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A certain problem with the racial wealth gap - hhs
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/a-certain-problem-with-the-racial-wealth-gap
======
eesmith
> Of course, there is a solution to this, sell the social housing to the poor
> at whatever discount makes it financially viable for them to buy it.
So ... repeat Thatcher's 1980 Housing Act? How'd that turn out again?
[https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-14380936](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-14380936)
Hmm. Not that good it seems.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
YouTube Moving to Open Formats? - dcawrey
http://www.thechromesource.com/youtube-moving-to-open-formats/
======
aurora72
I've just upgraded to FF3.5 and dailymotion.com was featured on the welcome
page, I've checked the dailymotion.com and it was cool except one seemingly
buggy video on the main gage (the one in which people are saying welcome to FF
in their native languages) I must say,the results are very fine and promising,
but I think the MOST important aspect of HTML 5 is not the end-results we see
on web pages but the convenience it offers to the web app developers.
I firmly believe that HTML 5 is the only way to go for the web developers.
It's like the declaration of independence from abuse-prone and CPU-eater Flash
applications, finally.
------
modeless
Still hoping Google's acquisition of On2 means the VP* series of codecs is
coming to HTML 5 royalty free.
------
danielrhodes
The real question is: why?
Besides being free of Flash, there aren't a lot of benefits that will result
in a better end-user experience or competitive advantage. The only thing I
could think of is trying to get away from H264, which could present some
licensing issues at the end of the year.
~~~
aurora72
That's right: There will not be many benefits on the user experience side. But
there will be a remarkable amount of benefit on the developer's side, I
estimate. And it's not just the <video> I'm talking about. In the long run,
the front-end as a whole will benefit greatly from the easy addibility of
visual, audio and video elements into the web pages. It might offer
competitive advantages to those who will make use of it efficiently. How many
times have I heard that smart question: "hmm but can you make Flash apps?"
Flash has been the only way to design the so called "rich Internet
applications" and I've been rejecting to learn Flash for years with an
expectation that something better would come up, and that thing has finally
come up. JavaScript yes, ActionScript no, thanks.
~~~
danielrhodes
Well yes and no. While you won't be locked into Flash, HTML5 still doesn't
give you all the same benefits and features so you're stuck with a weird
middle ground that benefits nobody. As a result, I think most developers will
stick with Flash.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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“Free” as in “we own your IP” - 4mnt
http://www.brendangregg.com/blog/2014-05-17/free-as-in-we-own-your-ip.html
======
greenyoda
_" The average person reads at 250 words per minute, and slower than that when
reading and comprehending on-screen text. This was part of a 6082 word
agreement, which would take at least 24 minutes to read."_
Is any court going to take seriously the assertion that clicking on "I agree"
underneath a 6082 word agreement really establishes a binding contract to
transfer intellectual property? Doesn't a contract require a "meeting of the
minds"[1], i.e., _intent by both parties_ to enter into the contract? In this
case, it would seem that the person who agrees to the TOS will have been
tricked into accepting an unusual condition that's not generally part of such
agreements. (If a delivery person asked you to sign to indicate receipt of a
package, but buried in the fine print was a clause saying that you were
transferring the title to your car to FedEx, would that be a valid contract?)
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meeting_of_minds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meeting_of_minds)
~~~
chc
The term you're looking for is "contracts of adhesion," and yes, courts do
acknowledge the potential for unfair treatment there. (That isn't to say that
they'd strike this particular clause — just that they do recognize and account
for the power inequality inherent in this kind of contract.)
------
gameshot911
I'm not sure I understand what the fuss is all about. The language is included
to avoid a situation where a user suggests an idea (that may or may not have
already been planned / considered / in development), and then wants to get
paid when the feature is eventually released. Seems perfectly reasonable to
me.
~~~
dtech
He has a problem with the _transfer_ of IP. He quotes a ToS clause from
another company with grants a _perpetual free license_ to your idea, which he
has no problem with.
With the "transfer-style" clause you could submit an idea, an then be sued if
you use your own idea yourself. That indeed seems strange.
------
misframer
FYI, it looks like it's Datadog.
[https://github.com/DataDog/dd-
agent/blob/master/packaging/da...](https://github.com/DataDog/dd-
agent/blob/master/packaging/datadog-agent/win32/install_files/license.txt)
~~~
kmfrk
With line anchor: [https://github.com/DataDog/dd-
agent/blob/master/packaging/da...](https://github.com/DataDog/dd-
agent/blob/master/packaging/datadog-
agent/win32/install_files/license.txt#L53).
~~~
judofyr
Permalink in case they change it: [https://github.com/DataDog/dd-
agent/blob/f911dd8955dd13aae1d...](https://github.com/DataDog/dd-
agent/blob/f911dd8955dd13aae1da2a08a961d6a177eaa76d/packaging/datadog-
agent/win32/install_files/license.txt#L53)
------
cs02rm0
Are there any resources for startups looking for a set of sane, standard T&Cs
without forking out for a lawyer?
~~~
buro9
You can freely copy pretty much anyone's as legal documents are not covered by
copyright.
However, the problem there is that doing so may result you not having the
protection you believe that the documents offer you. The false sense of
security is now worse than just not having documents as you probably won't do
anything to fix it and won't be aware of the risk.
We've put our legal docs online: [https://github.com/microcosm-
cc/legal](https://github.com/microcosm-cc/legal)
Copy them if you want.
They are for discussion forums, a community CMS service. Broadly they consider
a site admin to be the owner of a database/collective work and has database
rights, that an individual owns their content but grants a right to the site
admin to include that content in the database/collective work into the future.
They allow the end user to request deletion of their profile (but acknowledges
the data that forms part of the collaborative work will remain). And they
dissolve the platform of any liability arising from the content. They place
some obligations on the site admin to reactively moderate and handle
reported/flagged content within some reasonable (24-48 hours) amount of time,
and includes a policy of automatic escalation and content removal (from public
view) for flagged content that isn't handled by a site admin. It allows for
monetisation via charging for services or referral fees.
~~~
aragot
> You can freely copy pretty much anyone's as legal documents are not covered
> by copyright.
Can you really? Any reference?
Personal answer: No, copying TOS for your own website infringes their lawyer's
copyright. "Documents written by a lawyer are protected by copyright as much
as the work of any other writer"[1]
In the next season: Can we patent a particular way of protecting your
website's legal rights ;) ? That would be great fun. We should patent the
cease-and-desist letters, unfortunately there is far too much prior art on
those...
[1]
[http://www2.mnbar.org/benchandbar/2007/apr07/drafting.htm](http://www2.mnbar.org/benchandbar/2007/apr07/drafting.htm)
~~~
buro9
Ah, you are correct for the US:
[https://chillingeffects.org/copyright/faq.cgi#QID757](https://chillingeffects.org/copyright/faq.cgi#QID757)
You can indeed use our documents though and I'll add a licence to the repo to
make that clear (after speaking to the lawyers involved first to ensure the
licence I choose is the right one).
------
scotty79
If I don't read the phrase "By clicking you agree..." am I still agreeing when
I click?
~~~
loceng
It's an interesting situation. It could be assumed that everyone sees that,
and then perhaps not require proof that the person saw that statement. However
if you apply that same logic it could easily be assumed people aren't actually
reading the Terms, and so how could that be allowed to be binding? It is
technically possible to have a time-check to see how long someone has spent on
a Terms of Service page (if any at all), so there couldn't be the excuse that
it is impossible otherwise. I suppose it would come down to a judge deciding
who should be allotted more protection, and hopefully for the benefit of
society. I imagine there must already be case law that says one way or
another.
------
qwerta
I just have two semesters of law at accountancy school , but I would recommend
it to everyone.
Similar paragraph is pretty much every where, including GMail in less strong
form.
~~~
brendangregg
The _transfer_ of IP Rights? From what I've seen it isn't everywhere - I've
checked many performance monitoring agreements, and agreements of other
software. Many performance monitoring companies require you give them a
license to your ideas. But a few go further than that - and want to transfer
the IP rights as well. Why go that extra step? Very successful monitoring
companies haven't needed this.
Ultimately, our lawyers said "no" to this clause.
~~~
qwerta
This is from gmail license:
When you upload ... you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide
license to use ... modify, create derivative work. The rights you grant ...
are for... improving our Services, and to develop new ones. This license
continues even if you stop using our Services ....
~~~
serge2k
That's very different. I license Google to use my idea, it is still my idea. I
can still do whatever else I want with it.
If I transfer it then it belongs to Google now.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Deep Learning for Fashion - jrbaldwin
https://medium.com/@kipsearch/can-a-computer-understand-black-tie-vs-black-tie-fe9cbaf60b09
======
Peroni
Relevant:
[http://developers.lyst.com/2015/07/10/ann/](http://developers.lyst.com/2015/07/10/ann/)
~~~
rachellaw
Thanks! I'm curious to know how Lyst would handle outlier datapoints. ANN
seems to be a variation of regression techniques (achieving nearest result)
instead of creating a new mutual exclusion (unsupervised learning)
------
dang
A blog post is not a Show HN. Please read the rules:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Quantum Computing Playground - ch0wn
https://qcplayground.withgoogle.com
======
StavrosK
I have no idea what's going on with this programming language. At all.
~~~
ivan_ah
Me neither, but after playing with the 2D+Phase view it is starting to make
sense to me now [see below for improvised mini tutorial].
I've studied quantum computing previously, but never thought about plotting
the state space and visualizing it... very cool. Like all things programming,
we all knew that sooner or later it was going to be done in the browser.
A. Hilbert space
// The quantum state of an eight-qubit register:
VectorSize 8
// this defines a 256-dimenstional quantum states space:
// a_0|0> + a_1|1> + a_2|2> + ... + a_255|255>
// where a_i are complex coefficients
// you can "see" these coefficients and thus "see"
// quantum states in the 2D+Phase view.
// The color/intensity of the bottom left corner
// represents a_0 the bottom right corner is a_15
// and so on until top right corner a_255.
// Note this 256 dimensional vector space is the "logical"
// space we work in, while the "physical" space consists
// of eight individual qubits addressed by zero-based index.
// The arguments Quantum gates act on individual qubits
// 0 = least significant qubit
// 1 =
// ..
// 7 = most significant qubit
// The qubit register is initialized to the all-zeros
// qubits state: |00000000>, which means each of the
// means a_0=1, and a_i=0 for all other i.
B. Quantum gates
// SigmaX(n) := 1 ⊗ ... ⊗ 1 ⊗ (|1><0| + |0><1|) ⊗ 1 ⊗ ... ⊗ 1
// \__8-n-1__/ \____n____/
//
// the NOT gate "toggles" the n^th qubit in the register
// while leaving all other qubits unchanged (1 = identity trans).
//
// Note that applying the operation on the physical qubits
// allows us to address the large quantum state space.
// For example, applying \sigma_X gates on the three
// least significant qubits is written as:
SigmaX 2
SigmaX 1
SigmaX 0
// this combination of operations transforms the sate
// |00000000> to the the state |00000111>, which is
// in the "logical" quantum space corresponds to having
// prepared state with a_7=1 and all other a_i=0.
//
// There are other gates like the SigmaY, SigmaZ, and Hadamard [1]
Okay so who cares?
// well, it's kind of neat that you can access and compute
// in such a large state space (see [2] for the def'n of ⊗)
// sure it's difficult to interact with quantum systems
// (state preparation and measurement), but damn the space
// is big so it's worth checking out what kind of computing
// you can do in there that you can't do with ordinary bits.
//
// An eight-bit classical register can represent any integer
// between 0 and 255, a eight-qubit quantum register can
// represent any state in the vector space \mathbb{C}^{256}.
There are already several useful things you can do in the quantum world:
// Then there are multi-qubit quantum gates.
// The qubits on which they act are specified as a range
//
// QFT 0, 8 // totally written by pythonistas...
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_gate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_gate)
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronecker_product](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronecker_product)
~~~
StavrosK
Ah, thank you for the explanation! It sounds like I (unsurprisingly) need to
read a bit more about the theory before I can program in it.
------
IIAOPSW
The interface needs work. Sadly we don't exist in the 2^n dimensions needed to
really understand the state space so all representations will be clunky.
It looks like the rows represent qubits and the colors represent phase. Maybe.
I haven't quite figured it out either.
------
michaelsbradley
I recently read a paper, published last year, which suggests that the qubit
concept is problematic and that a different processing model is needed for
quantum computing:
_On The Fundamental Flaws of Qubit Concept for General Purpose Quantum
Computing_
[http://www.ijesi.org/papers/Vol%283%2910/F031059070.pdf](http://www.ijesi.org/papers/Vol%283%2910/F031059070.pdf)
See also:
_Quantum computing circuits_
[http://www.google.com/patents/US20130057314](http://www.google.com/patents/US20130057314)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Liwe: Using smartphones as WebApps controllers, without the pain - maxwellito
http://liwe.co/
======
maxwellito
There a live demo available on [http://liwe.github.io/app-circular-
menu](http://liwe.github.io/app-circular-menu)
This project is still on beta and unstable but I would love to have developers
to play with it and get their feedback and see what new features they would
like. This is just a side project for me, under MIT license, but without users
it has no reason to live.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
I've become what I wasn't supposed to be - zinssmeister
https://medium.com/on-startups/b3cbf9a3a452
======
colkassad
I started as a painter working for my father at 16. Sometimes I would take a
second job as a line cook as well. I loved computers since my first one (Atari
400) but I never thought anyone would ever pay me to work with them. At 27 I
couldn't take sandblasting fuel tanks and flipping burgers anymore.
I took a job as a data entry clerk for $6.50 an hour, worked my way up from
there while teaching myself to program (after ten years I only now feel
comfortable in my ability). I just finally finished a CS degree at 40. I see
so many people here accomplishing so much at so young an age. Please don't
take your skills and passion for granted.
------
adrianhoward
Career plan by age:
* <8: Astro|Cosmonaut (then I realised I wouldn't get in coz of health issues)
* 8-14: Physicist/Engineer (Science! It rocks! But the family got a computer when I was 12 and - shit - this programming crap is fun..)
* 14-19: Programmer (Wrote code that other people used. Wrote code that other people bought. This stuff is _still_ fun, but went to university at 18 - first one in my family to be able to so...)
* 19--25: Academia (Shit - universities are _fun_. Full of smart, driven folk. Graduated at 21 and hung around as an employee while I figured out what I'd do my PhD in...Started digging into cog psych & HCI stuff as well as development. Then I figured out that I wasn't actually driven enough to focus on one subject for 3 years... and that the UK academic arena was falling into a mess of short term contract driven work... and my contract came to an end.. so... off to industry)
* 25--29; CTO (Not that anybody called it CTO in those days. Joined one startup which crashed and burned. Second one didn't. Went from first "techie" employee to technical director in about four years. Then I was actually bright enough to realise I didn't really like / was-any-good-at managing people and that I didn't enjoy my job. So without waiting for shares to vest (still not sure whether this was a smart or a dumb move...) left to...)
* 29-34: Consultant (Started own company. Had some great clients. Did some good work. Got better at managing people. Had some bad clients. Made some dumb decisions. Crashed and burned with a stack of personal debt. [hire accountants folk - they're worth their money].. which in one of those joyful acts of fate butted up against...)
* 34-36 Carer (Family member became terminally ill and needed 24/7 care, so we kept him at home and out of hospice as long as possible)
* 36-40 Senior Dev/UX person (Back to being an employee again. One agency. Two startups. Debt killing time. Started deliberately raising my profile with speaking, community involvement, writing, etc. coz I knew I wanted to get back to...)
* 40--now Co-founder (Started company again. Making fewer and more interesting mistakes sprinkled among the odd smart decision. Bootstrapping some product ideas that we're funding with consulting work. Generally enjoying stuff...)
Next - who knows ;-)
(NOTE; If anybody still wants to let a fat 43 year old with no binocular depth
perception and subject to migraines & misc. other nonsense be an
astro|cosmonaut - please let me know ;-)
------
jroseattle
I was on a path to becoming a professional golfer. I was a highly recruited
player coming out of high school, and had full-ride scholarship offers from
several schools.
Went to college, majored in accounting & finance. And played golf -- lots of
it. Played in national championships, competed abroad, surrounded by coaches
who fine-tuned my swing and improved my game. Played with many guys who have
been on the PGA tour at different points. I was on a path to the tour, as
well.
But it was unfulfilling, and I fell out of love with the sport. I took a job
in finance and investing at a small bank in 1991. Working my way up from the
bottom, I discovered a knack for technology by automating processes that had
been done by hand for years.
Never looked back.
------
thisone
I started out at University studying astronautical engineering.
4 universities and 3 career changes later, I'm a relatively happy code monkey.
(are code monkies every totally happy?)
Things change. I'd say it's the very rare individual who gets through life on
Plan A (or Plan B for that matter)
~~~
eksith
I'm a _relatively_ happy codemonkey. I would have been happier as a carpenter,
but we gotta play with the hand we've been dealt until opportunity knocks (and
that may be plan E or F). I'm in the process of weaning myself away from the
codemonkey and back to carpenter (soon cabin builder, hopefully).
Life is funny sometimes.
~~~
FigBug
I started in construction as a steel worker. One life altering injury later I
retrained as a code monkey. Much happier, wish I did it first, I always was
interested in computers.
~~~
eksith
What can I say... grass is always greener eh?
It sucks that you were injured, but maybe -- and hopefully -- it's added to
your life experience in a positive way. For better or for worse, you are who
you are because of your experiences. Good and bad.
------
ckarmann
I have a PhD in Physics. 8 university years to eventually discover that I am
not that interested in research for a living (and not that good at it), even
though my speciality was great (Astrophysics). Ten years later, I'm a senior
programmer with very interesting things to build, and passion doesn't fade.
I don't regret having done all that Physics (it was freaking Astrophysics,
dude!), but I know I would have been miserable after a while, not doing what I
was really good at.
~~~
kaybe
How did that happen? (similar situation, earlier in the game)
------
kiba
I want to make video games so bad that I eventually learned programming.
Programming is fun, but it's nothing like the passion that motivate people to
stay up all night and day and code until they drop.
However, my ability to program is the only thing that I am good at and had
earned me money so far. Plus, I like it, even if I can't do 16 hours coding
marathon.
~~~
zinssmeister
wanting to make my own video games was probably a big motivator for me as
well.
------
sdepablos
I still remember how much did I ask for a computer until I finally get one at
the age of 12, a 8086 IBM PS2!
------
mindcruzer
I started coding in grade 9, but I went to university for medical science, got
good grades, did some research, and intended to go to medical school. But, the
closer I got to graduation, more and more I started to realize there was no
way I was ever going back to school--I just wanted to code and make things. No
regrets.
------
exodust
I like the picture. Anyone know what town that is? I wonder if all those trees
are private land or state forest. I think everyone should have a picture of
themselves looking at the town they grew up in, especially if the town has a
picturesque view!
------
bencxr
Thanks for that. I'm still working in a "dotcom". Soon, I hope to be working
with the likes of you. Could you go a little more into your transition from
match.com to yc-startup, the sacrifices and challenges along your way?
~~~
zinssmeister
that might make another blog post. Or if you have any specific questions, you
can email me any time.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Steam Summer Sale has arrived - frankcaron
http://store.steampowered.com
Get in while the gettin's good.
======
bargl
I posted about this earlier today. Nobody seemed interested...
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6027665](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6027665)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Does high tuition facilitate networking? - cwan
http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2009/09/its_expensive_so_it_must_be_go.cfm
======
tokenadult
The blog entry cited in the submitted article:
[http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/us-news-
college...](http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/us-news-college-
rankings-yes-they-matter/)
There is a freely readable version of the article discussed in the blog post
here:
[http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bastedo/papers/BowmanBastedo....](http://www-
personal.umich.edu/~bastedo/papers/BowmanBastedo.ResHE2009.pdf)
"Using admissions data for top-tier institutions from fall 1998 to fall 2005,
we found that moving onto the front page of the U.S. News rankings provides a
substantial boost in the following year’s admissions indicators for all
institutions. In addition, the effect of moving up or down within the top tier
has a strong impact on institutions ranked in the top 25, especially among
national universities. In contrast, the admissions outcomes of liberal arts
colleges--particularly those in the lower half of the top tier--were more
strongly influenced by institutional prices."
So high list price serves as a signal to some families that a second-rank
college may be a better college than some other college with a similar rank,
putting pressure on all colleges in that echelon to raise their list prices.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Sellmicrosaas – marketplace for buying and selling projects - sellmicrosaas
https://sellmicrosaas.com
======
sellmicrosaas
Free to post your neglected projects, saas project, etc. Have a good day!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Yazz – Build Interactive Prototypes in Minutes - zubairq
https://github.com/zubairq/yazz
======
zubairq
We built Yazz as a quick way to build quick apps and prototypes internally. It
is still a work in progress, but let us know what you think.
It is free and open source, and the aim is to make it easy for anyone to get
an interactive prototype of their app or website idea up fast, so that they
can show it to others
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Q&A with Mike Kimelman: How prison changes you - ca98am79
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102623598
======
delish
[the interviewer asks why didn't he take the plea deal]
> [Because] I didn't think I broke the law, and if I wasn't willing to stand
> up and say that, how could I look my children in the eye and tell them with
> a straight face they should stand up for the right thing, or the underdog,
> as I try to teach them to do.
This is why I don't moralize at other people ever, and why I think the law is
a poor substitute for morality. I believe him when he says 1) that he didn't
think he did anything wrong, and 2) that the choices in front of him looked
different that how they looked to third-party observers.
It's stupidly easy to tell someone, "You should have [taken the plea deal|not
done that in the first place|...]." But I think people say those things to 1)
distance themselves from their interlocutor and 2) say something that feels
good to say, but is useless (not actionable at this point!), obvious dreck to
hear.
Of course I'm not faulting the interviewer for asking the questions in this
case; the answers were enlightening.
Marshall McLuhan had a great quote against moralizing: "Don't ask whether it
is right or wrong. Instead try to figure out what is going on!"
------
Red_Tarsius
I'm happy Kimelman got the best out of it. It's nice to read experiences that
don't involve any kind of intimate assault.
The system is designed not to _re_ habilitate, but to _de_ humanize the
inmates, while guards often support the lowest forms of behavior.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Marc Andreessen: The Truth About Venture Capitalists, Part 1 - brianmckenzie
http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/the_truth_about.html
======
brett
_Notably, there are many fine businesses in the world -- many of them highly
profitable, and very satisfying to run -- that do not have leverage in their
model that makes them suitable for venture capital investment._
This post is probably a good place to refer the periodic you're-foolish-if-
you-think-you-need-outside-investment-because-you-can-do-it-on-your-own posts
that crop up around here every week or so.
~~~
brianmckenzie
Absolutely! If I took one thing from this post it's that there is no one-size-
fits-all approach to funding. Can't wait for Part 2!
------
ced
"The legal lifespan of the fund is usually 10 years"
Does that mean that Sequoia will disappear in a couple of years, or is it that
VCs manage various funds? And why is there that restriction?
~~~
pg
A single VC firm runs multiple funds. Some raise a new one every year.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
MaxMind trademark trolling – they own “geoip”? - mitak
https://imgur.com/PdJyosv
======
cheald
[http://assignments.uspto.gov/assignments/q?db=tm&qt=sno&reel...](http://assignments.uspto.gov/assignments/q?db=tm&qt=sno&reel=&frame=&sno=78229697)
Not trolling. That's their IP. I wouldn't fight that fight.
~~~
mitak
Ah I see :(
Doesn't everyone say "geoip" though? / how else would we describe such a
service? I thought there was something against trademarking commonly used
words that describe generic things.
No plans to fight it. But it seems brutal... considering geoip.app is
free/open-source/non-commercial, links to their site for those interested in
licensing more accurate data, and "geoip" seems to be in use elsewhere (e.g.
geoip.com).
~~~
cheald
Everyone says "Google" to mean "do an internet search". It's still a
registered trademark and you can't promote your own product using that name.
The term "IP address geolocation" is common and descriptive enough, and isn't
trademarked. The mark "GeoIP" is MaxMind's trademark for their particular IP
geolocation service, and isn't something you can use just because you're
familiar with the term, regardless of if the application is free/open
source/whatever.
While you likely mean well, MaxMind has a legal and practical obligation to
defend their mark, which means issuing C&Ds for people who are using it
without a license to do so.
~~~
mitak
I agree from an ethical point of view and will change the domain.
> Everyone says "Google" to mean "do an internet search". It's still a
> registered trademark and you can't promote your own product using that name.
You're right, but there are counterexamples. [I'm not a lawyer but...] There
is such a thing as a "generic trademark" where former trademarks like
"Escalator", "Thermos", "Hovercraft", "Videotape", "Teleprompter", "Aspirin"
etc. have been "genericized".
Apparently Google won their lawsuit because "Google" is a very distinctive
word.
For me "geoip" felt/sounded generic and I see a lot of geolocation plugins and
services using the term in their names, descriptions, etc.
~~~
Terretta
Very selective counter examples.
The list of ‘nope, still protected’ is longer, including Kleenex and bubble
wrap.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_generici...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericized_trademarks)
And contrary to Wikipedia, I think you’ll find only Thermos gets away with
Thermos.
The term geoip is certainly theirs. While we offered competing techniques
built into our service, they were the first I heard use that. Then everyone
subscribed their DB and called it that.
------
floatingatoll
If I was MaxMind, I’d also be filing an ICANN trademark claim to takeover
control of that domain from you.
~~~
alam2000
It takes longer time through ICANN. Ceast and desist is the cheaper and faster
way.
~~~
floatingatoll
Cease and desist does not result in control of GEOIP.APP, but is absolutely
useful as a stopgap while the ICANN paperwork goes through.
------
Malp
They do in fact own the term GeoIP ([http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-
bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?Search_Arg=Ge...](http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-
bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?Search_Arg=Geoip&Search_Code=TALL&PID=4cQjd5vOeUpvKwEgAdAu6nVdwEEFD&SEQ=20190102160730&CNT=25&HIST=1)),
so it looks like renaming and migrating to a new domain name is your best
option.
------
rajacombinator
Seems pretty legit to me, ie. not simply “trolling” ... (IANAL)
------
erulabs
Time for pioeg.com? This is a good idea, but I believe this service is also
one of the things they charge for, and they do own the rights. Sorry mate :(
------
Operyl
Hate to say it, but I wouldn't really consider this trolling.
------
piyh
time to register geographicIP.app
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Paper Elephant: Folded News from the Postgres Community [pdf] - atsaloli
http://www.pgmag.org/_media/the_paper_elephant_01.pdf
======
atsaloli
This little magazine (intended for physical distribution at IT events) has a
great short article on what’s new in 9.6.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Parents: Your Children Need Professors With Tenure - jakevoytko
http://chronicle.com/article/Parents-Your-Children-Need/124776/
======
wccrawford
"Tenure doesn't guarantee that college teachers will be courageous. But it
protects those who are."
This is the only argument given in the whole article. That teachers should be
allowed to be outrageous and disrespectful because that somehow makes them
better teachers.
There's a fine line to teaching kids to think critically and just being
outrageous. Teachers without fear of crossing that line can do harm, too.
The whole argument is that teachers -can- be fired for things. Not that they
-will- be. Good schools don't fire teachers for teaching children to think. If
a school is inclined to fire teachers for that, tenure is not going to solve
the problem. Is a teacher going to lay low for 7 years and then suddenly start
teaching children to think? No. They'll have been doing it all along.
~~~
jameskilton
And this idea that "the 'deadwood' either retired or died years ago" is very
false. I've met so many professors who were basically useless but couldn't be
fired because they were tenured.
Ignoring the vitriol that Fox News loves to vomit to its loyal sheep, the
teaching profession for some reason has been allowed to act completely cut off
from the market as a whole. There are so many very good teachers who simply
can't get a job because of the tenure lock-in. If a teacher isn't doing his /
her job, they should be fired and replaced! It works for the rest of the
economy why shouldn't it work for the teaching of our children?
------
zdw
I'd love to see data that proves that administrative bloat is the money drain
on education institutions.
Not that I doubt it - most of the workplaces I've seen are one or two fat cats
sitting on top collecting big paychecks while a bunch of people doing actual
work get a small fraction of what the top earner makes.
I also tend to think that most of the repetitive administrative tasks can be
replaced with small, well written scripts...
~~~
hga
There's been quite a bit written on this; try these two Google searches for a
start:
[http://www.google.com/search?q=higher+education+bubble+admin...](http://www.google.com/search?q=higher+education+bubble+administrative+bloat)
[http://www.google.com/search?q=higher+education+bubble+admin...](http://www.google.com/search?q=higher+education+bubble+administrative+costs)
------
jeffreymcmanus
This reads like a refutation of Mark Taylor's "Crisis in Higher Education," a
new book that holds tenure and the organization of academic departments
largely responsible for the declining quality of American universities.
The Fox News angle that the writer leads off with is a giant red herring. The
problems with tenure have little to do with professors' politics (since
employees already have laws protecting them based on their political beliefs).
It has more to do with paying professors millions of dollars in salary and
benefits for decades after their most productive years have ended.
------
Unseelie
there's something off about suggesting tenure is about teaching, or that
universities are about students. Tenure is about, more than teaching style,
research, and primarily, actual teaching is left to grad students and
teacher's aides.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Massively improve JS animation smoothness in Safari with one line of CSS - alexkearns
I thought I'd share this as it might be useful. Including the following CSS can massively improve the smoothness of JS animations in Safari desktop and mobile. It also solves weird flickering issues on iPad/iPhone Safari. Don't know why it works but it does and the improvements, at least for my web app, were spectacular.<p>html * { -webkit-backface-visibility: hidden; }
======
ryanschmidt
When applied as suggested, this will cause smaller type (~10-12px) to appear
very blurry. Also, when using an iOS device, it will make all text unreadably
blurry upon zooming in.
I suggest applying this property only to the element you'd like to improve the
animation of.
------
alexkearns
Actually, I don't think you need the *:
html { -webkit-backface-visibility: hidden; } should do
------
gondo
simple as googling <http://css-infos.net/property/-webkit-backface-visibility>
------
Kevindish
What does it do? Im curious to know :)
~~~
cheald
Short version: Backface culling. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back-
face_culling>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hulu Plus now works with Chromecast - malcol
http://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/hulu-plus-now-works-with-chromecast.html
======
freehunter
It still has the ridiculous limitation that some shows can only be watched on
a computer and not on a mobile/dedicated device, right? I never understood
that reasoning, why there are some shows that I have to pull out my laptop to
view rather than using my Roku.
~~~
Touche
Rights holders maintain control over where their content can be played. Hulu
has to get permission for where a show can be played. There was a great post
on Google+ a while back by someone well known... can't remember who that said
exactly this: DRM is about control over hardware makers.
EDIT: Ah, found it, Ian Hickson:
[https://plus.google.com/107429617152575897589/posts/iPmatxBY...](https://plus.google.com/107429617152575897589/posts/iPmatxBYuj2)
~~~
grimtrigger
Isn't that true of Netflix as well? Why is Netflix seemingly able to negotiate
so much better than Hulu?
~~~
fpgeek
Aside from their own projects, I don't think Netflix gets episodes from the
current seasons of popular TV shows the way Hulu does.
------
Refefer
This is excellent news for Chromecast owners. We've been hearing about pending
support for Chromecast since it was first released but basically nothing had
come of it. Give me a few more digital sources (I'm looking at you Amazon
Prime) and I'll be one step closer to completely dumping cable tv.
Anyone want to bet on the over/under for when HBO Go/Showtime Go will appear?
I imagine it will be a bit of a shot across the bow to the traditional cable
providers.
~~~
ericcholis
I too am awaiting Amazon Prime to support Chromecast. Hopefully we'll see it
sooner thanks to Hulu+ throwing it's hat into the ring.
~~~
konceptz
I expect Amazon Prime to take longer due to it's existing Silverlight usage.
It's so great that this little dongle can almost replace and in some cases
exceed (youtube, et al.) my Roku.
------
bane
I mean...okay. Casting a tab already sorta covered hulu on chromecast anyway.
What really needs to happen is the final SDK needs to be released so the
hundreds of apps that want to Chromecast can finally come out.
------
jevinskie
Is there any way to run a different Linux distro on the Chromecast? Mine
collects dust for the most part. At least it really is a great way to watch
Youtube...
------
tocomment
What about google tv? That's why I had to sell mine, no hulu support.
~~~
apendleton
Public statements from the Google TV team have strongly implied that a
subsequent GTV update will add support Chromecast's protocol, which, combined
with this announcement, would get you Hulu Plus even though don't release a
GTV-specific app.
------
beeglebug
Has anyone heard any news on a UK release for the Chromecast?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why we will never see a 15-hour work week - fchollet
http://www.sphere-engineering.com/blog/15-hour-work-week.html
======
ColinWright
I saw this posted earlier. My records show it was here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7661641](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7661641)
Have you deleted and re-posted?
_Edit: Indeed, I see it was you that posted it at 18:50 BST, 17:50 UTC. I
guess you did delete it and re-submit. Any particular reason?_
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What Is The Origin of Cancer? - nova
http://robbwolf.com/2013/09/19/origin-cancer/
======
bitwize
I think it's interesting that medical science is finally catching up to the
traditional knowledge that diet is the cause of so much disease and illness.
The "standard American diet" is standard because it is highly profitable to
certain well-connected companies and associations, not for its health
benefits; together with the research into the toxicity of fructose, this could
spark a radical rethink of what it is we're eating and the consequences.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How to compose two mapping functions into a third? - gruseom
I'd like a good way to do the following, where "good" means some balance of simple and efficient.<p>I have a bunch of mapping functions. Each takes an integer interval [START,END] and a function FN to call once for each integer N in the interval, passing two arguments: N and some value computed from N.<p>For example, say MAP1 works this way, passing N and N+10 to the function provided:<p><pre><code> (defun map1 (fn start end)
(loop for n from start to end do
(funcall fn n (+ n 10))))
</code></pre>
...so if you gave MAP1 a function that printed out its arguments, you'd get this:<p><pre><code> (map1 (lambda (n val) (format t "~a ~a~%" n val)) 1 3) =>
1 11
2 12
3 13
</code></pre>
Now say MAP2 does the same, only instead of N+10 it passes N^2:<p><pre><code> (defun map2 (fn start end)
(loop for n from start to end do
(funcall fn n (expt n 2))))
(map2 (lambda (n val) (format t "~a ~a~%" n val)) 1 3) =>
1 1
2 4
3 9
</code></pre>
What I want is a way to make a new mapping function MAP3 that works the same way but composes the computations in MAP1 and MAP2. For simplicity, say I just want to add the values computed by MAP1 and MAP2. Then MAP3 should do this:<p><pre><code> (map3 (lambda (n val) (format t "~a ~a~%" n val)) 1 3) =>
1 12
2 16
3 22
</code></pre>
Any nice solutions? The rules are: (1) it's ok to modify the definition of "mapping function", as long as it's simple, and (2) I don't want to have to make a local copy of everything one of these functions does (because the intervals can be large).<p>Edit: A solution in Common Lisp would be nice, but I'm interested in good approaches to this in general. Perhaps coroutines?
======
nostrademons
What you want is basically the compiler optimization called deforestation:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation_>(computer_science)
It's only valid in a pure language, and in a strict language, it has the
embarassing side-effect that it can sometimes make non-terminating programs
terminate.
~~~
silentbicycle
Just a note: you need to quote the parens in the link like so:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation_%28computer_scien...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation_%28computer_science%29)
And no, I don't know why this isn't mentioned in the FAQ or (better yet) the
formatting options...
~~~
flashgordon
actually thanks guys for the great link... going deeper found this paper by
Walder (one of the big gurus behind monads).. certainly a great read... was
wondering why non-terminating progs would terminate till I read this paper
(though thinking about it common sense would explain why)...
[http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/wadler/papers/deforest/defores...](http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/wadler/papers/deforest/deforest.ps)
------
gruseom
Thanks for the replies. Several have pointed out that the unique portions of
map1 and map2 are simple functions that operate on scalars and are easily
composable. However, this is not true of the actual problem I'm working on. I
chose a toy example so I could describe it briefly. Unfortunately, it's
misleadingly simple (rather obviously so, in retrospect).
I guess I'll just add that it's essential that all of these be mapping
functions (i.e. they take a functional argument that they call back over some
range, passing a value computed using that range).
------
paulgb
You could use lazy lists like (I think) Haskell uses:
(define (lazy-range start end) ; create a lazy list that returns the next number in the range [start end]
(if (= start end) (cons start '())
(cons start
(delay (lazy-range (add1 start) end)))))
(define (lazy-map fn lst) ; map a function to every element of a lazy list, returning a lazy list
(if (empty? lst) '()
(cons (fn (car lst))
(delay (lazy-map fn (force (cdr lst)))))))
(define map1 (curry lazy-map (curry + 10))) ; equivalent to map1 from your example
(define map2 (curry lazy-map (lambda (x) (expt x 2)))) ; equivalent to map2 from your example
(define (lazy-list->list lazy) ; convert a lazy list to a list (for printing, etc)
(if (empty? lazy) '()
(cons (car lazy) (lazy-list->list (force (cdr lazy))))))
(lazy-list->list (map1 (map2 (lazy-range 1 10)))) ; example use
Because the lists are lazy, the maps will only be applied as each value is
actually needed, like you described.
