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How to create loading image using CSS only - drugget
http://web-tricks.org/content/how-create-loading-image-using-css-only
======
victormustar
I'm sorry but this looks awful. it could be ->
[https://jsfiddle.net/cp3r5bmk/](https://jsfiddle.net/cp3r5bmk/)
~~~
exprA
That isn't even relatively close to being the same animation.
If that doesn't matter, who not just (paraphrasing):
<blink>...</blink>
~~~
victormustar
you can edit the keyframes very easily
------
rocbear
The original author should really be credited for this:
[https://github.com/dimsemenov/PhotoSwipe/blob/703c415b1b97e8...](https://github.com/dimsemenov/PhotoSwipe/blob/703c415b1b97e8983fff217644888062f07d308b/src/css/default-
skin/default-skin.scss#L388)
------
leeoniya
[https://matejkustec.github.io/SpinThatShit/](https://matejkustec.github.io/SpinThatShit/)
------
pharrlax
If you're going to build a loading indicator, you may as well go for a
skeleton UI rather than a spinner. It's better UX practice because it lowers
perceived load times and is much less jarring to swap in and out.
See: [https://github.com/ksux/ks-design-
guide/issues/38](https://github.com/ksux/ks-design-guide/issues/38)
~~~
strombourg
The two are not mutually exclusive. Yep, a skeleton UI is great for filling
out the canvas, but the addition of a spinner can indicate that "more stuff is
coming".
~~~
misterhtmlcss
I agree. A skeleton is good practice because you are progress and a spinner is
great because it's allowing the user to understand the webpage is still
loading which isn't always obvious.
------
tyingq
A collection of CSS spinners:
[https://github.com/tobiasahlin/SpinKit](https://github.com/tobiasahlin/SpinKit)
Demo: [http://tobiasahlin.com/spinkit/](http://tobiasahlin.com/spinkit/)
------
_ZeD_
ok, now I'm asking... why? what this technique offer that a simple animated
svg (or event a crusty .gif) don't? If the problem is the load time of the
external asset you can still embed the image in the .css file directly...
~~~
josephorjoe
I can think of a few advantages, the primary one being you do not need
expertise in making graphic files to build this.
And once it is set up, it can be tweaked really easily from within the text
editor you are already using for the rest of the project rather than having to
jump out into Photoshop/Illustrator or ask the designer for a new asset.
~~~
wilz
You can modify and finetune the look and timing of the animation in CSS code.
While this is also possible with SVG animations, they tend to be not as widely
supported as CSS animations and at least I need to google for information
about this topic as SVG is not an everyday topic for me.
Regarding GIF animations: they are larger in size and you first have to find
and use tools to generate them. When avoiding the additional request: data
URLs are ugly.
------
mozumder
After a certain point, the size of this code becomes larger than the size of
an animated GIF or SVG.
~~~
ravenstine
The thing about CSS is you can alter the properties very easily. You can use
things like opacity to fake some things with gifs, but you can't change line
thickness or color. My experience with SVG is that some things are easy to
change with CSS and some aren't, depending on the browser. Support for SVG as
background images is poor, so you have to have a bunch of tags declaring the
file path or sprite in your markup if you need to use one graphic in multiple
places. Using just CSS animation with pseudo elements, your graphic is
declared in one place and can be easily changed and reused. Improvements to
SVG support would make those advantages null, but that's why I have been using
more CSS for small icons(eg indicators) and using SVGs for graphics(things
like logos that will only show up on the page once).
------
chrisnager
Here's my article from two years ago about creating this same spinner with a
single HTML element.
See: [http://chrisnager.github.io/simple-paper-
spinner/](http://chrisnager.github.io/simple-paper-spinner/)
------
andy_ppp
Is there a need for BEM with this (or ever)? Also I'd probably use :before and
:after pseudo elements to avoid extra markup...
~~~
pharrlax
Depends how much you value code readability vs. minimizing markup
~~~
andy_ppp
Yes my __thoughts__ exactly; the __extra markup__ and __verbosity__ make
things __much more difficult__ to understand.
------
kentbrew
Can also be done with an animated SVG, like so:
[https://gist.github.com/kentbrew/873fabf69f678a7b1d6127ea6e0...](https://gist.github.com/kentbrew/873fabf69f678a7b1d6127ea6e02d481)
------
andreapaiola
Not a spinner:
[https://andreapaiola.name/2015-02-css-loading-
animation/](https://andreapaiola.name/2015-02-css-loading-animation/)
------
bluetwo
I was going to do something similar, but decided just to implement <progress>
instead.
------
the_cat_kittles
its very easy to inline a spinner image. thats another way to go.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
3D Food Printers Could Change What You Eat - prostoalex
http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/3d-food-printers-how-they-could-change-what-you-eat/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=DT%20Newsletter&utm_campaign=DT%20Newsletter%202015-04-26
======
tehchromic
OK, not arguing with the premise of the article, but is anyone out there
boggled by the sheer lunacy of the situation, in which we are attempting to
create a machine that can print food in 3 dimensions!?!
Imagine that, 3 dimensional food. I swear the world has gone mad from a
certain perspective. haha, where will it end.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
MIT OpenCourseWare + VideoLectures.net - sebastjanm
http://videolectures.net/mit_ocw/
======
netcan
* OCW is not an MIT education.
* OCW does not grant degrees or certificates.
* OCW does not provide access to MIT faculty.
* Materials may not reflect entire content of the course.
I wonder if removing the nots will ever be considered a goal.
~~~
jacobscott
The final not I think is a goal that OCW is working towards. I doubt the first
three will ever be goals.
* MIT is not the University of Phoenix. You have to attend the school to get an MIT education.
* OCW is a project to provide open courseware. It is not a school.
* MIT faculty have their primary responsibility to enrolled students and their research programs (and not necessarily in that order). It doesn't scale (e.g., is impossible) for OCW to grant access to them.
MIT is an excellent engineering school, but there are many others. Among other
things, I think some of OCW's goals are to offer/help provide a superb
curriculum for those schools -- where, if enrolled, you would be able to get
an education, degree, and faculty access.
fwiw I have a masters from MIT, but no involvement with the ocw project.
~~~
albertni
In many cases it simply is not physically possible to do a course justice just
through web materials. Of course, the obvious example is that in some classes
the labs and lab equipment. However, it should also be noted that a lot of the
value of some classes (whether they be MIT or somewhere else) comes from group
projects and other group activities that either wouldn't be reasonable for an
individual to complete, or wouldn't be nearly as helpful.
~~~
netcan
Sure. I don't think it's easy or as good.
There'll probably always be an advantage to going to a physical university.
But there are online Universities that provide an education, degree, and
faculty access at widely ranging cost points.
The first two might be possible to offer free. Maybe. The last one would be
difficult to provide free. But maybe some sort of guided community support
could give a 90/10 solution that could scale.
The goal of an MIT level education & certification available to anyone with
the intelligence & time regardless of citizenship & economic situation comes
with a huge amount of utility. Economic, social & otherwise. I believe it may
also be very strategic in terms of world security & stability.
But an MIT level is not absolutely necessary. A tier 2 or 3 university level
might be sufficient. Maybe as albertni mentions, they aim to provide a piece
of the puzzle which can then be topped up with elements from other
institutions. For the above to be goals, the whole thing doesn't need to fall
on MIT's back.
Coursework can scale pretty much indefinitely. Certification, (i believe) can
be made to scale quite well but MIT is probably not the place to go for this.
Between those two, you don't seem that far from a free education. At least for
the very driven students.
I was never a great example (or a great student), but for me these were the
centres of gravity. Interactions that were important were mostly with tutors
(mostly phd candidates or later year students) & other students. These would
be harder to solve but maybe not impossible.
The point is that traditional, physical universities have not scaled. A
minority of those intellectually capable have access to them.
------
te_platt
The more I learn the more I realize I know very little. A few more sites like
this and I won't know anything.
~~~
h34t
No kidding.
But I'd bet if you spend a few hours on Fox News, you'll be your genius self
again in no time.
~~~
te_platt
Usually I go read the comments on YouTube. That's where the real brains are.
------
natch
It would be a genuine step toward Openness if they would put download links on
those pages. If bandwidth is the problem, they could be torrents.
------
dkd
I am not sure about other people but for me, if i cannot download the lecture
videos, i wouldn't bother checking it out.
<http://see.stanford.edu>
it has really nice courses and you can even download lecture video via
torrents. :)
~~~
jkm
May I know how to download lectures from videolectures.net
------
schtog
Anyone else having problems with VideoLectures? Most of the time the videos
just hangs for me after a while and prett much always if I pause them for more
than, say a minute.
But this is awesome though.
------
mark_h
This looks like an awesome resource, thanks for posting. Is it WMV only
though?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What language should I learn first? - mhorne27
I want to learn to code. Which language should I start with, and why? Just signed up for Codeacademy...
======
tel
There will be a thousand opinions. Ignore them.
The problem is that you're asking the wrong question. If you want to "get
into" programming you need to do roughly two things to start.
1. Find a reason to care. This can be a pet project,
a particular question, an application domain, a
partner or team you'd like to work with, the desire
to understand someone's work you admire, etc.
2. Learn how to think formally as a programmer. This
is sort of like learning how to code, but it's
different from learning any one language.
The point is that as you discover greater passion for something in (1) you'll
discover greater need for (2). Simultaneously, as you improve (2) you'll
become more sensitive to (1).
The other point is that languages are dumb. There are lots of reasons to learn
one or another, but by and large becoming an "X programmer" is a non-goal
unless it is somehow required for (1). For instance, joining a team of Ruby
programmers may require becoming a Ruby programmer yourself.
So, discarding the philosophy, what do I recommend?
Learn whatever language you can the most quickly. Then learn another. Python
may already be installed on your computer, so you can get started quickly. The
story is probably the same for C, Ruby, Java, and Perl. If you know how to
launch web pages online then PHP is probably available.
Recognize that programming has a large comparative linguistics component. No
single language will teach you (2) above, but solving many diverse problems in
a single language might get you a lot of it. Studying many languages expands
your familiarity with _how to represent things_ and that can be a big boon to
(2). Later on in your career, it's often very valuable to explore languages
with vastly different background models and assumptions. Early on, I'm not
convinced it's such a huge deal... so long as you don't get stuck with a
single choice for too long.
And above all, have fun. CS/Programming/Software is a fascinating world for
all kinds of reasons.
------
joemccall86
Whatever you choose, learn git along with it. It helps to answer the question,
"This used to work, what did I do to break it?"
Also, call me sentimental but I learned C/C++ as my first language and would
recommend it. I don't see a codeacademy class for that though, and it's not
really perfect for web development.
If you find that codeacademy isn't working out, I've also personally used
codeschool.com and had great experiences there.
~~~
iamwithnail
Actually, I should have mentioned this in my own post. I can't emphasise the
point about git enough. I didn't _really_ get it at first so shied away.
Version control is one of THE most important things you'll learn, for a whole
variety of reasons.
When it clicked I remember thinking: "Oh, it's like save games for coding."
------
chrismaeda
Here's my path (~30 years worth).
high school:
basic
6502 assembly
a little FORTRAN
a little pascal, but didn't understand it
mit:
scheme (sicp omfg)
symbolics lisp
common lisp
clu
pdp-10 assembly
connection machine
a little C
a little more FORTRAN
grad school / 90's:
a lot of C (system programming / unix kernel hacking)
Obj-C / NeXTStep (reappears later as OSX / iOS platform)
MIPS assembly (branch delay slots ftw)
x86 assembly (segment registers wtf)
ALPHA assembly
a little C++, but hated every minute of it
Visual Basic
dotcom years to present:
Java
C#
SQL (Oracle, Sybase, MSSQL, DB2, MySQL, etc)
Python (scheme without parens!)
ETL platforms (visual programming environments for data manipulation)
PHP
Obj-C / iOS (oh hi, you're back)
Groovy / Grails
a little Ruby / Rails
I'm a little weird because I did a lot of Lisp early, and then became an OS
hacker. Once you can find single-line errors in assembly code, everything else
is easy.
I learned a lot doing C and assembly; especially the importance of working
clean, checking results, and being careful with pointers. Lisp teaches you how
good the world can be; C and assembly teach you how to cope with how bad it
really gets. However, I'm not sure I would recommend a new person to spend as
much time on this since the world has moved to languages with garbage-
collected heap storage.
I never cared for the functional languages (ML, etc), mostly because I found
the functional programming zealots to be such insufferable bores.
If I were starting today, I would start with Java or Ruby, since they are
modern OO languages with good deployment options. Once you know these, it's
easier to "downgrade" to simpler languages like Python, PHP, and JS.
But the real takeaway is that you should learn them all.
~~~
danesparza
"I'm a little weird because I did a lot of Lisp early, and then became an OS
hacker."
+1 for introspection! (Or do programmers call that reflection?)
------
iamwithnail
Slightly against the flow here: I chose Python (and Django) when I learned to
code (and built our MVP for www.gmbl.io, still a few rough edges - plug, plug)
Python's GREAT, no doubt, and Django is also very good.
But I've repeatedly found myself wishing I'd gone with Ruby/Rails (it was
basically a coin toss.) because I've ended up in an environment where everyone
else is working in Ruby for their pet projects - and it would be great to be
able to tap their knowledge.
So, have a look around, what are people you know using? It's probably really
useful to choose something that your friends know (if any of them code), or
that you know there's a decent support for in your area - but beyond that, it
doesn't really matter. And Python's really nice.
~~~
mrharrison
I agree, the opposite happened to me. I learned Ruby on Rails, but everybody
around me was Python/Django, so inevitably I made the switch because friend
knowledge makes it easier to pick up.
~~~
iamwithnail
Shall we swap friend groups? :-D
I'm thinking about switching to Ruby (or at least learning enough I can join
in.)
------
azdle
Call me old fashioned, but I'm going to suggest learning C. It's one of the
smaller languages around so you'll be quickly able to get past the "learning
the language syntax" stage and into the "learning to program" stage. It's also
still one of the most widely used and supported languages out there. It's also
closer to how computers actually work so you'll learn more of what is actually
happening when the computer runs your code.
Pick up a copy of K&R [1], read enough to do a hello world and start playing.
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_C_Programming_Language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_C_Programming_Language)
~~~
hackerboos
I disagree. The C syntax is small and pretty easy to learn but the a learner
will be stumped when it comes to installing the compiler, dealing with cryptic
compiler errors, pointers and weak typing.
I'd recommend Python as it's easy to setup on any platform, has a clean easy
to read syntax (newbies don't need to worry about generators or decorators
early on), has a REPL and has a ton of good _free_ learning references [1].
[1] -
[http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/](http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/)
------
valarauca1
Python is a good pick.
The goal of learning to program shouldn't so much be about one language, but
learn about the concepts of what variables, control structures, operators, and
data structures. So that you can apply them in different languages, and be
more flexible.
------
Argorak
All languages present on codeacademy are worth learning.
But: if you have something in mind you want to build, pick a language and
environment that fits it. If you want to code on microcontrollers, python and
ruby are not a good idea. Want to build a website? python or ruby + javascript
are a great idea! Use something that people commonly use to solve such a
problem.
Your first implementation will be bad in any case, regardless of language. You
will laugh at it in a few years. Rebuild it after a whilse. But thats no
problem: everyone of us went through this process.
------
PeterWhittaker
What are your short, medium, and long term goals? How much do you understand
about how computers and networks work?
If you want to start by creating web pages but eventually move to programming,
learn HTML. Get really, really good at it - but without CSS. Then learn CSS,
and learn how they work together, how they complement each other. Then add
Javacript and DOM manipulation. You can do some very cool stuff, you'll learn
a lot of logic along the way, make interesting mistakes, etc.
If you want to control a computer, get something that speaks Bourne shell
(OSX, Linux, etc.) and get really, really good at defensive-minded shell
scripting (by defensive-minded I mean always being alert for errors, always
quoting variables, always checking return codes, etc.). You will learn a lot
about how computers work, how they are structured, etc.
In both cases, you will also begin to feel the frustrations of working with
these tools: Why doesn't this work, why is this so hard, etc., etc.
You could start with something more modern, more powerful, like Python or PHP
or Ruby, but will you appreciate their power if you don't have a good
understanding of the problems they were created to solve?
But that may not matter, if you want to build web apps using powerful modern
frameworks. Where are coming from, where do you want to go?
There are many, many other ways to answer the question, depending on what it
is you actually want to accomplish and how much you understand about how
computers work.
------
fnordsensei
It depends what your goal is. Do you want to learn to be a good programmer, or
are you looking to, for example, make a website as soon as possible? Is your
vision to eventually make apps? Do you want to learn the "art" of programming
or the "craft" of programming? You'll end up learning both if you pursue it,
but this may impact where you start out.
Some people argue that starting with a functional language will make you a
better object oriented programmer later on, while the reverse is less often
true. If you believe in this, I would recommend Clojure from personal
experience.
In my first programming courses at university, we used Lisp and ML. This was
for learning the "art" of programming, i.e., learning to think like a
programmer. Once you picked a course that was arguably more about the "craft",
you were exposed to a language more native to the domain. As I choose to go
towards front end related stuff, I was exposed to JavaScript and (at the time)
ActionScript.
I ended up not working as a programmer; I'm UX designer. When I need to, I
program most of my interactive prototypes in ClojureScript. Two years ago,
that would have been JS, but I found that Clojure conforms to my thoughts
rather than the other way around.
So, depending on where you are and where you are going, you might benefit from
different advice, I think.
