Foods on a national scale. On a regional level grocery stores and small grocery chains would offer the local meal kit service as for them the costs of expanding into that market locally is tiny. ~~~ calafrax > I think over next few years we would see a total implosion of meal-kit > industry I don't think so. Meal kits are a niche business fighting against mass market competitors already so nothing changes with the Amazon entry. If anything having an established player like amazon advertising meal kits increases market awareness and gets people interested. No one is going to have a monopoly of the food business, ever. It just doesn't work that way. ~~~ munificent > No one is going to have a monopoly of the food business, ever. It just > doesn't work that way. [http://imgur.com/pnMMj](http://imgur.com/pnMMj) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ConAgra_brands](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ConAgra_brands) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yum!_Brands](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yum!_Brands) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargill) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JBS_S.A](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JBS_S.A). We aren't there yet, but the trend line is pretty clear. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIcE4OvnqAY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIcE4OvnqAY) ~~~ calafrax None of these companies is anywhere close to a monopoly on food. Cargill might be big at 100B+ revenue (global) per year but US food expenditures are 1.5T+ per year, so even a company as huge as Cargill is capturing < 10% of the US market. Hardly a monopoly. [https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food- expenditures.asp...](https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food- expenditures.aspx) ------ stevewillows This was heavily predicted around here, and seems like a natural direction for Amazon (with very little effort.) It'll be interesting to see who else steps into this market. Hopefully there will be a focus on local pick ups to eliminate even more of the footprint. Ideally we'd see something similar to the CSA shares where you get a rubbermaid bin once per week with everything packed in something similar to Mason jars (with an initial deposit to ensure people are playing along.) This is a fantastic opportunity for local supermarkets and grocery stores to dedicate a section to 'What's for dinner?' \-- where all of the ingredients are grouped together with a small recipe card and a link to a video, or something along those lines. ------ rednerrus This is why Amazon purchased Whole Foods. I've been trying to get my regional WF competitor (New Season Market) to do these meal kits and have them delivered with Amazon Prime for the past 18 months. They could have killed this game and without all of the wasted packaging. I am going to continue to chip away at them. ~~~ s0rce New Seasons is great, there has been one in the progress of opening across from my office in Emeryville (East Bay - SF Bay Area) for the past year. ------ chinathrow Honestly, WTF Bloomberg and their auto play videos. ~~~ 0xCMP uMatrix has been a blessing for me. Block everything until you need it. I'd rather have the web broken than let them do whatever they want. ------ madengr Aren't meal-kits just plain expensive, compared to shopping at a local grocery store? ~~~ blacksmith_tb I don't think they are interested in competing on price, the value proposition is that they save you time, and the effort of meal planning. But they are pitching themselves as cheaper than eating out, and with at least the illusion the food is healthier (plus a pinch of the IKEA effect since you cooked it yourself). ~~~ metalliqaz I've used Blue Apron. They don't save any time at all. What I saved in shopping I lost in meal prep. I quickly went back to the prepped food at my local grocery store, which is also much cheaper. People who really wish to trade money for time would just eat at restaurants. ------ crudbug Please use your local grocery store. I am 31, live in Manhattan and shop once a week for groceries. All these food startups are not solving any real problems, its Webvan all over again. ~~~ Sargos Not wanting to spend my precious time researching on the internet for a good recipe, going to the grocery store to pick up items for said recipe, and them prepping the ingredients before the cooking process even starts is a "real problem" that is very much solved by these services. ------ randomf1fan This was inevitable. I wonder how Blue Apron is planning to compete. ------ butterfi This seems unsavory to me (pun intended). Would the trademark take away Blue Apron's ability to operate? ~~~ monocasa It signals Amazon's entry into the market. ~~~ butterfi But no actual impact to Blue Apron, other then a 500lb gorilla wanting your lunch? ~~~ csydas It indicates that a competitor Blue Apron can't hope to compete with is ready to compete. Amazon has everything to hit the ground running and more, and with everyone knowing Blue Apron is bleeding to get customers, it means that investors aren't going to be throwing money their way. With Echo being as popular as it is, it's a natural addition to the Echo Ecosystem; undoubtedly Alexa is about to become the world's best sous chef. As has been pointed out, Blue Apron fails to mark its territory in any meaningful way and only had power from first movers advantage. That power is gone now. ------ desireco42 I am not fan of Blue Apron, but just ability to have this kind of stupid patents is clearly anti-business and would support any measure to get rid of those. ~~~ ericwood Amazon filed for a trademark, not a patent. ~~~ desireco42 OK I see. Thanks. Then however bad, it kind of is legitimate practice to put pressure on them. I need to read more carefully next time. ------ ProAm A meal kit from Amazon sounds gross. ~~~ gberger Why? ~~~ jbob2000 Probably for the same reason I don't shop for groceries at Walmart. Both brand images are associated with cheap crap. I don't want to eat cheap crap. ~~~ jimmaswell Since when does Amazon have an association like that? ~~~ jbob2000 Since their site was full of knock-offs and half of it ships from China? Every time I shop on Amazon, I have to cross-reference with like 8 different sites to make sure I'm ordering the right thing and that the price is fair. ~~~ erik-g You don't _have_ to shop on Amazon. But I feel like being a cognizant consumer is your own responsibility. By that I mean I don't have to cross-reference with 8 other sites, I feel like the prices are fair, and as best I can tell I have avoided buying cheap knockoff items. I hear this complaint a lot (here, especially) but have yet to see much evidence of that.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: PSD2 - Is EU trying to rid itself of all SaaS? - skrebbel Stripe just emailed their customers a link to this page:<p>https://stripe.com/docs/billing/migration/strong-customer-authentication<p>If I read it right, it means that the EU is forcing a 2-factor authentication flow for every single payment, recurring or not.<p>I'm running a SaaS business (https://talkjs.com). My reading of this is that we have to send every EU customer we have an email each month that goes "Hi! It's time to pay again! ^_^" with a link. They then have to click that link, login to our site, and then go through a 2-factor payment authentication flow. This means they need to have all the required gear for that on them, which depending on their bank will often mean having a special bank-issued debit card reader ready that can generate unique one-time auth codes.<p>Our customers will get one such email every month for every service they use. If they're a SaaS-heavy business like we are, they'll get tens of these emails each month, driving them mad and away from us, to <i>any</i> alternative that can help them escape from this madness.<p>Am I reading this right? Is this stuff really this insane? Does anyone have more insights here? Mitigation strategies? ====== mtmail > is forcing a 2-factor authentication flow for every single payment, > recurring or not. Only for the first payment. But the first payment might be later than the user signing up to the SaaS. "Examples where the first charge is delayed until a later date are free trials, metered billing, and $0 plans." If you charge the same amount every month, then there is an extra step for the initial payment but no distraction later. ------ tarstarr (I work at Stripe, specifically leading our subscriptions and recurring revenue product, Stripe Billing) On a high level, the EU is trying to protect consumers from predatory businesses. We think protecting consumers is awesome. However, by virtue of creating stringent laws to do so, they've inadvertently caught many good businesses in the trap as well. You're right that the worst case scenario is that you'd need to send an email (or just use the pre-built emails we created/tested/optimized) to your customer every month, for every charge. But it's quite unlikely that this worst case scenario would happen. This is because the regulation allows for exemptions, which means that certain charges don't need to go through 3D Secure2 every time. Examples of exemptions include regular amount subscriptions (same amount, same interval; only the first charge needs to be authenticated), what's called "Merchant Initiated Transactions" which means that metered/usage based billing can also be exempted, and "merchant whitelists" where customers can just put trusted businesses on an exempted list. The challenge with these exemptions -- the reason we can't 100% promise all of your same amount recurring charges won't have 3DSecure applied -- is that it's up to your customer's issuing bank (e.g. Chase, HSBC, etc.) to apply the exemption at their discretion. We have been interviewing top EU banks in the past months and the vast majority of them plan to exempt recurring transactions when they assess fraud level as low. We know this is complicated, developing expertise on the vagaries of issuing banks and global regulators is not everyone’s dream job, and is not why you started a SaaS business. But this _is_ where we have spent time developing expertise, and that's why Stripe Billing wants take care of this for you: we will automatically apply for an exemption whenever it is potentially available, and deeply optimize for recurring related exemptions in particular. We will understand the nuances of different issuing banks, and give them the right information in the network request we make to maximize chances of success. From your standpoint can treat this logic kind of like a black box -- just attempt the charge, Stripe will either tell you it's all good or not. If it's all good, you'll just see a successful outcome. If not, you can then choose to have Stripe auto-send emails and reattempt the charge, or you can do so yourself. Most importantly: Stripe wants to do whatever is in our power to help SaaS businesses and other subscription businesses succeed. As this continues to develop (and btw, it looks like something like this is going to happen in Australia as well), we've got your back and promise to do whatever we can to maximize your revenue under these regulations. If you have any other questions, would love to be helpful. Stripe will stay in touch — we’ll be emailing you as changes happen — but you can always email me at [email protected], or just reply to the email you received earlier today! (edit: quick grammar fix!) ~~~ skrebbel Thanks for your extensive reply! It's really cool how much work you do to smooth over the insane legalisms invented by politician lawyers. Do you know whether Stripe is planning to one day do the same with the EU VAT mess? Right now I can't use Stripe's autogenerated receipts, and I can't Stripe Checkout, merely because both lack VAT number field. ~~~ tarstarr it's funny you should mention... We're actually launching something next week. Stay tuned! ------ BA4gDY-cqjsEPWn Assuming you are actually reading it right. I'm probably not your average SaaS consumer, but here's my 2 cents: As a person who prefers to manually pay every bill every month I consider this a great thing. I'd be happy if this was already in place for every company in every country. I do find 2FA very annoying though so I wish they didn't put that in...	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Building a 200000 Dollar Business in 11 Months Flat - motyar http://www.neerajagarwal.net/2012/06/08/building-a-200000-dollar-business-in-11-months-flat/ ====== karterk So the article does not give ANY information on what the author built and/or what specific things he learned. No idea how this is on the front page. ~~~ drewmck Looks like he sells WordPress themes: <http://www.inkthemes.com/> ~~~ ricardobeat And that makes me curious on how that other guy sold $22k (1.2m rupees) in wordpress themes overnight. Maybe _he_ should have written the blog post! ------ Negitivefrags "Seriously doing business is all about knowing few key business logics. If you know, those logics there is no way your business can fail. And I have pretty much learned them by heart and I am pretty confident, I can take any business to heights." Pray tell. I would be interested in hearing what the few things you need to know to make infallible businesses. ~~~ silentmars Key business logic #1: get people interested by saying that the awesome stuff is coming next. ------ brianbreslin Is he talking about Indian Rupees? I had never heard of a Lakh as a unit of currency before (wikipedia says its 100,000 units, still not super clear <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakh>) What is his business? What did he learn from the affiliate who was selling for him? ~~~ goatcurious Correct, Lakh is 100K units. It's used commonly with INR, in India. ------ peteforde This seems vague. Who is this guy and what does he make? ~~~ blitzmohit Apparently he sold wordpress themes for that amount. <http://www.inkthemes.com/>	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Makerbot killer? Ultimaker: There’s a New 3D Printer in Town - riboflavin http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/08/ultimaker-theres-a-new-3d-printer-in-town.html ====== mhb Does anyone make useful things with these? How come the article doesn't give the accuracy and resolution or are people just printing crude shower curtain rings really quickly? ~~~ thezilch My friend fabricates bottle openers, for starters, which go for as little as USD$4-5 on etsy.com. ~~~ rexreed How much time does it take? What are the materials cost? What are the operating costs? How much does the machine cost? Just trying to do a bit of break-even calculation and figure out what the profitability point is on a per-item basis... since I might do the same [grin] ~~~ jfoutz back of the envelope, a thingomatic is $1300. If you get it working well, it'll happily print for days unattended. electricity and plastic i'd guess is less than a buck an hour. ABS plastic is dirt cheap. less than $20 per pound, stuff you print weighs a fraction of an ounce. ------ puzzler314 When is someone going to develop a quality desktop 3D printer? I know I would be willing to pay many times the price of a Makerbot for a proper printer. ~~~ riboflavin I think you can get a "real" desktop 3D printer for about $5K these days. But the consumer build-it-yourself designs are doing reasonably well, and actually give very, very good results - the catch is you have to be willing to put a _lot_ of time in. ~~~ riboflavin I guess I would also note that these guys are all kind of headed in the direction of competing with the "real" desktop 3D printers, but yeah, they won't be there for a while. I wrote some further thoughts here: [http://justindunham.net/2011/08/where-is-open- source-3d-prin...](http://justindunham.net/2011/08/where-is-open- source-3d-printing-going/) ------ karl_nerd Higher resolution, but further from a finished product: Junior Veloso's experiments: [http://3dhomemade.blogspot.com/2011/03/high-resolution- compa...](http://3dhomemade.blogspot.com/2011/03/high-resolution-compared-to- fdm-kit.html) He's using light from a projector to harden liquid resin. ------ grannyg00se Whatever it is, it looks a clunky mess. This is not the leap in 3D printing I was hoping for. ~~~ thezilch To each his own, I suppose, as I rather like the build of exposed wires, bolts, rivets, and the likes -- I'm not alone. I'm not sure what "clunky mess" means or how device asthetics correlate to "leap[s]" (in ability?) in 3D printing. ~~~ grannyg00se I was actually referring to the produced piece that came out of it. It seems to have rather poor resolution, and there are what appear to be stringy anomalies and uneven portions. The machine itself is not relevant to me. I don't care if that looks clunky. But if the produced piece is a clunky looking mess, that's a problem. ~~~ starwed Ah, "clunky" tends to be used to refer to ungainly _machines_ , which is one reason most people reading your original post will assume you're discussing the aesthetics of the printer and not its products. The other is of course that the title of the submission is about the printer, so using "it" without further clarification will not be read as referring to something mentioned only in the article. ------ Simucal Could anyone tell what it was making in the video? ~~~ Cushman On their blog they say it's a Mendel part: <http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1768>	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
American Summer: Before Air-Conditioning (1998) - georgecmu http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1998/06/22/1998_06_22_144_TNY_LIBRY_000015831?currentPage=all ====== mauvehaus When I read something like this, the question that springs to mind is whether it was actually hotter, or whether the norms of dress forced people to dress less practically and suffer the heat more. It's interesting, because there seems to be a marked contrast between the daytime (linen suits) and the night time (people sleeping in their underwear on fire escapes). To within a rounding error none of the houses in my part of Boston have central air, and while people complain, nobody is truly miserable when it hits 33/90 and upwards to body temperature. I don't think we've hit 38/100 this year. I'll concede that we have better refrigeration, and a diet composed entirely of iced-tea, freezer pops, and cold bear is a possibility. Still I don't see anybody wearing a linen suit or a straw hat. On the other hand, now that some people do have air conditioning, it seems like it would be dramatically less acceptable for people to sleep out on their porches or in the nearby park. ~~~ JPKab I grew up in rural Virginia in a home built in the 20's. We had no air conditioning, and my father refused to purchase a single window unit because of the cost of electricity. Our rooms were hot enough that our fish/turtles my brother and I tried to keep as pets died until we figured out they would have to be kept in the basement. Understand that viewing people as miserable in public at a certain temperature implies that they are outside. Living within a home, especially upstairs, is TRULY miserable in high humidity at 90 degree plus temperatures. The humidity seeps into everything. Your bed feels damp, and so does any couch or chair that isn't made of wood. My friends refused to stay at my house in the summer. They had AC at home, and they weren't used to sleeping in the heat. My cousin came from New York with my aunt one time. They left for a hotel rather than try to stay in our guest rooms. Fans help immensely, and I doubt fans were widely available for large swaths of the public in NY in the 20's. In this way, they had it much, much harder than I did. One nice thing we had going for us was that our house was designed in a time where AC didn't exist. Windows were large and placed on opposite sides of rooms to support cross ventilation. Ceilings were high also, and the walls were made of plaster, which prevented them from fluctuating with heat load as rapidly as dry wall. ~~~ jamesaguilar Even outside . . . when I was a boy, my brothers and I were sent off to scout camp for a week and a half during the summer. Camp Lanochee in rural mid- Florida, known to its occupants as Camp Mosquito. I will never forget the feeling of sweat rolling off me whenever I turned in bed. It was this hot even though we slept naked or in underclothes only on a cot in an open-sided adirondack -- under a bug net, of course. It has to have been one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. ~~~ dpeck I worked on staff at a very similar camp in the southeast for a few summers as a teenager, taking 2-3 cool showers a day was the norm to get some relief. Even though staff tents had a 110v outlet that we all had box fans hooked up to sleep was never very restful, afternoon naps were cherished when possible. ------ jdmitch _A South African gentleman once told me that New York in August was hotter than any place he knew in Africa, yet people here dressed for a northern city._ From my experience this has almost certainly reversed, at least in reference to places I've lived in East and West Africa, as most men wear 3 piece suits or at least long trousers and shirts. Meanwhile in America, most people who work outside or in a non-arctic office will wear as little as they can get away with. ~~~ agilebyte Yeah, Central and Eastern Europe has humid continental climate with big temperature differences between Summer/Winter. In the Summer it is hotter there than in the UK. Yet, people in the UK (men) have a tendency to go shirtless when it goes above 20 degrees. My point? Culture. ~~~ MattBearman I think we only do that here because it's so rare when it does go over 20 degrees, it's always time for a celebration :) Having said that, England is currently enjoying one of the best and longest heat waves we've had in years. I'm just thankful I work from home, most offices would frown on me showing up for work in just my pants. ~~~ goodcanadian For American readers, British "pants" means underwear. For British readers, American "pants" means trousers. I was once mocked mercilessly by a Brit when I told him I had forgotten my pants. I, of course, had meant my blue jeans . . . I was wearing shorts. ~~~ agilebyte I would not mock you, that is a perfectly reasonable way to dress either way :). As long as something is over your giblets. ------ bernardom A lot of comments about heat sources in cities. I learned something interesting yesterday, when I came into work soaked and complained about how hot Boston's Park Street Station is. An older (70s) coworker mentioned that when he was young, Boston subway (T) stations were the place you went to cool down, as they were underground. Once they added AC to the subway cars, they dumped all their heat... into the stations. And now they're a furnace. ~~~ twistedpair They also use dynamic breaking resistors to the convert kinetic energy of the trains into heat energy. Fans then blow across the resistors to cool them. In Park Street, this just ads to the inferno. It is at least 120F in there in the summer. I'll bring in a theromometer one of this summer afternoons. ~~~ tanzam75 > _They also use dynamic breaking resistors to the convert kinetic energy of > the trains into heat energy. Fans then blow across the resistors to cool > them._ On subways, the electricity generated by dynamic braking is sent back into the third rail (or the overhead wiring). It does not get wasted in resistive grids. The resistive grids that you're thinking of are used by diesel locomotives, which do not have a convenient electric grid to dump the electricity into. Thus, they have to send it out into the atmosphere as heat. ------ jstalin It's hard to visualize sleeping out on the fire escape in New York City before heavy car traffic. It must have been _quiet_ at night. ~~~ jpdoctor You get used to noise is my guess. My dad grew up in New Haven in the 40s across from a fire house. When he moved out to the suburbs, he had trouble sleeping at first because it was too quiet. ~~~ cdrxndr It's only marginally quieter with the windows closed ... and our's are always open anyways. Was down in FL on vacation and the wife kept waking up because of the faintest repeating buzz since it was the only noise. ------ dpcan While reading this I couldn't help but think that the primary motivation for inventors, decade upon decade, century upon century, has been to devise machines and tools to keep us from going outside and being among fellow humans. Air-conditioning: A new invention so you don't have to sleep with your neighbors in the grass at the park across the street when it gets hot. Something inside me greatly desires a life like that. Where we aren't afraid of the people around us. Where it would be totally acceptable to throw a blanket on the ground at the park with my neighbors and enjoy some cool night air while we all get some rest. Today, I think we'd all get arrested, or ticketed. While it sounds miserable to be without A/C, it can be argued that we are even more miserable now because we have it. ~~~ evan_ > While it sounds miserable to be without A/C, it can be argued that we are > even more miserable now because we have it. Speak for yourself. I think that those hundreds of people sleeping outside where it's just a few degrees cooler would probably have given just about anything for air conditioning. They weren't doing it because it was fun, they were sleeping outside because it was the best way they had to try to avoid dropping dead from heat stroke. That's why A/C is used[1], not to distance you from your neighbors. > Something inside me greatly desires a life like that. You can sleep outside on the ground in a big group any time you want. Most cities have hundreds of people who do that every day. I think any one of them would gladly trade it for an air conditioned room with a bed. [1] [http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-12-22/national/36017...](http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-12-22/national/36017013_1_home- air-premature-deaths-gas-emissions) ~~~ nutjob123 > You can sleep outside on the ground in a big group any time you want. Most > cities have hundreds of people who do that every day. I think any one of > them would gladly trade it for an air conditioned room with a bed. Most parks I know have rules against entering past dusk, enforced with ticketing. In NYC there are closed gates which would physically prevent you from entering many parks. ~~~ evan_ I've only been to NYC a couple times but I remember seeing a lot of homeless people. I'm sure that there are resources you could use to find out where the unsheltered homeless population in NYC sleeps, if it isn't in the parks. ~~~ nir Some sleep in the trees: [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/nyregion/13trees.html?page...](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/nyregion/13trees.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0) Must be cooler there than on the ground.. Having lived through a few NYC summers, they can really be the worst. Not only it gets incredibly humid and hot, there's at least one serious rainstorm each week to drench you. I always found summer in NYC is much worse than winter. ------ throwaway1979 I believe the AC on casters the author refers to is really a swamp cooler aka evaporative cooler [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler) ------ _delirium Interesting; I wouldn't have guessed it made that huge a difference. I spent a good portion of my childhood in Greece without A/C, and now that it has A/C it's a pretty incremental quality-of-life change, not some huge revelation (at least outside Athens, maybe it's worse there). Some people use it (rarely more than a few hours a day), others prefer open windows, and generally livable either way. Mainly due to the humidity difference, perhaps? ~~~ pyre It's definitely the humidity. I was able to bike my 8 mile commute to/from work while in Portland, OR in the middle of a 100+ F heat wave a couple of years ago. On the other hand, I'm currently dying in this Toronto heat wave that's 90F's during the day and 80F's at night. For me the real difference is the humidity. Portland, is _super_ dry during the summer, and wet during the fall, winter, and spring. ------ incision I grew up in the swampy humidity of the DC Metro and didn't live with air- conditioning until I was 20 or so. Much like the author describes, we spent a lot of time outside into the evening/night and at the public pool over the summer. Of course, the existence of air-conditioning certainly helped and saw me spend a lot of time at the local library. To this day, I much prefer to sleep with the windows open than run the air- conditioning. ~~~ pyre > To this day, I much prefer to sleep with > the windows open than run the air-conditioning. The problem that I have with this statement is that sometimes just opening the windows isn't enough. I've lived without A/C since ~2005, and just bought an A/C unit for the bedroom due to the current Toronto heat wave. It just wasn't getting cool enough at night even with: * windows open * 6 fans running in the house to get air moving * sleeping without any clothes on Sleeping still meant being drenched in sweat and waking up multiple times in the night. [ At one point in the past we took to sleeping in the basement if it was too hot, but that's not possible right now. ] ~~~ mdpye A freezing shower will usually get you 4 hours sleep. Start with the water tepid, then reduce it over a couple of minutes. If you drop your core temp then you can get off to sleep, gotta stay under til you're cold throughout. That's how I dealt with 35 degree (that's 95f) nights after mid 40s days in the south of Spain with no air con. Also, hard shutters over the windows during the day, buildings hold on to a lot of heat. ~~~ joonix I think what needs to be more common is very powerful exhaust fans in units/homes. I constantly find myself looking for a way to suck out all the hot air out of my apartment at the end of the day in one fell swoop. ------ zalew in MENA they had wind towers [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_Tower](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_Tower) for thousands of years, a free, ecological and efficient system of ventilation and cooling. Ironically, nowadays they dump megawatts on A/C. I somehow doubt even [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_Towers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_Towers) will use wind towers, lol, I hope I'm wrong. ~~~ sp332 Wind towers are much less effective in high humidity, since water doesn't evaporate very well. ~~~ zalew possible. still better to reduce those problems architecturally upfront and attach expensive technology as additional support, than rely on huge-ass installations running 24/7/365. ~~~ Retric A well insulated low solar gain building does not need to spend all that much energy on AC. Especially if people are willing to keep the temperature at 80f in the summer. The real issue is energy is cheap so people are more than happy to use it to keep cool. Also nothing prevents you from using geothermal energy to lower energy costs even further. ~~~ zalew > A well insulated low solar gain building office buildings in say, the developped cities on the Arabian Peninsula, are basically high, very exposed glass and steel cages, where their 4 seasons can be qualified as: summer, hotter summer, unbearably hot summer and tiny itty bitty less hot summer. ~~~ sp332 Deserts generally only have 2 seasons: winter and summer. Winters are usually moderate, and even very cold at night. [http://www.splendidarabia.com/trekking/ksa_weather/](http://www.splendidarabia.com/trekking/ksa_weather/) ~~~ zalew I've been to UAE and Oman, both for xmas/ny, I wouldn't call it moderate. when I had to put up long pants in mid-day to enter the mosque and sadly they happenned to be jeans (you make this mistake only once), I thought I'd die on my way from the parking lot. cold nights are typical for desert in the sense of no civilization open area desert, not cities located on the coastline near a desert. maybe KSA's Riyadh is different because it's located inland, but still cities usually hold temperature pretty well, hence 'summer in the city' tends to be a painful experience during peaks even here in Central Europe. ------ cdrxndr My wife and I have elected for no A/C in the city for the last 5 years. Pretty much an experiment in stubbornness, but I'm sure it's also saved real money in electricity and we're also probably so skinny because of it. We try to keep a cross-breeze going whenever possible; ceiling and floor fans are on full blast at all hours; and most recently, I've enjoyed spritzing my feet with water and lying in front of the fan to cool down. ------ codegeek "A South African gentleman once told me that New York in August was hotter than any place he knew in Africa," Not sure about Africa since I have not been there yet but definitely it is comparable to some really hot parts of the world in NYC currently (100 degrees outside). ~~~ claudius 37 °C is, while hot, not the maximum for Germany and the rest of central/southern Europe. It tends to be relatively dry, though, especially if one goes further east (Berlin, e.g.). Given how far north Europe is, I would expect ‘really hot parts’ to be, well, hotter :) ~~~ revelation Notice that air conditioning is really rare in Germany; usually only businesses have them in select locations. ~~~ claudius I don’t know a single home with air conditioning, even in cars/trains it only became popular within the past ten years or so. ------ erinbryce You'd think we'd get used to the heat eventually, but it just keeps on being miserable...	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Scientists prove that women are better at multitasking than men - freshfey http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7896385/Scientists-prove-that-women-are-better-at-multitasking-than-men.html ====== adolph In other news, scientists develop superior journalist-bait with a highly efficient study protocol of "50 male and 50 female students [given] eight minutes to perform three tasks."	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Should high school newspapers have First Amendment freedoms? - wubbahed http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/n-y-s-tongue-tied-student-journalists-article-1.3013200 ====== leed25d Yes. They should if they are in the United States.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Arduino-Based Home Weather Station on the Elastic Stack - bryanrasmussen https://www.elastic.co/blog/arduino-based-home-weather-station-on-the-elastic-stack?ultron=aug-2016&blade=newsletter&hulk=email&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWlRVMFpHTmhNVGt3WVRBMiIsInQiOiJNTStwaXZqVFkxQk9GWit5XC9kUTZldmN1N0VFSFwvV0RoMXpldlR3MmR2Qkc0aXdrNTRHM0lCOVlZNHp6ZkJxbWJrN2dCSWt0SzNXNVN6anRZMm1vYjFEMXpVdzltZGlpXC9JN2l2RDBYRjZyTT0ifQ%3D%3D ====== cstuder The BMP180 temperature sensor sports a +-2°C temperature accuracy. That's too much for my sensibilities. The DHT22's accuracy is +-0.5°. Does anybody know of more accurate sensors (+-0.1°) suitable for usage wit the ESP8266? ~~~ gh02t Accuracy is not as important as precision though. For accuracy, you can usually just calibrate it out against a known reference (you usually need to do this anyway to get consistent results across multiple sensors). The only case when you can't is nonlinear accuracy, which is rare but I've seen it with the DHT22 actually. Precision (stability of measurements) is what you really care about. That said, the BMP180 isn't so great at that either. The temperature sensor is I think a secondary function used to improve the pressure estimate. It doesn't give very stable temperature estimates in my experience. If you want a direct replacement for the DHT22 (and I did, god I hate that module for a variety of reasons) the HTU21D-F is great. The BME280 is also a big improvement over the BMP180. If you just care about temperature, the DS18B20 is the way to go on performance and price, while if you really want high accuracy and precision then the MCP9808 is the way to go. I use the MCP9808 as my reference to calibrate against, with a mixture of the other three in various applications. ~~~ perch56 You seem to have experimented with some sensors. I was wondering what would be your top choices of sensors for someone learning hardware hacking with Arduino/Raspberry Pi(not only temperature measurements). Thank you very much. ~~~ gh02t Well, my favorites are: * DS18B20 - One-wire temperature sensor that is cheap * Generic PIR (motion) sensors - you can find simple motion sensor boards for cheap and they are pretty fun. * Capacitive sensors - you can make a touch sensor/button out of anything conductive that only uses a single wire (not even ground, just one wire) * Ultrasonic distance detectors * Hall effect sensors - detect presence of a magnet, especially useful with stepper motors * BME280 - temperature/barometric pressure/humidity, one of the best all around sensors for weather monitoring as it's all on one chip. Also supports both i2c and SPI. Note it's BM _E_ 280, the BMP280 doesn't support humidity. A good bet is to buy a kit that gives you a random bunch of sensors to play with. You can find them cheap. ------ uberneo Nice weekend project -- How often you are sending data to Elasticsearch and how does Kibana is polling the Elastic? Another good combination would be Influxdb + chronograf [https://influxdata.com/time-series- platform/chronograf/](https://influxdata.com/time-series-platform/chronograf/) ~~~ MasterScrat Or rather InfluxDB + Grafana. Grafana is more mature and Chronograf is closed-source, I don't see any reason to go with it. But yes if you want to display time series there are better options than Kibana, which has a focus on searchable documents. ~~~ coredog64 Elastic.co is trying to get into that business. A time series datapoint is just a very small document, and they're churning out agents that collect and ship it. I'm not entirely sold on the idea, as their examples for turning metrics into actionable insights are a lot more complex than they are for Grafana (or similar). ------ linker3000 It seems reasonable to point out that there is no 'Arduino' involved here - it's an ESP8266-based board programmed using the Arduino IDE with the ESP-8266 board support package installed. ------ uberneo Its a pure Time Series data with sensor is recording approx every 1 sec. Which protocol you are using to send this data to server , as posting every 1 sec oever TCP for a sensor doesn't seems a good idea. For any IoT which protocol you guys prefer to push data to server ~~~ izak30 It all depends what you're doing. For a weather station you could do very well and have very low power at one reading per minute. HTTP is great for that. Also your approximation is off. I'm under 200ms (closer to 110) per insert, end to end. That's before any optimizations. ------ whatwasmypwd Should you rely on es as your primary db? ~~~ swsieber No, not for writing. It's never safe. It will eventually eat your data. But for reading it's fine. So by all means, you can populate from a main data store that you never otherwise touch. Then again, if you're running just a single instance on really small data... What could go wrong? Edit: Again, small stuff, locally, it's probably fine. But ElasticSearch wasn't really built to be a primary data store. Sources: [https://aphyr.com/posts/332-jepsen-crate-0-54-9-version- dive...](https://aphyr.com/posts/332-jepsen-crate-0-54-9-version-divergence) (This has links to other good sources, right in the beginning). [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11325316](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11325316) [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11362069](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11362069) ~~~ bryanrasmussen yeah, I agree if your requirements is data consistency then not Elasticsearch, however I think from the Jepsen tests I don't think there has been any NoSQL db that performs really good on that? ( I seem to remember there was one that did bad on the first test but improved a lot with the second - SOLR, CouchDB?) ~~~ earleybird you're thinking of RethinkDB [https://aphyr.com/posts/329-jepsen- rethinkdb-2-1-5](https://aphyr.com/posts/329-jepsen-rethinkdb-2-1-5) ~~~ bryanrasmussen Thanks! I knew someone would have either a better memory than me or the willingness to actually go to [http://jepsen.io/analyses.html](http://jepsen.io/analyses.html) and figure out which one it was! And now that I went I see both the ones I thought it might be haven't even ever been done! I need to run a Jepsen test on my brain.