~~~
gruseom
Yes, I'm beginning to think the simple solution to this boils down to some
flavor of coroutines/continuations/laziness - basically, the stuff that Scheme
has that CL does not.
The reason I find this interesting is that it's the first real problem I've
run into where CL didn't have an easy way to do what I want. There are
workarounds, of course. But it's interesting to run into a production (as
opposed to academic) problem where the elegant solution isn't simply
available.
~~~
simonb
Have you tried (semi-standard) SERIES?
<http://series.sourceforge.net>
"A series is a data structure much like a sequence, with similar kinds of
operations. The difference is that in many situations, operations on series
may be composed functionally and yet execute iteratively, without the need to
construct intermediate series values explicitly. In this manner, series
provide both the clarity of a functional programming style and the efficiency
of an iterative programming style."
~~~
gruseom
No, I haven't tried it. In fact, I didn't know it was available open-source.
Do you use it? If so, do you like it?
------
skenney26
Perhaps it would be simpler to pass the interval modifiers as functional
arguments:
(def mapr (f x y . fs)
(let r (range x y)
(map f r
(apply map + (map [map _ r] fs)))))
arc> (mapr (fn (x y) (prn x " " y)) 1 3 [+ _ 10])
1 11
2 12
3 13
(1 2 3)
arc> (mapr (fn (x y) (prn x " " y)) 1 3 [expt _ 2])
1 1
2 4
3 9
(1 2 3)
arc> (mapr (fn (x y) (prn x " " y)) 1 3 [+ _ 10] [expt _ 2])
1 12
2 16
3 22
(1 2 3)
------
silentbicycle
Abstract out the mapping itself, and then apply the composed transformation
from map1 and map2 to it. map1 and map2 don't need to do any looping
themselves, just work take an int and return an int.
Think of it in terms of doing all of your transformations in one pass, if that
helps.
------
elijahbuck
I might be missing something here, but what about this (I didn't even attempt
to run this)? Basically, just call map1 and map2 with a single-number
interval, and then apply the function from map3 to that result. This avoids
making a local copy, but does require a lot of function calls.
(defun compmap (fn mapper1 mapper2 start end) (cond ((= start end) '()) (else
(cons (fn start (+ (mapper1 start start) (mapper2 start start))) (compmap fn
mapper1 mapper2 (+ start 1) end)))))
------
nadim
www.stackoverflow.com
(no offense)
------
qqq
map1 and map2 repeat code. abstract this part to a general mapper function:
(loop for n from start to end do
then you will write the content of the first mapping as a function foo and
call the general mapper and pass it foo to accomplish the same thing map1
does.
same with map2, except baz instead of foo.
then map3 is easy. call the general mapper again and pass in something like
this: (lambda (x) (baz (foo x)))
or actually it looks like you wanted to add the results, so (lambda (x) (+
(baz x) (foo x)))
basically if you define the interesting part of map1 as one individual thing,
and ditto for map2, then you can write the combination easily.
i hope that's clear and didn't miss the point somehow.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Skype encryption stumps German police - charzom
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071122/tc_nm/security_internet_germany_dc_3
======
charzom
Maybe the police can't, but I bet the German intelligence services can.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What My User Survey Taught Me - stakent
http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/02/07/what-my-user-survey-taught-me/
======
tptacek
We've been very happy with surveys at Matasano; we use Formspring, not Wufoo,
we drive them from Twitter (ha! Patrick), incentivize them with posters and
Matasano refrigerator magnets, and are using them to generate content. Every
survey we do is good for a measurable number of new customer prospects.
The thing I want to mention though is that if you're out of ideas for media
relations, and you run a survey often enough with general enough questions,
you can take the aggregate results of the survey and shop them to reporters
for trend stories. It is one of the older PR tricks in the book.
------
patio11
This is a followup to a post I did on survey incentivization, covered on HN
here: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1058669>
Short version: survey incentivization worked very, veeeeeeerrrry well for
increasing response rates. The survey itself got me actionable insights, and
when I say that, I mean I did eight commits today based on them. I'd really
recommend you try one for your business if you haven't already.
~~~
cool-RR
I appreciate that you said you aren't angry at people who complain that your
product isn't given for free. I hate it when developers are angry at people
who want their software to be free.
------
qjz
"The sites that I advertise on do not optimize for their user experience
because if their website is better than my textual ad, they don’t get paid."
Eureka! Offer a free web-based product so lame that it drives visitors to
click the ads of competitors. Even I can do that!
~~~
revorad
Think plentyoffish.com.
------
paraschopra
One aspect that I always worry about surveys is that there is tremendous self-
selection when it comes to who chooses to send time taking the survey. I also
have a survey put up at Visual Website Optimizer and never for once I got a
negative feedback. That may be because the product is awesome but more likely
it is because the users to choose to invest time answering the survey already
like the product and want to pay back to me in terms of their time.
What is more valuable to me is feedback from people who hated the product, but
irked them and what can I fix. Getting those people to fill the survey is, not
surprisingly, really hard.
Patrick, what is your opinion on this? Do you worry about self-selection too?
~~~
patio11
Self selection worries me a little bit, but I try to focus my worrying on
things I can change rather than things I cannot.
I got a lot more helpful negative feedback by surveying users than I do by my
typical approach of sitting by the email box waiting for someone to complain.
That is enough reason to do the survey for me.
Of course, test and measure to supplement the feedback people give you with
data on what they actually do. If they say "DON'T CHANGE A THING!" and your
data says only 5% of users come back, time to fix.
------
callmeed
I just did a year-end customer survey. I used a Google spreadsheet/form.
I considered incentivising it, but chose not too in the end.
_"Incidentally, you might think that you’d get lower quality feedback from
incentivized users. I did not get that impression from reading the results,
but I can’t reduce that to a simple statistical measure."_
I'm curious what gave you that impression–just the fact that people seemed to
give honest (i.e. good and bad) feedback?
Also, I'm curious what you think about other incentives–like drawing names
from participants and giving prizes? (for situations where you can't simply
give free product)
~~~
patio11
_I'm curious what gave you that impression–just the fact that people seemed to
give honest (i.e. good and bad) feedback?_
Folks answered the questions despite any technical requirement forcing them
to, and many of the responses looked like they had thought put in them. (Of
course, many users from both groups gave answers which were not triumphs of
well-expressed English but it didn't seem like folks were mostly typing
asdfasdfadf to get their freebie.)
I like guaranteed prizes over random prizes because my experience e.g. in
teaching is that surety is a powerful motivator/instructional tool. (Then
again there is also the WoW model of random rewards over repeated
interactions, but this is more of a one-off.)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Underpaid at work? Here’s how to play salary catch-up - oshanz
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/underpaid-work-heres-how-play-salary-catch-up-abhigyan-chand
======
oshanz
Quit and move on
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
BeepEvery: An open-source website that beeps - darxius
https://github.com/maxmackie/beepevery
======
darxius
This was a weekend project and still needs some polishing. There are a couple
of outstanding issues that I'll get to when I find the time.
------
jstanley
What do you see as the applications of this?
~~~
darxius
I outlined some uses in the readme.md on the repo. Basically serves to
immediately timebox something for you. I originally made it to time my
workouts.
~~~
jstanley
Gotcha. Pretty neat :)
~~~
darxius
Thanks, I appreciate it :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why Conservatives are Happier Than Liberals - philco
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/opinion/sunday/conservatives-are-happier-and-extremists-are-happiest-of-all.html?_r=1
======
Lockyy
How do these studies identify conservatives vs. liberals?
Surely your political ideology is a mish mash of lots of different views,
often conflicting? People may identify as one vs. the other, but that doesn't
honestly mean anything because those people haven't exactly evaluated every
belief they have then compared it to the master list.
I just don't understand this two slot approach to politics.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How to find high quality workplaces for developers? - turboat
While I have had a few great individual colleagues over the years, I've never worked with a great overall team or engineering department.<p>If you have successfully found a great workplace for you as an engineer, how did you do it?<p>For me, "great" means a team that consistently values quality, puts reasonable effort into application design and maintenance, and makes thoughtful decisions related to project goals and end-users.<p>I'm open-minded about specific technology choices. I do not expect people to work overtime, or to have exceptional passion for their jobs. I'm not demanding elite talent. Just that everyone is competent and makes an honest effort.<p>Have you used any concrete techniques to identify teams like that?
======
gregjor
Teams like that are built and grown, not found according to some criteria.
You’re asking about personalities and team dynamics, and company culture,
which vary according to circumstances and over time.
Companies tend to optimize for profit, not for the comfort of programmers.
~~~
turboat
Do you believe then that it's impossible to identify a good situation until
you take the job? There are no reliable job search tactics to select for
better settings?
I would say, for example, that a job interview helps provide a vibe for the
current situation at a company. But it's not a perfect signal, and as an
individual I can't go on that many interviews. Hence looking for other
approaches people have tried.
> Companies tend to optimize for profit, not for the comfort of programmers.
I believe that's a separate issue from my question. Seeking profit doesn't
force a company to hire incompetent or apathetic programmers. If anything it
wastes money on salaries that don't deliver as many new product features to
sell, or as many improvements that will increase customer retention.
~~~
gregjor
Great teams should be visible because they produce great products or services,
and because they have their pick of top people because word gets around.
Big companies will have multiple teams, maybe hundreds at companies like
Google and Apple. Some of those may be great to work with, others
dysfunctional. Adding more people can push the “greatness” in any direction
because interpersonal factors are first-order drivers of team productivity and
job satisfaction.
So it’s not impossible to identify candidate teams but I think it is
impossible to predict how you might fit and what you can get out of it.
I think word of mouth through referrals and contacts works best. Some
companies have reputations for building good teams, others are known for
dysfunction, but those generalization don’t necessarily predict what an
individual will experience. Even Google has unhappy employees.
------
atmosx
> For me, "great" means a team that consistently values quality, puts
> reasonable effort into application design and maintenance, and makes
> thoughtful decisions related to project goals and end-users.
My 2 cents...
I don't think it's about teams. IMO it's about company KPIs. Most industries
value speed over everything else for a reason: survival. Nearly all companies
use KPIs, take a look at the KPIs and you'll be able to spot which companies
value quality over speed and vice-versa.
The values you're looking for can be found in specific industries that cannot
afford low quality. I'm thinking Aerospace, Health, Military etc. Keep in mind
that on the flip-side these industries are very slow on "shiny new tech"
adoption, for obvious reasons. You might not enjoy working with cobol :^)
Another good fit could be software companies, especially in the security space
like 1Password for example (no affiliation). By "software companies" I mean
companies who's product _is_ software and not companies that are using
software as _means_ to an _end_. The first group has much stronger incentives
in delivering reliable software.
Quality software can be found in many open source projects. The fact that the
code is public increases the level scrutiny. HAProxy, SQLite, the Linux kernel
and PostgreSQL come to mind as well known high quality open source projects.
------
codingdave
> For me, "great" means...
You've done the first step - defining what you want. But your definition is
still quite objective. What attributes of a team can be observed when they
"value quality". What is a "reasonable" effort, and how can you see whether or
not they do it.
Figure out some visible outcomes from those traits, and look for them during
the interview process. Ask about those topics in the interview. There is so
much talk on HN about what is wrong with interviews, but when they ask you if
you have questions that is the part that is right - it is your opportunity to
dig into these traits that make a team great, and determine whether or not any
given team matches your desires.
I recommend people break it down even farther - before you step into an
interview, break those desires down in wants vs. needs. If you have a need
they do not meet then the team is not for you. If you have wants they do not
meet, you need to walk in accepting that it isn't perfect and either be
compensated for those imperfections, or have enough authority and/or autonomy
to try to invoke changes in the organization to improve it.
------
O_H_E
If you don't know about this
([https://501manifesto.dev](https://501manifesto.dev)) you will like it.
Looking up "9 to 5 developer" or 501 developer" on Google/hn to find blog
posts and tweets, then moving ahead to connect with these people or look for
places they recommend working at seems like a good idea.
On another note: word of mouth and networking. I know it kinda sucks,
information in people's minds is not indexable, but it is still a source of
high quality information.
------
quickthrower2
I think you can do some things. Honesty at an interview might help - and by
honesty I mean actually letting them know your weaknesses and dislikes - to
get rejected for the wrong jobs increasing he chance of ending up at a good
one. If you can kick ass at the technical tests the “I got fired because I
refused to do 60h weeks” might be perfectly fine.
Also it is mostly luck and teams can change in the 12 months it takes to even
begin to understand the dynamics or get productive with code. It’s a hard
human problem!
------
O_H_E
Yesterday I found this list: [https://github.com/poteto/hiring-without-
whiteboards](https://github.com/poteto/hiring-without-whiteboards)
Although not exactly what you are asking, this interview behavior could be a
reflection of internal values.
~~~
scott31
It is the opposite of what the OP is looking for. You can't have a high
quality workplace with people who fail at basic algorithm questions
~~~
non-entity
That's a pretty big jump to say anyone who works at a company that doesn't
whiteboard "fails at basic algorithm questions"
------
probinso
Small research companies or small contracting firms
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Uncropped “Tank Man” Photograph from Tiananmen Square. June 4th 1989 - paulcarroty
https://i.redd.it/kuadka7dpw131.png
======
air7
Wow, this gave me a nostalgic flash-back to my BBS days when I would download
a JPG and watch it appear line by line on my screen.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Someone finally found a fix for Chrome's anti-aliasing issues with text-shadow - coderdude
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4046142/google-chrome-text-shadow-rendering/4702984#4702984
======
coderdude
Chrome screws up text horribly in Windows when you use text-shadow. The text
becomes thinner and harder to read. After a lot of searching I've found a guy
who posted a fix that actually works. I tested it out on a layout I'm working
on and it's like a godsend.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Samsung responds to Apple’s FoundationDB acquisition by purchasing OrientDB - lvca
http://www.orientechnologies.com/samsung-acquires-orient-technologies-ltd-company-behind-orientdb/
======
terrywilcox
April Fool's Day needs to be cancelled.
~~~
anonetal
aah... maybe a little too subtle, especially for the TL;DR folks like me.
------
atonse
I only realized this was an April Fools' day joke when they actually said
"Samsung responds to Apple" in their press release.
Good job but yeah I'm already tired of April Fools day jokes. The idea is to
get hit by one or two. But the internet's made it so you get hit by 50 of
them.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Violin virtuoso plays in the subway, nobody notices [2007] - jpablo
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html
======
baddox
Assuming I was headed to or from work with something of a schedule to keep to,
I wouldn't stop. I have nothing against classical music or virtuoso
violinists, but I'm just not actively into it. If there was someone handing
out free tickets to see a famous violin virtuoso (but with the caveat that it
was starting immediately and I had to head to the concert hall immediately), I
also wouldn't go. This doesn't really say anything about people not liking or
appreciating classical music, or even people's ability to recognize a skillful
musician.
------
zipdog
A video of the performance is here:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=myq8upzJDJc#t=17s)
(A handful notice)
As a test of whether the public at large can recognize quality musicianship
(is the public uncultured, or is the diff between good to great musicians just
not significant?) I think playing in the afternoon would have been a better
time.
------
mhartl
The author (Gene Weingarten) won a Pulitzer Prize for this story in 2008. [1]
The movie linked in the article is good, but I wish they would release the
complete recording. I'd love to see it.
[1] <http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2008-Feature-Writing>
------
dromey
The lesson I draw from this is that this music, and more so its minor
celebrity performers and instruments are just not relevant and fascinating to
the commuters in the DC metro when they're trying to get to work. Even if they
don't listen to classical music at all it doesn't mean they have no taste or
should be looked down on.
------
gus_massa
Please add [2007] to the title of the submission. The firs thing I thought is
that I had read something like this before a few yeas ago.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Introducing the B3 JIT compiler - basugasubaku
https://webkit.org/blog/5852/introducing-the-b3-jit-compiler/
======
munificent
Really cool article. Posts like this always make me wonder what the state of
the programming would be if browsers hadn't sucked up almost all of the
world's compiler optimizers.
~~~
ajross
To be fair, GPU vendors sucked up a ton too.
But considering that optimized scalar code performance has moved, what, maybe
40% over the last two decades, I'm going to say "not much". Compilers are
sexy, but they're very much a solved problem. If we were all forced to get by
with the optimized performance we saw from GCC 2.7.2, I think we'd all
survive. Most of us wouldn't even notice the change.
~~~
munificent
> Compilers are sexy, but they're very much a solved problem.
Not for all of the other widely-used languages that still have incredibly
simple interpreters. Think how much energy could have been saved if Ruby,
Python, and PHP were all as fast as your average JS engine.
~~~
VeejayRampay
Exactly. Ruby would probably have massive adoption with JS-like speed.
~~~
chrisseaton
My implementation of Ruby, JRuby+Truffle, is as fast as V8
[http://stefan-marr.de/downloads/crystal.html](http://stefan-
marr.de/downloads/crystal.html)
~~~
pizlonator
Note that usually being "as fast as" a production JSVM means also proving that
you can start up as fast as JSVMs do. Have you done this?
~~~
ehsanu1
Search around for "Substrate VM". I see it referenced in some slide decks, and
it's designed to make JVM startup much faster.
Here's an old slidedeck that talks about it:
[http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/jvmls2013wimmer-20140...](http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/jvmls2013wimmer-2014084.pdf)
~~~
ksec
Wow thx for the reminder, I have forgotten about it already. I remember the
promise of Truffle + Graal + Substrate VM.
My god can't believe it was 3 years ago i read about it on HN.
------
cpr
Good to see the Webkit team (mostly Apple) continue putting serious energy
into JS performance. Take a bit of guts to throw out the whole LLVM layer in
order to get compilation performance...
It's also encouraging to see them opening up about future directions rather
than just popping full-blown features from the head of Zeus every so often.
(Not that they owe us anything... ;-)
(Edit: it's also damned impressive for 2 people in 3-4 months.)
~~~
MrBuddyCasino
Gutsy move indeed. Though I wonder, what was the development cost in real life
cash for gaining those 5% of performance?
~~~
pizlonator
3 months. Two people working on it (me and @awfulben).
~~~
titzer
Nice work, Fil. Looks cool.
~~~
pizlonator
Thanks! :-) Looking forward to more write-ups about TurboFan!
------
legulere
tl;dr: B3 will replace LLVM in the FTL JIT of webkit. LLVM isn't performing
fast enough for JIT mainly because it's so memory hungry and misses
optimisations that depend on javascript semantics. They got an around 5x
compile time reduction and from 0% up to around 10% performance boost in
general.
~~~
zepto
Actually the bigger reason is compile time - better optimizations based on
JavaScript semantics are a secondary advantage.
~~~
pizlonator
I think that's mostly accurate, in the sense that we wouldn't have done this
if it was _only_ motivated by specializing for JavaScript semantics. We had
gotten pretty good at having our high-level compiler (DFG) burn away the
JavaScript crazy and leave behind fairly tight code for LLVM to optimize.
But as soon as we realized that we had such a huge compile time opportunity,
of course we optimized the heck out of the new compiler for the kinds of
things that we always wished LLVM could do - like very lightweight patchpoints
and some opcodes that are an obvious nod for what dynamic languages want
(ChillDiv, ChillMod, CheckAdd, CheckSub, CheckMul, etc).
~~~
dochtman
But isn't it true that some of the things you ended up doing would make sense
for LLVM, or would most of them be invalidated by the kinds of optimization
passes that are common in LLVM?
E.g. stuff like making the in-memory IR representation better cacheable
certainly sounds like it's all-upside, and LLVM should just learn from your
project.
~~~
pizlonator
LLVM's use of a very rich (and hence not as memory efficient) IR is deeply
rooted. Phases assume that given any value, you can trace your way to its
uses, users, and owners. The LLVM code I've played with assumes this all over
the place, so removing the use lists and owner links as B3 does would be super
hard. B3 can do it because we started off that way.
------
alberth
>> "tl;dr: B3 will replace LLVM in the FTL JIT of webkit. LLVM isn't
performing fast enough for JIT mainly because it's so memory hungry and misses
optimisations that depend on javascript semantics. They got an around 5x
compile time reduction and from 0% up to around 10% performance boost in
general." [1]
Is this a knock on LLVM then?
I wonder then specifically if this brings to light any concerns over Swift
(another dynamic language, and was created by the same person who created LLVM
as well). [2]
Seems weird that the original creator of LLVM was able to make a dynamic
language such as Swift - without any problems.
[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11105231](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11105231)
[2] [http://nondot.org/sabre/](http://nondot.org/sabre/)
~~~
pizlonator
Swift is not a dynamic language. It's statically typed.
~~~
klodolph
This comment, and the parent comment, seem to be conflating "dynamic language"
with "dynamically-typed language".
~~~
derefr
What's a "dynamic language"?
~~~
barkingcat
Dynamic languages are (generally) not compiled ahead of time. It is possible
to have static typing in a dynamic language in the sense that the code is
interpreted at runtime (but the types are set statically in the code), and
there is no "binary" that one runs.
It used to be called interpreted language or "scripting" language - but I
think the vocabulary shifted so the word "dynamic" more encompasses what the
languages are about.
~~~
gpderetta
By that definition, AFAIK, Swift is neither a dynamic language nor dynamically
typed.
~~~
barkingcat
According to Apple itself, Swift is a compiled language, and there is no use
of the word "dynamic" or "dynamic language" on Apple's website
[https://developer.apple.com/swift/](https://developer.apple.com/swift/)
As to whether it is dynamically or statically typed - it's easy to tell - do
you need to indicate a variable is an int or a char or a string before you
start using it? and do you have to cast the variable to different types when
using functions that expect a certain type? If so - it's statically typed.
Dynamically typed languages allows you to give an character "5" to a function
that expects an integer (ie the number 5) and then automatically converts it
so for example the final result to 5+"5" is int(10). Or when you try to print
it, it gives you a string literal "1" and "0" without you having to recast it
yourself.
Obviously having dynamic typing makes things easier for humans, but the
computer has to keep predicting what the programmer is going to do with that
variable, so it has some runtime and compile time weaknesses in performance,
memory usage, as well as less strictness in compile-time checking - which
might allow certain types of errors to sneak by, whereas static typing is very
direct - you have to instruct the computer to do every casting from one type
to another, etc., and the statically-typed compiler is a sadist - it will fail
all your code over and over again until you get all the types right. The
difference is extremely noticeable even for a novice programmer.
[https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Swift/...](https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Swift/Conceptual/Swift_Programming_Language/TheBasics.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40014097-CH5-ID322)
says that Swift is "type-safe" (compiler is a sadist and will halt on all type
errors) but has type inference so you don't have to explicitly indicate the
typing of a variable. I would consider it to be heavily on the statically-
typed side though - since it seems the language won't let an integer variable
all of a sudden also be a string - you have to cast it properly first.
Not sure where the confusion comes from, probably from people putting buzz
words to everything that is new regardless of applicability.
Either way, you are correct, swift is not "dynamically-typed" and neither is
it a "dynamic/interpreted" language.
~~~
dragonwriter
> As to whether it is dynamically or statically typed - it's easy to tell - do
> you need to indicate a variable is an int or a char or a string before you
> start using it?
Modern statically typed languages often don't require this, because type
inference, so its a bad test.
> and do you have to cast the variable to different types when using functions
> that expect a certain type?
Modern statically-typed languages may not require you to do this (e.g., Scala
if the types involved have appropriate implicit conversions defined.)
> Dynamically typed languages allows you to give an character "5" to a
> function that expects an integer (ie the number 5) and then automatically
> converts it so for example the final result to 5+"5" is int(10).
That's the canonical example of _weak_ typing; many (maybe most) dynamically-
typed languages do not do this type of conversion.
A better test for a dynamically-typed language is what kind of error is
produced by sending a value of an unexpected tpe (including, as expected,
anything that can be handled by the applicable implicit conversion rules) to a
function: if it is a compile-time error, the language is statically typed. If
it is a runtime error, it is a dynamic language.
------
jlebar
It's worth noticing that most of the optimizations here are for "space" \--
reducing the working set size or the number of memory accesses. CPUs have
gotten much faster than memory blah blah. This is the sort of thing where
microbenchmarks may mislead you, because you WSS is probably not realistic.
I think we don't have great tools for helping with this sort of optimization.
One can use perf to find cache misses, but that doesn't necessarily tell the
whole story, as you might blame some _other_ piece of code for causing a miss.
Maybe I should try cachegrind again...
------
panic
Cool stuff! Does anyone know why the geometric mean is used for averaging
benchmark scores rather than the usual arithmetic mean?
~~~
jsnell
I would say that geometric mean is the usual way of averaging benchmark
scores. It has the property that a given relative speedup on a component
benchmark always has the same effect on the aggregate score. With an
arithmetic mean the component benchmarks with a longer runtime will dominate
the aggregate. Normalizing the results before applying the arithmetic mean
doesn't really help either -- the first X% improvement to a component
benchmark would still be valued more than the second X% speedup.
------
DannyBee
Interestingly, much of their complaints around pointer chasing, etc, are
things LLVM plans on solving in the next 6-8 months. i'm a bit surprised they
never bothered to email the mailing list and say "hey guys, any plans to
resolve this" before going and doing all of this work. But building new JITs
is fun and shiny, so ...
~~~
Joky
LLVM instruction selection is _slow_ , there is a "fast-path" which hasn't
received much attention (it is only used for -O0 in clang). The new
instruction selector work just started and will take a couple of years,
considering the tradeoff between spending 3 months on it and waiting a few
years for LLVM to be improved (without any guarantee of LLVM reaching the same
speed as what they did). See also some thoughts from a LLVM developer on
optimizing for high-level languages: [http://lists.llvm.org/pipermail/llvm-
dev/2016-February/09546...](http://lists.llvm.org/pipermail/llvm-
dev/2016-February/095463.html)
~~~
DannyBee
The problem with the path they've taken is it has a finite end.
This is why, when they compare it to v8/etc, it's kind of funny. They all have
the same curve.
Basically all of these things, _all_ of them, end up with roughly the same
deficiencies once you cherry pick the low hanging fruit[1], and then they
stall out, and get replaced a few years later when someone decides thing X
can't do the job, and they need to write a new one. None of them ever get to a
truly good state.
Rinse, wash, repeat.
The only thing these things make _real_ progress, is by doing what LLVM did -
someone works on it for years.
Let me quote a former colleague at IBM - "there is no secret silver bullet to
really good compilers, it's just a lot of long hard work". If you keep
resetting that hard work every couple years, that seems ... silly.
TL;DR If you really believe they've totally gotten everywhere they need to be
in 3 months, i've got a bridge to sell you
[1] For example, good loop vectorization and SLP vectorization is hard.
~~~
nadav256
Danny, you mentioned loop and SLP vectorization. One thing that bothered me
while watching the development of the SLP and Loop vectorizers over the last
two years was that developers who cared about SPEC added functionality that
increased compile time. I remember one change that added a second phase that
scans the entire IR in the SLP vectorizer to get a 1.4% win in one of the SPEC
programs. I hoped the FTL project would be able to enable the vectorizers, but
to my disappointment the vectorizers are too slow to justify the boost on
javascript workloads.
------
ck2
tl;dr
[https://webkit.org/blog-files/kraken.png](https://webkit.org/blog-
files/kraken.png)
[https://webkit.org/blog-files/octane.png](https://webkit.org/blog-
files/octane.png)
seriously though, dang, how many years of coding to get to that level of
expertise
------
Ecco
I'm really wondering about the politics behind all this. I mean both LLVM and
WebKit are Apple projects (even though they're Open Source). So it would have
been reasonable to expect an improvement of LLVM instead of ditching it
altogether.
~~~
pcwalton
I highly doubt there are any politics behind it. LLVM is an AOT C/C++ compiler
at its core, and the tradeoffs it makes don't always make sense for dynamic,
JIT compiled languages with extreme emphasis on compilation speed like JS.
Personally, I expected this to happen.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Review my app – Sbscribe, a social RSS feed reader (Google Reader alt) - OliverJAsh
Hi everyone,<p>The people who use RSS today are power users. By the general user, Twitter is used as a replacement service for RSS by allowing people to follow websites. Twitter was not designed for this.<p>Briefly: Sbscribe is as easy to use as Twitter, but powered by RSS and tailored for discovering and sharing content in one interface.<p>https://vimeo.com/69376016<p>For all the content you currently discover and monitor using bookmarks, RSS feed readers like Google Reader, and social networks such as Twitter — Sbscribe offers the same experience, in one place.<p>This is an idea I had three years ago when I realised the value of socially curated news through platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. At the same time, I noticed my non-technical friends were 'following' websites on Twitter. Sbscribe really aims to separate these two concerns — you follow people, and subscribe to websites. It has been in development since January.<p>I'm planning on launching a private alpha of Sbscribe in August some time (shortly followed by a public beta in October), and I've got a slew of ideas for how I can improve the "subscription graph", as well as plans for a mobile web app. I've gotten to a point where I would really appreciate some feedback on improving the concept and UI. It's also a good time to spread the message with the recent shutdown of Google Reader.<p>FYI: The service is backed by Node.js, MongoDB, and Redis, and on the front-end I am using Backbone.js and Marionette.js. It would also be great to talk with other developers familiar with this stack.<p>Oliver
======
bjtitus
Looks great!
A couple things:
\- Instead of saying "subscribed" and "following" say "unsubscribe" and
"unfollow" and change the colors (Twitter does it this way). That way I know
what that button is going to do when I click on it.
\- The top bar seems unnecessary except for search. If your avatar/username
are linked to your profile, all of the buttons would be duplicates. Not saying
that will work in the long run or be totally discoverable, but I think it
could help. You could move the search box to the left hand pane or something
if you got rid of the bar.
~~~
OliverJAsh
Thanks. I'll take both of those into account :-)
------
roldie
Looks great! I think you've found the right balance between RSS readers and
Twitter.
Just for clarity, Sbscribe is a self-contained social network? One follows
someone else's Sbscribe profile, not their Twitter profile?
~~~
OliverJAsh
Thank you! And yes, that's right.
------
mrtomahawk
Any plans for adding tags for items which a user favorites, or could you talk
a little about how the favorites work? Can I share my favorites? Are they
public/private?
------
Ashuu
Wonderful! I was looking for such a Google Reader alternative. Looks great
too!
------
gr3yman
I'm interested. Sign me up for the Alpha/Beta/whatever!
------
meerita
Bet you bootstraped all the design. Looks fantastic. Is it 2.3.2?
~~~
OliverJAsh
I didn't use Bootstrap, but I quite clearly took a lot of inspiration from
Twitter.
~~~
meerita
Wow. Why that? You could build around Bootstrap anyways without any harm. I
got tired of doing a new framework each time I start a project.
------
TsiCClawOfLight
wow, this looks amazing! If you need any more beta testers, I'd be glad to
join in.
------
Ramario
Looks very cool. Great design
------
benguild
Cool
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Twitter stock drops below $20 for first time ever - eecsninja
http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-stock-drops-below-20-for-first-time-2016-1
======
dylanhassinger
"the 10,000 character effect"
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A note on "The worst programming interview question" - kghose
http://kaushikghose.wordpress.com/2014/07/13/a-note-on-the-worst-programming-interview-question/
======
dmaurath
Like all interview questions, if they are not structured and scored, they're
unreliable as predictive tools. I'm always amazed that data-driven companies
ignore reliability and validity when hiring and evaluating performance.
His reasoning for using puzzle questions may have been face valid, but there's
no evidence that they're related to resilience (or anything else they're
supposed to measure) and the little research that has been done has shown only
a moderate relationship with cognitive
ability([http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Chris_Sablynski/publicat...](http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Chris_Sablynski/publication/237711972_Puzzle_Interviews_What_Are_They_and_What_Do_They_Measure/file/e0b495294b759cfbd6.pdf)).
I agree that a trial would be best if not for the lack of time. A good
alternative is an assessment center, which is a structured simulation of the
job. They're difficult and costly to develop but once they're complete they
can be reused year to year.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Please help Suicide hotline non profit - ammarkalim
Hi,
I belong to a developing nation, where we have almost no suicide hotlines. So i am thinking of starting a suicide hotline but I am facing some technical difficulties. I don't have a large budget to purchase Cisco unified communication system so i looking at something cheaper. This is what i am looking for :<p>1) People call to one unified number, a standard line number and it gets routed.
2) The calls should be routed to mobile numbers instead of landline numbers. This is a non profit venture which means that i can't employ people.So i want the calls get routed to mobile number of volunteers who are available at that time, despite their location.<p>I have figured out asterisk but i don't know if it is best solution for this. If it is, i don't know my way around that. So guys please advice me on this issue, you might end up saving someones life.
======
mryan
I would recommend Asterisk. You can set up "hunt groups" so that Asterisk will
try to route the call to one of your volunteers. However, you would need
multiple phone lines, otherwise your callers will be greeted with a "busy"
tone.
In the UK, there is a company called AQL which will provide you with multiple
distinct telephone numbers, all of which can be routed over the internet (via
AIX) to your Asterisk box. This solves the "busy" problem, but it does involve
some cost. Perhaps there is a similar telecoms company in Pakistan?
If not, you will need to rent multiple phone lines, all of which will have to
be physically connected to the Asterisk box. You will need two lines for each
concurrent call you plan to handle - one for the incoming call, and one for
the outgoing call to the volunteer's mobile.
Keep in mind you will also need to pay for the calls _to_ your volunteers'
mobile phones - if they have suitable internet connections then a SIP
softphone (or Skype) would remove the cost of outgoing mobile calls.
In fact, doing this via Skype could be quite effective - your Asterisk server
would be aware of all of the volunteers' Skype accounts, and could route the
call to whoever is online at the time someone calls. If no-one is online, it
could route the call to someone's mobile (to ensure _someone_ always answers a
call).
AsteriskNOW has a graphical interface which will let you set up all of these
features without needing to maually write dial plans:
<http://www.asterisk.org/asterisknow/>
My email is in my profile if you have any follow-up questions, or would like
more detail. Good luck!
I also second the other advice on: Affiliating yourself with an institution,
ensuring all volunteers are suitably trained, and investigating any possible
grants/funding from NGOs.
~~~
ammarkalim
hey thank you so much for your advice. Actually i am thinking of moving away
from landline to mobile routing, mainly because of cost and complications. I
am planning to implement Asterisk,in my house, which i am planning to use as
an office for volunteers. This Skype thing is really neat btw. AsteriskNow
looks really what i need, but i will shoot you an email if i find my self a
little lost while dealing with Asterisk. :)
------
dsplittgerber
I would recommend you affiliate yourself with some kind of institution - like
a University, a hospital or something like that. They may be able to provide
you with an unused room or a landline. I don't know about perceptions in
Pakistan, but you may have to consider keeping the support of that institution
secret, that is having a different telephone number prefix than the
institution that supports you.
It's very difficult to get funding for starting Suicide hotlines. Also, it's
very difficult to get adaquate training for the people manning the lines,
which is _far more important_ than anything else. You do not want to get into
a situation where you have a serious case and your telephone agent is not
prepared. No, 'just' being a medical doctor or psych student does not prepare
you for that. Do not rely on mobile phones, the connection may get dropped
anytime.
~~~
ammarkalim
Thank you so much for your adice...this is actually a really interesting
perspective. I am thinking myself of affiliating my self with a university so
that they can help me in providing training to volunteers. Yeah, i am thinking
of eliminating mobiles phones from the whole scenario and focus completely on
an internal PBX system. As for the funding, i hope that i can bank roll it
myself...i am not so sure right now, but considering the increasing number of
difficulties faced Pakistanis i think i need to start this as soon as
possible.
------
rdl
I would probably use asterisk and cellular fso/fsx interfaces (Ethernet sip
gateways with gsm air interfaces on the otter side) to keep mobile calling
costs down. In most countries calking mobile to mobile is cheaper than land to
mobile. Optionally one per gsm network, it all depends on call volume.
------
holychiz
uhh, wouldn't you also want a number of simultaneous incoming calls? I mean if
you get your service up and running, get everybody memorize your phone number
and then incoming calls are greeted w/ busy signals. That wouldn't be good for
suicidal situations, right ? :)
Google Voice is good for a single call but I don't know if it has call
distribution. What you need sounds like a PBX w/ call hunt-group feature.
I think there are grants and financial aids from Western non-profits and NGOs
available for things like what you're proposing. perhaps you can post request
for helps in those forums also.
------
jason_slack
Google Voice? I use it for similar criteria...
~~~
jdp23
that's what leapt to mind for me also. is it available in this country?
~~~
ammarkalim
no its not available in my country, i am from Pakistan. Other wise Google
Voice would have been ideal.
~~~
jdp23
hmm ... not sure about the pricing, but could Twilio potentially help?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Microsoft supports Epic in conflict with Apple - GamerNintendo
https://nintendosmash.com/microsoft-supported-epic-in-conflict-with-apple-asking-not-to-delete-its-developer-accounts/
======
anupamchugh
They have to. Quite a number of Microsoft games use Epic Games' Unreal Engine.
Even HoloLens
------
Gamermeme
As i expected
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to build a racing game - nej
http://codeincomplete.com/posts/2012/6/22/javascript_racer/
======
ANTSANTS
Really cool related project: A re-implementation of the original OutRun engine
in C++.