------
dennybritz
It doesn't really matter, but Python is a good choice. It's intuitive, has a
great ecosystem, and lots of different practical applications.
------
pavlov
How about learning BASIC first?
You'll hear people say that exposure to BASIC will rot your mind... But most
of today's best programmers started out with BASIC simply because that's what
you got when you started up a 1976-86 vintage microcomputer or played with MS-
DOS. Clearly they were not permanently damaged by it.
The good thing about learning BASIC is that you won't be accidentally
comparing your work to that of professional programmers. If you start with
JavaScript, you'll be exposed to amazing JS tricks anywhere you look. Any
Google search or "View Source" will show you stuff that you'll be struggling
to understand. That can be very discouraging.
Here's a totally retro web-based BASIC environment:
[http://www.quitebasic.com/](http://www.quitebasic.com/)
There are of course much better modern BASICs around, e.g. Microsoft's Small
Basic
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Small_Basic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Small_Basic)).
------
projectramo
I am sure others are going say, or have said, something similar:
If you had to learn a _second_ language, the question has many great
candidates for answers. Python, Ruby, Scala, or a more functional language.
Maybe a rapid prototyping language. If you believe in mobile first, then
Swift, or Objective-C, or Java. If you need to manipulate data then Python, R
or Julia. If you believe that you should learn the "foundations" first (read:
legacy language) you could go back to C. If you like the Microsoft ecosystem,
C#. If you work with Excel (what a beautiful product) then VBA and so forth.
But if you want the first language, then I think the answer is simple:
Javascript.
I think it is an ugly language, and I wish another language had become to
dominant, but history is what it is. Its in the browser, and so it is
everywhere. You have to work with it for the most interfaces anyway.
A little sooner, and I am sure this would start a mini flame war, but as it
is, this comment is safely tucked down the chain.
------
spot
javascript because
1) you can program anywhere, 2) it has incredible libraries for multimedia and
interaction which makes it fun, 3) you can share the results with one click to
anyone 4) it is a highly marketable skill
a lot of other people are recommending python which is fine if you are into
the command line and file IO. if you prefer the web, then JS is the way to go.
------
porter
Python. Just pick it and move on.
------
yk
Does not matter, you will pick the wrong one. Thing is you will always regret
not coding in X because of feature Y, when you actually have a project. On the
other hand, you will not notice all the times that features A, B and C of your
language of choice are helpful. So at least subjectively, another language
would have been better.
As actual advice, it depends on your goals. If you want to build websites,
then you should start with Java Script and perhaps another language for the
backend. If you want to understand computer systems on a fundamental level or
hack the Linux kernel, then you should pick C. And if you want to see
progress, pick Python. But it is not too important, since a large part of
programming is language agnostic. So just pick one, and learn another when the
pain becomes unbearable. ( Then return to the first one, once you realize your
mistake.)
------
rafaelm
What do you want to achieve when you learn how to program? Mobile dev, web
dev?
I'm on a similar path. I've been learning to code now for like 3 years, never
really having the time. Now that I'm out of a job, I've got some free time and
I've always had some web projects I wanted to work on. So even though I've
been trying to learn python for the past 3 years, I've recently started
following the reddit learnjavascript course that started last week [1]
I figured that with JS, I can learn Node.js and have some frontend and backend
knowledge as well. Maybe someone much more knowledgeable than me can chime in
on my approach?
[1]-[http://www.reddit.com/r/learnjavascript/comments/2c5aue/lear...](http://www.reddit.com/r/learnjavascript/comments/2c5aue/learn_javascript_august_2014_session_omnibus/)
------
dragonwriter
I'd lean slightly toward recommending Python to beginners, but don't get stuck
on whatever you learn first. Try to learn at least one new language a year
till you have several under your belt -- and even then, its not a bad idea to
continue to do that.
And try to mix families -- each provides different insights. The first few
might be something like:
1\. One of Python or Ruby 2\. JavaScript 3\. One of Java or C# 4\. Erlang 5\.
C/C++ 6\. One of Haskell, Scala, F#, or OCaml (but I'd lean heavily toward
Haskell)
(Also, if you are going to use relational databases, learn SQL -- yes, there
are frameworks that abstract it largely away for you, but you _really_ want to
understand what's going on behind the scenes. But that doesn't need to be in
among the first things, unless heavily RDBMS-dependent stuff is going to be an
initial focus...)
~~~
danesparza
Good recommendations, I think.
Thank god you didn't recommend Perl or PHP.
_shivers_
------
orclev
For serious work, starting with something like Python is probably a good idea
(as many people have suggested), but if your goal is to learn about
programming, I'd actually suggest you start with assembly. Assembly is really
tedious to do anything practical with, but as a way to understand some of the
most fundamental concepts in programming it really can't be beat. Doing the
equivalent of hello world, in assembly and really understanding exactly what
each line of the program is doing will pretty much make you better than most
newbie programmers right from the start. If you jump to C next, do a little
bit more there, and then finally jump to something like Python (bonus credit
for calling C code from Python and vice versa) you'll be well on your way to
being a fairly well rounded programmer.
~~~
PeterisP
Definitely NO. Assembly is okay as a second or third language, but not as the
first one.
Python->C->ASM will have a much larger chance of success than ASM->C->Python;
there's a good reason why college programs don't start with assembly first.
~~~
logicalmind
In my experience, there are two kinds of programmers. Top down and bottom up.
Top down programmers have good success going from high-level languages to low-
level. Though, learning a low-level language for them is not really necessary.
Bottom up programmers don't grasp many of the fundamentals of programming
until they can build them from basic underlying concepts. Some bottom up
programmers may never get to a higher level language and end up as systems
programmers or embedded programmers, maxing out with C as a high level
language.
Personally, I am a bottom up programmer. I started with C and I found it
confusing and ended up really disliking programming (I was in an EE program).
Then in a later term we used assembly and once I got that foundation,
everything clicked. I suddenly realized why C was necessary and what it
provided. High level languages were then built up from there.
Everyone is different. There won't be one path.
------
facorreia
I believe that you can't go really wrong with any of the languages offered at
Codecademy. If you have to pick one I would suggest JavaScript. It's not
uncommon for projects to involve another language + JavaScript, so the syntax
knowledge should be useful for years.
~~~
mkaziz
I would actually recommend against using JS as your first, since it's so
atypical.
~~~
danford
I would have to disagree. It all depends on how you learn JS. I really liked
the book _JavaScript: The Definitive Guide 6th Ed._ which at many points
talked about the differences between JS and C. As someone who learned JS as a
first language, I find the syntax is close enough to C and C-Like languages to
make picking them up fairly easy, but I'm still a novice and while I know JS
pretty well I've only dabbled in C, D, and Rust as lower level languages. I
found these languages to be almost like "extended" JavaScript because I didn't
have many issues reading simple functions, and that's why I think it's a good
language to start on, you can learn how to actually read and understand code
with C-like syntax which, for me, made understanding lower level C-like code
seem a lot easier.
Plus I think JS is fun to use because of how fast you can see your work "come
to life". JS is also in high demand.
~~~
DaCapoo
Choosing any language because it's in high demand is a bad decision, see "Why
SICP matters"[0].
" I tell my students, "the language in which you'll spend most of your working
life hasn't been invented yet, so we can't teach it to you. Instead we have to
give you the skills you need to learn new languages as they appear." "
With regards to your statement, "It all depends on how you learn JS": That
could be said of any language. The fact that you learned the differences
between JS and C is what helped you when you were beginning, not that you
learned JavaScript instead of Java, Ruby, or Python.
[0] -
[http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~bh/sicp.html](http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~bh/sicp.html)
~~~
gnur
That is odd advice, the top programming languages currently used have been
around for at least 19 years (python, ruby, javascript, php, java, c,
objective c) and while there are new languages being developed I don't see
languages like go, rust or swift pushing any of those languages out of the
market.
If anything, programming languages are a long term investment and I think that
learning a language that is in high demand isn't that bad of a decision, you
could learn some obscure super expressive, highly functional, statically typed
language, but there is large chance that you'll come in contact with
javascript at one point in your career.
------
agxbr
Doesn't matter, pick one and move your focus to algorithms and data
structures.
~~~
jimktrains2
Exactly. Don't learn to write code, learn to program. Even BASIC or PHP will
do; learn how to think about problems and how to bare different tools on it.
------
lsiebert
Why do you want to learn to code is a detail you left out, that's very
important.
It's like saying, I want to learn to drive: If you are going to be a trucker,
that's going to mean something different from being a biker.
I'd recommend Python as a first language. It wasn't my first language, but
it's general purpose enough that you can do a lot with it, and popular enough
that you can interview/get work/meet other people who use it. Oh and it runs
from the command line straight off, and you are going to want to learn a bit
about the command line.
------
aaachilless
When you don't have a Jeep, don't take the shortcut that runs through the
jungle. You're goal should be to keep moving and not get discouraged when you
get stuck on something. I would learn a language that lets you take the
highway instead of the shorter but trickier jungle road. Ruby, Python, Basic,
and Javascript could be considered "highway" languages while C, C++, Java, and
most other languages could be considered "jungle shortcut" languages.
------
jameskilton
If you want to jump in and go, I highly recommend Ruby, though I will warn
that Rails can be very imposing if you aren't familiar with web development
already.
If you want to understand more low level concepts, you can never go wrong with
C, and these days Rust is a good choice for that as well (though steep
learning curve if you have no previous experience).
------
vkjv
C. It's low enough that you don't get to skip out on core concepts. I notice a
lot of younger programmers who have only used high level languages use
inappropriate data types because they do not understand the implications of
their choices.
It's also high level enough that you won't waste time in minutia of just
making something work.
------
moron4hire
JavaScript. Why?
Extremely low barrier to entry: you already have everything you need.
Results are immediate: you don't have to wait around for an app approval
process to share your stuff.
It sucks: teaching a healthy respect for learning a language _well_ and
finding all of the pitfalls. Every language has them. Best not to start out
assuming they don't.
------
kp25
Python + Django, Ruby + Rails, Javascript + Nodejs..
Most people are in love with Python, Not everyone. You may or may not love it,
So try experimenting and choose the one.
Codecademy is good place to learn syntax and language basics, but books are
the best choice to improve your skills.
Never stop learning, Try some Open Source Project, You'll learn much more..
Have Fun, Good Luck
------
fdik
[https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html](https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html)
It's very easy to learn, at the same time a very good language to be capable
of writing code. It's multi paradigm, so you can learn a lot of different
things.
------
jimktrains2
Whichever language you choose, pick a project you want to do with it. I find
that having a goal, even a silly or small one, presses me through some of the
more frustrating parts of learning a language and the time commitment it
brings.
------
aioprisan
Pick JavaScript or Ruby. JS because you can go full stack and can move on from
some client-side work to full stack pretty easily with node.js. Ruby because
it had beautiful data structures and I'm not a fan of forced whitespacing.
------
dyeje
Whichever one looks interesting. Once you get one down, picking others ones up
isn't as challenging. The important thing is keeping your motivation up, so
pick one that excites or intrigues you if possible.
------
davewiner
Why JavaScript is the language to learn.
[http://scripting.com/2014/08/15/whatLanguageToLearn.html](http://scripting.com/2014/08/15/whatLanguageToLearn.html)
------
cratermoon
LISP, using Peter Seibel's book "Practical Common LISP":
[https://cmdev.com/isbn/1430242906](https://cmdev.com/isbn/1430242906)
------
kasperset
I guess this will also help-
[http://www.charlespetzold.com/code/](http://www.charlespetzold.com/code/)
~~~
farresito
That's a very very good book, although what he is probably asking for is a
programming language :)
~~~
kasperset
I think it would help OP to understand programming in general sense but then I
am still a newbie so correct me I am wrong.
------
ingend88
I started learning with Python and then HTML, CSS, JS with Angular+Firebase!
This allows you to start building stuff right away.
------
cafard
What is your preferred computer? If Windows, then I must agree with myddle's
recommendation of Python.
~~~
babo
I don't get your comment. Python is great on each platform but Windows where
you must put some extra effort to get it running.
~~~
jensnockert
Python is just some extra effort. While Ruby is much more of a pain on
Windows.
------
nyddle
Python seems like a good choice as it is simple and can be used in a wide
variety of applications.
------
Artemis2
Python would be a good choice since it's easy to learn but very powerful.
------
davewiner
JavaScript. Everyone has the runtime already installed.
------
osconfused
Learn Swift. Mobile is the future.
~~~
dragonwriter
Mobile may be the future, but Swift is limited to one vendors mobile platform,
while there are a ton of languages (C#, JS, Python, Ruby, even Haskell) that
you can use for mobile that aren't limited to one vendor''s platform. Plus,
"mobile" usually has a server component, and those other languages can also be
used for the server end.
~~~
osconfused
Where can you run python on Mobile? Also, yes of course it's one vendor. One
vendor that also has the world's most profitable app store. OP asked for a
language to get started with. In my personal experience, being able to see
items move on screen is a lot more intriguing to beginners than doing some
server specific tasks like building an API.
------
tvirelli
Why is everyone hating on PHP?
------
Pururim
Pascal.
------
obeid
Python
------
gb2312
c#是我第一个学的语言。
------
renang
Pseudocode is a good start unless you already have a project in mind?
Remember there is no one-language-solves-all-problems, you gotta pick the
right tool for the job and you shouldn't be afraid to hop between those tools.
~~~
Artemis2
Pseudocode is only good for theoretical algorithms as it does not provides
immediate result, and can at most do the work of a Ti calculator. Learning a
real language provides a lot more interest and satisfaction.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
2 Middle-Aged Women doing a startup blog - karencrye
http://karentcrye.posthaven.com/2-middle-aged-women-applying-to-ycombinator
======
quotient
I think it's super-cool that you're applying to YC and not dissuaded by the
gender- or age-related stereotypes. Power to you! A few constructive remarks:
* If you've got a blog about your startup, you should link to your startup! There's not a single word about your startup on your blog itself. As a reader, I want to know what you're actually working on --- this is especially true in the tech-scene.
* When blogging, try to be professional. I saw a number of spelling/grammar mistakes in your two first blog posts. Keep in mind that you and your co-founder are (presumably) CEOs of your startup, so there is a veneer of professionalism to maintain: I rarely read a blog post by a CEO that uses "lol". If in doubt, write clearly and correctly rather than casually.
Good luck on your startup!
~~~
karencrye
These are great suggestions. Thanks! My co-founder, Marlene, is going to kill
me for attempting to publish without her "editing". She was an executive in
communications at HP. This is our first blog experiment and between typing 85
words a minute and lack of sleep, I neglected to go back through and give it a
good edit. Again, I sincerely appreciate your suggestions. Any additional
advice?
------
calcsam
Second what quotient said above ^
The MVP (minimum viable product) is usually a landing page with a description
of what you'll be doing and a box where people can enter in their email to
stay up to date.
You've got a great story to tell, and if friendly journalists or developers
want to hear more of it, they have no way to do that now.
~~~
karencrye
Thank you so much for your suggestion. I've been completely focused on our
business plan and learning about all the different elements that are needed to
build the site. It's only been the past couple of days that I've realized that
I need to start telling people about it. Hence the blog. I will look into this
tomorrow. Thanks again!
~~~
ewest
Hi,
Your story is really nice and your motivation is well stated in your blog
post: "...the fragmented condition and outdated technologies of the commercial
real estate industry continued to frustrate me.....I decided to find a better
solution"
I feel your story stands out with that one sentence - it would have been
better to lead with that. I also feel the emphasis on your age and role as a
single parent takes away from your central motivation when you lead with those
points.
My 0.0000424 btc! Good luck with your startup
~~~
karencrye
Great suggestions. I was looking for a "hook" to stand out. This is such a
great learning experience and I really appreciate the feedback.
------
NAFV_P
Recently I started stating people's ages in binary, then everyone sounds old.
I'm 100000 years old, my father is 1000100, while my nephew is 1000 and my
niece is 101. Oh yeah, Mark Zuckerberg is 11110 years old, but he doesn't look
it.
Whatever your startup is, may I wish it the best of luck.
~~~
karencrye
Dear God, I don't even want to know what my binary age would be. Stay tuned. I
will post again about what our startup is.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
An Extensive List of Everything That Might Be Causing the “Vaping Illness” - smacktoward
https://slate.com/technology/2019/10/vaping-illness-causes-exhaustive-list.html
======
pastyboy
might want to look at who owns the vape companies and maybe understand why its
in their interest to make users afraid of using vape's and going back to
tobacco.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Former US President George HW Bush Dead at 94 - dredmorbius
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/president-george-hw-bush-dead-94-181201050728895.html
======
mwnivek
Earlier discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18575397](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18575397)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What are the next big niche products right now ? - gomangogo
What is the next Facebook, next Bitcoin, next Instagram, next Google...etc. In short, what are the next niche products right now.