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Rapid release at massive scale - prostoalex https://code.facebook.com/posts/270314900139291/rapid-release-at-massive-scale/ ====== trjordan One of the undersold (imho) parts of this post is the system that allows tiering of releases with gates for their release. When most companies talk about CI/CD, they mean that master gets deployed to production, full stop. Rollbacks mean changing the code. In reality, when code hits master, there is ALWAYS a lag while it gets deployed, and it's worth having a system that holds that source of truth. Where release engineering gets interesting is how you handle the happy path vs. a breaking release. I like that Facebook separated out deploy from release. It means that you can roll the release out relatively slowly, checking metrics as you go. Bad metrics mean blocking the release, which means turning off the feature via feature flag. I think for the rest of the world, that would mean halting the release and notifying the developer. Disclosure: I work with smart people who spend lots of time thinking about this and writing blog posts like "Deploy != Release": [https://blog.turbinelabs.io/deploy-not-equal-release-part- on...](https://blog.turbinelabs.io/deploy-not-equal-release-part- one-4724bc1e726b) ~~~ rdsubhas This is true, except it has a huge underlying requirement: that all deployments are forwards and backwards compatible. i.e. a running service must be able to talk to the older version of itself, and vice versa (and of course the chain of dependencies). This is a much bigger knowledge investment, easier said than done. It pays off in the end, but not worth making it a "criteria for success" when breaking out from branch-based to trunk-based continuous delivery, otherwise the trunking will most likely end up never happening. shameless plug: at goeuro.com we shifted from branch-based to trunk-based CD in a short time (<3 months) with a diverse set of services and workloads, by applying a holistic socio-cultural, technical and process approach. Could be of interest if anyone is trying to make a switch: [https://youtu.be/kLTqcM_FTCw](https://youtu.be/kLTqcM_FTCw) ~~~ bpicolo > that all deployments are forwards and backwards compatible This is critical regardless in SoA / anything other than strict blue-green deployment. ------ jonstewart It makes sense upon reflection, but something I thought interesting was how they run linters and static analysis tools in parallel with building. I've been used to build-and-test pipelines where these are done serially, because what's the point in building if the linter fails, and what's the point in static analysis if the build fails? But the point is, they can be done in parallel and that reduces latency of feedback to the developer. ------ newscracker Note: Everything in this comment is based on personal experience and observations as a Facebook user. They're all my opinions too. In my experience of using Facebook (primarily groups), it is a highly buggy platform and it's very hard to say that it behaves consistently or even that features are really ready before release - this, IMO, implies that both development and testing as well as rolling out the releases are messed up. This post talks about building a better "conveyor belt", so to speak, to release changes, but if the basic product is buggy and didn't get good attention in design/dev/test, no improvements in the "conveyor belt" can help make it awesome. Standard features that have existed for long may or may not work (how good are the regression tests then?). Posts and comments in groups may sometimes just disappear (thank goodness an admin activity log was added sometime in the last several months so we can stop wondering if an admin deleted anything). There's a feature in groups to mandate people wanting to join a group to answer some questions setup by the admins. Most people submit the answers but that never gets saved, and it's unknown what the trick is to get the answers to stay (this has been around for several months now?). New features aren't always announced. I see Facebook as a platform that's used to share ephemeral things. So this level of quality is probably just ok (though I don't believe it justifies the company's revenues and valuation). Since I do not conform to Facebook's ridiculous policy on using "real/authentic names", I don't even venture into contacting support if I see any issue, lest my presence be obliterated (yes, I try to keep away from Facebook, but do need it for some important awareness building because there's a large audience there). As a platform used by billions, Facebook still has a very long way to go in being reliable. ------ imaginenore It's not clear from the text how they deal with the severe production bugs. By the time the bug is found, the master branch is full of new code. So your bugfix has to deploy with all that new code? And with so many people checking in to the master branch, how is it not permanently broken? With 1000 devs pushing code, you're bound to have severe bugs daily. ~~~ Too It's not like people push straight to master. There is most likely a pull request system or other form of review tool in between, with both code review and static analysis. ------ xupybd I can't be the only one immature enough to read that title as a double entendre. ~~~ al2o3cr Clearly, the solution is a middle-out approach. ;) ------ Gravityloss Is their distributed database code also in this same repo and goes through the same process? ~~~ oliverzheng (Former FB eng.) No. Storage and backend services are on a different tier and release schedule entirely. ------ latchkey I've had a deployment cycle like this since I started using Google App Engine... 6 years ago. ~~~ alangpierce The interesting thing about the article isn't that they're able to release continuously; there's nothing technically hard about deploying quickly. The interesting thing is that they're able to make the continuous release system work with thousands of engineers actively working in the same codebase without destroying quality. The three-tiered release system, monitoring alerts, feature flags, and good testing infrastructure seem to be what makes all of that possible. ~~~ breeny592 Exactly - releasing is the easiest part of the process. A lot of orgs don't have continuous deployment because of reasons such as: \- they don't have a good enough automated testing suite (or at least don't trust it fully), and thus rely on "sign offs" to have people commit to saying it's quality \- they don't measure in production properly (no real error alerts, no way to measure release success), and often deal with things in a "go or no-go" type way \- they don't canary test. To me this one is critical - the only way to get real production use is to have real production users actually using the site/platform/app, just a sample of them, to see what could go wrong, especially with new features A lot of managers I've worked with are shocked whenever I pull out the "continuous deployment is easy. doing it well is hard" line. ~~~ user5994461 A lot of organization don't have continuous deployment because they can't risk breaking everything for any developers who is playing around. When they want to release, they review everything, test and go through QA. Facebook is not important. It has no impact when it's broken. ~~~ latchkey I helped build a business that did about $80m in gross revenue in the first year. We launched the initial version in 3 months (which we predicted to within a week). Started with 2 engineers (myself and another guy) and grew it to about 15. Zero QA, Zero DevOps. We had CI/CD and a full test suite. We deployed from master as many times a day as we needed / wanted. It can work if you open your mind to it and you hire the right people who know what they are doing. ~~~ user5994461 And I was at business with $800M and 30 employees. Just because it releases quickly and has no QA doesn't mean it's a good thing. The only metrics that matters is calls from your users. Facebook doesn't even have a number to call when it's broken. ------ fmavituna It's interesting that static or dynamic automated security testing don't exist in their process. ~~~ rdsubhas when both the delivery (pipelines) and the units going in them (container images with deployment descriptors) are automated, its really easy and straight-forward to plug-in a variety of automated checks (e.g. [https://github.com/coreos/clair](https://github.com/coreos/clair), organizational policies, governance, etc) ------ nimchimpsky "engineer productivity remained constant for both Android and iOS, whether measured by lines of code pushed or the number of pushes." Both of those metrics are incredibly shit ways to measure productivity. I guess thats one explanation as to why the facebook app is 200mb+. They've been superproductive with all those lines of code. A better metric would rely on actual features or bugs, imo. ~~~ Osmose I think it's obvious that they're bad at a small scale (individually or for smallish teams, maybe < 30 engineers?), but I don't think they're _obviously_ bad for teams of 50+ engineers. Also, there is a difference between using them as metrics that you want to raise vs metrics you just don't want to drop or fluctuate wildly over time. ~~~ 0xbear Some people at Google are actually quite proud of six digit _negative_ line counts they've contributed. And I think they have every right to be proud of that. ~~~ Swizec That’s why you track _changes_ made. Throughout my career imve found that number of changes comitted correlates pretty well with features delivered and bugs fixed. Also with feature and bug size. Yes there are edge cases when it takes a day of debugging to make a 1-line fix, but those are rare. Just like it’s very rare to deliver a useful new feature by changing a single line. Yes there are also features that are tracked as a real ticket and require a 1-line copy change and nothing else. Nobody thinks doing those makes you hella productive, it just needs to be done. As for padding lines and changes. That’s what code review is for. ~~~ 0xbear As to what one should track, one should track _results_ if you've managed to accomplish something useful with very little code, that is decidedly better than accomplishing the same with much more code and hundreds of check-ins. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. ~~~ Swizec > one should track _results_ One should, but companies often care more about effort than results. They can manage based on effort, they can't manage based on results. If you spend 2 days getting the same results as somebody else does in 5 days, guess what, they don't want you milling around those extra 3 days and bringing morale down. Gotta give you more work! ~~~ 0xbear And worse: in more than one megacorp (including Google in late aughts) I've seen _complexity_ as a requirement for promotion. Google has tried to get rid of that de jure, but it remains a requirement in practice, so people do what they are rewarded for: create complexity. ------ ianamartin I must be really out of the loop because I just don't see enough of what Facebook is doing to justify all of this garbage. There's a lot of lip service in the article about user experience, and I guess there are some changes here and there, but wtf is happening here? I definitely want and use CI/CD tools for my team's software, but what the fuck are you really doing when you are making this many changes per day? Call me an old fart, but if you are in a situation where you need to make that many changes per day, you are utterly fucked from almost every angle. Every aspect of this article sounds to me like people have no idea what they are trying to do, so they write code and push it, and it goes live. And everyone is very happy about this, for some insane reason. No offense to anyone, but this is not a reality I want to live in. And the article doesn't do much to defend the notion. ~~~ coldtea The parent makes a point. Across their whole product line (client apps, Hip Hop VMs, Flow, whatever), there might be millions of lines of code. But what exactly seems to actually change year over year on FB itself (server/client of the actual social website) that warrants so many commits? ~~~ cromulent I would suspect that the engagement level of the site changes. They have the audience to be able to run massive amounts of experimentation to see how people use the site and respond to advertising. To the average user, not much changes except for a feed of news. ~~~ pja Exactly. Only yesterday, my partner was complaining about how the like icons on her FaceBook page had become animated. Mine were static at the time - clearly FB had put her in a test bucket for some 'do animated like icons increase engagement?' test. FB does this stuff _all the time_. ------ kasperset The massive scale is getting massive at a massive rate. ------ ernsheong Hey Facebook, rapid release is great, but you broke my Messages, Notifications, Quick Help, and caret buttons on my [https://www.facebook.com](https://www.facebook.com) navigation bar. It's been broken for a few hours now, clicking on it does absolutely nothing. Chrome 60 browser, macOS. Maybe you need to slow down. ~~~ thomasjudge I see this happen not infrequently. Clearly their values still weight "move fast & [don't worry too much when we] break things" over reliability. Which for a site of this nature is a somewhat defensible choice, but for those of us who come from enterprise software for example, or expect a reasonably stable user experience, it's occasionally between disconcerting & annoying ~~~ tehlike Nope, just means that they didnt measure that particular metric. It gets better over time.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Show HN: I built a Cryptocurrency portfolio tracker - RippleTick https://coincab.io ====== RippleTick Hey all, I recently built CoinCab.io ([https://coincab.io](https://coincab.io)), a cryptocurrency portfolio tracker/calculator that supports multiple crypto/fiat pairs. More pairs and features will be added as well. If it's missing a fiat option you'd like to use, let me know! It's a PWA so you have the option of saving it to your mobile home screen and running it like a native mobile app. Data is aggregated and comes from CryptoCompare. I also made browser extensions for the app. Chrome extension: [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/coincab/pdkphaince...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/coincab/pdkphaincebbciejocnijdoldikjjpka) Firefox add-on: [https://addons.mozilla.org/en- US/firefox/addon/coincab/](https://addons.mozilla.org/en- US/firefox/addon/coincab/) Would love to hear your input. Hope you enjoy! ------ lettergram Typically, you'd title this "show HN" and more people would see it. Also I too use cryptocompare! [https://projectpiglet.com](https://projectpiglet.com) ~~~ RippleTick Thanks for pointing that out, totally forgot! That looks great. Love the UI! ------ motioneer Really nice! The UI has a great flow, and it works great on mobile. Will be checking out the chrome extension shortly. Are you planning to add more crypto options? ~~~ RippleTick Thanks! More crypto/fiat options will be added weekly. Instead of listing 2000+ random coins and tokens, I wanted to focus on only listing the pairs that are in higher demand to keeps things from getting too convoluted. ~~~ lettergram Fyi I would recommend the top 100 by market cap, as that appears to be really what people look for. ~~~ RippleTick Good idea. Going to look into adding this.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Duktape is an embeddable JavaScript engine, with a focus on portability - tosh https://duktape.org/ ====== kowbell I was taking a Game Engines class at my uni last semester and we had to add scripting to our C++ engines using Duktape (or it's C++ counterpart, Dukglue.) It was surprisingly easy to use Duktape once you figured out the initial boilerplate, and it was especially exciting and fun to be able to write a demo game using the engine in two languages (especially with one which didn't require recompilation!) ------ jupp0r Just keep in mind that performance is abysmal (order of magnitude of 1% vs what you are used to in a browser for the same amount of cpu time spent), which might be ok for your use case, just keep in mind that many libraries assume a somewhat performant runtime. Another down point is that you are stuck with ES5. ~~~ CharlesW For anyone who needs a performant "JavaScript for embedded" runtime that also fully supports ECMAScript 2018, Moddable's XS is a great choice.[1] Moddable is the only embedded engine provider in the Ecma TC39 JavaScript language committee, so they tend to be really aggressive in supporting new JavaScript features. [1] [https://www.moddable.com/faq.php#comparison](https://www.moddable.com/faq.php#comparison) ~~~ amelius How difficult would it be to port Firefox's javascript engine to embedded platforms? ~~~ hajile I've never tried, but Mozilla's example doesn't look that hard. [https://github.com/mozilla-spidermonkey/spidermonkey- embeddi...](https://github.com/mozilla-spidermonkey/spidermonkey-embedding- examples) The big issue (like with v8) is binary size. Double-digit megabytes before you even start running code is unacceptable in a lot of environments. ~~~ X-Istence It's a giant pain in the behind, if you can even get it to compile correctly. ------ SlowRobotAhead I tried it on embedded. Wasn’t happening for me. Eventually moved to mJS a similar JS engine for C. Eventually dumped that and moved to Lua. Part of the issue is I needed a scripting engine, but I didn’t NEED JS. It was also a pain that the code/script was in ASCII which had to go to base64 and none of this was as good as compiled for efficiency. I wasn’t going to let users run their own code, so that’s probably a big reason people use this. ~~~ tyingq TCL would have been another choice. Still used by quite a few commercial entities as an embedded scripting language. ~~~ SlowRobotAhead I need FFI (foreign function interface) to fall C functions from the scripting language. My glance into TCL did not turn up a native FFI. ~~~ blacksqr Ffidl ([https://prs-de.github.io/ffidl/](https://prs-de.github.io/ffidl/)) is the standard library extension for Tcl to make use of FFI. Tcl's philosophy is to keep the core lean and extend functionality via loadable libraries. ~~~ SlowRobotAhead I'll take a look, thanks. EDIT: Not too bad actually. I'll take a look and compare to Lua. I'm not ::crazy::about:TCL's syntax, but it's not that bad. ------ snek moddablexs and quickjs are probably better at this point, with current spec compatibility and whatnot. still a lot of respect for duktape though, it is not that bad to embed. ~~~ juancampa QuickJS has a relevant comparison/benchmark: [https://bellard.org/quickjs/bench.html](https://bellard.org/quickjs/bench.html) ~~~ hajile 600kb or 1.2mb are way larger than 330kb and makes them much less suitable for smaller embedded applications which Duktape seems to target (it can get way smaller than 330kb). I'm surprised with v8 though. I assumed they'd have a separate binary available so you could run jitless without having to carry all the binary bloat. ~~~ zamadatix Another thing to consider (and probably part of the size difference) is QuickJS carries with it about 5 years newer JS standards support than Duktape. ~~~ hajile I suspect these two things are related. ES2015 more than doubled the size of the spec and each spec since then has continued adding loads of things that take precious kb to implement. That said, it seems like there are serious code savings to be had with some things like destructuring, template strings, and arrow functions. Generators are probably complex to add, but also don't transpile well (that is, debugging the resulting code is a horrible experience). ------ peteretep I have used this to steal JS libraries I wanted into other high-level languages that had Duktape wrappings ------ ausjke the legendary option has always been Lua: small, fast, light-weight, easy to embed and get the job done. ------ petters Can also recommend QuickJS which has 2020 features. Duktape is ES5. ------ swyx i feel compelled to share Figma's experience trying out Duktape to build a plugin system: [https://www.figma.com/blog/how-we-built-the-figma-plugin- sys...](https://www.figma.com/blog/how-we-built-the-figma-plugin-system/) they picked somehting else in the end but its a great use case	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
New multi-page HTTP compression proposal from Google - dmv http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/ietf-http-wg/2008JulSep/0441.html ====== axod Support for something like this would be a step in the right direction, but I think there are a couple of simpler ways to improve HTTP: A similar peeve of mine is HTTP headers. If a browser opens a connection to a web server, and the connection is keep- alive, the browser will send several requests down than one connection. But for _every_ single request, it'll send out it's full headers. That's really wasteful and idiotic. Send full headers when the connection is opened, there is no need to repeat every single time. Also if the connection is keep-alive, it'd be reasonably simple to have gzip compression over the full data - not per request. This would achieve the same as the google proposal, but in a better way IMHO. The HTTP headers can add up quite a bit if you're using XMLHttpRequest or similar. Also if the data is small, compression isn't worthwhile. HTTP header spam is a PITA. So if I had my way: * Headers _only_ sent once at the start of a connection, not per request. Send them if they change - eg a new cookie has been set since the last request :/ * A new transfer-type to specify that the data is gzipped as one - instead of gzipped per request. Those 2 simple changes to HTTP would make things _so_ much better. ~~~ coderrr Those are interesting changes. It's true most headers don't change. One I can think of that usually changes between resource types is Accept. Usually it will be slightly different between <img> <script> <link> and <iframe>, but this probably wouldn't make much of a difference if you allow only to send changed headers. I'd be curious to see how much bandwidth you save with this. You also might want to allow for header removal as you do header change. I can't think of a scenario where not removing a header would cause a problem, but there could potentially be one. For the gzip as a whole instead of per request, there's one reason I can't see many browsers taking advantage of that. Most browsers will make requests like, write request, read response, write request, read response. Instead of write, write, write, read, read, read. So I'm not sure how you could unzip everything together unless you wait to display the items till the entire connection is finished. Also, this would require the client to give an indication when it is done writing requests to the stream, so that all the data can be fetched from the server and then zipped together. Which would require a much bigger change to the protocol. Is there anything I'm missing? ~~~ axod The main gain with headers would be for comet like applications. In Mibbit/Meebo etc type applications you're sending a lot of small messages, interspersed with HTTP header spam. Often the data is smaller than the HTTP headers. For gzip, I don't see an issue. The only change that would be needed would be for the gzip state to be saved between requests. For the browser, it would request object A, get the response, unzip it, display. Then it would request object B, unzip it using the previous gzip state, etc. For the sender, likewise. So there would be no change in terms of timing. The only change would be that the gzip state would be carried over to the next request. (It's possible I'm remembering wrong and gzip can't do this - if so a different compression method that can be compressed/decompressed individually, but using a running shared dictionary/state would be needed). ~~~ tlrobinson Comet optimizes for latency, with the big improvement of avoiding the latency of opening a TCP connection and sending the request. With both long polling and streaming you could probably send the headers long before the actual data is ready to be sent as well. ------ ardit33 I read the whole thing, and I just don't like it. The beauty of HTTP headers, cookies, and elements is their simplicity (or primitivness). They are easy to implement. This proposal will introduce a huge complexity to the HTTP spec. If you have implemented caching in a client, it is so easy for things to go wrong, even if the clients are right, the server, content managers could mess this up roaly really fast. The other thing I don't like, is that when using raw sockets, and try to implement HTTP over it, (many reasons to do this, especially in mobile), now you have to deal with more complexities. As somebody mentioned above, eliminating duplicate http headers, and addressing the duplicity issue in the markup language itself (i.e HTML5 or XHTML2), and not the transport protocol. ~~~ ardit33 here is somebody's counterpoint: "It seems to me that AJAX can be used to solve this problem in a simpler manner. Take Gmail for example--it downloads the whole UI once and then uses AJAX to get the state-specific data. The example from the PPT showed a 40% reduction in the number of bytes transmitted when using SDCH (beyond what GZIP provided) for google SERPs. I bet you could do about that well just by AJAXifying the SERPs (making them more like GMail) + using regular HTTP cache controls + using a compact, application-specific data format for the dynamic parts of the page + GZIP. Maybe Google's AJAX Search API already does that? In fact, you might not even need AJAX for this; maybe IFRAMEs are enough. I also noticed that this proposal makes the request and response HTTP headers larger in an effort to make entity bodies smaller. It seems over time there is an trend of increasingly large HTTP headers as applications stuff more and more metadata into them, where it is not all that unusual for a GET request to require more than one packet now, especially when longish URI-encoded IRIs are used in the message header. Firefox cut down on the request headers it sends [2] specifically to increase the chances that GET requests are small enough to fit in one packet. Since HTTP headers are naturally _highly_ repetitive (especially for resources from the same server), a mechanism that could compress them would be ideal. Perhaps this could be recast as transport-level compression so that it could be deployed as a TLS/IPV6/IPSEC compression scheme. Regards, Brian " ~~~ litewulf I assume the main argument against this idea is the burden it places on the Javascript engine. Its the same reason people use gzip and not packer (well, assuming packer produces a smaller file, which happens sometimes). Engines are getting faster, but they still really can't compete with native browser facilities. ------ jwilliams I haven't read the detail of the specification, but is a great idea. The amount of similarity between pages of Markup (esp XML) or related pieces of JavaScript could be significant. I found this Google PowerPoint that hints at some of the benefits [http://209.85.141.104/search?q=cache:RIkP-5qZ4awJ:assets.en....](http://209.85.141.104/search?q=cache:RIkP-5qZ4awJ:assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/7/Shared%2520Dictionary%2520Compression%2520Over%2520HTTP%2520Presentation.ppt+SDCH+results&hl=en) The PPT claims _About 40 percent data reduction better than Gzip alone on Google search._ ------ dmv Link (of a link) to the PDF: [http://sdch.googlegroups.com/web/Shared_Dictionary_Compressi...](http://sdch.googlegroups.com/web/Shared_Dictionary_Compression_over_HTTP.pdf) ------ andrewf Can't be a coincidence that they started pushing this a week after Chrome arrived. I wonder what other proposals Google has coming? ------ bprater Curious as to how this compares to standard GZIP compression over the course of a hundred pages on a website. ~~~ andreyf Another post cites 40%.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Photon – a live demo of a natural language interface to databases - atrudeau https://naturalsql.com/ ====== gagege "What is the price of Ginger Beer?" It couldn't translate that into SQL. "What is the price in dollars of Ginger Beer?" > SELECT Catalog_Contents.price_in_dollars FROM Catalog_Contents WHERE > Catalog_Contents.price_in_dollars = "Ginger Beer" Nope. "What is the price in dollars of catalog entry name Ginger Beer?" > SELECT Catalog_Contents.price_in_dollars FROM Catalog_Contents WHERE > Catalog_Contents.catalog_entry_name = "Ginger Beer" Cool! You have to be more specific than I was hoping, but this is still pretty neat. ~~~ vanusa _" What is the price in dollars of catalog entry name Ginger Beer?"_ OK - but that's not "natural language". ~~~ gagege What it might need to do is index commonly searched terms and provide a reverse lookup to the location of the row... oh wait, that's called a search engine. :) ------ thom There’s a lot missing here. During the brief and unhappy period of my life where I worked in this area, we had quite a lot of luck just generating semantics based on Wordnet in the domain in question. So here you can’t successfully ask for “French wines” even though we know what a country is and that French is a correct adjectival form. Same with things like “oldest wine”, that’s an easy to derive superlative based on info you already have. We got some mileage out of this old fashioned tree based system at the core, with fuzzier machine learning stuff at the edges. ------ deadfa11 > What singer sang in the most stadiums? SELECT singer.Name FROM singer JOIN singer_in_concert ON singer.Singer_ID = singer_in_concert.Singer_ID GROUP BY singer.Singer_ID ORDER BY COUNT() DESC LIMIT 1 It is close... sort of? It figured out it needed to join, group, and order, but it only drew the relation to the concert, not the venue. Correctness seems a huge challenge here. Even knowing SQL, I feel I'm double checking my results at times. But I can see how this might be incredibly useful someday for Salesforce if there's confidence in the results. ------ samatman > how many teachers older than thirty? > SELECT COUNT() FROM teacher WHERE teacher.Age > "thirty" Not a bad idea. A good idea, maybe. Implementation needs some work. ~~~ moonchild IMO better would be a database interface that acts as a normal programming language, treating tables as arrays of records. Compare: how many teachers older than 30 teachers.filter(.age > 30).len Same length, but the second one has a degree of precision that the first lacks. (Though they might diverge somewhat as the complexity of queries grows, I suspect programming languages would do better as they have better facilities for symbolic manipulation.) Note also that the second example (and your SQL example) had to specify the table's name, while the natural language one did not—another mark against the natural language solution. ~~~ Luuseens What you described sounds a lot like .NET's LINQ, which translates to SQL queries as well: teachers.Where(t => t.Age > 30).Count(); ~~~ moonchild Linq is cool; I haven't really had opportunity to play with it as I'm not in the .net ecosystem. Another integrated language/database is kdb, although it borrows somewhat from sql's syntax. ------ pmontra The Covid database contains cumulative figures, so if you ask "How many deaths in ...?" you get the naive query with the sum of the Deaths column for that country, which is wrong. Actually I wonder how to explain it. I cheated and asked "how many deaths in ... on July 14?" but got the wrong query, with July 14 as Province_or_State no matter how I rephrased the date. ------ macro-b “Select all elements from catalog” did not work... ------ rco8786 > All confirmed covid deaths > SELECT covid_19_july_data.Deaths FROM covid_19_july_data WHERE > covid_19_july_data.Confirmed = "covid" ------ visarga I've seen a talk about this task, it's supposed to be hard to get enough training data for regular DL approaches. ~~~ tgv Why do you think this is online? BTW, they didn't make life easy for themselves by having a field called "number of records". I asked something like "what's the number of records" and "what's the sum of the number of records", but it kept replying with `SELECT COUNT() FROM wines;`. ------ aaron695 In my opinion this doesn't make sense. SQL is a tight, unambiguous language, that's why it exists. This is like a legal document written in spoken English. It's only all fine when it works. Part of writing SQL is also understanding the underling data. This won't address this issue. This is also not replicable. Language changes in context and time. ~~~ legacynl > In my opinion this doesn't make sense. > Part of writing SQL is also > understanding the underling data. This won't address this issue. I guess the endgoal for this is to make non-technical people also be able to efficiently work with databases. From a purely business/financial context this would save companies hours (i.e. money) onboarding/teaching employees to use their database, and even possibly remove the need to hire expensive data analysts because their lower-tier employers suddenly can interact with their databases as efficiently as they can. edit: I also believe you're putting the cart before the horse with your reasoning. SQL and Legal English NEED to be exact, which makes them very 'complex' because you need to disallow any edge cases. This doesn't mean we WANT them to be complex. It is way more useful if it is easy and intuitive (like natural language). Matter of fact, this would save in both Legal and SQL cases a lot of time, because in both you'd often start with natural english, like 'I want to write a rent contract that protects me and my renter from legal trouble', or 'I want to know from this database which company had the highest net profit in the last quarter'. It's only then that you put money, effort and time into translating this into Legal English or SQL. ------ homarp see also [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24283687](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24283687) ------ jbverschoor Doesn't do anything related to language ------ neilalexander list all company > Please check the results in the table. Did I get it right? yes > Great! list all designation > Sorry, 'designation' is confusing to me ------ subhajeet2107 meh "is there any area column in addresses table" did not work seems straight forward to me ?	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Data is good, code is a liability - Anon84 http://glinden.blogspot.com/2008/11/data-is-good-code-is-liability.html ====== snprbob86 I worked on Google's statistical machine translation system during my internship. There, I learned that data really is king. The Google Translator team spends equal effort collecting data as they do improving their algorithms. The 2008 NIST results [1] show that Google's translator swept every category with unconstrained training sets. That is, when Google was allowed to use all of the data that they collected, they smoked the competition. When the training sets were constraint to a common set for all competitors, better algorithms prevaled. You can be sure that the very talented team at Google will be improving their algorithms to ensure that never happens again. But you can also be sure that competitors will be collecting even more data to counter Google's victories. [1] [http://www.nist.gov/speech/tests/mt/2008/doc/mt08_official_r...](http://www.nist.gov/speech/tests/mt/2008/doc/mt08_official_results_v0.html) ~~~ liuliu But who remember that in 1998, how many webpages Google indexed and how many Altavista indexed? Data is important, for spam filter, translation etc. but is far from a "king". We have the fancy that data is much important than algorithm Because now we actually get some really good statistical learning methods. ------ zmimon I see this at a micro level frequently when coding. Very often code that is a complex bunch of if / else statements is dramatically simplified by turning it into a map / dictionary with pointers to either data or functions to handle that type of data (object oriented polymorphism being an instance of this). There are also interesting parallels with REST vs RPC as well. You can create a rich API of function calls for accessing and manipulating data, but it's nearly always less flexible than just exposing the data and letting people manipulate it directly. I think the tendency to favor algorithms when it might otherwise not be wise to do so comes from how our minds work: we remember things primarily in terms of stories, scenarios, sequences of events. This causes us to interpret the world in terms of behavior as if behavior is the primary construct on which the universe is modeled. But of course behavior is not primary, data is primary, things are primary - behavior is just a fiction we impose on them. This often leads our instincts in the wrong direction. ~~~ jamongkad Hmmm replacing if/else statements with a map/dictionary with pointers to either data or functions. A little off topic here but how do you propose to do this? Assuming we know what polymorphism is. Your map/dictionary style is quite interesting. ~~~ etal For languages with first-class functions, it looks like this: # Algorithms def double(x): return x2 def square(x): return xx def fact(x): return (xfact(x-1) if x > 1 else 1) # Data choices = { 'A': double, 'B': square, 'C': fact } # I/O choice = raw_input('Choose A, B or C: ') x = input('Enter a number: ') if choice in choices: print choices[choice](x) else: print 'Initiating self-destruct sequence.' It's actually similar to how a switch block works, if each case in the switch statement just calls a function or evaluates one expression. Also worthwhile: Instead of functions, let the dictionary values be lists of arguments for another (multi-argument) function. Then the lookup is like choosing from a set of possible configurations for that function. A little redundancy is OK, since the table is so easy to read and edit. ------ fauigerzigerk I know it's a popular opinion nowadays, but here's what keeps me from adopting this view (huge amounts of data over algorithms) wholesale: Humans make smart decisions on very little data. How many faces does a child have to "process" in order to learn to recognise faces? Not many. How much does a person have to read in order to learn correct spelling? Not the entire google index I suppose. Humans work neither on simple deterministic rules nor on huge amounts of data. It's something else. Some very smart "algorithm" that we haven't found yet (Bayes nets don't get there either but they look promising). If there's a way for humans to be smart without much data there must be a way for machines to do the same. That is unless you believe in some kind of spirit/soul/god cult and I don't. ~~~ pchristensen Humans are superior to machines in several ways: \- we get _tons_ of data, just not all textual. We have visual (~30fps in much bigger than HD resolution all day long), audio (again, better than CD quality all day long), smell, taste, and touch, not to mention internal senses (balance, pain, muscular feedback, etc). By the time a baby is 6 months old, she's seen and processed a lot of data. Don't know if it's more than Google's 18B pages, but it's a lot. -we get _correlated_ data. Google has to use a ton of pages for language because it only gets usage, not context. Much (most?) of the meaning in language comes from context, but using text you only get the context that's explicitly stated. Speech is so economical because humans get to factor in the speaker, the relationship with the speaker, body language, tone of voice, location, recent events, historical events, shared experiences, etc, etc, etc. Humans have a million ways to evaluate everything they read or hear, and without that, you need a ton of text to make sure you cover those situations. -we have a _mental model_. Everything we do or learn adds to the model we have of the world, either by explicit facts (A can of Coke has 160 calories) or by relative frequencies (there are no purple cows but a lot of brown ones). My model of automobile engines is very crude and inaccurate while my model of programming is very good. Also, because I have (or can build) a model, I have a way to evaluate new data. Does this add anything to a part of my model (pg's essays did this for me)? Does it confirm a part of the model that wasn't sure (more experimental data)? Does it contradict a weakly held belief? Does is contradict a strongly held belief? Is it internally consistent? Is the source trustworthy? This mental model might just be a bunch of statistically relevant correlations, but that sounds like neurons with positive or negative attractions of varying strength. Kind of like a brain. I believe Jeff Hawkins is on to something (see On Intelligence <http://www.amazon.com/o/asin/0805078533/pchristensen-20>), but there needs to be correlated data (like vision/hearing/touch are correlated) and the ability to evaluate data sources. I agree that if humans can do it, machines can do it, but I think you're vastly underestimating the amount and quality of data humans get. ~~~ evgen Don't want to be pedantic here, but your info on our visual bandwidth is a bit out of date. We actually only process about 10M/sec of visual data. Your brain does a very good job of fooling your conscious self, but what you are perceiving as HD-quality resolution is actually only gathered in the narrow cone of your current focal point. The rest of what you "see" is of much lower bandwidth and mostly a mental trick. We also don't store very much of this sensory data for later processing. ~~~ pchristensen Yeah, I knew all that but my comment was already pretty long. Still, 10M/sec every waking hour of life is still a lot of data. ------ Retric But, Data creates Algorithms. For some set's of problems using Machine Learning / AI works well. But, it's inportant to understand what limitations your data creates in the same way that you need to understand what bugs exist in your code. ------ felideon Sounds like a paradox in Lisp since code is data. Does this mean all Lisp code is good? :) ~~~ sridharvembu I believe we need a "converse of Lisp" - in Lisp code is data, I believe what we need is the notion "data replaces (most) code". That leads to the question, what really is data, and I believe Codd supplies the best answer to that question. One of the truly original ideas in Computer Science that post-dates Lisp (and is not anticipated by Lisp) is Codd's relational model of data, which is not to be confused with relational databases used for storage. Note that Codd's model is not Turing-complete, while all but the most trivial definitions of code lead to Turing-complete systems, hence the parenthetical most in my "data replaces (most) code". Data is easy, code is hard could be another way to state that. We have experimented with such ideas, and we can report that they do significantly improve clarity and therefore productivity. As an aside to a pg essay, I believe clarity is _not_ the same as succinctness and as a corollary, succinctness does not imply productivity except in the somewhat trivial sense of ease of typing. ~~~ ken It almost sounds like you're describing Subtext: <http://subtextual.org/> ~~~ magoghm Subtext looks wonderful. Thanks for the link!	