<http://reassembler.blogspot.com/>
[http://reassembler.blogspot.co.uk/p/cannonball-open-
source-o...](http://reassembler.blogspot.co.uk/p/cannonball-open-source-
outrun-engine.html)
<https://github.com/djyt/cannonball>
------
sievert
He says it's a simple demo and not a proper game but I found it a lot of fun!
~~~
watmough
Me too, a lot of people made a lot of money in the 80's by doing ports to home
computers that weren't this good.
~~~
jiggy2011
To be fair, programming games like this on an 80's computer would be much
harder since you couldn't just do everything in a scripting language and not
have to worry about CPU cycles.
------
arocks
As the article mentions, there are very few tutorials on racing games on the
web especially ones that use real 3D geometry calculations and not tricks like
Mode 7.
A big thanks to the author for the tutorial and an extremely enjoyable racing
game on the browser!
------
cocoflunchy
Ultraspeed version settings:
[http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/5382/080a8b4d79fa4842b495...](http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/5382/080a8b4d79fa4842b4952ed.png)
This game is 100x more fun to play than most of today's racing games...
------
jiggy2011
Two things that would improve it immensely.
1) Gamepad support , playing arcade style games on a keyboard is a second
class experience at best.
2) Fullscreen mode.
Brings back memories of playing old DOS driving games like the Lotus series.
------
shurcooL
This brought back old memories.
Back then I thought those games were so realistic. Imagine if there was Live
for Speed back then, it would've blown my mind.
Very nice level of polish.
------
hayksaakian
I wish html5 games would at least be considerate of mobile devices. Some kind
of virtual input at least.
I can't be the only person using their internet on a phone.
~~~
dinkumthinkum
You know this is like a tutorial/demo right?
~~~
hayksaakian
I'd consider this a pretty high priority. Even for a demo.
~~~
purplelobster
Not... really.
------
chopsui
Reduce road width to get > 60 fps.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
EU official used colorful, simplified cue cards in trade meeting with Trump - mpweiher
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/international-taxes/399042-eu-official-used-colorful-simplified-cue-cards-to-explain
======
growlist
I guess these cards might also be useful to help see through a drunken haze.
~~~
s9w
Comments (and articles) like this are a-ok, but even the slightest deviation
from the ultra-left bias gets flagged or removed within minutes or hours. All
while self-congratulatingly blasting against right-wing opinion bubbles? Okay
then
~~~
majewsky
I'm on the left side of the political spectrum, and I find it fascinating when
right-wingers spot "ultra-left bias" in forums that I find balanced or right-
leaning.
~~~
alliecat
Yup. It does entertain me, especially as my own experience of HN is center-
right at best.
~~~
mercer
HN can be pretty schizophrenic. It often seems to switch depending on the
topic, and topics where the various 'groups' collide can be very interesting
(or frustrating).
I like that kind of diversity as long as it doesn't lead to flamewars.
------
posting2fast
They may be dumb or an asshole or wrong about X, but they're still your
brother/sister. I don't mean Trump, I mean Americans, being a subset of
humanity. At the very least, they're people you're better off working with in
whatever common ground you have, than fighting endless and unwinnable battles
about someone being stupid or ugly as a distraction from how badly things are,
and how muddy and muddled the road forward is... it's really incredibly sad to
see that nation so torn up. Not over nothing, but also not over anything that
warrants _this_ , and the way it's treated. Just like Brexit, I get no joy
from it. It just sucks, and instead of a growing opportunity, it's just used
for more wounds. As if people really want it to get even worse; because
whatever the lips say, that's what the hands are _doing_ says.
How much has been _achieved_ by the eye rolling and talking _about_ "the other
side" (no matter by whom and at what "side") since Trump was elected? What has
been rationally been recognized as a problem, and what steps have been taken
towards solutions? Where have people made an effort to hear others, instead of
their bubble? I'm sure there are people outside the limelight who actually did
do these things, but from what I see being surfaced most of the time, it's
kind of a shit show.
I'm sure it's a scene in a movie or ten, where parents have a real bad fight,
but then realize that screaming at each other is something their kid should
not see, because regardless of who is right, or who wins, or whatever, seeing
them sink so low can do a whole other set of damage. This feels like that
movie for me, for too long now. Be wary of things that are hard or impossible
to come back from.
I'm not one who gives a crap about badges or offices, but even I feel uneasy
how the office of the President of the US is being damaged by this. I say by
this, not just "by Trump". You have to think of the future, too. And by this I
do not mean "no criticism", that is 100% not my point. Adults do have
discussions, and they fight, but being demeaning about it is orthogonal to
that and not good ever, in no context. And also no matter how wrong or dumb or
how much of an asshole someone is. Actually: The more they are, the more you
should "win", and the more important it is for that to be clean and fair, and
for that to allow them a route to "join the win" by actually coming around
from their own volition and voluntary insight.
I'm not American, I never was in America and there has been no president
during my lifetime I _really_ liked. I could not care, but I do. Because "
_any man 's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind_" as John
Donne wrote, and this can't go on. You are better than this, all of you.
Roughly speaking, "you" _invented_ being better at this, ffs. So take care, of
yourself and each other, and as in _actually_ do that. Please.
Sorry for it being so jumbled, not sorry for ranting... I adamantly believe in
the importance of this thing I don't know how to put well.
~~~
plaidfuji
Hacker News is a welcome respite from traditional American news sources whose
sole purpose today is wall-to-wall Trump coverage. Leave it to HN commenters
to find a long-term thoughtful and productive point of view when a Trump story
finally does make it up through the ranks.
I know when you say "brother/sister" you're talking in the abstract, but the
problem is that intra-familial political divides are increasingly uncommon,
I.e. Trump voters are unlikely to even be my third cousin. A recent precinct-
by-precinct 2016 election map published by the NYT showed that it's likely I'd
have to drive up to 30 miles to find a precinct that swung the other way, so
they're not my neighbor either. Major protests, which remain one of the more
productive tools of political communication because they require actual human
effort, happen in large cities and end up preaching to the choir, effectively.
The "Other Side" receives news of the worst elements of these protests in
coverage designed to make them angry, /because that's what news coverage today
is designed to do/. People read the news to get mad about something. They
click on the story that's likely to have the juiciest arguments. And it's not
the media's fault - yes they choose what to publish, but they have to maximize
profits and therefore clicks.
I think what people don't get, or keep forgetting or whatever, is that Trump
won because of the Midwest. Yes, he carried a bunch of traditional red states
that were going to vote for him anyway. But he won because he convinced swaths
of workers in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania that he would fight harder
to keep their jobs around than his opponent. And he's basically stuck to that
promise, whether or not what he's doing will actually help them in the long
term, or if he even understands the basic tenets of global trade (as this
article seems to insinuate he doesn't).
These are the people who are being alienated by Democrats' efforts to unseat
Trump at any cost, instead of pushing their own solution to the changing
economic environment. What they'll likely say in 2020 is "so he's racist and
sexist- but I still have a better chance with him than you."
As much as I'm nervous about the country being run by somebody who appears to
be incompetent, ego-driven and lacking long-term strategy, I'm more nervous
about what the left's candidate will be in 2024. In other words, if Trump is
the response to 8 years of Obama, what will the response to 8 years of Trump
look like?
Not sure where this is going so I'm gonna stop.
~~~
candiodari
> I know when you say "brother/sister" you're talking in the abstract, but the
> problem is that intra-familial political divides are increasingly uncommon,
> I.e. Trump voters are unlikely to even be my third cousin. A recent
> precinct-by-precinct 2016 election map published by the NYT showed that it's
> likely I'd have to drive up to 30 miles to find a precinct that swung the
> other way, so they're not my neighbor either.
In the vast majority of districts, even in California, Trump scored ~32% on
average. That means, minimum he scored ~13% (ie. 1 in 8 voters), average 32%,
and up to 80%.
The above statement is bullshit. In your immediate environment, at the very
least 13% of people voted for Trump, and very likely more. The odds that you
don't know, have as a neighbor, or are family to one of them, seem very remote
indeed.
That anyone in California (who would like to remain there) lies about their
political preference ... seems a much, MUCH more likely explanation.
So, the real situation (again, with overwhelming likelihood), is
1) If you take the 8 houses around yours, one voted for Trump, absolute
minimum. More likely 3 (in California, which would be the minimum). Out of
your family, 1 in 8 voted for Trump, minimum (given that it will be skewed to
the older ones, lets say, one of your parents, two of your grandparents seems
a good guess).
2) These people clearly feel that you would react unreasonably if you found
out, and that's why you don't know. Given how you describe Trump voters, I can
certainly see why they feel this way.
But of course, I get that it's very comforting for you to think like this,
even if it's extremely unlikely to be true. By the way, wasn't the whole point
of Democrat values that people can have whatever political views they want,
and you should support them regardless ?
------
docdeek
I know this is meant to feed into the whole ‘Trump is an idiot’ meme but is it
really that unusual? My CEO doesn’t have the time to read a half dozen 100
page reports - he wants a two-page memo; he doesn’t want a 200 slide deck, he
wants me to report the essentials on a couple of slides. Key points,
summaries, icons, top-line and bottom-line numbers - seems pretty normal for
briefing someone with a lot on their plate.
~~~
smadge
I feel like my expectations for a president have been unrealistically set by
the TV show the West Wing where president Bartlett is often staying up until
3am reading hundreds of pages of policy reports, not getting into Twitter
fueds and refusing to read anything handed to him.
~~~
growlist
Reagan took a pretty relaxed approach by all accounts.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Deku: How we built our functional alternative to React - gwintrob
https://segment.com/blog/deku-our-functional-alternative-to-react/
======
DigitalSea
Great work guys, but correct me if I am wrong but it seems the reasons you
decided to build Deku (if I am understanding what you have written) did not
seem to be anything other than you were not a fan of how React doesn't take a
completely functional approach to building components. Is that an appropriate
assumption to make based on what you have written in your article?
I feel a little disappointed to be honest. Because as I was reading, I was
expecting to read that you somehow had created a dom-diffing algorithm and
matching library that was more performant than React.js, but really it just
came down to the fact you didn't like how React.js looks. I was rooting for
you from the beginning, expecting to see someone had created something
superior to the much hyped React, but it didn't happen.
I don't want to hate on what you've done, looking through the code reveals
that you put some considerable effort into Deku, but it makes me wonder if
that effort could have been spent on perhaps learning the inner-workings of
React.js and adapting it to your needs in its own fork. But having said that,
Deku to me only has a few slight differences to React.js, the way components
are built in Deku in comparison to React.js doesn't appear to be that
dramatically different.
I don't want this comment to come across as yet another cynical HN commenter,
but I just cannot see anything comprehensively different to existing
solutions. I hate seeing talented development hours going to waste that could
have been used to make an already existing project better.
~~~
jeswin
> Deku to me only has a few slight differences to React.js
This framework is genuinely different from React in how you use it. I know
several JS programmers who prefer functional style, yet choose to incorporate
React-style classes because React is really good at what it does. This gives
them an alternative.
The components built with Deku will be different in programming style. And
that's really, really significant.
~~~
fiatjaf
[https://github.com/Matt-Esch/virtual-dom/](https://github.com/Matt-
Esch/virtual-dom/)
~~~
malandrew
virtual-dom is excellent.
Also check out mercury:
[https://github.com/Raynos/mercury](https://github.com/Raynos/mercury)
Or better yet, fork mercury and modify the index.js file and package.json.
It's a bunch of libraries masquarading as a framework (which is awesome
because it means it's modular instead of monolithic)
~~~
fiatjaf
What do you say about
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9529457](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9529457)?
------
jeswin
Excellent work. I just went through the source code; lean and neat. I am going
to offer this as an alternative to React in something I'm building.
To the new-to-JS programmers out here, I'd recommend waiting until a framework
reaches a certain level of maturity. React is not just about the core library
itself, it is also about the tooling and ecosystem. For example, you can use
React dev tools in Chrome. You are more likely to find how-tos and
documentation if you're using React. React Native might help with sharing code
if native mobile is in your plans.
Like the documentation says, what this framework really gives you is the
ability to skip the OO-style coding that React mandates, and use just
functions and modules.
------
fiatjaf
> So we looked for smaller alternatives, like virtual-dom and mercury. The
> documentation for virtual-dom was slim and we didn’t think the API for
> mercury was very user friendly.
Really? You found that it was better to write everything from scratch instead
of modifying mercury for your use (thus making use of the very good virtual-
dom library)? Do you know that the whole mercury source code[1] is only 126
lines of code?
Perhaps you should also know that your library usage examples, in the end,
look just like mercury usage examples.
[1]:
[https://github.com/Raynos/mercury/blob/master/index.js](https://github.com/Raynos/mercury/blob/master/index.js)
~~~
jaltekruse
I think that you are pointing at the wrong file, it looks like the library is
actually around 4k lines. The point may still be valid, but it was not a
trivial codebase to fork and they seem to have some architectural goals that
they didn't think any of the current libraries were well suited to work with.
[https://github.com/Raynos/mercury/blob/master/dist/mercury.j...](https://github.com/Raynos/mercury/blob/master/dist/mercury.js)
~~~
darklajid
Stumbled upon this [1] in their Readme:
_mercury is lean, it 's an weekend's read at 2.5kloc. (virtual-dom is
1.1kloc, an evening's read.)_
1: [https://github.com/Raynos/mercury](https://github.com/Raynos/mercury)
~~~
tel
Having attempted to read virtual-dom several times I highly disagree with it
being an "evening's read". It is highly complex, idiosyncratic, has a number
of difficult to grok internal conventions, and at least a few large algorithms
with next to no documentation. I think a lot of people deservedly like it's
API, but it is far from an easy read.
------
jefftchan
What about Ripple.js [1] [2], which Segment also released ~1 year ago? Is that
dead now?
[1] [https://ripplejs.github.io](https://ripplejs.github.io) [2]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7609816](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7609816)
~~~
anthonyshort
We're still using it on some of our projects, but we've found that no matter
how simple we make data-binding it still leads to a mess of event bindings and
state management.
The original plan was to make a virtual dom plugin for ripple but it wasn't
really possible with the way the worked behind the scenes.
~~~
TheHippo
Last commit: Jul 30, 2014
------
kansface
| It’s also a lot of fun
The only cogent reason offered for writing yet another front end framework ...
~~~
calcsam
Proposed new shorthand: YAJF
~~~
mofle
YAFS - Yet Another Framework Syndrome.
[https://medium.com/@tastejs/yet-another-framework-
syndrome-y...](https://medium.com/@tastejs/yet-another-framework-syndrome-
yafs-cf5f694ee070)
------
dustingetz
How is this more "functional" than react? What do you mean by "functional"? I
write clojurescript for a living and I don't get it.
~~~
platz
It's an interesting question that I also had. After reading through,
apparently "functional" means "no concept of classes or use of this."
------
Meai
Those were exactlY my grievances with react as well i was practically hoping
somebody builds a smaller sane version of react. It could be cool if this
would use html / shadowdom components instead of jsx, but i havent checked out
the src yet (is there a link?)
------
droidist2
Cool. Are you going to make a Deku Native for mobile development?
------
nwmcsween
This seems very much like mercuryjs except less modular as per a quick glance.
What are the differences between mercuryjs and deku besides the need to
compile-to-dom in deku?
~~~
Touche
They didn't invent mercury.
------
davexunit
I really dislike JSX. Mixing HTML and JS is not elegant at all. Why is it so
popular now?
~~~
sls
I reflexively dislike the notion, but am trying to consider it with an open
mind. The notion that a subtree of the DOM and some JavaScript that
manipulates it, designed together to create a single functional component,
represent a single concern and should be packaged together, is not
unreasonable.
I think it is very different than the spaghetti pages found in jsps and php
pages of yore, and the emphasis on component is a big part of why.
~~~
visarga
I took the same route - instead of trying to keep HTML in one place, JS in
another, CSS in another I made separate files for each component including all
the necessary HTML, JS and CSS in one file. It makes more sense because I
write them together and debug them together. Also, I don't need to find where
are the CSS selectors in a huge monolithic CSS file, or the same about JS
functions. I don't let a component become too complex, so the 1 file/component
ratio is just right.
------
k__
How does it compare to Mithril?
[http://mithril.js.org/](http://mithril.js.org/)
------
tel
Here's a draft d.ts file for anyone who'd consider using this with TypeScript
(like I would).
[https://gist.github.com/tel/a4b0980db350096afd53](https://gist.github.com/tel/a4b0980db350096afd53)
------
coldcode
What language are those examples in?
export let Button = {
render({props, state}) {
return <button>{props.text}</button>
}
}
~~~
johnernaut
ES6
------
fiatjaf
You should use monospace fonts in your code samples.
~~~
hereonbusiness
This was bugging me too, they are trying to but it's probably only working on
OSX machines since they're using {font-family:'menlo'} without a fallback, so
if the font is not available the code is rendered using Times New Roman
instead, at least on Chrome.
~~~
spinningarrow
That is really lazy: the least that could've been done is {font-family: menlo,
monospace}!
------
dukerutledge
Meh, I'd rather work with objects that enforce immutability and model monadic
sequencing than this sea of continuation passing.
~~~
ryanisinallofus
I think there are times for both but I agree with you. I'm pretty much only
interested in Multi paradigm languages at this point and after much
consternation I'm pretty stoked about the es6 moves and hope JS continues to
support all the ways to program things.
Immutability and lazy eval are both really well implemented with OOP
interfaces even though I consider both functional concepts.
I read this recently: semantics != syntax.
------
e12e
I wonder if they looked at riotjs[1] as an alternative. Deku is at ~10k,
riotjs is at ~4k. They both seem to have similar goals: no legacy support,
decent api, decent performance.
[1] [https://github.com/muut/riotjs](https://github.com/muut/riotjs)
~~~
e12e
Hm, I suppose if they wanted to avoid _this_ (which makes sense), riotjs might
not be a good fit. Eg:
[https://github.com/muut/riotjs/blob/master/demo/todo.js](https://github.com/muut/riotjs/blob/master/demo/todo.js)
vs
[https://github.com/segmentio/deku/blob/master/examples/todo/...](https://github.com/segmentio/deku/blob/master/examples/todo/todo.js)
Does look like riotjs might be re-factored in some interesting ways, if they
move it to ES6 though.
~~~
insin
That's the compiled version - this is the source for the Riot example:
[https://github.com/muut/riotjs/blob/master/demo/todo.tag](https://github.com/muut/riotjs/blob/master/demo/todo.tag)
------
tel
I'm curious about the decision to elide the synthetic event system. Does
Segment only target modern browsers? What is the compatibility delta on
including or eliding synthetic events?
------
_pmf_
React is a one trick pony. If the DOM is not the bottleneck for your
application, React has zero advantages over any bread and butter MVC
framework.
------
ConAntonakos
Congratulations! I think it's good to have competing options.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
LyfeLens – Drop Cam for your Car (and then some) - _AllenStone
https://www.lyfelens.com
======
jack-r-abbit
From the FAQ:
Q: Does LyfeLens have a subscription service?
A: While LyfeLens will provide superior functionality as a dash cam without a
subscription plan, the full LyfeLens experience requires a subscription. The
subscription activates the 4G LTE connection and the web portal, which are
necessary to support push notifications, WiFi hotspot, automatic cloud
storage, live video feeds, and speed and location monitoring.
So, without the subscription it is just a dash cam. But they don't have any
info on subscription price. I don't have a problem dropping $200 on a device
like this with the _full LyfeLens experience_. I don't have a problem paying a
subscription fee. But I'm not going anywhere near a device that basically
requires a monthly/yearly fee to make it more than just a dash cam... but
isn't upfront about the price.
~~~
_AllenStone
Good feedback. The subscription details aren't listed because carrier
negotiations are still taking place to get the lowest possible price. It will
likely be between $19-29/mo, depending on how much you plan to use the hotspot
feature.
~~~
jack-r-abbit
Fair enough. Assuming it is technically possible, I would suggest having a
lower tier plan for people that don't want/need a hotspot in their car but
still want all the other cam related functions. I certainly don't need another
connected device in my car to stream music and movies. But I would want the
camera to be able to connect out and do all that other stuff.
It does look like a nice device. Wish I had one last week when someone keyed
my car. :(
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Mac or Linux based laptop for development - mraza007
I’m coming from linux world but after using macbook for 3 months I’m tempted to buy a macbook buy they are pricey and at the same time I don’t wanna leave the Linux ecosystem
======
dividedbyzero
It totally depends on what kind of development work you want to do. Windows
apps? Then get a Surface Pro or the like.
iOS or native macOS apps? Get a Macbook.
Web development? It doesn't matter as long as you're comfortable using the
respective OS (macOS or Linux).
Data science? If you plan on using the built-in GPU for machine learning,
don't get a Macbook. The 16" ones have AMD GPUs that aren't well-supported for
ML, everything below has Intel GPUs which, while plenty powerful for day-to-
day usage, aren't usable for ML. Get a Thinkpad or Dell with a Nvidia GPU and
an Intel GPU, so you can use the dedicated GPU for ML exclusively. If you plan
on running such workloads in the cloud (as many do) it doesn't matter.
Backend work? Depending on the backend, it won't matter. PHP, Ruby, Java,
Scala, Python, Go, Rust, ... can be done on macOS and Linux equally well.
ASP.net and the like will require Windows.
Devops-heavy work? If you expect to be running lots of VMs on your laptop, get
a Linux laptop with as much RAM as you can cram into it. A 16" MBP with lots
of RAM will do, too, but that's going to be pricey. If you can run such
workloads in the cloud, it doesn't matter.
If you want the most versatile, also get a Macbook. It'll run Linux and
Windows virtualized just fine, macOS natively, you can do Android development
and iOS development, all in a single machine. Depending on your needs a spec-
ed up Air may be powerful enough, still not exactly cheap though. That's what
I do, but with a 13" Macbook Pro (plus GCP instances for ML training).
If you want to stick with Linux in earnest, and don't see yourself developing
native macOS or iOS apps in the forseeable future, get a Dell or Thinkpad with
good Linux support for your distro of choice.
~~~
mraza007
I see I totally agree with what you said. I have always thought about buying a
macbook but i always remained hesitant due to it’s high price but what I
believe is it’s worth its price I don’t plan to do machine learning for that
you probably need a heavy machine such as a desktop with GPUs. But coming from
a Linux world I wanna settle on one stable os instead keep distro hopping i
might just go with macbook
~~~
dividedbyzero
For what it's worth, barring catastrophic failure, which seems to be rare,
these things tend to hold up quite well. My previous Macbook lasted me about 6
years, I had its battery replaced half a year ago without any issues; it's my
backup machine now, and if it weren't a tad too sluggish at some tasks, I
would have postponed the upgrade another year. Lots of people (on HN, too) run
even older Macbooks, apparently happily.
Just be sure to get the latest gen, especially for the 13" Pros ones – you
absolutely want the 2020 keyboard (physical ESC key, no failure-prone
butterfly mechanics, really nice feel, "old" arrow key arrangement that is
easier to find by feel) and the newest CPUs. I have both keyboards (my own
2020 one and my 2018 work laptop) and the difference is crazy. But as I
mentioned before, have a look at the current Air as well – cheaper and still
plenty powerful, depending on what you need.
~~~
kingkongjaffa
my 2012 16gb ssd macbookpro is running okay the only things lagging behind now
are graphics for light gaming and the battery is pretty shot.
------
cpach
It all comes down to a matter of taste really.
IMHO: If you can afford it, get a Macbook of some kind. For a laptop/desktop,
I would take macOS over Windows or Linux, any day. IMHO, macOS has the best
apps and the best desktop experience. With Homebrew, you can install ~99% of
all CLI utilities that you could run on Linux.
I switched from Linux to macOS seven years ago and so far there are no Linux
applications that I haven’t found a good alternative for.
But to each their own and YMMV.
~~~
mraza007
Totally agree I’m just waiting for the new one to come out with arm chip
------
rvz
You can still have it all on a Macbook plus with Windows and Linux installed
too.
Macbooks have the g̶o̶l̶d̶ diamond standard of trackpads from any other laptop
you can find. Triple boot Windows, macOS and Linux without any effort or need
of 'Hackintoshing' and in general, Touch ID and Apple Watch authentication in
macOS on a Macbook take the pain out of repeatedly typing in passwords for
SSH, PGP, password-managers etc.
macOS on a Macbook just adds the added extra convenience Apple gives you which
doesn't exist on any Linux laptop which makes development effortless and gets
out of my way.
~~~
mraza007
Agreed with what you mentioned after using macbook for three months I’m
getting used to the eco system and the smoothness
------
meretext
I'm typing this on my primary machine, a late 2012 MacBook Pro. That's 8 years
of full daily use, travel, downloads, compiling, running Docker, etc. And I
really do mean every single day, morning onwards. Not saying all MacBooks will
stand up that long, but my secondary laptop is a 2010 MacBook Air, and it's
still kicking, though OS upgrades aren't available anymore for it. Aside from
the keyboard problems of the past few years (one of the reasons I waited to
upgrade), I've found them to be very reliable. Even my PowerBook with the
Motorola CPU was still running up until a couple of years ago when I cleaned
house. And as they can run OSes in VMs (Linux, FreeBSD, Windows ...), I feel
the MacBook Pro is the best development platform, and really, best platform
for most things. I have mutt installed for email, so you can still run all
your CLI 'apps' if you like. Yeah, it is truly an awesome machine. And this
one, 2 months before Apple Care expired, I took it in for a 'checkup' \-- they
replaced over $1,100 worth of parts, including the logic board. I hadn't
noticed anything wrong about the machine, but apparently it didn't meet their
standards. If you're already leaning that way, buy one, use it for a while,
and if it's not what you want later, sell it and consider the loss as you
renting the laptop for that period of time. I could upgrade now the keyboards
are fixed, but, well, this still works. Now I think I'll wait for the ARM-
based MacBooks coming hopefully later this year.
------
rrao84
I have done codec development, heavy C++ programming, web development (front
end), worked with MS Office exclusively for a year when I was a "manager" and
now onto to blogging and copywriting. My trusty companion in all of this has
been my Macbook Pro 2015 (Early) and it has never once crashed or stopped
working.
I have seen so many Windows machines come and go and nothing can hold a candle
to a MacbookPro. This is my personal opinion - ymmv. But, if you are looking
for a 1-time purchase that will last you atleast 6 years, and you use your
machines carefully, then a Macbook Pro is worth the investment.
Fair warning: I have no idea how the ARM-based macs are going to turn out.
~~~
mraza007
I see your workflow seems heavy just curious should I wait for arm based
macbook or buy the one with intel
~~~
toyg
The first ARM laptops won’t appear for another few months at least, and
they’ll be “1.0 Apple products” anyway. You should not buy a 1.0 Apple
product. Apart from the traditional quality-control issues of such releases,
community and support resources for it won’t be there for some time. Unless
you can wait for 2-3 years, if you want a Mac you should probably buy it now.
------
varbhat
I am using Thinkpad E14 . I find it perfect for my usecase. It supports Linux
100℅ , built very well, has best keyboard, has flawless efi firmware.
------
codegladiator
Get Windows. WSL is great. And the machines powering windows are also great. I
recently deleted my Ubuntu 18 setup and using Win 10.
~~~
mraza007
I just switched my laptop to windows after being on linux for three years and
have used three different distros But now i just want to settle on one thing
that just runs out of the box i think I’m gonna go with macbook
------
chagaif
You need both and windows as well.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Asi64 – A Racket-based 6502 assembler - soegaard
http://pinksquirrellabs.com/blog/2017/05/30/asi64/
======
__s
I've been wanting to do something like this but for WebAssembly & with Guile.
Feels like it be useful compared to the hand writing I've been doing, here's
an in-progress lexer:
[https://github.com/serprex/luwa/blob/master/rt/lex.wawa](https://github.com/serprex/luwa/blob/master/rt/lex.wawa)
with the janky wawa assembler being
[https://github.com/serprex/luwa/blob/master/scripts/wawa.js](https://github.com/serprex/luwa/blob/master/scripts/wawa.js)
------
t0mek
Similar solution in Haskell: [http://wall.org/~lewis/2013/10/15/asm-
monad.html](http://wall.org/~lewis/2013/10/15/asm-monad.html)
It allows to embed 6502 assembly in the Haskell code and use the latter as a
macro language.
------
davidjhall
Can this work with Atari 8bit and 2600 or just C64?
~~~
throwaway7645
I imagine the assembly is processor specific no?
~~~
royjacobs
They also have a 6502 :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What are you reading? - classicsnoot
Going to be asking this every few weeks. It's the unofficial HN book club/reading list! If you feel willing, please leave 3 titles: one you've read, one you are reading, and one you plan to read.
======
Amorymeltzer
Currently: Rereading Game of Thrones before the upcoming season starts
Recently finished: Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, HIGHLY recommend it. He
details the work he and his team at the Equal Justice Initiative have been
doing for death row inmates without proper representation, many wrongly
imprisoned for decades. Depressing but inspiring. Never go to Alabama.
Next up: Amory Lovins' Reinventing Fire, which has been on my list for a
while. Saw him speak a few years back and got inspired. (I've no connection
outside sharing the same name)
------
classicsnoot
OP: Just finished Cryptonomicon by Neil Stephenson. It was excellent and very
inspiring. Currently reading Markets Not Capitalism, a collection of essays by
multiple authors on the necessity of markets and the interference of central
control on said markets, which is obviously heavy but very informative. My
next book is The Known World by Edward P. Jones. It is about slaves. It is
supposed to be rough on the emotions but well done.
------
kat
Finished: Where I Belong, Alan Doyle. Light Christmas reading written by the
lead singer of Great Big Sea. I recommend it to anyone who grew up in a small
town!
Reading: Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture, Martin Fowler So far
so good. The first bit is overview, good contrasting examples of when to use
what pattern. I've slowed down now that I've hit the actual patterns.
Planning: Clean Code, Robert Martin. Recommended by a coworker.
------
pjungwir
Finished: a collection of Kafka short stories
Reading: Dover's abstract algebra paperback
Planning: Cambridge's Demosthenes Selected Private Speeches
------
coreymaass
In progress (sitting next to me as I type):
Getting More by Stuart Diamond
Classic Myths to Read Aloud by William Russell
The Power of Positive Dog Training by Pat Miller
------
simplegeek
Daily rituals; how artists work. Really liking it so far.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Preserving the Chrysler Electronic Voice Alert (2015) [video] - bane
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DwKqCZlKnw
======
DonHopkins
"BEEP BEEP BEEP! A door is ajar. SLAM! Thank you." -Zoltan
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYGYUtv18Gg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYGYUtv18Gg)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Startup Wisdom. 5 Quick Interview with Startup Founders - alincatalin90
https://gumroad.com/l/dfk
======
gamechangr
You should at least put the $1 sign in the title!!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Coronavirus: Boris Johnson taken to intensive care - DanBC
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52192604
======
davidwitt415
A few weeks ago, Johnson suggested in public that the US 'take one on the
chin' regarding Covid-19. How's that working out for you Boris?
I don't care if you think this is inappropriate, because I find it welcome
that for once a politician has to personally face the ramifications of his
fecklessness. If only more of our leaders would have to face up, we might have
real leadership instead of political posturing.
~~~
thu2111
He said the UK needed to do that, not the US. And in case you're in doubt,
yes, it's wildly inappropriate. To wish revenge on a politician who has from
the start delegated to his own scientific advisors, which is exactly what
people wanted politicians to do, is a sick thing.
You can go read the same advice he was reading on gov.uk, which states the
obvious very clearly: you can't stop a virus with no vaccine by keeping
everyone under indefinite house arrest. Even the dubious modellers admit that
lockdown doesn't really flatten the curve, it just moves it forward. There's
no solution in lockdown and it's wrong to pretend otherwise.
Given the information at the time (and still now) the original "let it spread
with timed and staged lockdown" strategy was very likely correct. It becomes
clearer every day. The hospitals aren't overflowing, the country hasn't run
out of ventilators - not even close - and yet the economy is trashed with
consequent dire impacts to the future funding of the healthcare system and
other public services. The country could clearly be coping with fewer
restrictions than it has now.
Despite that it's no surprise that the British left may sadly rejoice at
Boris' ill fortune. It's hard to forget the parties they threw when Thatcher
died.
~~~
DanBC
> The hospitals aren't overflowing,
We've converted all private provision to NHS provision; we've cancelled most
elective care; we've built more than one private hospital (NHS Nightingale in
London has 4,000 new beds).
We need at least 5 staff members to safely look after each ventilated patient.
That's dropped right down because of covid-19, and we've already soon big
changes in staff:patient ratios.
We're not at peak covid-19 yet, and we're trying to flatten the curve with
social distancing and isolation measures.
Despite all this our ICUs are overflowing.
Listen to this doctor in Wales (you only need the first minute to hear how
many patients they have)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejlbCmRJMW4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejlbCmRJMW4)
Or this junior doctor who works in A&E, who talks about the large changes in
patient flow:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN6Trgzf9kY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN6Trgzf9kY)
~~~
thu2111
Someone else found UK hospital admissions data. UK ER aren't just empty right
now but disturbingly so.
Part of the reason they're empty is that pneumonia and respiratory illness has
hardly moved, yet cardiac, gastro and others have fallen off a cliff. That
implies people with serious non-COVID problems are staying away from hospitals
when they need care, because they've been told they have to "save the NHS".
[https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/877600/EDSSSBulletin2020wk13.pdf.pdf)
------
agd
I don’t think this is the time for snarky comments about his politics.
He’s in intensive care and his wife is pregnant. I hope he gets better soon
and I hope his family are doing ok at this difficult time.
~~~
ColinWright
> _... his wife is pregnant._
Prime Minister Johnson is not married.
In 1987, he married Allegra Mostyn-Owen. That was annulled in 1993.
Twelve days later he married Marina Wheeler.
Johnson and Wheeler finalised their divorce in February 2020.
On February 29th Johnson announced his engagement to Carrie Symonds.
He is engaged to be married, and his fiancée is expecting.
But he is not currently married.
More details:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Johnson#Relationships](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Johnson#Relationships)
~~~
mprev
Any time someone gives the guy’s full name it’s a clear indicator of a certain
agenda. Give it a rest. Dredge it up when he’s recovered or maybe, if he
doesn’t survive this, after a respectful interval following his death.
~~~
ColinWright
I have edited my comment. It now no longer gives his full name, nor mentions
all of the documented relationships.
~~~
Bnshsysjab
I don’t think it’s the full names the parent comment is taking issues with
here.
------
haunter
“I can tell you that I’m shaking hands continuously. I was at a hospital the
other night where I think there were actually a few coronavirus patients and I
shook hands with everybody, you’ll be pleased to know and I continue to shake
hands”. (March 3rd)
[https://twitter.com/DavidLammy/status/1234828026933805057](https://twitter.com/DavidLammy/status/1234828026933805057)
------
jjgreen
He's been looking rougher and rougher as the week has worn on, I don't like
the guy but wouldn't wish this on him.
------
Freestyler_3
Where did all of these leaders get their information about covid from? Surely
not from the people who were watching the crisis develop in China.
Another stupid thing: People have been burning down cell towers because they
think 5G causes corona. Only to leave their area to be less covered by
telephone network, possibly making it harder to reach emergency services.
edit: I know many leaders have changed their views to more realistic ones, but
I do wonder how they could be so misinformed in the beginning.
~~~
gridlockd
> Where did all of these leaders get their information about covid from?
> Surely not from the people who were watching the crisis develop in China.
The official information coming out of China was "mostly mild courses, mostly
kills old people with pre-existing conditions, kind of like the flu".
Later, the official information coming out of Italy was "mostly mild courses,
mostly kills old people with pre-existing conditions, kind of like the flu".
Therefore, if you're not going to make a big fuss about the flu, why make one
about COVID-19? Quite a few _actual virologists_ took this stance, at least
for a while. The alarmists won the battle for attention, but not because of
superior information.
That was also before Italy was overwhelmed. Even experts underestimated just
how virulent COVID-19 was going to be and how many people were going to get it
in such short order of time.
However, the fact remains that it's mostly mild courses, mostly kills old
people with pre-existing conditions - kind of like the flu.
If _the flu_ kills an otherwise healthy person, which happens all the time,
it's not news. COVID-19 is an unprecedented media spectacle, with
unprecedented reactions from governments across the world, mob mentality is
driving more and more drastic responses.
It's _not_ a foregone conclusion that these drastic responses were the right
measure. Sweden has done pretty much nothing, yet their graphs don't look any
worse than those of other European countries. Perhaps they're covering it all
up, but perhaps all of this social distancing, all this shutdown does very
little to slow the spread of this disease if just a few people go shopping
once a week, if just a few people go to work and carry it home. We _don 't
know_, because we don't know how COVID-19 actually spreads.
History is written by the winners. Had COVID-19 turned out less severe, the
alarmists would've been decried as oversensitive fools. Now the anti-alarmists
are being portrayed as irresponsible. Yet, both acted in good faith on _the
same information_. Don't forget that the price of the shutdown is a major
recession, it's not a simple political decision to make. The principle of
charity must be applied.
~~~
rconti
>The official information coming out of China was "mostly mild courses, mostly
kills old people with pre-existing conditions, kind of like the flu".