======
rman666
For a product to become huge it has to be general and appeal to many users,
not niche. If someone knew what the next huge product opportunity was going to
be, why would they tell you instead of pursuing it themselves?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Speed and Tempo: Fearless decision making for start-ups - dennykmiu
http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2010/01/28/speed-and-tempo-fearless-decision-making-for-start-ups/
======
dennykmiu
A very good read for any first-time entrepreneurs. My own experience is that
there are two kinds of decisions in startups, one that is life-and-death and
one that is not. Life-and-death decision is very easy to make. But making the
right life-and-death decision is like avoiding a car accident that never
happens or saving the economy from total collapse. Your only material reward
is that you get to live. Decisions that are not life-and-death are much more
difficult to make in a startup. They are actually much more important to the
success of a startup. Making good decisions in startups obviously requires
experience but it also requires good judgment. And good judgment has to do
with when and how to build up creditability with your co-Founders and your
shareholders, and when and how to cash in your political earned capital to
mobilize the company behind an unpopular decision that you have made based on
imperfect data. More importantly, good judgment has to do with maintaining a
positive feedback loop to constantly re-up your credibility with your
constituents so that you do not inadvertently over-extend your reserve. I
believe when the President spoke about "deficit-of-trust" last night, he
understood. Good luck, everyone.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Search articles on golang - creatinePump
https://qolleqt.com/collect/golang/search
======
creatinePump
Message me @ [email protected] if I'm missing any sources/articles
and I can add them to this.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Stumptown Acquired by Pete's Coffee and Tea - bndw
https://www.stumptowncoffee.com/blog/a-note
======
Implicated
I think that's *Peet's
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Amazon Confirms EC2/S3 Not PCI Level 1 Compliant - nreece
http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/connect/message.jspa?messageID=139547#139662
======
jrockway
Hopefully this will discourage people from storing credit card data. I would
much rather buy something from you via Paypal, Google, or Amazon than give you
my information directly. It is easier for me, and safer for you.
------
mahmud
It's clearly specified in the requirements that you need a dedicated host, and
if you want to do Sarbanes Oxley or HIPAA compliance you will need your server
to be in a certified data center.
No VPS account can every qualify, and that's the reason why we're on a $500+
standalone host at some fed-approved data center instead of getting the
bigggest bang for our buck and getting a slice or a linode account.
~~~
mseebach
Wouldn't it be pretty simple to provide this as a service? Even if you want
amazon-like "we stored your creditcard data" service, just have a third party
store them, and give you a handle for each card, that can only be used with a
specific merchant ID. That handle is worthless in the hands of a hacker.
If this doesn't exist, I smell an opportunity.
~~~
mahmud
_If this doesn't exist, I smell an opportunity._
You smell right.
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=767509>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=765950>
Hello mseebach and welcome to the club, I am one of your would-be competition
;-)
I do it for healthcare records, credit card records will require a change in
our press releases ;-)
~~~
mseebach
Sounds interesting.. I don't understand, however, how would your health record
services compete with a credit card processing service? Short of something
costing an arm and a leg? :)
But to recap the idea -- people become PCI certified because they need to
store a creditcard number for recurring charges. There are service for
subscription type recurring charges, eg. same amount every X period, but no
service where a credit card number can be stored and then charged an arbitrary
amount non-periodically? E.g. toll-roads with an RFID in the car, AWS usage-
dependant charges or Amazon-like "store-your-creditcard" webshops ..
Are there any other reasons to become PCI certified, short of actually being
in the CC business? I guess people are comfortable enough being redirected to
a payment window on a third party website, so transmitting is not an issue.
~~~
tjriley82
If you have a "continuous authority" facility enabled on your merchant account
you can make arbitrary charges on card numbers authorised and stored by your
payment processor. CA doesn't seem too hard to acquire, at least here in the
UK it was easier than we expected at worldonahanger.com. The downside with
this approach is that in the event that you want to switch payment processors,
you have to ask your customers to resubmit their card details for
reauthorisation (as far as I can tell).
~~~
mseebach
Yeah, that sounds about right. There's apparently also something called "pre-
registered card". So, no business idea here :)
EDIT: [http://www.braintreepaymentsolutions.com/credit-card-
storage...](http://www.braintreepaymentsolutions.com/credit-card-storage/)
------
jay_kyburz
Anybody have a good link about what PCI compliance is, why I need it and how I
get it?
~~~
charliepark
Braintree (a payment processor I use and highly recommend) has a number of
resources (videos, articles, etc.) at their blog
(<http://www.braintreepaymentsolutions.com/blog>). Look on the left-hand side
for the PCI-specific resources, or use the search bar on the right for their
blog archives.
------
seriouslyrad
I was about to point out what other people have too, why would you store CC
data? and if you did, you wouldn't even consider storing it in the cloud
anyway.
~~~
mgrouchy
One reason why a company would want to store credit card data is to make it
easier for returning customers to purchase things. Besides the fact that I am
paranoid, the reason why I don't keep my cc data with amazon is that I know
that if I log into my amazon account and all it takes is 1 click for me to buy
something I will be even poorer than I already am in no time.
People buy more stuff when you reduce the barriers of entry on a purchase.
Why you would store CC data in the cloud, that I don't know, but I guess if it
was a secure and reliable service,why not?
~~~
bensummers
If you want to do recurring payments, gateways will give you a transaction ID
you can store instead of the CC number. Then, when you want the next payment,
you give them the ID and ask for more money.
You don't have to store the details at all, but you can do everything through
your site without handing the user off to a third party.
------
ivankirigin
Ha! Goes to show that regulations don't mean much. I'm sure millions of credit
cards are stored in ec2.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Compile Rust to WebAssembly for EOS Smart Contract? - rayvy
So I'm familiar with the fact that the supported language for EOS smart contracts is C++. However, the EOS docs mention that even the C++ needs to compile down to WebAssembly.<p>So my question is, could I write my EOS smart contract in Rust, and use a crate to compile my Rust into Web Assembly? (A very loose example of compiling Rust to WebAssembly can be found here[1]).<p>Or is a C++ compiled .wasm file significantly different from a Rust compiled .wasm file? (I really want to write EOS smart contracts, but I'm hoping I can just use my existing Rust knowledge, as opposed to having to learn C++)<p>[1] https://hackernoon.com/compiling-rust-to-webassembly-guide-411066a69fde
======
steveklabnik
So, a .wasm file can call into functions defined by its host environment; this
is often a browser but in your case, it’s the EOS VM. The trick is letting
Rust know what those functions are so you can call them. wasm-bindgen should
have you covered there.
Beyond that, it’s all the same; the VM can’t care what the original language
is.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Average American Has Just 4 Hours, 26 Minutes of Free Time per Week - spking
https://www.studyfinds.org/survey-average-american-free-time-week/
======
rococode
Anyone else think at least part of this survey feels off? Specifically, the
big red flag to me is:
> Researchers also put together a list of the top ten things Americans plan to
> buy with their tax refunds.
> 1\. Motorcycle tires
> 2\. Playstation 4
> 3\. Trip to casino
> 4\. Niagara Falls trip
> 5\. A party
Intuitively I find it hard to believe the number one thing Americans want
is... motorcycle tires. Or a Playstation 4. Or a casino trip. Or a trip to
Niagara Falls. A party, maybe.
I really don't buy the "4 hour 26 minute" narrative either. I know plenty of
super busy people and everyone has far more than 4 hours of free time. They're
really saying that the _average_ person has barely more than 30 minutes of
free time a day, including weekends?
I'm inclined to believe that this article is either inaccurately reporting the
actual results or the study was poorly done.
~~~
rightbyte
Car tires should be far more common than MC tires, atleast.
Niagara Falls? It's seems really specific. "Freedom from credit card
companies" nr.7 seems like a one off comment.
I would guess they messed up the list generation if they have actual data at
all.
The number 4,5h seems bogus too. I can't find any source of the study so I
assume it's bogus SEO click-bait spam to increase the rank of H&R.
Searching for the quotes reveal some spammy articles with convenient url-links
to H&R.
~~~
tzs
> Car tires should be far more common than MC tires, atleast.
Remember, though, it was a purported list of what people buy with their tax
refunds. A lot of people treat their tax refund as a windfall to spend on
something fun rather than on something necessary.
I'd expect that for most people, if their car needs new tires they fall under
the "necessary" category and they get them soon after realizing they need
them. A motorcycle is often for recreational use, and new tires might fall
into the "for fun" category, to be put off until some extra money is
available.
------
nabla9
It's hard to believe this for the following reasons.
> A new survey finds that the average American adult logs just four hours and
> 26 minutes of time to themselves in a given week.
So this includes retired people?
> According to a Nielsen report, United States adults are watching five hours
> and four minutes of television per day on average (35.5 h/week) (2016
> statistics)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_consumption](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_consumption)
> Time Flies: U.S. Adults Now Spend Nearly Half a Day Interacting with Media
[https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2018/time-
flies-...](https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2018/time-flies-us-
adults-now-spend-nearly-half-a-day-interacting-with-media.print.html)
~~~
jfoutz
I don't doubt people have the tv on for 5 hours a day. I do doubt that people
are intently watching every minute. Making dinner, washing dishes, straitening
up, and folding laundry are all sort of obvious things people do while the tv
is on.
Heck, that second reference included 'game console' which, i think, is the
only one listed that really requires full engagement. that's 14 minutes a day.
the 2.5 hours on a web/app on a smartphone is an interesting one. Does
listening to spotify at work count? that would definitely pump those numbers a
lot.
------
seizethecheese
This doesn’t pass the smell test. I’m pretty sure most Americans spend hours
per day watching TV, on social media or playing video games.
------
deevolution
If you're like me and you constantly procrastinate, then you have 20+hours of
free time every week!
~~~
adamnemecek
Procrastination is a symptom of being overwhelmed.
------
beatgammit
That sounds like BS. I have two kids and I can usually eek out an hour every
day, sometimes two. So that puts me at 7 hours minimum, but I can usually make
10-20 happen. My kids wake up around 7 and go to sleep around 8. If we assume
8 hours of sleep, that leaves me with 3 hours unaccounted for every day.
Perhaps they're counting chores as "not free time", but most of those can be
done while doing other things. For example, clean dishes while waiting for a
pot to boil, or clean the toilet after or before taking a shower. I've done
these types of things to free up time after my kids go to bed. If they're safe
enough for me to get the restroom, they're probably safe enough for me to
clean something.
I wonder how much time we'd end up with if we included time on a smartphone
not doing productive tasks. It seems people spend time on their phone when
they have a few minutes instead of doing chores, and then do those chores
during their "free time". If you want more free time, find ways to squishing
more into your non-free time.
------
rujuladanh
I always aim for 4 free hours per DAY.
If this is true, I really don't understand how people can live in the USA.
Go to Canada, Europe or something!
~~~
maxsilver
Do you have children? If you have children, you can easily wind up with
negative free hours per day.
If you averaged say, 4 parents and 4 non-parents free time, I could see how
someone would easily arrive at a number where the "average American has just 4
hours of free time per week"
~~~
rujuladanh
Yes, I do. One, and she is old enough now. Even when she was little, I had
free time.
If you do not have enough free time for your child, maybe you should consider
not having them. The same way you would if you did not have the finances right
or anything else that may affect them...
------
hammock
How on Earth does this have 60 votes? It's a content marketing piece for H&R
Block based on a throwaway online survey that probably had ten people in it.
Are HN readers just upvoting because they want validation?
~~~
rightbyte
I read the article because I thought "this can't be right, right?", and sure
enough, it seems like SEO click-bait.
Their marketing will now be able to show a spike in traffic because of me
searching for their stupid product and can report marketing success to their
boss even tough I would never though the company again.
I fell a bit dirty ...
------
gus_massa
> _A new survey finds that the average American adult logs just four hours and
> 26 minutes of time to themselves in a given week._
> _And if that amount seems high, you’re also in good company. Four out of 10
> people surveyed said they get even less free time than that total,
> incredibly._
Since the median and the average are usually [citation needed] not far away,
this is not surprising at all.
------
didibus
I can definitely relate. I think all the administrative things are what annoys
me most. Such as sifting through mail, bills, taxes, figuring out procedures
to apply for things, etc.
Because it all feels so disconnected to real impact and result. Like all
administrative work feels imaginary. Like we created the problem for ourself.
Yet, I don't know how to automate it, or get rid of it.
------
stuaxo
This is why I wouldn't go to America, the work life balance is non existent.
~~~
leesec
It's really company dependent. I love my work life balance.
------
_bxg1
I'd be curious to see how these numbers change with and without kids.
------
caymanjim
And people wonder why I quit my job to go on walkabout every few years.
~~~
lenova
Love the idea of this... Any details you can provide about your trips? Where,
how long, etc?
~~~
caymanjim
I try to take at least a two-week vacation every year, to travel somewhere
new. Every 2-4 years, I quit my job and move somewhere. So far I've lived in
four US states and the Cayman Islands for a few years each.
In between about every other job, I'll take an extended trip. I did six months
around Southeast Asia. I've done extended around-the-US travel. A couple
months in Belize/Guatemala. Currently in the middle of three months in
Cayman/Honduras.
If you've got no mortgage, no debt, no kids, it's easy to do at any income
level. I've made these choices. It's not a tradeoff that many people want to
make, but it's available to most people should they choose it (I realize kids
aren't always planned).
Most of my trips are low-to-medium budget. SE Asia and Central America can be
done for $20-50/day. Cayman is expensive, but I used to live here, so I've got
free housing and loaner cars from friends (yet it's still costing me close to
$100/day). The US can be dirt cheap if you don't mind car/tent camping.
------
p1esk
I wonder if an average American works more or less than 4 hours per week (
_actual work_ , assuming 40 hours work week)?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How many lines of code per day? - swix
How many lines of code do you write per day on average? Whats your record? Please specify in what language, im curious
======
j_baker
Dunno. SLOC just isn't an important enough metric to track. Here's an example
of why that is:
[http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&s...](http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Negative_2000_Lines_Of_Code.txt&topic=Management&sortOrder=Sort%20by%20Date&detail=medium)
------
makecheck
When it comes to maintaining most software projects, the number I hope to
achieve on every commit is _negative_. In fact, I take pride if I can add 700
lines but remove 1500 (C++).
This is because writing code is relatively simple, whereas understanding it
and ultimately maintaining it is very hard. So aiming to write more code is a
very poor objective, you should be aiming to keep a project maintainable so
that your costs are low (in terms of time, bug frequency, etc.).
That doesn't mean new features won't require lots of code, but there should be
some way to prune old code on the same schedule.
------
ddagradi
As long as it's a negative number, it's a win. I feel like LoC as a
measurement for anything is pretty outdated.
~~~
eru
You could look at the size of your diffs instead. Though that's not such a
good metric, either.
But really, last week I helped a co-worker rip out 80 of the 100 lines of his
Parsec parser.
------
brk
Just 2.
But, they are each 10,000 characters on average. ;)
It's kind of a difficult metric to extract any measurable data from.
------
TMK
Can write easily few thousands of lines of code in a day if I really want to
do that, but SLOC is not good metric like others have already said. One reason
for this is that you can write much code, but is it worth it when you could
possibly do the same thing with way less code.
------
tlammens
And how many lines of code do you delete per day? What are you trying to
measure?
------
stonemetal
Couldn't tell you, I don't keep track. While LoC correlates highly with number
of defects(making it tangentially important), I don't find it useful as a per
day metric. It is just something to minimize.
------
dangrossman
On a day where I do write new code rather than rewrite and refactor, it's
usually no more than a few hundred lines. I wouldn't know what my record is,
LOC-per-day is not something I take interest in.
------
croddin
I don't know, but the number has been negative the past few days. :)
------
kunley
"Every line of code not written is a correct one"
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Treev – Search Bar for Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, and Trello (Chrome) - bendyBus
http://treev.co
======
d1ffuz0r
I'm so missing these old days [http://www.productsthathateyou.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/0...](http://www.productsthathateyou.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/06/ie-toolbar-bloat1.jpg)
------
avivo
I can't tell from the description if the indexing is local or in the cloud. If
cloud, then it's perhaps pretty similar to what Greplin/Cue was. (and involves
giving another company all your data for their cloud...though it also means
it's possible to later use on mobile)
~~~
simi_
How large can the indexing data be? I really doubt it's larger than a couple
of MB.
Zero Knowledge is a perfect fit for this scenario (due to the concerns you
outlined), store the data encrypted on the server and decrypt it with some
personal key (most likely the password - not great security but Better Than
Nothing™). The trick is how to patch the data without decrypting it each time
(or exposing the keys) - although for such small datasets even that wouldn't
be _that_ painful. (Except you'd perhaps need to save the patch client side
until the data is processed and the server acknowledges getting it, otherwise
you risk losing data on sudden disconnects.)
I work on a Zero Knowledge PGP email service, I think about stuff like this a
lot.
------
bvanvugt
Looks great, was super fast to setup. I probably don't have a personal use
case... but for work I think this would be great.
Would love to see Asana/Hackpad support soon.
------
mrtimuk
Looks good. Could you make sure all your requests go over TLS please? The
javascript console has pages of mixed content warnings.
~~~
bendyBus
will check that out! thanks
------
alooPotato
looks great!
setup was slick, but I think it might be better if you had a full page view of
connecting your various accounts and showing the status of your accounts. The
small modal area felt too squished.
I'm also surprised at how fast the indexing went, great job on that. I'll
report back with search quality...
~~~
bendyBus
and aloo how was the search quality? We noticed delays for up to 0.5s today
because of heavy traffic. When things get quieter that should improve
dramatically. Cool input on the onboarding. We found it took quite a bit of
work to make a really slick onboarding flow, but there's clearly still room
for improvement.
------
potomushto
Looks like StartHQ.com, only contextual
~~~
olegp
Thanks for mentioning StartHQ! Direct link to the extension to anyone who
wants to try it out:
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/starthq/ilcpdgfepi...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/starthq/ilcpdgfepihaomggobhmfiimflngbcoh?hl=en)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Best and smart job search app - tikshi
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jobsquench/id993109151?mt=8
======
tikshi
Came across this job search app which is very simple and excellent, no CV and
loads of profile creation, just few keywords makes the difference.