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: White Label Pricing My iPhone App? - sfalbo I've had a request to license a white label version of one of my iPhone apps and update it with new artwork that will be provided to me from this client.<p>Personally, I charge $.99 for the app but for this client it will be part of a marketing campaign and given away for free.<p>I know the details are a bit vague but what strategies have you used to determine a license fee for white label versions of your apps/software?<p>Do you use past sales history and factor in premiums for the risk removed for the client (it's already developed and proven)?<p>Do you use other methods to determine a reasonable cost? Thanks in advance for the advice. ====== clscott I'd charge a standard consulting fee for the effort involved in rebranding and building the client's version of the app and charge them $.66 (your price - apple's cut) per download for the lost sales. Now, if you think one of the following may be true: 1) there may not be many downloads 2) there may be issues getting paid regularly I'd get a lump sum to cover the lost download revenue. The marketing campaign should have a targeted # of impressions (i.e. downloads) so you should be able to get that number from your client and multiply by the $.66 to come up with the lump sum. If you want to take Aqua_Geek's approach which doesn't take into account your lost income going forward I would see if I could add a differentiating feature to the original app and release it soon after their version of the app goes live, this way there is a reason for someone to purchase your app even if they have already installed the other one. EDIT: fixed some grammatical errors and removed some duplicate information ------ Aqua_Geek Figure out how much time the original app took to build and multiply that by the going rate for iPhone development. This will give you a ballpark figure of quotes this client might have been given for the app. Then charge a percentage of the estimated cost that you think is fair, keeping in mind that it's a huge win for them: there is little technical and timeframe risk as 99% of the development is already done. Worst case scenario, their campaign doesn't do as well as they would have liked.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
The Coinbase iOS app has launched - ninthfrank07 http://blog.coinbase.com/post/64824441934/the-coinbase-ios-app-has-launched ====== yafujifide This is good news, but it's important to remember that the way Coinbase works is for Coinbase to keep the private keys. A Coinbase "wallet" is really more like a Coinbase demand deposit account. That means you are trusting Coinbase to hold on to your bitcoins, thus losing one of the key benefits of bitcoin, which is that you hold your money. A better alternative is the Blockchain.info app, but from my understanding this is not available for un-jailbroken iPhones (please correct me if I'm wrong). ~~~ w-ll Correct, I go as far as to not even really consider Coinbase a wallet, even though I know that's what there shooting for. I still like using Coinbase to buy when dips occur, It's the easiest way for US residents. Blockchain.info web interface I believe works on the iPhone, albeit It's been a while since I've been there. If you really want to embrace Bitcoin, build from source [https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin) ~~~ cobrabyte Agreed... Coinbase is simply a mechanism to purchase and move Bitcoins through to my bank account. I never felt right storing coins in anything other than a paper wallet. ------ bredren This is good news. Congrats to Coinbase guys. If you are new to Bitcoin apps, you may want to check out Gliph. [1] The app lets you view your Coinbase, Blockchain.info or BIPS bitcoin wallet and send Bitcoin to people easily. [1] [https://gli.ph/](https://gli.ph/) (I work on Gliph.) ~~~ kolinko Wow, sweet. It seems though that the "send me a link" feature doesn't work with non-US phones? It would be nice if you had a friendler message when someone enters a non-us phone (essentially, a number beginning with "+", and not with "+1") ------ nextstep Coinbase already had an app... At least I had one installed from way back. It had the exact same icon and name. It was basically just a list of transactions and you couldn't take any action. Maybe they aren't counting that app. Interestingly, this new app must be using a different bundle if because I now have both Coinbase apps installed next to each other on my phone. ~~~ carbocation Am I wrong for having a moment of panic were I wondered if I had been tricked into installing an app that was not actually Coinbase's all those months ago? ------ letney Wow. This seems like big news in the Bitcoin world to me. This means Apple is giving the green light to Bitcoin related apps in the iTunes store. I wonder if Apple will start allowing entirely phone-based wallet apps now... ~~~ wyager Look at the Blockchain app. ------ jaekwon Why is it that Apple doesn't allow Bitcoin wallet applications, but does make an exception for Coinbase? ~~~ kolinko there is a blockchain app as well, and someone mentioned gliph in this thread ------ jayfuerstenberg I'm still a novice to Bitcoin but I thought the lure of it was so that there is no way to track/audit money transactions in as far as who was involved. The top screenshot seems to show such an audit trail. I hope it is stored on the device (never on Coinbase's servers) and only temporarily. ~~~ asdfaoeu It's not a private wallet it's an interface to a coinbase's shared wallet obviously they track it. If you didn't want that you would use one of the many local wallets / blockchain.info's wallet. ~~~ jayfuerstenberg Thanks for the info! ------ nnnnni Finally! Now when the inevitable "Coinbase is shutting down" post appears, I'll have some idea of what they're referencing... ( [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6573455](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6573455) ) ------ deftnerd Coinbase taking over a lot of the bitcoin ecosystem makes me nervous. They seem to have great engineering skills, but have the morals of PayPal. It might be better to push for other services that seem to be pushing for the betterment of the whole bitcoin community like inputs.io ~~~ orand Do you have any specific examples of behavior to illustrate your low opinion of Coinbase? ------ fiatjaf Hm... this seems nice (while the Android app is just their website packed with Phonegap or something like it). ------ wyager For those curious: Yes, there is already a wallet app available on the App Store called "Blockchain". It's a thin client app, which is usually more secure than using Coinbase (which keeps your private keys). It supports sending, receiving, etc. from your phone. The UI is so nice that I prefer using it to all other Bitcoin apps, be they mobile or desktop.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Why does Windows require a restart after installing updates? - Shmebulock https://www.quora.com/Why-does-Windows-require-a-restart-after-installing-updates-If-I-understand-correctly-this-could-be-avoided-if-the-Windows-development-team-made-clever-use-of-their-own-shadow-copy-technologies/answer/Mark-Phaedrus?ch=10&share=5b81f1fd&srid=TLfr ====== bediger4000 Wow, that's a lot of consequences for what probably seemed like a simple, obvious design decision. It's rare to see an honest acknowledgment of this, but it raises questions like "what other early, obvious design decisions make Windows goofy today?" Drive letters? Backslash as path separator? Magic file names like CON, LPT, AUX? ~~~ Xolvix I think it's worth giving drive letters some credit. It makes it very easy to mentally designate a drive, whereas people can get confused about the concept of UNIX-style mount points since people don't mentally distinguish between a regular directory and a mount point (they'll look both the same). Also Windows has had the ability to mount a drive at an arbitrary location for a while now (so not just a drive letter), but as far as I'm aware it requires the command line to do so. ------ wahern TL;DR: Unix inode indirection permits clean file replacement without overwriting existing copies or disrupting running processes. Windows' file system architecture lacks this concept. In-place upgrades aren't a realistic option for Windows without some serious contortions and caveats.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
With Virtual Machines, Getting Hacked Doesn't Have to Be That Bad - englishm https://theintercept.com/2015/09/16/getting-hacked-doesnt-bad/ ====== ChuckMcM As the article points out this is easy to do. I've had a virtual machine image for browsing for a while. Copy the image over the virtual disk, start it up, browse around, then exit. Next day do the same thing. Each time you copy the image is resets everything in the virtual machine and on a flash drive its pretty quick (actual disk image data is about 8GB). ------ ntw1103 I have been using QubesOS for a while now, I am happy to see it got a mention. Before using qubesOS, I had a vmware VM with a browser. I believe using Qubes is a bit more secure than an OS with a hypervisor running another OS with a browser though. See: [http://theinvisiblethings.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-is- qubes-...](http://theinvisiblethings.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-is-qubes-os- different-from.html) Or: [http://invisiblethingslab.com/resources/2014/Software_compar...](http://invisiblethingslab.com/resources/2014/Software_compartmentalization_vs_physical_separation.pdf)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Apple’s iOS 7 includes a surprise: the next generation of the internet - amerf1 http://qz.com/126642/apples-ios7-includes-a-surprise-a-ticket-to-the-next-generation-of-the-internet/ ====== olgeni "So far, the only way that Apple’s devices appear to be using this protocol is to communicate with Siri" So for now it's yet another private, do-not-use-or-get-rejected, useless API?	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: How do you come up with a Brand or Project Name? - dvcoolster I believe large number of domains are taken, so even if you think of a creative name like 'shgdf.com' I randomly typed it, but even that's unavailable. My point is, in today's time thinking of a brand name, comes along with the task of finding available domain. So, inevitably I end up at instandomainsearch.com playing around with different combinations.<p>Is there a better place where we can buy domains easily for $200 odd bucks if someone's been holding good brandable domain names. Brandbucket etc. seem too pricy and are good for maybe companies, but let's say for my small project, web game, or a blog, what's the ideal place? Aren't a lot of good use case domains just parked with bullshit ads? Is this even a problem, has anyone else struggled with this ever?<p>Thank you ====== panorama I have the same wish: A service that provides a large list of available, short, human-esque .com domain names. I wouldn't mind paying and spending hours combing over it to find ones I liked. Someone did this a few years ago and I snagged a couple neat ones including a 5 letter .com. Anyway as for actual advice, I've built more than a handful of projects and startups at this point. The recurring theme in every project was that I'd start with something completely nonsensical to use as the name. If your cofounder likes grilled cheese sandwiches, call your project GCS or grilled cheese or whatever, including your github repo. Getting the domain has never been step 1 in anything I've ever built including my current business. There's weeks worth of work to do before the .com is needed. In the meantime what I do is keep an Evernote of words and phrases that pertain to the industry or what my service will likely do. While we had several product hypotheses, our business model was 95% likely to end up doing some form of data sifting on behalf of customers. So I would think about words that have to do with searching or finding things and kept a log of them: \- Hound (as in the dog) \- Seek/Seeker \- Scout \- Scope \- Vision Along with general words I liked from a linguistic standpoint: "Labs", "IQ", "Mighty", etc. When I looked for an available .com, I mixed combinations in my word list: "ScoutIQ", "MightyScope", "HoundLabs", etc. until I found one that I liked _and_ was available: MightyScout - and I reserved it immediately. But to this day our Slack channel, Github repo, etc. still use the original, nonsense name :) ------ jjoe Here's how I came up with mine. I was building a Varnish-as-a-Service platform then. But I didn't want to use the word Varnish in my fqdn because it's a trademark. But also because the sum of its parts is more than Varnish (you've got scaling, security, etc). So I focused on the essence of the thing I was building, which is caching. I couldn't find any concise domain with the word "caching" in it. So I played around with syllables and settled on Cachoid.com. I'm happy with the outcome so far [https://www.cachoid.com/](https://www.cachoid.com/) ~~~ dvcoolster That's a great name for the service. That's precisely what I have been thinking, the more I think about it, I feel it can be a community driven solution. Say, in my spare time I challenge myself for a garage sale community and come up with domains which are available, buy and submit one on the platform. People can come vote, comment, and if anyone likes to use it can buy it for a flat fee, say $200. Doesn't hurt anyone, a good creative exercise for neurons to come up with a name, even budding designers can submit their design for a small share of the sale. But, it has to be much more altruistic from community perspective. Not sure, if it would work on scale to be a sustainable solution against the biggies out there ;) ------ telebone_man FWIW, you can take parties to a sort of court (I use that word lightly) that can assist you in obtaining a domain taken by a squatter. It's been a few years, but google ICANN and I'm sure you'll find something. If I remember correctly, you submit a petition suggesting things like.. you either have a trademark or that you're a recognised business and then a committee make a decision based on that. ------ shaftway I use acronyms, portmanteaus, and other plays on words to name things. Sometimes backronyms. I can't point to some of my recent ones, as they're still in progress. While I was at NYMEX I built a system called NEON (Nymex Electronic Order Network). Followup projects followed the noble elements theme, sometimes with a forced backronym. One project involved multi-lingual communication, so I tooke "chat", which is "cat" in french, then translated that to Japanese (Neko). Basically just have fun with it, and don't stress. ------ chaz I found a good name for <$200 on Namejet. Also check out Flippa.com for good names from people willing to sell. A piece of advice that worked for me: don't get stuck on the name. It's hard and it takes time (and sometimes money). Pick any temporary name for $10 and keep building instead. You can always change it later. Many companies and projects have changed their name as they became successful. It feels like it's important in the beginning but it usually isn't. ------ jcahill84 My first stop is almost always the thesaurus, from there I usually move on to combinations of two words or two synonyms of what I'm trying to build. My current project is a scheduled API monitoring tool, and I came up with the word "Schezzle" to represent what it is. A 90s rap influenced spin on the word "schedule." I think the trick is to find something that's easy to say and that can be communicated to other by word-of-mouth without having to spell it. ------ ThomPete Great names are built not found. Don't worry too much about getting the right name. Don't be afraid to call your company one thing but have a slightly different URL. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that domain names needs to be easy to type but the reality is that most of us click on links to get to a company url we don't actually type it in (and even if you do Google is perfectly fine helping you find the right url) ------ codegeek Don't sweat it. Domain squatting is a business and a big one. There are plenty of people who are squatting on domains thinking it will make them a millionaire. They won't budge for"cheap" $200. However, if you find a domain you like, it doesn't hurt to try and ask the owner. But don't hold your breath. ~~~ dvcoolster Don't you think this is massively inefficient. Nobody can buy all the brandable domains, and there would always be more coming up. A $100-200 profit on your $10 domain for someone who will build stuff over it, seems good for the formation of a sustainable community driven solution. Its just stupid to think that your domain will fetch you millions unless its a dictionary word with searches present. Any thoughts? ~~~ abc8901234 What you think and the reality of it are two different things. Any intelligent person could see that cybersquatting is not a viable business model. These are not intelligent people you are dealing with. These are the people who think they could go back to 1997 and register google.com and hold them hostage years later for millions. Spend some time browsing on Sedo or Flippa and you'll see how stupid these people are. My suggestion: don't give in to these people. Keep digging for a good name, or look into one of the new generic tlds. ~~~ dvcoolster That pretty much summarises how I felt about the stupidity of several people. These websites, Sedo/Flippa even they look damn old and confusing. Their UX seems shitty, and the whole offer wait for 7 days auction system is pretty tiresome as well. Having less available domains for people and local businesses, forces people to use subdomains and social media to express their creativity, which is kind of not ideal. The whole barrier to get online is increased manifold by simply no domain availability. I am really surprised there's nothing easier, cleaner and simply better. ------ bsvalley If I build hand made products from my garage and sell them online for example: 1- make up a new word based on a word that best describes your business (e.g. Maker = makr) 2- if taken, look for synonyms of that word and repeat step one (e.g. Craftsman = krafsman) 3- if taken, repeat 1 and 2 with a combination of 2 words (e.g. HomeMade = Homade, etc.) ~~~ dvcoolster I usually do the same as well. It's just that it can take anywhere between 1 hour to a couple of days of fooling around. After a while, its gets all confusing, which one was better, you ask around, but everyone has different views. If you are in a group deciding to come up to the name, it becomes even more tiresome. I was just wondering for an easy to browse service of domain names, submitted by community where one can buy and share goes to the person who submitted and small part to the platform. Not sure, if people would like it though, it really needs a big community to support who believe domains need to be used for making websites and not hoarding for a future sale! ------ meagher Adding words before/after your ideal domain tends to work: gotinder.com, hioscar.com, invisionapp.com, etc. For domain name example.com: tryexample.com, getexample.com, goexample.com, hiexample.com, exampleapp.com ------ SBCRec I name my side projects internally after famous battles the ancient romans were involved in.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
The Happiness Code - ceocoder http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/magazine/the-happiness-code.html?_r=2 ====== metasean Posted 11 minutes prior to this at [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10906165](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10906165) ~~~ ceocoder Ah, didn't see that or get captured by dupe filter. Is there a protocol on situations like this? Should I leave the post here or delete it? ~~~ DrScump You can't rely on a dupe filter, especially since many sites (e.g. medium.com, signalvnoise) tack phony fragment identifiers onto URLs to _evade_ dupe checks. Ideally, people would check before submitting; for example, search for a unique-ish keyword, sorting by date with newest first: [https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Happiness&sort=byDate&prefix&p...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Happiness&sort=byDate&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story) That way, you can see if it was already posted. The _reason_ that dupes are bad is that any commentary is fragmented across distinct threads; a reader of one thread will generally not know the others exist, and those opportunities to enhance understanding are wasted.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Square Service Outage - m_coder https://www.issquareup.com/ ====== ewbourget This is Erik from the Square engineering team. Our service has been restored; we will be following our standard postmortem process and will be making the results of this one public. We currently believe that this was caused by a bad deploy followed by a thundering herd capacity problem in our authentication service - no DDOS attack, etc. History and details are available at issquareup.com. We apologize for the downtime; this situation is well outside what we expect of our service and of ourselves. ~~~ cypherpunks01 Thanks Erik. Where will the postmortem be posted? ~~~ ewbourget It will be posted on issquareup.com. ------ gmisra Anecdata from a popular coffee shop ~1 mile from Square HQ: \- Staff at the cafe are extremely frustrated, no real visibility into what's going on. \- Finding the status page was a struggle. Following @square and @sqsupport was insufficient, as both accounts have been publicly silent during the entire outage. The status page, hosted at the non-obvious issquareup.com, is only listed on the profile pages of those social accounts. I located the page and shared it with the cafe staff, which provided some context as to what was going on. \- But, the status page itself was not very useful to them. The information in it is moderately useful for a technical user, but most of Square's POS customers aren't technical? More importantly, most of the hands-on operators of these POS systems are even less technical. \- The only solution offered is to "switch to offline mode", but that only works if your square app hasn't already logged you out, which had happened long before reading about the solution. This behavior corroborated by twitter anecdotes and other comments in this thread. \- There is no other solution path presented. \- Without any other information to share, staff is describing the issue as a "nationwide Square server crash" to all customers. \- Some customers just left when faced with the outage (alternatives are cash or an on-site, fee-based ATM) \- All of this is happening while the staff is continuing to take orders, serve customers, deal with irate customers, and generally be positive and courteous. \- The only reason they retried the app just now is because I read the comment from the Square engineer on this thread announcing service restoration. Whatever user model Square has of the day-to-day operators of their POS, it seems to be wildly miscalibrated, especially around how to handle incident communication. ~~~ tedmiston > \- Finding the status page was a struggle. Following @square and @sqsupport > was insufficient, as both accounts have been publicly silent during the > entire outage. I mean, it's clear opening the two Twitter account pages, both have sent tons of replies during this time period. On @sqsupport specifically they clearly state in the bio that their tweets aren't the right place to check for service outages: > We're currently working through some issues. For live updates, please check > [http://issquareup.com](http://issquareup.com) So this doesn't _solve_ the problem of bringing Square online but it also doesn't really sound like the merchant is trying very hard as the right channel was easy to find. Besides adding email / text message alerts to merchants for downtime, Square is doing a lot more than most. ------ dvcc Being down for an hour as a payment processor is crazy. Going off some old figures [0], and assuming 0 offline transactions (and a bunch of other assumptions too), I think it is around ~$3,500,000 in unprocessed transactions? Must be stressful trying to bring it back online. [0] [https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/13/putting- squares-5b-valuati...](https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/13/putting- squares-5b-valuation-into-context) ~~~ tedmiston From the page: > While we continue working to resolve the issue, we recommend that all > sellers switch to offline mode, which will enable you to continue taking > payments via swiping. Offline mode instructions are available at: > squ.re/offlinemode Though there are some _big_ caveats: > \- Your current swiping rate will be applied to offline transactions, so > you’ll see no difference in fees. > \- When operating in Offline Mode, there is additional risk with any > payments you accept. Square is not responsible for any loss due to declined > cards or expired payments taken while offline or for chargebacks. > \- Square can not contact any customers on your behalf should a payment be > declined or expire when taken in Offline Mode. So if Square is somehow down for 73 hours, a lot of businesses lose a lot of money. I guess as a business owner one should now consider having a backup credit card reader through a different service. ~~~ agency I was at a cafe when this went down and they said they couldn't switch to offline mode because this outage logged them out and apparently you need to be logged in to switch. They don't accept cash and ended up closing shop for the duration of the outage. ~~~ niij >don't accept cash What is their reasoning for not accepting cash payments? I have never been somewhere that did not accept cash and can't see how that would benefit customers? ------ jrobn We use Square as our point of sales system at our spa. We are biting our nails now since most of our sales are $75+ and people don't generally carry around that kind of cash anymore. Our iPad also suddenly got signed out of the POS app. Luckily my phone was signed in so I put it in airplane mode to kick it into OFFLINE mode. You can't sign into the square dashboard either so access to square appointments on the browser is a no go. ------ askafriend I just went to a coffee shop that I go to regularly and was confused when they said they're cash only for today. This explains why. On that note, I also saw multiple people leave to go to a different coffee shop because they didn't have cash on them. ------ pm90 This is a pretty huge deal. I really like square and I do hope they come back soon. Like another poster said, I'm at a coffee shop and they are frustrated as fuck; most patrons don't carry much cash around here. ------ joez How bad is this? Seems like they have offline mode. Do their customers know how to use this? What's the chance for increased fraudulent swipes? ~~~ cypherpunks01 If you swipe a card and their backend errors out or is unreachable, it does prompt you to switch to offline mode (as long as you're already logged in and have taken online transactions recently). If a customer knows the payment processor is offline, they can use an invalid card and it will appear to go through. Merchant will be stuck with the liability after the transaction is later sent and declined. ------ huangc10 Is the actual failure with logging in and creating transactions or with the checkout or is everything down? This seems like it'll be a pretty big blow especially with lunch soon in the west coast. At least good old hard cash still works. ~~~ kayfox Noone can log in and it cant process transactions. So, if you are logged in already you can use offline mode. If you use their point of sale software to track cash sales and are not logged in already, your pretty screwed at this point. ~~~ Philip_with1L Yes, this exactly. We went into offline mode 1st and then that stopped working completely (all cards/taps payments rejected). So we asked every customer if they had cash before taking their order and we're able to complete those transactions just fine. Soon afterwards, both of our terminals (iPad) were kicked out of the app and we resorted to paper and calculator for cash only. ------ jrobn per issquareup.com "We’re still experiencing issues; however, we are seeing initial positive improvements in response to the steps we have taken to remove load from the affected service" Could this be a DoS of some kind? ------ myowncrapulence Been an hour.. wow. Is this a ddos on their auth services? ------ jvehent If your service has higher SLA requirements than your providers contractually committed to, you're doing something wrong. ~~~ cypherpunks01 I'm not sure what you mean—who are you saying is doing the wrong thing here? ~~~ emptythought They're saying if you need more reliability than a service provides, but choose the cheap option with too low(or no) SLA, then you screwed up. As a former POS engineer, this has been my gripe about these services from the get-go. Real payment processors, and POS software/SaaS vendors you... pay for guarantees about stuff like this, and have clear workarounds. Does it screw up sometimes? Yea. But you don't get opaque downtime like this, and you were given a clear workaround(and ALWAYS a clear offline mode you wont get locked out of flipping on, like the case here) in the first place. This is a failure both on the customers side, and on squares side. They basically scaled a pickup truck up to a delivery truck without considering _why_ a delivery truck was designed differently in the first place, at least in some ways.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
In 50 Years Steve Jobs Will Be Forgotten - bluedevil2k http://m.cnet.com/news/in-50-years-steve-jobs-will-be-forgotten-gladwell-says/57449162 ====== michaelpinto Not true -- people will remember Steve Jobs for his Pixar films. I also suspect that Bill Gates may be remembered more for his philanthropic work than his tech work if he can pull off something big. As for tech we still associate Edison with film and records, so Jobs and Gates may still have a shot at it. ------ zashapiro While I enjoyed some of Gladwell's writing, this is bullshit. If you don't think that copying happens everywhere, you should watch everythingisaremix.info. Jobs took pieces of a million things and put them together in a way that made the most sense and connected culturally. Jobs won't be forgotten for a long, long time, just as Thomas Edison hasn't been forgotten. Gladwell's flat wrong on this.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Collaborative calendars for social media content - ceekayvilla I'm have been working on this web-application to help digital marketing agencies create social-media calendars for their clients. Integrations will first include Instagram, Facebook & Twitter. Think of it as Invision for calendars.<p>Currently, most work is done on spreadsheets with this flow: 1) Copywriter comes up with the social-media scripts, puts them on a spreadsheet. 2) Designer produces images that match the scripts. 3) Copywriter places the matching images next to the scripts ("compiling").<p>The spreadsheet (could be multiple copies) is then sent to the client for approval - This is where most time is lost due to the back-and-forth between the client and the team during the approval process and where the most number of mistakes happen due to multiple spreadsheets.<p>Problems I'm solving: 1) Eliminate the mistakes that occur between matching the scripts and the images once the client gives feedback 2) Provide a central place to track and review the calendars instead of using emails and multiple spreadsheets 3) Minimise the time for approval of social-media posts<p>Questions: 1) Do you see the value of such an application in your business? 2) What much would you pay for a monthly subscription as a business owner? 3) Does a mobile/tablet app make sense in addition to the web-app? ====== brudgers Showing the prototype will probably provide better feedback. Identifying good prospects and showing it to them will probably provide the best feedback. Most people on Hacker News do not run digital marketing agencies. Good luck. ~~~ ceekayvilla Thank you so much for the feedback! I'm almost through with the building and I will do as you've advised. Thanks once again.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
$20,000 In 1 Month at 20 - MatCarpenter http://www.sofamoolah.com/personal/20000-in-1-month-at-20/ ====== lucaspiller There seem to have been quite a few posts recently about people making good money from their own business on HN. They seem to fall into two categories: a) SaaS products b) online marketing The posts about the later seem to be more popular. I'm guessing because it is a lot easier to make a quick buck with online marketing, however the results also seem to be less sustainable. I'm getting the feeling that a lot of this is down to luck. As I understand with a SaaS product, if you manage to make $20k in a month, you are probably able to do pretty much the same the next month. It doesn't depend so much on choosing whatever is a profitable niche that month and how well Google ranks you. Anyway, I from this I have two questions / requests for posts: a) Has anyone managed to sustainably get income from online marketing? b) Has anyone managed to make a quick buck like this from a SasS product? ------ phreeza I don't mind the recent 'Passive Income Hacking' posts but I am not sure what this is doing on the front page, and why it made it there so fast with such a linkbaity title. flagged.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
3 days fasting experiment - algui91 https://medium.com/better-humans/a-surprising-thing-happened-when-i-stopped-eating-for-3-days-ee1fe8b426cf ====== occitan "The most surprising thing, indeed -- despite always -- being repulsed by articles with click-baity titles, in the past -- suddenly I found myself overcome by an irresistible urge to start posting with titles as gimmicky and catchy as my imagination could come up with! ~~~ SiempreViernes Thanks, but please close your quote!	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Limits to Growth was right. New research shows we're nearing collapse (2014) - rydre https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/02/limits-to-growth-was-right-new-research-shows-were-nearing-collapse ====== ggm Peak oil is not a good indicator of eg lithium or rare earth or helium. Simons win would be a win again rerun from now. Name your at limit scarce resource and name an endpoint and go to the long bet website ------ rydre > _As pollution mounts and industrial input into agriculture falls, food > production per capita falls. Health and education services are cut back, and > that combines to bring about a rise in the death rate from about 2020. > Global population begins to fall from about 2030, by about half a billion > people per decade. Living conditions fall to levels similar to the early > 1900s._ This article is from 2014, so the 2020 bit struck me.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Google bans developer with half a billion app downloads from Play Store - hsnewman https://www.engadget.com/2019/04/26/google-bans-app-developer-do-global-play-store-ad-fraud/ ====== greenyoda Extensive discussion of original source: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19686622](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19686622)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