>Later, the official information coming out of Italy was "mostly mild courses,
mostly kills old people with pre-existing conditions, kind of like the flu".
In both cases, the information _also_ included extremely rapid uncontrolled
spread, a much higher death rate than the flu, and overwhelming available
medical resources. This was known for a _very_ long time; as far back as early
January in China.
>The alarmists won the battle for attention, but not because of superior
information.
I'm not sure calling the people who were correct "alarmists" is aging well.
And you still are apparently dismissing it as 'luck', that they were correct,
because you state their information was no better.
>Even experts underestimated just how virulent COVID-19 was going to be and
how many people were going to get it in such short order of time.
I seem to recall predictions of crazy R0 values for coronavirus back in early
January. I, too, thought it was probably at the "overdone" side of things,
again, in early January, before we had more information. But the picture
started becoming much more clear by early February, and certainly mid-
February. And we continued to do NOTHING in the US, at least into mid-March.
And even once we spent a month ignoring the devastating consequences in Italy,
much of the US hand-waved it away, and explained that they're all old people,
and it could never happen here.
Then once it started happening here, we started hearing from governors of
southern states, explaining how it can't happen THERE because they're not
Washington. Or California. And then it became "we're not New York". I'm sorry,
but the level of _intentional ignorance_ on this matter has played out over
many, many months, over and over again, in precisely the same, predictable
pattern. And here you are, claiming nobody could have known, and the alarmists
got lucky.
>History is written by the winners. Had COVID-19 turned out less severe, the
alarmists would've been decried as oversensitive fools. Now the anti-alarmists
are being portrayed as irresponsible. Yet, both acted in good faith on the
same information.
Wrong.
~~~
gridlockd
> In both cases, the information also included extremely rapid uncontrolled
> spread, a much higher death rate than the flu, and overwhelming available
> medical resources.
A high death rate in the beginning isn't meaningful. Early on during the Swine
Flu, mortality was estimated at 0.5%[1], later estimates were ten times
lower[2].
This was described as the "tip of the iceberg" phenomenon in a Q&A on a
Harvard website[3] as late as early March. That section was later removed.
As for "uncontrolled spread", we've all seen footage of masses of people
storming the hospitals in an entirely unsanitary manner, we've seen people
getting dragged off the streets, for the crime of having an elevated
temperature, then getting force-quarantined in open halls with no regards to
safety. If this was an overwhelmed healthcare system, it wasn't clear that the
blame could be put on the virus.
> This was known for a very long time; as far back as early January in China.
It wasn't, but hindsight is 20/20\. In mid-January there were less than 500
confirmed cases and no good estimate on the number of unconfirmed cases. Less
than thirty people had died, over the course of two months in which likely a
comparable number of people in Wuhan died from Influenza, but didn't make the
news.
> I'm not sure calling the people who were correct "alarmists" is aging well.
They _were_ the alarmists at the time and will forever have been so. Some of
their predictions may have turned out correct, others may yet turn out
correct, others may turn out incorrect.
The Swine Flu, as predicted, _could_ have killed 120 million people[4], but
then it _didn 't_, even without any shutdowns.
> And you still are apparently dismissing it as 'luck', that they were
> correct, because you state their information was no better.
Of course their information wasn't any better. Everyone had access to the same
information. The difference is in its interpretation, not so much based on
luck but personal disposition. Again, not _all_ virologists made the same dire
predictions.
> I seem to recall predictions of crazy R0 values for coronavirus back in
> early January. I, too, thought it was probably at the "overdone" side of
> things, again, in early January, before we had more information.
Yes, you saw _predictions_ of crazy R0 values that _you yourself_ weren't
ready to believe. At the time it wasn't solid information, and it never will
have been.
> But the picture started becoming much more clear by early February, and
> certainly mid-February.
By mid-February, less than 2000 people had died worldwide from COVID-19,
compared to at least 10,000 deaths from Influenza in the US alone. I'm not
saying the "flu comparison" is a valid comparison, but at that point in time,
it was still allowed to be made, even by experts.
> And we continued to do NOTHING in the US, at least into mid-March.
Neither did most European countries. Even in Italy, there was no nation-wide
shutdown until March 9th.
> Wrong.
Wrong how? Your comment is a good example of an inaccurate historical account,
as written by those who ended up on "the right side".
[1]
[https://www.bmj.com/content/339/bmj.b2840.full](https://www.bmj.com/content/339/bmj.b2840.full)
[2]
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2784967/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2784967/)
[3]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20200304132800/https://www.healt...](https://web.archive.org/web/20200304132800/https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/as-
coronavirus-spreads-many-questions-and-some-answers-2020022719004)
[4] [https://metro.co.uk/2009/04/26/swine-flu-could-kill-up-
to-12...](https://metro.co.uk/2009/04/26/swine-flu-could-kill-up-
to-120m-57725/)
~~~
rconti
>Yes, you saw predictions of crazy R0 values that you yourself weren't ready
to believe. At the time it wasn't solid information, and it never will have
been.
You're correct. It wasn't a "gotcha" on your part. I volunteered that
information to point out that I was not an alarmist, I wasn't ready to believe
the most "alarming" predictions, and yet, somehow, it was _still_ clear to me
and the entirety of mainstream thought in the US, how bad it was going to be,
before the most contrarian commentators were willing to admit.
>Neither did most European countries. Even in Italy, there was no nation-wide
shutdown until March 9th.
In the US, it was still theoretically possible to contain it with "just" 19
confirmed cases at the end of February, even though, of course, that meant
likely 10 times+ as many people had it, and were spreading it, when community
spread was first reported on February 29[1]
Once community spread was found in the US, and _given_ our lack of ability to
test for it, it was a foregone conclusion that it would spread like wildfire
in the US, because containment is impossible if you don't know who's infected
but asymptomatic.
Already in that first week of March, tech companies such as LinkedIn were
already sending people home for the month[2], because it was beyond clear we
were going to see rapid community spread. "We are 10 days behind Italy" was a
common saying in mid-March.
My own company sent us home later that first week, as we had _direct links_ to
places with known community spread. It was out of an abundance of caution, as
I don't believe anyone ever got infected. It was an aggressive move, but it
turned out to be the right move.
10 days later, a shelter in place order was sent out for the ENTIRE BAY AREA,
and then a few days later, for the entire state.
And here we are, 3 weeks later, folks in Georgia saying "we are not Louisiana"
(I had to update that from "we are not California" and "we are not New York"
because the states ignorant leaders compare themselves to keep shifting as one
by one the dominos fall)
>By mid-February, less than 2000 people had died worldwide from COVID-19,
compared to at least 10,000 deaths from Influenza in the US alone. I'm not
saying the "flu comparison" is a valid comparison, but at that point in time,
it was still allowed to be made, even by experts.
It was still "allowed to be made" by people who cannot perform simple
extrapolation.
Yes, just because a graph is going up today does not mean it will go up
tomorrow -- _absent any other evidence_
But with a known long incubation period, and roughly 1 month between infection
and death, you can know for virtual fact that it's not going to stop at 2000
deaths when _known_ infections is an order of magnitude higher, and there is
basically no testing, and absolutely no reason for it to have stopped
spreading. (eg, no preventive measures in place, no reason to expect the virus
to die off on its own, etc).
And now we have a bunch of people who listened to contrarian opinions to
convince themselves that "it couldn't happen here" are going back to find
"evidence" to piece together a tenuous line of thinking that could have led
even an informed person to be wrong. But constructive a narrative from
historically cherry-picked statements is not the same thing as having weighed
the available evidence at the time.
[1][https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/02/three-
st...](https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/02/three-states-
report-new-community-spread-covid-19)
[2][https://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-tells-employees-
to-...](https://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-tells-employees-to-work-from-
home-over-coronavirus-concerns-2020-3)
------
MiguelVieira
From the CDC: "Mortality among patients admitted to the ICU ranges from 39% to
72% depending on the study. The median length of hospitalization among
survivors was 10 to 13 days."
------
nojvek
I hope Boris gets out of this as a new leaf. It’s also a real wake up call to
politicians that what they say in public and their policies have serious
repercussions.
Every decision they make in the current pandemic climate could take or
potentially save lives. Some of them being their loved ones.
------
aazaa
Johnson, like many world leaders, vastly underestimated what he was facing:
> "I was at a hospital the other night where I think there were a few
> coronavirus patients and I shook hands with everybody, you will be pleased
> to know, and I continue to shake hands," he said. "People obviously can make
> up their own minds but I think the scientific evidence is… our judgement is
> that washing your hands is the crucial thing."
[https://www.newsweek.com/boris-johnson-says-shaken-hands-
cor...](https://www.newsweek.com/boris-johnson-says-shaken-hands-coronavirus-
patients-1490214)
This may be the first crisis where shooting your mouth off about things you
know little about backfires - quickly and lethally.
I suspect there will be many instances of this sort of thing in the months to
come. False predictions about "light at the end of the tunnel." Panicked re-
instatements of lockdowns after premature lifting. Miracle cures that turn
deadly because drugs are much more complicated than they seem.
All the while cheerleaders with hidden agendas will continue to promote
dangerous, ill-informed opinions.
~~~
neilwilson
That was weeks ago. The facts changed and he changed his mind. Yet nothing he
has said since then erases the original sin apparently.
Now he’s in ICU and may not survive.
Let those without sin cast the first stone.
~~~
Axsuul
I think "may not survive" is setting the wrong tone here since the odds of him
surviving are good.
~~~
parsimo2010
Consider that people in ICU have a much higher mortality rate than the general
population, that the government is going to bias their reports towards calm
and stability, and that most people would even call a 20% probability of dying
pretty bad.
Saying that “he may not survive“ is perfectly reasonable. It’s not saying he’s
definitely going to die. I hope the media wouldn’t sensationalize it like
this, but there is definitely a chance that he will die.
~~~
redis_mlc
There's 66% - 90% mortality after ventilator use by corona patients.
~~~
baha_man
He's not on a ventilator yet as far as we know
------
mandeepj
Why no Chinese politician has contracted Corona? Did they understand the risk
from day 1?
Heck, none of their other cities were impacted by it but the disease has made
its way to London, NYC, and all the major other cities.
~~~
haunter
How many times have you seen Johnson, Trump, Merkel, Macron etc. in facemask?
Whenever they shown Xi Jinping in Wuhan or any member of the politburo
visiting hospitals and such they were all wearing masks, sometimes even rubber
gloves too.
~~~
nojvek
It’s not the first battle of Chinese with viruses. SARS, bird flu, swine flu.
They’ve learnt their lessons.
I do hope they get their animal market hygiene together. It’s a bit crazy how
many viruses have originated from China.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Startup Marketing - GroupRefer
A lot of startups have the chicken and egg problem that PG describes. For example, a dating site is not great unless you have a lot of people registered as the point is to have many people there.<p>My startup, Grosper.com suffers from the same problem. We do group buying for real estate in the Middle East and the as the description suggests, we need a lot of early users so that deals go through. If deals don't go through early on, more members won't come - a vicious cycle.<p>This post is about asking for help to market my startup. Any comments about marketing ideas on a shoestring budget or resources such as great books by great mentors (More 37 Signals, less College Professor) would be appreciated.
======
rcavezza
Here's a few things I've seen work for a shoestring marketing budget.
Reach out to bloggers in this niche. If this is something that doesn't exist
in some capacity and can really help people, maybe some bloggers will mention
it and you can get a few subscribers.
Look for parallel partners. Maybe you can negotiate where someone mentions
your daily deals in their daily deal email and you can mention their deals in
four of yours to mitigate their risk.
Trade resources for mentions. Maybe you have a specific expertise that you can
sell to someone in a similar space. Instead of charging money, barter a
mention in their newsletter or blog.
Start a blog and create catch titles that people can get attached to in your
niche. Something like 8 secrets to a free vacation in Dubai can go viral.
Write featured blog posts for related blogs. This is nice because it usually
guarantees an existing audience will read your post.
~~~
GroupRefer
one of the issues in the Dubai is the lack of prominent bloggers. You'll find
most users following prominent international blogs rather than any local ones.
Strong idea about trade resources though. We have started our own blog. We
hope to get some sort of following for that.
------
jonnycombust
You need to focus on content marketing around your story - which, as I gather
from your post, is the real estate opportunity in the middle east. Become an
industry thought leader and champion.
Write some great blog posts that have real insight and just a very light sales
pitch, and get them syndicated on sites that appeal to the middle eastern real
estate and emerging business market. If it's a niche opportunity, which it
seems like, then there should be several relevant niche media who, like you,
are aiming for growth in the market, and can mutually benefit from great
content you can provide them.
Basically, you need to identify partners who are vested in the industry's
growth like you are, and figure out ways to be an asset to them and not just
an advertiser. And the easiest way to do this is to provide great content.
\- @jonnystartup
------
dholowiski
Did you see PG talking to the guys who were doing the 'matchmaking' dating
site on this weekend's startup school? He told them that instead of making it
into a dating site, find some really good matchmakers, treat them really nice,
and reward them, and the masses of users will come later. I don't know how it
applies, but if you're having a chicken/egg problem, try changing it around to
an egg/chicken problem... Try turning the whole idea on it's head.
~~~
GroupRefer
this is actually one of the ways we considered. We called it the Tastemakers
(interior designers), basically, getting people with good taste to recommend
great products to put in your home, so users would be drawn to our website for
the content.
------
akshay
See if these might help - [http://howtolaunchastartup.com/2011/06/20/21-must-
read-resou...](http://howtolaunchastartup.com/2011/06/20/21-must-read-
resources-for-start-up-marketing/)
~~~
GroupRefer
hey akshay, that actually does. thanks a lot, appreciate it.
------
Linkdip
1\. You have a two-sided marketplace problem. Go read up on that.
2\. Don't listen to the Silicon Valley guys. They don't know what marketing
is.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Is there a site dedicated to startup news and job postings? - geuis
Is there one site dedicated to news about startups, while also providing a list of available jobs? In my mind it's a duo tech news site and craigslist job search.
======
david927
For start-up jobs there's startuply.com
For start-up tech news and information, there are a million sites for every
taste and size.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Troubling discrepancies in Rosenhan's “On Being Sane in Insane Places”? - Anon84
https://nypost.com/2019/11/02/stanford-professor-who-changed-america-with-just-one-study-was-also-a-liar/
======
mlthoughts2018
This feels honestly like a pretty weak criticism of the original paper. First
there are all kinds of red herring details about Rosenhan’s “life of the
party” demeanor and a book deal, very much as if to set you up to believe he
was a manipulator on these accounts alone.
After that there is literally just one fact that possibly indicates
manipulating the original study data, which is allegedly omitting one
participant’s experiences which were “positive” (as self-reported decades
later).
Even if true, the overall study only included some tiny sample size, and if
even only 1-2 had harrowing or abusive experiences, which Rosenhan himself had
in his own faked hospital stay, wouldn’t that be enough to prove the general
point that abuse was shockingly common and patient treatment in these
facilities at that time was seriously troubled?
Meanwhile this article itself is also pushing various book ads for the
author’s own book.
My takeaway is that Rosenhan may have selectively excluded data, but the point
of his paper was much more qualitative and directional in a direction that
turned out to be true and led to a huge overhaul of mental health facilities
for the better.
If we can prove Rosenhan manipulated data, we should acknowledge that, and it
should not be treated lightly. But it also doesn’t seem to invite sweeping
reassessment of the original paper at all.
This piece just seems like somewhat of a publicity grab.
~~~
dang
Thanks. That seems like enough to add a question mark to the title above.
------
ScottBurson
NYT piece on the same book:
[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/02/books/susannah-cahalan-
gr...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/02/books/susannah-cahalan-great-
pretender.html)
~~~
dang
Thanks, that's interesting. I've pilfered the phrase "troubling discrepancies"
to replace the baity title above.
------
tcj_phx
The United States' mental health system feeds itself with its palliative
approach. As bad as the system might have been 50 years ago, in Rosenhan's
time, I'm sure it's much worse today, on account of 50 years of development of
non-helpful drugs. For example, one of my sources says that each generation of
anti-depressants was less effective than the generation that preceded it. The
MAOI's were reasonably-effective for short-term use [2], but fell from favor
as their patents expired. Their replacements were less effective, but patent
profits paid for drug companies to promote them to doctors. The SSRI's are the
least-effective of all. Second-generation "atypical antipsychotics" aren't
appreciably better than first generation antipsychotics, and in some cases are
actually much worse (some of the latest and greatest antipsychotics, which are
actually anti-serotonin drugs, might be worth using on a very-short-term
basis).
Robert Whitaker says that 20th century psychiatric medications take what would
have been an episodic condition, and make it chronic [0][1].
There are now vastly more people who need help than capacity to help them.
I've recently come to appreciate that we have a bifurcated approach. People
who have no one to advocate for them get a catch-and-release treatment,
because the holding tanks can only hold people for a few days before they have
to be transferred for involuntary evaluation or released to the street. Those
with an advocate are given priority.
In my state, the process for helping people who don't realize they need help
goes 48-hour hold -> involuntary evaluation (3 days max) -> filing of petition
for court-ordered treatment (weeks and weeks).
My friend got the catch-and-release treatment once. She'd escaped from her
involuntary treatment program, where her ability to control her alcohol intake
(the actual cause of her condition) was not helped by the palliative
psychiatric drugs she was forced to take. She did well for a month, then
resumed drinking.
After a few weeks of drinking she disappeared. Maybe two days later she called
and asked me to pick her up from "big city", but didn't give a specific
location. A few days later I got a call from a mental hospital. She said she
was being transferred for involuntary evaluation, then she stopped calling.
Her father said she'd been released.
I suggested to her father that we should file a missing person report. He
concurred. When I called the police, the officer said they'd prefer I come
down to the main station or a precinct to file the missing person report in
person, so the officer would know I wasn't harassing someone. I was also told
it'd help to get her family involved too.
So her father and I went down to the main station. The officer working the
desk was skeptical, but after a few minutes he agreed to look up my friend.
When he came back and said my friend wasn't missing, because they'd taken her
back to the crazy-tank the day before.
Her father had already hired a lawyer. The social worker said they have dozens
of petitions for court-ordered evaluation expire every week, on account of not
having room to transfer the patients for their evaluations. I think the social
worker greased the wheels to make sure my friend wasn't released to the street
again.
From the fine article:
> But the problem is that scientific research needs to be sound. We cannot
> build progress on a rotten foundation.
The 'rotten foundation' in our mental health system is treating people's
symptoms without concern for their cause. Scientists have actually figured out
most of the causes behind patients' symptoms, so we don't actually have to
treat them palliatively anymore. It's just conveniently profitable for the
system to play make-believe that our current selection of FDA-approved patent
medicines are the best we can do.
[0]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15353109](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15353109)
[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12068958](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12068958)
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoamine_oxidase_inhibitor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoamine_oxidase_inhibitor)
\- "New research into MAOIs indicates that much of the concern over their
supposed dangerous dietary side effects stems from misconceptions and
misinformation, and that it is still underutilized despite demonstrated
efficacy. ..."
~~~
seibelj
I wish people would stop saying online that SSRIs are a scam. My life was
saved by Lexapro, an SSRI. I have taken it for almost 8 years now and the
difference within 2 weeks of starting treatment was night and day. Literally
stopped years of anxiety and depression that made life unbearable and turned
them into a manageable condition. I tried many other “cures” - diet, exercise,
mindfulness, therapy, and on and on - and nothing helped like Lexapro did.
If you need help don’t get spooked by the parent commentator. Help exists.
~~~
tcj_phx
> I wish people would stop saying online that SSRIs are a scam.
Some people like their SSRI's, some people kill themselves soon after starting
that class of drug [0] (presumably due to the serotonin syndrome [1]).
> My life was saved by Lexapro, an SSRI.
My friend told me about how Lexapro seemed to help her. But it also didn't
keep her from relapsing on cocaine, a pro-dopamine drug. The MAOIs are much
more useful for a cocaine-like boost that doesn't make them crash after 20
minutes than the SSRIs, which take weeks/months before most people notice any
benefit, and which help some people by helping them "not care" about their
life situation.
20 years ago teh scientists figured out that it's not extra serotonin that
helps people, but the SSRI's effects on neurosteroids:
[https://www.ucsf.edu/news/1999/11/5059/scientists-
identify-n...](https://www.ucsf.edu/news/1999/11/5059/scientists-identify-new-
pathway-antidepressant-action)
> If you need help don’t get spooked by the parent commentator. Help exists.
My observation is that some people don't actually get the help they need, and
deteriorate from defective prescriptions. My friend needed help getting her
drinking under control, but all she got was medically assaulted with anti-
dopamine drugs (so-called "antipsychotics").
The tragedy is that we actually know how to help people. Some of the MAOIs are
much better drugs to use temporarily while helping people deal with "stress".
[0] [https://www.madinamerica.com/2016/10/11-9-million-paxil-
suic...](https://www.madinamerica.com/2016/10/11-9-million-paxil-suicide-
verdict-inside-story/) \- I think the damages were overturned on appeal.
[1]
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5370302/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5370302/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Darwin-xnu: The Darwin Kernel - adamnemecek
https://github.com/apple/darwin-xnu?
======
0x0
The big news here is the inclusion of arm and arm64 specific files, which used
to be excluded in source drops previously.
~~~
diminish
So is it a totally new story that iOS kernel is open sourced?
~~~
mindcrash
No, because this thing, darwin-xnu AKA the OSX/iOS microkernel, was already
opensourced through
[https://opensource.apple.com/](https://opensource.apple.com/) for both iOS
and OSX (to be precise, the source tarballs can be found here:
[https://opensource.apple.com/tarballs/xnu/](https://opensource.apple.com/tarballs/xnu/))
What is new however is that Apple is now seemingly actively using GitHub to
publish their opensource contributions.
~~~
willstrafach
> No, because this thing, darwin-xnu AKA the OSX/iOS microkernel, was already
> opensourced through
> [https://opensource.apple.com/](https://opensource.apple.com/) for both iOS
> and OSX
This is not true. iOS components were always stripped out until now.
~~~
joshumax
This, while probably seemingly unimportant to a lot of people, is extremely
great news for a project I'm a part of!
We're working on a full iPhone emulator based on QEMU, and currently, while we
are able to boot into early userspace from an unmodified iOS image, the
release of the iOS-specific code will be quite helpful in speeding up bug
elimination and the development of the virtual graphics hardware that can get
us past a basic graphical framebuffer.
~~~
FractalNerve
wow, interesting! Where can I find your project?
~~~
KGIII
Probably this:
[https://github.com/joshumax/QEMU-s5l89xx-
port](https://github.com/joshumax/QEMU-s5l89xx-port)
Or this:
[https://github.com/nvsio/qemu-ios](https://github.com/nvsio/qemu-ios)
Found sort of via this:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/jailbreak/comments/6crw5t/question_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/jailbreak/comments/6crw5t/question_nor_flash_dumps_of_various_idevices/)
I assume they won't mind my sharing. They posted it publicly with the same
username and have public Git pages.
~~~
joshumax
Actually, you saved me a post! Thanks!
Although quick note, a lot of work is being done in a private repo until it
passes the "clean room" test, after which it will be pushed to the public
repos. :)
------
beefhash
See also:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15371102](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15371102)
and
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15371111](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15371111)
There seems to be some confusion on whether the iOS kernel was or was not
newly open sourced and whether it's the complete iOS kernel or not.
~~~
monocasa
I don't see why there's confusion. AArch64 support in platform export (like
hal.dll for XNU) seems to be stubbed out and unimplemented meaning that the
ARM support is at least from an ancient iOS kernel.
[https://github.com/apple/darwin-
xnu/blob/master/pexpert/arm/...](https://github.com/apple/darwin-
xnu/blob/master/pexpert/arm/pe_serial.c#L168)
------
arca_vorago
License for those interested:
[https://github.com/apple/darwin-
xnu/blob/master/LICENSE](https://github.com/apple/darwin-
xnu/blob/master/LICENSE)
~~~
smitherfield
TL;DR - GPL-ish with a Facebook-style patent clause.
------
walterbell
At the Tencent security conference in August, there was a demo of ARM iOS
booting on virtualized iPhone6 hardware on x86 Macbook. Video clip was on
Twitter but since removed.
------
sigmar
Odd that there wouldn't be a public explanation for this. Poking through
board_config I found support for the A10X (T8011), and for the three Apple
Watch chips, but not for the new A11 SoC (T8015).
------
amrrs
With a blog for Machine Learning where Apple shares some of its practices and
now open-sourcing its iOS kernel for the first time, Apple is entering a new
era of Post-Jobs where every company has started to believe the only way to
attract quality resources is to contribute back to the society - Remember how
this community scared FB to rewrite React License. It's a great way forward
for FOSS and hopefully one that can set up the right way for Post-Cook Apple.
~~~
new299
It's a start.
It would be nice to see more of iOS open sourced. Not everything, but enough
to run the GUI and maybe Safari.
I think that could be a huge win for Apple. Lower end, open source iOS
compatible phone could attack Android offering, particularly at the lower end.
They'd gain control over the market (as it would be derived from their source,
and compatible with their ecosystem) without having to do much work.
Honestly, if Apple don't do it, someone should come up with an open source iOS
compatible offering, which developers could easily re-target their apps to.
VCs reading this, I'm offering 15% for 3MUSD for the above idea. ;)
~~~
madeofpalk
I think Apple (and everyone else) is doing pretty well with their closed
source software.
Apple doesn't need others to make lower and cheaper devices. They're more than
capable of doing it themselves, they just don't want to.
~~~
comstock
No, they don’t want to. But I think it would be advantageous to them to not
have Android around.
Potentially they could convert many Android users to open source iOS. It
wouldn’t come with the branding, I think it could be to their advantage.
It’s not likely to happen, but I think an open source iOS clone/fork would be
nice and could also have potential benefits for Apple.
~~~
dmitriid
> No, they don’t want to. But I think it would be advantageous to them to not
> have Android around.
In 2016 Apple got 104% of the entire mobile industry's _profit_. Not revenue.
_Profit_ [1]
I hardly see how disappearance of Android would bring Apple any more
advantages.
This year Samsung looks like they might beat Apple on profits ... due to large
sales of components "to a major smartphone customer" [2]
[1] [http://fortune.com/2016/11/04/apple-smartphone-
profits/](http://fortune.com/2016/11/04/apple-smartphone-profits/) [2]
[http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/27/technology/samsung-profit-
ap...](http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/27/technology/samsung-profit-
apple/index.html)
~~~
comstock
Thanks, the 104% profit number doesn’t make sense to me and I couldn’t see it
explained the the article.
How do you get >100% of the profits available in a given industry?
~~~
AlphaSite
The rest of the industry operates at a loss.
~~~
jacobush
On average.
------
nextos
To someone not familiar with Darwin internals, are drivers bundled or is it
possible to get binary blobs? Does this mean we can build an open source stack
that could run on iPhone or iWatch?
~~~
new299
Without the ability to sign the kernel, even if you could build one you
wouldn't be able to run it.
~~~
thinkloop
That's big, what's their purpose for open sourcing if not to allow developers
to build on it?
~~~
comstock
It’s possible that this might help security researchers find/fix bugs.
It may help other developers understand how iOS works.
Overall, I think it’s unlikely to be hugely useful, in terms of actuallly
using it for anything.
------
gok
The new GitHub home aside, there's some cool stuff in XNU. The memory
compressor, process hibernation, activity tracing, DTrace...worth poking
through!
------
buildbot
Looks like they are working on NVRAM support :
[https://github.com/apple/darwin-
xnu/blob/master/iokit/Kernel...](https://github.com/apple/darwin-
xnu/blob/master/iokit/Kernel/IONVRAM.cpp)
~~~
abrowne
All Macs have NVRAM for settings like default boot disk, volume and display
brightness.
------
kev009
Dang, no APFS. Was hoping to gauge how portable it'd be to *BSD.
~~~
adamnemecek
You have zfs.
~~~
kev009
I love ZFS and use it as much as possible. But we make heavy use of UFS at
$work because sendfile and fail in place. I'm in the market for a flash
filesystem for this use case. I doubt APFS has that all figured out, but it
might be technically interesting enough to do so, and it might integrate move
coherently with the pager than ZFS (the ARC makes this quite difficult but not
impossible to do sendfile/mmap w/o extra copying)
~~~
GalacticDomin8r
Have you tried nandfs? I have not, so I don't know if it meets your needs.
------
waynecochran
Interesting side note, source contains 8701 goto statements -- I like it.
$ find . -name "*.c" -exec grep goto {} \; -print | wc -l
8701
Most of it to unify releasing resources on function returns to one place at
the end of the function body. This is what makes RAII in C++ so
important/convenient.
~~~
efiop
You are saying it like if 'goto' was a bad thing. This is pretty normal for
any kernel/system projects.
------
payne92
dupe:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15371102](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15371102)
and
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15371111](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15371111)
------
navalsaini
This means that we should have cheap non-apple phones capable of running iOS
applications. Why would apple allow that?
~~~
AsyncAwait
It does not mean that at all. This is not iOS itself being open-sourced, only
the Darwin kernel is open-source, which is pretty much useless in isolation,
certainly for trying to develop a cheap phone to run iOS apps.
~~~
navalsaini
Oic ... the framework/middleware is not. I took parallels to Android. Thanks
for correcting me.
------
amelius
Nice, but I don't want open software as much as open hardware.
(For software, there are plenty of alternatives).
~~~
kzisme
What makes you say that?
~~~
amelius
Lack of good options to put a libre OS on phone hardware and build a libre
phone.
Why can my top-of-the-line desktop be libre but must my phone be locked down?
------
thought_alarm
Tabs instead of spaces. Tsk, tsk.
[https://i.imgur.com/VE7kEeC.png](https://i.imgur.com/VE7kEeC.png)
"debo" must have been an intern.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Does your Alexa or Google Home make you more productive? - free_everybody
It seems like one of the main reasons to get a voice assistant is to increase productivity. Is it worth the cost?
======
incan1275
It was for us. Things we use it for:
\- Using it as a timer for cooking in the kitchen. \- For music at home. \-
Listening to weather reports and news in the morning before we head out for
work.
Before Alexa, we used our phone for all the above, but we found it to be much
easier using a voice assistant. I wouldn't say it's a massive gain in
productivity, but we are pretty happy we got it.
------
mrmondo
I know three people with them, two of them now have them sitting in a box
somewhere the other one said he doesn’t use it for anything other than the
weather or time but is now seriously concerned about it’s privacy implications
so is considering unplugging it. Personally I use Siri on my phone probably
more than 20 times a day on average and find it very useful, it helps me set
reminders, events, send quick messages etc... without the full cost of mental
context shifting.
------
devonbleak
Don't get it (yet) if you're looking to achieve some kind of ROI on it.
They're still toys for now.
Probably the main thing I can do faster with Alexa than other things is check
the weather, which I do maybe once or twice a day. Things like turning lights
on and off I can do faster by just walking to the appropriate switches.
Otherwise I just use it as a speaker for playing music.
------
hahla
No, I only use it to check the weather (Alexa). Haven't really found many uses
for it (however, I haven't really explored either).
------
feocco
I'd say it's more about convenience. Not having to open your phone/PC to play
music, videos, search, etc.
There's a learning curve to the features and ideal audio conditions. Not great
initially. But I work remotely and it's quite useful for timing breaks &
lunches, reminders, music, and broadcasting.
There are far better ways to improve your productivity.
------
tabeth
If you have to pick a smart home thing I'd actually get something like
SmartThings. It's amazing actually how nice it is not to think about things
like turning on lights, locking doors, etc. You can wake up to coffee (and not
on a timer, literally when you wake up it'll detect your motion and start
brewing it), etc.
------
cordite
Weather, news nippets, timers.
I pick up food ordered on time these days so that’s good.
------
d0m
I'm trying to hard to use siri but it never works.
"light" > I don't understand
"flashlight" > I can't do that
"why?" > I couldn't say
"open the flashlight" > google search
------
needcaffeine
We use our Echo in the following ways:
\- “set a timer for X minutes”
\- “play the latest planet money podcast”
\- “play the album Moana”
\- “pause the firetv”
\- “what’s the weather tonight?”
\- “what’s the news?”
It saves us a ton of time but also is a huge entertainer for our kids.
------
synaptc
I only use my Echo Dot for a few things:
- checking the weather/time
- settings a timer
- having Alexa read me a bedtime story (Audible)
I think if I dedicated some time to actually integrate Alexa with my home
(lights, Nest, speakers, etc.), I can see it improving productivity.
Especially with how easy custom skills are to build, you can really take the
technology much further.
------
SeaDude
Very strange responses. At least one person mentioned privacy concerns.
"I put this new gadget in my house so I can check weather once a day.
Meanwhile, it records all ambient noise and even identifies the voices of
everyone speaking in the room. Garsh! It sure is neat."
Better hang a disclaimer on your door for when friends come over. Warning:
House equipped with a dipshit. By entering, you are giving up all perceived
privacy. Do not discuss things that matter.
------
odonnellryan
No, not more productive, but it's definitely useful.
------
Spooky23
It’s a toy.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Trump calls for 'merit-based' immigration system in address to Congress - dionmanu
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/28/trump-calls-for-merit-based-immigration-system-in-congress-speech.html
======
RichardHeart
Australia and many other countries already choose who they allow to get a work
visa based on their "merit"
[http://www.workpermit.com/immigration/australia/australia-
sk...](http://www.workpermit.com/immigration/australia/australia-skilled-
immigration-points-calculator)
More points for some jobs, less points for others
[http://www.workpermit.com/immigration/australia/australian-s...](http://www.workpermit.com/immigration/australia/australian-
skilled-occupation-list-sol)
Note that if you want to immigrate anywhere in the world, you need be
attractive enough to get married, or get accepted to a school, or buy an
investor visa, otherwise get screwed is the global consensus.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Tools don’t solve the web’s problems, they are the problem - tosh
http://quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2015/05/tools_dont_solv.html
======
freshyill
I agree, _in theory_. Apps are faster.
No disrespect to PPK, but he needs to cite some examples.
If he's talking about jQuery, then I disagree. It's gotten faster, and it's a
tiny download when you compare it to videos, images, or webfonts.
If he's talking about front-end MVC-ish frameworks, they're not completely
blameless, but generally speaking, the sites that use them _feel_ fast once
you get past the initial load.
I think his premise is off. He's talking about front-end performance. Tools
aren't the problem. Content is the problem.
Images are huge. Videos are huge. What we need are tools to help us get around
this. And we're getting them. Talk to any serious front-end developer, and
they'll tell you all about what they're doing to improve performance. Critical
CSS, asynchronous CSS and JS, the picture element, Web Page Test, PageSpeed,
better Inspector tools, etc. Even Google Fonts warns you very clearly about
the impact your choices will have on download times. There's no shortage of
tools, but tools aren't the problem.
There's no denying that the web can be faster, but we've been doing an
admirable job of keeping up with rich content.
~~~
marcus_holmes
I downloaded a themeforest website template the other day. It was a pretty
simple admin site, whole bunch of HTML pages which was cool.
the assets folder had this:
css: 460Kb
fonts: 1016Kb
images: 4004Kb
js: 1948Kb
So yes, images and video is the largest section of content, but it's not
helping that nearly half as much again is executable code that needs to be not
only downloaded, but then executed (and it doesn't help that this code
produced ~20 errors depending on which browser it ran on).
I agree with the OP that we have a problem here.
~~~
freshyill
I don't know what you expected.
If you go downloading random themes built by anonymous people of questionable
skill, you're unlikely to get a performant web site.
~~~
marcus_holmes
fair point, but still
------
tosh
I'm not sure what kind of 'tools' the author is referring to though.
~~~
spronkey
No.. I didn't quite get it either. People blindly including every js lib under
the sun and not optimising at all, sure. Using "tools" ? What. Surely he
wasn't suggestin people reinvent the wheel?
------
vortico
I feel the need to link this rant, as I have a number of times as a response
to overdesigning until you've half-solved the problems you've created by
overdesigning.
[http://motherfuckingwebsite.com/](http://motherfuckingwebsite.com/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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MorePhone, the Smartphone Screen That Changes Shape to Alert You - gojizzle
http://mashable.com/2013/04/27/morephone-screen/
======
twiceaday
Shape changing seems very flimsy to me. My guess is devices are going to keep
getting thinner and lighter and rigidity is going to become more of an
important quality trait.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Re-affirming Long-Term Support for Java in Amazon Linux - pritambarhate
https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/compute/re-affirming-long-term-support-for-java-in-amazon-linux/
======
jarym
No real surprise - a lot of Java underpins AWS and a lot of enterprise
customers that Amazon covet are Java shops.
Keeping everyone happy for the sake of profit and market share.
Only loser is Oracle who were a loser before so no change for them.
~~~
hunta2097
With so much hate for Oracle, how long before they crash?
It's not like the hate for Apple, Microsoft or Google (which have enclaves of
distrust) - in my experience Oracle seems _universally_ hated.
~~~
bayindirh
We've bought some of their high end ZFS boxes. While I cannot comment for the
hardware and experience (I temporarily left the team after we bought the HW),
during the buying process I gained some valuable insight about them.
It looks like, unlike Apple, Microsoft or Google they are motivated solely by
the money. Not the monopoly, not the domination, not the technology, just the
money.