------
jeffehobbs
s-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p--aaaammmm
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Superconductivity near room temperature - Elof
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01583-y
======
PuffinBlue
The interesting thing about this is that the work neatly fitted with existing
theory:
> Drozdov et al. observed this isotope effect and found that, compared with
> the lanthanum hydride samples, the critical temperature in lanthanum
> deuteride samples is lower by almost exactly the amount predicted by the
> theory.
So like the article points out:
> From a scientific standpoint, these results suggest that we might be
> entering a transition from discovering superconductors by empirical rules,
> intuition or luck to being guided by concrete theoretical predictions.
Whilst this result might require huge pressures, steady progress towards a
theory of super-conduction is an exciting thing indeed.
~~~
djaque
I wouldn't be too optimistic. The theory they are talking about is BCS theory.
Most of the other high TC superconductors cannot be explained with it and high
TC BCS superconductivity so far requires crazy environments with no clear path
to making them easier to use. With the kinds of pressures required to make
this happen, it's probably easier to just buy liquid nitrogen and use other
materials.
------
ttsda
At pressures a million times those experienced on earth. Still an advance, of
course.
~~~
Zanni
Nobody wants "high temperature" superconductors. They want superconductors at
roughly standard temperature and pressure. This is only an advance by the
extremely artificial metric of considering temperature only. Ceramic
superconductors work at liquid nitrogen temperatures and standard pressure,
which is much more accessible.
I'm not raging at ttsda. It _is_ an advance. Of sorts. But not nearly as much
as the headline suggests.
~~~
gaze
You’re vastly underestimating what the significance of what this is part of.
High Tc superconductivity was thought to be essentially dead. Extremely few
significant new results for decades. Now this and magic angle twisted graphene
and some other stuff. It’s really really cool. It’s like we’re watching an
entire field thawing and lurching forward.
~~~
galangalalgol
Is the graphene thing dead? One paper indicated graphene or even graphite
soaked in a hydrocarbon would superconduct at room temperature. I was so
excited I purhased some and tried that, it had a DC impedance similar to dry
graphite...
~~~
TeMPOraL
Did you buy graphene or graphite? If the former, maybe what you got wasn't
actually graphene? Apperently, the progress in this field is held back by most
suppliers selling something they claim that's graphene but really isn't (or is
of garbage quality) -
[https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2018/10/11/gr...](https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2018/10/11/graphene-
you-dont-get-what-you-pay-for).
------
bhaak
> From a scientific standpoint, these results suggest that we might be
> entering a transition from discovering superconductors by empirical rules,
> intuition or luck to being guided by concrete theoretical predictions.
That would be an exciting development.
------
acd
Is the Sun a superconductor? The Sun consist of a high percentage of hydrogen
~73% and there must be really high pressure at the center.
The suns central pressure is 2.5*10^11 bar according to nasa.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun)
[https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/sunfact.html](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/sunfact.html)
~~~
skykooler
The sun is also at a temperature of millions of degrees. At these
temperatures, there is no such thing as chemical bonds, and so the rules with
hydrogen from the article don't apply.
~~~
agumonkey
interesting, is this a sub-field of physics ? high temperature physics or
something ?
~~~
orbifold
Plasma physics I guess, plus magneto hydrodynamics, plus GR for really heavy
stars.
~~~
agumonkey
dank u
------
yo1
Has this been discussed here? Navy files for patent on room-temperature
superconductor.
[https://phys.org/news/2019-02-navy-patent-room-
temperature-s...](https://phys.org/news/2019-02-navy-patent-room-temperature-
superconductor.html)
"The application claims that a room-temperature superconductor can be built
using a wire with an insulator core and an aluminum PZT (lead zirconate
titanate) coating deposited by vacuum evaporation with a thickness of the
London penetration depth and polarized after deposition.
An electromagnetic coil is circumferentially positioned around the coating
such that when the coil is activated with a pulsed current, a non-linear
vibration is induced, enabling room temperature superconductivity.
"This concept enables the transmission of electrical power without any losses
and exhibits optimal thermal management (no heat dissipation)," according to
the patent document, "which leads to the design and development of novel
energy generation and harvesting devices with enormous benefits to
civilization.""
------
gwbas1c
> lanthanum hydride compounds become superconducting at 250 K
That's about -10F, or -23C.
(And it would make a lot more sense to put that in the article. Most of us
don't "think" in Kelvin.)
~~~
nine_k
It's easy: "room temperature" is about 300K.
------
apo
> Writing in Nature, Drozdov et al.1 report several key results that confirm
> that, when compressed to pressures of more than one million times Earth’s
> atmospheric pressure, lanthanum hydride compounds become superconducting at
> 250 K — a higher temperature than for any other known material.
_One million atmospheres_ is an important detail to leave out of the title.
------
chiefalchemist
> "Materials known as superconductors transmit electrical energy with 100%
> efficiency."
What is the level of (in)efficieny for say power lines? And power cords, etc
around the office/house?
That is, of the electricity produced, how much is lost due to how it's
transported? Does decentralizing production (e.g., solar panels on your own
roof) help in any way?
~~~
skosch
The bit of heat produced in a power line isn't a huge deal. The more important
applications will be in electronics and electromagnets. For instance, it would
make nuclear fusion reactors cheaper and easier to build.
~~~
chiefalchemist
So this isn't about advancing scale and distribution, it's at the end product
and product sub-component level. Good to know.
~~~
jerf
It is also possible it will enable some setups that aren't currently possible.
Part of why transmission loss in power lines is as low as it is is that we
build plants near to where the electricity is going to be used, so it's not
some sort of physics law that the loss is that low, it's engineering. Right
now, the "plate the Sahara in solar to power Europe" solution is not
technically feasible due to the transmission loss across that distance.
Obviously that's a special case of the general problem of natural power
sources not being where people live. If we can transmit power without loss, we
get some more options than we have now.
I'd still guess the bulk of the value would be in more local uses, but there
are some interesting large-scale possibilities, including power transmission.
------
trebligdivad
What's the highest pressure that can be achieved over a useful (1 meter?)
distance? I find it amazing that they managed to scale up cryostats to 1km for
superconducting powercables at low temperatures - it would just be interesting
if they started scaling up high pressure environments.
------
oh_teh_meows
I understand that the achievement in question was made in a high pressure
environment; but if we get room temperature superconductors (at standard atm
pressure), does that mean large scale hover cars/boards deployment will be
viable as well [0]?
[0] [https://youtu.be/PXHczjOg06w](https://youtu.be/PXHczjOg06w)
~~~
wolfram74
Room temperature super conductors are in the category of materials that will
cause semi-magical transformations in society along side generation techniques
that make .001$/KwH electricity, 1$/kwh electricity storage, or >200 gigaPa
tensile strength materials for cheap.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
McGee Days Two and Three: Steak, Fish, Burgers and Love « Cooking Issues - wooster
http://cookingissues.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/mcgee-days-two-and-three-steak-fish-burgers-and-love/
======
wooster
One of my favorite posts on one of my favorite cooking blogs. I'm a particular
fan of the computer modeling of the effects of various flip intervals on the
cooking time and doneness of steaks.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Pixar's Rules of Storytelling (2013) - evo_9
https://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2013/03/07/pixars-22-rules-of-storytelling/
======
dahart
> 4\. Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of
> that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
This one reminds me of writing advice from South Park's Trey Parker: write
better stories by figuring out how to replace all your "ands" and "buts" with
"therefore".
[http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2015/05/the-k...](http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2015/05/the-
key-to-story-structure-in-two-words-therefore-but.html)
> 20\. Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you
> rearrange them into what you DO like?
This one strikes me as an especially great idea! Rewrite something bad to make
it good. There are certainly some shows I've bitched about (like a lot of
people) but I would have a hard time dissecting it to find what's wrong with
it, and even harder time fixing it. Having to do it would certainly be
educational.
~~~
Animats
_Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that,
___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___._
That leads to a cliche - the nobody who becomes a hero. That's so Pixar.
Biography movies of real people aren't like that, because real life usually
isn't.
~~~
paulcole
If coincidences are just coincidences why do they feel so contrived?
~~~
TipVFL
A good rule of thumb in storytelling is that coincidences that help your
protagonists will feel like the writer just cheated to get out of a corner
they wrote themselves into, whereas coincidences that hurt your protagonist
are more easily accepted.
If you feel you really need this lucky coincidence to save your character, you
can fix that by going back earlier in the story and earning it. Your hero
getting shot, and the bullet being stopped by a lighter in his pocket we've
never seen before, will feel like a cheat. But if he helped a homeless guy
earlier, and the homeless guy insists he take his lucky Zippo, and then the
lighter saves his life, most people won't complain.
Just a little justification goes a long way, and helps make your world and
story feel real and complex.
~~~
AnimalMuppet
Exactly. You can have pretty much anything happen, _if you put in the
antecedents so that it is reasonable for it to happen_.
------
DoreenMichele
JK Rowling has said she wrote something like 20 versions of the first chapter
of the first (Harry Potter) book and if you read them all, you would have
known all the major plot points for the first several books.
Storytelling is about more than just deciding the plot. It is very much about
staging the reveal of details.
------
xs
There's a full Khan Academy course specifically on Pixar storytelling
techniques.
[https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-
content/pixar](https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/pixar)
~~~
supermdguy
Wow, that's awesome. I love Khan Academy.
------
joe_the_user
I have been running a Pathfinder (table top rpg) campaign for the last several
years. A lot of these rules are great hints for a dungeon master as well as
for a writer.
However, I think these rules can easily be "how to write a shallow but
emotionally compelling story" (surprise, surprise).
That said, having these rules on the table (so to speak) is useful for when
you as story teller want to have something other than the obvious happen (ie,
know the rules to break them). Try occasionally having extra, useless
characters just to confuse people. Have detours and details that turn into
their own story. Slow down or speed-up pace just for the heck of it. Let the
players find ways to short-circuit all the apparent barriers and then have
something different happen.
------
mrspeaker
"Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get
the obvious out of the way." I make this my personal rule when replying to
something on the internet: if it's the first thing you thought of, there are
already 20 other replies saying exactly the same thing!
~~~
kleiba
You gotta be careful though: often times, first intuitions aren't so bad, and
further iterations can get more and more complicated until there's no
freshness left at all.
~~~
denzil_correa
I think the point is to build on the first intuition rather than consider it
"well done". It is to actively accept that may be you are missing something
that can help convert the first intuition into an even better idea. Therefore,
I wouldn't say you need to discard the first idea/intuition but rather to not
think of it as the final product.
~~~
runevault
Not necessarily. For example: I need a chase scene in my story here.
If you're telling a modern story, your first inclination is either a car chase
or a foot chase. You certainly CAN just spice these up (put them in a
surprising location being the easiest) but there is value in trying to find a
different way (chase on Segways, or maybe on animals stolen from the zoo,
etc).
~~~
amptorn
> For example: I need a chase scene in my story here.
This is not the greatest example because it's very rare that a story _needs_ a
chase scene to drive it forward. The end result will boil down to "they get
away" or "they get caught" and both of these can be accomplished instantly, no
full chase sequence required. Chase scenes are things you add to visual media
because they're exciting. You never get them in books!
A better example might be "I need to establish that this character is not very
smart" or "I need a reason for this character's parents to be dead" or, heh,
"I need a way to make it so that this chase scene also develops the plot
and/or characters".
And for good solutions to the last problem, you can look at e.g. The
Terminator or the entirety of Mad Max: Fury Road...
~~~
ascagnel_
> This is not the greatest example because it's very rare that a story needs a
> chase scene to drive it forward. The end result will boil down to "they get
> away" or "they get caught" and both of these can be accomplished instantly,
> no full chase sequence required. Chase scenes are things you add to visual
> media because they're exciting. You never get them in books!
I disagree. A chase scene is a great way to build tension or provide a test of
character, and maybe even a way to provide exposition. Using "The Hunt for Red
October" (since I just watched that over the weekend), the first half of the
film is essentially the main character chasing after a sub. It's not a fast-
paced foot chase, but it provides a character test (how far he's willing to go
to catch the sub), obstacles that are interesting when overcome, and provides
an urgency to some of the exposition that's delivered at the film's start.
------
ssttoo
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Basic_Plots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Basic_Plots)
... not that Pixar is likely to have a plot of the "Tragedy" kind
~~~
mercer
True, although it's the one thing that made 'Up' more than just okay. The
prologue(?) is heartbreaking and quite the tragedy, and could be a satisfying
(if sad) story all by itself.
------
laufj
Stories are more interesting to me when it feels like the characters are
consistent and real, and their motivations are driving their actions, not the
invisible hand of the storyteller that already has an ending and theme in
mind. Because in this case I have something to learn from it.
~~~
ChrisSD
Undoubtedly. However old sci-fi authors did do well out of making the concept
the focus. They were often much much weaker at characterisation and characters
really only existed to explore the high concept. In some ways they were like
an essay but in story form.
As someone who grew up reading these, I would have liked better
characterisation but concept focused stories still appeal to me.
~~~
joe_the_user
Sure but that sort of approach of making the concept the focus depended on
giving the concept depth and richness.
The Pixar approach allows nothing to have depth but everything to still work
emotionally. Any variety of original, well-craft fiction will have "meat"
whereas this sort of thing is more or less just "sugar" instead.
------
woodandsteel
It's interesting the focus on the beginning and the end. It seems that would
mean you should think a lot about how things at the end are similar or
different from the start, like circumstances and character, and how you feel
about all that.
~~~
monk_e_boy
The Harmon circle story method, the beginning and end are pretty much the same
place, the character changes and learns.
[http://www.ghostlittle.com/blog/testing-the-dan-harmon-
story...](http://www.ghostlittle.com/blog/testing-the-dan-harmon-story-circle)
------
luord
Someone already critiqued 19 so I'll speak against 16: Sure, stack the odds
against the characters' success... But don't go overboard unless you're
writing a tragedy.
If the odds are too against the characters, the resolution is going to feel
contrived, even if it makes sense and it's not really a Deus ex Machina.
~~~
philwelch
Stacking the odds against a character can also tie into justifying the
character and the story to begin with. Jackie Chan always has the odds stacked
against him because if he just used his immense skills to beat people up for
two hours, he wouldn’t be sympathetic or likeable and the movies wouldn’t be
very much fun at all. You have to justify your hero or else your hero is just
a bully.
------
ktbjn
> 22\. What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you
> know that, you can build out from there.
I find it interesting that "your story" can be interpreted ambiguously in the
last rule. But I guess it's a coincidence.
------
draw_down
The result is that the stories of their kovies feel telegraphed in advance.
Coco definitely felt that way to me. It was still worth watching for other
reasons but there is very little in the way of real suspense or surprise. On
the other hand that doesn’t seem to be a problem for kids movies.
------
Erlangolem
I violently disagree with 19. The overuse of contrived means of creating
tension is lazy, predictable, and frustrating. More unpleasant is the tendency
of characters to become inexplicably stupid, inexperienced, and illogical
under those circumstances. I’m not asking for purely rationalist fiction, but
if the tension is utterly contrived, I check out.
Contrived tension is no more useful than contrived resolution of tension. When
the characters suddenly act like idiots born yesterday, they lose any sense of
depth or agency. If you want a prime example of what I’m talking about, watch
The Walking Dead.
~~~
kibwen
Speaking as someone who really likes #19, you may be reading subtext that
isn't there. Coincidences, in small doses, are the foundation of stories.
Every story gets one extraordinary coincidence, because extraordinary
coincidences happen all the time (just not usually multiple times to the same
actors within a short span of time, which is where Deus ex Machina starts
being levied). Star Wars is premised upon the coincidence that Luke should
stumble upon a droid sent by his sister to find his father's mentor. Dune is
premised upon the coincidence that the Kwisatz Haderach should be the son of
the Duke who is assigned to Arrakis. Both these stories happen to use
handwavey hoodoo to imply that maybe some ineffable higher power orchestrated
these events to keep them from being complete coincidences, but this isn't
strictly necessary.
People want to see the main characters overcome obstacles, and the above rule
is just giving authors permission to spend more time considering how they
overcome those obstacles (again, avoiding Deus ex Machina) than considering
how they get into such trouble in the first place. In fact, this is sort of
the opposite from what you're mad about: if the writers for the Walking Dead
were more willing to simply let bad things happen rather than contorting their
characters in stupid ways in ill-considered attempts to _justify_ those bad
things happening, it might have turned out better. :) (And of course, this
doesn't mean it's a _bad_ thing to avoid coincidences, it's just that
audiences won't care about coincidences that create drama rather than
resolving it.)
~~~
macintux
The number of coincidences in the first 40 minutes of The Force Awakens is
staggering.
~~~
jimmaswell
In Star Wars, that kind of thing is often considered to happen due to the will
of the Force, like finding Anakin on Tatooine. Some would call it lazy
writing, but I don't mind in Star Wars' case.
------
brwsr
I'm glad Harry Potter was not written by these rules.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Harmonized standards and EU directives (2014) - Tomte
http://www.2uo.de/harmonized-standards-eu-directives/
======
Normal_gaussian
These are very useful when somebody else tells you which one applies to you,
and you end up with a reasonably simple standard to check against.
Finding the right damn standard, and checking that all the countries decided
to implement it in ways that don't introduce random technicalities (in other
languages) is very hard.
So now you are weighing up the cost of investigative lawyers against the cost
of being taken to court. And lets be honest, there are a lot of countries in
the EU with not so many clients in them.
So these are a completely non-legal safety net that is kind of legal but
really isn't but probably won't cost you too much if you are wrong.
Law is... hard.