You Don't Need All That JavaScript, I Promise - kiyanwang https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1L2WgXu2JY ====== JMTQp8lwXL You _can_ just use FTP, and HTML/CSS, as the presenter claims, but if you want reusable components, you're going to need at least some-JavaScript based technology, like custom elements (web components). If you don't have a concept of a component, and every time a developer needs a simple component: a Button, a Link, a Card, pray that _every single developer_ in your organization understands the accessible, semantically-correct way to implement it (spoiler alert: they won't, occasionally, a junior engineer won't understand why buttons shouldn't be implemented with <div> tags). And hopefully they follow your design team's specification for how the component should look (again, they won't). Then, you end up developing a product with ten disparate and interwoven look-and-feels, due to developers on separate projects re-inventing the wheel instead of using a common Design System. It no longer feels like one cohesive experience. The counter point: That JavaScript is actually solving enterprise grade problems-- controlling your brand via a Design System, ensuring accessible HTML gets generated, and so forth. It comes at a cost of potentially somewhat slower performance, but the solutions provided make the tradeoff worth it. ------ shams93 There's an argument in terms of security against server side templating. It also depends upon what you are building like Hugo is best for information sites without dynamic server templating where lots of HTML is better than a huge load of js.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Show HN: An isomorphic, configurable JavaScript utility for object deep cloning - jfet97 https://github.com/jfet97/omniclone ====== smohare My background is in pure mathematics, where an isomorphism is a structure preserving map between two objects. The description “an isomorphic...JavaScript function” does not make grammatical sense to me, unless the implication is that this function is isomorphic to some standard clone/copy method somehow, or that it is an automorphism on some set of JavaScript objects. Is the word being used in some other sense? ~~~ spion Yes, in the silly sense that the code can run in both nodejs and a browser. The unfortunate article that coined it: [https://blog.nodejitsu.com/scaling- isomorphic-javascript-cod...](https://blog.nodejitsu.com/scaling-isomorphic- javascript-code/) ~~~ throwawaymath I'm not generally a fan of litigating language choices since, well, all words are made up after all. It's easy to be accused of pedantry if you're going to complain about someone misusing mathematical terminology in an orthogonal context (see what I did there?). It's hard to build a compelling soapbox on, "Well actually, that terminology isn't correct..." That being said, I'm a little baffled after reading that article. I suppose the thinking was that the client and server are isomorphic to each other if they're running the same code. As someone who also has a mathematical background I don't think it's very elegant...but it's obviously caught on and it's creative, so I can dig it. ~~~ jacobolus “isomorph” is just Greek for “same form”. I don’t think mathematics should get a monopoly on this one. Though it can probably keep “isomorphism” to itself, since “morphism” is as far as I know a made up math term. ------ fiallega I am sure before you started this project you looked at other existing libraries. How is this solution compared with the lodash _.cloneDeep [https://lodash.com/docs/4.17.11#cloneDeep](https://lodash.com/docs/4.17.11#cloneDeep). Thanks ~~~ jfet97 No I've built it on my own. I only know that popular libraries as lodash don't call constructors, so I think there is no way to mantain a proper [[Prototype]] nor the constructor props. IDK how other libraries do to handle circ references nor if them allow to copy non-enums props and getters&setters. ~~~ porphyrogene You don’t need to use the constructor syntax to have an object inherit prototypes from another. ~~~ erikpukinskis How do you do it without a constructor? Iterate over the properties on the prototype? ~~~ porphyrogene The global Object’s assign method is the “old” way to inherit prototypes. ES6 syntax did not add new language features; they were there all along. ~~~ fiallega Thanks a lot for all clarifications. ~~~ porphyrogene No problem. A good exercise I used to do was writing inheritence patterns first with pre-ES6 syntax, then constructors, then classes. They are, of course, interchangeable but it’s not wise to rehearse an anti-pattern. EDIT: I said assign method earlier, I meant create. The assign method is the pre-ES6 way of creating object instances. Object.create() is used to inherit prototypes. That’s such a common mix-up that I’m embarrassed I didn’t catch it. ~~~ erikpukinskis I just don’t use ES6. It’s amazing. I have such a smaller language surface, and so much more predictable and debuggable code. Not a popular approach though. (Of course I can and do use ES6 when coding for other people, I write to whatever standard is established in a codebase.) ------ yogthos Meanwhile, using persistent data structures instead of objects avoids the problem space entirely. ~~~ jfet97 Yes but with persistent data structures each operation implies a cost, more or less big. For example most of times you do something with an persistent array you end up with fully cloning it. What's the point? I know the advantages of immutability, but I think that perform impure operations into pure functions, in a safe contest, is not so bad. My function can help with this...we could perform those faster impure operations (modifiyng local objects and arrays) and then create full, deeply cloned entities to pass around. ~~~ yogthos So my day job is working with Clojure/Script that defaults to immutability, and my team builds fairly large apps, here's a talk describing one of them [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXBe6hoi- Mw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXBe6hoi-Mw) In almost a decade of using Clojure, I've never seen persistent data structures become the bottleneck. The difference in cost is O(1) for in place mutation vs O(log 32 n) for revisioning. Note that the large exponent means the tree ends up being very flat, so updates end up being quite cheap in practice. Most times when I do something to a persistent data structure, I only change a small portion of the overall data structure. In fact, I think it's quite rare that you'd end up cloning the whole thing. Personally, I view mutability as an optimization, and I think it should be used in cases where you actually need the performance beyond what persistent data structures can offer. My experience is that such cases are far and few between. ------ ThePhysicist I found that often when you want clean deep cloning of objects (e.g. for state data) and when you’re in control of creating the objects it’s better to build them out of Map and Array instances instead of the builtin object type. We use this extensively for config structures and state data, and it makes cloning or merging objects much easier (as you only need to differentiate between a map, array and everything else). This assumes that you will not clone any of the “object” types in your data structure though, so you might want to store immutable data types on there only (which often is possible and advisable for config and state data though). The downside is that the syntax for creating and working with maps is quite ugly (IMHO), I hope they will improve this in a future version of JS. ~~~ jfet97 hoping that my funtion can help you :) ------ jph Great tool, thank you for building it and sharing it. I especially like your configurability among what to clone or not, and your good handling of so many edge cases. IMHO the concept of "deep clone" is a design pattern and a potential language improvement idea. An example is "How does this deep clone handle external items, or transient items, or circular items?" Your project shows (correctly IMHO) that there many be many choices, and also reasonable defaults. ~~~ jfet97 I've really appreciated your comment :D ------ gitgud This doesn't seem to copy methods on an object. Why is this better than using JSON.stringify(OBJ) and JSON.parse(OBJ) to deep clone? ~~~ jfet97 Lot of stuff, as you can see in the docs. JSON.parse/stringify does not call the constructors for example	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
The Best Textbooks on Every Subject - anchpop https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xg3hXCYQPJkwHyik2/the-best-textbooks-on-every-subject ====== masonic Note: all of the book links are Amazon affiliate links for Lesswrong.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
UE4: Static Code Analysis with PVS-Studio (Part 6) - AndreyKarpov http://coconutlizard.co.uk/blog/ue4/pvs-studio-part6/ ====== AndreyKarpov * Part 1 - [http://coconutlizard.co.uk/blog/ue4/pvs-studio-static-code-a...](http://coconutlizard.co.uk/blog/ue4/pvs-studio-static-code-analysis-of-ue4-part-1/) * Part 2 - [http://coconutlizard.co.uk/blog/ue4/pvs-studio-part2/](http://coconutlizard.co.uk/blog/ue4/pvs-studio-part2/) * Part 3 - [http://coconutlizard.co.uk/blog/ue4/pvs-studio-part3/](http://coconutlizard.co.uk/blog/ue4/pvs-studio-part3/) * Part 4 - [http://coconutlizard.co.uk/blog/ue4/pvs-studio-part4/](http://coconutlizard.co.uk/blog/ue4/pvs-studio-part4/) * Part 5 - [http://coconutlizard.co.uk/blog/ue4/pvs-studio-part5/](http://coconutlizard.co.uk/blog/ue4/pvs-studio-part5/) * Part 6 - [http://coconutlizard.co.uk/blog/ue4/pvs-studio-part6/](http://coconutlizard.co.uk/blog/ue4/pvs-studio-part6/)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Porsche to take all-electric Mission E concept to production - dmmalam http://www.gizmag.com/porsche-mission-e-production/40786/ ====== mtgx Should be a decent competitor (2020) for the _next_ Tesla Roadster (2019).	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Intel Announces Skylake-X: Bringing 18-Core HCC Silicon to Consumers - satai http://www.anandtech.com/show/11464/intel-announces-skylakex-bringing-18core-hcc-silicon-to-consumers-for-1999 ====== myrandomcomment Intel getting kicked by AMD ever few years is good for the market and the consumer. I am still planning on getting an AMD system to show my support for their efforts. I have been holding off for one with a _gasp_ integrated GPU as I will be using the system as a media center. Right now I have the high end Intel compute stick. The limited RAM is a huge draw back. Oh, if it plays Civ6 well, that's a huge bonus. ~~~ Synaesthesia Compared to the atom on your compute stick anything will be grand! ~~~ Sanddancer The high end compute stick has a core m5, not an atom. [http://ark.intel.com/products/91979/Intel-Compute-Stick- STK2...](http://ark.intel.com/products/91979/Intel-Compute-Stick-STK2mv64CC) ~~~ myrandomcomment The compute stick I was referring to is the BOXSTK2m3W64CC which has a Intel Core m3-6Y30 processor. The RAM is really the issue, 4GB only. I run Kodi on it 99% of the time. If I exit out it is to run Firefox to watch / listen to something that Kodi does not support (XMRadio). Every once in awhile I check and I am hitting swap and Kodi is complaining. ------ gbrown_ > Intel hasn’t given many details on AVX-512 yet, regarding whether there is > one or two units per CPU, or if it is more granular and is per core. I can't imagine it being more than one per core. For context Knights Landing has two per core but that's a HPC focused product. > We expect it to be enabled on day one, although I have a suspicion there may > be a BIOS flag that needs enabling in order to use it. This seems odd. > With the support of AVX-512, Intel is calling the Core i9-7980X ‘the first > TeraFLOP CPU’. I’ve asked details as to how this figure is calculated > (software, or theoretical) So lets work backwards here the Core i9-7980XE has 18 cores but as of yet the clock speed is not specified. A couple of assumptions: \- We're talking double precision FLOPs \- We can theoretically do 16 double precision FLOPs per cycle FLOPs per cycle * Cycles per second (frequency) * number of cores =~ 1TF So we can guesstimate the clock frequency being ~3.47Ghz. Edit: In review such a clock speed seems rather high for an 18 core part. I'm not sure if consumer parts will do 32DP FLOPs? ~~~ gpderetta 32 full width vector ALUs running at 3.5 GHz is probably not realistic. I think that it is running around 2GHz at most [1]. The trick is that FMAs are normally counted as two FLOP. [1] (* (/ 512 64) 2 2 18 2 1000 1000 1000) = 1152000000000 FLOPS (512 unit over 64 bits double) times 2 for FMA times two units, over 18 cores at 2 GHz) edit: the 10 core part has a base clock of 3.3GHz. The 18 core part will probably be in the 2.5 range at best (the best 18 core Broadwell I can find runs at 2.3, but it is a dual socket part). Running in full AVX512 mode will probably downclock the cpu further. ~~~ slizard > The 18 core part will probably be in the 2.5 range at best (the best 18 core > Broadwell I can find runs at 2.3, but it is a dual socket part). Running in > full AVX512 mode will probably downclock the cpu further. Indeed, the 2.2-2.3/2.7-2.8 GHz (base/boost) of the >18C E5-269X v4 CPUs is the non-AVX instruction clock. With AVX the throttling these drop by 300-400 MHz [1] and I expect the skylake chips to behave very similarly. In fact I would not be surprised if on average 512-bit AVX2 required more throttling than 256-bit. [1] [https://www.microway.com/knowledge-center- articles/detailed-...](https://www.microway.com/knowledge-center- articles/detailed-specifications-of-the-intel-xeon-e5-2600v4-broadwell-ep- processors/) ------ slizard Looks like they think they're still winning regardless of the price and that simply bumping core count to be the kings and bringing the price back to the Haswell-EP level high (rather than Broadwell-EP crazy) will be enough. What also shows that they seem to be confident is that they're further segmenting the market based on the PCIE lane count to push everyone wanting >32 lanes into the >$1k regime. All in all, the cool thing is not the i9s and high core counts which you could get even before by plugging a Xeon chip into a consumer X99 mobo (though you'd have to pay some $$$), but the _new cache hierarchy_ which will give serious improvements in well-implemented, cache friendly codes! ~~~ slizard ...and of course AVX-512 for the lucky ones that can get significant benefit from such a wide SIMD (also considering the very likely significant clock limit for AVX instruction streams). ~~~ marmaduke even chips with AVX2 on all cores slow down when it's fully used. The Xeon Phi has a pretty low clock, 1.3 ghz iirc. Still, it gets you GPU style performance on vector workloads without needing separate hardware and software stack. ~~~ valarauca1 even chips with AVX2 on all cores slow down when it's fully used Not really. Xeon Phi's clock low because the die is massive. The downclocking for AVX started with Knights Landing. My Boardwell-EP Xeon stays at 3.0Ghz even when I (ab)use AVX2. ~~~ AbacusAvenger I tried AVX512 on a Xeon (non-Phi) part recently and it was extremely underwhelming. The workload (OpenMP-parallelized n-body) was actually _slower_ with AVX512. Since it was under virtualization and I didn't have access to the bare metal hardware or to performance counters, I have no way of knowing _why_ , but I'm almost certain it was because it lost all-cores Turbo and downclocked aggressively. It had previously scaled almost linearly going from SSE to AVX/AVX2, but it regressed with AVX512. ~~~ smitherfield It might be your processor only supported AVX512 in emulation — the article makes it sound like only the Phi currently supports it natively. ~~~ AbacusAvenger So they implemented AVX512 on the Xeon server parts in microcode? That seems crazy. ~~~ smitherfield It's fairly common practice with bleeding-edge vector instructions. The reasoning (assuming it is the case here) is that a theoretically-minor performance regression (the cost of converting 1x AVX512 to 2x AVX2 in microcode) is usually much preferred over a CPU exception when attempting to run a binary with AVX512 instructions on a server. It also means you don't need a $15000 chip to test your AVX512 code. ------ redtuesday It seems Skylake X will not be soldered [0] unlike previous HEDT CPU's from Intel. AMD even solders their normal consumer CPU Ryzen. How much will Intel save with this? 2 to 4 dollars per CPU? I'm also curious what that means for the thermals. Intels 4 core parts have much better thermals when delided to change the bad TIM. [0] [https://www.overclock3d.net/news/cpu_mainboard/intel_s_skyla...](https://www.overclock3d.net/news/cpu_mainboard/intel_s_skylake- x_and_kaby_lake-x_cpus_will_not_be_soldered/1) ------ deafcalculus It's high time Intel started adding more cores to consumer CPUs rather than spending half the silicon area on a crappy integrated GPU. It's only thanks to Ryzen that this is happening. ~~~ nl I like my Intel graphics. Good battery life on my laptop, good Linux support on my desktop. What's not to like? ~~~ saosebastiao Hmmm. I must be doing something wrong, because I feel like it's completely unstable for me. NUC6i5 with integrated Iris on Ubuntu 16.04. I get a dozen errors a day with the x server, and I get weird intermittent visual glitches with multiple monitors. I have no need for high performance and Iris should be good enough, but the stability still leaves a lot to be desired. ~~~ wolf550e Ubuntu 16.04 is pretty old code. I would try a mainline kernel (currently [http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel- ppa/mainline/v4.11.3/](http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel- ppa/mainline/v4.11.3/)) and maybe even more up to date userspace libraries (but then you're getting into a dependency mess. replacing just the kernel is easy). ------ jacquesm This really makes me wonder how many more unreleased products Intel has waiting in some drawer somewhere for that case where they have some serious competition. It is also strong proof that without competition Intel is not going to release anything to move the market forward. ~~~ coldtea > _This really makes me wonder how many more unreleased products Intel has > waiting in some drawer somewhere for that case where they have some serious > competition._ Given the churn rate of technology? Probably close to none. It's not like you can wait on CPU technology and have it still be relevant when you finally release it. Except if you mean "potential projects" that still need years, and tons of work and R&D to be finished. ~~~ skywhopper I doubt they have stuff on the shelf for a rainy day, but it's undeniable that competition encourages them to ramp up R&D, invest in new processes and factories sooner, lower prices, and push the envelope on what's releasable. Sticking to 12 or even 16 core products would be a lot safer for Intel's gross margins. ------ fauigerzigerk I can't even read this article properly. The site uses 130% CPU, scrolling hardly works at all, it keeps making network requests like crazy and it even crashed my Chrome tab. And for what reason? I do understand the dilemma that ad funded sites are in. I'm not using an ad blocker. But I simply don't get what purpose this sort of abusive website design is supposed to have. I will never visit Anandtech again. I've seen it many times. It's never long after advertising gets irrational that content quality suffers as well and the entire site goes down the drain. ~~~ matt4077 I usually roll my eyes at these complaints, but in this case it's really quite something. I just let the page sit unused for 5min and it downloaded 165MB. Safari has much better defaults when it comes to such behaviour by ad networks: It blocks 165 requests and shows no further activity after loading 5MB: "Blocked a frame with origin "[http://www.anandtech.com"](http://www.anandtech.com") from accessing a frame with origin "[http://pixel.mathtag.com"](http://pixel.mathtag.com"). Protocols, domains, and ports must match." ~~~ SquareWheel This seems to be caused by a software bug (at least, I'd hope so). The site continues to make requests on a loop, driving up data and resource usage. ------ josteink Oh. So _now_ they're making the i9! So it did take AMD and Ryzen to make Intel push it's game from it's 5-6 year long hiatus with the i7 eh? Competition is clearly good :) ~~~ gigatexal Yes it is. Though the intel part at 599 for 16 threads will likely be the better choice vs the 1800X. ~~~ Sanddancer True, but I'm curious to see what the rest of the Threadripper line shakes up to be. The $599 chip only has 28 pcie lanes, which isn't enough to run two gpus at full speed. In comparison, the $300 ivy bridge-e cpu has 40 lanes. Especially with their Zeppelin line, AMD's got a chance to shake up Intel's stagnant IO situation. ~~~ gigatexal Even modern GPUs don't give up a significant number of FPS in games when run in 8x or even 2.0 mode. That's been known for a while. But creating a workstation for high IO around this would be advised to go elsewhere. ------ eecc So, let's give credit when credit is due and call this the Intel Ryzen CPU :D ------ Keyframe That's good. Finally, we're moving with processors forward - probably thanks to AMD, again. My only hope is for them (both, either) to make thunderbolt standard feature on motherboards or ditch it completely. ~~~ gbrown_ Intel certainly seem to have come around to opening Thunderbolt up to wider adoption. [https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/envision-world- thunder...](https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/envision-world- thunderbolt-3-everywhere/) ~~~ pawadu Good! Something was obviously very wrong before when Microsoft left out Thunderbolt on high-end machines for "non-technical reasons". ------ vardump So does it support ECC like AMD? Otherwise not interested. ~~~ simias I'll bite: every time I see a CPU-related thread on HN there are a few people clamoring for ECC support. While I get why I'd want ECC on a high-availability server running critical tasks, I don't really feel a massive need for it on a workstation. I mean of course if it's given to me "for free" I'll gladly take it, but otherwise I'll prefer to trade it for more RAM or simply a cheaper build. Why is ECC that much of a big deal for you? Maybe I'm lucky but I manage quite a few computers (at work and at home) and I haven't had a faulty RAM module in at least a year. And even if I do I run memtest to isolate the issue and then order a new module. An inconvenience of course, but pretty minor one IMO. Do you also use redundant power supplies? I think in the past years I've had more issues with broken power supplies than RAM modules. ~~~ DaiPlusPlus > I haven't had a faulty RAM module in at least a year ECC isn't for physically broken RAM, it's for the prevention of data corruption caused by environmental bit-errors (e.g. cosmic-ray bitflips). Memory density increases with RAM capacity - which means a higher potential for noise (and cosmic-rays...) to make one-off changes here-and-there. I understand this now happens quite regularly, even on today's desktops ( [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2580933/cosmic-rays- what...](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2580933/cosmic-rays-what-is-the- probability-they-will-affect-a-program) ) - I guess we just don't observe it much because probably most RAM is occupied by non-executable data or otherwise-free memory - and if it's a desktop or laptop then you're probably rebooting it regularly so any corruption in system memory would be corrected too. ~~~ simias This stack overflow link is interesting but most of the concern is over very theoretical issues. In practice a significant portion of the humanity uses multiple non-ECC RAM devices every day and yet most of us don't seem to experience widespread memory issues. I can't even remember the last time my desktop experienced a hard crash (well actually I can, it was because of a faulty... graphic card). I wish my phone fared that well, but I'm not sure RAM would be the first suspect for my general Android stability issues... ~~~ sho > most of the concern is over very theoretical issues I've seen photo and other binary files become corrupted that were sitting on RAID drives. The RAID swears they're fine, the filesystem swears they're fine, both are checksummed so I believe them. The only possibility that I can see is that they were corrupted while being modified or transferred on non-ECC desktops connected to the RAID. I'm not afraid of my computer crashing. I'm afraid of data I take great pains to preserve being silently, indeed undetectably, corrupted while in flight or in use. So that's why ECC is worth it to me. ~~~ semi-extrinsic I'm curious: if storing lots of photos as .dng, .png or .jpg on ZFS without ECC, one presumably gets bit flips eventually. How does this affect the files? Do you just get artifacts in the photo? Or does the file become unreadable? If so, can you recover the file (with artifacts)? I guess the answer boils down to how much non-recoverable but essential-for- reconstruction metadata there is in these file formats. ~~~ sosuke I had bit flips on a few JPGs and it renders them useless. Luckily I had a backup of a backup that had them uncorrupted. I'm still trying to find a complete solution to this problem. Presumably the TIFF or BMP file formats are more stable against bit flips. I'd been reading so much about it over the past year or so I got to wondering just how many times cosmic rays affect our brains and what kind of protections we're running up in our skulls. ~~~ ianai Our brains evolved through a chaotic, organic process. We're all the time storing new data and even losing data (selective memory). I'm thinking there's no mitigation process. If anything the random environmental noise might play some role in consciousness. ------ fcanesin Meh, I bought a Ryzen 5 1600 for $199 and a ASUS B350M for $29 at micro center, paired that with 16 GB Crucial ECC DDR4 2400 for $149 (working on ubuntu 16.04, confirmed and stress tested)... so for $377 I have 12 threads @3.9GHz with ECC, that can go up to 64GB. Thanks Intel, but no. ~~~ pixel_fcker That's... completely irrelevant to the sort of people who might be interested in this chip. That's like saying, "I've got a double cheeseburger with curly fries for $1.99. Thanks Intel, but no." ~~~ fcanesin It is extremely relevant. The feature set and performance target overlap, if you know how to read you will notice that anandtech includes Core i7-7800X (a 6 core 12 thread CPU) on the new processors table and has a final comparison against Ryzen 7 1800X, which is the same chip as Ryzen 5 1600 (with 2 cores disabled). ------ Noctix Can this be stated as an effect of Ryzen launch? ~~~ redtuesday Probably, but more likely because of AMD's HEDT (high end dedktop) platform called Threadripper which will have up to 16 cores (32 Threads). Before AMD announced Threadripper Intel had only a 12 core chip on the roadmap for the x299 platform, and charged around 1700$ for their 10 core chip. Now they will be charging 2000$ for 18 cores. Competition is such a nice thing. Glad that AMD is back in the CPU game. Can only be good for us customers. ~~~ positivecomment I'm personally looking forward to the times that this competition drastically lowers the price of mid-range CPUs for the benefit of the normal people who don't buy CPUs for 2000$. (Yes, I know that "normal people" don't even buy laptops anymore, let alone desktops. Please excuse my fantasy-world in which people buy desktop computers and even upgrade the amplifiers of their at least 7-piece stereo sound system) ~~~ lhl The AMD Ryzen R7 1700 is a $320 8 core/16 thread processor. Intel's cheapest 8 core/16 thread processor is their i7-6900K which sells for $1049. Even their 6/12 i7-6850K is over $600. IMO the Ryzen R7's have been a huge "mid-end" win for anyone doing any sort of multicore/CPU intensive work. Without competition, Intel's been gouging the market for the past few years. ------ Sephr Intel has been selling hexa-channel DDR4 Xeons since 2015 to select customers. For users like myself constrained by memory bandwidth I would prefer that they publicly started selling their Skylake-SP Purley platform. In some configurations they even include a 100Gbit/s photonic interconnect and an FPGA for Deep Learning acceleration. I would gladly pay $2500-3500 for an 18-24 core Intel CPU with hexa-channel DDR4 and PCIe 4.0 (or simply more than 44 lanes of 3.0). ~~~ emiliobumachar Out of curiosity, why "to select customers" only? I'd suppose the feeling of exclusivity isn't much of a sales point to processor buyers. I supply is constrained, seems like demand could be similarly constrained by a price hike. Do they get better feedback from these select customers? Better acceptance of eventual defects without bad PR? ~~~ jacquesm > Out of curiosity, why "to select customers" only? To justify extreme price differences so the 'select customers' can credibly claim this expensive stuff gives them an edge their competitors will not be able to easily match. In an arms race arms that are supply constrained will fetch premium prices. ~~~ StillBored But to the parent point, all the more reason to open it up, and charge an even higher premium when other people come online and start a bidding war. ------ abalashov Perfect for running modern JavaScript frameworks! /s ~~~ gpderetta Isn't JS still mostly single threaded? ~~~ abrookewood Hence the 'end sarcasm' tag: /s ~~~ gpderetta it work on multiple levels! ~~~ fb03 but only one at a time :) ------ mrmondo Very glad to to see the clock speed didn't take a drop for the extra cores however still no ECC is disappointing to say the least. ------ pulse7 So the ultimate question is now, how much the ThreadRipper will cost... ------ faragon My next home CPU will be an AMD Ryzen. ~~~ theandrewbailey I've been running a 1800X for about a month. Great chip, lousy RAM support (hoping that BIOS announcement from last week turns out good). I guess since I'm used to new high end GPUs being scarce for months after launch, I wasn't expecting availability to be so good. Additionally, I didn't expect the small aftermarket AM4 cooling selection. ~~~ nalllar Anecdotal, running a beta BIOS with the new agesa version. The announcement seems to be accurate. Now able to reach 3333MHz on 2x16GB RAM which is specced to do 3200. Couldn't hit 2900Mhz before, it wouldn't even boot. ~~~ theandrewbailey That's encouraging, as I also have 2x 16GB 3200MHz sticks and a system that won't boot if I don't run with the defaults. ------ StillBored Really intel? I don't want 10+ cores just to get reasonable PCIe connectivity. This is just another strike against these parts (after the lack of ECC). I guess intel is trying really hard to protect their server parts, but they continue to gimp the high end desktop parts (as if the removal of multisocket isn't enough). I would really like to understand why intel tries so hard to not make a desktop part for people willing to spend a little more to get something that isn't basically an i5 (limited memory channels, limited PCIe, smaller caches, etc). ~~~ old-gregg Do you mind me asking what you'd be using those PCIe lanes for? Their 8c part is good for a couple of NVMe drives and a video card, that's quire reasonable. The only use for 44+ lanes I have in mind is a mining rig but that's probably beyond reasonable and quite niche. No? ------ peter303 Please put in nextgen Macbook to be announced in June. Jump to the head of the line Apple. Remember your roots. ------ drudru11 I am still getting a Ryzen build ------ vbezhenar Well, Intel still didn't show anything better than Ryzen 8 core. Their processors have higher costs and require fancy motherboards which I don't even sure I can buy in my city. ~~~ old-gregg I am actually (sadly) won't be buying Ryzen because of this announcement. Based on Ryzen/Skylake benchmarks, looks like i7-7820X will be a better deal: 15-20% performance advantage (because of better IPC + faster clock) for only $100 extra. I honestly do not know how to consume more than 28 PCI lanes... Also, Ryzen seems to struggle on Linux vs Intel a bit. I have seen people complaining about it's unwillingness to use the Turbo frequency and its unixbench numbers are unimpressive, particularly execl throughput. ------ nazri1 90s: CPU Hertz 2000s: RAM Sizes 201xs: CPU Cores? ~~~ jacquesm Yes, that's roughly correct. Even so, a CPU that would have much better single threaded performance would outsell one that has much lower single threaded performance but more cores in the consumer market. In the server market it is the opposite. ------ kruhft Good. Bring on more cores. I could use them. ------ m-j-fox High-Cost Computing? ------ dboreham But this one goes to....9.. ------ known Why not name it as i18 ------ RichardHeart I'm sick of having 0 to 1 choice in so many things. If a monopoly is bad, then what's the next worst number of companies? Two. Isn't the governments job to enhance the "free" market by forcing competition through forcing open on- boarding, or IP sharing, or breaking up, or really anything effective to lubricate the wheels of capitalism. ~~~ qubex Actually some counterintuitive results from Industrial Relations (the branch of economics that studies supply-side structure, amongst other things) and Game Theory indicate that competition might be _greater_ between oligopolist firms than between those that exist in situations of perfect competition (mainly because by ”knocking out” an oligopolistic competitor you get a big chunk of market share and thus sales volume and economies of scale, whereas ”knocking out” an anonymous perfect competitor nets you (ideally) an infinitesimal additional market share shared by an infinite number of other competitors). ~~~ bryanlarsen If my competitor offers a widget on Amazon for $X and I offer it on Amazon for $X-1, I will capture ~100% of that market and the competitor will capture ~0%. The internet's winner-take-all effect has both benefits and drawbacks for us consumers. ~~~ qubex This is the economically expected outcome iff the lower-priced firm has no production capacity constraints and the products are an undifferentiated commodities to the point that consumers have no decision to make other than price. ------ pulse7 18-core Skylake-X is a luxury good: people will buy it just because it has 2 cores more than the ThreadRipper... ~~~ reitzensteinm Or, you know, 4x the AVX throughput, stronger single threaded performance, and far fewer performance gotchas. Interested in using BMI2 for bit twiddling because you'd like to efficiently manipulate bit matrices? PDEP has a reciprocal throughput of 1 on Skylake, or 18 on Ryzen. Guess it's time to make the tough choice between the top end Threadripper and a Core i3 6320. Intel has positioned these well if the Ryzen price tag rumors are correct. If you're building a workstation with 16 cores, $1k for Ryzen or $1.7k for Skylake is not a straight forward decision. If Ryzen is more than that, I don't see it taking a big bite out of the market. Which isn't surprising, as Intel did just halve the margins on their enthusiast parts... ~~~ quickben "If Ryzen is more than that, I don't see it taking a big bite out of the market. Which isn't surprising, as Intel did just halve the margins on their enthusiast parts..." Either it is more than that, and it will take huge chunk of the market, or Intel simply reduced margins out of the goodness of their heart. ~~~ reitzensteinm I don't understand what you're trying to say. My point was that a $1k Threadripper would have absolutely destroyed Intel's 2016 lineup, but it'll merely be competitive with what was announced today. If the top end SKU is more than $1k then I don't see it taking much of the market, due to the factors in my original post, factoring in the total cost of a machine and inertia greatly favoring Intel. ~~~ quickben I was trying to say that AMD did threaten Intel with market share, and they countered that with lowering prices. As for the rest of your post, it depends. HEDT is diverse. I was looking for a new CPU for my hobby project, 8 - 16 cores, still undecided. I have literally 0 FPU needs, but will take any integer power there is. I also pay for electricity, so, 65W AMD vs 140W (at least for 6 core) Intel makes my decision very easy. You also have to consider that AMD HEDT is announced and arriving. Intel response is all marketing slides right now, full with TBDs. They are also misleading people that the chunk of cache they moved from L3 to L2 will magically be all IPC gains. I own right now more Intel than amd machines, but moving forward my TOC says AMD is the clear winner. I do hope Intel will come back, but realistically, they are still overclocking sandy bridge. It may take them several years for a new architecture.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Redesigned iOS App Switcher: Auxo (for jailbreak) - ashazar http://www.macrumors.com/2012/12/22/auxo-shows-off-a-redesigned-ios-app-switcher/ ====== ashazar Seems very nice and useful. I don't know if this is the right way, but Apple should definitely find a way for \- Easy turn on/off Wi-fi, 3G, etc, \- Closing all running apps at once.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Finding a ruby host based on your needs - namidark http://hostrubyfor.me/ ====== anonova I don't understand why the host list is finite. The one I use isn't even a choice. Also, why is this limited to Ruby applications instead of VPS performance in general?	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Breaking Bin Laden: visualizing the power of a single tweet - th0ma5 http://blog.socialflow.com/post/5246404319/breaking-bin-laden-visualizing-the-power-of-a-single ====== Apocryphon This is a really cool article. I used to think that things couldn't get more current after we had witnesses at the 7/7 London Bombings uploading live photos. Now we can do by-the-second analysis of how a story spreads thanks to analytics. Web 3.0 will really be all about data.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Try typing charleswhitmore.com into your url bar - hammerbrostime ====== andrejewski It's just most likely a javascript call of window.close, it's not that cool. ~~~ hammerbrostime Its that or its going back in time to before you opened the tab ------ timanzo wrote a small ruby script and got the following as the content of the page (simple javascript to close the window): <script language=JavaScript> window.open('','_self'); window.close(); </script> ~~~ nyrb or fastest way: curl charleswhitmore.com	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Switching windows within same application in Mac OS X - Tycho http://www.techiecorner.com/230/how-to-switch-window-within-the-same-program-in-mac-os-x/ ====== Tycho Not that on my computer (OS 10.4.8 with a PC keyboard) it's Apple/Command key and backslash (right above it) that you press.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