If they can earn the same amount of money, without doing anything, they will
happily do that. Yes, they have very good technologies, but they are just
built for the money.
Every corporation is in for the money, but money is generally a byproduct of
good services and technologies, however it's backwards for Oracle. Services,
products, and technologies are a byproduct of money. Money is not needed for
products. Products are needed for money.
This is _why_ Oracle is used also as an acronym for Larry Ellison's character
and material wealth.
~~~
manishsharan
While that is true, I am under the impresssion OpenJDK project is mostly
Oracle developers
~~~
pron
That is correct. Oracle funds ~90% of OpenJDK development, and will continue
to contribute most of the security patches (just not backport them).
------
InTheArena
It’s good that Amazon (As well as IBM and Redhat which are supporting OpenJDK,
and Microsoft which made a deal with Azul) are supporting Java...
However, the writing is on the wall. Oracle is desperately trying to monetize
Java, and they will be successful for a little bit, this also dilutes their
control of the ecosystem. That can lead to fragmentation. It also changes the
equation about what kind of adoption corporations will be willing to do with
java, and not have a lawyer worry about a per-vCPU licensing term.
We’ve started discussions about a long slow gradual transition from Java. I’m
very very sure we are not the only one.
------
bradleyjg
This is good news. Red Hat and IBM had already made similar announcements, but
now that’s one company rather than two. Since we are talking about long term
maintenance here, this is definitely a more the merrier situation.
------
chvid
This is great. Seeming that Oracle's policy changes have caused other big
player to step in and support Java in a convincing manner. I am not sure if
that was Oracle's intent given the company's reputation but I think it
actually might be ...
------
pritambarhate
>> We are collaborating and contributing in the OpenJDK community to provide
our customers with a free long-term supported Java runtime.
So hopefully other distros will also be able to support OpenJDK8 for a few
years to come.
------
stunt
All of these comments are not necessarily fair about Oracle.
They are moving faster in the last 2-3 years.
~~~
topspin
They are also creating uncertainty. That AWS felt this announcement was
necessary is evidence of that. Whatever goodwill Oracle may have created
recently is paying off a vast deficit. They don't get the benefit of the
doubt.
------
setquk
Microsoft .Net team take note.
~~~
teget
Classic .net deployments are regarded as system components, they will receive
security updates as long as the supporting OS is supported(that's at least the
sales pitch we received) So 4.6 on Windows 10 will be supported at least till
14th October 2025 and 4.7 on Windows 10 at least until 13th October 2026 (if
you are willing to pay Microsoft for that)
~~~
sgift
> (if you are willing to pay Microsoft for that)
So ... same as with Oracle. The "if you are willing to pay" part is what
people are crying about.
~~~
BjorksEgo
This amazon release specifically says that amazon will only support up to
2023, what makes you think they won't do the same?
~~~
sokoloff
The Amazon release promises support out to that date.
There's fairly good business reason to think that, if OpenJDK continues to be
popular and relevant (as I expect it will be), that Amazon will continue to
extend that date, keeping it _roughly_ four to five years in the future each
time. They're giving confidence in the long-term support of Java on their
platform, not making an indefinite promise about the future.
~~~
setquk
Also to note James Gosling works at Amazon since May '17\. They clearly have a
vested interest in Java.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Dear Facebook Employees - didizaja
https://medium.com/@barryschnitt/dear-facebook-employees-7d01761e591f
======
sktrdie
Presidents have all kinds of privileges that others don’t. Why should their
privilege on social-media be diminished? To me the problem is not the platform
but the fact that they have such exceptional privilege to begin with.
~~~
netsharc
You know how some people are quiet in real life but are more open online? I
think Trump is like that. IMO Without Twitter he wouldn't have the guts to
spit out the stuff he's tweeted, he'd not have the balls to go before the
press and actually say some of the vile things he's tweeted...
------
ycombonator
Why the fit ?
------
spikefromspace
How many of FB users would need to have adblockers and commit to never
clicking on an ad in facebook to cause a big enough dip in revenue in Q2 (ends
this month)? Especially given already depressed levels of online advertising
spend. I don't mean this in a "lets take down FB" way but more of a "how can
we force Zuckerberg to have more discussion/thought on this and brush it
away?".
My personal opinion is that FB should at least add some sort of fact check
warning but definitely not censor content.
~~~
didizaja
This a really interesting thought. I do wonder how much the quantity “big
enough” would have to be in this case.
With respect to adding fact checking, I 100% agree with you, but I’m
conflicted over whether or not censoring should be a thing, because I think
that censoring people is generally wrong, but also feel that it’s important to
discourage inciting violence.
~~~
klyrs
Facebook already censors plenty of its users for far milder speech than
trump's wont. And let's be real, Facebook and Twitter couldn't deplatform the
president if they tried. No matter where he goes, reporters will broadcast the
hell out of it. All else fails, the white house has its own webpage that has
historically been used to communicate with the public.
~~~
spikefromspace
For me personally, its not just about Trump. I have lots of friends who share
critical news without a source. I always encourage them to but of course who
listens these days. So for me, even a short warning message on such posts
could go a long way.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Fidelity launches trade execution and custody for cryptocurrencies - prostoalex
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/15/fidelity-launches-trade-execution-and-custody-for-cryptocurrencies.html
======
corv
I'm disappointed of HN comments whenever cryptocurrency topics come up.
People are forgetting that Nakamoto Consensus is a legitimate CS breakthrough
concerning the Byzantine Generals Problem.
Is it acceptable to bash every stock in the Nasdaq just because a second tech
bubble popped and some SV companies are behaving unscrupulously?
Frenzied speculation brought about inadvertent side effects but these should
not detract from the fact that significant advancements are continuously being
researched and implemented.
~~~
gotocake
The comments seem to honestly reflect the state of the technology, its
environmental impact, the annoyance factor of its extreme adherents, the total
lack of a really compelling non-ideological or criminal use case after more
than a decade, and a deflating bubble. The insane gulf between the promises
made by the “every day brings a new breakthrough” crowd and the reality of
ICO’s and Bitcoin is vast, and hard to ignore. Blockchain is a neat idea, but
presently it is used in ways that are far from compelling, and I’m yet to hear
of a non-hypothetical application that could change that (apart from buying
drugs, or money laundering).
It’s also hard to forget the last few years of relentless evangelism, which
was equal parts annoying and ethically challenged.
~~~
corv
The comments reflect the (perceived) state of the technology.
One has to admit that the reputation of the entire space has been tarnished by
snake oil salesmen. For some historical context it is worth looking at
countless examples such as the Railway Mania[1] of the 1840s or the more
recent Dot-Com bubble[2]. For more depth one can read Mackay[3].
Some of the most promising advancements in payment channels were only
published as papers in 2016[4] and are understandably still being implemented.
If anything the speed at which enthusiasts are willing to deploy experimental
software at their own risk is breathtaking.
Regarding the environmental impact of the Bitcoin network, while being widely
derided for its energy use, it is in fact using less electricity than the
major credit card networks. It is also using less energy than global gold
mining. There are ways to reduce consumption should a consensus accept the
tradeoffs.
The term "Blockchain" as it is currently used often refers to private chains
which are in vogue with corporate stakeholders. This appears to be a solution
in search of a problem–I have not been able to identify a compelling use case
here either.
Most ICOs are outright scams.
It is truly unfortunate that promising advancements of micropayments, smart
contracts and the world's closet thing to an incorruptible currency are lumped
together with so much rubbish.
[1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Mania](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Mania)
[2][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-
com_bubble](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble)
[3][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_Popular_Delusion...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_Popular_Delusions_and_the_Madness_of_Crowds)
[4][https://lightning.network/lightning-network-
paper.pdf](https://lightning.network/lightning-network-paper.pdf)
~~~
timmaxw
> using less electricity than the major credit card networks
I googled around for "Bitcoin vs. VISA energy consumption"; the only argument
I found in favor of VISA using more is here [0]. This compares Bitcoin to the
entire global banking system, including the cost of e.g. keeping the lights on
at physical bank branches. It very approximately guesstimates that the entire
global banking system requires ~100 TWh/year, compared to Bitcoin's ~30
TWh/year [1].
For comparison: all data centers worldwide combined use about ~400 TWh/year
[2]. I very much doubt that the credit card networks account for 7% of all
data center energy consumption.
[0] [https://hackernoon.com/the-bitcoin-vs-visa-electricity-
consu...](https://hackernoon.com/the-bitcoin-vs-visa-electricity-consumption-
fallacy-8cf194987a50)
[1] [https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/bitcoins-
insane-...](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/bitcoins-insane-
energy-consumption-explained/)
[2]
[https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2017/12/15/wh...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2017/12/15/why-
energy-is-a-big-and-rapidly-growing-problem-for-data-centers/#701c2d815a30)
~~~
arcticbull
@corv come on, even if we go with the incredibly generous hypothesis that
Bitcoin alone currently uses 1/3 the energy of the entire global banking
system including physical lamps at desks (!!!), it is still only providing a
tiny, teeny, percentage of the value store or of transaction volume. It's not
even remotely a fair comparison. It's like saying my car consumes 1/3 of the
world's entire output of gasoline so it's way more efficient than the sum
total of all the transportation on the planet.
~~~
corv
I didn’t say it’s currently more efficient. I’m saying what it is designed to
replace eventually, is already using more energy.
Currencies are adopted and developed on a different time scale than most other
technologies we are used to.
Saying cryptocurrency has failed after being around for 10 years is
shortsighted and not giving the incredible minds working on these problems
enough credit.
~~~
arcticbull
It's designed to be actively anti-efficient. The more efficient tech is
deployed the _less efficient Bitcoin gets_. It's already atrocious, and it's
going to get more-so, on purpose. What it's designed to replace is using more
energy ( _maybe_ ) because it serves like 3 orders of magnitude more
customers, value and transaction volume. A single BTC payment takes 826kWh of
energy. Now, a MacBook Pro uses at most 85W, so for a single payment on
Bitcoin network you could run your laptop for almost 10,000 hours -- or your
house for a WEEK. That's stunning, and only going up (again, intentionally).
Visa OTOH is around 41Wh per transaction, or 20,000x more efficient.
~~~
corv
You’ve ignored second-layer technologies.
There need be only one decentralized, immutable ledger to handle all
transactions, the store of value and registration of assets for the entire
planet.
While we’re comparing Apples and Oranges, credit cards don’t confirm payments
for weeks and there are significant fees associated with accepting
transactions, apart from that risk for the merchant.
~~~
arcticbull
Nope, I haven't. The anti-efficiency element applies to core Bitcoin no matter
what you run on top of it. If you keep to the maximum 7tx/sec that's what
you'll encounter. I can't imagine a world where no matter what you're running
L2 that the system won't hit that incredibly low limit.
Second layer technologies, in the form of exchanges, aren't blockchain at all.
They're just varying degrees of fly-by-night bookkeeping and/or settlement.
They require blockchain tokens as much as they require the dollar - not at
all.
There's no viable L2 technology right now that anyone is using (especially LN)
yet, so it's too early to speculate. If I recall correctly it takes a
traditional transaction to open a channel, and we're still capped at 7 per
second. If there's 7.5 billion people on earth and we want to establish a
channel for each of them, well, buckle up, we'll be here melting the Earth for
1.071 BILLION seconds, or 34 years. Just to open channels. Then another 34
years to close them. Here's a mathematical proof of the LN issues [1].
Hand-waving and pretending there's a path or some solution today means we're
not even talking about objective reality anymore.
[1] [https://medium.com/@jonaldfyookball/mathematical-proof-
that-...](https://medium.com/@jonaldfyookball/mathematical-proof-that-the-
lightning-network-cannot-be-a-decentralized-bitcoin-scaling-
solution-1b8147650800)
------
pmorici
I wonder if they are working with Coinbase behind the scenes on this or if
this is a totally independent product. They have a partnership with Coinbase
that lets you view your Coinbase balances from your account page on Fidelity.
------
SideburnsOfDoom
In a gold rush, you get rich by selling shovels. You don't even have to have a
strong opinion on whether there really is any gold to be found, in order to
see the market opportunity for shovel sales.
------
tim333
They don't say if the custody is insured against loss/theft which has been a
sticking point for institutional investors. They basically can't stick your
money in unless it is, and none of the existing custodians have been. I can
see why insurers are reluctant when it only takes one or two insiders to
transfer the coins to some account they control and say oops we've been
hacked.
------
Theodores
As I understand it Fidelity have bought a chunk of Bitcoin and are currently
trying to buy more. They actually do not care about price, they just need the
coins so they can setup these new financial things they will let their bigger
customers buy into, as part of the portfolio. The cold storage thing is no
biggie, they will be holding their new and shiny bitcoins in many, many
wallets. So a customer of theirs will be able to effectively buy one of these
wallets rather than a stake in a nebulous fund.
I have heard no mention of them wanting to buy the 'fake crptocurrencies',
i.e. anything except 'bitcoin', which I think has appeal to their customers in
a way that 'ethereum' or 'crypto-kitties' does not.
But is this really progress? If a cafe has customers wanting some new fad
food, e.g. 'kale and pulled pork burgers' and if they have staff that have
bought into the 'kale and pulled pork' hype then they might as well add it to
the menu.
This is becoming a trope:
"No one said when some of these early-stage Internet companies in 2000 were
going out of business, 'Gee, the Internet is toast,'" Jessop said. "We don't
focus too much on the price. It's a foundational technology — people are
trying to get exposure to the trend and expect volatility in the assets
themselves."
Could be said about fidget spinners - they have only got started!
In debating this point with a bitcoin 'bore' I was told that there was no
innovation in the internet after the dot-com crash until 'ajax came along' and
no 'new innovation' came along after that until the iphone came along. I
didn't see it that way, but was it?
~~~
roymurdock
Bitcoin is useful for evading currency controls, semi-anonymous digital
payments, and speculation
Blockchain is a new type of database that has larger applications that involve
the tradeoff between efficiency and trust
To answer your bigger question you have to ask yourself what you define as
"progress" \- is Bitcoin/blockchain new? Yes. Is either useful? Sure, for
people who are looking to move money around semi anonymously, enforce more
expensive supply chain tracking solutions, or make money selling new financial
products. Is that progress?
If you, like me, don't see new database/financial engineering that benefits a
small group of technologists and financiers as potentially equal in value to
the raise in standard of living across huge sections of the world brought by
electrification, refrigeration, antibiotics, internal combustion engines,
public roads, and white goods, then you may be interested in this thesis:
[https://www.nber.org/papers/w19895](https://www.nber.org/papers/w19895)
"While no forecast of a future slowdown of innovation is needed, skepticism is
offered here, particularly about the techno-optimists who currently believe
that we are at a point of inflection leading to faster technological change.
The paper offers several historical examples showing that the future of
technology can be forecast 50 or even 100 years in advance and assesses widely
discussed innovations anticipated to occur over the next few decades,
including medical research, small robots, 3-D printing, big data, driverless
vehicles, and oil-gas fracking."
~~~
village-idiot
Blockchains aren’t new, they’re over a decade old at this point.
And in what applications are blockchains superior to centralized applications?
~~~
seibelj
Keeping track of an asset without a centralized authority? That’s the point of
a blockchain - a sliding scale where increasing decentralization causes a
decrease in efficiency, where the trade off makes sense.
~~~
beefield
> Keeping track of an asset without a centralized authority?
Question was:
"And in what applications are blockchains superior to centralized
applications?"
You really did not answer the question. What is the application where it is
superior to track the asset without central authority? (I come up with
criminal money transfers. I hope someone comes up with something else because
I do not think that is too solid a foundation to build a sustainable
technology...)
~~~
seibelj
No fees to middlemen, enabling micro-payments at scale (obviously need to
drastically reduce blockchain fees, but that is an area of active
development). Elimination of charge-backs and a huge amount of fraud,
especially in industries that have an abnormally high level of fraud.
Borderless payments. The highest density of wealth storage ever invented.
Completely different threat model for theft with its own pros and cons.
Everyone immediately jumps to the criminal aspects. The existing financial
system has absolutely no problem handling all the crime, the blockchain did
not invent money laundering.[0]
[0] [https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/sep/19/danske-
bank...](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/sep/19/danske-bank-chief-
resigns-over-money-laundering-scandal)
~~~
roymurdock
There are fees with bitcoin - the transactions that leave higher fees for the
miners get processed quicker. If you don't include fees with your transaction
it could take hours to be bundled into a verified block.
People, myself included, jump to the criminal aspects because those are the
only real world applications that are currently creating value for Bitcoin
"users" (vs. speculators). Getting around borders/currency controls is
valuable because it's hard to do/illegal, and Bitcoin makes it easier.
The rest of the things you listed such as "highest density of wealth storage
every invented" and "completely different threat model" are not use cases, and
are not inherently good/bad, just different (and actually usually bad when
optimizing for verification speed/efficiency and transaction clearance over
chargebacks/fraud)
PS did you get hired into the crypto/blockchain world, or just more optimistic
after doing research? I remember us being in agreement / you being skeptical
about it before
~~~
seibelj
> There are fees with bitcoin - the transactions that leave higher fees for
> the miners get processed quicker. If you don't include fees with your
> transaction it could take hours to be bundled into a verified block.
As I said, the fee issue is being worked on (scaling, layer 2 networks) but
that's a potential of the technology.
> People, myself included, jump to the criminal aspects because those are the
> only real world applications that are currently creating value for Bitcoin
> "users"
I simply disagree, if you want me to enumerate all the use cases that aren't
criminal I can, but google can help.
> The rest of the things you listed such as "highest density of wealth storage
> every invented" and "completely different threat model" are not use cases,
> and are not inherently good/bad, just different (and actually usually bad
> when optimizing for verification speed/efficiency and transaction clearance
> over chargebacks/fraud)
Yes, it is a different sort of tradeoff, that may be useful in some cases.
It's novel.
> PS did you get hired into the crypto/blockchain world, or just more
> optimistic after doing research? I remember us being in agreement / you
> being skeptical about it before
I have posted a lot on cryptocurrency, I have been in the industry for a
while, but I am not universally optimistic about all things crypto. But
overall I am bullish.
~~~
beefield
>if you want me to enumerate all the use cases that aren't criminal I can.
Could you start with one? And I mean one that is obviously superior to
centralized solutions? What are the measures that make blockchain superior in
this use case and why a centralized solution can't achieve those measures? Why
the tradeoffs in other measures are insignificant? Let's further assume that
decentralization itself is not an acceptable measure.
~~~
stale2002
Do you think that TOR is useless then?
Do you not see the value of censorship resistance?
There are billions of people in the world currently living under repressive
governments. The world does not revolve around the western world with all of
our privileged freedoms.
~~~
beefield
I already accepted that blockchain offers value in criminal money transfers.
Obviously censorship resistance is criminal in repressive regimes. It just is
a bit difficult in western world to sell a product whose only actual value
proposition is criminal money transfer.
~~~
icelancer
I think if you were the target (or initiator) of legal actions that don't
involve criminality on your end but do involve discovery, you would think a
lot differently about pseudonymous payments, and potentially encrypted
communications. Speaking as someone involved in three active civil lawsuits,
trust me when I say criminality is not the only reason to hide things. Being
subjected to the discovery process where adversaries can uncover things about
your personal life is an experience that will change most peoples' feelings
about all things privacy.
------
omegaworks
More capital wasted to entrench a fairly useless commodity[1] that requires
electrical energy expenditure that rivals entire nations' usages[2]. We are
bounding toward climate catastrophe and our largest institutions are taking
stakes in actively destructive tulips.
1\.
[https://www.tik.ee.ethz.ch/file/74bc987e6ab4a8478c0495061661...](https://www.tik.ee.ethz.ch/file/74bc987e6ab4a8478c04950616612f69/main.pdf)
[pdf]
2\. [https://www.wired.co.uk/article/how-much-energy-does-
bitcoin...](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/how-much-energy-does-bitcoin-
mining-really-use)
~~~
seibelj
The energy is available on the free market. Or acquired for the express
purpose of blockchain mining (I.e. new geothermal energy created specifically
for this industry and impractical to transmit other places).
If you want to ban bitcoin mining because it “wastes” energy, there is an
argument to be made for banning any industry not absolutely necessary for
society because it destroys the planet. Why do we have sports stadiums? Rock
concerts? Car racing?
The other argument is that what bitcoin achieves through mining is only
possible with financial institutions, the court system, and so on. What power
does that system use?
And finally, new innovations will likely end PoW mining for some major block
chains like Ethereum, but it is extremely doubtful bitcoin will ever switch.
Also, your first link is a white paper on scaling unrelated to the statement
that bitcoin is a “useless commodity”, so I’m not sure why you are using it to
back up your assertion.
~~~
omegaworks
The paper describes the problems inherent to bitcoin. I think blockchain might
be a good fit for some things, but bitcoin makes a terrible currency.
The relevant section:
>Today’s representative blockchain such as Bitcoin takes 10 min or longer to
confirm transactions, achieves 7 transactions/sec maximum throughput. In
comparison, a mainstream payment processor such as Visa credit card confirms a
transaction within seconds, and processes 2000 transactions/sec on average,
with a peak rate of 56,000 transactions/secnsactions/sec on average, with a
peak rate of 56,000 transactions/sec
~~~
seibelj
That doesn't mean it's useless, it's just that the current state of the
technology does not have the same throughput as other technologies in regards
to payment processing. Bitcoin has many other aspects that make it more than a
"useless commodity", which wasn't implied by the linked article or the fact
you quoted.
~~~
omegaworks
>it's just that the current state of the technology does not have the same
throughput as other technologies in regards to payment processing.
This makes it an extremely poor currency. It is also an extremely poor
distributed linked list with that throughput. If you use the energy resources
of a small country just to get 7 transactions per second _max_ recorded in a
ledger, you've failed as a system designer.
If the intent was to create a currency, Satoshi failed. If the intent was to
create a white elephant, Satoshi succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. If our
largest institutions are buying in, we will be collectively saddled with the
maintenance of the network for the foreseeable future.
------
pastor_elm
great time to get in on the dip
------
Immortalin
Time to add crypto support to KloudTrader :)
[https://kloudtrader.com/narwhal](https://kloudtrader.com/narwhal)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Internet Explorer’s new official mascot is a robot-fighting anime heroine - markdunphy
http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2013/11/06/internet-explorers-new-official-mascot-inori-aizawa-cute-robot-fighting-anime-heroine/
======
Vaskivo
(Disclaimer: I haven't see the video)
This is an old Japanese meme known as "OS-tan"[1], meaning something like
"Operating System girl". It has branched out to consoles, mobile OS's and
browsers. It's interesting to see Microsoft using the meme to generate some
buzz and start some major marketing (Mascots are HUGE in Japan).
On the other hand, that article is just lazy, and lacks research. It just
stated that Aizawa exists, what is written in the official page and nothing
more. I was expecting something about the meme so people don't think this is
some "insane" or "genious" publicity stunt. It's just Microsoft riding a known
fad. It's interesting to see an old company like them adopting internet
culture. I'm curious to see what follows this.
[1]: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS-tan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS-
tan)
EDIT: After posting this I started exploring. The character creator's page in
much more interesting than the article:
[http://www.collateralds.com/news/random/the-story-of-
aizawa-...](http://www.collateralds.com/news/random/the-story-of-aizawa-
inori/)
------
Segmentation
Here's the video of the anime:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHTUlF7NA2o](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHTUlF7NA2o)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Japanese Toilets: The Future Called 30 Years Ago - ranebo
http://blog.hopefullyuseful.com/blog/2014/04/04/the-future-called-30-years-ago/
======
enko
After using the toilet, do you wash your hands, or just wipe them?
You've just demonstrated why washing toilets are superior. I cannot understand
our misplaced, hollow pride in not adopting something which simply works
better. I've even heard some especially crazy people try to say the japanese
toilets are "perverted" \- the hold tradition has on some people is just
insane.
Japanese toilets are simply better. For some bizarre reason we've resisted
adopting them here. It boggles the mind.
~~~
gtaylor
I gave in and ordered a bidet a year ago. Not wanting to commit to some of the
expensive options, I opted for the $25 Astor Bidet:
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003TPGPUW/](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003TPGPUW/)
Installation involved adding a T-adapter to my sink's cold water line. The
whole setup takes about 5-10 minutes if you know what you're doing, or about
30 if you don't. Even if you know nothing about plumbing, you can install this
thing with some patience (and probably in well under an hour).
I've been very happy overall. There are lots of similar bidets for varying
prices, but the core functionality can be had for $25. I haven't felt the
desire to spend any more, this thing just works.
We go through a lot less toilet paper, though we still use some for the
drying. This may be too much information, but I do feel subjectively much
cleaner. When we travel somewhere without a bidet, it's definitely on the edge
of my mind that I miss my setup at home.
I do get weird looks when we have company, but who cares. Continue smearing
poop on your butts, heathens.
~~~
colin_jack
"Continue smearing poop on your butts, heathens."
It is odd that whilst we use specially designed water jets and cleaning
products to bathe our approach to bottom hygiene is just to keep scrubbing
till there is nothing visible left.
Anyway looks like a good device, thanks for the link.
~~~
rainedin
Not having foot taps is another huge bug bear of mine. Especially in public
places.
------
srean
I find health faucets
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet_shower](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet_shower)
quite effective, except that one time it went terribly wrong.
These are essentially telephone showers installed next to the toilet. You
switch them on using a valve/trigger and then manually direct the fire.
Simple, cheap and no fuss.
This little guy, however, turned out to be a closet fire hose. It pretty much
went from 0 to 1000 gallons per sec in an instant and just wouldn't let up,
the valve was stuck. The extension cord was twisting and coiling around like
crazy with the released pressure, the shower head was going at full blast in
my hand, initially directed at my rear, it was continuously pushing my hand
away from anything that I was trying to point it to, it give me a visceral
understanding of how jet engines work.
Working out a sequence of operations in my head to get out of such a situation
while caught in a compromised and inflexible position, with only one hand
free, was quite a challenge. I am not quite sure if I should be thankful that
it wasnt autonomously powered and directed.
My first Japanese toilet experience happened @ Google (I was interning there
at that time). When the water touched the derriere, it made me flinch and jump
with surprise, as I wasnt quite sure what to expect, this was several years
ago and Japanese toilets were still an unfamiliar opbject to me. And it really
tickles the shit out of you ! (no pun intended) I guess there are ways to
choose between a laminar and degrees of non laminar flow (all those controls
must be for something), I would expect the former to be somewhat less flinch
inducing.
------
veidr
This is one of those things that long-time expats that live in Japan often
take back with them when they leave. Another is the practice of removing your
(utterly filthy, inevitably) outdoor shoes when you enter the house.
I read Shogun as a kid (great book, for a little kid) and going back home to
the USA and using the toilet there always reminds me of the scenes where the
European sailors that shipwrecked in Japan sit around scratching their fleas
and scoffing at the Japs' grotesque habit of bathing every day... _gross_
~~~
kiba
Never met any Americans/westerners/etc who wear shoes in the house. They all
walk barefoot.
~~~
veidr
Yes, the overwhelming majority of Americans in the USA do wear shoes in the
house. I myself did it too, until age 19 (when I moved to Japan).
[http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Consumer/story?id=5177409](http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Consumer/story?id=5177409)
[http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/18ekqf/as_a_canad...](http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/18ekqf/as_a_canadian_do_americans_really_wear_their/)
[http://www.quora.com/Do-real-Americans-wear-shoes-indoors-
as...](http://www.quora.com/Do-real-Americans-wear-shoes-indoors-as-portrayed-
in-sitcom-TV-shows)
[https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101011193926A...](https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101011193926AA37Ox3)
~~~
slyall
It is actually a really strange thing. There seems to be pockets of people in
various countries that either wear shoes inside or not but can't imagine doing
the opposite and assumes everybody in their city/state/country is like them.
Interesting point: You also never see people on TV shows and movies taking
their shoes off when they go to a house but I imagine this might be mainly due
to the show not wanting to break up the action.
~~~
pedrosorio
The question is: do you often see people taking their shoes off when they go
to a house on Japanese TV shows and movies?
~~~
veidr
Yes, you do. It would be weird enough not to that it would jar the suspension
of disbelief.
------
ragle
When I first came to Thailand, I was appalled when one of my friends told me
the pistol nozzle (like we use in the US for doing dishes) next to every Thai
toilet[1] was for spraying yourself after using the bathroom.
This was disgusting to me at first.
Echoing a few other comments, I feel like a bidet is something you have to
experience yourself before you trust it. Once you do though, I think you are
forever changed.
On my last trip back to the states, I remember feeling perpetually disgusted
that all I had to clean myself with was paper. It's disgusting - barbaric
even... you're just smearing waste all over yourself.
If you don't feel like spending the money to install a Japanese bidet, a Thai
"bum gun" might be a more wallet-friendly option.
[1] - [http://thatluckyboy.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/05/bum_gun_t...](http://thatluckyboy.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/05/bum_gun_tribute1.jpg)
~~~
tricolon
Those are ubiquitous in Northern Europe as well—yes, including all public
bathrooms.
~~~
ardacinar
Are you sure about Northern Europe? I live in Sweden and I haven't encountered
anything like that here. (They are common in Finland, though)
------
rikacomet
One thing I haven't really understood is why exactly is a Indian toilet seat
seen as inferior to the English toilet seat.
\- True that the English seat occupies less space, but its adoption has not
always been based on space savings.
\- True that sitting appears more gentleman like, rather than sitting half
subtended in air, but hey who is watching?
\- True that elderly find the english version easier to use because of the
supporting nature of the seat, but its not a hard rule. A hybrid of both
(Anglo-Indian) seat is more suited to them, and ailing patients.
\- The Indian version is more hygienic, as no part of your body directly
touches any part of the seat. Besides superior genital cleanliness over time
due to wider leg positions.
\- The Indian version is decisively easier to clean/maintain compared to the
English version.
\- Moreover the Indian version, is more suited to over-weight people than a
English version.
\- And relatively, due to its production in labor intensive market such as
India/China, the Indian version is cost-efficient, suited for developing
nations, who still have a fairly large population that needs proper sanitation
structures.
~~~
enscr
\- Plus squatting is a better posture for properly emptying yourself.
Although sitting for longer than 5 minutes is painful and gets worse with age.
~~~
rikacomet
Yeah, that drawback can be seen as a JUST motivation for not taking your time
in the toilet always. Even 5 minutes saved one time, is equal to 10-15 minutes
everyday. 70-100 minutes a week and around 60-90 hours a year to put that into
perspective.
~~~
sjtrny
I find my time on the toilet quite productive, it's usually when I have Eureka
moments.
~~~
rikacomet
I figured so, occasionally it is the same for me. But I didn't say everyone
should be saving time.
------
wting
Another thing that gets overlooked is the built-in faucet at the top to rinse
off hands such that every tank of water gets used twice:
[http://demenglog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/toilet-
seat-...](http://demenglog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/toilet-seat-
topcimg0688--large--my-japan-blog-pwtuo0c4.jpg)
~~~
hudibras
And _another_ thing that gets overlooked is that the toilet is always in a
separate room from the rest of the bathroom (washbasin and tub). It seems
weird at first that you have to go down the hall into a phonebooth-sized
compartment to do your business. But then you go back to visit family in
America and can't stop noticing that you poop 3 feet away from where you brush
your teeth...
~~~
silencio
I actually have that in my apartment in SF. It may be because it's a three
bedroom place with only one bath though. It's nice because someone can use the
toilet while the shower is in use, but then you have to walk to the kitchen to
wash your hands....wish someone had the foresight to add the faucet-top toilet
;)
~~~
stbtrax
why not add it yourself?
------
rahimnathwani
If you're thinking about buying one of these, I can highly recommend the Toto
S300e
([http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009IJ2LM4](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009IJ2LM4))
or, if you live in Asia, the TCF4722CS
([http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=23047236820](http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=23047236820)).
These 'washlet' toilet seats can be retro-fitted to normal toilets. It's
really easy as long as the flush-water inlet to your toilet has a standard
fitting. Oh, and assuming you have a suitable power socket near the toilet.
The manual recommends a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) socket.
~~~
wting
There are also cheaper compromises that only replace the toilet lid instead of
the entire toilet and without requiring a hot water line. I bought this
version last year for $250 but it's $350 now:
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005XNW1Q0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005XNW1Q0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B005XNW1Q0&linkCode=as2&tag=0xgfeujusf-20)
~~~
rahimnathwani
"There are also cheaper compromises that only replace the toilet lid instead
of the entire toilet and without requiring a hot water line."
Both the models I recommended are of this type (they are just a seat, and they
don't require a hot water line).
I considered the model you recommended. The main reason I went for the higher-
priced models is that they are higher-power, and can heat the incoming water
in real-time. The more inexpensive Toto models are lower power, but compensate
by having a built-in tank to store water. I guessed (but did not verify) that,
on occasion, the tank could run out of hot water before I was done.
Does the tank on the B100 always have enough hot water for you?
~~~
wting
> Does the tank on the B100 always have enough hot water for you?
Yup, it was enough for my pregnant wife when she was staying at home.
------
impendia
I remember my first visit to a Japanese toilet. I noticed all the buttons
after I finished my business and stood up.
_Wow! What do these do?_ I bent over the toilet bowl and pushed a button at
random...
~~~
w00kie
All Japanese models have a pressure sensor built into the seat so that no
water comes out unless someone is actually sitting on the toilet.
~~~
Aloisius
That was decidedly not the case when I first visited Japan in 2001. The jet of
water that hit the door to the bathroom was quite wet by the time I figured
out how to shut the toilet off.
~~~
prawn
A bidet in a London hotel around 2003 managed to hit me in the eye. I was a
clear metre from the bowl. A mistake you make once and then not again!
------
harichinnan
I was about to sleep but definitely had to add my contribution to bum washing.
Most Indian toilets have a water faucet next to your seat. You always wash
with water using your left hand(Right one is reserved for more auspicious
occasions like eating food or shaking hands). I still remember the horror of
my first trip to US and finding that you have to use rough sheets of paper to
essentially scrath it off. But on the flip side, toilets in India are always
damp and dirty with filthy cess pools of mold and .... God help you if you
ever have to use a public toilet in India.
------
CGudapati
You will probably hate me for giving some graphic details but I had never used
Toilet paper for the first 21 years of my life.(I am 22 BTW). I didn't even
use a bidet. Just my left hand and water. I know this might be considered very
disgusting but it is very common from where I am.
~~~
MarkTee
I'm curious: Did you first try using toilet paper in another country/region,
or it something that has recently been introduced to where you grew up?
~~~
CGudapati
I still don't use toilet paper. I used one when I had access to it(in a
hotel). I knew toilet paper existed as once when I saw it in movies or read
about it.
~~~
Omniusaspirer
Can I inquire as to where you grew up? I've genuinely never heard of anyone
using just their hand, but I suppose it makes sense for poorer parts of the
world. (no offense intended whatsoever)
~~~
CGudapati
India. No offense taken. FWIW, I can afford toilet paper. I just don't use it
as I am habituated to using my hand. In case you are wondering, I can
guarantee that the number of people who use their hand to clean their bottoms
is much more than the combined population of USA.
------
Theodores
_Sorry to sound 'negative', but..._
I don't know if this is the way the future is going to pan out - water is an
increasingly scarce resource and, as it is, we waste a gallon or so of water
to lift one's leavings up and over the u-bend.
Of all people Bill Gates is probably the expert on what toilets will really be
like in the future, allegedly water, toilets, sanitation and health is
something he is most interested in.
Personally, although I am not into 'standing desks' I am into 'standing
toilets', as in the humble urinal. One's aim is easier and there is no seat to
remember to put down for the next user. Less water is wasted. I would want one
at home so as to avoid 'female complaints' regarding the state of things.
Ideally the outflow from the adjacent sink would keep it clean so water
wastage really would be minimal. It would be in a room of its own, a very
small room with no need for anyone female to ever enter it.
I recently replaced an extractor fan in a bathroom. I thought that a quiet fan
would be preferable and I was disappointed with the noise made. However, then
I realised the real purpose of the fan, it is to make noise to disguise the
sound of one leaving one's leavings. I believe that the Japanese toilets have
some of this functionality too. Can anyone confirm that?
~~~
Taylorious
I suppose it depends on where you live. If you live in Arizona it might end up
being an issue due to the energy cost of processing the water for reuse.
However, if you live in Chicago you aren't going to have a shortage of water
anytime soon.
I don't really get these water shortage scares people talk about. I can see
how it is an issue in remote/poor areas around the world, but a country like
the US has nothing to worry about. If fresh water reserves get low we can
always desalinate seawater. There are engineering challenges and energy costs
to do that, but both are solvable issues. No one is going to die from thirst.
~~~
kissickas
I think a large part of the problem is that it's a "tragedy of the commons"
situation. We won't see a huge investment in better recycling and
desalinization until it's absolutely required, which would mean that we've
already destroyed some aquifers permanently, in some places causing entire
aquifers to become unrecoverable [0].