~~~
Tomte
Countries don't implement standards (though they do sometimes translate them
and give them their own national standard number), they implement Directives.
Otherwise I agree. The risk is quite low there.
------
blackguardx
It seems like he is talking about EU directives as they apply to individual
member states. That is nice if you only want to sell in that country, but if
you want to sell to the entire EU, you are back to square one. Or maybe I'm
missing something.
~~~
Tomte
I don't know what you're talking about.
The whole article is about the way it legally works in the EU.
Since laws are national, there had to be a concrete example, here Germany. But
it works exactly the same in all EU countries. The national laws have other
names (and there may or may not be equivalents of regilations), but that's an
implementation detail.
------
matt4077
Directives have more or less been replaced with regulations, which are
directly binding law.
~~~
Tomte
Where did you get that impression? That's palpably wrong.
Of course there are many regulations. But the Machinery Directive, for
example, is exactly what the name says.
| {
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} |
Show HN: TinyHelp - binaryorganic
http://tinyhelp.net
======
binaryorganic
To be clear, this isn't really intended as a service for the HN crowd... just
wanted to get some feedback on a quick/dirty product we put together. We're
doing a writeup later about our plans for it, but the long and short is that
we've built this as more of a proof of concept/market and we're going to
automate some things and add features during our redesign over the rest of the
year.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to Hide/Encrypt HTML Source Code - MelissaDawson
http://blog.teamgrowth.net/index.php/security/how-to-hideencrypt-html-source-code
======
dramaticus3
That's hilarious. Thanks for that.
> be sure that encryption code is not visible at client’s browser.
Good luck with that
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Lucretius saw no boundary between scientific interests and ethical claims - Hooke
https://aeon.co/essays/lucretius-the-flat-earth-and-the-malaise-of-modern-science
======
bambax
> _Lucretius’s poem, dedicated to Memmius, was an attempt to convince the
> boorish Roman that he was obliterating a site of importance._
[Citation needed!!!]
This is so contrary to everything that we know about Memmius, Lucretius, and
the place of poets in Ancient Rome that if you want to argue along those lines
you'd need an extensive bibliography.
In Rome, "poets" were craftsmen, not "authors" in the modern sense of the
term. They worked for hire. Memmius, who was an extremely important man from
one of the most famous families, placed an order for an epic poem to
Lucretius, in order to appear more gracious and to advance his political
career.
Lucretius was happy to oblige.
To think that Lucretius wrote this poem on his own accord and then dedicated
it to Memmius in order to lecture him about his behavior is ludicrous.
~~~
chmod775
> In Rome, "poets" were craftsmen, not "authors" in the modern sense of the
> term. They worked for hire. Memmius, who was an extremely important man from
> one of the most famous families, placed an order for an epic poem to
> Lucretius, in order to appear more gracious and to advance his political
> career.
I wonder if we'd go back to mostly having this if copyright as we know it went
away and no alternative way of paying artists (think Patreon-like platforms,
governmental support, or unconditional basic income) existed.
For example EVE Online has plenty of poets-for-hire and I sometimes pay one to
write me a poem commemorating the loss of one of my ships. Makes you feel
better about your loss and also looks good in your character bio...
There's obviously still "contract" work being done by artists in the real
world today as well, though probably proportionally less so.
With US artists often signing away the rights to their works completely to
their labels and publishers, which is technically the same, we're not even too
far off I'd think. But this is not possible in some other legal systems.
How "creative" were ancient cultures, where probably only the well-off or
people with patrons/customers could spend meaningful time on art, in
comparison to today's culture?
~~~
dTal
The EVE Online poets-for-hire thing is absolutely fascinating. If something
that tangential to gameplay arises organically... it makes me think that
MMORPGs are an underrated technology for test driving social and government
structures. Maybe we should have a sim-world that models our actual world as
closely as possible, so that we can test-drive things like Basic Income in it.
------
mgamache
I don't believe that "we can’t get ought from is". This is because there is a
connection between what is and the 'ought' actor (namely humans and the laws
of the universe). That connection and the most basic reality of being human
are enough to get a sense of ought from is. I know this goes against
traditional philosophical thought. If you mean some type of ought that would
be true after humans are extinct then sure, but it's almost a non-sense
question (morality in the absence or human existence). Of course, no one acts
as if we can't get ought from is (even if they disagree about the ought in
many specific instances).
~~~
UnFleshedOne
Exactly, human desires, morals and all other sources of 'ought' are ultimately
influenced by the way humans 'are'. So if you took in account whole
evolutionary history, the way it influenced culture, the way culture developed
itself based on that and other external influences (all 'is' questions), you
would eventually arrive at human moral framework and that would let you
generate 'ought' statements.
Basically what we as humans do every day.
~~~
CM30
So if psychopaths were 100% of the population, and empathy didn't exist at
all, would that make most morals null and void? I think most would agree that
a useful moral code shouldn't entirely be relativistic, and that an entire
society can be in the wrong even if everyone in it considers their actions
just.
~~~
TomMckenny
Exactly so: most existent people (myself included) would still insist the
current "oughts" still apply in a universe of psychopaths. The question is
why. Given that we can not directly observe or measure ought-ness, there must
be some psychological feature that evolved to created the idea in us. Further
more, that feature is critically necessary for us, often more than life
itself.
We also know it breaks down in hypotheticals. In that example about a world of
psychopaths, most would agree right and wrong remain constant. But a different
hypothetical, where god and sacred texts say the exact opposite of what they
do, we would not see as many people saying their god would now be wrong.
Furthermore, we do know somethings about "ought" like that it is not entirely
relative, remains constant across world changes and, is vital to pursue. But
we don't know were it comes from and why it varies slightly among cultures. So
while we know right from wrong and that such distinctions are vital, we don't
know how we know this.
It might be that what I am describing is not quite what is meant by "ought".
But there are other vital "self evident" concepts that needed adjustment to
their definitions yet those adjustments neither destroy the entire concept nor
even make any practical difference.
Time, for example, is not quite what people intuit and heat seems self
evidently entirely different than light yet is not. Yet those facts make no
difference in every day life. I expect a better understanding of the origin of
ethics will follow that pattern.
~~~
UnFleshedOne
To expand on external source of 'ought': I saw a thought experiment somewhere
-- what if you found the True Objective Source of Morality and it said
something you don't like -- for example that murdering every 14th stranger you
meet is justifiable. Thus are the moral laws of Universe.
Society would then promptly adjust the laws to follow suit (it is a true
source of morality after all). Would you then consider murdering 14th stranger
you meet today if that brings you some benefit (outweighing the risk, etc)?
If not, why not?
(Any similarities to religious texts is intentional)
~~~
comex
No... because the idea of an objective source of morality is meaningless. I
'ought' to murder someone – or else what? why should I? 'Ought' is
fundamentally subjective, existing relative to an agent's basic goals. If I
already believe that I ought to do X, an objective source of truth can
convince me I ought to do Y by showing that Y will accomplish X. For example,
I might at least consider murdering every 14th stranger I met... if you could
somehow credibly demonstrate that doing so would save the lives of millions of
people in the future. But no source, no matter how authoritative, can say I
should murder every 14th stranger "just because" – or, for that matter, that I
shouldn't.
Morality only seems universal in our society because we're all human, and most
of our morality is derived from emotional responses preprogrammed into the
human brain as a product of evolution. To evaluate the morality of more
complex actions, we build architectures of logic on top of those emotional
responses, and there's plenty of room to argue about the best way to do so.
But fundamentally, murder is bad because it feels bad, and it feels bad
because we evolved to live in groups; that's all there is to it. Any arguments
about how forbidding murder creates a more stable society are fundamentally
secondary. At best they're explanations for why we evolved this way, and/or
reasons to strengthen a pre-existing moral precept. They can also encourage us
to suppress emotional responses inclining us _toward_ murder, because those
exist too... but the effect of the suppression is limited, and in practice
people sometimes commit murder anyway.
Importantly, though, the fact that my morality is in some sense 'arbitrary'
does not mean I have to tolerate other arbitrary choices of morality. If some
person or AI is strongly driven to kill lots of people or fill the universe
with paperclips, I'm not sure I could argue that my morality is _inherently_
superior. But I'm still going to try to stop them, because that's what my
morality tells me to do.
~~~
UnFleshedOne
Yep, that though experiment is specifically designed to show that idea of
objective external source of morality is absurd.
Internal source like you described is also objective, it is shared among all
humans and based on objective realities of evolution and history.
I bet psychopaths share significant portion of it with neurotypical humans as
well -- they just have different weights among multiple contradicting
heuristics and/or certain mechanisms working slightly differently.
------
tbirrell
Okay, but did Memmius end up building over the school or not?
~~~
8bitsrule
Good question. This site seems to suggest that the answer is unknown, as is
the location of the Garden!
[http://wiki.epicurism.info/Epicurus%27_Garden/](http://wiki.epicurism.info/Epicurus%27_Garden/)
------
michannne
> _He presents the splendid argument that, if it had a boundary, then all the
> falling atoms would collect at the bottom. From this, it is clear that
> Lucretius respected the intuitive idea that there are absolute directions of
> up and down. By itself, this makes a globular Earth unfeasible because,
> unless perched right on the top, we’d slip off the sides._
I disagree with the author's point here. It seems to me Lucretius uses a
bounded object as an example for his claim that the universe must be
unbounded. A bounded object inherently has ups and downs, there is no mention
on which direction either correspond to. What other phrasing could he have
used?
A lot of what the author states actually seem to be grasps at straws.
~~~
woodandsteel
Have you read Lucretius? If not, then you are not really in a position to make
a claim as to what he was really thinking.
~~~
michannne
Any reason as to why you'd single me out? I have read On the Nature of Things
but what would make you question if I have? We can all contribute opinions,
just as the author cannot read Lucretius' mind as to why he would choose to
write the way he did
~~~
woodandsteel
In that case my comment was off target. I made it because you didn't state you
had read the piece, but I guess I shouldn't have assumed that.
I have not read Lucretius, but I assumed the author was correct because his
overall views fit well with what I do know about the history of metaphysics.
But perhaps he is mistaken in this particular case.
------
pvg
Title works curiously well for Locutus (of Borg) as well.
------
henriquemaia
For the record: I'm currently researching on Lucretius as a part of my MA in
Philosophy.
This article starts from an assumption on Lucretius intentions that is weird
for anyone familiar with the author. The thing is: we actually know way too
little about Lucretius to try to make any 'learned' guesses. However, I got
the opposite impression reading the article. If that's the starting point of
the author's argument, that somewhat taints its point.
Fun fact: all we know about Lucretius is a conjecture. There are so many holes
in who he was, how he lived, why he wrote, etc, that some researchers simply
go off-script and invent whole biographies for Lucretius [1]. There is even
those who go even further and simply state that Lucretius didn't even exist —
he was a pseudonym for another author, Titus Pomponius Atticus, a friend of
Cicero [2]. Others think that Lucretius' poem was edited by Cicero himself
[3]. Others that the poem was tampered by the renaissance humanists [4],
trying to make it more coherent and complete.
The point is: no one really knows. So, when I read/hear someone stating very
confidently that Lucretius did this or that, that he was this or that person
living this or that life, my alarm bells start ringing: there must be a bit of
creative interpretation here that goes beyond what the historical facts allow.
———
[1] Guido Della Valle (1884-1962), according to the account of Carl Joachim
Classen (1928–2013).
[2] Aloïs Gerlo (1915-1998), on a paper titled _Pseudo-Lucretius?_.
[3] Saint Jerome (c.347-420) was the first to make this claim.
[4] Lee Fratantuono mentions this in his book _A Reading of Lucretius ' De
Rerum Natura_.
~~~
mcguire
" _Others think that Lucretius ' poem was edited by Cicero himself._"
That would be odd. Cicero didn't care for Epicurean philosophy.
------
woodandsteel
I think this is an excellent article, very informative.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Cure for cancer might accidentally have been found, and it could be malaria - sreya
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/cure-for-cancer-might-accidentally-have-been-found-and-it-could-be-malaria-a6693601.html?cmpid=facebook-post
======
earcaraxe
It's not a cure, a malaria protein could be used as a delivery method to
deliver toxins to cancer sites. It's a step in the right direction, but a poor
headline.
~~~
Aaargh20318
It's a big step though. Killing cancer cells is easy. The difficult bit is
killing only cancer cells. This seems to be a promising way to do that.
~~~
earcaraxe
Oh absolutely, I'm not trying to discredit the work, I think it could be a big
step. I'm just tired of seeing headlines every month or so that say "cure for
cancer discovered" when it's only a promising incremental step that's only in
mouse trials.
Titles like these can be cruel for people fighting or with loved ones fighting
because it's a false sense of hope for those who currently need it.
I am stoked about the research though, the ability to actually distinguish
between cancer and noncancerous cells is a huge breakthrough if this
translates into humans.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Zenefits cuts nearly 50% of workforce - elsewhen
http://www.businessinsider.com/zenefits-layoffs-cut-nearly-500-employees-full-email-2017-2
======
StClaire
I first heard of Zenefits when the CEO withdrew a job offer for someone who
asked (anonymously) on Quora if they should accept an offer from Uber or
Zenefits. The CEO didn't want anyone who wasn't all in for Zenefits "world
changing" product.
Since then: that CEO got busted for writing a chrome plug-in to help people
get around California's webinar requirement to get a license to sell
insurance.
And the new CEO—the old COO—sent out a memo that sex in the staircases and
alcohol in the office are not OK.
And he had to give away a huge portion of equity to early investors who
accused the old CEO of turning Zenefits into a criminal enterprise for using
unlicensed brokers to sell insurance.
This news does not surprise me.
~~~
brilliantcode
Usually right before a major market correction, at the peak of a bubble,
unsavory, downright illegal and deceptive elements are introduced because of
the monetary incentive.
I'm looking at the headlines and thinking whether the clock has begun ticking.
~~~
Gibbon1
I reminds me before the 2001 crash I remember at the height reading a 3 inch
long story in the WSJ mentioning that a business school professor did
background checks on a 100 tech startups. Found 1/3 of them had CEO/COO/CFO's
or board members that had been prosecuted previously for securities fraud.
~~~
brilliantcode
Perhaps it's the same guys from 2001 pumping and dumping but have found a
clever way to avoid the SEC by keeping a private equity market that only VC's
have access to so they can play hot potatoes until a unicorn IPOs
~~~
Gibbon1
Oh that's a really good suspicion.
------
tarr11
Sachs is right that the SMB market is _very_ cost sensitive.
We use both Zenefits and Gusto (mainly because of legacy issues - neither
offered both benefits + payroll when we started)
Zenefits manages our health insurance and onboarding, and Gusto does payroll.
We don't pay Zenefits directly. With this layoff, there's about zero chance I
would consider switching to their payroll service (even though it's about 20%
cheaper than Gusto)
Gusto has a really solid UI. However, their problems are that unlike ADP, they
require a long lead time (5 days I think?) for payroll. They also don't
differentiate between part time and full time staff which makes this
prohibitive if you use a lot of part time staff with few hours. Neither
service provides a "full stop" HR solution - we have to use WhenIWork for
timesheets and scheduling, and Workable for an ATS. I could justify their
pricing if this was all rolled in.
Gusto recently doubled their prices so we are looking at OnPay which is about
1/3rd the price of either Gusto or Zenefits for payroll.
~~~
edawerd
Shoot me an email -- I can see if we can get you on our 2-Day ACH program for
running payroll
~~~
sahaskatta
I'd be interested in this too. How do I contact you?
~~~
edawerd
Contact info is in my profile. Thanks, looking forward to hearing from you!
------
temp246810
I worked at Zenefits for a year. Was employee ~600.
This move was much needed 1 year ago - just an awful place to work all around.
Most of the raelly good people I met there have left - the people I know that
stayed either had golden hand cuffs or weren't the high achieving type, to put
it nicely.
~~~
JonFish85
> golden hand cuffs
Those aren't really worth much anymore -- once you hit a bump in the road,
employee options are the first things to be wiped out. If investors received a
larger share as has been reported, it's in preferred shares, which probably
wipes out the employee options.
~~~
Xyik
can you explain a bit about how preferred shares wipe out employee options?
thats only in the scenario the company exits for far fewer than its current
valuation?
~~~
svachalek
1\. Usually debts are paid off first, then preferred shareholders get their
money back, before regular shareholders get a chance to sell. I got a 1099 for
$0.00 one year thanks to this!
2\. When new shares are issued, usually preferred shareholders get shares for
free to maintain their percentage in the company. Other existing shareholders
do not, of course.
------
65827
The artificial need for ever increasing growth and valuations is so
destructive in this town, need to start rethinking some of those attitudes. We
just have to hit this weird fake number with no basis in reality, or people's
lives get ruined. Why?
I get how capital and return on investment work, but maybe it's time for a
different model.
~~~
mbesto
> is so destructive in this town
Destructive to whom?
~~~
Analemma_
One answer: destructive to other businesses that can't compete with VC-backed
price dumping. A good recent example was wash.io: they undercut and drove out
a bunch of laundromats in San Francisco, and then, just to put the cherry on
the stupidity cake, they went out of business themselves, so now there are a
whole bunch of people in SF that can't do laundry. There was an extensive
Twitter debate about this that I would link to, but it appears to have all
been deleted.
~~~
pliny
Where did all the washing machines go? Did they destroy them? If all those
places sold their washing machines when they went out of business then the
capacity for doing laundry was conserved.