How we cache at CollegeHumor - agotterer http://www.adamgotterer.com/2009/03/01/how-we-cache-at-collegehumor/ ====== codeinthehole Interesting but all pretty straightforward. The more interesting question around caching is how to keep the cache fresh - do you just cache for short amounts of time and let them expire, or do something clever at the front end (such as tagging cache items) so that a set can be removed on batch when the database is updated. Further, what exactly is being cached? database result- sets, serialised objects or something else? ~~~ agotterer We cache everything. Database queries, objects, rendered views. Anything that gets processed we try and cache. The length of time depends on what it is and where its presented. It's tough to put a rule on setting expiration time. Objects (users, pictures, videos, articles, etc.) are cached for 24 hours. We cache the row of results and rebuild the object from that. They are busted if they are updated, otherwise the data usually doesn't change. Database result lengths depend on what they are used for. Anywhere from 15 minutes to several hours or days. Data that is requested more frequently (homepage) usually busts more frequently then say the user profiles page which gets far less attention. Every section on our site is rendered in different views. These also depend on the frequency of use. The comments section of a video is cached for a short period of time. A recently released video is busting comments every few seconds or minutes as users comment on it. Something like the physical contents of an article can be cached longer, because once its written it usually doesn't change. It's pretty subjective. We experimented with "cache groups". Which were collections of cache keys that were related. From there we could bust tons of related keys. We found the extra work of tracking the keys to not be beneficial for our site. Most of our data isn't related or mission critical, If something is stale for a few minutes it usually doesn't make a difference. Tracking the extra keys became too complex.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
My post on Scaling Lessons Learned from About.me - icecommander http://www.trueventures.com/blog/2011/04/12/scaling-lessons-learned-from-about-me/ ====== kno About.me a TrueVenture portfolio company? aren't you guys an AOL company now? ~~~ icecommander We're an AOL company now but I think that wording is reasonable.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
A year of Windows kernel font fuzzing #1: the results - ingve https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2016/06/a-year-of-windows-kernel-font-fuzzing-1_27.html ====== pierrec Being not entirely up-to-date on current browser security, what's the risk of a webpage just including a CSS: @font-face { src: url("/fonts/evil-font.ttf"); ... } And making use of these? Do current browsers even use windows libraries for font handling? Edit: reading further, the article actually mentions two browser exploits, the first of which links to a proof-of-concept which is just a font file. So yes, it seems that just including a carefully-crafted font (an OTF in this case) could take your shellcode directly to the kernel. ~~~ kevingadd Native font rendering is used on Windows, yes, though in theory a browser could run some sort of sanitizer on TTFs. Not sure offhand whether they do, but it's reasonable. ~~~ pierrec Regarding the question of whether browsers sanitize the fonts, I'm looking at the chromium issue linked to what the article calls a "weaponized exploit", and even though it's marked as fixed (obviously), it's not clear whether they marked it as such because windows released a security update or because chrome did with sanitation. While the idea of monkey-patching kernel bugs through sanitation is kind of ugly, it would be also be ugly to rely on windows updates, considering that many people are furiously/incorrectly disabling them because of the ridiculous windows 10 update behavior... [https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project- zero/issues/detail?id=36...](https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project- zero/issues/detail?id=369) ~~~ ryuuchin It's marked fixed because Microsoft released a patch for it. However at the very least Chrome and Firefox have been doing font sanitization for quite some time now (several years+ I believe). I'm not sure for other browsers. Opera might since it's just a Chromium fork and OTS[1] is a part of the WTF (webkit tools framework). [1] [https://github.com/khaledhosny/ots](https://github.com/khaledhosny/ots) ~~~ zeta0134 Wait, since when is Opera a Chromium fork? They've been around a lot longer than the Chrome project. Unless they had a radical change of heart recently that I haven't heard about yet? ~~~ acqq Published on 12 February 2013: "300 Million Users and Move to WebKit" [https://dev.opera.com/blog/300-million-users-and-move-to- web...](https://dev.opera.com/blog/300-million-users-and-move-to-webkit/) "Opera sends 90 out the door" "They were sacrificed for strategic choice to dump core technology, with Opera's proprietary engine Presto and JavaScript interpreter Carakan" [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5237967](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5237967) ------ TheCoreh What is the main advantage of having font handling in the kernel? ~~~ pcwalton The decision dates back to 1996, to improve performance by reducing context switches in Windows NT 4.0. See Microsoft's detailed rationale paper from that era: [https://technet.microsoft.com/en- us/library/cc750820.aspx#XS...](https://technet.microsoft.com/en- us/library/cc750820.aspx#XSLTsection124121120120) The relevant ironic quote: "Due to the modular design of Windows NT moving Window Manager and GDI to kernel mode will make no difference to the security subsystem or to the overall security of the operating system." This was, as these things often go, an expedient decision made in the '90s that wouldn't be fixed for nearly 20 years. ~~~ ayuvar Pretty much all of GDI used to be in the kernel, the font stuff is one of the major parts still remaining, although the article says that Microsoft is moving it out as of Windows 10. A few years ago there was a remote code execution exploit that had to do with decoding EMF/WMF images in the kernel: [https://www.symantec.com/security_response/vulnerability.jsp...](https://www.symantec.com/security_response/vulnerability.jsp?bid=34012) I believe that one got at least partially fixed by moving some of the video code out of the kernel and into user-mode with Vista, but I don't recall exactly. ------ chris_wot Don't think for a moment this can't BSOD your system. A LibreOffice font caused a BSOD on Windows 7 SP1, and whilst I sent memory dumps to Microsoft they eventually never got back to me. As far as I'm aware, I guess this can still occur. [https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=62764&re...](https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=62764&redirected_from=fdo) ------ x0x0 So google paid to find 16 vulnerabilities in Microsoft's TrueType font engine. One of which was actively being exploited and sold to governments / any thugs with $$$ by Hacking Team. Am I the only one who finds it stunning that Microsoft is too lazy to do their own fuzzing? ~~~ aab0 Or MS has fuzzed it but hasn't devoted as many computational resources as Google has. They say that fuzzing-produced bugs have come out regularly over the years, so clearly no one else had before applied as many resources as Google did... ~~~ MaulingMonkey Or used a different fuzzer with different mutators, or did blackbox non- coverage non-tracing fuzzing, or fuzzed the entire program instead of individual methods, or simply missed a program/driver/???, or ... EDIT: RTFAing, Google even mentions using longer runtimes: > As shown in the table, the crashes were reported in three iterations: the > first one obviously contained the bulk of the issues, as the fuzzer was > hitting a lot of different states and code paths right from the start. The > second and third iterations were run for a longer time, in order to shake > out any crashes which might have been masked by other, more frequently > hitting bugchecks. EDIT x2: Also, it looks like they moved it out of the Kernel in Windows 10, so that's good. > It's also worth noting that while the elevation of privileges scenario is > mitigated in Windows 10 by the architectural shift to performing font > rasterization in a user-mode process with restricted privileges, an RCE in > the context of that process is still a viable option (although much more > limited than directly compromising the ring-0 security context). ~~~ pierrec Also RTFAing, the authors express their surprise at how easy some of the vulns/crashes were to find using very basic fuzzing. So while @x0x0 might be jumping to conclusions a bit harshly, saying that MS did little to no fuzzing on their font libraries is actually a reasonable guess. ~~~ aab0 That, however, contradicts their other assertion that past researchers have fuzzed the fonts and found many vulnerabilities. They can't both be easily true, so there must be something further going on. ~~~ pierrec Meh. "it was trivial to discover with a dumb fuzzer, and it's surprising that such a bug could even survive until 2015, with so much work being _supposedly_ put into the security of font processing." (Emphasis mine.) I suppose they might be underplaying the complexity of the steps required to reproduce their finds, but it really doesn't look like it. Honestly I'm not that surprised. At times like this I'm reminded of the sheer amount of security holes out there in the wild and I just want to chuck my computer in the lake. ~~~ BraveNewCurency Turns out lakes are security thru obscurity. They do not provide as much security as previously thought. Consider an active volcano next time. ~~~ MaulingMonkey DBAN all the disks, smash all the chips, degauss the scrap and ship straight to your nearest neutron star. Proceed to direct said neutron star into the nearest black hole. Accelerate said black hole to at least five 9s of c, along whichever vector is least convenient. The backup tapes? I'm sure the trash is fine. ------ towerbabbel How many of those vulnerabilities would have been caught earlier in a safe language like Rust? ~~~ gpvos How long would it take until a Rust reimplementation would be as mature as the current ones? ~~~ coldtea This "just rewrite in Rust to have it be secure" is the new "just rewrite everything in assembly to have it be fast" that is popular with newbie programmers, CS freshmen etc, when they first learn about the various languages, but don't yet appreciate or understand the broader ecosystem implications... ~~~ cm3 I agree that lets-ASM has been wrong in most cases. However misguided in many cases it may be, in this context it's serving a more pressing problem than the lets-ASM mentality because there is a real security problem with most code that can be solved with different language+tooling and is only insecure because of historical popularity reasons like the rise of C in the 1980s.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Show HN: HTML5 online game for mobile + desktop - Free Rider HD - erichate http://www.freeriderhd.com/ ====== erichate The site was built using backbone.js and the game is mainly javascript with Createjs for sound and the odd sprite. We targeted both mobile devices and desktop with this release. Works really well on modern browsers on all devices. Let me know if you have any questions or feedback!	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Cats know their names – whether they care is another matter - okket https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01067-z ====== nbabitskiy The very existence of this research puzzles me. When I got a cat, I named him "kot" (a male cat in Russian), cause I thought he wouldn't remember it, so why bother. But he learnt it in a week. I just made my own research, for the sake of this comment: said "Petya", "Idi syuda, durak" and "kot", and sure enough, after the third call he came, sat beside me, and is now watching the screen. ~~~ chewyland Ohh that's cute. We have 2 Bulgarian Calico sisters and without a shadow of a doubt, absolutely factually, they know their names. I would bet a million Leva on that. ------ pickle-wizard As a person owned by a cat I'm not surprised by this. I'll call his name and he won't respond, but if I say "Do you want a snack"? He'll run to his bowl. ~~~ siruncledrew My cat knows her name as well as some nicknames. Particularly any name that has an "eee" sound in it gets her attention. More interestingly, she has learned sound associations to the point of being able to tell the difference between crinkling sounds of the treats bag vs. crinkling of another bag that isn't treats. ~~~ xkcd-sucks Yeah their hearing is so incredibly acute. I had one who would sleep inside my house while listening to ambient noise through a window. Occasionally he'd perk up and ask to go outside. Then he'd walk over to some bush or leafy patch, pounce once,and emerge with a critter in his mouth. The outside sounds he listened to came in through a window and hallway, the path was not line of sight. ------ AceyMan Obligatory citation; “Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that _they are gods_.” —Christopher Hitchens (attributed by Goodreads) (me: Certified Cat Whisperer) ~~~ krapp "In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this." \-- Terry Pratchett ------ ergothus It's not just their own...we have a cat that knows her own name, but she ALSO knows the n as me of one of other cats and will vocslly complain if you call for him while petting her. It's quite hilarious - she doesn't respond to similar sounds that way, she doesn't respond to his name in other circumstances, but DO NOT call for him while she is expecting pets from you. (It technically happens whether you are or are not petting her, so long as she wants you to pet her)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
How to send a text message using ASP.Net/Twilio Video - MarkJHagan http://markhagan.me/Samples/Send_SMS_Using_Twilio_ASPNet ====== MarkJHagan Part 2: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3929542>	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Who Goes Nazi? (1941) - d_e_solomon https://harpers.org/archive/1941/08/who-goes-nazi/ ====== hodwik Written by Dorothy Thompson, first journalist kicked out of Nazi Germany. She also said: "No people ever recognize their dictator in advance. He never stands for election on the platform of dictatorship. He always represents himself as the instrument [of] the Incorporated National Will. ... When our dictator turns up you can depend on it that he will be one of the boys, and he will stand for everything traditionally American. And nobody will ever say 'Heil' to him, nor will they call him 'Führer' or 'Duce.' But they will greet him with one great big, universal, democratic, sheeplike bleat of 'O.K., Chief! Fix it like you wanna, Chief! Oh Kaaaay!'" ~~~ sandworm101 >> No people ever recognize their dictator in advance. He never stands for election on the platform of dictatorship. She obviously never imagined the state of American politics today. A good chunk of them now openly want a "strongman" in the high office. The degree to which they want to be bullied by those they elect boarders on socio-political masochism. So I disagree with Thompson. To say that people don't see the dictator coming is too easy. The people must be held to account for the leaders they create, else the cycle repeat. ~~~ danjayh Totally agree. The current congress welcomes Obama's use of (likely illegal) executive orders to accomplish things, because it means they can avoid responsibility and accountability. They don't fight to retain their constitutionally granted powers, because all they really want it somebody else to do the dirty work -- end result is they allow unprecedented levels of executive control to go basically unchecked ... and whether or not you agree with what's being done with it now, it's a slippery slope, because each president is different, but they'll all have this precedent to point back to as justification. ~~~ deciplex And, there is a cap on the maximum number of voters who could possibly give a damn at any given moment. Most of the people who would raise concerns about these executive orders will not be too concerned about overreach by the executive once the next Republican President is in office, nor is it likely they spoke up when the last one was in. And so it goes. That's the true danger in divisive politics - when seeing that 'your team' scores points while they can becomes more important than good policy and governance. ------ keithpeter [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Peierls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Peierls) When I was a postgrad at Birmingham University, around 1982/3 ish we had a talk by Peierls. He discussed his feelings about Heisenberg joining the Nazi party (you had to join the Party to continue to be a University lecturer in the late 1930s - that was when Einsten resolved to leave Berlin). My recollection (reaching back 30+ years here folks) is that Peierls did not blame Heisenberg- it was how it was. Peierls recollected Heisenberg talking about 'white waistcoats' and people leaving who didn't have to leave, thus reducing the number of overseas jobs available to people who did have to leave (i.e. German Jewish academics). What I'm thinking here is; How do you see the end of the wedge when it is very thin? ------ lumberjack I think to better understand why people are attracted to Fascism it is better to read about the rise of Mussolini than about the rise of Nazism. Mussolini essentially was going to make Italy "great again". He was a former socialist but not an internationalist. While communists promised economic justice, fascists promised a better prouder more powerful nation. Today you expect wealthy people to be economically liberal but in those days many were attracted by the premises of fascism. There also this classic: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICng- KRxXJ8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICng-KRxXJ8) A teacher creates a fascist movement to show his students how they can be duped into one. ~~~ fennecfoxen > Today you expect wealthy people to be economically liberal but in those days > many were attracted by the premises of fascism. Oh, fascism can be great for the wealthy. Your company becomes an instrument of the state, turning your economic power into political power, and you don't need to worry about nonsense like Competition anymore. ~~~ zipwitch I've seen the term 'inverted totalitarianism' to describe how the US is in a similar, but different place to pre-WWII fascism. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism) ------ tcbawo This article is especially interesting, given it was written before the the US entered the war and before the full extent of Nazi atrocities was known. I'm reminded of C.S Lewis's speech about the Inner Ring (1944): [http://www.mit.edu/~hooman/ideas/the_inner_ring.htm](http://www.mit.edu/~hooman/ideas/the_inner_ring.htm) ~~~ arethuza I wonder what would have happened if Hitler (who apparently didn't give the matter much thought) hadn't declared war on the US? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_declaration_of_war_agai...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_declaration_of_war_against_the_United_States_%281941%29) ~~~ Animats Didn't matter. Pearl Harbor brought the US into the war. If Hitler hadn't attacked Russia, things could have been very different. Hitler thought Russia would be a fast, easy conquest. It wasn't, and Germany found itself in a two-front war. It cost the USSR 20 million dead to beat Germany, and cost Germany 5 million dead, 80% of German casualties. Germany was an ally of Russia until 45 minutes before the attack. Much of Russian paranoia comes from this. If Germany had consolidated its gains on the continent of Europe without trying to expand beyond that, we might today have a Greater Germany covering much of what's now the European Union. Britain would be on the outside, in the position Taiwan is now with respect to China. Russia would be the big power next door, just as it is to China now. Germany could have cut a peace deal with the US and Britain in that situation. ~~~ ptaipale > _Germany was an ally of Russia until 45 minutes before the attack. Much of > Russian paranoia comes from this._ Germany was an ally of RUssia, and learned from Soviets much of how to run an extermination camp, and Russian provided Germany with space to practice armor warfare. However, there is considerable debate speculating that Germany's initial success in Barbarossa was simply because the Soviet army was planning to attack Germany on July 6, and therefore its formation was totally arranged for offense, and failed miserably when attacked. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_offensive_plans_controv...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_offensive_plans_controversy) Anyway, the Russian paranoia didn't really need a German betrayal to develop. The Russian military had been internally wiped out in the paranoid purges of 1930's. ------ d_e_solomon I always thought that the answer to this question is less important than that it prompts to reader to question themselves on why or why not they would join the Nazis. It's easy to look back through the lens of time and assume that we, good wholesome people, would not become Nazis, but if you're in the moment, what happens? ------ BogusIKnow "Dorothy Thompson (9 July 1893 – 30 January 1961) was an American journalist and radio broadcaster, who in 1939 was recognized by Time magazine as the second most influential woman in America next to Eleanor Roosevelt. She is notable as the first American journalist to be expelled from Nazi Germany in 1934 and as one of the few women news commentators on radio during the 1930s. She is regarded by some as the "First Lady of American Journalism." \- Wikipedia ~~~ dang Dorothy Thompson is a fascinating and important historical figure, hugely famous in her prime, but much diminished when she died and largely forgotten now. She is due to be rehabilitated. I'd be surprised if it didn't happen in the next few years. I've been told that [http://www.amazon.com/American-Cassandra-Life-Dorothy- Thomps...](http://www.amazon.com/American-Cassandra-Life-Dorothy- Thompson/dp/0316507245) is a good bio. ~~~ emgoldstein Thompson, like many (if not most) American journalists of her time, was a Stalin apologist in the Duranty circle: [http://spartacus-educational.com/USAthompsonD.htm](http://spartacus- educational.com/USAthompsonD.htm) I'm not sure any intellectual who collaborated with Hitler should get points for warning the world about Stalin. Or vice versa. If Harper's had written an article called "Who Goes Bolshevik" in 1941, it could have been much shorter: "pretty much everyone." Or at least, everyone who mattered. If you wanted the truth about Stalin in 1941, you'd do much better with the Voelkischer Beobachter than the New York Times. ~~~ dang I don't know the details but that link doesn't come close to establishing that she was a Stalin apologist. ~~~ pvg It doesn't seem like it at all. Things she apparently wrote in 1946: The West experienced moments of doubt, Thompson wrote, in which the outcome of communist belief and behavior was questioned: "Can communist cultism, organized like a medieval secret order, with a priesthood, a police and an inquisition, reform itself into a modem, liberal, democratic movement?" Why, during the war, did communist propagandists throughout the world demand an immediate "second front", an attack on heavily fortified Western Europe by the United States and Great Britain? "Did these obedient claques care nothing for the lives of American boys? Were they listening to any voices but the voice of Stalin?" "Yet, we said: No", Thompson continued. "We shall prove our confidence, trust and trustworthiness. We shall hold faith that it will not be betrayed. Loyalty, we said, begets loyalty." But as Germany collapsed, the Soviet Union began "reversing every wartime pledge and policy. And not only was the quarter of a century of communist despotism to be fastened again upon the necks of the long suffering, heroically,enduring, eternally,hoping, eternally,serving Russian people -but naked and unashamed it was seeking new people to subject. " ~~~ emgoldstein Ah, but that was 1946. The (American) party line had changed -- most American liberals were anti-Stalinist in 1946. A quick google search turns up this from 1943: [http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/11332745](http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/11332745) "Dorothy Thompson, the well-known columnist, writes: 'Russia does not want to make an isolationist policy. Russia wants a friendly Europe in a friendly world, with a system of collective security. There are signs of such hostility in both Europe and America to Russia that it gives Russian leadership some reason for suspicion. As things look at present, it is by no means certain that defeat of Germany will assure a non-Fascist Europe or one prepared to adopt a good-neighbor policy toward Russia." Her views in 1946 are standard 1946 post-FDR New Dealism (after the Anglo- Soviet split); her views in 1943 are standard 1943 New Dealism. You're just hearing the party line; God only knows what she actually thought, and when. It would be much easier to fight the memory hole if we didn't have these ridiculous copyright laws, but a lot of original WWII propaganda (not cherry- picked by modern hagiographers) remains on line. It's often pretty appalling reading. ~~~ pvg That's extremely thin gruel. You seem to want to paint any whiff of Russia/Soviet sympathy as the equivalent of 'Stalin apologist' and reaching even further, an equivalent to being a Nazi sympathizer. I don't think that's a view that can easily be factually rather than ideologically supported. ------ woodruffw Very thought provoking. In spirit, it reminds me of _The True Believer_ [1], published about a decade later. Take Nazism and replace it with any other movement of discontent (just or unjust), and you have a general critique of mass movements _a la_ Hoffer. [1]: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Believer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Believer) ~~~ ericd Interesting, thanks for the link. This part strikes me as particularly relevant to the current state of things in the US, especially for blue collar/middle class: The "New Poor" are the most likely source of converts for mass movements/for they recall their former wealth with resentment and blame others for their current misfortune. Examples include the mass evictions of relatively prosperous tenants during the English Civil War of the 1600s or the middle- and working-classes in Germany who passionately supported Hitler in the 1930s after suffering years of economic hardship. In contrast, the "abjectly poor" on the verge of starvation make unlikely true believers as their daily struggle for existence takes pre-eminence over any other concern.[5] ~~~ iofj It's weird how this mirrors what you see with terrorists. Terrorists are middle-class or upper-middle-class with very, very few poor among them. I don't think that the "daily struggle for survival" is it. Rather I think that the fact that poor are constantly forced to confront themselves with reality and living with others that makes them less likely to join movements like this. Also, as a worker you'd have direct contact with members of this party (because you don't get to choose the people you hang out with). It is much, much harder to tell yourself a fictional story about what drives them. About what they'd do if given power. By contrast you regularly find insane positions among the upper classes. How hard is it to find an upper-middle-class or higher Marxist on a university campus ? Not very hard, despite the fact that he wouldn't be there in the system they advocate. Hell, there's Malthusians among them too, whereas I've yet to meet the first poor worker defending the virtues of killing of "enough" of the human race for a "sustainable population of Earth" to me. Having illusions about "grandeur" of race, of inherent virtues of one group versus another, about the "good of the human race", ... is far easier when you're not confronted with the underbelly of any city on a daily basis ... when you're only confronted with who you choose to be confronted with. ------ kenjackson I love the idea of reading articles from this time period on this topic. This article though, with Mr A/B/C/... was bit much to handle though. Just felt much too speculative. ~~~ HillRat I would bet a barrel of reichmarks that these were real people. In fact, I'm absolutely certain that "Mr. C" is the "saturnine" Lawrence Dennis, a former State Department diplomat and Wall Street advisor considered the guiding intellect of 1930s American fascism. Fascinatingly, Dennis didn't grow up "Southern white trash." No, he actually was a famous African-American child preacher, a background that he _did_ hide successfully (though, reading between the lines of the article, not perhaps to _everyone_ ) as he disavowed his family, appeared at Exeter on scholarship, and traveled in the upper reaches of American society and eventually to the far fringes of American, Italian and German fascism. It is a surpassing irony that his hatred of Jim Crow segregation and contempt for the democracy that allowed it led him to be welcomed inside the sanctum of those men who would have imprisoned, shot or gassed him had they known the truth of his background. ~~~ emgoldstein Not entirely welcomed: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Dennis#Sedition_trial](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Dennis#Sedition_trial) ~~~ HillRat Yep; the other irony was that his prosecutor was O. John Rogge, one of the great liberal crusading attorneys of the day, who insisted on bringin charges in order to drag militant racism into the light of day. So Dennis, spurred by his hatred for American racism, made common cause with thuggish men who would have happily hanged him from a tree, and as a result was prosecuted by a man who otherwise would have been his natural political and moral ally. A complex man, Lawrence Dennis. (There is one biography available, _The Color of Fascism_ , which is a little too clunky to be authoritative, but which is well worth reading. An equally unusual journey is that of Bayard Rustin, an openly gay African American civil rights activist who studied under Gandhi, introduced MLK to the theory of nonviolent activism, and ended up part of the neoconservative movement in the Reagan administration.) ------ Animats It's been a while since the last big, successful, popular, dictatorial, charismatic movement like Nazism. Putin comes closest, but he came to power as an insider, with Yeltsin supporting him. ISIS is religion-based, (even though it was designed by a former Iraqi colonel who wasn't very religious [1]) and those work differently. There are warlords in sub-Saharan Africa, but they're usually not popular leaders. Remember, Hitler was elected Chancellor; he didn't lead a revolution. Yes, Trump makes somewhat Nazi-like noises. Not sure what to think about that. [1] [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/how-saddams- former...](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/how-saddams-former- soldiers-are-fueling-the-rise-of-isis/) ~~~ danieltillett Just to nitpick John, Hitler was appointed Chancellor by Hindenburg. The nazi party never won an election in their entire history. ~~~ olavk The Nazi party was certainly the winner or the election in July 1932, where it became the largest party in the parliament. In March 1933 elections it became even larger, with 44% more than twice the size of the second largest party, the SPD. It just never had an absolute majority - the parliamentary act which effectively gave the party dictatorial powers was supported by the conservative and center parties. ~~~ danieltillett I guess we can argue over what it means for a political party to win, but the Nazi party were never able to gain the support of the majority of the German people. ~~~ olavk Would you say that Angela Merkels CDU "never won an election"? That would be a misleading statement when talking about a multi-party system rather than a two-party system. The Nazi party itself did not have an absolute majority at any point, but they gained power by getting support from a majority in parliament, representing a majority of the voters. The power was achieved legitimately, but then it was used to dismantle the democratic system. ~~~ iofj Is it a "misuse" of democratic power to dismantle the democratic system ? Also, can you provide a link to that act of parliament ? I wonder about what happened there. ~~~ olavk Link: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enabling_Act_of_1933](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enabling_Act_of_1933) ------ BogusIKnow "Those who haven’t anything in them to tell them what they like and what they don’t-whether it is breeding, or happiness, or wisdom, or a code, however old- fashioned or however modern, go Nazi." Could be a quote from the last psychiatrist. ------ lordleft What an incredibly well written article, and quite thought provoking. ------ firasd I found this interesting and prescient: "Hitler's Program", by Leon Trotsky (1934). “Hitler has been widely regarded as a demagogue, a hysterical person, and a comedian… It takes more than hysteria to seize power, and method there must be in the Nazi madness.” [https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1934/xx/hitler.htm](https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1934/xx/hitler.htm) ------ Animats Who goes Nazi? These guys.[1] The Republican establishment donors who used to think Trump was a nut, but now that he's leading, are coming around to supporting him. They're terrified that he might win and they'd be out of power, on the outside looking in. Hitler had a lot of supporters like that.[2] Krupp (arms manufacturing), Thyssen (arms), Kridoff (coal), and others all contributed funds before Hitler took over. National Socialism wasn't anti-industry, it was "industry and the state working together". [1] [http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/266389-donors- changing-...](http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/266389-donors-changing- their-tune-on-donald-trump) [2] [http://www.politicususa.com/2014/01/27/tom- perkins-wrong-ger...](http://www.politicususa.com/2014/01/27/tom-perkins- wrong-germanys-1-percent-hitlers-allies-victims.html) ~~~ conistonwater I think that's not the kind of thing she was aiming for in the article. She's talking more about _personal_ decisions about whether you as a person would join them, not these kinds of generic political deals. In other words, her point is that if you know someone on a _personal_ level, that alone is enough to tell if they would make the personal decision to go Nazi. It's not even anything specifically to do with wealth or power, per se. ------ pessimizer IIRC, the upper-middle class and the people who admire them. That seemed to be what the article is saying, until I got to the conclusion. [https://www.worldcat.org/title/logic-of-evil-the-social- orig...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/logic-of-evil-the-social-origins-of- the-nazi-party-1925-to-1933/oclc/123279201) ------ ZeroGravitas I was surprised by the relatively clear description of a psychopath as being ideal Nazi material. I'm not sure if it was a widely known concept at the time or if they were just going by instinct. ~~~ pinewurst Mr C? "He is the product of a democracy hypocritically preaching social equality and practicing a carelessly brutal snobbery. He is a sensitive, gifted man who has been humiliated into nihilism." I didn't read him as psychopath so much as someone nursing serious grudges about his perceived exclusion from the top rank of society. Enough that he'd delight in "setting things right" even Nazi style. That was, for me, the most interesting character insight. ~~~ ZeroGravitas I meant Mr D: _" He spends his time at the game of seeing what he can get away with. He is constantly arrested for speeding and his mother pays the fines. He has been ruthless toward two wives and his mother pays the alimony. His life is spent in sensation-seeking and theatricality. He is utterly inconsiderate of everybody. He is very good-looking, in a vacuous, cavalier way, and inordinately vain. He would certainly fancy himself in a uniform that gave him a chance to swagger and lord it over others."_ ~~~ pinewurst I think of D as a sociopath who could be Nazi or "patriot" depending on which one would give him current advantage. ~~~ iofj I wonder if there is any real limit to what positions such a person would take. In every company I've ever worked for there's several examples of this sort of person and ... I don't think I've ever even seen one with their own political opinion. Personal advancement, or the potential for it, determines their position in any argument, including political ones. These days that usually makes them argue for "diversity" (taken to corporate insanity extremes, like every other position). I would agree with the article that given the environment in the 1930's that would probably have made them nazis. But this has nothing to do with the content of these ideologies, only with their relative success. But what I find myself at very strong odds with is the smart person who clawed his way up and finds himself beneath a glass ceiling, Mr. C. They usually have a relatively insane political opinion that indeed originates from some past humiliation. But that nearly always makes them some sort of extremist socialist or outright marxist if they were poor in their childhood, or extreme laissez-faire when not. And frankly, what is wrong with holding such an opinion due to having had to endure serious hardship or humiliation as a result (having been the rich kid in a poor school or a poor kid in a rich school would pretty much guarantee such a position, no ?). I would imagine that if indeed such a person became a nazi, one confrontation with a nazi "type D" would cure him of such an affliction, as he'd immediately recognize the ideology for what it is. Either such guys are nihilists or they have some insane party affiliation. Given the thousands of political parties in the Weimar republic, I'd be much less surprised to find this Mr. C an avid supporter of one of the many "20 party members and only their mothers vote for them" ideologies that the Weimar republic boasted. ------ grimmdude This article seems relevant to Man in The High Castle. ------ batz The essence of any totalitarian strategy is to seize some resources, invent a necessarily preposterous myth, then in exchange for demonstrating belief in the myth, re-distribute the resources arbitrarily among a minority of people who are easily replaceable and know it. The secret is to then reward people from the majority for denouncing and replacing members of the minority for not being zealous enough, so that they can elevate themselves through commitment to the myth. This has the self-policing effect of keeping everyone in line. So long as you can keep those resources coming to your ruling coalition of highly replaceable idiots, you are golden. Read Smith and DeMesquita's "Dictator's Handbook" for details of how this works. It doesn't matter whether that myth is of a 3000 year reign, the supreme right of a proletariat, the divinity of leader, that my golf handicap includes 11 holes in one, the revolution, or even that my particular tribe or ethnic group is morally superior to your tribe or ethnic group. It's all the same shit. What people don't talk about is how these assholes seize power. It's through charismatic promises of future rewards to people who think they have nothing. They appeal to the greed and impulsiveness of the poor, it's a straight short con. The nuanced part is how you get current status quo supporters to switch sides and provide their support to the challenger. They do this with a second message that triggers the middling man's sense of loss aversion. This is just posing a credible prisoners dilemma in which if moderates and supporters defect now, they get to keep their social position, but if they hold out, they will lose everything. Arguably, this model of political polarization shows how ISIS works, how feminism annexed academia, why Trump is popular, why Occupy failed but why BLM could grow exponentially. Nazi's were repugnant, but history would show that being repugnant is likely more indicative of political success than failure. ~~~ cstross _how feminism annexed academia ... why Occupy failed but why BLM could grow exponentially_ No axes to grind here, hmm? (Hint: there's a _huge_ difference between civil rights movements -- those demanding equal respect -- and the fulminations of the privileged who think life's a zero-sum game and anyone else making up ground means that they're losing out. Alas, you don't seem to get it.) ~~~ batz Actually, I make an effort to be sufficiently even handed that only a committed partisan could take offense. ~~~ pyre Reading what you wrote, and this comment seems to translate as: > I make an effort to insult everyone therefore if _anyone_ is insulted they > _must_ be a zealot. It's certainly not possible for reasonable people to > take offence to an insult so long as I _also_ insult the "other side" of the > debate. I'm not entirely sure that the "social math" you're attempting to use here actually works in real life. But to digress further, even _if_ this "social math" worked out, statements like "Trump is popular" are not necessarily contested even by people that disagree with Trump, while statement like "feminism annexed academia" is a much more inflammatory and contested statement. ~~~ batz Inflammatory, by that do you mean, _problematic_ , citizen? It's not my social math, it's from the book I mentioned in the original post. There is a political calculus to power, and there are some good game theory models of it. It would be hard to deny that academia has seen a sea change in political thinking in the last 20 years (unless we've always been at war with eurasia), just as against all reason and sense, Trump has managed to become a contender. Stuff changes. There are models to describe some of it. Sorry if I tipped a sacred cow. I thought this was hacker news not reddit. ~~~ pyre My "social math" comment was directed at this comment that you made: > I make an effort to be sufficiently even handed that only a committed > partisan could take offense not at attacking the contents of the book that you are discussing in your original post. I have not read that book, therefore I am not on sufficient ground to debate its contents. On the other hand, your idea that you have been "sufficiently even handed" requires more explanation. From what I've read from you in this comment thread, that appears to mean, "I've made comments that people all over the political spectrum might not like, therefore somehow upsetting someone on the 'left' _and_ someone on the 'right' balances out to upsetting no one. Therefore, only extremely committed zealots will be upset by my comments." This is the "social math" that does not work. > Sorry if I tipped a sacred cow. I thought this was hacker news not reddit. I could direct the same comment at you. Making comments like this is meant to put me on the defensive. You're claiming that I'm acting like an "irrational Redditor" rather than a "intelligent HN reader." Ending all of your comments with the equivalent of, "I'm just saying the truth that no one wants to hear" gives you more in common with Trump that you may like to admit. ------ tamana Colorful and imaginative writing. 75 years on, did it ever show to have a kernel of truth? It reads like a Just So Story that lets anyone call anyone else a Nazi in spirit. I'e bet there are plenty of As to Es on both side of the Nazi divide.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Yahoo Buys BrightRoll, a Video Ad Platform, for $640M - dnetesn http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/yahoo-buys-brightroll-a-video-ad-platform-for-640-million/?ref=technology ====== dang [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8592444](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8592444)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