No one is going to die from thirst? Maybe. But a lot of the water loss is in
the food-producing middle of the country. People are already starving in the
US, and increased food prices will only exacerbate the situation. [1]
[0]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquifer#Subsidence](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquifer#Subsidence)
(sections subsidence, saltwater intrusion, and salination)
[1]
[https://water.usgs.gov/edu/gwdepletion.html](https://water.usgs.gov/edu/gwdepletion.html)
------
smokey_the_bear
In the spirit of too much information that is this thread. I was given a
lavette bottle after giving birth, and I've continued using it quite often.
[http://www.amazon.com/Lavette-Bottle-Perineal-Irrigation-
DYN...](http://www.amazon.com/Lavette-Bottle-Perineal-Irrigation-
DYND70125H/dp/B000VSXSX2/)
It's an even cheaper alternative to the cold water attachment, it's portable,
and you can fill it with warm water.
~~~
AjithAntony
This seems interesting. It looks like a regular sports bottle. The comments on
that item suggest there are more and smaller holes than a single large
opening, for a better flow for this application. Is that the only difference?
How does one use it? Is there a straw inside that draws from the bottom of the
bottle? Do you need to position it upright, or upside down?
These two seem more natural to use, If you didn't have your bottle already,
would one of these be more interesting?
[http://www.amazon.com/Hygienna-Solo-Portable-Cleaning-
Soluti...](http://www.amazon.com/Hygienna-Solo-Portable-Cleaning-
Solution/dp/B00CDPCHLU/) [http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Bidet-
BB-20-Portable/dp/B004IW5IT...](http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Bidet-
BB-20-Portable/dp/B004IW5ITO)
~~~
smokey_the_bear
The number, shape, and size of holes seem well suited for the bottle's
purpose. There's no straw, but you can hold it upright or upside down as long
as it's not close to empty.
I think I would buy the same one I have over one of those. For this
application, I think I value simplicity.
Women might have slightly different requirements for this than men too.
------
bane
Japanese (and increasingly Korean) toilets are amazing. I love visiting my in-
laws and just using their toilets and feeling unbelievably civilized.
My wife, refuses to get one, or even the fancy seat attachments
because...tbh...they're freaking expensive. I can basically refit all the
toilets in my house for less than the discount price for a single seat...and
that's not including the cost of the electrician to put a power source near
just one of my toilets.
There's also lots of research in her home country that women shouldn't use the
bidets in these toilets for various reasons particular to their anatomy.
To compare, a Glacier Bay 2-piece high efficiency dual flush elongated toilet
is <$100 at my local home depot.
Toto Washlet S350e seat with heated seat and warm water bidet is $1,700. I
frequently see cheaper Korean versions at my local Asian Market for $800-1200.
I saw one at Costco for $650 the other day.
If they want to penetrate the market, they need to drop the price
significantly, corner the market, then start cranking the price up faster than
inflation.
------
Natsu
In case anyone was curious, ビデ is read as "bidet" (i.e. squirt water up your
ass).
This among the many reasons why it's helpful to at least learn to read kana
before visiting, as it makes a lot of things easier--there are an awful lot of
English words written in kana that you can decipher (well, French in this
particular case, but you get the point I hope).
~~~
ranebo
Actually bidet button is usually for women, I wouldn't advise pressing it
unless you are one, or you will get a blast of water significantly forward of
the desired target. おしり(oshiri) is the button thats useful to both sexes.
------
jonahx
Maybe the hold traditional toilets have on us is another example of the
triumph of "worse is better."
Whatever else you want to say about them, they are closer to the UNIX
tradition than Japanese toilets.
------
drderidder
Japanese baths are great, too - you can wash your body before getting into the
tub, so you're not stewing in your own filth.
~~~
dagurp
In Iceland you are required to wash before entering a swimming pool. you're
likely to be stopped by an employee if you don't
------
chx
Toto makes _travel washlets_. Imagining travel without one is like trying to
remember how we used to code before Google and Stackoverflow: yes we did it,
for sure, but I just can't fathom how. It's also a relatively cheap and easy
way to get acquianted with this nice facet of civilization. There are other
travel washlets, not made by Toto, skip those. Search eBay for toto travel
washlet, less than $100 shipped.
I had a particularly bad day at a London client onsite and out of sheer
desperation Googled for travel washlet (I have one normal at home and was
missing it badly), not that I had any idea how you would even construct one
but lo and behold, there it is.
~~~
silencio
I would imagine peri bottles (or close enough, any kind of squeeze bottle)
would do something similar in a pinch. I've only heard girlfriends with kids
rave about them since it's usually only used after pregnancy, but (to be a bit
TMI) pre-IUD years when I had periods, travel squeeze bottles totally saved
the day for when wet wipes felt inadequate and I couldn't easily shower.
------
rikthevik
Make sure you flush before you hit the "blow hot air" button. :/
------
frozenport
I wonder what the effect on overall hygiene is? I wash my hands after every
bowl movement, in total (shower, etc) I wash them every 5 hours. Will people
now wash their hands less?
------
PavlovsCat
The future? What about the past?
Washing your butt so it's clean = yeah, that's pretty cool.
Eating the right food (and being lucky to have good digestion) so that
normally the paper you wipe with comes up white = priceless.
Of course you'll have to wash your hands, but still, we're not hardwired to
make a mess every time we defecate. Maybe you could say that's excessive smoke
indicating the engine isn't running right. Japanese toilets aren't a fix,
they're a workaround.
------
ekianjo
By the way "bidet" is a french word in the first place and it has nothing to
do with washing your arse :) Bidets are small bathtubs-shaped vessels where
you actually wash your feet. The reason they existed is because in the past
people didn't wash their whole body every single day, and instead they cleaned
at least the most dirty / odorant parts of their bodies this way, more often.
~~~
mkempe
Actually, the "bidet" is an invention from the early 1700s that was
specifically designed to wash intimate parts. The etymology of the word
indicates that the bidet is something one rides, by analogy with a small
horse.
[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=bidet](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=bidet)
[http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet_(meuble)](http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet_\(meuble\))
------
ChuckMcM
FWIW this was one of the 'tour questions' on Google which had (at least when I
was there) several bathrooms equipped with washlets. It really is a nice
thing, and one of the engineers put a WattsUp meter on one to see if it was
wasting power (answer quite economical). Of course in California using water
to wash yourself in a drought is probably the wrong thing to do ...
------
LVB
I tried, liked and missed Japanese toilets. I certainly wasn't going to be
installing a $1000 Toto in my house, but I waited too long to take a chance on
a cheap bidet. For <$50 you can get a bidet on Amazon which, though little
more than a valve and a spout, works pretty well.
~~~
gtaylor
$25 and has been good enough for me. No warm water line, but you can spend $20
more for one that has that if you care.
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003TPGPUW/](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003TPGPUW/)
------
ntaso
Questions, I couldn't find an answer to:
How do you make sure that the water doesn't merely distribute your feces all
over your butt?
How do women prevent that feces get sprayed onto or even into their vagina,
since the water seems to be coming from the rear side of the toilet?
------
gggggggg
On reading that it seems like you use paper still. I didnt realise this. Do
you use the normal paper before or after the water? Seems like after water and
drying to me, but potentially much less?
Also, does it do away with the need for women wiping after a pee?
------
theli
Never been to Japan, but from description its the same type of toilets they
have in South Korea. Yeah, feel much cleaner, I wonder how is it hard to get
same setup in US
------
drak0n1c
This guy uses the bidet before wiping? Whenever I'm in Japan I wipe before
bidet, that way at least the initial blast of water doesn't spread too much
gunk.
------
masahiro
The most important thing to make Japanese office life happy is to provide a
latest Japanese toilets. They do care about it a lot!
------
grifpete
I have one. I'll never go back.
------
nkozyra
"disinterested"
>:(
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
NoScript and other popular Firefox add-ons open millions to new attack - sprucely
http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/04/noscript-and-other-popular-firefox-add-ons-open-millions-to-new-attack/
======
techthroway443
So disable the top 10 Firefox extensions listed here until a new patch comes
out?
[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/extensions/?sort=us...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/extensions/?sort=users)
~~~
detaro
Then you have to disable all extensions, because others might be vulnerable as
well.
If you only install trustworthy extensions (whatever that is :/) and can avoid
installing a malicious one, it doesn't matter if the other installed ones are
vulnerable. You have to install a malicious one to trigger it, they just use
the vulnerabilities in other extensions to hide from review.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Understanding Idioms Requires Both Sides Of The Brain - fogus
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090914194654.htm
======
sophacles
I wonder if this is why certain idioms are considered "stronger" or "more
vivid" than saying the same thing directly. Since these idioms take advantage
of the right-brain, which is also responsible for emotion etc., it seems
reasonable to me that the emotional connotations of a particular idiom are
directly activated instead of thru a translation layer (language centers of
the left brain).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
'I was falsely branded a paedophile' - jacquesm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7326736.stm
======
jrockway
It's time for society to realize that "accused of a crime" does not mean
"guilty". It should be illegal to fire someone because they are accused of a
crime. (And if your parents disown you, it means you have damn bad parents who
you are probably better off without.)
~~~
ErrantX
Damn straight on the employment thing. Suspension is reasonable in certain
cases (say you work in a bank and are suspected of fraud) But sacking? Hell
no.
~~~
dantheman
You should be able to fire someone for any reason. It's immoral to fire people
accused of crime, you should treat your employees with respect, but there
should be no law involved.
~~~
xiaoma
> _You should be able to fire someone for any reason._
I disagree. You shouldn't be able to fire someone for being Jewish. You
shouldn't be able to fire someone for not voting how you want them to. You
shouldn't be able to fire someone for not having sex with you. There are a lot
of things that you shouldn't be able to fire someone for.
~~~
dantheman
If you don't like Jewish people and it's your company you shouldn't have to
work with them. It will only hurt you as you are limiting your labor pool to
non-Jewish people, and this is the same for any other form of discrimination.
The only place that should not be allowed to discriminate is the government
since they represent all people.
Freedom of association is the key hear, you should be able t o associate with
anyone you'd like to and vice-versa. Now I'm of course not advocating any sort
of discrimination, but I do think it should be allowed. Just as I don't
advocate hate speech, but I think it should be allowed.
~~~
xiaoma
Firing Jewish people doesn't just hurt the bigoted employer, it hurts the
people wrongfully fired, too! There is something appealing to letting everyone
keep to whatever groups they wish, but historically the idea has led to
horrible things for the shunned groups.
~~~
dantheman
Agreed, it hurts everyone involved -- just as hate speech does.
As for the history of discrimination, I believe that the majority of it was
actually codified into law. So, I don't know if we can blame individuals
acting on their own. Has there ever been a group that was shunned where it
wasn't codified into law/sponsored by the government?
~~~
pyre
"Irish Need Not Apply" was a common sign to see in America when there were a
lot of Irish immigrants (Irish Potato Famine era).
> _Has there ever been a group that was shunned where it wasn't codified into
> law/sponsored by the government?_
What comes first though? The government is made up of people. So people have
to have these attitudes first and foremost before it becomes codified into
law. If the public violently disagreed with said laws, then they would be
repealed as wildly unpopular.
------
cousin_it
So someone in Indonesia, using only a computer with Internet access, got a man
in England arrested, labeled a pedo and disowned by his employers and family?
We live in interesting times indeed. Hey guys, I live in Moscow, wanna set up
a little extortion racket? I hear it's pretty easy to buy stolen credit card
numbers in bulk.
...And also I'd like to go on record saying that the real villains in this
story are those who fan up public hysteria about child porn.
------
philk
_"I made the mistake of telling my father, and he cut me off," Mr Bunce says.
"He then told all my siblings and they also cut us off."_
_"I've forgiven them [my family] - there's no point in bearing a grudge."_
His family seems pretty loathsome and reconciling with them after the fact
seems like a waste of time.
~~~
jacquesm
Yes, but even if your family can be pretty loathsome for some people they're
all they've got.
If my family did something like this to me or to any other family member of
mine then I'd disown them instead.
Reprehensible doesn't even begin to cover it, if you are family and you can't
even wait for the verdict to be in before having a hanging party then it's
really sad.
~~~
shrikant
Why wait for the verdict? Ask and accept his word for it as best you can.
------
llimllib
> Each computer has a unique internet protocol number, or IP address, which
> identifies the specific computer and its geographic whereabouts whenever it
> is used to access the internet.
I'm surprised nobody here has responded to this complete falsehood in the
article. Did this paragraph bother anybody else?
~~~
derefr
An IP address is only assigned to one computer _at a time_. If you have a
(recent) timestamp, you can resolve the IP address to a MAC address (and
customer account number/address) by subpoenaing the ISP. You might get a
router/gateway/proxy, but that's still "one computer" and you've still found
it. It's just not the one you wanted.
~~~
llimllib
In the context of the article, the "it" in "whenever it is used to access the
internet." refers to the computer that you're using, not your gateway or some
proxy machine.
Also, it's not true that an IP address is only assigned to one computer at a
time; the IP address 10.0.0.1 is assigned to a whole lot of computers right
now. You and I know that, and understand why it's true, but the article
implies (pretty directly) that an IP address is a unique identifier for a
computer. Which is a widely-believed falsehood that drives me crazy.
~~~
derefr
10.0.0.1 isn't actually an unqualified "IP address", though; it's specifically
a _virtual_ IP address, which should really be dichotomous to "real" IP
addresses, not considered a subset of them.
Besides, they never said _globally_ unique. Your IP uniquely identifies you to
whatever network you're participating on, the same way your username uniquely
identifies you to whatever website you're logging into.
Alternate ending: In the context of the article, they were talking about
tracing people via their IPs, as recorded in the logs of Internet-routable
("public facing") servers. The only kinds of IPs such a log would record are
other real IPs; there's no real way it could see a virtual IP. Thus, whatever
is in the log is "good enough" for pointing the finger at _someone_ , whether
that someone is a person, a company, or an ISP. The goal of such a trace is to
pass the buck, not to catch the person yourself.
~~~
olefoo
There are all sorts of ways in which a routable ip address can be shared. At
the most basic, a pair of routers or load-balancers sharing a virtual ip using
CARP. And you can do weird and wacky things if you control an entire routable
netblock ( /24 or larger) using bgp to tell different peers to route it to
different gateways etc.
Most of the time you can get away with thinking of an address as being tied
(at least temporarily) to a particular location. But once you throw in things
like NAT and proxying and the like... That abstraction starts to look more and
more sieve-like.
An ip address in a web-servers logs isn't going to tell you much, for one
thing it's probably not the address of a specific device; it's going to be the
address of a gateway that does address translation for a private subnet; for
another, what happens if the machine on the client end of the transaction is
acting as a proxy for the real eventual destination of that stream of bits?
In digital forensics, an IP is only one piece of evidence; you need to be able
to assemble lots of pieces to get a complete picture.
------
danskil
This is really horrible, but i can't help but be reminded of the episode of
"The IT Crowd" Where the lead character goes on a date with Peter File. Just
goes to show how much value all societies place on titles, no matter how un-
deserved.
~~~
colonelxc
Wow, that is the first thing I thought of too.
That's the terrible thing about even being accused of a crime (regardless of
your innocence), it can still destroy your life. Even if it's not a bad title
(as in this case), just having to defend your own innocence can have high
costs (both legal and emotional).
------
mynameishere
_who now sells encryption services_
Also: How to use the internet through Indonesian proxies and install OSes on
hidden volumes.
~~~
jacquesm
More likely: Be aware, your identity is easily assumed and 'bad people' may
ruin your life very casually.
He's had an object lesson in the consequences, it lost him a ton of money, you
really can't fault the guy from trying to recoup some of his losses with his
new-found knowledge.
~~~
mprime
His "new-found knowledge" is what anyone here would call common sense.
~~~
jacquesm
How many people on HN do you think fall in the 'common' bracket?
There is probably more IT competency here than you'd find in a very large
majority of the net population.
For most people this would be news, for you and I, and most of the rest of HN
it's old hat.
~~~
mprime
>"For most people this would be news"
If that's the case, I'm more out of touch with the world than I thought.
------
miguelpais
Gotta love de virtual credit cards I use to buy stuff online (since I don't
have a credit card, that's the only way I can buy online).
------
ilitirit
Pertinent issue, but in future please note the date of publication in the
title if the article is more than a year old. I wish people started
standardizing the way articles are published to the web so that this sort of
metadata could be derived as easily as the page title.
------
mprime
It's upsetting to read that he just now started being wary of credit cards and
shredding his papers. Someone should not have to go through such an ordeal
before caring about the privacy of their personal information. The same goes
for his "once bitten, twice shy" comment - why did he have to have his life
ruined before being 'cautious' (a.k.a. exercising common sense) about online
shopping?
Still, this is absolutely terrible. I think the police automatically assuming
that anyone buying child porn was stupid enough to use their own credit cards
is ignorant and obnoxious.
~~~
pyre
> _why did he have to have his life ruined before being 'cautious' (a.k.a.
> exercising common sense) about online shopping_
It's not even 'online shopping.' A couple of the huge cases of stolen
identities were by employees at credit card processors, so it didn't matter
how respectable or secure the stores themselves were.
------
sailormoon
_"Being arrested and accused of what is probably one of the worst crimes known
to man, losing my job, having my reputation run through the mud, it's a living
nightmare."_
I love how downloading a stream of bytes - simply copying a file from A to B -
is now "one of the worst crimes known to man". I wonder how long this kind of
crap goes on before the average person considers it a good use of their time
to learn about encryption.
~~~
pyre
Well, you _could_ argue in this case that the crime he was accused of was
_purchasing_ child porn which encourages and supports the producers though I
have a feeling that the author just mean 'child porn' (in general) when he
wrote that.
~~~
sailormoon
Funny how that argument only works with kiddie porn. I mean, you could argue
that by buying Nikes you're encouraging and supporting child labor. You could
argue that by buying a diamond you're encouraging and supporting slavery. You
could argue that by buying pictures of Abu Ghraib the media "encourages and
supports" the behaviour at Abu Ghraib.
But this supposed causal chain of responsibility between purchaser and
producer is only enforced, indeed only even mentioned, when it comes to the
bogeyman of child porn, which means it's nothing but an excuse.
------
ErrantX
It's a difficult scenario and definitely an extreme example. It's hard to see
what could have gone differently (apart from the family and employers being
douches)
~~~
jacquesm
I would say that more than one piece of evidence would have to be brought
before arresting someone, and they should have had a _very_ good look at the
counter-evidence, which was apparently already available at the time of the
arrest.
Very sloppy police work this, basically someones life got altered indelibly
for something he really had nothing to do with.
Just think of it, credit card numbers + matching expiry dates and CVVs are for
sale in bulk on underground black markets, every piece of evidence found in a
case as serious as this should be held to the highest standards before taking
steps that can't be undone.
Since his computer wasn't implicated at all before it was seized, if they had
tried to tie the case to the guys IP they would have seen he had nothing to do
with it immediately that shouldn't have happened at all.
This was simply a fishing expedition and a mans life was changed in a very bad
way because of it.
~~~
ErrantX
What other information? An ip address? Not particularly relevant.
In th case of indecent images the police are pretty much required to
investigate with evidence of this type. Not doing so is just too dangerous all
round for them.
I'd say this was just one of the extreme cases your always going to come
across. It sucks, lots.
Edit: by required I mean its shaky legal ground not to pursue it aggressively.
Especially if he suspect is a parent. If hey ignore it and it turns out the
guy is guilty they are fucked, badly. The differing ip address is important
but only circumstantial because ips are two a penny.
~~~
jacquesm
No, seriously, the fact that there was no other corroborating evidence means
that there are _NOT_ enough grounds for suspicion.
A credit card number is way too easily jacked / faked / cloned. I've had it
happen to me in a restaurant, before I finished my trip home (another 700 km
drive) there had been a few thousand $ of online charges on the card.
A credit card number is not an identity. If it isn't enough to cross a border
with then it certainly shouldn't by itself be a reason for an investigation.
Especially because in cases like these the chances of the perp using
fraudulent information are substantially higher than when looking at the
transactions for say amazon.com.
Of course pedos are going to try to cover their tracks, using a stolen credit
card number is a lesser crime considered to the one they are already
committing so the barrier is a pretty low one.
~~~
flipper
Yes, if I was the victim in this article I would strongly consider suing the
police for wrongful arrest. He would have an excellent case against the police
for negligence causing him substantial loss. If the police had investigated
his case properly they would have seen that there was no prospect of
successful prosecution, but every chance of ruining his life.
~~~
enneff
"there was no prospect of successful prosecution, but every chance of ruining
his life."
Which is probably why they did it. "Even if we can't convict him, we'll at
least destroy this filthy pedo's life."
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Large-scale JavaScript Application Architecture - jguimont
http://speakerdeck.com/u/addyosmani/p/large-scale-javascript-application-architecture
======
kls
Nicely done, I work on large web apps by trade and it is nice to see some of
this information trickling down. I pitch Dojo all the time and a lot of people
just don't get that at a point jQuery becomes an albatross when people try to
do everything with jQuery. I find it easier to use Dojo + jQuery from the
beginning, rather than have to pull in Backbone and all the others once an app
explodes and gets to be a "large app".
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Middle East Dictators Buy Spy Tech from Company Linked to IBM and Google - notlukesky
https://theintercept.com/2019/07/12/semptian-surveillance-mena-openpower/
======
jsty
> The Chinese firm is a member of an American organization called the
> OpenPower Foundation, which was founded by Google and IBM executives with
> the aim of trying to “drive innovation.”
So the link is all three happen to be members of an open consortium? That has
to be one of the most tenuous 'links' imaginable, on par with "have employees
who attended the same conference once".
~~~
yorwba
OpenPower is such a nice ominous name that the writer conveniently avoided
explaining that it refers to the instruction set architecture descended from
PowerPC (although that means they missed a chance to also "link" them to
Apple).
I doubt that the particular instruction set architecture used by those chips
has a large influence on their use for surveillance applications. In a few
years, we'll probably get to read similar articles about RISC-V, complete with
"risky" puns.
------
vuln
The Falcon tool sounds very similar to the stingray device manufactured by
Harris Corporation. The same company that strong armed law enforcement with
NDAs on the tools itself and releasing any information about how the law
enforcement officers actually gathered the evidence.
[https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180120/06352239048/harri...](https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180120/06352239048/harris-
stingray-nondisclosure-agreement-forbids-cops-telling-legislators-about-
surveillance-tech.shtml)
------
quaquaqua1
Saudi Interior Ministry (secret police) buy a ton of Oracle/SUN as well.
The Saudis have deep pockets and Oracle us very happy to aid them in human
rights violations
------
badrabbit
Would be nice if default apps and settings in purism's phone use end to end
encryption for reasons like this.
------
resters
This is not unusual behavior for firms that are defense contractors.
------
buboard
They wanted tried and tested solutions.
------
sverige
>Aegis, Semptian’s flagship system, is designed to be installed inside phone
and internet networks, where it is used to secretly collect people’s email
records, phone calls, text messages, cellphone locations, and web browsing
histories.
Other than government involvement, how is this different than the capabilities
deployed by Google and the permissions granted various apps in their store?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Automatic Exploit Generation - dcerezo
http://cerezo.name/blog/2011/02/16/automatic-exploit-generation/
======
pnathan
The link is blurbtastic but points off to the meat, which is here:
<http://security.ece.cmu.edu/aeg/>.
Leading paragraph on the abstract:
The automatic exploit generation challenge we address is given a program,
automatically find security-critical bugs and generate exploits. Our approach
uses a novel formal verification technique called preconditioned symbolic
execution to make automatic exploit generation more scalable to real-world
programs than without it. We implemented our techniques in a system called
AEG, which we use to automatically generate 16 exploits for 14 open-source
projects. Two of the generated exploits are against previously unknown
vulnerabilities.
They have a pretty sweet video of some runs.
~~~
qjz
They don't explain in the videos how an ordinary user is able to get a root
shell via the exploit. Do all of the examples require a binary to be setuid in
order to work?
~~~
slackito
Yes, in control flow hijacking exploits like these ones, you make a given
process execute external code (typically a shellcode, i.e. a small piece of
code which launches a shell). Any code executed this way runs with the UID of
the original process, so a setuid root program is needed to get a root shell.
------
stcredzero
Another great example of how one can seek opportunities where others don't
look -- because people misapply fundamental laws and principles. In years
past, many people would have told you such a program is a fruitless endeavor,
because of the Halting Problem. (One would have been a CS professor of mine!)
The Halting Problem only shows that such programs can't be perfect, not that
imperfect but tremendously useful examples can't exist.
_A priori_ knowledge and fundamental principles are valuable, but they are
often widely misapplied. This is a great "rock to look under," as such
principles are often very powerful, yet a great many are mistakenly scared
away and don't bother to look closely.
<http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Modestly priced mobile SDKs for 1 to 1 customer support messaging? - alanz1223
I am trying to incorporate a real time messaging customer support system into my mobile app for users to contact me right away and chat with me in real time for any issues. This is a fairly common feature of many websites, I am not sure of the marketing name but it's that small pop up that allows you to instantly message a support person and chat with them without necessarily being registered. I would like something similar for my app. I have been googling but I don't think I am using the right terms because I am stumbling upon a lot of solutions which allow regular chat like person to person but not any for person to app master for support..<p>Ideally the solution would have a centralized access point like an app or web site for me to view and reply to my messages.. although I am not strict on it, I would also like to be able to receive a notification evertime a new massage arrives so that I don't have to constantly check for new messages.. is there such a solution out there, or will I have to implement this from scratch?
======
sharp11
smooch.io is great
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Covailnt – Where Freelancers Find Freelancers - WSykora
https://covailnt.com/
======
WSykora
I'll take any thoughts here. Currently our landing page really seems to
resonate with full time freelancers, but not really with part-
time/moonlighters, independent consultants or solopreneurs, even though
Covailnt’s built for them as well. I have ideas on what I can do with some of
the language, but as you guys know, it’s risky to stay inside your own head
sometimes. I’ll take anything you throw at me. Thanks all!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: I want to be good at everything - josephjrobison
I want to become a good developer so I can create my own things, I want to become a great marketer so I can promote them, I want to be awesome at design because I love creating and I want to become a great business person because that's been the most appealing my whole live.<p>Specialization is good says some people, you should have T-shaped skills says others, specialization is for insects says another.[1]<p>Is the above unrealistic, or does everyone have these goals in some way, but you have to choose what you're good at and delegate the rest/leave them for hobbies?<p>[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competent_man
======
ggchappell
I would not call that unrealistic. A few comments:
(1) Only on HN would anyone dream of referring to your list as "everything".
You are actually targeting a very narrow, focused skill set: those required
for a small(-ish) software or software-intensive business. Like it or not,
you're proposing becoming a specialist (albeit with a somewhat broader
specialty than a typical job description would call for).
(2) In the real world, "everything" includes many, many other things. To get
good at all that stuff on your list, you'll need to leave other skills by the
wayside. The comment by taprun mentions chess, running, and cooking. You won't
be getting better at any of those.
(3) The I-do-everything approach sets a hard limit on the size of a business.
An important reason for hiring & delegating is so that a business can grow.
------
taprun
In economics, I learned about something called a "trade-off". Basically, if
you spend time learning something, you are spending that time not learning
something else.
I remember meeting someone who was fantastic at chess. He destroyed me.
Repeatedly. My mental model of him was essentially "me but good at chess". It
didn't occur to me until much later that he didn't know how to program a
computer, couldn't run a mile without stopping and didn't know how to cook
Chinese food.
I think if you stop seeing people as "you but can do X", these feelings will
go away. Alternatively, read up on the concept of "comparative advantage" and
realize there is a mathematically proven reason not to try to be an expert at
everything.
------
notduncansmith
This is largely the same goal that I've set for myself. I spend a good amount
of time doing each (less marketing lately, more towards coding/design), and
find that while I outpace most people in these fields, there's always people
who specialize even further and know way more about them than I do. The trick
is to spend as much time learning from these people as you can. I talk with my
direct superiors at work a lot, because they're both insanely knowledgeable
engineers. I also have some buddies that do full-time marketing, copywriting,
design, etc, and each of them are constantly teaching me things. Make a point
to regularly associate with a wide variety of deeply specialized people, and
as a result, while you'll probably never be as effective as any of them in
their given fields, you'll certainly be way more effective than most people.
From there, pick one or two fields to use as anchors for your T (or W) shape,
and then leverage that in your dealings with other fields.
Think of yourself as a pupa. Right now you're just incubating, you don't have
to do anything fantastic, just learn and grow. Then, when you're ready, you'll
break out of your shell and spread your wings :)
------
Raphmedia
Of course, you can learn most of those things. However, it is my belief you
will soon tire yourself. Getting to the top of everything is hard enough,
staying there even harder.
I used to be up to date in a lot of domains. 3D modelling, app frameworks, web
technologies, back end, front end. Those days, I find it's hard enough to
focus on being up to date and relevant with front end web development while
balancing an healthy life with friends and family.
You can do it, but remember that there is an upkeep to being relevant in a lot
of domains. If you can deal with it, sure, go ahead!
However, what I would recommend you is a good team. I'm finding I connect
easily with people that have complementary skill sets to mine, and it's a
great experience.
~~~
tambourmajor
Where did you find these people?
------
ASquare
I don't think its unrealistic - the bar is just very high for what you want to
do. Perhaps it may make sense to talk to people who would be looking for such
an integrated skill set and find out which ones matter more than others and to
what degree/level.
That will give you an automatic prioritization of how to go about getting
these skills without becoming overwhelmed.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Is Linus creating AI Life? - rudin
I was reading a HN page http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=898675 where Linus argues that Linux was not "designed" and was struck by the strength of his views. Here are some quotes:<p>"I'm deadly serious: we humans have _never_ been able to replicate something more complicated than what we ourselves are, yet natural selection did it without even thinking.<p>Don't underestimate the power of survival of the fittest."<p>This intrigued me so I looked at his blog http://torvalds-family.blogspot.com where he comments a few times on what he is reading. I will list some of the books he mentions there:<p>Phantoms in the Brain,
The Brain that Changes Itself,
Why Evolution is True,
Genesis: The Scientific Quest for Life's Origins<p>This quote is interesting:<p>"Usually, I tend to read about genetics or similar (that is, when I read anything serious to begin with, which tends to be less than 10% of the time). This one is obviously related, but about the processes that came before it all began. And it also gives more of a look into the issues faced by <BOLD> somebody </BOLD> trying to do experiments in the area."<p>From the above comments his viewpoint possibly falls into the artificial life camp that tries to imitate traditional biology by recreating biological phenomena (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_life).<p>What do you think of this idea? He is well-noted for his programming skills and general ability. Maybe the kernel is just a basis for some sort of massive ai-life simulation?
======
jrockway
There is no artificial intelligence, just a lot of humans doing experiments
and keeping the best results in the kernel. I think that's plain-old
"intelligence".
------
noonespecial
_Maybe the kernel is just a basis for some sort of massive ai-life
simulation?_
The kernel isn't the emergent life, the community is. The kernel is just
the/(a) side effect.
~~~
joubert
Right. The kernel is an extended phenotype.
------
chrischen
He said he believes in guided evolution, which I agree is the best way to do
things. But really it's the only way, because if you're not doing that then at
some point you must have lied to yourself when your vision misaligned with
results.
I think what he's going at is trying to design things logically and
rationally, just as evolution does. That is, seeing how the world designs
itself and modeling his own methods to it with a little human guidance to
speed the what would be random process up.
~~~
joubert
Evolution doesn't design anything. It just sometimes seems that way from our
(builder-mind) perspective.
~~~
chrischen
Well I guess it's how you define _design._ It designs in the sense that it
produces something that simply works. Evolution/survival of the fittest is
absolute and all human design is simply to imitate it's efficacy (its efficacy
is perfect) in less time.
~~~
joubert
I think most people would agree that "designing" something means that its
construction/development is planned. There's no planning in evolution.
~~~
chrischen
Well our argument is about semantics. If "designing" by your definition
requires planning, then so be it.
The point is that when we design we try to create something that _works_.
Evolution is basically the products produced by reality that _work_ , and this
is by definition. So in essence we try to speed up evolution by designing. We
try to predict what _works_ before it gets there by random luck. Obviously the
simplest algorithm is to try random iterations that are completely independent
of past ones, but this is essentially _evolution_. So what Linus is in favor
of is _guided_ evolution, that is instead of trying random iterations, we try
to predict the next working iteration based on past knowledge, and identifying
any patterns. Of course everyone probably does this. Unfortunately most people
break out of this if they don't understand this, and may be blinded by ego. So
when you can't admit you're doing something wrong, you're no longer designing
through guided evolution, you're designing by complete random chance at best.
In any case evolution is the absolute process that design tries to mimick
because its results are by definition what we are trying to achieve.
~~~
joubert
Does your definition of "designing" not include the concept of planning? I can
see how "building" could forego planning (and result in poor products), but
"design" implies planning I would argue.
Some comments about evolution:
1) Evolution very often has results that, if it were the product of design,
would be considered very poor design
2) Evolution is not random luck. It is anything but random. Mutation is
random, but evolution by natural selection is not.
3) Things do not evolve unless:
- there's replication
- there are mutations that natural selection can "see"
- there is pressure for certain kinds of mutations to be favored
~~~
chrischen
In response to your bullet points:
1) Evolution always has results that will be considered poor design. Every
time an evolved "design" becomes obsolete with respect to its surroundings,
then it becomes a poor adaptation, at which point it must evolve again. But
because this process is continuous, we consider this whole continuous process
as evolution. As time increases, evolution will always force something to
adjust to its environment and become _perfect_ with it, therefore evolution as
a whole can be considered absolute and perfect.
2) Evolution as a whole is absolute, so obviously it's not luck. The
adaptations and changes before the _perfect_ "design" arrives are determined
by luck as you say.
When I say design I just mean the product of some systematic process. Planning
is systematic, but so is evolution.
------
allenwhitt
sounds like he's also been reading wolfram's nks. the whole book is about how
complexity is created. and wolfram suggests that humans wouldn't be able to
_purposefully_ create something more complicated than ourselves (though
leaving open the possibility of doing it by semi-accident).
------
nazgulnarsil
is _____ creating _amazing technological breakthrough_?
I'd prefer not to see question mark headlines. they're really easily abused.
------
VonGuard
Perhaps "Hive Mind" is a better term than AI.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hand-Shaped iPhone Case, for Humans Who Prefer to Hold Hands With Their Phone - swohns
http://betabeat.com/2013/03/hand-shaped-iphone-case-for-humans-who-prefer-to-hold-hands-with-their-phone/
======
acomjean
creepy
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
We need ecstasy and cocaine in place of Prozac and Xanax - jseliger
https://aeon.co/ideas/we-need-ecstasy-and-cocaine-in-place-of-prozac-and-xanax
======
kolinko
There are many different psychiatric issues.
MDMA may throw someone out of an acute depression, but for people with genetic
predispositions towards depression, it will get back after a few weeks. And
you can't microdose, nor take MDMA regularly.
As for cocaine - Ritalin is cocaine light really. Both increase dopamine, and
reduce anxiety in low enough doses.
As for replacing Xanax, it affects GABA if I'm not mistaken, which is a
completely different animal altogether. For people who have issues on that
front (i.e. experience panic attacks often, due to brain chemistry, not
because of traumatic memories), no amount of MDMA therapy, or stimulants, will
help.
~~~
goldenkey
Cocaine causes much less anxiety than adderall or ritalin. It is a way
smoother drug if its pure cocaine , not cut with caffeine and other crap.
Cocaine used to be able to be purchased over the counter and everyone carried
around snuff boxes. This country was built on cocaine. Unfortunately, with it
being illegal, it is risky to obtain and the shitty caffeine youll get with it
is inferior to amphetamines.
Would be nice to see cocaine as a prescription drug for ADD and narcolepsy.
But thats a pipe dream...
Stick with pure drugs, ie. from prescriptions. Caffeine and that other speedy
and anxiety inducing crap street coke is cut with is not worth dealing with
~~~
shoesr
Provigil seems to be way better since it doesn't get you high in the
traditional sense.
I don't think cocaine lasts long enough to be therapeutic. And certainly not
healthy to snort it.
I also don't believe anyone (99% of people) should be taking any performance
enhancing drug every day. Ritalin, Adderall and Vyvanse are all essentially
meth without the initial rush.
And yes, no one should be doing cocaine since a huge percentage is cut with
synthetic balt salts and even sometimes fentayl (not sure why).
~~~
goldenkey
Not a big fan of provigil but a lot of people seem to have success with it.
Cocaine lasts a while if you consume it sublingually or orally.
------
shoesr
I think we also need better mental models of how to deal with life and stress.
And how to be energized from being healthy and sleeping properly.
~~~
Arizhel
>I think we also need better mental models of how to deal with life and
stress.
No, we need totally different lifestyles that are more compatible with our
biology. The way our society functions is incompatible with our biology, and
we're trying to cover it up with drugs and other medical treatments.
------
I_am_neo
We need government with real honest people.....
------
klarrimore
Ah yes, another shrooms and mdma cure all article.
~~~
grillvogel
do you have any experience with either?
~~~
klarrimore
both but prefer the "harder stuff" but I'm not trying to win any converts
either.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Two envelopes problem - tchajed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_envelope_problem
======
jamii
You can even explicitly define the distribution as P($2^i) = 1/(2^i) and the
'paradox' remains. The problem is that you are reasoning about the expected
gain of swapping but that expectation is a sum over a series which is not
absolutely convergent
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_convergence](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_convergence))
so it's value depends on the order in which you sum over the different cases.