~~~
untog
Come on. You can't just conjour up a laundrette like you spin up an AWS
instance. You need to find real estate, employees, equipment. All of those
will have been redistributed when the business shut down and any new
proprietor will have to start all over from scratch.
~~~
djrogers
I think the GPs point was that presumably the equipment and real estate still
existed at some point after wash.io shut down. They _could_ have been sold off
as businesses rather than simply being dumped through an auction house, but it
sounds like that's not what happened.
------
SmellTheGlove
Well, that might tell me a bit about why I wasn't getting calls - I actually
wanted to work there! I've spent 12+ years in the insurance industry all with
large market leaders, and I think it'd be fun to do something disruptive - you
know, just not illegal.
------
makecheck
At some point, mass layoffs just _scream_ “management screw-ups” and there
should be major legal consequences for doing so. Otherwise, layoffs become an
easy crutch for money-grabbing executives to screw over innocent workers
without really punishing poor decision-making.
For instance, if the total layoffs per year exceed some amount (say 25% of the
workforce, which still seems absurd), the company should _automatically_ have
to pay a fine, such as 5% of the total salaries that were “saved”. In
addition, they should be required by law to give a one-year severance per
employee in that situation. Management screw-ups need to come at a _damned
high price_ so that this becomes a rarity.
~~~
harryh
There are laws like this in places other than the US. They mostly make it so
that companies hire full time employees at a much slower rate because they are
afraid of the consequences of firing people. You end up with a two tier system
of real employees and a sea of contractors.
It's important to really think through what the actual results of a proposed
policy will be. Unintended consequences abound.
------
briankwest
Signed up for our company to see what it was all about, They wouldn't stop
calling, now maybe they will stop.
/b
------
kristineberth
Bummer, they were on a hiring rampage here in Vancouver last year.
~~~
EnFinlay
Looks like they still are [1]. But the salary seems unbelievably high for the
experience levels they're asking for.
[1] [https://ca.indeed.com/cmp/Zenefits-
Development,-Inc./jobs/So...](https://ca.indeed.com/cmp/Zenefits-
Development,-Inc./jobs/Software-Engineer-3efabcfeb10e24de?q=zenefits)
~~~
ohstopitu
But I was under the impression that Vancover was incredibly expensive.
Your take home pay at the end of the year would be 88k - 116k (if those
numbers are to be believed). After accounting for rent and other expenses, I
feel like that's average at best.
~~~
jonknee
It is, but Vancouver is also well known for not paying well. It's expensive
because of a real estate bubble, not because it is overflowing with high
paying jobs.
~~~
EnFinlay
Exactly. Most developer jobs pay slightly over half the quoted amount.
------
ganfortran
Karma
| {
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Where ORMs go wrong - kapv89
https://medium.com/@kapv89/where-orms-go-wrong-a3d593f8c02f#.8877oxfyy
======
rajivseelam
Nice
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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In Bangladesh, the majority of e-commerce now happens on Facebook - gyre007
https://restofworld.org/2020/bangladesh-economy-runs-on-facebook/
======
oefrha
To be clear I know nothing about Bangladesh, but obvious contradictions cast
doubt on this piece of reporting.
An obvious one: subtitle says
_In Bangladesh, there is no Amazon. There is no eBay. If you want to buy a
dress or a crested finch from the comfort of your home, you have to use
Facebook._
Then somewhere in the article:
_The phenomenon has grown so much over the years that the number of stores on
Facebook now eclipse the number of sellers on local e-commerce websites like
Evaly, Ajkerdeal, or the Alibaba-acquired Daraz._
It links to this Daraz site, so I checked, and sure enough, there's a women's
dresses category: [https://www.daraz.com.bd/womens-
dresses/](https://www.daraz.com.bd/womens-dresses/) Of course there's no
crested finch category, but it's not like you can buy live birds on Amazon or
Ebay.
So, there's no Amazon or Ebay, but there are smaller online marketplaces (yes,
at least the Daraz site is an online marketplace, it says "open your online
store now" on its home page) selling things sold on Amazon and Ebay. How is
this qualitatively different, and why does the author try to paint a picture
where Facebook login is required (for things that aren't live birds)?
Then there are poorly explained claims like
_all an aspiring entrepreneur needs is an internet connection and around $350
to cover startup costs_
Why does starting a facebook page/group and accepting cash on delivery cost
$350 upfront? <s>Registration/license?</s> (No, "most sellers are not
licensed".)
~~~
lopis
I'm always surprised when garbage articles like these make it to the top of
HN. I guess HN is not immune to "i only read the title" kind of threads. And
since it sounds like an anti-facebook kind of article, it gets HN's blessing,
and off to the top it goes.
There was one more thing you missed that is not explicitly in the article. In
virtually any country there are groups on facebook to buy pretty much
anything, including live birds. Is Bangladesh really so different?
~~~
kzrdude
I'm not sure if you think it's legitimate or not, but one of the effects of
upvoting a story on hacker news, is that the thread stays around on the front
page, and the discussion grows.
Users can upvote stories either because the story itself or because of the HN
discussion thread; and it's often the latter that we come to this site for,
isn't it?
Isn't that legtimate, to upvote something if you already like or think you'd
like the to read the discussion about it?
Irrelevant note: This story didn't earn my vote.
------
ovebepari
A Bangladeshi here. Let me make something clear first:
\- Facebook doesn't handle the transactions (yet), some mobile banking is used
for transactions.
\- Facebook works because you can sponsor a video of your product explaining
the condition and people are very skeptic here about things, so video works,
pictures like amazon don't.
\- It's still a developing country and people like offers and facebook reaches
bigger audience/customers.
\- People do comment on Facebook, great for honest product reviews.
One might think of Bangladesh's GDP and think things are good. To be honest
things are better than before but that GDP amount is inflated by the riches.
We're still an agricultural country starting to make our way through the
intellect based economy.
Hope that helps.
------
aniforprez
In a way it's definitely fascinating to see how enterprising people have taken
advantage of available resources to set up business ventures
But I can't deny it's all a little concerning. The stuff about exploiting
animals, insecurities (the fairness cream stuff), skirting government
regulations (wonder what led to the credit card restrictions) etc. Then again,
I can't pretend to know about the life of a Bangladeshi so though I may
silently judge, I admit it is borne of ignorance
I'm unaware of the local startup scene but I hope in a similar vein to
Flipkart in India, someone starts a way for these people to move away from the
controlling influence of Facebook and sell on more regulated spaces
------
nathancahill
One interesting advantage that I didn't see mentioned in the article is that
Facebook data is often included for free in mobile phone plans, or as part of
a "Social Media" package that's cheaper than other data.
~~~
mmsimanga
This is true in parts of Africa I live and visit. Network providers sell data
bundles specifically for Facebook, Whatsapp and Twitter. These social media
data bundles are way cheaper than "normal" data which enables you to visit the
"Internet". So much news and business networking happens on Whatsapp you might
as well call WhatsApp and Facebook the internet for most people in these
countries.
~~~
yesenadam
Yep, I have a lot of friends in the Philippines who I chat with on Facebook.
Many of them, probably a large majority, don't have email or internet access
on their phones apart from that. It's a free deal that comes with the phone.
~~~
baby
Reminds me that we used to have something similar in France a long time ago.
Some websites came for free with your mobile plan. I think it was whatsapp and
fb too?
------
amelius
We must put an end to gatekeeping behavior.
The free market has its flaws but having your market (or your entire economy!)
regulated by a large corporation really is the worst of both worlds.
~~~
shp0ngle
That's actually the exact opposite of what's happening.
Facebook enables people with little knowledge of e-commerce to just open a
shop with a few clicks. All the selling happens in messages.
What's your proposed alternative? Some government-sponsored app that has the
same features as Facebook? Cool. Try that and let me know how it goes in
Bangladesh.
If it wasn't Facebook, it would be some other large centralized system.
Maybe it would be India-based, or China-based, though.
~~~
monadic2
Huh apparently all I need to do to justify literally any business model a)
have a small mountain of cash and b) make it convenient. People will just give
up on trying to imagine a way to do things better. Why bother when I already
do things as well as anyone can imagine?
~~~
blantonl
Making a business transaction convenient typically involves a process of
imagining a way to do things better.
~~~
monadic2
Does it? Not from my experience on either side of the transaction.... in my
eyes all of the “innovation” facebook has produced (along with every other
large tech company) has been straightforward, by the book scaling of extant
business processes with technology.
Anyway if there’s a process it can hardly be called imagination now can it?
It’s just human-level algorithms fed by cash.
If you can’t imagine how to improve this you’re certainly lacking for either
observational skill or bound by some dogmatic worldview.
------
ShorsHammer
There's a staggering amount of endangered wildlife trade occurring openly on
facebook in developing countries. Monitoring groups have a tough time breaking
into these things due to the gated nature of the platform and after that
paranoid private groups.
Do hope FB one day tries to take this seriously as they are the only people
who can realistically access this content completely, law enforcement is more
reactionary than proactive on these events and tend to miss the small windows
of opportunity, there's plenty of people happy to offer up tooling for
autodetection of illegal wildlife trade activities.
------
fardeem
Fellow bangladeshi here. Its been very interesting to see the comments on this
post and it gives me lots to think about.
I will say, having operated these facebook based businesses, it is literally
the worst and I can't wait for something else to take its place.
------
varbhat
I think that this is extremely bad to rely on large corporation lik FB to
control the economy.
But,i also think that it is not the mistake of people because they are forced
to sell like this by society.
Imagine selling items to people on Unknown Social Media Platform in
Bangladesh. Is it possible? No, because people are not using it. FB is popular
for selling because, society uses it more than other platforms in Bangladesh.
So,some other third party E-Mart company(other than FB) probably of their
country should notice it and solve the platform. Government's help can also be
of great use.
------
beholder1
Power is ability to make people do what you want. It can be measured in money.
Facebook has lots of it, like it or not.
~~~
sradman
The article falsifies your assumption about Facebook’s strategy and tactics in
Bangladesh:
> The wording was intended to circumvent a Facebook algorithm that, to prevent
> wildlife trafficking, automatically takes down posts with “buy” or “sell” in
> the description.
~~~
luckylion
That's because Facebook obviously does not care. They remove the "buy" or
"sell" posts due to laws, not because they themselves have issues with
wildlife trafficking.
If FB did care, they'd not have a problem shutting it down until you have to
go into really obscure code to pass by their systems, at which point it gets
useless, because that code isn't known by the other side.
~~~
sradman
> That's because Facebook obviously does not care.
I seem to lack the ability to see what you find obvious. Perhaps we differ in
what counts as supporting evidence or maybe our starting assumptions are
drastically different.
~~~
luckylion
Do you believe that Facebook is capable of adding a similar filter to match
"to change hands"? If they were capable, what could the explanation be for why
they don't?
~~~
disgruntledphd2
Because there are many, many langauges and idioms in the world, and AI isn't
good enough to do this accurately at the moment.
Given that Bangladesh is pretty poor and small, the likelihood is that if they
were to pour resources into it, eventually the business would pull out of the
country, as it wouldn't be profitable.
Note that if they block to change hands, then people will start using another
idiom, so a mere filter isn't going to accomplish much here.
~~~
hoseja
Bangladesh may be poor but it certainly isn't small. It's the eighth most
populous country!
~~~
disgruntledphd2
Apologies, I (unconsciously, I guess) weighted by advertising revenue in my
head.
I should probably stop doing that.
------
awinter-py
e-commerce via social media terrifies me because
1\. my buying history is an unfair advantage for ads that want to burrow into
my brain
2\. payment processors can make money without selling data!
businesses should have to pick 'paid or free' and not share behavioral data
across that wall
'F-commerce' is right
------
devin
FWIW, Alibaba is also a player in Bangladesh.
------
behnamoh
what am I supposed to do with this information?!
------
mister_hn
that is obviously horrible.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
First Tesla Taxi in America after 100k miles - danso
https://electrek.co/2016/08/16/first-tesla-taxi-in-america-after-100000-miles-why-every-taxi-driver-should-consider-going-electric/
======
Maarten88
In the Netherlands there are many Tesla taxis, especially around Amsterdam and
Schiphol airport. Taxis drive more than regular cars so I see them all the
time, to the point that most Tesla's on the road are taxis.
I think this creates an "interesting" marketing challenge for Tesla here: taxi
drivers are not well respected and most people do not want to be mistaken for
a taxi driver. Being seen as a typical taxi brand will impact the image of
Tesla in a negative way, like it has done here with Mercedes (another typical
taxi here, if you see a Mercedes E series here it's usually a taxi, so normal
people looking for a premium car buy a BMW or Volvo)
~~~
pkulak
I'm not sure that Tesla considers it's current luxury status very important.
Ever since Musk's first master plan he's maintained that producing luxury cars
at all is just a means to an end of affordable electric cars.
Maybe we can debate weather a $35,000 car is "affordable", but at least Tesla
seems to think so. Prius's seem to have a lock on the cab market where I am,
and those things just keep flying off the lot into private hands. Personally,
when I see a car as a taxi, I can't help but think that thing has got to be
reliable as hell.
~~~
melling
$35k is about the average price of a new car.
[http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2015/05/04/new-
car-...](http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2015/05/04/new-car-
transaction-price-3-kbb-kelley-blue-book/26690191/)
That makes it affordable enough to make a difference.
~~~
thesimpsons1022
That doesn't mean the average person can afford it. More likely that the
average person purchases a 10,000 dollar used car.
~~~
Alterlife
In a few years, perhaps a 10,000.00$ used Tesla.
~~~
Mayzie
..with a battery that no longer holds charge!
~~~
cowardlydragon
Batteries improve or get cheaper...
Teslas are designed for quick swap service of the battery allegedly...
Tesla has treated previous generation owners, such as the sport coupe, to free
battery upgrades...
If there are enough used teslas on the market and replacement of the battery
drops to a $1000 for a new-equivalent or even better battery, then teslas will
be awesome used commodities.
------
readhn
"So sure, the car cost about $70,000. And it had to have its drive unit
(ENGINE) replaced a few times. "
That sounds like a failure to me.
If this was 70,000$ FORD that had to have its engine replaced 2-3 times then
people would be screaming LEMON. But since its Tesla - it is ok somehow.
Anyway what matters for taxi driver is the cost per mile. Tesla spending:
70,000 + 3,700 (electricity) + 7,000 (repairs) = ~ $80,000 Toyota camry
spending: 23,000 + 10,000 (gas) + 2,000 (repairs) = ~ $35,000
Tesla: 80,000$/100,000 miles = 0.8 USD/mile Toyota camry: 35,000$/100,000
miles = 0.35 USD/mile
Cost per mile driven: Tesla > Toyota by 2.3x
Total cost: if he was to sell Tesla today he would lose $35,000. If he sold
camry today he would lose $13,000
Financially Tesla still does not make sense.
~~~
andykellr
The problem of analysis like this is all of the things you leave out that many
other people consider valuable.
For example, a complete calculation for you might look like:
Driving the quickest 4 door sedan ever made: $0
Driving the safest car on the road: $0
Driving a super peaceful and quiet car: $0
Driving a car without a jerky transmission: $0
Having a ton of cargo space: $0
Reducing emissions: $0
Fitting 7 people in a car (5 adults + 2 kids): $0
Not supporting the oil industry: $0
Not ever having to stop at gas stations: $0
Supporting a company driving innovation in battery storage and automobiles: $0
\----
TOTAL value of driving a Tesla vs. Camry: $0
For me, for all of the above numbers, make the numbers large enough where the
Tesla is cheaper than the Camry.
~~~
tinalumfoil
I don't know a single person that has an extra $40,000 to spend on a car
because they want to not support the oil industry. Also, stopping at the gas
station once a week isn't a big deal, but having to send your only car into
the shop for days while it's repaired could be a huge problem.
~~~
anonbanker
I spend twice as much money on Linux laptops so I don't support Apple,
Microsoft, or much of the commercial software industry. I'm sure my
counterpart in the automobile market is out there somewhere.
~~~
vaishaksuresh
Why? Can you not buy the Microsoft laptop at half the price, wipe out windows
and install Linux?
~~~
yacn
My understanding is that yes, he could, but then Microsoft is paid for the
Windows license which he does not want and will not use, so they lose out on
the profit from that license by him paying more for an exclusively Linux
laptop.
~~~
vaishaksuresh
AFAIK, you can buy the same laptop without windows installed from
manufacturers like Dell. They actually reduce the cost if you choose to not
have the OS. I don't know who sells linux only laptop for twice the price,
given that linux is free. How is twice the price justified if you're actually
not paying for the OS?
~~~
timtadh
Twice the price was an exaggeration. However, as some one driving a XPS 13 dev
edition (the original) right now they are definitely not priced as "cheap"
notebooks. Someone has to write the drivers (or source components with good
drivers) and make sure they work properly _as configured_. In the case of the
XPS 13 dev edition Dell absolutely puts resources into at least trying to get
that right. The laptop runs really well on Linux and many many laptops today
do not because of driver issues. This is not news to anyone who has been using
Linux longer than 5 minutes on real consumer PC hardware. In the old days, if
you complained about hardware compat people would tell you to hack on the
driver!
~~~
BoorishBears
I'll say Linux handles the XPS 13 well when dragging a window from a hidpi
screen to a 3440x1440 screen isn't completely broken (so far even Gnome on
Wayland can't do that right)
Edit: and 3440x1440 is just my case, it's broken for dragging windows onto
anything except another hidpi monitor that uses the same scale factor as the
main one.
~~~
mixedCase
Wayland should allow for that to work well. Give it some time, it's not early
stages but it's still not a production-ready environment unless you're living
on the extreme bleeding edge, with a knife sticking out your head and all.