NFL acknowledges, for first time, link between football, brain disease - smaili http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/14972296/top-nfl-official-acknowledges-link-football-related-head-trauma-cte-first ====== SCAQTony Perhaps a closer look should be paid to boxing, MMA, soccer... (actually light weight cycling-type helmets in soccer might make some pretty cool goals.)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
The Selling of the Avocado - percept http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/01/the-selling-of-the-avocado/385047/?single_page=true ====== comrade1 The Avocados that they can actually ship (Hass) are pretty terrible. If you haven't lived in an area where they grow avocados you probably haven't had a chance to enjoy the other dozens of varieties of avocado. Did you know that there's an avocado you can eat like an apple? The skin is thin and edible. There's another avocado with much higher oil content than the Hass and so a different mouth feel. Another kind that has a smokey flavor, and avocados that weren't fertilized by insects and so they have no seed - just a solid fatty oily avocado. And many more... This is one of the things I miss about CA (specifically, I lived in Ventura, CA). (another is the huge variety of citrus, including a strain where they breed the acidity out of an orange and so it tasted like vanilla...) [http://edibleojai.com/online-magazine/heritage- avocados/](http://edibleojai.com/online-magazine/heritage-avocados/) (the one in the lower left looks like the edible skin one I remember) And a small list of CA varieties: [http://ucavo.ucr.edu/avocadovarieties/VarietyFrame.html#Anch...](http://ucavo.ucr.edu/avocadovarieties/VarietyFrame.html#Anchor-47857) There's even more varieties in Hawaii. ~~~ jballanc I've lived in CA (Silicon Valley), and I agree that the avocados are one of the best things about living there. The other is the weather: that perfect Mediterranean climate with hot, dry (and I mean _no_ rain April-Sept.) summers and mild, rainy winters. Now I live on the _actual_ Mediterranean. The climate is still amazing, the avacados...meh. Really not very good at all. But the olives! You have _never_ had olives. Not like this. The varieties, the flavor, it's just like you describe for avocados in CA. It's always struck me as odd that both places could have their own you- can't-find-them-elsewhere specialities that would be so different for what is essentially an identical climate. For olives, I can only assume it has to do with their multi-century lifespan. ~~~ pm90 Maybe the soil has something to do with it also. There are some Mangoes that only taste the same if grown in a certain region of India, and I always heard that was because of the soil + climate. ------ jmccree Interesting timing. Just as I started reading this article while watching the superbowl pre-game, a segment offering a guac recipe aired sponsored by avocados. I'm reminded how the Patagonian toothfish was renamed as "Chilean Seabass" and of course "the other white meat". Edit: before I could finish typing this comment, another commercial aired for avocados. ~~~ jonah I've done work for the Chilean Avocado Importers Association[1]. One of their selling points is being in the Southern Hemisphere, they're counter-seasonal to North American avos and so sourcing from both gives retailers a year-round supply. [1] [http://avocadosfromchile.org/](http://avocadosfromchile.org/) ------ Tiktaalik Makes me wonder about which great fruit or vegetables I've missed out on my whole life simply because they were unknown and badly marketed. A recent one would maybe be Kale, which has become dramatically popular in the last 10 years. ~~~ ghaff Pomegranates have increased in popularity recently although they're still very seasonal and fairly expensive in pure form (or even as 100% juice). My perception is that cranberries have also expanded beyond their home territories although they're still seasonal as well. (Don't really understand why you can't buy them frozen as they freeze quite well--something I do every fall.) There are a bunch of tropical fruits that could potentially fall into this category as well but they're mostly too expensive for the broad market so it probably doesn't make sense to market them more. ~~~ jonah Another commenter's mention of shipability is one of the keys. Due to the long supply-chains for modern produce, the fruit or veggie has to be picked early, ripen off the vine and stay firm to hold up to shipping. cf. Grocery store tomatoes, etc. My father is involved with developing the PawPaw (Asimina Triloba) into a commercially viable fruit. It's amazing - as big as your fist with a few black seeds and creamy flesh which tastes like custard. Problem is it doesn't ripen off the tree well and bruises easily in shipping. Various universities have breeding programs and there are some excellent named varieties now but still not quite to a place where they could be commercialized on a broad scale. Another issue is of course people don't like things they're not used to and are generally reluctant to experiment with new foods. (Generalized to the US.) One way to overcome that is through marketing campaigns. Federal Marketing Orders are what we have in place to do this.[1][2] [0] [http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/](http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/) [https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/cropfactsheets/pawpaw.ht...](https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/cropfactsheets/pawpaw.html) etc. [1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_orders_and_agreement...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_orders_and_agreements) [2] [http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/FVMarketingOrderLandingPage](http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/FVMarketingOrderLandingPage) (Also, frozen cranberries are generally available - but often seasonally because in popular cooking they're limited to Thanksgiving relish and the like...) ~~~ markdown Interesting. In my part of the world, a pawpaw is what you call a papaya. ~~~ jonah I hadn't heard that. Wild, in the US they're totally different fruit: PawPaw: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimina_triloba](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimina_triloba) Papaya: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaya) ~~~ markdown I find that mildly annoying :) The Papaya page on Wikipedia mentions the use of the name pawpaw. ------ jacquesm In Colombia they have huge ones: [https://conquistadorc.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/p1050364.j...](https://conquistadorc.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/p1050364.jpg)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Donald Trump, Marco Rubio Won GOP Debate, Poll Finds - larrys http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/11/11/donald-trump-marco-rubio-won-gop-debate-poll-finds/ ====== larrys I posted this and wanted to put the word "flawed" before "poll". Mainly because this got front page mention on the WSJ website but if you read how the poll was done it's clearly suspect in it's methodology. ~~~ theophrastus What independent indicators would there be if the majority of national polls had margins of error so far underestimated as to be meaningless? Particularly this far into the future from an election which would provide some assessment of accuracy. Or, put a different way, what published assurances exist that a particular poll has resulted from a properly random sampling of the voting populace? (often: the cell-phone screening problem) At the very least there's a bias to judging a poll as having some accuracy because of the "weather prediction paradox", which is: I say I can predict the weather 23 days from now with perfect accuracy because I can change and refine my prediction as that day approaches and say I was 100% correct in my prediction 22 days ago given my data then as now conditions (or voters' minds) have changed.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
The Second Quantum Revolution - jonbaer https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-second-quantum-revolution-1539881599 ====== neonate [http://archive.is/Lkwz3](http://archive.is/Lkwz3) ------ m-watson I find WSJ's coverage of physics is generally bad. I don't have super concrete examples, but most WSJ quantum articles I read jump right into misconceptions or generalizations to the point of false statements, or are so vague and unnecessary there are not false (or true) statements to be found because it just uses the word quantum a lot and doesn't say anything. ~~~ neonate The author won the Nobel Prize in physics. ~~~ chopin For this, the article is pretty shallow. I noticed the author, dug into the article and was disappointed. ~~~ neonate That's a different issue though. ------ danbruc While new applications are of course nice, I think many would get some real peace of mind if we finally managed to understand quantum physics. At least those that were never satisfied by »Shut up and calculate!« I wonder if this would be a revolution or more or less inconsequential for all practical purposes.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Verdigris: Qt Without Moc - ailideex https://woboq.com/blog/verdigris-qt-without-moc.html ====== yellow_lead From my experience using Qt, the MOC wasn't a pain point for me. All the generations that I saw were very straightforward and I never had to mess with it. That's just my experience though, so I'd love to hear where people have found shortcomings. Also, I am happy to see this project and may try it out nonetheless. Always happy to see work around Qt. ~~~ arketyp The convenience of the MOC is its raison d'être. The minor pain point for me is practically being forced to use the Qt Creator IDE. I'm happy to see a possible best of both worlds solution like this. ~~~ likeliv No need to use Qt creator. Most C++ build systems support moc out of the box, or with minor adjustments. ~~~ ailideex I was trying to figure out how to do MOC from gnu make when I came across this, the only other option I saw was to run qmake and then run that generated makefile from my makefile. Of those two options verdigris seemed to be the better choice to me. ~~~ marmaduke [https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/moc.html#writing-make-rules-for- invok...](https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/moc.html#writing-make-rules-for-invoking-moc) Like that? ~~~ ailideex Thanks, I guess I should have kept on looking. ------ Blackthorn What's really cool is moc-ng from the same person. As a clang plugin, it gets around all the limitations from having a separate code generator. ------ ailideex I really despised having to use moc for QT and I'm glad to have found this, it works quite well. Needs C++14 though. ~~~ Nicksil I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on the MOC if you have time and don't mind sharing. I've been researching QT's software design approach, architecture, etc. ("core" code base in general), and stand to benefit from learning the pros and cons of software built this way. ~~~ ailideex My biggest gripe with MOC is that it makes it no longer C++ and if I just want to quickly throw together some sample code and build it with a makefile I can't. This still requires the use of a separate header file with is annoying but a lot less annoying than writing in a language which is not c++ and which does not work with a simple toolchain. ~~~ jcelerier You don't need a separate header, you can just do #include "foo.moc" at the end. I'd be interested in knowing in which way it is no longer c++, considering Q_OBjECT, signals, slots, ... are just plain cpp macros (see qobjectdefs.h). ~~~ inetknght > _I 'd be interested in knowing in which way it is no longer c++, considering > Q_OBjECT, signals, slots, ... are just plain cpp macros (see qobjectdefs.h). > _ It's been a while since I've used Qt but if I recall correctly MOC also parsed and read the user interface files to generate the headers which get included in the C++ source. ~~~ simion314 You are not forced to use the designer tool, you can build the GUI with C++ directly if you need that for some reason. ~~~ slavik81 There's also a stand-alone designer you can use on individual ui files. In general, there's no need to have the whole project in Qt Creator just to edit a ui file. You can also edit the ui files in a normal text editor. They're just XML files that specify the widget hierarchy to construct. If you have a few example files to work from, they're pretty straight-forward to understand and modify. Validating your changes using designer is definitely faster than recompiling your program, but it's an option. ------ JoshTriplett This is really impressive! It'd be nice to have a tool that performs a one-time migration tool from Qt- compatible sources that expect the use of moc to code that uses Verdigris, which can then be checked into source control and maintained in place of the original. ~~~ jcelerier I have started such a tool in python (see the github issues) but never got around finishing it... got me 90% of the way for a few hundred kloc codebase though. ------ self_awareness I think that MOC is the problem only for people that don't do much Qt development at all. MOC integrates into Qt build system so well that it's mostly invisible. A bigger problem is the deployment step, at least on Linux. How to deploy Qt apps with Qt libraries bundled with the app, so that it uses system's look and feel is something I still don't know how to do. ~~~ weberc2 When I was doing Qt development, getting CMake to build Qt projects properly was absurdly difficult. CMake had added some half-baked first class functions for building Qt (it's insane that a build system has first class knowledge of certain libraries, but insanity is par for the CMake course), but you still had to invoke them yourself and the various docs, blog posts, stackoverflow answers, etc gave different advice about invoking them but rarely did the advice work (and if it did work, it never generalized to non-toy projects). My understanding is that CMake has improved its insane first-class Qt functions such that it's easier. (There's also qmake, but at the time I was using Qt, it only worked if you didn't depend on anything that wasn't also a qmake project, which is just more C++ build system insanity). ------ ncmncm All I can say is, About Time! Welcome to the millennium.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
The Problem with Stories About Dangerous Coronavirus Mutations - rwmj https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/05/coronavirus-strains-transmissible/611239/ ====== chrisma0 I did not know that the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has a special, "contributed" publications track which allows authors to choose who will review their papers, available only to members. The linked Nature article has an interesting overview of the 13 "power users" of this track: [https://www.nature.com/news/scientific-publishing-the- inside...](https://www.nature.com/news/scientific-publishing-the-inside- track-1.15424)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
A new “Mathematician’s Apology” - seycombi https://ldtopology.wordpress.com/2017/03/18/a-new-mathematicians-apology/ ====== stonesixone I also became a software developer after getting a PhD in mathematics and specializing in three-dimensional topology. One of the things I'm always struck by is how similar the process of writing code is to writing a math paper. There are similar issues of encapsulation and organization. Choosing the right abstractions and good names for things are both important. Definitions correspond to data structures; lemmas correspond to helper functions; theorems to higher-level functions; and sections to modules. You can also "refactor" a math paper in the same way you refactor code (e.g. renaming variables, choosing better names, etc). What I've found missing in software relative to math is the creative / research part of math, since the math that comes up in software tends to be routine, easy stuff. ~~~ amelius > One of the things I'm always struck by is how similar the process of writing > code is to writing a math paper. Except when coding you never have to write down any proofs :) > the math that comes up in software tends to be routine, easy stuff. Software is easy until it grows big. Math is often elegant because the problem can usually be stated in a concise way. In contrast, software usually has an ever growing list of requirements. It is balancing those requirements that makes software difficult. ~~~ posterboy TDD is proof by construction ~~~ merlincorey TDD is very far from [formal] proofs. ~~~ ben_w Out of interest, how close are formal methods to the mathematical standard for proofs? VDM-SL was part of my degree, but the lecturer ended up showing more limitations than strengths by getting his own example wrong, and sadly I've had no real-life experience with them because none of my career to date has involved things that need to be proven correct. ------ goldenkey Here is the levels of absolute truth in our universe in terms of dependency: Mathematics > Physics > Chemistry > Biology > Physiology > Medicine Discoveries in mathematics are truths about the universe. They are deeper than particle physics in some respects. Some parts of mathematics might seem abstract but every mathematical system uses the naturals in its axioms or representation. The naturals are directly based on counting, based on the nature of macroscopic objects in our universe. The universe enforces rules, and the facts about naturals, and systems built upon them, are truths that directly point at the nature of information and complexity in our universe. Why should mathematicians apologize? Hardy was wrong, mathematics can lead to nukes. But its the base level of truth, there is no other scientific discipline that discerns the patterns of the most abstract physicality - objects, and gleans truths, rules for how objects interact. Solving the Riemann Hypothesis or other conjectures that aren't even known yet might lead to understandings/models that allow for time machines. It's impossible to know. But why not seek to understand the universes' laws at its most generic level. Its enlightening. Spiritual. Awakening. ~~~ j7ake Are you talking about the universe as in the physical universe in which we live ? Because although maths can be used to find out about our physical universe, its abstractions go beyond what is in our physical universe... Thinking of the maths involved in certain man made games (eg chess), those maths aren't necessarily truths about the physical universe. Maths have been useful for clear thinking to help understand and predict behavior in the physical world but they remain distinct from the physical. ~~~ inimino Isn't chess a part of the physical universe? I think I understand the point you are making, but it's not such a clear distinction. ~~~ contravariant Well, maybe, but it's physically impossible (or at least improbable) for all possible chess games to occur within the physical universe. ~~~ rini17 Wait what, I thought it occurred already in some IBM computer, no? ~~~ contravariant There are estimated to be over 10^120 possible games, so probably not. ------ Kenji I turned my back on academia because in my eyes, it seems to be very toxic towards playful exploration of mathematical or other scientific topics. Often, you are forced into working on one particular issue, whereas exploring maths is more like jumping from island to island where each one of them contains secrets, and it definitely makes sense to follow the path wherever it takes you. The structure is too rigid, every step needs justification. How can you justify playing around with numbers and formulas, sometimes a bit aimlessly, when you're in pursuit of a proof? And then you have so much overhead because you have to document it all. Documentation makes sense, but let it be terse. And then, of course, there is the pressure to achieve when hard work is only one part of the equation, the other part being that ideas are essentially 'god given' and come randomly. Thanks but no thanks. ~~~ rocqua This seems to be the result of believing the extrinsic value of mathematics being the proofs and theorems. If we follow the argument by OP, it says that the extrinsic value comes from any serious attempt to understand anything in mathematics. I think OP would agree with you that playful exploration should be possible. However, that exploration should also be useful to mathematics itself if you want mathematicians to support it. ------ graycat With the main issues in the OP, I have struggled for too many years, and I strongly agree that the main issues are very important. While the OP makes some solid points, mostly I disagree with the essay as a whole. I got into math because (A) I was good at it and (B) math was presented as useful. For (A), no way could I please humanities teachers, but when my math was correct, easy enough for me, no teacher could refuse me an A. I got a big shot of enthusiasm about the usefulness of math as I worked, starting partly by accident, in applied math and computing within 100 miles of the Washington Monument. There was a LOT of applied math and computing to do, heavily for US national security (right, needed to be a US citizen with a security clearance of at least Secret, and I had both). Some of the topics were curve fitting, numerical linear algebra (right, all the Linpack stuff, the numerical stability stuff, and the applications), antenna theory, e.g., for adaptive beam forming and digital filtering for passive sonar arrays, multivariate linear statistics (about a cubic foot of books), statistical hypothesis testing, the fast Fourier transform, numerical integration, optimization (unconstrained non-linear, constrained linear and non-linear, combinatorial, deterministic optimal control, stochastic optimal control, etc.), time series, power spectra, digital filtering, numerical solution of differential equations (ordinary and partial), integration of functions of several variables, statistical inference and estimation, estimation of stochastic processes, algebraic coding theory, Monte Carlo simulation of non-linear systems driven by exogenous stochastic processes, building good mathematical models of real systems, etc. For the applied math, I was in water way over my head, struggling to keep my head in the air, while drinking from a fire hose. I made good money, e.g., quickly was making in annual salary about six times what a new, high end Camaro cost. And I had just such a Camaro and daily drove it something like road racing all around within 100 miles of the Washington Monument, occasionally ate at the best French restaurants in Georgetown, got a lot of samples of nearly the best grape juice from Burgundy (Pommard, Corton, Nuit- St. George, Chambertin, Morey-St. Denis, etc.), occasional samples from the Haut-Medoc, Barolo from Italy, etc., had big times at Christmas, enjoyed the museums on the Mall, etc. Good times. After some years of that math fire hose drinking, I got a Ph.D. in applied math from research in stochastic optimal control for a problem I'd identified before graduate school. For applications to the stock market, well, for a while the Black-Scholes formula was popular, but by now that flurry of interest seems to be over. For the more general case, say, of solving the Dirichlet problem by Brownian motion, that seems not to be of much interest. Apparently the main success was just the one by James Simons and his Renaissance Technologies. Of course, Simons is a darned good mathematician. For just what his math training contributed to his investment returns, maybe actually Simons is an example of the OP's remarks about a math education being good training in how to think. For the rest of business, my view is that significant, new applications of math are dead, walked on like dead insects, and swept out the door -- very much not wanted and otherwise bitterly resented and fought. Or, to work for someone in business who has money enough to create a good job for you, they are nearly always rock solidly practically minded, no nonsense, conservative, rigid as granite, have for all their careers rejected thousands of opportunities to waste money, and never but never invest even 10 cents in something THEY do not understand or trust. So, the first time they see "Theorem", they walk away in disgust; never in their business careers have they ever seen "Theorem" lead to money made. Such a business person really can make use of information that is technical, advanced, obscure, specialized, etc. and do so frequently from experts they trust in finance, engineering, medicine, and law. Note, math is NOT in that list. Note: It is true that occasionally some lawyers want to draw on mathematicians as expert witnesses to try to win some legal cases. So, for that context of mainline US business, math has two huge problems: (A) Math is not a recognized _profession_ like law, medicine, and much of engineering. (B) Math has, in business as best as business leaders can see, from no track record to dismal, time and money wasting disasters. People who have made good money in US mainline business have seen many disasters, but relatively few of their own, and very much want nothing to do with disasters. In particular, IMHO the OP's argument for math in business based on some version of intellectual or conceptual _diversity_ or _way of thinking_ will fly like a lead balloon or float like a canoe with a framework of cardboard covered with toilet paper. For US pure math research, here is my nutshell view of the situation: As in a famous movie, "The bomb, the hydrogen bomb, Dimitry", is one heck of a big reason. A little more generally, from another famous movie, "Mathematics won WWII" \-- not exactly true but darned close. For a short version, Nimitz, Ike, and MacArthur slogged and struggled, but the end was from two bombs in about a week. Those bombs were heavily from some good applied math and physics, and there were more really important to just crucial contributions via code breaking, radar, sonar, and more. Big lessons tough to miss. Supposedly at the end of WWII Ike said something like "Never again will US science be permitted to operate independent of the US military.". Since then, Gulf War I showed more of the overwhelming power of good applied math/physics, e.g., the F-117. Broadly the lesson was: Basic physics is super important stuff. The next country that discovers something as fundamental, important, and powerful as nuclear energy might take over the world in a week. So, the US MUST be right at the leading edge in fundamental research in physics. Much the same for mathematics. To these ends, the US will just ask US high end research university academics to be at the world class leading edge, whatever that is, say, as can be seen in the internationally competitive aspects of research and publishing, Nobel prizes, etc., in basic math and physics. So, what the Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Chicago, Berkeley, Stanford, Cal Tech, etc. math and physics departments want for funding for basic research to be the world champions, they get. Period. For defending the whole US, it's not many people or much money. The money will come via the NSF, DARPA, ONR, Air Force Cambridge, Department of Energy, or wherever, but Congress will write the checks, no doubts, no delays, no questions asked. There will be more research funded in units attached to universities, various national labs, various companies, etc. So, there's Oak Ridge, Lawrence- Livermore, Los Alamos, Argonne, Lincoln Lab, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, Naval Research Lab, Raytheon, Lockheed, GE, NSA, etc. Still, considering the size of the US, the size of the US economy and the Federal budget, and the importance of US national security, we're not talking very many people or much money. Broadly, research is cheap and a big bargain. And Congress can lean back, relax, and easily see that US academic research is extremely competitive. Genuinely brilliant students are awash in scholarships. For a new Ph.D., for a good job at Harvard, Princeton, etc., the student need only do some really good research -- one good paper, if really good, is quite sufficient. If they keep the really good papers coming, keep getting prizes, etc., then the money will keep coming. No problemos. And for the fundamental research that Congress and the US DoD want, that competitiveness is enough. For math in business? The solution is easy: (A) See a good problem, that is, some nicely big pain in the real world. (B) Do some applied math research to find a good solution. (C) Write software to implement the solution and deliver it over the Internet, maybe as just a Web site. (D) Get a first server, for $1000 or less, go live, get users/customers, revenue, and earnings. Slam, bam, thank you mam. Presto. Bingo. Done. Here never have to convince some rock solid, conservative mainline US business person that your theorems are valuable. All such people see is the solution to the big pain and your happy trips to the bank. Notice that (A)-(D) isn't done very often and don't have a lot of examples in the headlines? Right. So, good news; there's not much competition! Accountants can confirm the revenue and earnings, and that's enough for VCs, private equity types, M&A types, investment bankers, institutional investors, stock pickers, stock funds, etc. Want to improve the situation for math in business? (i) Okay, need more examples like what I just outlined in (A)-(D). (ii) Then need to have applied math graduate schools borrow from law and medicine and be clinical and professional. Don't hold your breath waiting for (ii); that would mean that good applied mathematicians would be employees instead of their own CEOs, and that's not so good. Or, if a good applied mathematician wants a good job, then they should create it for themselves by being CEO of their own successful startup. Back to it!	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Can Electric Bikes Ever Go Legal? - ck2 http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/hell-on-wheels-can-e-bikes-ever-go-legal.html ====== Zigurd I'm surprised at the resistance to e-bikes. E-bikes are a practical and cost-effective electric vehicle for the urban masses. The batteries are usually removable and can be charged in an apartment or office. They take up very little room on the road and parked. Replacing a car with an e-bike is a huge win. E-bikes are a mature product due to the fact that you can't get a license for gas scooters in cities in China, and they have already gone through several product generations in China. They would be a huge improvement over the prevalence of gas scooters in some cities. I hope they become mainstream in American cities. E-bikes are the best chance for bicycles to become mainstream in city traffic. If they do become a significant part of traffic, they will have a large positive effect on safety for all cyclists. ~~~ scrabble As someone who spends a lot of time driving, I really don't like E-bikes. I also have no problem with pedal bikes. _They take up very little room on the road and parked._ This is my problem. I do not find this to be the case at all. They are becoming more popular in my city, and the people riding them seem to feel the need to take up an entire traffic lane with their bike. Since these bikes are generally not as fast as a car, and do not accelerate as quickly they end up being a large nuisance to the traffic system and actually prevent things from running smoothly. ~~~ lightbritefight Bicycles should and will take a lane when they feel otherwise unsafe. Large sums of debris is swept into bike lanes/ gutters that can and will puncture tires/ cause wrecks. Many bike lanes are next to parked cars as well, and being doored is one of the number one ways to get seriously injured on a bike commute. Its a real, valid fear. Even if the lane is safe, often times drivers will completely ignore you, blinking safety lights or not. Once, I kindly took the edge of an uphill slope, no bike lane. On my right, parked cars. On my left, cars going up the slope. Half way up the hill, a car literally pressed me up against the parked cars to my right, while in motion. My right leg was forced against the parked cars, my left against his. I could have reached into his window and turned the wheel for him, he was so close. Its the day someone not paying attention almost killed me. I took the lane on that road from then on. If someone is in the lane, its for a reason. I know it can be a nuisance, but an unsafe biking environment means no one bikes, which means more cars are on the road, which means you'll be more inconvenienced in the long run by worse traffic. ~~~ penrod Seconded. Riding too close to parked cars is extremely dangerous, as doors open without warning, and if you don't have sufficient space you then have to make a sudden swerve into the middle of the lane. Cycling in the middle of a lane is not dangerous (although annoying to drivers.) Making a swerve into the middle of the lane without checking for overtaking traffic is _very_ dangerous, and is the usual cause of cyclists getting hit from behind. ------ Cthulhu_ I live in the Netherlands, we have dedicated bike lanes and decent cyclists. Electrical bicycles can indeed be deceptive, as in you see an elderly lady zipping by whilst slowly pedaling (usually the elderly ladies are only barely faster on bike than on foot), and since they don't make extra noises they can be a bit dangerous if you don't look out. But it's still just an assisted bicycle. Before electrical bikes, we had assisted bicycles with a small two-stroke combustion engine, the Spartamet [0]. These were iirc registered in a separate category, 'snorfietsen', which is a class lower than mopeds (TIL those would be called 'mopas') [1], or basically, 'assisted bicycles'. These do need to have an insurance registration plate (number plate) and some visual indications, but a helmet is not required. [0] [http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartamet](http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartamet) (Dutch, no English version yet) [1] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moped](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moped) ~~~ masklinn > But it's still just an assisted bicycle. Depends on the country. In the EU, it can only be assistance (the user must be pedaling at all times), it must cut-off completely at 25km/h and the engine can not produce more than 250W, but that's not the case everywhere. IIRC, the UK has a lower power output (200W) but allows power-on-demand, and in the US the top speed is 32km/h (20mph), up to 750W, and and AFAIK they don't require pedaling either. ~~~ jobigoud Switzerland allows 500w motors. I so wish that the EU would follow this. 500w can fit in a motor that doesn't make your bicycle look like a moped and the battery can be taken home for charge in the evening. The 25km/h and 250w limit is what is preventing me from getting one. I don't really see the point when I can reach that with human energy. ~~~ masklinn > I don't really see the point when I can reach that with human energy. That is, in fact, exactly the point. That is why they are _bicycles_ , not electric mopeds or scooters. The point is to do the same thing you could do before on your own, except with less sweat and fatigue through electrical assistance. ------ nlh The lawmakers opposed to these bikes (and a lot of the commenters here) all are operating under the stated assumption that the bikes' speed ("unpredictable") makes them a major risk to pedestrians. Is there actually any evidence of this? Anyone have any links or details about increased rates of accidents, etc. having to do with e-bikes? I can accept the premise if there's data supporting it. Otherwise this sounds suspiciously like "This sounds different/risky, therefore I don't like it." ~~~ ripter I wish most laws required scientific proof and if future studies prove differently the law would be revoked. ~~~ oftenwrong That would be a great way to increase the amount of fraudulent studies being published. ------ betterunix So pedestrians in New York City are able to J-walk, ignore walk signals, weave around moving cars, buses, and trucks, but it is asking too much for them to avoid a powered bicycle? How about we hold cyclists responsible for hitting people -- regardless of what kind of bicycle they ride -- and leave it at that? ~~~ Nicholas_C >So pedestrians in New York City are able to J-walk, ignore walk signals, weave around moving cars, buses, and trucks J-walking is illegal in NYC as far as I know. ~~~ 001sky _J-walking is illegal in NYC as far as I know._ Shoes don't jaywalk, _people_ jaywalk... Hence: shoes are legal. ------ c0g As a pedal- and motor- cyclist in Oxford (city big into bikes in the UK), these electric bikes really get to me. We have lots of amenities for pedal cycles to improve their experience of the roads which are (rightly) unavailable to the faster and more dangerous to pedestrians motorcycles. Seeing these electric assistance bikes caning it along at an unrealistic speed by disinterested and distracted riders makes me think they should be classed as motorcycles with all the restrictions/responsibilities. Edit: For example, riders of a motorcycle or moped must carry insurance and wear a helmet. Anything over 50cc and you need to pass a training course to teach the rules of the road and basic manoeuvres. Cyclists do not need to pass anything (or pay vehicle tax...). I'm unsure about my opinion on making human powered vehicles abide by licensing/insurance requirements, but powered vehicles really should do. ------ clarry This is somewhat unrelated but, relevant enough I guess.. In Finland a bicycle must be equipped with (among other things) two reflectors on each pedal, on the front face as well as on back. Unless it's daylight and the bike weighs less than 10 kilos and has at least N (can't remember the exact number) gears. My bike is a fixed gear and I use clipless pedals. Even if it were technically feasible to mount reflectors on the pedals, it'd be pointless because the shoe snaps on to the pedal, hiding it almost entirely. My bike is therefore illegal. ~~~ gohrt Put reflectors on your shoes. ------ jt2190 > You can use a hand-operated throttle or, on higher-end > models, a power-assist function that kicks on the > electric motor when you start turning the pedals. Perhaps making a rule that says that the power available to a "bicycle" can only be controlled through the pedals is what is needed. This would allow power-assist type "bicycles", but would not allow for a no-pedaling, hand- operated throttle type. (Those could be classified as "electric vehicles" or something else.) (Also, maybe the maximum wattage of power assistance should be capped to keep it within the range possible from healthy humans.) ~~~ masklinn That's already EU law: only assistance (no power-on-demand), capped at 25km/h (~15mph) and 250W maximum. US fed law allows power-on-demand, 32km/h (20mph) and 750W blocks. That's closer to a slow scooter than a bike. ~~~ jt2190 Interesting. It seems like the main complaint from New York lawmakers is that these vehicles _look_ like bicycles but behave in a decidedly non-bicycle manner, i.e. accelerate when the rider isn't pedaling, accelerate faster than a typical bicycle, achieve a top speed that is somewhat faster, etc. Are the EU regulations good at bringing power-assist bicycles back into the normal operating rages for regular bicycles? Or is rider behavior still very different? ~~~ masklinn I can't really tell you, I have no idea. ------ ollysb Maybe the pedestrians could you know, learn how to judge the speed of moving objects?! Plenty of couriers would be pedaling around on fixies at 20mph or more anyway so I'm not really sure where the distinction lies. ~~~ buro9 I use bright (static, non-flashing) lights for this reason. It's not that people cannot judge speed, but there seems to be an uncertainty principle at play that is created by the assumptions of the person. The key assumption is: "It's a bicycle and therefore moving at barely above walking speed.". So the 50ms glance is not repeated and no actual attempt is made to assess the speed (and direction - must be the predictable one parallel to the road!) of the cyclist. Using lights changes this. By making oneself more visible, even in bright daylight, to the point that the light catches the attention. Then the person looking will look for a longer period of time and get a sense of speed and direction. It's important not to use flashing lights as people tend to be crap at determining your location accurately and that throws off any calculation about speed and direction. As a cyclist the effect is very noticeable. Cars no longer pull out from side roads in my line of travel, and pedestrians wait where they previously would've thrown themselves into the road. I don't see why NY couldn't just mandate that all electric-assist bicycles be fitted with non-flashing lamps that must be permanently lit whilst the electric assist is activated. ~~~ stcredzero _> The key assumption is: "It's a bicycle and therefore moving at barely above walking speed."