In fact, if you repeatedly simulate the problem (make sure you use bignums)
you will find that the mean gain from swapping is not well behaved at all and
refuses to converge. The law of large numbers only applies if the expectation
is well-defined.
The lesson here is: when in doubt, explicitly write out the probability space
over which you are working. Problems like this and the Monty Hall problem are
trivially solvable on paper. There is a reason that mathematicians get all hot
and bothered about formalism - it gives you a solid base from which to build
_correct_ intuitions.
EDIT Let's write this down properly.
i | gain from swapping if I have the smallest | gain from swapping if I have the largest
1 $2 -$2
2 $4 -$4
3 $8 -$8
etc
There are two arguments.
The first is that the situation is symmetric so you can't possibly gain. That
is:
E(Gain) = (1/4 * $2 + 1/4 * -$2) + (1/8 * $4 + 1/8 * -$4) ...
= $0 + $0 + $0 + $0 ...
= $0
The second argument is that swapping from small to large is a bigger gain than
the loss of swapping from large to small. That is:
E(Gain) = (1/4 * $2) + (1/4 * -$2 + 1/8 * $4) + (1/8 * -$4 + 1/16 * $8) ...
= $0.5 + $0 + $0 + $0 ...
= $0.5
Adding up an infinite series is tricky :)
~~~
bluecalm
Well, yeah :) The problem is still in assuming something about the
distribution without having any good reason to. In original "paradox"
reasoning it was impossible uniform distribution. What you show is that even
assuming possible distribution could still lead nowhere. It still doesn't mean
there is any reason to assume it's P($2^i) = 1/(2^i). I may just as well
assume it's exactly 100$-200$ and that switching from 100$ gives me guaranteed
payoff. It would be as baseless as assuming uniform distribution or the one
given by you.
I think the main lesson from this puzzle is that you can't assume stuff
without good reason to.
~~~
jamii
I'm not _assuming_ that that is the distribution. I'm saying that the problem
as presented is underspecified, but even if you give this specific
distribution in the problem you can still cause confusion. Assuming stuff is
bad but the original 'paradox' still doesn't go away if you nail everything
down. It's a useful problem for education people about the subtleties of
infinite sums.
~~~
bluecalm
Well, there are distributions which don't have well defined expected value and
I agree that it's valuable lesson. I would argue though that this is not the
best example to show it. The point of two envelope problem comes much earlier
and specifically giving distribution defined by you would make it completely
different problem and assuming it in original form would already be a mistake.
I think there are better examples to show how infinite sums and relying on
expected value based on those might leads to problems. Like this one for
example:
[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/paradox-
stpetersburg/](http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/paradox-stpetersburg/)
~~~
jamii
The expected value in the St Petersburg game is actually well-defined - it
converges to positive infinity. That is a subtly different result than not
converging at all. Both problems are useful.
------
millstone
This is one of my favorite problems. Here is one variation can help clarify
thinking about it:
"There's two envelopes. One contains twice as much money as the other. No
envelope contains more than $N."
This changes the problem dramatically. If your envelope contains more than
$N/2, of course you should not switch: the other envelope necessarily contains
less. If it contains $N/2 or less, perhaps you should switch: the other
envelope may or may not contain more.
Say your envelope contains $x, and you don't know what $N is. There's two
possibilities:
1\. $x <= $N/2\. If you switch, your expectation value is $3x/2, by the
original argument.
2\. $x > $N/2\. If you switch, you will get $x/2, since no envelope contains
more than $N.
If we assume the distribution is uniform on the range [0, N], then these
possibilities are equally likely. Therefore the total expectation value is the
average of the EVs of the two possibilities (3x/2 and x/2), which is $x. So we
recovered the naive expectation of "it doesn't matter" from this variation.
Now we can take the limit as $N goes to infinity, and while the EV of $x
approaches infinity, the fact that switching does not matter does not change.
As others have said, the underlying problem is the assumption that a uniform
probability on an infinite set makes sense, which it does not. However, we can
instead take the limit for finite sets, in which case we recover the intuitive
result that switching does not matter.
~~~
jamii
Exchanging limits and expectations is not always valid (eg
[http://www.stanford.edu/class/msande322/docs/app_B.pdf](http://www.stanford.edu/class/msande322/docs/app_B.pdf)).
In this case the expected gain is not convergent in the limit. See
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6387344](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6387344)
This is one of my favourite problems too :)
------
EllaMentry
That is a very long article based on flawed argument.
Given no other information, assuming someone gave you 2 envelopes and told you
one has $40 vs $20, common sense dictates choose 1 randomly and walk away -
with no other information it is illogical to reason any other way.
The chance you choose the lower value is 1/2.
Now, if you are allowed to look inside the envelope (which gets introduced
further down) then it becomes a different game.
Get $20...well by swapping you may get $10 or $40...you should probably swap.
Get $2000...well by swapping you may get $1000 or $4000...you should probably
swap.
I think this works all the way up...someone with a bit more background on game
theory may be able to formalise it, but the realisation that swapping forever
leads to $0 nullifies this "paradox"
~~~
bluecalm
Yes, it's not a paradox it's just seductive flawed reasoning. Yes, at any
point EV of picking an envelope at random is 3/4n (n being higher amount of
money out of the two). It is all there is to it. The "paradox" is introduced
by silent assumption that distribution of amounts put in envelopes is uniform
which is impossible (because you can't pick numbers from infite set uniformly
even if there was infinite amount of money in "adversary" disposal). The
assumption is then used for conditional probability calculations: "if we see
10$ there is 50% chance the other envelope contains 20$" \- BEEP, ERROR, THINK
AGAIN.
Perhaps good exercise in clear thinking but not really a paradox. Good analogy
is this: "If we pick random building and climb to the roof of it there is 50%
chance first building we see is higher than the one we just climbed". This is
obviously true, now following "paradoxical" reasoning we get: "If we climb a
building randomly and see it's the Empire State Building there is still 50%
chance first building we see will be higher".
This is exact analogy to reasoning about 2 envelopes problem which is supposed
to lead to a paradox.
~~~
jamii
You can explicitly state the distribution and still run into the same problem:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6387344](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6387344)
.
The underlying problem is basically that probability theory in non-finite
spaces has some gotchas - one of which is that the expectation of a random
variable does not always exist.
~~~
bluecalm
Interesting point and nice read. Still the problem is in assumption about
underlying distribution of amounts in envelopes (in original case impossible
uniform distribution). The reasoning is based on this assumption and leads to
nonsense. What you are saying (I think) is that assuming some other
distribution (possible one, instead of impossible one) could still lead to
nonsense or doesn't lead anywhere at all.
~~~
jamii
Not so much that it leads to nonsense as that naively applying expectations
doesn't always work. This is a contrived example, but it's not uncommon in eg
random walk theory to hit upon cases like this where the expectation does not
exist at all.
People commonly think of mathematics as being purely about formal proof but
the reality is an interplay between proof and intuition. Usually when a
mathematician encounters a problem in a familiar area they immediately know
the answer by intuition which then guides the production of a correct proof.
When you first enter a new area of mathematics your intuitions are all
completely wrong and you have no idea where to start with a proof. Good
teachers will introduce edge cases like this problem to refine your intuition
until it is useful enough to be a guide.
[http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-
advice/there%E2%80%99s-...](http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-
advice/there%E2%80%99s-more-to-mathematics-than-rigour-and-proofs/)
------
sillysaurus2
I'd like to offer my own humble solution. Maybe it's flawed. Maybe you can
embarass me. :)
Here it is: the goal is to choose a strategy which statistically maximizes our
return. I.e. strategy A is superior to strategy B if it yields higher returns
after, say, 1,000,000 iterations.
So there are two envelopes, X and 2X. You select one, then you're offered a
chance to change your selection. What do you do?
Let's write out all the possibilities:
You select X, then you choose to stay, and wind up with X.
You select 2X, then you choose to stay, and wind up with 2X.
You select X, then you choose to swap, and wind up with 2X.
You select 2X, then you choose to swap, and wind up with X.
Those are the only four possibilities. You're forced to choose one of these
possibilities randomly, because you have no information to guide your choice.
Since two of them yield 2X and two yield X, and since your choice is
necessarily random, then therefore all strategies will converge on the same
expected value. In short, it doesn't matter what you do. You always have a 50%
chance of X or 2X, regardless of your sequence of choices.
At first glance this is similar to the Monty hall problem, but the critical
difference is that information is revealed during the Monty hall problem. No
extra info is revealed here.
I assert that the envelopes could contain X and 1000X and it still doesn't
matter what you do.
Ok, go, embarass me!
~~~
Afforess
No. If I understand correctly, your last two outcomes are wrong. There are 6
possible outcomes, not four. This is because when you choose the 2X correctly,
you may receive 2(2X) or X.
The 6 outcomes are:
You select X, then you choose to stay, and wind up with X.
You select 2X, then you choose to stay, and wind up with 2X.
You select X, then choose to swap and wind up with 1/2X
You select X, them choose to swap and wind up with 2x
You select 2X, then choose to swap and wind up with X
You select 2X, then choose to swap and wind up with 4X
~~~
sillysaurus2
Actually, you always wind up with X or 2X, never 0.5X and never 4X. Remember,
the envelopes contain either X or 2X, and you always end up with either one or
the other.
~~~
iamshs
I myself understood the problem with Afforess's reply. You are explicitly
pinning the value in the envelopes, but remember the other envelope has either
half or double of the value than the one in your hand, and this is the crux of
this paradox. Hopefully, I am thinking in correct terms.
~~~
delinka
But he has assigned the identifiers "X" and "2X" to the envelopes. He could
have called them "A" and "B" and his logic still holds. The problem I see with
the wiki article explanation is: while using actual dollar amounts as
examples, it gives the impression that you get to open the envelope that you
picked first to see the amount, but that you don't know if it's the smaller
value or larger value.
So I choose "A" and I don't know if it contains $X or $2X. I don't even get to
open it to know what amount is in the envelope. Whatever it contains, if I
choose to switch, I get envelope "B" \- I always have a 50% chance of choosing
the larger amount or switching to the envelope with the larger amount because
no information is revealed after the first choice.
for A->$X, B->$2X:
Choose A, stay with A, receive $X
Choose A, switch to B, receive $2X
Choose B, switch to A, receive $X
Choose A, stay with B, receive $2X
for A->$2X, B->$X:
Choose A, stay with A, receive $2X
Choose A, switch to B, receive $X
Choose B, switch to A, receive $2X
Choose A, stay with B, receive $X
50% chance of getting either amount, regardless.
------
aegiso
The way I see it the flaw is in the first sentence of the "example":
> Assume the amount in my selected envelope is $20.
You can't just pull that assumption out of your ass. You can only assume what
the problem states, which is that the values in the envelopes are X and 2X and
you had a 50% chance of choosing either.
If you run the math without adding assumptions, it works out that swapping
makes no difference, statistically.
Though it is a very clever trick :).
~~~
DoctorZeus
Taking out the specific dollar amount doesn't change the math at all. If X
designates the amount in the envelope I've selected, than 50% chance the other
envelope contains .5 * X and a 50% chance it contains 2 * X, so the expected
value of the other envelope is .5 * .5 * X + .5 * 2 * X = 1.25 * X which is
greater than X.
~~~
dnautics
but you are implicitly turning the scenario into one with three values, 1/2X,
X, and 2X, so something went wrong with what you're doing. There was only ever
a universe of two values.
~~~
DoctorZeus
Sure, these are variables, so they correspond to different possibilities. X
can be anything, and given X, the amount in the other envelope is one of two
different possible values - 1/2X OR 2X.
So there are far more than three _possible_ values, but only two _actual_
values.
~~~
dnautics
Exactly, that's why your model is broken.
------
fargolime
All the probability math therein, for a problem whose solution is highly
intuitive (if you swap, you'd be just as inclined to swap envelopes
indefinitely, is all you need to realize), reminds me of this quote:
"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful
servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten
the gift." \- Albert Einstein
Shameless plug for a blog I like that has little math, yet uses much intuition
to solve five of the biggest outstanding problems of physics:
[http://finbot.wordpress.com](http://finbot.wordpress.com)
~~~
justinsb
Theoretical resolution of "intuitively obvious" paradoxes such as these are
important.
If we cannot find a theoretical resolution, it can indicate a flaw in our
theories, and that will likely provide a more accurate set of theories.
The problems around the speed of light gave rise to Einstein's theories of
relativity. Another of those flaws ("the set of all sets that are not members
of themselves") gave rise to modern set theory and formal logic.
Still a nice quote from Einstein though :-)
------
mgraczyk
I don't see the paradox... If you have 2x and swap you lose x. If you have x
and swap, you gain x. 0.5 _(-x) + 0.5_ (x) = 0, So you should be indifferent
to swapping.
A I missing something? Not to say I don't make mistakes, but I have a BS in
mathematics so maybe this is only obvious for people with a background in
math?
EDIT: No need for dollar values.
~~~
oneeyedpigeon
I don't have a BS in maths, but the important bit, as I read it, is that you
don't know the values involved. I.e. if you have 20, there is _either_ 10 in
the other envelope, or 40. You have no way of knowing which is the case, so
it's in your interest to swap since the benefits outweigh the risks.
This is totally counterintuitive, though, so I'm fully willing to accept I'm
missing something! And I don't buy the 'indefinite swapping' argument, since
the second swap must surely reverse any advantage gained.
~~~
andrewflnr
Once you have the second envelope in hand, since you don't actually know
what's in it, the exact same expected-value argument applies to switching
back: there might be $10 or $40 in the other (first) envelope, "so it's in
your interest to swap since the benefits outweigh the risk".
While the second swap would reverse any advantage _possibly_ gained, it would
also reverse any _possible_ harm sustained You dont know. The situation is
perfectly symmetric; picking and switching is the same as just picking the
second one at first. So just pick one.
~~~
colomon
Env A has $20 (we have it and know). Env B has $10 or $40 (equal chance).
We swap. Now we hold Env B, which has $10 or $40 in it. We know the other
envelope (Env A) is $20. Why would we switch again?
~~~
andrewflnr
The original statement of the problem says you're offered the choice before
you open the envelope. I guess I was sloppy about the $20 assumption too. As
for the case you do know, I still feel wrong about the conclusion that you
should switch, but I can't formalize it.
------
thatthatis
Here's my contribution:
\-----------------
Approach 1: Absent new information, we cannot improve our outcomes.
In the montey hall problem there is either obscure new information, or a
obscure change in the rules between firs choice and second choice.
Montey hall collapses to an initial choice of the prize behind door A or the
prizes behind both door B and C. When the true, collapsed, choice is revealed
the common sense reasoning is correct.
In this problem there is no new usable information.
In the two envelopes problem the new information appears relevant but is
actually not on it's own any more useful to reasoning about expected value
than knowing that there is a red or green piece of paper in either envelope.
\-----------------
Approach 2: Keeping the quantities symbolic.
There are two envelops with quantities x and y inside. We are told that 2x =
y. After choosing it is revealed that our envelope has quantity z. It is not
revealed if z=x or z=y.
Let's consider the universe of possibilities.
Possibility one (50% chance): z = y. Value of switching: -x
Possibility two (50% chance): z = x. Value of switching: +x
Therefore the value or switching is: .5 * -x + .5* +x = +/-0
The red herring here is that knowing value z feels like it is information
about values x and y, but it isn't.
The slight of hand is in trying to say that the other envelope is worth either
.5z or 2z. This is false because there is an unknown but fixed universal
constant variable x. We don't know from the available information if we are in
universe z=x or universe z=y.
In short: The two envelopes paradox mistakes an unknown constant for an
unknown variable. Knowing that z = 20 doesn't change the universal constants x
and y.
~~~
bluecalm
Approach 1: There is in fact new information when you look into the envelope
it's also very valuable because it allows you make judgement taking into
account your knowledge about the world and specific situation (who puts money
in the envelopes, what are general preferences of people in such situations
etc.).
Approach 2: You made the same mistake. Seeing the money is actually valuable
and very real information. The problem is that original reasoning makes wrong
use of it. It doesn't mean there is no information or that we can/should
ignore it.
~~~
thatthatis
If the new information is relevant, how is this simulation code wrong?
[https://gist.github.com/tedtieken/6567112](https://gist.github.com/tedtieken/6567112)
~~~
bluecalm
The code is wrong because there is an assumption that the distribution is 50%
for 10$ and 50% for 20$. There no basis for this (how do you know you won't
got 40$ if you see 20$ ?). See my other posts, I think this point is very well
worth thinking about.
------
jader201
The paradox depends on the possibility of always being able to double the
amount. This isn't true.
Swapping once will either double or half the amount; swapping back will just
do the opposite.
~~~
dools
Even better: if I put $10 into one envelope, and $20 in another envelope and
get you to choose one, what is the probability that the other envelope
contains $40? Zero.
------
scythe
This is a fantastic and subtle paradox, and not at all taken to quick
resolution. A resolution follows, first to spot a problem (if there is one)
gets a cookie.
Consider the amount in the lower to be f(x), the higher to be x, given f(z)
such that f(z) < z for all z. In this way we generalize to _all_
distributions, as the problem clearly applies to _all_ distributions. You open
the first envelope, which contains A. The second envelope contains B. The
challenge is to calculate the value of B.
First we must calculate x. The chance that A = f(x) is 1/2, the chance that A
= x is 1/2\. The average value of A is (x + f(x))/2, so the average value of x
is [f+I]^{-1}(2A), where I is the identity function and [g]^{-1} denotes an
inverse function.
Now we calculate B. The trick lies in this: _both calculations must lie in the
same reference frame_. So B = x with probability 1/2, and B = f(x) with
probability 1/2, giving us B = (x + f(x))/2.
The rest is plug-and-chug: B = ([f+I]^{-1}(2A) + f([f+I]^{-1}(2A))/2 --> B =
[f+I]([f+I]^{-1}(2A))/2 --> B = 2A/2 thus B = A.
Therefore over all probability distributions that can be defined we have the
average value of B equal to A in any case. A purely mathematical resolution is
satisfying, but I am not in any case an epistemologist, so it may not satisfy
people who take a different interpretation of math than me. It works, and I
like it.
~~~
jamii
The problem here is that you are adding together two values for a specific
case of x and then adding together the result for all values of x (is that
clear? probably not).
It's analogous to another age old problem: what is the value of 1 + (-1) + 1 +
(-1) + 1 + (-1) ...
You could argue that (1 + -1) + (1 + -1) ... = 0 + 0 ... = 0.
You could also argue that 1 + (-1 + 1) + (-1 + 1) = 1 + 0 ... = 1.
There are actually way to group the numbers in that series to get any integer
answer you want :D
Since we haven't actually defined a distribution over x the problem is not
well-defined anyway. But lets pick, say, P(x=2^i) = 1/(2^i) for all i>1.
Then the expected value of A is
E(A) = (1/2 * $2) + (1/4 * $4) + (1/8 * $8) ...
= +infinity.
Similary E(B) = +infinity.
Now for E(B-A)
E(B-A) = (1/2 * $1) + (1/2 * -$1) + (1/4 * $2) + (1/4 * -$2) ...
Like the example above, we can add this up in different ways:
E(B-A) = ((1/2 * $1) + (1/2 * -$1)) + ((1/4 * $2) + (1/4 * -$2)) ...
= $0 + $0 ...
= $0
Or
E(B-A) = (1/2 * $1) + ((1/2 * -$1) + (1/4 * $2)) + ((1/4 * -$2) ...
= $0.5 + $0 + $0 ...
= $0.5
When adding up infinite numbers of things you have to be very careful. I go
into more detail in this thread -
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6387344](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6387344)
Cookie please :D
~~~
scythe
In my original version of the post I had intended to argue for a geometric
mean, which was sort of a joke, as it only works where f(x) is a constant k*x.
So the statement "A false resolution follows, first to spot the problem..."
appears in the post. Upon seeing this an enterprising and intelligent person
may have clicked "reply"
While writing this I realized that inverting the definition of A gave a
different resolution based loosely on operator theory, and posted that
instead. A couple minutes later I realized the mistake and changed the
beginning to refer to the first to spot "a" problem.
The argument you've presented is good, but you have attacked the well-
foundedness of the problem itself rather than the logic I've applied. I'm not
sure if you get the cookie.
~~~
jamii
Goddamn, what does it take to get a cookie around here? :D
------
dools
I read through the common resolution but I just can't get why you need all
this. The problem seems to be at the start: you select one of two amounts,
then you say the other amount is either double or half what you _chose_.
That means you have 3 amounts in the equation: 0.5x, x and 2x. But in reality
there are only 2 amounts: x and 2x.
So you have to state the problem like: you choose an envelope. The other
envelope either contains x or 2x. It can't contain 0.5x because that amount
never existed in the first place.
~~~
Osmium
Unless you picked 2x to start with, in which case the other envelope does
contain half of what you chose...
i.e. there are two envelopes, x and 2x, and you choose one. There is a 50%
chance that the envelope you didn't choose is half the value of the one you
picked (you pick 2x, and the other is x), or there's a 50% chance the envelope
you didn't choose is twice the value of the one you picked (you pick x, and
the other is 2x). I think it's misleading to introduce this "third" quantity
of 0.5x... but perhaps I'm missing something subtle, in which case I'd be
happy to be corrected!
~~~
dools
_I think it 's misleading to introduce this "third" quantity of 0.5x_
Yes, it _is_ misleading, that's my point :)
Put it another way: you have two quantities in two envelopes, A and B. If you
choose B, what is the probability that the other envelope contains a 3rd
quantity, C? The probably of that is zero, because C was not present in the
initial two envelopes.
Still another way of putting it: I will place $10 in an envelope, and $20 in
another envelope, then ask you to choose one. What are the chances that the
other envelope contains $40? The chance of that is zero, because the only two
amounts present at the start of the trick were $10 and $20.
------
tmoertel
Arbitrarily label the two envelopes A and B. Assume that no envelope is empty.
Let «X» denote the amount of money in envelope X.
We are told that either «A» = 2«B» or «B» = 2«A». Because these propositions
are exhaustive and mutually exclusive, we know that
P(«A» = 2«B») + P(«B» = 2«A») = 1. (1)
Since we have no knowledge that would make either proposition more plausible
than the other, we also have (by symmetry) that
P(«A» = 2«B») = P(«B» = 2«A»). (2)
From (1) and (2) we can solve for the individual probabilities of the
propositions:
P(«A» = 2«B») = P(«B» = 2«A») = 1/2. (3)
Therefore, from the initial conditions, we have no reason to prefer either
envelope.
Now we are given the information that we have picked one of the envelopes at
random (let's say it's A). We are further given the information that A
contains $20, that is «A» = $20. How does this new knowledge affect the
probabilities?
It has no effect because we can't say anything more about either proposition
without also knowing «B» as well, and we don't know it. That is,
P(«A» = 2«B» | «A» = $20) = P(«A» = 2«B»)
and
P(«B» = 2«A» | «A» = $20) = P(«B» = 2«A»).
Therefore, our probability assignments from (3) remain unchanged, and we have
no reason to prefer one envelope to the other, let alone swap A for B.
------
egreif1
This is a really cool problem. I don't claim to understand it, but here's one
way of thinking about it. The paradox assumes that when we see the value of
money in the envelope we open, we get no information about whether that's the
smaller or larger amount of money. Now, in practice, is that possible?
Let X,Y be i.i.d. draws from some distribution with CDF F, and say we see Y=y
when we open our envelope. If the distribution satisfies the constraints of
the problem, then we have to have that, for all possible values of y: P(X > Y
| Y = y) = 1/2 = P(X < Y | Y = y)
In practice, this is impossible. The reason why this is impossible is because
P(X>Y | Y = y) = (1-F(y)). Since F(y) is a CDF, if we take the limit as y goes
to infinity we have that (1-F(y)) = 1. So (1-F(y)) can't equal 1/2 regardless
of y. That is, the probability that the other envelope contains the larger or
smaller value is not independent of the value we observe in the envelope we
open. And, more importantly, it can't be, such a distribution doesn't exist.
You have to consider the sampling distribution to get a meaningful
calculation.
------
level09
This sounds like a special case of the secretary problem
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_problem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_problem),
where instead of envelopes you swap secretaries and additionally you have a
time constraint.
I find it very interesting how these statistical problems can be projected on
our own life (swapping jobs, finding a better partner etc ..)
------
pierrebai
The paradox is interesting to discover and discuss errors in reasoning, but we
should agree from the start that any proof that one should always switch (or
that any behaviour could increase the expected gain) is flawed.
This can be easily proven by:
1\. Taking at face value that choosing an envelope is random. 2\. Adding a
second player that is given the other envelope.
In that scenario, any reasoning that leads one player to always switch would
apply to the other player too. Both players would swap their envelopes.
Clearly, the expected value for both cannot go up. Thus any reasoning that
mandates switching /has/ to be wrong.
(If you have issue with adding another player, instead assume a parallel
universe where the player chose the other envelope.)
The error in reasoning is usually to assume that the envelope contains X and
then reasoning about X/2 and 2X. In reality, the envelopes always contain X
and 2X. When you actually use the parallel universe version, clearly one has X
and the otehr has 2X. Nobody has X/2 (nor 4X, nor any other expected value
your theory may come up with).
------
bluecalm
Many explanations here contain the same mistake: Some reasoning -->> seeing
the money doesn't change anything and/or doesn't count as information.
If you arrive at this point you've made a mistake. Seeing the money is
valuable information. The trick is not in ignoring it but making good use of
it like this:
-use your best knowledge about person who puts money in the envelope, general human tendencies and how the world is to approximate distribution of money in the envelopes
-pick according to your personal utility of money assuming the distribution
What the the wrong reasoning in original puzzle suggests is to assume uniform
distribution which is impossible but more importantly baseless. As other
poster shows there are baseless distributions you could assume which leads you
nowhere as well.
Just don't let it detract from the main point: there is new information but
making use of it is not that easy.
------
thatthatis
If it is possible to switch and gain on the average we could write a 10,000 or
so iteration monte-carlo simulation of this switching algorithm to demonstrate
the gains.
The envelope has either x or 2x. One envelope has amount z, but the agent
doesn't know if z = x or z = 2x.
If it is true that not switching leads to an EV of 3x/2 but switching leads to
a higher EV: then a single switch each round should come back with an average
value of greater than 3x/2.
In the Montey Hall problem, we can code up such an agent to demonstrate that
the naive intuition is wrong. However, in this case, regardless of how many
times we switch, we still end up with an average value of 2x/3.
Therefore there is an error in the math that says that switching has a higher
EV than staying.
~~~
jamii
Go ahead and run a few million simulations of the problem and graph the
running mean over time. You might be surprised :)
Be sure to use exact arithmetic (eg
[http://docs.python.org/2/library/fractions.html](http://docs.python.org/2/library/fractions.html))
~~~
thatthatis
[https://gist.github.com/tedtieken/6567112](https://gist.github.com/tedtieken/6567112)
Run the simulator and you'll see, the ev is 3x/2, regardless of switching
behavior.
Feel free to modify if you think I've innacurrately conceptualizer the
problem.
Also, please excuse some non pythonic names, I'm writing the code on an
iPhone.
~~~
jamii
Sorry, I should have been more specific :S
You have assumed a fixed amount in each envelope. The article leaves the
amount unspecified but implicitly assumes that there is no maximum amount that
could be in the envelope. The problem only becomes interesting for certain
distributions.
Try this code:
[https://gist.github.com/jamii/6567205](https://gist.github.com/jamii/6567205)
If you run it with the uniform distribution the running mean will eventually
converge to 0. If you comment that out and uncomment the exponential
distribution it is much more interesting :)
With the exponential distribution the expected value of switching does not
even exist.
EDIT Doh, the original gist was totally wrong. That'll teach me to argue on
the internet at 3am. The updated gist is correct.
~~~
thatthatis
Fixed amount vs variable amount is irrelevant, variable amount just requires
higher n.
Either way, the gain from switching approaches zero as n approaches infinity.
~~~
jamii
It does make a difference but I messed up the code :S
If you try the updated gist you will find that the second distribution appears
to converge for a while but always jumps away again. I've run it now for
20540000 rounds and its further away than it started.
------
cookingrobot
Here's how I see it - the important unstated variable is how big a budget does
the host of the game have? If you know that you're playing with a billionaire
who loves this party trick, and is probably willing to give away a million
dollars on this, then the $20 you found in you envelope is probably the
smaller value. If your envelope contains $800,000 it's probably the bigger
one.
The host has chosen a number randomly between 1-N, and they're not
neccessarily going to tell you what N is. But in the long run you'll find that
values closest to N/2 are more common than values further from N/2.
~~~
russellsprouts
However, it says in the problem that you are offered the switch before you
open the envelope. So, you can't know if your original choice was $20 or
$80,000.
------
heydanreeves
Since you don't know what is in either envelope surely both theoretically
contain both x and 2x (al a Schrödinger's cat). Only upon opening an envelope
will we know the amount; which one you take or how many times you swap make no
difference.
Also swapping, in my understanding, doesn't increase your probability. In the
first choice you 1 in 2 chance of gettng the higher amount. In the second
choice (the ability to swap, which is fundamentally the same as choosing
between the two envelopes) you have a 1 in 2 chance of getting the higher
amount.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
------
russellsprouts
Correct me if I'm wrong, but here's my analysis.
There are two envelopes. One contains a value x, and the other has 2x. You
pick an envelope at random. Let's call the envelope you choose z. The variable
z is a random variable that has an equal chance of being x or 2x, so the
expected value of z is 1.5x.
If you switch, there are two possibilities. In one case, you picked x, so
switching gains you .5x over the expected value of 1.5x.
In the other case, you picked 2x, so switching loses you .5x from the expected
value of 1.5x. So, the expected gain from switching should be zero.
------
asciimo
Just take both envelopes and run.
~~~
eugeneross
I agree. Plus, both have money. Win win.
------
CalvinCarmack
[https://gist.github.com/CalvinCarmack/6567168](https://gist.github.com/CalvinCarmack/6567168)
$1500308 500308/1000000 0.500308 never switched
$1500301 500301/1000000 0.500301 always switched
------
whalemaker
Interesting.
This reminds me of a bizarre version of the Monty Hall problem:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem)
------
jheriko
the flaw here is assuming that the value being higher on average in the
envelope is a sufficient criteria to make swapping the best choice. this is
not how probability works, if i have a million empty envelopes and one with a
billion dollars in it, the average value of each envelope being £1000 doesn't
mean anything in the face of the 1 in a million chance of actually picking the
right one.
~~~
harryh
Actually, that's exactly how expected value works.
~~~
jamii
I think the point he is getting at is that expected value (or even expected
utility) is not actually a good measure of human preferences.
Additionally, in this problem there are certain distributions over the amounts
in the envelope for which the expected value is not defined, making it an
interesting problem to study.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow)
is a good book exploring mathematical models for decision making.
------
Mazz
Just read it... Here is what I came up with. I start work at 9:00 am, before
work I always go to my favorite coffee bar called "Muazam's Coffee" it's 10
minutes walk from my workplace. So I arrive there 8:30 am to have a morning
mocha with breakfast while reading the newspaper. One day a man approached me
right before the coffee bars entrance and asked me if he could experiment a
problem on me, he promised I would get enough cash for a coffee.
Well, why not I thought. He presented me Two Envelopes and said "One contains
twice as much as the other. You may pick one envelope and keep the money it
contains. You pick at random, but before you open the envelope, you are
offered the chance to take the other envelope instead."
Without giving it a single thought, I picked the one on left for me, and began
to unfold it. He looked at me and said "don't you want to swap?!", I had just
unfolded the envelope and pulled out $20 bucks, "too late for that I guess" I
said. I could tell by the look of his face that he was disappointed, he
unfolded the other envelope and pulled out $10 bucks. He left me without
saying a word.
I went to the coffee bar and spent the money I've just gotten. I took my
coffee and breakfast and sat down on one of the outside tables. I saw the
Envelop man again, this time he had found another guy. He had two new
envelopes and asked the guy the same question. But this guy took out a pen and
paper and started doing some math. It was already 8:47, I had to go to work.
Next day, same routine. I go to the Muazam's Coffee bar, and I see Envelope
and mathematician guy(let's call him Joe) sitting on one of the tables outside
the bar. The guy is still trying to solve the problem. I was kinda impressed
how much Joe had put effort into this, he already had four A4 full of notes
that seemed like formulas.
This went for weeks, months, years.
Everyday, before work I would see them outside. The Envelope man having two
envelopes by his side and Joe trying to solve the problem.
28 years had passed...
I was going to Muazam's Coffee bar as usual when I noticed there was ambulance
outside. I went to see who they came for, for my surprise it was Joe. I asked
the envelope man, what had happened, he told me Joe had a heart attack.
Joe was admitted in a hospital, he was in bad condition. The envelope man
visited him and said "Joe, I am proud of you. We have spent so much time
together and you still don't have the perfect formula to solve this problem.
Maybe this problem can't be solved with math..".
Joe looked him in the eye and said "No, I won't give up. I will get this right
and get the highest amount of cash". The envelope man said "You can have them
both" and he unfolded both of the envelopes. One containing $1 and the other
one $2. This is where Joe had another heart attack.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
When your backup isn't a backup: a postmortem - timr
http://omniref.com/blog/blog/2014/07/03/postmortem-for-our-recent-outage/
======
edoceo
Do you have a monitor on your PG boxen? I've got them set to warn at 50% full,
due to table update issues mentioned.
For huge/destructive updates we run first pass on a clone and generate a
pg_dump of DB or at least specific tables before the operation on Live
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Two programmers walk into a bar.. - raganwald
http://ozmm.org/posts/two_programmers_walk_into_a_bar.html
======
Tichy
No :-(
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
LinkedIn Salary - deepaksurti
https://www.linkedin.com/salary/
======
vonseel
Software Engineer in San Francisco Bay Area median base salary $120,000/yr
Salesperson in Houston, Texas median base salary $29,000/yr
Hmm, neither of these make me feel especially good about income potential
available currently. The software in SF number also seems much closer to what
I would expect to see in Austin or Houston, and I would expect a good
experienced engineer can pull closer to $150k+ in those cities.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Do We Worship Complexity? - ilidian
https://www.innoq.com/en/blog/do-we-worship-complexity/
======
sctb
Previously:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18230827](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18230827).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Apple reportedly acknowledges hijacked text message problem - softinio
http://9to5mac.com/2014/05/14/apple-reportedly-acknowledges-hijacked-text-message-problem/#more-323198
======
softinio
I am completely affected by this. Apple needs to compensate users and fix
immediately. Ruined a recent vacation this by not getting peoples texts.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Can a Website Have 0% Downtime? - steffisekar
https://medium.com/insping/how-much-downtime-is-acceptable-downtime-e95946fe9ba1
======
Piskvorrr
TL;DR: Impossible; OTOH three nines aren't enough, buy our monitoring.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Reinventing The iPad - alexch
http://blog.cohuman.com/re-inventing-ipad-and-iphone-scrolling/
======
alexch
If you’ve ever used the iPad or iPhone, you’ve probably noticed the absence of
scrollbars. They don’t exist! Mobile Safari lets you "scroll" the entire page
by sliding your finger around, but all other scrollbars are simply discarded.
Essentially, we needed to reinvent the native iPad/iPhone scrolling, flicking,
and bounceback behavior in JavaScript. Here's how we did it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why the higher-end iPad model will be called iPad Pro - tomica
http://www.displayblog.com/2011/07/06/why-the-higher-end-ipad-model-will-be-called-ipad-pro/
======
tomica
(even John Gruber linked to this, so it must be important ;)
This new high-end model will be called iPad Pro,
not iPad 2 Plus. Why? Well, first Apple isn’t
Samsung. The company doesn’t add prefixes and
suffixes except for ‘i’ and ‘Pro’.
is everyone who covers AAPL required to check his brain at the door?
nano? classic? shuffle? touch? air? mini? x? ...?
~~~
adolph
Don't forget S and Classic.
~~~
mrpollo
or the G models
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Washington Versus Silicon Valley - jsyedidia
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204313604574328621808977640.html
======
tici_88
While this regulation will clearly be disastrous for America, can you imagine
the windfall of campaign contributions and lobbying frenzy that will ensue as
a result of this thing passing?
Timothy Geithner or whoever is crafting this proposal is probably licking
his/her lips at the thought of a $200bln industry on their knees willing to
write a check to anyone who has the power to decide who are the winners and
who are the losers in this regulation madness.
Administration: 1, Rest of America: 0
Could it be that the political system in Washington is corrupt beyond belief?
------
pj
OMG, this is the most absurd thing I've heard in a long time.
I think it's really a symptom of a much deeper problem with American
government and that is that the "system" is getting so big that no one really
knows how to fix it. I see this kind of thing happen with software too. Your
IT department buys software or adopts a new platform and builds all these
great interconnected applications with messaging busses and information silos
and then one day everyone who knows anything about the system is gone and what
to do now?
Well, you start building systems on the platforms that are easier to
understand and try to work around problems and in the meantime, the people who
don't know what to do are trying to keep their jobs by _doing something_ at
all which is just making the whole package even worse!