------
djaychela
While clearly this is a taxi driver, 50k / year is not a lot of mileage for a
taxi - I know some people who do more in a company car (I managed similar on a
couple of years), and some taxis are team driven, with three drivers sharing
cost and shifts - indeed one I knew of years ago did about 120k a year, having
several engine rebuilds, and getting over 800k before being sold. The odometer
was only a 5 digit one, and I met the guy who bought it, thinking it had 125k
on it, when it was actually 825k (long before the UK MOT history database was
available)!
Anyway, it will be interesting to see how they hold up to these sort of
starship mileages...
~~~
busterarm
Three!? Lucky.
New York yellow cab drivers split 12 hour shifts and pay ~$150/driver/day just
to lease a medallion.
~~~
chillydawg
Less meddling in taxi regulations almost anywhere not-NYC. Medallions are a
huge scam and are a very powerful market manipulation by the govt.
~~~
gsnedders
For example, in the UK (even in London!), there's no limit to how many taxi
licenses can be granted, and indeed there is currently a statutory obligation
to grant one to any applicant provided they meet the requirements.
~~~
peteretep
It's worth pointing out that for what most people would think of as a taxi the
requirements are exceptionally onerous in the UK.
------
rkangel
There's no mention of battery degradation. That's what I'd be curious about.
Has anyone got a Tesla with a load of miles on the clock?
~~~
andykellr
I got my car in March 2013 and have 75K miles on it. I haven't noticed any
degradation.
I'm sure if I were really careful to measure, there's been a few % of
degradation, but nothing on the level of what you might experience from a 3
year old mobile phone and I never look back longingly on the days when my car
could go further. There's no trip I took 3 years ago that I wouldn't take now.
There's an 8 year, infinite mile warranty on the battery, but there have been
differing reports on when it gets replaced. I have heard numbers ranging from
15-30% capacity loss, but I plan to drive it for another 5 years, so I'm sure
I'll find out.
~~~
azhenley
This is amazing sounding. Laptop and phone batteries degrade so fast it seems!
Does anyone have any thoughts on why the Tesla battery isn't like this?
~~~
jsight
The enemy of batteries is heat. Most laptop batteries that I have had degraded
prematurely due to poor heat management.
Phones are kind of a different case. The phones that I have had with bad
batteries to begin with (Galaxy S2, Nexus One, etc) were often recharged
multiple times per day. 1000+ cycles per year for two or more years will
degrade the battery a lot, as the degradation is largely based on the number
of cycles.
The Tesla P85D has a ~300 mile battery. Unless you are driving 300 miles per
day, you are unlikely to see 1000 cycles in a year. If you do cycle it 1000
times, you've put 300,000 miles on it.
That is really a completely different situation from the typical mobile phone
or laptop usage scenario.
~~~
raihansaputra
Really interesting point.
Out of topic, but is it possible that is this why phone manufacturers are
shying away from putting bigger batteries in their flagships? They want the
batteries to degrade in the 2 or 3 years of daily power cycle, and most people
choose to upgrade instead of replacing their non-user-replaceable battery.
Does this make sense?
~~~
jsight
I have often wondered the same thing. It seems like batteries in phones
sometimes actually get smaller for no reason that makes sense to me.
It might just be that the manufacturers think everyone wants a thinner device,
though.
------
emcrazyone
"Christian’s old Subaru had to have its engine rebuilt two or three times over
the course of about 330,000 miles."
Which is it? An engine rebuild is a significant cost and down time and he's
not sure how many times it has been rebuilt? Makes me question the validity of
the rest of the article's data when you don't know your own basic
facts/history especially for is a major repair item.
~~~
honkhonkpants
"Rebuilt" is also pretty vague. Bottom end? Top end? Rings? Whole engine out
of the vehicle?
It does seem like this gentleman simply assigns some value to driving around
in a Tesla all day, which is fine with me but the article should not try to
make it seem economically rational.
~~~
JoelBennett
Knowing Subaru, it would likely be a head gasket issue. They will continue to
run with bad head gaskets for a while, but it's a pain to keep topping up the
oil and coolant.
~~~
smnscu
I have the exact same problem on my car. Thanks! Now to translate this for my
(quasi-incompetent) German mechanic...
------
semi-extrinsic
"Christian admitted that Tesla’s regular maintenance repairs like brakes and
bearings cost more than those on his old car, a Subaru Legacy"
And the "drive unit" (electric motor?) has been replaced. Twice.
As I've said before, electric cars won't mean a significant decrease in
maintenance costs.
But, he has managed to save $43 a month on gas!
Edit: reading comprehension failed me, as pointed out below, he saves $293 a
month on gas.
~~~
3princip
Two engine replacements, in a little over two years? Yikes.
How expensive is the drive train compared to a combustion engine? maybe I'm
missing something.
~~~
jpgvm
You are missing that the drive train design was entirely new when Model S was
released and had some design problems that needed fixing, hence the free
replacements.
~~~
3princip
Yes, but twice? The whole drive train. Maybe it's simpler to replace it and
refurbish it later, so they just take out the old and give you a new one.
~~~
NickM
> Maybe it's simpler to replace it and refurbish it later, so they just take
> out the old and give you a new one.
That's exactly right. The whole drive unit can drop right out of the bottom of
the car, so when there are any issues, Tesla will just replace the whole thing
so that you don't have to wait for the unit to be repaired. They can then
refurbish the broken drivetrain on their own time and then use it to replace
someone else's failed unit in the future.
------
larrik
Wow, as someone who's never even seen a true electric car up close, I'm
curious how you can keep it going for a full day of work. Charging it takes
hours, right? Unlike gasoline which you can just pull in and be back on the
road in a couple of minutes.
~~~
bluGill
50,000 miles a year is only 200 miles a day (assuming 2 weeks of vacation),
the tesla can do that range without any charges, he just needs to have enough
charge an usually long trip at the end of the day. At the rates taxies charge,
someone who goes for farther than the charge of a Tesla is going to make the
news just for their bill - even if the trip is in a normal gas car.
I expect that he plugs in over lunch hour, and at bathroom brakes. This won't
get him to full charge, but it is enough to ensure that he can handle a long
trip. If he is ever at less than half charge he has made enough money that he
can afford to take an hour off to charge.
~~~
Grishnakh
Not only that, but he'll save time by not having to go to a gas station like
regular taxis do.
------
cloudjacker
Thats really interesting, thanks for breaking down the numbers!
Ultimately it looks like it is nice consumer friendly option, but the repair
costs are being subsidized by Tesla at great expense to Tesla, and even then
the total cost compared to the gas car is only marginally better.
The primary takeaway here is that the more expensive car has better resale
value, from name and build quality. Which is the only saving grace in this
equation.
After Elon's crowdsale cars come out at the lower price, its game over though!
------
cpr
Some years back, when taking a local taxi in the Shoreline Connecticut area
(Old Saybrook, Westbrook, Clinton, etc.), the taxi company owner told me she
would buy only certain years of Audio 5000's at 200-300K for not much at
auction, and then, with normal maintenance, they'd go to 700-900-1000K without
problems. I'm afraid I've forgotten the years involved.
~~~
readhn
Yes certain Audi models were bullet proof! Also Mercedes certain models were
known to go well over 500,000miles. They were used widely as cabs in europe.
Saab, volvo another honorable mentions... but boy did the things change...
SAAB is gone RIP. Volvo became a complete POS as well. Try doing this in an
Audi or Mercedes or Volvo today and see how fast your bank account depletes to
keep it running.
------
honkhonkpants
I would wonder about the tire costs. Tesla is big and heavy with large blingy
wheels and high performance rubber. I guess you can get cheaper than original
tired but not a lot cheaper in that size.
Also curious about insurance costs.
~~~
vvanders
Insurance is actually pretty cheap relatively. They're the safest car on the
road which really brings down medical and injury costs. I want to say it was
~$30/mo more than our Subaru.
Tire costs: yeah. I'm at 35k right now and about to replace my first set of
19" tires for around ~$900. I ran the numbers and I actually pay more per-mile
in tire cost(0.023) than electricity(0.02).
That said my gas costs still more than make up for it. I was spending ~$300/mo
in gas where I now spend ~$40.
~~~
honkhonkpants
Source for safest car on the road? I don't see it on this list
[http://www.iihs.org/iihs/news/desktopnews/small-overlap-
cras...](http://www.iihs.org/iihs/news/desktopnews/small-overlap-crash-
protection-front-crash-prevention-key-to-2016-awards-48-models-earn-top-
safety-pick-award-13-earn-top-safety-pick)
~~~
vvanders
[http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-tesla-model-s-
achieves-...](http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-tesla-model-s-achieves-
best-safety-rating-of-any-car-ever-tested-2013-8)
------
blinkingled
>brakes, bearings, and parts of the suspension, which was considered normal
wear after 100,000 miles.
Wtf? I don't know of any regular car that's needed all of that changed and it
was deemed normal. What's so different about brakes, bearing and suspension in
a Tesla? I know 250k Priuses that haven't needed any of these.
~~~
ianferrel
Are those regular cars in service as taxis? Most cars do the majority of their
driving on freeways, where breaks and suspension have it pretty easy.
Taxis, not so much.
~~~
blinkingled
Good point but neither the article nor any Tesla documents seem to make the
taxi distinction - making it sound like it's normal wear for any Tesla.
~~~
haylem
Well, actually I think you quoted it yourself:
> [...] which was considered normal wear after 100,000 miles.
It's not really clear, but I think the "considered normal" applies to the
point of view of the interviewed taxi driver.
------
mars4rp
the problem is he is comparing a brand new maintenance cost to a car with 300K
miles on it!! any brand new car is going to cost less in repair compare to a
car with 300K Miles!
------
gsmethells
They need a Tesla taxi near where I live. I need a ride in one!
------
caiob
Canada ≄ America
------
dang
Url changed from [http://jalopnik.com/heres-how-a-tesla-taxi-held-up-
after-100...](http://jalopnik.com/heres-how-a-tesla-taxi-held-up-
after-100-000-miles-1785360286), which points to this.
------
post_break
I don't understand how his warranty isn't void for operating the vehicle as a
taxi.
~~~
gambiting
Why would it be? When you buy a vehicle, you get a warranty that covers you
for either X years or Y miles(or both). What difference does it make if you do
those Y miles driving for pleasure or for work? It's the same to the car. I
would be really really surprised if they refused to honour his warranty
because he was using it as a taxi.
~~~
post_break
Most vehicle warranties specifically state using a vehicle for work or fleet
is not included in the original warranty. Same thing for insurance.
~~~
gambiting
Insurance, sure. But show me one vehicle warranty that varies between
personal/commercial use. I've had Peugeots, Land Rover, Nissan, Citroen and
most recently a Mercedes(some of those I've purchased under business contracts
and used for work) - none of their warranty booklets made any distinction
between personal and commercial use, and frankly - I don't think that by law
they can. The only thing that maybe applies if you are using the car
commercially is the "heavy use" servicing schedule, so instead of changing the
oil every 16 thousand miles you have to do it every 10.
~~~
post_break
Chrysler has a specific fleet warranty that calls out using vehicles for work.
~~~
giarc
Fleet vehicles and work vehicles are different things.
Fleet generally refers to the purchase process. Fleet sales are when a company
is buying greater than X number of cars, and they likely purchase a separate
warranty. They go through a separate department (fleet sales). If someone
walks into a lot and purchases a vehicle, the warranty likely covers them if
they use it as a work truck (for example).
------
mungoman2
This article reads like a paid ad... is it?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How can I quit smoking? - bqdscx
I have a fairly stressful life and when I come home in the evening I like to have a few cigarettes which helps me to relax. I don't smoke during the day at all, but those few cigarettes in the evening are the highlight of my day. I'd like to quit smoking, but what could I do instead? I mean drinking is out of question, need to be in perfect shape the next day. What do you do to relax after the whole day?
======
amerkhalid
I quit smoking after reading Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Allen Carr.
[http://www.amazon.com/Allen-Carrs-Easy-Stop-
Smoking/dp/06154...](http://www.amazon.com/Allen-Carrs-Easy-Stop-
Smoking/dp/0615482155/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403292838&sr=8-1&keywords=easyway+to+stop+smoking)
The main idea behind book is that smoking is easy to quit. It is not addictive
like alcohol, or other drugs, where withdrawal symptoms are intense. Quitting
smoking is a big business like weight loss and there is a reason why they make
it sound like a tough thing to do on your own.
As for relaxing, I haven't found a perfect replacement for cigarettes yet. I
listen to music or read in my patio in the evening. Play video games. I also
tried healthy stuff like running, working out, hot bath, or meditation. But
nothing is perfect or I guess I am still not fully recovered from smoking.
------
rthomas6
Have you considered that your nicotine cravings are actually _adding_ to your
stress throughout the day, and the relaxation you get in the evening is simply
from satisfying those cravings? Once a body is acclimated to a given cigarette
use, the good effects diminish almost entirely but you feel bad when you don't
get what you're craving. This is the same as a lot of drugs, including
caffeine.
------
junto
Be aware that you stink, your clothes stink, and your house stinks.
Someone pointed that out to me. Somehow the fact that people thought that I
stank was worse than all of the publicized health issues (to me).
I quit 4 years ago. Now I realize when I come across smoker how much they
truly stink. As a smoker you haven't got a clue how much you smell.
------
atmosx
Smoking doesn't make you relax. Doesn't relax your muscles or anything. I
could go on and analyze (from a pharmaceutical perspective) what happens in
your body when you inhale, but I guess you know the resume anyway: it's awful.
My father stopped smoking when I was a little child. He just took the decision
to never do it again. After about 6 years he couldn't stand the smell of a
cigarette. I know that this isn't a widely used _strategy_ but I've seen it
work fine.
Anyway, even if you can't stop entirely, I'd say try to limit smoking as much
as possible.
Why don't you try some Yoga to relax? (not joking).
------
exsmoker123
I was able to quit after switching to an e-cig for a few months. Several of my
coworkers have done the same. I think it's because I was more drawn to the act
of smoking than that nicotine kick.
With an e-cig, you still get the feeling of smoking (and nicotine), but it's
still not really the same, and after only doing that for a while, I feel I
mostly broke the habit of smoking, at which point giving up nicotine wasn't
difficult at all.
I realize that doesn't totally address the "What could I do instead" part of
the question, but it might help in the process of quitting. Best of luck to
you.
------
HarlowDuDy
I agree with most here... As long as your world revolves around that fix at
the end of the day, it's going to be almost impossible.
But from my personal perspective, I didn't "quit" until I really wanted to. I
also give myself the opportunity to make mistakes.
I don't buy cigarettes anymore. I rarely even want one. But if I'm in a
situation where it sounds nice, I'll let myself indulge.
Basically, don't "quit". Just tone it down, find things to keep yourself busy,
and eventually it will lose its power. If you have to have one, do it, but
don't let the thought of it consume you.
------
lazyfunctor
Three years back I quit after 10 years of smoking (cold turkey). My notion of
smoking was associated with break from work. So I replaced it with green tea
and red tea(rooibos). You can probably give that a try.
Another thing that helped was sports, I started playing squash. I tried to be
in better cardiovascular health to play squash, another motivation. Maybe you
can pickup something (gym, any sport or anything physical)if you are not
already doing that.
------
mahesh_gkumar
I quit cold turkey, but it took me a couple of tries to stick to it. I never
thought about replacing it with anything. I just kept thinking about how I
couldn't climb 2 flights of stairs without going out of breath, how my hair,
clothes and fingers always stank, how smoking has taken over my life. I think
it was the control thing that made me quit for good. I didn't want the
cigarette to control my life.
------
greato
If you have access to legal recreational marijuana, try it if you think it may
help relieving your stress.
------
bqdscx
Thank you all for your valuable comments and advice. I decided to tone it down
a little, I'll have diet coke (my other craving) instead in the evening. But I
don't exclude smoking occasionally at parties. Don't want to make resolutions
I can not keep.
------
stevep98
I never smoked, ever. But, it seems to me you need some pleasant event to
unwind in the evening. So, how about a nice piece of cheese. Or a movie.
------
ddorian43
[http://www.reddit.com/r/stopsmoking](http://www.reddit.com/r/stopsmoking)
------
mooism2
Exercise? Gym / jogging / Wii Fit / whatever.
~~~
jdstafford
This- but if exercise isn't your thing, find SOMETHING to do. I was a pack-a-
day smoker from age 13 to 23, and the thing that kept me going back to it was
idleness. Once I started finding ways to stay busy ALL THE TIME, I was able to
quit. For me that busy-all-the-time threshold was crossed by working split
shifts and doing martial arts. You have to find your own way, but just stay
busy!
~~~
caw
I don't smoke, but one thing I noticed from being around people who smoke and
have tried to quit is it doesn't work to hang out with smokers. I've seen 2
people take it back up after quitting, and another who has been trying to quit
but he interacts with a group of 6-8 guys who all smoke. While they're cool
with him trying to quit, it's probably very hard for him to actually keep from
lighting up when all of them are standing around talking, and almost all of
them are actively smoking.
------
tyomero
Smoke weed.
~~~
adroitcode
take this advice
~~~
bqdscx
Where I live, if get caught, I would get a suspended prison sentence for that.
Not worth it in my case.
------
dueprocess
_" How do I quit smoking?"..."highlight of my day"..."helps me relax"..._
Do you see what you're doing here? Smoking is at the center of your universe.
There is NO WAY you will quit an addiction like smoking until you refuse to
even acknowledge its existence.