._ It is possible to, you know, _perceive_ speed. It happens when people hit and catch balls in sports. This is a criticism of people, not your idea. What does the data say, I wonder? All I've seen here on HN are anecdotes. There is research supporting lights aiding visibility in cars. Are there numbers for the increased risk with electric bikes? ~~~ ufo Speed perception in humans is notoriously bugged though. ------ Spooky23 I think the law (by accident) has a good point. These things move fast and people on bikes are pretty awful at paying any attention to traffic laws. (Mostly because the roads aren't engineered for them) These things are great until you get run down by some idiot cutting a streetcorner on a sidewalk. These things should be registered like any other motorized vehicle and have a license plate. ~~~ antimagic I'm not sure how your proposed solution is supposed to fix the problem you identify. The "idiot"s will still cut across street corners, even with a plate attached. Also, I'm dubious that the purported problem is a big enough problem to society that it outweighs the benefit (healthier populace, reduced traffic, reduce pollution). Do you plate requirements also apply to rollerbladers? They go at least as fast, don't even have brakes, and are much more likely to be found up on the sidewalk than any electric bike will ever be (sidewalks are annoying, they're full of these obstacles called pedestrians - much better to ride on the road where the obstacles move faster than you for the most part). ~~~ Spooky23 Here's a little story to add context. When I was 8, I was hit by a car by a hit and run driver. The guy took a corner without stopping and clipped my bike, throwing me over the handlebars. He got out of the car, said "oh shit", and sped off. (Luckily, I only twisted an ankle, but the cops sent me to the hospital to get checked out) That's hit and run, and was illegal in 1980's NYC. All I knew was that it was a blue sports car with a white dude, probably a Camaro. But a bystander was able to jot down most of the license plate, and the police found the guy. Because it was an accident, my parents health insurance wouldn't cover the ER visit, but the guy's auto insurance company did. If this happened to you today, and you were hit by an unregistered vehicle, it's far more likely that the operator will get away. There's no license plate, and it's much more difficult for the cops to find a bike than a car. And there's no insurance, so accident liability is a bigger issue as well. As you pointed out, you need to draw the line somewhere, I'm not sure where that line lies. ------ rurban Finally a proof that New Yorkers are more stupid than anyone else. They cannot predict the speed of approaching vehicles and thus have to be protected from such vehicles. I wonder how the city council found proof for that claim. ------ ryankshaw Somewhat off topic but I've been wanting to to get into an electric cycle. There's been a lot of innovation in the space recently. I've seen some kickstarters and stuff. I feel like we're on the brink between clunky, expensive proof-of-concepts to good, solid, mass-produced (and thus more economically viable) products. any recommendations? ------ ck2 My electric bicycle you can clearly see the huge hub (if you know what you are looking for). But my model is like 5 years old. I saw a modern electric bike the other day and you'd never know, except the person is going as fast as Armstrong on steroids without breaking a sweat. ~~~ dagw What kind of bike was that? All the electric bikes I've seen travel quite a bit slower than what a trained cyclist can do on a decent bike. Their main selling point is "not breaking a sweat", not "go really fast". ~~~ ck2 My "old school" brushed motor electric bicycle can do 25mph, without pedal assitance. Apparently they have new brushless motors that fit into the rear hubs that can do 30+ mph. Beyond that it is only a wind resistance problem. There are hobbyists with 50mph electric bicycles which sounds crazy. ~~~ masklinn Even under lax US federal law, these are not "bicycles" and are classified as motor vehicles. Public Law 107-319 defined "low-speed electrical vehicles" and altered the motor vehicle safety standards to make these low-speed vehicles not considered motor vehicles. Low-speed electrical vehicles are defined as: 1\. two- or three-wheeled 2\. fully operable pedals 3\. less than 750 watts (1hp) 4\. maximum speed (power-on-demand) of 20mph on a level surface with a rider of 170 pounds If it goes at 50mph, it's an electric motorcycle. ------ some1else Does this apply to FlyKly? [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/flykly/flykly- smart-whee...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/flykly/flykly-smart-wheel) ~~~ CountHackulus It's a bike that has more than just pedal power, so yes. ------ mistercow If the problem is that you can be at top speed without peddling, why not just require that the peddles turn at a speed proportional to the power output of the motor? The rider would rest their feet on the peddles and expend no effort, and it would give the same signalling to pedestrians. ~~~ masklinn > If the problem is that you can be at top speed without peddling Not necessarily. > why not just require that the peddles turn at a speed proportional to the > power output of the motor? EU laws require exactly that, and that's what the "pedelec" sub-category of e-bikes do: pedaling assistance rather than power-on-demand (note: there's also the s-pedelec sub-category, which also only does assist but has a more powerful engine and maximum assisted speed than allowed for the "bicycle" status in the EU, they are thus classified as mopeds if not motorcycles) ------ thehme Hate the pop ups (adds or something on this article link). FF is black, so I won't waste more time on it. In any case, sounds a if e-bikes are aka e-scooters? Doesn't an e-bike defeat the purpose of a bike? ~~~ masklinn > In any case, sounds a if e-bikes are aka e-scooters? Not necessarily. Depends if its a pedelec or if it has power-on-demand. In the first case, it can only do assistance while the user is pedaling. It is a less tiring bike. In the latter, it is a slow moped (the pedals should remain functional at all time, so you can use it as a bike if it's out of batteries). > Doesn't an e-bike defeat the purpose of a bike? Not if you consider the purpose of a bike to be moving around. ~~~ thehme Ok, I see how running out of battery and having working pedals would be necessary. I supposed one reason for wanting an e-bike would be to save money on gas. Since my longest work commute on a bike was only of about 30 min (~1yr), to me that was perfectly fine, but I can see longer commutes could become exhausting when done on a daily basis. ~~~ masklinn It's also useful for people who are out of shape, when the commute isn't flat (assistance is great when going uphill) or when showers are not available at the destination (in which case you want the effort to be low enough that you won't sweat much).	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Wising Up to Facebook - jeffreyfox http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/11/opinion/wising-up-to-facebook.html ====== keithgibson A rather lazy piece, in my opinion. It doesn't deliver any new or critical analysis of Facebook or anything to do with it. Rather, it simply compiles previous articles written about the social network into a single, pessimistic piece. It's a lame literature review. edit:typo ~~~ sc68cal Keller has a history of writing lazy and out-of-touch columns. Salon put him at #11 on their Hack List. <http://www.salon.com/2011/12/15/11_bill_keller/> _He’s got a bland style coupled with a smug voice, and absolutely no original thoughts on the major issues of the day. When Times Magazine editor Hugo Lindgren hired Keller to pen a front-of-the-book column, it was perhaps supposed to be full of banal lessons from his old days in the field, but it very quickly became “obtuse old man yells at cloud computing.”_ Don't forget - he also was a supporter of the Iraq War and attempted to rationalize his support of it: [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/us/sept-11-reckoning/kelle...](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/us/sept-11-reckoning/keller.html) ------ DanielBMarkham _Every company, of course, protects its interests in the places where laws are made and adjudicated, so in hiring its corps of Washington insiders and dispensing cash from its political action committee, Facebook is just joining the mainstream. But Facebook’s way of friending the powerful is original. It ingratiates itself with members of Congress by sending helpers to maximize the constituent-pleasing, re-election-securing power of their Facebook pages. “If you want to have long-term influence, there’s nothing better than having politicians dependent on your product,” one envious Silicon Valley executive told me._ Amazing. This would be like Google sending out employees to politicians helping them get their political talking points ranking as #1 on certain critical Google searches. ~~~ jonnathanson For what it's worth, Facebook does the same thing with big corporations that pay it millions of dollars for year-long advertising deals (from which GM famously pulled out in recent months). As far as I can tell, paying them a giant chunk of cash gets you a dedicated sales team that occasionally visits your office, helps you acquire "Likes" for your page, and tries its best to explain how to maximize uptake of your posts via the context algorithm. Seems a heck of a lot cheaper just to churn out relevant and high-quality content instead, but what do I know? I realize I'm being fairly glib here, but your hypothetical analogy about Google is pretty spot-on. Google didn't need to hire a swarm of sales reps to explain SEO to advertisers; instead, it made search _advertising_ fairly turnkey. It realized, rather astutely, that it was better served owning the market for search advertising than wasting its efforts hand-holding big clients on SEO. (Furthermore, it realized that getting into the SEO business would necessarily conflict with its stated desire to deliver the best results to users). And so it ceded one monetizable space for another. Facebook might want to consider this choice. ------ stantonk I'm not old enough to know for sure, but I'm pretty certain people said the same thing about the Internet, Rock & Roll, TV, Radio, and the Telephone. Meh. ------ localhost3000 it's not a new point but it's a good one: for most teenagers the least 'cool' people in the world are their parents. if the parents are really into facebook the kids are going to be turned off and looking around for something else.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
The GNU/Hurd architecture, nifty features, and latest news [pdf] - tailbalance https://archive.fosdem.org/2013/schedule/event/hurd_microkernel/attachments/slides/163/export/events/attachments/hurd_microkernel/slides/163/2013_02_02_fosdem.pdf ====== rbanffy It's really nice to see an operating system that's based on some new ideas. I always say it's an embarrassment that the two most popular OSs today are a clone of Unix and the bastard child of VMS. ~~~ abraham_s I wonder what percentage of people will get the VMS reference. ~~~ smcnally "Bastard child" as IBM is the father to the unwed MSFT? ~~~ rbanffy That would be MVS. ~~~ abraham_s The project leader of VMS, Dave Cutler went to MicroSoft and led the development of Windows NT. That is what I think the VMS reference is. ------ smcnally Is it ironic that this GNU/Hurd newsletter is published as PDF? Or is that format now considered sufficiently free? ~~~ tailbalance It is looks like a newsletter? It's FOSDEM presentation slides	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Why Flutter Might Be the Best of Both Worlds - philk10 https://spin.atomicobject.com/2019/05/06/excited-about-flutter/#.XNBAQBZaapw.hackernews ====== fegu Could this eventually, perhaps on webassembly, be an android, iOS and Web solution? ~~~ pytonslange The work to bring flutter to the web is well underway. See [https://medium.com/flutter-io/hummingbird-building- flutter-f...](https://medium.com/flutter-io/hummingbird-building-flutter-for- the-web-e687c2a023a8) Maybe Google IO will bring more news.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Python community request to postpone breaking changes in Python 3.9 to 3.10 - dragonsh https://mail.python.org/archives/list/[email protected]/thread/EYLXCGGJOUMZSE5X35ILW3UNTJM3MCRE/ ====== tristador > So in 3.8, they kept code that had deprecation warnings so that they could > be compatible with 2.7. They'd like to now drop that code and be 3.9-only > compatible, but they don't have enough time to do that because they couldn't > start that work as long as they were supporting 2.7. > So the dilemma is essentially how hard we push users to abandon 2.7 -- how > much tax we incur on them for keeping its support. Its fascinating to see how the details of Python 2.7 EOL are still being figured out, and nuisance of the decision are still being debated.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Google to shut down non-profit platform One Today - n-exploit As a technology professional in the social sector, I wanted to share an email that I received just a few minutes ago. It looks like Google will be shutting down the One Today platform, a social hub for non-profit organizations to share and promote fundraising initiatives.<p>"Hello,<p>We have an important update to share with you.<p>We launched Google One Today seven years ago to help people donate to causes they care about. In the last few years, we have seen donors choose other products to fundraise for their favorite nonprofits.<p>As a result, we will shut down One Today on February 6th, 2020.<p>New nonprofits will no longer be able to sign up for One Today. The Google One Today app will be turned off, and any open projects will be deleted. We will ensure that 100% of funds donated on One Today prior to February 6th are disbursed to the relevant nonprofits.<p>If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the One Today team.<p>Thank you for your donations and partnership.<p>The Google One Today team"<p>https://onetoday.google.com/ ====== pathartl I wonder if they have these emails created as an email template: "Hello, We have an important update to share with you. We launched Google ${ProductName} ${DateCreated} ago to ${ProductTagline}. As a result, we will shut down ${ProductName} on ${ProductEOL}. ${GTFOMessage} If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the ${ProductName} team. ${HeartfeltClosingSentence} The Google ${ProductName} team." ~~~ reaperducer Surely by now there must be a Google product deathpool somewhere on the intarwebs. Perhaps it exists as a Google Sheet? ~~~ buster > Surely by now there must be a Google product deathpool somewhere on the > intarwebs. > Perhaps it exists as a Google Sheet? [https://killedbygoogle.com/](https://killedbygoogle.com/) ------ OrangeMango I am reading this right? They are giving 8 days of notice? I'm inclined to think that they are doing this for legal reasons or something. ~~~ johntash Possibly found a major security issue and just don't want to spend the effort to fix it? ------ mark_l_watson Wow, I am surprised since it was an easy way to give money without ending up on an email list, as well as being good optics for Google. ------ haunter Stadia when? ------ gowld According to the he Play Store reviews, the product was abandoned years ago.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
MacBook Pro Users Express Concerns About Limited Battery Life - hartator http://www.macrumors.com/2016/12/03/macbook-pro-battery-life-concerns/ ====== icefox I don't know if this has changed, but Safari uses significantly less power than Chrome. As the article points out if you are using Chrome and the power menu says that it is the big consumer don't be surprised if you are losing several hours of battery life. If you are always plugged in that doesn't matter of course.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Daylight Saving Time Year-Round, Abolish Standard Time in US - julienchastang https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/03/08/springing-forward-daylight-saving-time-is-obsolete-confusing-unhealthy-critics-say ====== hirundo I live in New Mexico near the Arizona border. We have DST; they don't. Arizonans tend to be smug about that; New Mexicans don't. The natural background smugness intensity (smugtensity) between the two states is about the same. So by gross state smug delta I'd say a single year-round timezone is popular here. I just wish for a little more conformity so that I miss fewer November appointments in Arizona, and to wipe away those smug smiles when I tell them why. Although it's possible that expression is just due to me being an idiot who can't tell time. ------ ghaff For those not old enough to remember, the US had year-round DST from 1973-1975. (It was enacted as a limited-time trial measure and it wasn't renewed when it expired.) Although I have no real problem with the current system, in my current situation I'm not very affected by whether there's DST or not, I'd be at least neutral about a single year-round time so long as it was current DST rather than standard time. ~~~ beatgammit Why does it matter which way it goes? It's just a number on a clock, the important thing is that having that change twice a year is silly and annoying. Personally, I would prefer that we switch to UTC time, which would make it simpler for scheduling meetings. ~~~ twiceaday Your comment seems confused. The reference frame for counting time of day is arbitrary but the schedules of all businesses are fixed relative to this arbitrary reference frame as far as DST is concerned. So DST effectively shifts the hours of all businesses. Put another way, if you fix the operational hours, you are delaying sunrises and sunsets relative to business hours. Do you want more light before work or after work? That is the year- round DST question. It's not arbitrary. I want more light after work, all the time. I don't care about mornings. I have very little time to do things in the morning before work. Suggesting UTC here doesn't make much sense. The time difference is so great that businesses would need to update to new UTC hours. But what hours exactly? More specifically, what hours relative to the position of the sun in the sky? That's the same question as this year-round DST vs non-DST question. A UTC switch doesn't address the topic. ------ yborg Wouldn't declaring DST year-round just redefine "Standard Time"? ~~~ dfranke As one of the people who would be getting phone calls about all the software that breaks when EST gets redefined to be four hours behind UTC rather than five, I'd really not want to go to there. Either of "EDT is now year-round" or "The east coast of the US is now on AST" would lead to a lot fewer problems, as changes of that nature have to be dealt with pretty regularly. ------ ratsmack Why not just leave the time alone altogether. If companies want to start work earlier, let them change their schedule at their own discretion. ~~~ harshreality That's exactly what these proposals would do. No more twice-yearly time changes; if anyone wants to adjust schedules twice a year, based on daylight, they can adjust their operating hours. ------ xellisx I think we need more times zones in the US, which dont change, but the max difference would be -30/+30 minutes from sundial time. ------ sys_64738 I'd like to see the east coast move to Atlantic Standard Time permanently. ~~~ ghaff In the unlikely event some states shifted from Eastern to Atlantic, it would likely be just MA, NH, VT, ME, and maybe RI. New York would be unlikely to shift and if it were just most of New England, being in a different timezone from NYC would probably be a showstopper. ------ ryandvm They can't even get rid of the fucking penny and I'm supposed to believe the federal government has the wherewithal to do something as sensible as abolish DST?	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Best Black Friday – Cyber Monday Special VPN Deals - alifaizan http://www.bestvpnservice.com/blog/best-black-friday-cyber-monday-special-vpn-deals/ ====== androidb for some reason I don't trust your site, the use of "best" is too scammy. ~~~ alifaizan It might, but we are 100% legit.how would actually scam you? The providers we list and promote have a huge following. Check if you ever get the time.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Time-lapse video of Bethany's maniac week of coding - bsoule http://blog.beeminder.com/maniac ====== jacquesm I'm so terribly jealous of people able to read small fonts. Now that I can finally afford large screen monitors my eyes are so messed up that I need to set the font to 'huge' in order to be able to read (and that's _with_ glasses, 2.5). What a super way to promote beeminder.com, and a very nice idea for a project. ~~~ bsoule Thank you!! My eyes are not great -- it was a 30" monitor. ~~~ benjaminwootton What tools are you using there? Is that mainly TMUX? I also have a 30" monitor but haven't tried one huuuuge window for my dev workflow. How does that work for you? (On my phone so might be easier to see on a bigger screen) ~~~ bsoule I'm terribly old-fashioned and use vim for development. My monolithic window is iTerm2 which allows for split panes. It is pretty nice with my laptop screen below for reference material. ------ dreeves Ok, this is too epic to keep putting off! I'm hereby precommitting to a maniac weekend starting tomorrow! I'll reply here with a link to the time-lapse on Monday... ~~~ aaronpk What exactly is your definition of "weekend" here? If you're counting hours we have to know which hours to hold you accountable for! ~~~ dreeves Let's say 5pm Friday to 9am Monday? ~~~ aaronpk A potential of a 64-hour work-weekend? deal! ~~~ dreeves A more reasonable definition might be "5pm Friday till whenever you go to sleep Sunday night" but this is not about being reasonable (quite the opposite). I have no particular attachment to my sleep schedule so I'm hoping I'll be on a roll Sunday night and push straight through to 9am Monday and then collapse. ------ bsoule This was a ton of fun and I'd love to do it, or a modified shorter version of it again. It's hard to shut down the rest of my life for an entire week, but maybe a long weekend. Or I could do a week where the computer is taking screenshots 9-5 and I pre-commit to post the video as soon as it is over. ------ Permit I think I would like to try this. Seeing it done twice has really got me interested in this. I think the key is that you're held accountable for how you spend your time due to the screenshots. Reminds me of how a guy hired someone to slap him when he got off topic while working:[http://hackthesystem.com/blog/why-i-hired-a-girl-on- craigsli...](http://hackthesystem.com/blog/why-i-hired-a-girl-on-craigslist- to-slap-me-in-the-face-and-why-it-quadrupled-my-productivity/) I don't have a Mac, so I guess I'll have to build the screenshot/webcam stuff myself this weekend. ~~~ dreeves Or, of course, Beeminder itself! (But, yes, we love the "craigslist slapper guy", as many people seem to know him. That's in fact Maneesh Sethi, who's launching a Beeminder competitor, [http://pavlok.com](http://pavlok.com) ) ------ kmtrowbr Congrats Bethany! I am a long time Beeminder user. You guys work hard. I think your tool is amazing, although, I have my ups and downs with it. :) Very proud of you! Keep it up! I owe you a long email with thoughtful feedback. ~~~ dreeves Thanks so much for saying so, Kevin! And we'll be hugely grateful for feedback, especially insights on the downs you mention (be really blunt! it's good for us!). And of course you should either beemind that long email or send things piecemeal as you think of them... ------ rdvrk Cool! I need to try this someday (week). And the video is just pure madness. You might want to add a small warning, though - I'm not an expert nor an epileptic, but the video does look seizure inducing to me. Plug: Maybe you could try a tiny chrome plugin I wrote: [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dont-you-have- anyt...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dont-you-have-anything- be/hkaenpmlhpjkgfnfnbfjmkmjpjpmehpa) It's a simple site blocker I made after doing the same /etc/hosts routine a couple of times. ~~~ dreeves Eep, anyone know whether a seizure trigger warning might be prudent? It doesn't seem _that_ frenetic to me, but I'm not an expert either. Now I'm really curious if youtube could algorithmically detect that. PS: Thanks for the pointer to the chrome plugin! You can also do that very well with RescueTime's FocusTime feature, which they happened to just blog about today: [http://blog.rescuetime.com/2014/06/19/getting-the-most- out-o...](http://blog.rescuetime.com/2014/06/19/getting-the-most-out-of- rescuetimes-website-blocking/) ------ bredren This is pretty fun. Did you have any concern about privacy of her sessions? Thanks for the post and conclusions. ~~~ bsoule I ended up spending an embarrassing amount of time on the post processing because I didn't spend enough time on setup ahead of time :) I used [https://github.com/nwinter/telepath- logger](https://github.com/nwinter/telepath-logger) to take screenshots. I meant to have it take a screenshot of my top monitor only, and do anything sensitive on my laptop screen, but I didn't configure it correctly, and wound up with screenshots of my active window only, so I had to do some censoring, e.g. when I needed to edit our keys file, or when I blurred out the screenshot when I had to do some customer support. ~~~ bredren That's a lot of post production work. :) I'd be embarrassed someone might see I clicked through a TMZ link or something. ~~~ nwinter You probably wouldn't want to even click the TMZ link in the first place when you knew you were making the video, since the post-production is so onerous. It's like a precommitment that you're not going to get distracted. In fact, when I did my maniac week, I precommitted to not doing any post-processing, and it helped me focus a lot. I would think, "hmm, I wonder what the strongest dog is!" but then realize I couldn't slack off on video, so I wouldn't even Google it like normal. ~~~ icambron I've thought about doing this as a general productivity tactic to force myself to do less shit I don't want to be doing. ------ sssilver Please put spaces after commas in your code :'( ~~~ bsoule I'm pretty sure that's Strunk and White approved,yo. ------ ejain This needs more data layers! Heart rate, movement, blood sugar, EEG etc :-) ~~~ aaronpk I have some hardware I would happily donate to the next maniac week! ------ joeevans Is that the awesome tiling window manager? ~~~ bsoule It's iTerm2: [http://www.iterm2.com/#/section/home](http://www.iterm2.com/#/section/home) ~~~ dreeves If you're curious about other stuff we use at Beeminder: [http://blog.beeminder.com/weusethat](http://blog.beeminder.com/weusethat) ------ eendividi related: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6760685](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6760685) ~~~ dreeves Yes, this was all inspired by Nick Winter's epic 120-hour workweek, which he posted a time-lapse video of. Here's a direct link to his video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0qlr22cF14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0qlr22cF14) And while I'm at it, direct link to Bethany's: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODhx- CbX9lg#t=40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODhx-CbX9lg#t=40) ------ lnkmails Can we look at the 67 commits and review them? </troll> ~~~ dreeves Eventually! We're working (very gradually -- [http://beeminder.com/d/boss](http://beeminder.com/d/boss)) on open-sourcing Beeminder. In fact, doing so is also inspired by Nick Winter and CodeCombat: [http://blog.codecombat.com/we-have-open-sourced- everything](http://blog.codecombat.com/we-have-open-sourced-everything)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Natural Language in Python Using SpaCy - gk1 https://blog.dominodatalab.com/natural-language-in-python-using-spacy/ ====== dragonsh This is a good tutorial on using spacy with Python. In my application we are leveraging voice recognition in chrome browser. Probably will explore use of spacy for NLU and NLG to built a natural language interface for our application. So far been using Google NLP API's for it powered by its pre-trained models.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Signal for Android Attachment Bug - thecoffman https://whispersystems.org/blog/signal-android-attachment-bug/ ====== mankash666 Unlikely that a 4GB attachment is ever sent by a hacker or real person to a mobile device that may, oftentimes, not even have that much free storage or RAM.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Show HN: A fun attempt at reinventing money - spolu https://settle.network/posts/intro/?attempt=6 ====== spolu For context, personal research project with an entirely functional implementation that you can try in under 2mn, see: [https://settle.network/](https://settle.network/) Would love feedback on the model and ideas of where it could be made useful! ------ cdvonstinkpot MaidSafe app maybe could be interesting. ~~~ spolu Could you elaborate what you have in mind? ~~~ cdvonstinkpot If I understand correctly, you have a 'mint' node running on a server that's associated with a user ID, so that user's trust record is tightly associated with the reliability of that box. But with MaidSafe, the mint node would exist on the network & redundancy is baked-in, so there's only a user ID involved- the durability of the mint node is effectively forever- or at least for as long as sufficient resources are made available to cover the node's network resource usage. ~~~ spolu That's an interesting perspective indeed! This would alleviate the need to trust the reliability of the mint at least. ~~~ cdvonstinkpot Another aspect that could be utilized is that a MaidSafe 'farmer' is paid at a rate proportional to their hardware's uptime patterns/resource contribution. Their earnings fund the purchase of whatever resources (compute, memory, storage, bandwidth) are necessary to run their mint node app. I would imagine there are numeric values available which represent both the available mint node operation time, & the rate at which their mint node operation time resorviour refills based on their farming hardware contribution relaibility/pay rate. Thus, there would be values available that could be plugged into some algorithm to programmatically influence a variable exchange rate for users on whatever mint node, based on that mint node provider's projected reliability, as dictated by data.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
How do you introduce someone to programming? - fz7412 I'm trying to introduce programming to my girlfriend, primarily because it will open much more career options for her. And I want to encourage more women to pursue a career in tech. I don't want her to lose the interest after seeing the learning curve, or become overwhelmed and think it's not meant for her. Do you know of any books for engaging beginner's interest in programming, showing them the beauty of it, giving them the highs without going into detail. Similar to the "Mathematician's lament" by paul lockhart for mathematics and Feynman's lectures for physics. Something that gives them that intial push, that gives them the "feel" of it, that motivation which lights that fire within? Do you suggest any other better way? ====== musha68k Hi there :) I've had great success with teaching Javascript by being the go-to person to talk about the very well written [http://eloquentjavascript.net](http://eloquentjavascript.net) IMHO Javascript is a great language to get enough bits of instant gratification to be motivated to continue learning. Merry xmas and have fun pairing :) ~~~ fz7412 Thanks! I'm myself a javascript developer and was wondering if javascript would be the best language to introduce programming. ------ ruraljuror I used How to Think Like a Computer Scientist[1] in conjunction with MIT's OCW class for non-cs majors. I only did the assigned reading from the class, so I didn't read it straight through, but I think it might be worth checking out. That class is awesome. It is what I would recommend, but I was pretty motivated. [1] [http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/html/index.html](http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/html/index.html) [2] [http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and- comput...](http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer- science/6-00sc-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming- spring-2011/Syllabus/) ~~~ fz7412 Thanks! They seem interesting!	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