At some point, a company has to make a very tough decision to "rip and
replace." It's costly. It takes time. And while you are ripping and replacing
you have to try to do the best with what you have working now. But the
consequences of _not_ ripping and replacing are just going to continue
crippling you and eventually, you are going to be leap frogged by an agile
startup who doesn't have the legacy deficit you've run up by not doing things
right in the first place!
~~~
ricaurte
Agreed this is a completely absurd move by the Treasury Department. What
brought the financial industry to its knees was too much leverage. Venture
capital firms don't use leverage, so they can't be a systemic risk.
~~~
joubert
But the institutions that invest in them do.
~~~
byrneseyeview
And many people who have physical dollars also have credit card debt. Should
we force dollars to follow the same rules?
Your comparison is absurd. You're making the case for regulating the same
amount of leverage twice -- once when it's borrowed, and once when it's
invested. That doesn't do anything but make life inconvenient for the folks
who _don't_ lever up.
~~~
joubert
The issue is that the investors are overwhelmingly public and corporate
pension funds, endowments, fund-of-funds, etc.
~~~
ricaurte
Then it is the public and corporate pension funds, endowments, fund-of-funds,
etc., that should face scrutiny, not the venture capital firms. Figuring out
their expected return from their venture capital investments shouldn't be very
difficult because of how long the industry has been around, not to mention
that venture capital investments on average are only 1-3% of their portfolios
(due to venture capital's lack of liquidity), so the amount of money at risk
is insignificant compared to the size of the portfolio. If losing 1-3% will
collapse an investors fund, then they were over-leveraged to begin with, just
like Lehman Brothers.
If the Treasury Department is worried about how much people are putting into
venture capital, then they should make a ceiling of 1-3% of the fund's
portfolio being able to be invested in venture capital. No regulations are
needed on venture capital firms.
------
matt1
From the article: _Treasury’s position is that if it doesn’t drag VC firms
into the bureaucratic swamp, then high-rolling hedge funds playing with
borrowed money will present themselves as venture funds to avoid regulation._
How does this work? Isn't there a clear distinction between hedge funds and
venture funds?
~~~
tjic
I note that the relatively little regulated hedge funds did NOT collapse and
need a taxpayer bailout in the current recession.
Folks like to trot out hedge funds as bad guys, but in fact they do a ton of
good, and prove that a lightly regulated environment works as well (or much
better) than operating with the government's hands all over them.
~~~
pyre
I was under the impression that lack of regulation is what caused many of
these mega banks to collapse. Mostly because the regulations preventing banks
from merging with investment firms and such were lifted in the 80's or 90's.
I'm not necessarily saying that regulation is a good thing, though. Just that
there is a balance to be struck.
~~~
anamax
> I was under the impression that lack of regulation is what caused many of
> these mega banks to collapse.
You may be under that impression, but it's wrong. (It's being pushed by folks
who like regulation.)
They were all regulated to the hilt. AIG especially.
~~~
pyre
Well, obviously mismanagement, greed, and stupidity caused them to collapse,
but regulations forbade even the formation of such multi-national investment
house+bank combinations in the past. I assume that the hope was that it would
prevent banks from taking unnecessary risks with people's money. Which was
obviously reversed with a good old, "private industry always comes up with the
most efficient model, never fails, never commits fraud, and is always perfect"
crap that like to get pushed around in government.
~~~
anamax
> Which was obviously reversed with a good old, "private industry always comes
> up with the most efficient model, never fails, never commits fraud, and is
> always perfect" crap that like to get pushed around in government.
The only folks who ever say that do so as above, attributing that belief to
others in an attempt to cover up their lack of an actual argument.
Govt is subject to exactly the same failings, with one important difference -
it gets to tax and coerce folks and there's even less connection to results.
Even the most corrupt company would have problems keeping Barney Frank around,
yet he's still a major player in govt, driving housing policy....
------
grellas
Politicians, lawyers, and regulators impeding entrepreneurs and investors in
the name of protecting against non-existent systematic risks to our economy.
This type of regulation originated many years ago with the broad idea that
unsophisticated persons (the "little guy") needed various forms of disclosure
to enable them to make informed decisions about their investments. How that
rationale can even begin to apply to VCs and their LPs (who are typically
large institutional investors) is an absurdity only Washington could possibly
begin to fathom.
The article nails it when viewing this development as a further extension of
Sarbanes-Oxley and other recent regulatory changes: much more of this and it
will be time to put the IPO on the endangered species list.
This will definitely hurt startups in the long run.
~~~
hristov
Non-existent systemic risks???? Did you suddenly forget about the last year.
Have you been asleep for the last 18 months? Systemic risks are very much
existent.
And if banks and financial institutions are going to cry for federal bailouts
every time a "systemic risk" rears its ugly head, the only thing any
responsible government official can do is put in regulation to make sure that
the systemic risks are controlled.
The financial industry loves to complain about regulation but it is the
financial industry that brought this on their own heads by (1) fuckign up, and
(2) asking the taxpayer to pay for their fuckup.
As far as the rationale, it is different from what you said. The rationale is
that certain parts of the economy are so intertwined that if one financial
company craters it can cause a chain reaction disaster for multiple other
completely healthy financial institutions. I am not sure I buy this logic, but
again the financial industry used this very same logic to say it was not their
fault when the economy imploded, so it is only fair that the same thinking
should be applied to them now that the feds are starting to regulate them.
Now you could make somewhat of an argument that VCs are not systemic risks,
and that may be true if they were mostly owned by wealthy individuals, but
that's not the case. VCs are mostly owned by financial institutions that may
borrow against their property, so if the value of a VC craters they may cause
a sell off spiral in a larger financial institution. Again, I am not I believe
the above sentence, but if you buy into the theory of systemic risks, it is
pretty obvious that VCs are one.
~~~
bhewes
Systemic risk is a risk that can cause the financial industry to collapse. VCs
are not a systemic risk they are only $28 billion in size, are positively
exposed to extreme market moves and are not leveraged. With a VC investment
the most you lose is your initial investment. With any form of leverage you
can possible lose more then your actual investment and are negatively exposed
to extreme moves in the market. If a VC's principles are leveraged up that
still does not change the systemic risk exposure of the VC fund. The
institutional investor is the one carrying the systemic risk.
------
catzaa
I always wonder if the cost of complying with new regulations is contemplated.
If I think of how long our family take just to do stupid and inane
administrative tasks (VAT, Union payments, tax, unemployment insurance, etc…).
All this administration is really hampering small businesses.
Why aren’t these regulations simplified? Why aren’t employees paid on a cost
to company” basis and are responsible for their own administration (i.e. own
union payments, own unemployment insurance, own health insurance, etc…).
Maybe it is just because I hate admin – but I doubt that admin should take up
40% of a small business owner’s time.
------
kirubakaran
Suits go out and owe money all over town and the government pees on our rug?
------
bokchoi
Oh, the other Washington.
~~~
rottencupcakes
Misleading title. I assumed this article was about if Seattle or the Bay was
better.
Please make it more clear, since this is a great article that everyone should
read.
------
AndrewWarner
"As part of their regulatory redesign, Team Obama and Congress still don’t
have a plan for reforming the giant taxpayer-backed institutions like Fannie
that caused the credit crisis. Yet they’re moving to rewrite the rules for
investing in tiny technology companies that had nothing to do with the
meltdown. Under the proposed rules, venture firms will be declared systemic
risks until they can prove themselves innocent."
------
joubert
That's quite rich. Don't VC's receive most of their money from institutional
investors, like, uhm, public pension funds, corporate pension funds, insurance
companies, endowments, foundations, fund-of-funds, etc.?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
AIGrant: Get $5,000 for your open source AI project - orph
https://nat.org/aigrant-get-5-000-for-your-open-source-ai-project-1118dd7db083
======
natfriedman
Hi HN! I'm happy to answer any questions. I'm also open to feedback if there
are suggestions.
I was inspired to try this experiment by Nadia Eghbal's grant program:
[https://medium.com/@nayafia/5-000-no-strings-
attached-9e7b95...](https://medium.com/@nayafia/5-000-no-strings-
attached-9e7b95d33e50)
~~~
kunaltyagi
Could you put like-minded people in touch who submit similar projects?
~~~
natfriedman
This is a great idea. Maybe I'll create a slack for everyone who applies.
------
orsenthil
What I find surprisingly appealing is, the open source heroes that I grew up
with, nat friedman in this case, are pushing towards AI / deep-learning. It
feels as if "hackers", who previously flocking towards open-source software
are gravitating towards AI, stats, machine learning etc.
I am open to scurry along and move to this new place where the cheese is.
~~~
jacquesm
[http://course.fast.ai/](http://course.fast.ai/)
Super good stuff.
edit: now, without https.
~~~
thebouv
Is this legit? Throws a security error in Chrome.
~~~
jacquesm
Hey you're right. But yes, it's legit, without the https it also works.
I'll drop them a line to warn of this, thank you.
------
pvsukale3
What if applicant personally doesn't have any previous experience with AI-
related technologies. But has a strong affinity towards learning them. Also If
he/she has a really good idea.Will it be okay? or the ones with previous
experience will be preferred?
~~~
natfriedman
Lack of experience in AI is not necessarily disqualifying. I'd like to see
some evidence that the person applying is capable of doing the thing they are
setting out to do, though.
That could be experience shipping open source software, a relevant math
background, a track record of being great at explaining algorithms, or
something else I'm not thinking of right now.
~~~
pvsukale3
thanks!
------
jostmey
I just submitted my application. Would it be possible to add a notification
that the application has been successfully submitted? Perhaps that is not
possible with the package you are using.
~~~
natfriedman
Good idea, tonight maybe I'll write a script to email people a couple times a
day.
~~~
kunaltyagi
Could you make the responses editable post submission?
~~~
natfriedman
Done!
------
whitten
Has anybody looked at ThoughtTreasure? Since Nat is willing to accept updates
to Open Source Software, this amazing code base would be a good start of AI
related stuff. It really could use a better user interface to its databases,
for example. Or a tie to WikiData. There are several good things that could be
added to it.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThoughtTreasure](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThoughtTreasure)
------
wonderous
@Nat: Any thoughts on a project using AI to do real-time noise reduction,
signal identification, and signal extraction in a controlled environment?
To get an idea of what a more complex version would look like, which is closed
source, see:
[http://cyphercorp.com](http://cyphercorp.com)
------
fchollet
Great initiative! Always good to see more support for open-source and for AI
tooling.
------
mysterydip
Are you looking for more academic/business/cloud cases, or would advancements
in game AI be an option as well?
~~~
natfriedman
Open to all these things; game AI sounds great.
------
toufka
Kind of a loaded question, but what do you mean by 'AI' other than developing
an algorithm that makes a computer look 'smart'?
------
markovbling
Very cool!
------
finid
Mind doing the same for hardware projects using an open source OS?
A pal I know could use half of that just to set up the legal structure of his
outfit.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Mashup of Amazon.com's wish list and Balanced Payments - peterbe
https://wishlistgranted.com
======
hootener
Knee jerk reaction: Great work. I had a similar idea floating around in my
mind and it's cool to see something like it come to fruition.
Incoherent Rambling: How about expanding to more than one item wishlists that
span multiple site APIs and market it as a simple, efficient, online wedding
registry replacement?
You can rank your items in terms of preference, people can contribute money,
then the app just buys and ships the items from the top down until the list is
complete.
As a wedding gift purchaser I wouldn't have to make a trip to some random
store and go through the hassle of getting the registry, nor would I have to
navigate to a site I may never use again (I'm looking at you Williams Sonoma)
and setup an account to purchase one item.
As a bride or groom it would be nice to just supply someone with one short URL
when they asked "where are you registered?" without having to go through all
the hassle of setting up a ridiculous "we're getting married" wedding profile
on Yet Another We're Getting Married Social Network.
Like I said, incoherent rambling. Could result in an interesting tool, though.
~~~
joeframbach
MVP. If they had went for bells and whistles, it would never be released.
~~~
hootener
yeah, sorry if I gave the impression that "OMG this site NEEDS THESE FEATURES
RIGHT NOW!!!"
That wasn't my intent. It's legitimately a great idea and a seemingly well
executed MVP (I haven't dug deeply into it yet). Hence my suggestions being
prefaced with "Incoherent Rambling"
It's hard not to see a good initial execution on an interesting idea and think
aloud "I wonder where this could go next..."
In either case, OP, keep up the good work.
------
normloman
Wishlists are so impersonal. Donating funds to someone's wishlist takes just a
few minutes, and you don't even have to speak with the recipient. If the point
of gift giving is to strengthen social bonds and show regard for one another,
how do wishlists achieve this?
That said, if wishlists are your choice, this is an efficient way to handle
it.
~~~
mildtrepidation
_If the point of gift giving is to [...]_
And if it isn't? I'm sure many people don't ascribe to this particular theory
of gifts as a universal truth. Also, gift giving often happens in an
important, larger context, which is always different; gift giving at
Christmas, for example, is hugely loaded depending on your background, your
attitude toward the holiday, what significance you do or don't attach to it,
this same set of attributes for every person you may want to give a gift to,
and many other things.
Wish lists can be considered impersonal, I can see that. Many people grew up
with them, though, and in that case they may not alter a person's perspective
of the gift at all. For Christmas in particular, when a whole lot of busy
people are expected to give gifts to a whole lot of other busy people, finding
the time and insight to get meaningful gifts for everyone involved can add to
an already often stressful time.
------
peterbe
Here's a little blog post about how it started
[http://www.peterbe.com/plog/wishlistgranted](http://www.peterbe.com/plog/wishlistgranted)
------
chavesn
The $1 transaction fee seems crazy wasteful to me on purchases under $50 or
so. I would consider just buying the whole item for a friend (through Amazon,
letting Amazon eat the transaction fee) before I'd give anywhere from 5-10%
extra to a third party.
If the average item was $20 and the average contribution was $5, banks would
also be making 10% or more per wishlist item when they would normally make 3%
or less.
That just rubs my cost-effectiveness sensitivities the wrong way.
~~~
peterbe
If you want to buy the whole item, bypass Wish List Granted and go straight to
Amazon Wish List and buy it there. It gets cheaper.
But if spending $20 on every friend you have, my site is a better alternative.
Also, the reason I add the $1 transaction fee is to cover the cost of the
shipping.
------
jack-r-abbit
I like this. Just yesterday I added an item to my wish list that is quite
expensive. I know that a single person is not going to want to buy it for me.
But if several of them contributed, it would be more realistic.
Edit: It also makes a new way to get tips/donations. People might be more
likely to donate if their money is going to something they can see. You might
even get people to donate a little more if they see you are very close to
getting the item.
~~~
peterbe
It sounds like you like the idea and you are using amazon wish list. So let me
ask you, did you use the site?
I suspect the site is one of those "Great idea! ...but I wouldn't actually use
it" which is sad but maybe the honest truth.
~~~
jack-r-abbit
Well... I mostly use my Amazon wish list to keep track of things that I will
likely buy myself in the future. I don't really expect people to buy them for
me. So I did not sign up for the site. However, it is a great idea and is
something I am likely to make use of at some point. I just don't have a need
at this moment.
~~~
peterbe
Sorry if my question sounded personally attacking. I'm just a web geek trying
to improve what I build.
So, it sounds like it was the concept that held you back. Not something that I
was doing wrong on the site per se.
~~~
jack-r-abbit
Don't worry. I didn't feel attacked at all. I understand the need to get
feedback from users (or non-user in my case) to improve things. And it was not
even the concept that held me back... just lack of need at this time.
Generally speaking, I'm not one to sign up for something until I actually plan
to use it.
------
hkbarton
Aha, nice hack, simple and interesting. Actually I launch a wishlist-similar
project for this shopping season few days agao:
[https://www.shoplify.us](https://www.shoplify.us) , that help people collect
their products not only from amazon but from any website. it's still in early
stage, and there are many features will be release later. Maybe we can do some
cooperation if you think it's cool :)
~~~
peterbe
The advantage of using only Amazon.com is that I don't need to store the
person's address. Also, I don't really need to store anything about the item.
I might morph it into any Amazon.com product that isn't necessarily on your
wish list. That way, you can pick an item for a friend and tell his/her
friends the URL to collect the money.
------
sync
Cute! And timely.
Looks like you still have some work to do:
[https://www.monosnap.com/image/JkLBAEYvPAOE96ab7YqrFoXgc](https://www.monosnap.com/image/JkLBAEYvPAOE96ab7YqrFoXgc)
& Here's the console output:
[https://www.monosnap.com/image/JWwoDPyQrFyrokGxIt0b4i8Qe](https://www.monosnap.com/image/JWwoDPyQrFyrokGxIt0b4i8Qe)
~~~
peterbe
How the heck did you managed to get to that? What amount did you enter?
~~~
zende
The card was declined because it was an invalid card number.
"No such issuer" means that the first six digits, Bank Identification Number,
are incorrect and card was declined as a result.
We (Balanced) should be doing a better job to make this error more
understandable or mask it by returning some invalid card number error.
~~~
peterbe
Thanks for the reply. I still need to make a better job of displaying any
general errors from Balanced that aren't for a specific input field.
------
jfoucher
Is there any chance this could be made to work with international amazon
sites? I tried to enter my amazon.fr wishlist URL, but it said that no such
wishlist was found on amazon.com
Great concept though!
------
Karhan
Neat idea! If a little impersonal. Perhaps adding a personal message field
that gets printed on a card and sent along with the package? Theres gotta be a
service for that.
~~~
peterbe
It does that! If you make a contribution, you type in your name and a personal
message. That gets included later when the order is shipped from amazon.com.
~~~
pmclanahan
Nice!
------
niels_olson
This should be marketed to charities, then the public. Unless peace on earth
and good will toward all mankind is available on Amazon.
------
jack-r-abbit
You mentioned $$$ in another comment. May I ask how you will monetize this?
(obviously you don't have to answer... just curious)
~~~
BHSPitMonkey
Well, if the service becomes popular, the OP will find himself sitting on a
nice rolling account of cash (the funds that haven't yet been spent or
returned to donors), which might be capable of generating interest. I can't
imagine that income being appreciable (or entirely legally kosher), but who
knows?
~~~
peterbe
It's easy to make money on anything that is popular. The "profit" made on top
of adding a small fee. on top of Balanced's fee, is so minuscule and quickly
eaten by shipping costs.
Right now, I'm more interested in building something that makes a profit just
for the hell of it. All my other side-projects are making me absolutely
nothing. ...nothing but resume padding :)
------
cbhl
Hmm. I'm tempted to create a Canadian clone of this (since you only work with
Amazon.com at the moment).
~~~
peterbe
Let's race! :) I'm going to add UK, CA later. Maybe FR and DE too. BUT only IF
this is a success which I don't know it will be. Getting onto HN just means
traffic but not necessarily $$$ which would the motivator for adding more
features.
------
thesimon
Fraud will probably be quite a problem, but nice concept.
~~~
jack-r-abbit
I guess if you had a number of stolen credit cards you could set up a wishlist
item, then use them to contribute. I imagine the final Amazon purchase would
be on record as coming from WishListGranted and the item is gifted to you so
that might be one layer of separation between you getting an item and the use
of stolen cards.
Perhaps you could elaborate on what types of fraud you think would happen?
~~~
jc4p
A common use case for stolen cards is to do small transactions and see if they
are successful or not to let you know if the card you found/bought actually
works or does not. This site would be a great way to do that.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Homemade CPUs on the way for local supercomputers - Husafan
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90881/7310152.html
======
baltcode
Wouldn't it be better if both China and the US stop all the protectionist and
control measures and let the best ideas, products, and employees compete among
say Intel, Longsoon, AMD, Motorola etc.?
~~~
wmf
If you let the best chips win, that means US chips win — probably forever,
since Chinese companies can't afford to invest the required R&D to catch up
unless they get government subsidies.
~~~
baltcode
If you let all the barriers down, multinational teams win. These teams will
have engineers from the US, EU, China, Japan, India, and other parts of the
world, with many design and fab facilities in different regions and investors
from many regions.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
WikiLeaks releases Vault 7 “Grasshopper” - ramblenode
https://wikileaks.org/vault7/#Grasshopper
======
M_Grey
Modular malware... that's nasty and efficient.
This is also interesting, and must make forensic attempts to determine origin
of a hack even harder:
>One of the persistence mechanisms used by the CIA here is 'Stolen Goods' \-
whose "components were taken from malware known as Carberp, a suspected
Russian organized crime rootkit." confirming the recycling of malware found on
the Internet by the CIA. "The source of Carberp was published online, and has
allowed AED/RDB to easily steal components as needed from the malware.". While
the CIA claims that "[most] of Carberp was not used in Stolen Goods" they do
acknowledge that "[the] persistence method, and parts of the installer, were
taken and modified to fit our needs", providing a further example of reuse of
portions of publicly available malware by the CIA, as observed in their
analysis of leaked material from the italian company "HackingTeam".
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Adaptive Rock Paper Scissors - dangoldin
http://iterationprojects.com/rps/
======
tectonic
This is one of my projects. I made it a while ago. I'm glad you guys are
enjoying it! It implements an approximation of this strategy:
<http://www.ofb.net/~egnor/iocaine.html>
------
trickjarrett
I went 20-5-10. Interesting algorithms, I could see it's "strategy." 3 of my
losses came from me picking scissors three times in a row. And then I
correctly deduced it would guess that I would switch to rock and thus play
paper, so I clicked scissors a fourth time.
Will be curious to see how the statistics play out.
Would also be better to randomize the order of Rock - Paper - Scissors links
as it's given to the user.
~~~
tectonic
Yes, randomizing the order of the links for the user each time would let the
user press the first link every time and have an unbeatable strategy. :)
------
kqr2
They should try their AI on one of the rock-paper-scissor (rps) variants.
For example, this guy has developed rps-25 versus the traditional rps-3:
<http://www.umop.com/rps25.htm>
------
tl
"Against me, you've won 28 games, lost 14 games, and tied 18 games."
Is there an api that we can use to create our own rps decider to play against
your site or other people?
~~~
kqr2
You should be able to make requests of the form:
http://iterationprojects.com/rps/?mode=p&id=<integer player id>&rps=<r,p, or s>&result=<t,w,l>&r=<random # between 0 and 100000>
where:
r,p,s represent your rock, paper or scissors choice.
t,w,l represents whether tie, win, or loss against previous prediction
The response will be like:
Prediction: p I have played a total of 25751 games. I've won 40.895% of those -- 33% would be chance
. (7537 ties, 10531 wins, 7683 losses.)<font color=white> strat1 (0, 0, 0, 0,
0, 0) using prior</font
><p>
where the computers next move is charAt(12), in this case 'p':paper
------
herbyderby
This one has been around for a long time: <http://chappie.stanford.edu/cgi-
bin/roshambot>
------
lazyant
Nice.
I chose as random as possible (for a human, we're bad at that) and I tied:
"Against me, you've won 23 games, lost 23 games, and tied 21 games".
------
lionhearted
My results: Against me, you've won 11 games, lost 0 games, and tied 9 games.
Maybe it´d make sense to add a slight random element to throw off intelligent
human players? 10% chance of picking one completely randomly every time? It
might lead to people who could break the system picking up patterns wrong.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Interplanetary Internet - filterfish
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interplanetary_Internet
======
filterfish
Not to be confused with IPFS!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Reverse engineering the ARM1 processor's microinstructions - ingve
http://www.righto.com/2016/02/reverse-engineering-arm1-processors.html
======
cmrdporcupine
Ok so that's interesting that it was microcoded, but was the ARM2 (the one
that actually got used in real production)?
~~~
kens
Yes, ARM2 adds multiplication and coprocessor instructions but is otherwise
basically the same design done at 2 microns instead of three.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Surveillance Self-Defense - rosser
https://ssd.eff.org/
======
deathhand
Was disappointed when they didn't mention how to hide from facial recognition
software.
Here is how: [http://cvdazzle.com/](http://cvdazzle.com/)
~~~
boyaka
Wow, I never thought about this, but perhaps a beard would also function quite
well for this? Maybe that is why beards are so frowned upon in society...My
conspiracy senses are tingling xD
~~~
chiph
Beards are possible for only half of society. Beards that look good are
possible for even fewer people. ;)
~~~
x1798DE
You don't have to grow a beard, you can just put a fake beard on. I can't
imagine it looking more ridiculous than the linked modifications, even for a
woman.
------
dang
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8499549](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8499549)
------
ArtDev
This is a great idea.
~~~
sarciszewski
This is an old idea -- the page has been around for YEARS. But I agree. :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Getting started with OpenBSD device driver development [pdf] - adamnemecek
https://www.openbsd.org/papers/eurobsdcon2017-device-drivers.pdf
======
brynet
This is from an excellent talk Stefan Sperling (stsp@) gave at EuroBSDcon this
week!
Livestream segment:
[https://youtu.be/8wuW8lfsVGc?t=21489](https://youtu.be/8wuW8lfsVGc?t=21489)
~~~
feelin_googley
I enjoyed the first talk the most.
Tells story of two day conference on Verilog for programming FPGA where some
intro Altera board was used.
Required a _4GB_ download of some proprietary closed source toolchain that
unompresses to _13GB_ , containing multiple versions of Perl, Tcl and modules.
Said they spent entire first day of conference just trying to get this
installed. Then realized they accidentally installed non-free version and had
to repeat the whole process.
Solution: Use smaller, more robust, easily installed open source NetBSD
toolchain instead of proprietary one.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Faroo: Peer-To-Peer Web Search - flippyhead
http://www.faroo.com/hp/p2p/p2p.html
======
lrvick
At first I thought, awesome, finally an open distributed search engine.
...Oh wait, you want me to install your closed source code on my computers, to
give you all my personal data and CPU cycles for you to own and use as you
like. (Which you "promise" won't be exploited or abused).
Make no mistake, this is a voluntary botnet for a single party to use to build
a company on. This voluntary botnet will provide search engine services from a
central point so they can keep the majority of profits without the overhead of
paying for resources like every other for-profit company.
This is not Peer-2-Peer it is Peer-2-Company. Also they are late to the party
on this approach, Microsoft already tried this with Bing:
[https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/microsofts-bing-
uses...](https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/microsofts-bing-uses-google-
search.html)
This model is just begging for people to troll them by releasing tools to
poison their database with nonsense data.
They should build a -real- open p2p distributed system (the blockchain is not
perfect but a good example). Short of that if they want to be a for-profit
centralized search engine, fine. They should go buy some servers and databases
they can directly control. and try to be a closed source competitor to
duckduckgo.
~~~
joshu
> They should build a -real- open p2p distributed system
what's stopping you?
~~~
CJKinni
I'm not the individual you're responding to, but probably a mix of time,
money, and interest. You don't need to make a better version of something for
your criticism to be valid.
------
ZenoArrow
So would it be fair to say that effectively Faroo works by:
1\. Scanning your browser cache for the sites you visit.
2\. Setting a ranking to the sites in your browser cache, based on how
frequently you visit the site.
3\. Merging this site + ranking information with other Faroo users in a search
index.
4\. Distributing the search index in a distributed way, perhaps all nodes only
having a fraction of the total index to prevent storage issues.
If that's a simplified version of what is happening then I could see it
working. If I've misunderstood something let me know.
~~~
dogma1138
That's pretty accurate and quite scary, mostly because it will start pulling
off bio's from PornHub now instead of Wikipedia and that can never end well.
------
magila
It appears they are relying on a combination of not documenting their ranking
algorithm and updating it periodically to prevent spammers from flooding the
system with bogus "attention" signals. I'll leave determining the likelihood
of this approach being successful as an exercise for the reader.
~~~
ljk
So... security through obscurity?
------
mdip
I found this a little problematic:
_FAROO indexes only pages which are located in the Internet, but no Intranet
pages or HTTPS protected pages_
If it simply can't see HTTPS pages, it'll leave a large chunk of the internet
invisible to the search engine. I understand the reason for this, but it's a
technical limitation they'll have to find a way past to make it useful as more
and more sites encrypt by default.
~~~
dogma1138
It indexes pages you visit, it does some MITM/Browser snooping but at least
it's not intrusive enough to do SSL stripping.
------
wslh
Sorry but where can I try FAROO without downloading an app or connecting to an
API?
~~~
charlieegan3
[http://www.faroo.com/](http://www.faroo.com/)
~~~
daveloyall
Query: _sed split file by pattern_
Result: _No results were found._
~~~
8_hours_ago
_python string_ also has 0 results. It doesn't seem like this is quite ready
yet.
The website also added a new page to my browser history for every character
that I typed in the search box, which is kind of a pain (also, it's slightly
amusing that it added so much to my browser history when the search engine
presumably gives weight to websites that occur frequently in its users'
browser history).
------
jzelinskie
Something similar was posted to HN a while ago[0]. However, it was made
specifically for indexing scientific papers without keeping all the content.
Totally open source and runs in the browser. I feel like a more generic
implementation could be done well, but hasn't been so far.
[0]: [http://juretriglav.si/an-open-distributed-search-engine-
for-...](http://juretriglav.si/an-open-distributed-search-engine-for-science/)
------
btown
Sadly, by its very nature, it misses a lot of the "long tail" of rarely-
visited sites that Google et. al. can crawl.
------
bhouston
We tried using various for an all we developed and its results were fairly
poor, so we had to switch to bing.
------
curiousjorge
Gene Kan
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Kan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Kan))
also had the same idea, until he shot himself while working on a distrubted
peer to peer real time search engine in front of his computer I think.
I heard about him when I watched a documentary about Napster.
No documentary about Gene Kan exists. He is virtually unknown but his work was
an important contribution.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Chicago-based non-profit news org shuts down, to return as for-profit - brandnewlow
http://www.chitowndailynews.org/blogs/Ravings_from_the_editor/Some_news_about_the_Daily_News,32359
======
brandnewlow
Chicago news nerds are talking about this over on the Citizen:
[http://www.windycitizen.com/chicago/news/2009/09/11/chi-
town...](http://www.windycitizen.com/chicago/news/2009/09/11/chi-town-daily-
news-folds)
The ChiTown Daily News received over $700,000 in grant funds over the last
three years and has employed up to 5 full-time employees at a time. It was
founded by an ex-Chicago Tribune investigative reporter as a citizen
journalism operation in 2006. They've received a ton of press from the likes
of the New Yorker, PBS and others. You can see the most recent clips here:
<http://www.chitowndailynews.org/about/press>
My friends on staff are telling me they just ran out of money.
Posters over on my site are wondering how the same team's supposed to make a
for-profit version of this simply by raising more money, this time from people
who expect results. I'm wondering the same.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Buzzup Docs is Digg for Documents - etcera
http://mashable.com/2009/01/23/buzzup-docs/
======
sam_in_nyc
Just what the web needs... more fragmented and derivative ideas.
------
jwesley
Mashable will truly cover anything.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Did IBM Kill CentOS 8? - mpobrien
https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-devel/2019-September/017673.html
======
mikece
Would it really be in IBM's interest to kill (or soft-kill) CentOS? I thought
the reason RedHat had embraced it is that it kept more folks/companies in the
mind-space of RedHat: if they weren't going to make money from CentOS users
then at least those users wouldn't move to the outer edge of Canonical's sales
funnel by going with Ububtu Server.
Maybe IBM sees this differently.
~~~
4acb
"Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity." \- Snatch
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
JS1k JavaScript Code Competition – Demos 2015 - vmorgulis
http://js1k.com/2015-hypetrain/demos
======
q3k
My system (Chrome/X11/GNU/Linux) completely hung up when viewing
[http://js1k.com/2015-hypetrain/demo/2179](http://js1k.com/2015-hypetrain/demo/2179)
... Anyone else experience this?
~~~
rogerbinns
I did a bit more digging. Using Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit on a system with Intel
HD4000 graphics. I was getting about one frame every 3 seconds and the system
felt very unresponsive (eg takes a minute or two to kill the tab). But the
mouse pointer moved.
Connecting in via ssh showed that the system was just fine and close to idle.
It was the GPU where the issues are. I ran intel_gpu_top and what you see is
that render busy is at 100% as is blitter busy (most of the time). Essentially
the gpu is saturated. I do wonder if this is similar to bufferbloat, but with
so much work pending for the gpu that other requests take a long time to run.
I ended up having to kill -9 chrome, and ended up with a hung system (ie even
magic sysrq didn't work).
~~~
rogerbinns
Since another commentor mentioned it running fine on their mobile device, I
decided to run it on my tablet which coincidentally also uses an Intel Atom
cpu + gpu.
It chugged along at about one frame every two seconds for about 10 seconds,
before an app not responding dialog appears. I reported it, and the tab was
restarted. On the restart I get a bottom of Chrome message "Rats! WebGL hit a
snag". It has a helpfully (not) grayed out "Learn More", Reload or Ignore. No
matter what I did I couldn't get it working again, with the browser showing
"WebGL not supported".
On my Nexus 5 it ran just fine - smoothly even although there is a lot of
aliasing.
------
nodivbyzero
This is cool:
[http://js1k.com/2015-hypetrain/details/2291](http://js1k.com/2015-hypetrain/details/2291)
------
kozak
1k seems like too little. If we take classic 64k .exe demos as a "gold
standard", then we need to define some limit that would allow to replicate
that amount of stuff in JS. Should it be 16k, 32k, 64k? Is textual JS code
more compact or is it less compact than legacy binary .exe files? That's not a
straightforward question to answer.
------
z3t4
There are some awesome demos, but I think code size is a stupid limit, yet I
can not come up with any better restriction.
~~~
NeutronBoy
What do you mean stupid? It's the entire point of the competition. Do you mean
that it's got no 'real-world' relevance?
~~~
z3t4
What would you say if your software colleges tried to write their code in as
few characters as possible? <grin> It always result in "obfuscated" code.
Maybe there should be a code competition where you get points for simplicity
as wells as how impressive the result is!?
In sports there are no secrets, just different philosophies.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Pragmatic Debian packaging - kiyanwang
http://vincent.bernat.im/en/blog/2016-pragmatic-debian-packaging.html
======
dozzie
> [...] building Debian packages with the official tools can become
> straightforward if you bend some rules:
> 1\. No source package will be generated. Packages will be built directly
> from a checkout of a VCS repository.
> 2\. Additional dependencies can be downloaded during build. [...]
> 3\. The produced packages may bundle dependencies. This is likely to raise
> some concerns about security and long-term maintenance, but this is a common
> trade-off in many ecosystems, notably Java, Javascript and Go.
Point 3. is fine for site-built packages that don't go to mainstream.
Point 1. in the long run can result in some trouble, and one really shouldn't
do that for third-party code (unless it's mirrored in own repository).
Point 2.: please don't do that. It's a stupid, really stupid idea. This way
you defeat much of the robustness provided by packaging. You can't reproduce
the build and you can't reliably rebuild the package under network outage or
leftpad 2.0 farce. It's much better to have a script (makefile?) that
downloads all the sources off-line, and package that to a single source
package (debian/source/format "3.0 (native)").
But apart from these, it's a really good overview of modern Debian package
building, especially that it doesn't show how to _generate_ a package, but
build it from scratch.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Preannouncing Seph - Immutable Ioke/Clojure-like JVM language - cgbystrom
http://olabini.com/blog/2010/07/preannouncing-seph/
======
lhorie
As much as I respect Ola Bini's projects, I have to ask: what reason would one
have to use Seph instead of Clojure? They seem to have the same design goals
(homoiconicity, immutability)
~~~
spooneybarger
you dont like lisp syntax? you want to do prototype based OO? they aren't
identical. they may share some features but not all features. its sort of like
asking back in the 90s- why would i use python instead of perl.
~~~
joubert
I'm curious to see the syntax (he says it will be homoiconic) and how that
translates into the mechanism for manipulating the AST. This is the raison
d'être for lisp's syntax.
~~~
lhorie
He mentioned it's similar to Ioke, which looks like this
if(42 < 43,
"wow, math comparison works" println,
"we have some serious trouble" println)
~~~
joubert
Is there an example of AST manipulation?
~~~
lhorie
<http://ioke.org/wiki/index.php/Guide#Macros>
------
klync
Congratulations.... Since it's still "pre-announce" phase, I'll point out the
collision with "Ceph" (<http://ceph.newdream.net/>), which may or may not be
of concern to you and the team.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
NSA Engaged In Financial Manipulation, Changing Money In Bank Accounts - gasull
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131218/14533925607/intelligence-task-force-hints-nsa-manipulating-financial-systems-changing-amounts-bank-accounts.shtml
======
mschuster91
And _boom_ , there goes another pillar of trust crushed by the NSA. What a
great service to their country.
But hey, maybe the US population finally decides that their whole system is
totally brain-dead as more and more shit hits the fan. Not all hope is lost.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
An example of an engaging "404 Not Found" page - ColinWright
http://null.kiwi.net/foo/404.php?m=1
======
ColinWright
I posted this earlier: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4122804>
It got flagged, and someone suggested that the title alone might make some
people flag it without reading.
I nearly flagged it based on the title alone ...
It screams "someone tried to post a link to HN
but pasted the url in wrong". -- mooism
So this is a re-submit in case you flagged it without reading and in fact
would be interested, or in case you missed it because it got flagged, when
perhaps it shouldn't.
------
lazugod
This 404 page isn't used - any mistyped kiwi.net URLs just redirect to the
homepage.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
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