First Autistic Presidential Appointee Speaks Out - mrpixel http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/10/exclusive-ari-neeman-qa/all/1 ====== devmonk I'm all for people with cognitive differences helping our government, in fact, I'd be in favor of them running for Congress and Presidential office. I work with someone that I'm fairly sure is mildly autistic and he does a great job. They could help our government (this goes for current and last administration) understand the charts that the Peterson Foundation (a non-politically affiliated group that sponsors NPR) has produced, showing how the out-of- control spending going to hurt us: <http://www.pgpf.org/Issues.aspx> And while they are at it, maybe they can help the government run more efficiently.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: How do you learn new libraries without much documentation? - vedant_shety At work, I have been asked to build a couple of POC's on a new Angular based framework our company purchased.<p>This is proprietary code for a niche industry so the community isn't as large. I also don't have access to any experts on this software.<p>- A common issue I face is when I want to import a module( and know that the functionality exists) but don't know what do I call and where can I call it from<p>eg: import { XYZ } from '<WHERE>'<p>- I have tried asking questions on their private community but it's pretty dead and no one ever responds<p>There are some tutorial courses but it's can only take you so far. How do I get better at this framework or at least good enough to build some basic POCs? ====== xadoc If the code has tests, I would start by looking at those tests. If it has no tests, then I would slowly try to build tests to document the functionality that I need. In your case being Angular that might be having simple html pages with the smallest module that you need. How to find things? If you're on Windows try AstroGrep [http://astrogrep.sourceforge.net/](http://astrogrep.sourceforge.net/) to quickly search and jump around in the code or in any system I use VS Code for a similar functionality. Also learn to use command line find/grep. The book "Working Effectively with Legacy Code" also helped me be more comfortable navigating and changing large code bases, in a long term view I recommend this book to every developer [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Working- Effectively-Legacy-Michael-...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Working-Effectively- Legacy-Michael-Feathers/dp/0131177052) Lastly, I would raise this because the company might not be aware they are buying a low quality framework that maybe ticks all the boxes in the contract but is in effect impossible to use by their current developers (you), it might be there's other people with more experience in said niche that might be able to help. In the private community maybe some people would be able to accept a short contract to help train you. ~~~ EliRivers Xadoc's advice above is good; unit tests. I work with poorly documented protocols that have been implemented "around the theme of the protocol" by hardware from a variety of suppliers, and this is how we work out its quirks. A battery of unit tests, starting with the simplest functions it offers, and thence upwards into more complicated tests (i.e. chained calls of the presented functions) where we track what internal state we think the system should have at that point in the tests and interrogate it to discover what internal state it really does have. ~~~ mytailorisrich These are exploratory tests rather than unit tests, but your point stands. ------ alxlaz Oh boy. I still have nightmares about this. At $former_workplace we had an entire SDK, a few hundred thousand LoCs in total, with basically no documentation whatsoever. The team that wrote most of it had long been laid off. We traded notes on how to do various things but as soon as you went out of whatever module you'd been typically working on, all bets were off. I don't know much about Angular but I think most of these things are pretty much universal: > A common issue I face is when I want to import a module( and know that the > functionality exists) but don't know what do I call and where can I call it > from Generate call graphs from the source code. It's generally a good bet that the functions at (or near) the top of the call graphs are the ones that you're supposed to call. If the library has automated tests, have a look at those -- it won't give you much information about idiomatic usage, but will at least tell you what parts of the whole thing you're supposed to interface with. Liberally grep through the source code for whatever functionality you're looking for. In the absence of documentation, you'll have to create your own "mental map" of what things there are, and where. Other than that, all I can do is recommend everyone else's generic advice: read the source code, take lots of notes. ------ chrisco255 If there isn't good documentation, then you have to learn the library by studying the source code. I will sometimes create my own notes on libraries as I go through module by module. This is time-consuming to be sure, especially up front. You'll pay a high price today for better control and speed with using the library down the road. As you iterate through each module in the source code, ask yourself what each function or class does, what its purpose is, whether there are any side effects or what sort of state changes occur when a method is called (if any). ------ thinkingemote Look at the library's tests. It's quicker and better for learning functionality than "just read the source code". If it's proprietary and closed and obfuscated then you need to familiarise yourself with reverse engineering toolsets. ~~~ quanticle The corollary to this is, "If there aren't tests, start by writing some unit tests on your own that exercise the library's functionality." ------ sillysaurusx 1\. learn a good editor. 2\. write a script to concatenate all the code files in a folder, separated by filenames. 3\. pipe that result to your editor. 4\. use your editor's "find" functionality. By reading the entire source code in a single file, you have global knowledge of the entire codebase. All the information is available to you. I suggest you try it before dismissing the idea, as I once did. [https://github.com/shawwn/scrap](https://github.com/shawwn/scrap) is what I use. `codefiles \| grep js$ \| xargs merge \| ft js` will open all javascript codefiles in vim, in JS mode. `cppfiles \| xargs merge \| ft cpp` will open all C++ files in vim, in C++ mode. Free yourself from the loop of asking other people for answers. Stop that. Read code. If you limit yourself to "projects that have good documentation," you'll miss out on 90% of the interesting code in the world. ~~~ izacus This sounds like trying to create a poor man's IDE with go to definition / find usages functionality. Is there an IntelliJ product for JS yet? ~~~ sillysaurusx I regularly read and understand 50,000+ line codebases with this technique. Again, I suggest trying it before dismissing the idea. A good IDE is nice, when they work, but this fallback has worked 100% of the time. CLion is for C++. PyCharm is for Python. Webstorm is for JS. But Vim is for everything. To put it differently: how often do you use ripgrep on a large codebase? If the answer is "often," then every time you switch to your terminal, you're losing context about the code. No wonder it's impossible to understand when you're having to read code fragments every few minutes. Read the whole code. ~~~ vbsteven No argument against the one code file thing because I think it’s a great idea. But a quick comment on the JetBrains suite: With the right plugins Intellij Ultimate is also for everything (just like Vim uses language plugins) and then you get all the benefits of the modern IDE. Intellisense, search, replace, refactor, find usage, type inference, etc I’m not saying vim cannot do this but Intellij is now my preference for everything and I don’t feel the need for merging everything in one file for analysis because I can jump around to definitions/usages easily. ~~~ sillysaurusx Yeah, that's valid. `idea .` seemed to work occasionally back when I tried. But what I ran into was, you often want to install specific plugins for JS, and specific plugins for Python, etc. On my laptop, the result was that IDEA started taking like ... 4 minutes to fully load a codebase. So I just gave up. But IntelliJ is wonderful in general. Maybe others will have more luck. ------ loosescrews There is lots of good advice about how to figure out how it works in this thread. One piece of advice I have is write formal documentation of some form as you figure it out. Share it as widely as possible. If nothing else, it will be very useful for you and your co-workers in the future. It sounds like there is some sort of community you can share it with. Ideally there would be some way to contribute it back the to source of the software for distribution with it, but that often isn't possible with proprietary software. Regardless of who you share it with, it will help establish you as an expert within that group. In addition to helping people, it will likely be good for your career. ~~~ mytailorisrich If you think that this knowledge will be important to your employer then try not to share it too much in an organised and documented way but rather help others on specific issues. This is more effective to establish yourself as the expert and go to person. If you write a comprehensive documentation they others need you less. ~~~ TimD1 Yikes. Would you want to work in an environment where all your coworkers acted like this? Your suggestion may be necessary in a cut-throat workplace, but I'd be more inclined to GTFO and work somewhere that my team members actually try to help each other, instead of always acting in their own self interest. ~~~ mytailorisrich Did I suggest not to help? No, on the contrary. Of course you should be helpful, but you should also be smart. You want to be seen as valuable AND as difficult to replace. Help your employer succeed and help yourself succeed at the same time. What would you rather hear in management meetings? " _We can 't let Bob go, he's the expert on X, everyone goes to him for help and we need him_" or " _Sure Bob is an expert on X, but he wrote down all he knew so we 'll manage_". See, it's not about not helping, it's about helping while building and retaining leverage. That's why companies want to encourage "knowledge sharing". It's not to foster a friendly atmosphere, it's to be robust against someone leaving and to prevent someone from having too much leverage. Most experienced engineers know that and tend to be wary when asked to document what they know in details and/or to train others. As to act in one's own self interest, well sorry to be the one to break it to you, but that's how the world works in general and that is especially how the workplace works. And in fact that's how everyone works when there's a choice to be made. The sooner you realise that the better off you will be. ------ mijoharas One thing I haven't seen people suggesting here yet is to use a repl! Import the thing, and then look at what it provides. If something seems useful, try calling the function/instantiating the class, if it gives you an error message, try with different arguments. Hopefully, you should have some idea of what the library is trying to do, so you should be able to see some functions that look like they accomplish the kinds of things you want. Guess what kinds of arguments they take and try it. If you can't figure that out, jump into the source and figure it out. I find it's much nicer working interactively like this than just reading the source because you can immediately try things out rather than jumping back and forth all the time. Also, some languages like python have a `help()` function that you can call with any class/method/function to get to the docs on it (I can't remember anything like that for javascript, so you might be out of luck there). ------ quanticle If you have the source code to this library, `find` and `grep` are your best friends. If nothing else, you should be able to find other usages of the code you're looking to use (or maybe even tests), which will let you know how that code is supposed to be used. The other things to look for are classes, functions, or modules that aren't used by other code in the library. Those tend to be the "top-level" code intended to be called by application code. Seeing how those are structured and what functionality they expose can be a great way to discover functionality that documentation leaves out. ------ cameronbrown \- Ping people directly in that community. \- Get yourself a notebook (or Google doc, whatever) and thoroughly write down everything you learn. \- Walk through the source code methodically, and read the jsdoc/function names wherever possible. Don't read too much into implementation. \- Use whatever tools your comfortable for this. Generating call graphs or reading through tests first make a lot more sense than trying to read the entire library. \- Start by documenting Hello World and go from there. ------ trulyrandom The other comments offer some good advice. If I'm really desperate, I'll search GitHub for projects that use the library to see how they use it. ------ PowerfulWizard This is what my priorities would be: 1\. Make sure you have a good debugger set up for any existing code. This is to answer the question of exactly how a function behaves, what are the meaning of parameters, etc. You know you're going to be dealing with undocumented functionality, so you need a way to quickly answer your own questions. 2\. Someone at your organization is paying for this right? Ask them to pressure the supplier for one-on-one support to answer your questions regarding how to use it. You want someone on a video conference who knows what they're talking about so you're can explain things quickly and not have to write up detailed emails and wait for response. 3\. You could try to document it yourself: Locate all the exports and create a list of them. Browse it for key names and concepts. Write down the purpose of each, and their relationships. There might be a lot of these items but it won't be infinite. Even if there are 500, if you do 20 a day you'll be done in 6 weeks and by that time you should have a pretty good picture of what's going on. ------ sealor I use Learning Tests for such situations. [https://blog.thecodewhisperer.com/permalink/when-to-write- le...](https://blog.thecodewhisperer.com/permalink/when-to-write-learning- tests) (not fully read by me but seem to explain this technique very well) ------ oweiler Boring answer but your best bet will be reading the source code and document each module's external API. ------ OmarShehata There's a lot of good advice in here about how to work around this situation but the best thing you can do here could just be: email this company and ask them. If you are paying for this proprietary software, especially if you're still in the "evaluating whether we should spend a lot of money on this" phase, you should absolutely push back on them. Ask them all the questions you need, big or small. It's really on them to give you something well documented, and if they don't, they better be willing to answer all your questions about it. I've seen this sort of customer behavior be the catalyst to get companies to actually document their stuff because all their engineers time was spent answering the same questions over and over. ------ jrumbut If you can't learn by example, which is the inductive process and the one that I am most comfortable with and it sounds like you are too, you need to learn by deduction. For node or Ruby or other pure open source environments there are endless examples on the Internet and when you want to learn you can read 50 of them until they start making sense. When there isn't much documentation, you have to deduce the reasoning that went into the codebase or you may never make progress. It's a slower and more demanding process. On a side note, before the explosion of web content, this was how a lot of programming had to be learned. Maybe talk to/bring in older programmers to help you? ------ lawik When I've been using open source libraries without significant docs I've mostly benefitted from actually reading the code. Assuming you have the source. This can be incredibly varying in complexity. I've found a large Elixir codebase, as a functional paradigm easier to grasp compared to a single library in heavy OOP style in Python. Python not enforcing much structure and this particular library doing a lot of inheritance which complicates the state and modelling in my head a lot. So it varies a lot per code base and experience. But if you have the code, that's what I'd use. ------ emmanueloga_ A good navigation tool can really help sort out a foreign code base. I suspect it could take you a few hours (with luck...) to install Sourcegraph but when you succeed it will be worth your time! (and the data should be local to the host where you install it). Found a random article online that shows step by step with pictures [1] (I think is a bit more visual than the canonical docs). Good luck! 1: [https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-install- sourcegr...](https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-install-sourcegraph- with-docker/) ------ ChrisMarshallNY One of the tricks I use, is to write a minimal harness, then inject stimulus, and observe the response. I do this for Bluetooth devices, and I have also used utilities, like REST explorer apps, Bluetooth Explorer, PacketLogger, USB Explorer, Charles Proxy and Wireshark. The drawback is, that I could accidentally codify features subject to change. All that said, I tend to be veeery leery of any dependency. Adding dependencies is a serious issue. If the dependency is badly documented, then that’s a “red flag” that it may not have much of a future. ------ eru Not directly helpful for your case, but useful in general: In strongly statically typed languages like Haskell, the types can often give you an adequate introduction into a new library. There's quite a few open source Haskell libraries that basically only have type annotations, but no proper documentation. The latter would be better, but the former is already surprisingly useful on its own. ------ jyriand Usually I just look into source code. Use 'tree' command to see the folder structure and then pick a file that seems relevant. Then I go to the bottom of the file and work my way up (usually the main entry points are the bottom, depending on the language of course). ------ satvikpendem I don't. If it doesn't have good docs, it's usually not worth using. I know for your situation you need to use that particular library, but if given the choice, the better documented one is usually better to use. ------ angrais 1\. Read the source code to understand which methods exist in each module, then document that somewhere myself if necessary. 2\. Ensure your IDE has autocomplete so you can step through the suggestions when importing a module or calling a method. ------ blickentwapft Just read the libraries source code, examine the methods and see what they doZ ------ ekianjo More often than not, look at the code directly in case there's other way. Sometimes there are comments in the code that point to better understanding, if you are lucky. ------ z3t4 The source is the documentation. So read the source code. If the source is not available or obfuscated make sure you charge per hour. ------ pankajdoharey Tests, Comments and Source are the other form of documentation apart from the traditional docs. ------ alec_kendall Just out of curiosity, what is the library you’re using? ------ christophilus A combination of intellisence, a repl, and reading the source.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Cost of a thread in C++ under Linux - ibobev https://lemire.me/blog/2020/01/30/cost-of-a-thread-in-c-under-linux/ ====== skywal_l That's why we have Thread Pools _. _ ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_pool](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_pool)) ------ dirtydroog This guy has a sweet job, Professor of Profiling Code.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask PG: I'd like to delete my account. - dave_au Can anyone help with this? From what I've gotten from google I'm meant to contact PG somehow.<p>It's not exactly clear how and if there's some channel I can use that doesn't clutter his inbox I'd like to try that first.<p>Edit: Thanks for the tip - title changed, hopefully that helps. ====== dave_au Sorry to those who are curious, but I'm not going to state my reason - it's not all that personal but is still well with in the realm of "my own business". Surely it's not a prerequisite for deleting an account. If I knew that there wasn't a standard way to delete accounts I probably wouldn't have signed up in the first place. It might help keep the number of temporary accounts, so there's a chance that it's a feature. The current plan is to wait a while longer, then I'll send PG an email. A point that I find interesting is that if I didn't care about the community at all I could probably exit the site very rapidly by way of a submission script - not my style, but does make me wonder if it's been tried before. I'm sure it's quicker than an exchange of emails :) And it remains an option if nothing else will do the trick. ~~~ rdtsc > I could probably exit the site very rapidly by way of a submission script But that would certianly fall within the realm of "hacking" ~~~ omouse It would fall under SPAMMING. ------ xiaoma Considering how even non-personal information becomes identifiable in aggregate, this is a feature that any social site with a conscience should have. Otherwise, the risk to privacy is both impossible to gauge and continuously growing. ~~~ jacquesm Or, alternatively you could simply think about the consequences of what you write before you write it. ANY words you write on the internet or even in email start to have a life of their own right after you hit that 'reply' button. If you're the kind of person that would not stand by their words even years later then you probably shouldn't be clicking that button. It saves others work down the line, and it saves you embarrassment. ~~~ xiaoma I think you've missed the point I was making. The consequences are unknowable at the point of writing. The ability to search, organize and analyze data has grown and will continue to grow. Online practices that were downright conservative in 1997 would expose personal details today. Similarly, what is safe now, likely won't be in the future as data from even more sources gets correlated. _"ANY words you write on the internet or even in email start to have a life of their own right after you hit that 'reply' button. If you're the kind of person that would not stand by their words even years later then you probably shouldn't be clicking that button."_ This idea is ridiculous. People can't be expected to never change their minds and email users clearly have an expectation of privacy. Perhaps a few odd characters would happily "stand by their words" and share their email histories with the world, but the _vast_ majority of us would not. ~~~ jacquesm You have it backwards :) _Because_ you can not know the consequences at the time of writing you have to think ahead and not write stuff that you think you might regret in the future. If wishes were horses then beggars would ride, you can _wish_ for a way to undo stuff you said in the past but in practice it will only get harder to do that in the future. More and more frequently the second you hit 'submit' your content is syndicated all over the globe. I pose that it is impossible to even know who copied down your words and where and when they'll pop up in the future, you should write with that in mind. The law is a decade behind reality, it has never been any other way with technology. You may be legally in the right and you may have certain expectations but that will not make much difference. Witness Jimmy Wales trying to wipe out the fact that he owned a porn site, in his profile it says (on wikipedia no less) euphemistically that 'bomis targeted males', but everywhere else ( <http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2005/12/69880> ) for instance it is clearly visible that it was. The facts stand by themselves, no amount of handwringing or wishing is going to make that any different. If you don't want to be confronted with your own words in the future, don't write them and if you don't want to be confronted with your own actions in the future, don't do them. There is no undo button on email to begin with, and no, you can't have a reasonable expectation of privacy there because you are _sending_ your words to someone else. Who can then choose to make your words public. ------ jacquesm I'm not even sure if that possibility exists but since your account does not seem to be attached to anything personal as far as I can see and since you have barely posted / commented here what is the reason you want it deleted ? Keep in mind that deleting an account means that all the replies to your comments / submissions would be left 'hanging' in space. ~~~ jvdh I don't know about the US, but over here in the Netherlands any service must respond to a request to remove your records. They must comply, or provide a very good reason why your comments/submissions must remain. (In discussions comments can stay if required for the discussion to make sense, but the name has to go). ~~~ jrockway HN is not in the Netherlands, so this is completely irrelevant. (Just like when some company in the US sends a DMCA takedown notice to the Netherlands.) ~~~ authentic technically, YC has a European subsidiary (a startup funded by them). ~~~ jacquesm So ? Europe != NL. And even if, a subsidiary incorporated independently is not going to be liable for acts of the parent company unless they are actively engaged in the same activity. And in this case they would not be, Ycombinator owns and runs the forum, that startup does its own thing. ~~~ authentic you misunderstood. it can be argued that once YC has established a sufficient nexus within a particular country it can be held to its laws (in this case, DE data protection and privacy laws which are far stricter than those of NL, afaik). on a much larger scale, watch for the impending fight between the EU commission and facebook about this very issue. ~~~ jacquesm No, you misunderstood the law. A startup funded by YC would never ever be seen as a subsidiary. Google NL BV can be held to the law with respects to google.com, but some start up that google funds will never be used to hold google.com to NL law. ~~~ authentic Not at all saying the subsidiary would be held responsible here (they are not operating the website in question anyway), it does however affect the question whether the parent is conducting significant business in a particular country. Whether this is practically enforceable (like the UK libel judgement against Arrington personally) is a different matter. For me personally, pg acting on account and data deletion requests would simply be an act of courtesy that we can expect from him. ~~~ jacquesm > Not at all saying the subsidiary would be held responsible here (they are > not operating the website in question anyway), Good, because the answer to that is clearly 'no', but > it can be argued that once YC has established a sufficient nexus within a > particular country it can be held to its laws (in this case, DE data > protection and privacy laws which are far stricter than those of NL, afaik). Suggested clearly otherwise, so it looks like you have changed your stance on that. > Whether this is practically enforceable (like the UK libel judgement against > Arrington personally) is a different matter. Arrington was personally liable, which is a completely different thing than the one you are talking about right now. > For me personally, pg acting on account and data deletion requests would > simply be an act of courtesy that we can expect from him. I disagree with you. A free, online forum is exactly what it seems, a place where your opinion can be expressed and will distribute your opinion to strangers. Expectations like this is what drives the weird terms-of-service that many websites have, the overhead on the kind of activity deployed and the income generated from that preclude manual intervention on behalf of every Tom, Dick and Harry that decide they want to rewrite history after the fact. Besides it being simply a lot of work. If you do not want your words to be stored in an online service, do not put them there in the first place. Fora are especially important in that they serve as means of communication, in effect you are asking to be able/allowed to retract your statements after any arbitrary period of time. If that were to be actually enforceable the only thing that would change would be the terms of service, getting you to agree explicitly with the giving up of that particular right since it completely renders the whole forum concept moot. Every thread topic ever started by a user that requests to delete their content, every answer to every comment they ever wrote would suddenly stop making sense. news.yc gives you an hour after you post to retract your words, if you do not wish to make use of that right then it lapses, which I think is a really nice medium between the two worlds. ~~~ authentic I have not changed my stance on anything. Do not make deletions out to be more work than they really are, as others have mentioned the suppression of content from a particular account is already implemented to combat spam. Anyway, deletion of particular message is technically the same as allowing edits after 1hr with a fixed replacement text (such as "[deleted by user]"). User-triggered account "deletion" would be a trivial addition instantly obviating recurring, tedious discussions like this. Even Google lets you retract your submissions from their usenet archives and Groups in a simple way. There are many valid reasons why a user may wish to have their messages removed that override the interest of forum integrity. No right lapses after one hour since there is no permanent license grant for user submitted content to HN in the first place (lack of TOS). The copyright of entries remains with the user. ~~~ jrockway Spam is not eliminated by deletion, it's eliminated by killing. If you set showdead=1 in your preferences, you can see the spam. It's annoying. ------ niyazpk Edit your title to add _Ask PG_. Hopefully PG will read those. If you don't mind me asking, can we know why anyone would want to delete their account? ~~~ jgrahamc Or just send him an email. ------ ars What do you want to delete? Your comments? Your name from the comments? Remove your access? ------ jordyhoyt In a similar vein, I'd like to rename my account. Though, I doubt this is easy, so I'll just grin and bear it. ------ csomar Try to hack into the HN servers and drop your records ;) ~~~ rbanffy <http://xkcd.com/327/> should give you a start ;-) ~~~ joshhart news.yc uses flat files. ~~~ rbanffy Then instead of "delete" we will have to use "sed" or "grep -v" to remove the login... ;-) ~~~ vaporstun use ack! - [<http://betterthangrep.com/>] ------ wendroid Just post two ironically abusive comments and before long you're banned with no appeal or explanation, worked for me. (or that's what I think happened - they even let you post for 2 weeks without telling you no-one can read it!) ------ authentic i did mail pg with a similar request (different account), and he essentially responded that he could not be bothered to implement deletion or do it manually. ------ jodrellblank PG is the site admin, his mailbox is the appropriate place for site admin questions, surely? ~~~ sfk The poster has said: "if there's some channel I can use that doesn't clutter his inbox" Since this is standard netiquette, actually his mailbox would be an extremely unusual place for questions like this. ~~~ jodrellblank What is standard nettiquette? Cluttering a site used by hundreds of people to ask an admin question to an admin? Yes the poster said he doesn't want to clutter his inbox, but regardless of want isn't that the right place for his question? I know pg is _PG_ , but _that_ doesn't seem relevant to _this_.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: How do you explain your job to your parents and grandparents? - tush726 ====== quaquaqua1 I type things on a keyboard and solve puzzles so that you can do things using your computer instead of calling someone or driving somewhere or going to your mailbox	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Startup America, Startup Britain - why no Startup Australia? - Finntastic http://www.startupsmart.com.au/growth/2011-04-01/10-reasons-why-we-need-a-startup-australia.html ====== hugh3 I would have upvoted this story, if it hadn't been for the annoying "darken screen and ask for your email address" trick. Perhaps part of the answer to the question posed by the title is "because the Australian startup community is too dominated by scammy-looking weirdoes trying to sell you "101 tips on somethingorother"" ~~~ onan_barbarian > because the Australian startup community is too dominated by scammy-looking > weirdoes trying to sell you "101 tips on somethingorother" Correct! Including this "Finntastic" guy, who sits around submitting links to these inane stories. One of our engineers was just bitching about the ridiculous number of people in Australia who are 'trying to help' the startup community from the outside. ------ andrewstuart Because massively successful Australian startups can be counted on one hand. ~~~ Finntastic Thanks for the positivity guys! Just a few points - we report on and work closely with the start-up community in Australia. To us, there is no 'outside', only collaboration and support. Secondly, nothing is being sold on our site. All the information is free and doesn't require any sign-up. If you don't want to read it, fine, but many people find the info we publish very helpful. I'm sorry you don't, but I'm not going to force you to read or buy anything. Thirdly, Andrewstuart, constructive point, but if you've ever been on Freelancer.com, watched TV or a movie on Fox or read a newspaper any time recently, there's a good chance you would've seen the work of 'massively successful' Australian entrepreneurs. Fourthly, how about discussing the point and the issue in hand, rather than pointless backbiting, eh? I know a lot of Australians look at this site and I'm sure they'd love to get the perspective of a country with a more switched-on start-up culture. ~~~ neckbeard Freelancer? You mean the Swedish site (GetAFreelancer) that was bought by some Australians? Sure, it has been cleaned up a bunch, but doesn't seem like a massive entrepreneurial success (other than as a vehicle for self-promotion). ~~~ Finntastic Suppose that depends on your definition of entrepreneurialism. Raising $40m in funding, adding 2 million customers in a year and dominating a niche is pretty entrepreneurial behaviour to me. But then you could define that strictly by who founded the company, came up with the original idea etc. It's an interesting debate. Going by the second, stricter, definition of entrepreneur, how would you class Trump Organization heir Donald Trump? Or, if you believe a couple of Olympic rowers, Mark Zuckerberg for that matter? They are still both entrepreneurs to me. So is Matt Barrie. Good on 'em all, I say.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
"earthquakes in north korea" - Kipper100 http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=earthquakes+in+north+korea ====== derekerdmann This is public data from the USGS and numerous other sources. Why is it surprising that Wolfram Alpha is using it? ------ kevinconroy "Detected" or "indexed"? ------ bluetidepro [http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/11/how-the-nuke-from-n- koreas-...](http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/11/how-the-nuke-from-n-koreas-test- could-damage-sf-via-google-maps/) > " _After measuring a 4.9 magnitude seismic event tonight, South Korea’s > defence ministry confirmed that it was caused by an underground nuclear > test. North Korea’s nuclear capability is estimated to be about 2 kilotons._ > " I'm not sure if this source is confirmed or not, but very interesting... ~~~ jsherry For point of reference, Little Boy (the bomb dropped on Hiroshima) was 16 kilotons and 90k+ people. I'm sure there are a ton of other factors besides kilotons that determine how destructive the bomb is, but it's a data point to understand the potential magnitude. Source: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Boy> ~~~ cpleppert This is their third nuclear test and every single one has failed to cross the eight kiloton boundary at least. If this one is a plutonium weapon like the others it suggests that they are having major issues designing or fabricating the implosion lens around the nuclear material. It is quite striking that they keep conducting tests and reducing their usable nuclear stockpile further. It is almost like they don't have the capability to get a reliable warhead. ------ arethuza They have made an official announcement of the test: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21421841> ------ dylangs1030 I read the comments, but could someone more expert in seismic activity break this down for me? How does this demonstrate Wolfram Alpha knew about the nuke itself (or could ascertain there might have been a nuke)? It looks like it just indexed seismic activity. Is it because the measurements are peculiar? ------ jonsherrard If you put the coordinates into Google maps you get this address: <http://goo.gl/maps/TNfuD> ~~~ mapleoin So it looks like they're bombing their own nuclear facility. ~~~ phevia Tests are typically conducted in vertical shafts, according to the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBTO). Holes are cut 1 to 3 meters wide and up to a kilometer deep. The atomic devices are assembled on site and placed in the hole, usually accompanied by lead- protected diagnostic canister that contains sensors to record the explosion. The tunnel is then filled with layers of pea gravel, sand and other materials to prevent radioactive material from being released into the atmosphere. During a test, the explosion energy is released in less than a millionth of a second, according to CTBTO. The temperature will reach about a million degrees within a few microseconds, and shockwaves from the blast, depending on the size, can be detected by seismographs around the planet. (From time.com) ------ killermonkeys "Earthquakes North Korea" != "nuclear tests North Korea" any more than "fire San Francisco" == "temperature San francisco" ~~~ cpleppert Except when the seismic signature doesn't look like a natural earthquake. ------ neya As you keep zooming out[1] of the location of this nuke, till you see atleast a whole portion of the earth, you will realize that the existence of this nuke (or the concept of where/how it will be used) is unnecessary. [1]<http://goo.gl/maps/TNfuD> (Thanks to HN user jonsherrard for the link) ~~~ benologist I like how they hid it on Nuclear Test Road. ~~~ cantankerous I think the name of that road could be user supplied data to Google through that collaborative mapping effort in North Korea. I could be wrong, though. ------ dantillberg Yet wolfram alpha isn't quite smart enough to tell that this wasn't really an earthquake but a nuclear test: [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=nuclear+tests+in+north+...](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=nuclear+tests+in+north+korea) ------ filvdg I checked "earthquakes in the Netherlands" : nothing there Google news has the one of 8 feb [https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws...](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&q=earthquake+in+the+netherlands) ~~~ gus_massa That earthquake was smaller, from: [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-09/gas-rich- groningen-...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-09/gas-rich-groningen- province-in-netherlands-hit-by-new-earthquake.html) _> A quake measuring 2.7 on the Richter scale struck the area ..._ To see it in Wolfram Alpha you need to add more parameters: [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=earthquakes+in+Netherla...](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=earthquakes+in+Netherlands+with+magnitude+%3E+2) ------ bcl Misleading title [http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000f5t0#...](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000f5t0#summary) ------ jpswade It just says earthquake here (UK), no mention of nuke. ------ Yoni1 How would one know this is a nuke? Earthquakes happen. ~~~ dutchbrit Nukes have completely different fingerprints than earthquakes. An example: [http://quakesos.sosearthquakesvz.netdna-cdn.com/wp- content/u...](http://quakesos.sosearthquakesvz.netdna-cdn.com/wp- content/uploads/2013/02/Screen-Shot-2013-02-12-at-10.09.11.jpg) ~~~ danielweber My old geology teacher said that the test-ban-treaty was a _huge_ boon to geologists, since there was now a bottomless pit of money to be used to build seismographs anywhere you wanted to build them. ------ cgosnell Its also interesting that an 'earthquake' also happened on the same spot in 2009 and 2003 as well... ------ mhb Nothing for "nuclear tests in north korea" about the recent test. ------ Mordor I for one welcome our Korean overlords, although I'm not sure who will be providing food aid in paradise? ------ speeder So what? ~~~ ctdonath Nuclear tests directed by crazed lunatics are usually worth taking note of. ~~~ sbhere duly noted. ------ supercoder Wolfram Alpha can't be trusted then.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }

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