Get rid of your thinking first, then you'll easily get rid of the addiction.
FYI: I smoked for 10 years before I quit. That was 10 years ago.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Car-Mounted Ads Take a New Direction: Data Collection - pseudolus
https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/11/firefly-digital-advertising-driver-pay-uber-lyft-cars-data/602077/
======
shostack
I couldn't help but notice some of the internal comms wires that were
seemingly crossed between Firefly's CRO and their Product team (and the police
apparently).
>"When you look at that density in major cities, we do have the potential to
collect significant amounts of data. The question is what to do with that
data.” (After this story was published, a Firefly representative said the
company was “not questioning what to do with that data.”)"
>"But he said they’ve been “contemplating” and “testing lightly” a feature
where the screens pick up noise off the street with built-in microphones.
(Noise sensors are not part of last week’s roll-out. A Firefly representative
stressed to CityLab after publication that Hudes has nothing to do with the
product team where these decisions would be made, and that all his mentions of
such a feature are hypothetical and are not part of the company’s roadmap.)"
>"Acoustic data cross-referenced with GPS coordinates might help police
identify where the shot came from, and from what direction. The San Francisco
police department says that “never had such a discussion with a Firefly
representative about this hypothetical use of this technology.” They did meet
with a representative “to discuss the possibility of featuring public safety
messages on the display screens,” but have no formal agreement, and have “no
plans to move forward with an agreement.”
------
winternett
The bottom line of all the pay for ad mounting that goes around in the world,
it would be really great to see how much profit it really returns, minus all
the expenses...
I've implemented ads on web sites before, and though they weren't high traffic
sites, they still made thousands of hits every month and ad revenue was
nowhere near the hours it too to implement and configure ads across them.
Side revenue is a great thing when it works, but there are so many pyramid
schemes when it comes to ride sharing, house sharing, office space sharing,
scooter sharing and everything else, it's making me wonder if all the people
that used to sell AMWAY and Tupperware are at the bottom of this one. Maybe
I'm being cynical... But putting a billboard on top of my car for $300 a month
doesn't justify the wear and tear to even a hooptie, and the damage it will do
the one time I forget it's on and drive through an automated car wash. :/
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Conscientious Objection and Alternative Service - keehun
https://www.sss.gov/FSconsobj.htm
======
mooism2
I'm confused. I thought the USA had abolished conscription?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Aesthetics of Data Storage - jgv
http://hyperallergic.com/58330/the-aesthetics-of-data-storage/
======
kylemaxwell
I've often wondered, though, how much of the "blinking lights" factor is
useful and how much is just to impress clients (or to entertain us geek
sysadmin types :D ).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
DownorNot is down - vimota
http://www.downornot.com/
======
biot
Someone likely used up their free quota:
OverQuotaError: The API call datastore_v3.RunQuery() required
more quota than is available.
I'm guessing that running a query on initial load is likely for capturing
metrics. This should get refactored to fail silently and potentially also use
a memcache-backed counter:
[https://developers.google.com/appengine/articles/scaling/mem...](https://developers.google.com/appengine/articles/scaling/memcache#transient)
Basically, store the count in memcache and only commit to the datastore when
the counter hits a certain amount. You run the risk of losing some of your
analytics but it's more important to keep your resource usage low and your app
online than it is to capture every single hit.
------
stephengillie
<http://isitup.org/downornot.com>
_downornot.com is up.
It took 115 ms for a 302 response with an ip of 208.94.146.70._
~~~
icebraining
Not sure how they get a 302, I get a 500. And in any case, a 302 is a
redirect, they should follow it to know if it's really down.
<http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/downornot.org> gives a better result,
in my opinion.
~~~
stephengillie
I don't get an HTTP error, I get a stack trace:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/base/python_runtime/python_lib/versions/1/google/appengine/ext/webapp/_webapp25.py", line 710, in __call__
handler.get(*groups)
File "/base/data/home/apps/wmc/12.348534319863004081/don.py", line 306, in get
self.work()
File "/base/data/home/apps/wmc/12.348534319863004081/don.py", line 364, in work
get_cpinfo()
File "/base/data/home/apps/wmc/12.348534319863004081/don.py", line 510, in get_cpinfo
for cp in DonCP.all().fetch(100):
File "/base/python_runtime/python_lib/versions/1/google/appengine/ext/db/__init__.py", line 2145, in fetch
return list(self.run(limit=limit, offset=offset, **kwargs))
File "/base/python_runtime/python_lib/versions/1/google/appengine/ext/db/__init__.py", line 2314, in next
return self.__model_class.from_entity(self.__iterator.next())
File "/base/python_runtime/python_lib/versions/1/google/appengine/datastore/datastore_query.py", line 2816, in next
next_batch = self.__batcher.next()
File "/base/python_runtime/python_lib/versions/1/google/appengine/datastore/datastore_query.py", line 2678, in next
return self.next_batch(self.AT_LEAST_ONE)
File "/base/python_runtime/python_lib/versions/1/google/appengine/datastore/datastore_query.py", line 2715, in next_batch
batch = self.__next_batch.get_result()
File "/base/python_runtime/python_lib/versions/1/google/appengine/api/apiproxy_stub_map.py", line 604, in get_result
return self.__get_result_hook(self)
File "/base/python_runtime/python_lib/versions/1/google/appengine/datastore/datastore_query.py", line 2452, in __query_result_hook
self._batch_shared.conn.check_rpc_success(rpc)
File "/base/python_runtime/python_lib/versions/1/google/appengine/datastore/datastore_rpc.py", line 1222, in check_rpc_success
rpc.check_success()
File "/base/python_runtime/python_lib/versions/1/google/appengine/api/apiproxy_stub_map.py", line 570, in check_success
self.__rpc.CheckSuccess()
File "/base/python_runtime/python_lib/versions/1/google/appengine/api/apiproxy_rpc.py", line 133, in CheckSuccess
raise self.exception
OverQuotaError: The API call datastore_v3.RunQuery() required more quota than is available.
~~~
icebraining
Yes, that's the content, but the HTTP status is 500 (Internal Server Error).
Try with curl or a tool like <http://www.webconfs.com/http-header-check.php>
------
norswap
Is the pun really worth the story?
~~~
coderdude
HN's backend should occasionally submit things like this as a 'poor
contributor' CAPTCHA. If you vote the story up then HN can penalize the
account for dragging the site down.
------
WalterGR
My brother emailed me a link to this gem:
[http://www.isdownforeveryoneorjustmedownforeveryoneorjustme....](http://www.isdownforeveryoneorjustmedownforeveryoneorjustme.com/)
The URL gets truncated by HN. It's:
www.isdownforeveryoneorjustmedownforeveryoneorjustme.com
------
bootz15
Well, it worked. I know it's down.
------
farms
lol, meta
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Piracy: are we being conned? - MetallicCloud
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/piracy-are-we-being-conned-20110322-1c4cs.html
======
ryan-allen
As an Australian, hypothetically our US counterparts are often viewing and
discussing brand new popular television as it comes out in America.
In Australia, hypothetically said episodes tend to come out a number of days
later for very popular shows and often weeks or months later for less popular
shows.
This is due to hypothetical dinosaur age licensing of said programs from
hypothetical Australian media companies.
I have heard hypothetically on a number of occasions, hypothetical Australians
downloading hypothetical series only hours later than they were literally
aired in America.
The exact same things happens (hypothetically) with DVDs and whatnot.
Contextual shows like South Park make less sense when aired in countries like
Australia many months after they were aired in the US.
What do these companies expect is going to happen?
\---
On a side note, a television series that portrayed the story of a number of
gangland murders was produced, and was to be aired WHILST THE TRIAL WAS STILL
ONGOING. Now the magistrate in their epic wisdom decreed that the show was not
to be shown in the state that the crimes were committed, as it may contribute
to biasing the jury of the case (there's a correct legal term, which I
forget).
What happened was that the show was aired in all other states except
Melbourne, as ordered by the judge, and the very next day there were people
STANDING ON STREET CORNERS IN THE MELBOURNE CBD selling DVDs of the episode to
people as they were stopped at red lights. I kid you not, this actually
happened.
Anyway, long story short the main man was convicted and later murdered in
prison, but I hope this illustrates the utter lack of understanding and wisdom
of Australia in these matters. Hypothetically no wisdom at all.
~~~
chrisbroadfoot
As an Australian, most of that is true. Not hypothetical at all.
~~~
ryan-allen
Ssssh, they recently outlawed swearing in Melbourne, Australia. It's all f
__*ing hypothetical!
------
scythe
>claimed piracy was costing Australian content industries $900 million a year
and 8000 jobs.
Is it just me or does even this clearly inflated figure seem like pocket
change? The economy of Australia is some $900 billion a year and counting. The
costs of enforcing such legislation and the impact on people's freedom and
privacy is surely not worth a mere 0.1% of the overall economy even in the
best case.
<http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/acta/>
~~~
tobylane
Yep. Lobbying is generally ridicolous, spend $10m to get the law changed to
keep $100m of 'lost' sales, costing the country as a whole $1000m in
limitations, which is also what the labels said they were losing to pirating.
Made up numbers, but it is something close.
------
systemizer
I agree: piracy is a problem. But here's an even bigger problem to worry
about: the government believes statisticians. I have come by so many stats
that are clearly wrong, and no one (sometimes not even the government) will
question the math behind it. It is just believed that the source is valid and
everything makes sense; especially in a case like piracy that people are aware
of its effect (but not the magnitude of that effect).
My heart sank when I read this: "Ferrer said that, even if the numbers were
not completely correct, there was no denying that piracy was a significant
issue for the industry that was only expected to increase with the arrival of
the National Broadband Network."
~~~
enko
> here's an even bigger problem to worry about: the government believes
> statisticians
I think this is an oversimplification, and a dangerous one. These statistics
are biased, one-sided and misleading. That is indeed a property of some or
even most statistics, just as "being wrong" is a property of some or even most
information. Yet no-one would think to proclaim that the problem with
government is that it believes information.
Real statistics, like real science, is a force for good. Bad statistics, like
pseudoscience, is a force for bad - but it can only fool the ignorant. The
solution isn't to ban statistics. It's to educate decision makers so they can
tell the difference.
~~~
TeMPOraL
Agreed. I see lots of people arguing that statistics is a lie, a bad thing, a
tool of evil, etc. Statistics is a tool - just like English language. I don't
see people condemning English as a tool of evil because you can lie in it.
~~~
eru
About English: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Prime>
------
paul9290
Piracy would not be an issue in other countries if these countries too had
access to Netflix, Hulu, Crackle (Sony stuff), TV.com, CBSnews.com/video and
the others. Though there is justin.tv and youtube, but both are not marketed
and cant be marketed as a place to watch copyrighted material.
~~~
watty
It may not be as large of an issue but it would still be an issue. I know
several people who no longer rent movies due to how easy it is to pirate and
watch (before it even comes out on DVD).
~~~
choko
I know a ton of people that used to pirate, but since netflix and hulu became
fairly decent, do not anymore. Most people don't want to pirate, but do so
when there is no reasonable alternative. Yes, you will always have people that
pirate. A lot of them do it for no good reason too. I know one such person
that has gigs and gigs of movies he has never watched and will never watch. I
think a lot of those people wouldn't have paid even if there were no
alternative.
~~~
cabalamat
> Yes, you will always have people that pirate. A lot of them do it for no
> good reason too. I know one such person that has gigs and gigs of movies he
> has never watched and will never watch.
Sounds like that person was motivated by as compulsive desire to collect
things rather than a desire to watch movies.
~~~
JonnieCache
Progress bars are a cheap dopamine hit.
~~~
Blarat
<http://progressquest.com/>
maybe this should be a better "hit" than pirating then :P
------
cletus
The entertainment industry--music, television and movies--is living in the
past. Content is distributed through physical media and balkanized
distribution deals. Movie and TV studios cannot envision a world without
traditional cable distribution.
Pretty much everyone who reads HN knows this.
The gaming industry has largely ditched these old world models. Titles are
generally available worldwide within days of initial release. Games are AFAIK
not region-protected (they could be on at least console platforms). Digital
distribution, at least for PC games, is widespread (ie Steam). What's more
that distribution is awesome. Delete a title? Want to re-download it? Not a
problem! Not so with iTunes.
Take Game of Thrones, a series produced by HBO with immense worldwide
interest. I imagine piracy of this is enormous. Unfortunately, HBO, which
seems stuck in the premium cable model, will look at this of evidence that we
need more regulation and prosecutions.
What it actually means is there is unsatisfied demand. If people could buy it
on iTunes or buy an HBO subscription on their PC on iPad without having to
have a cable subscription (which HBO Go requires) then there would be a lot
less piracy IMHO. Of course international distribution would also interfere
with HBO's traditional distribution deals.
Basically, HBO is just leaving money on the table when I'm sure people would
pay $3-5 per episode of GoT as long as they could watch it when they wanted
and re-download or re-stream it as desired.
Most, if not all, US networks distribute their content via the Web, either
directly or via Hulu (or both). Some place further restrictions like a window
in which you can watch the content or a one week delay (as Fox does).
I like this model. I have no TV. I don't want a TV. I don't want a cable
subscription (other than for internet).
The problem is that the experience is so awful the choice becomes either
pirating it or not watching it. The ads break, they will switch you out of
full screen mode, if you have to go back to the content (because it breaks,
which it does) you will have to endure a half dozen ads to find the spot you
were at and the inventory is repetitive and pointless (1 in 3 online ads are
for Geico I swear, and I live in NYC and have no car so why am I being
tortured with them?).
Part of the problem there is that advertisers are also stuck in traditional
media. I wonder why this is. My best theory is that there are no accurate
metrics on audience or conversion with, say, TV advertising so advertisers are
basically buying into the lie that networks sell them.
Another theory is that traditional media reach audiences that online media
don't.
But why can't I pay for a Hulu with no ads? I would. I have two theories about
this too:
1\. Hulu likes having a relationship with advertisers; and
2\. The people most likely to pay not to see ads are the ones of most value to
the advertisers.
So instead Hulu tries pointless differentiators to get me to buy Hulu Plus,
like being able to watch it on my iPad. That would actually be nice but if I
have to watch it on my laptop instead so be it.
The one company that seems to get online distribution is, of course, Netflix.
Watch as much as you want, whenever you want, on whatever device you want for
a flat fee. They've obviously solved the problem of distributing royalties and
so forth to content owners. Why can't anyone else?
That'll probably change today with iCloud. Ironically, the record companies
don't like how powerful Apple is but they've created the monster that is
iTunes by first insisting on DRM and then shutting out other players. They
wanted Amazon and Google to pay for playing music you own when it comes from a
hard drive in the cloud rather than one you own. Neither did.
The result seems to be that they've turned to Apple as their saviour, which
will probably make Apple even more powerful.
The whole situation--music, movies and TV--is utterly stupid.
~~~
pathjumper
That is because, right at its heart, the _universe_ does not respect owning
information. Therefore it makes no sense that some subcomponent of the
universe, say a person, or other entity could either. Sure, you can own a book
on which information is printed, or multiple "copies"; that is, multiple
physical books. But to the universe they are not copies, they are discrete
physical entities. But when you are only splitting energy streams, that is
making electronic copies; those are true copies. And this is where the lie
that is "copyright" steps in. Literally, "the right to copy". As in, some
entities, typically people, have it, and some do not. The fact that a new term
had to be made up to give this fictitious idea a reality illuminates how
baseless it is in the actual universe outside human society. Since the entire
thing is predicated on a lie - the lie that the act of copying electronically
can truly be controlled - it is intrinsic that it cannot last, since it has no
basis in reality outside our minds. The would-be copyright owners sort of
admit this when they try and use scare tactics to keep people from infringing
on their so-called copyright. They do this with big FBI warnings (which the
FBI had no hand whatsoever in creating), and those stupid "you wouldn't steal
a car, would you?" ads. It sounds almost like someone is trying to convince
_themselves_ of the veracity of owning information and the right to copy it.
I, for one, think that the sooner the human race gets the hell over the idea
that information can be owned, the better. There are other, better ways to
make money through entertainment, and the entertainment industry is sooner or
later going to have no choice but to face the music. It has been happening for
decades, and the ubiquity of computers is making it worse for them, and better
for everyone else, at last.
~~~
Produce
The universe also doesn't respect owning property. Saying that an arbitrary
collection of atoms (a chair) belongs to another arbitrary collection of atoms
(a human) is delusion pure and simple. It's just a delusion that a lot of
arbitrary collections of atoms (humans) share.
~~~
Helianthus
Which, of course, is the whole point: property is an illusion with utility.
For physical things like chairs, the concept 'makes sense.' What OP meant by
invoking the universe was really to say that _people_ don't respect
intellectual property.
And if you look closely, people don't respect physical property to an exact
degree. We share, we borrow, we lend, we lease, we sometimes treat human work
as property, we're generally just lazy with our accounting of ownership.
Which, you know, is kinda cool.
Anyway, you use the word arbitrary as if the arbitrary nature of the line
makes the line meaningless.
~~~
natural219
I think what Produce means to say is that many of our institutions and
cultural facets are made up. There is very little natural backing for many of
the laws and customs of human society (human rights? ha.) Invoking natural law
to make a point about the utility of an abstraction makes no sense in context
of all of the other abstractions that we use frequently in our lives (eg,
property).
~~~
Produce
Actually, I was making the opposite side of the same point. Personally, I
consider the existing abstractions to be as irrational as these new ones. It
seems, to me, that people are hugely over-complicating life while arguing that
survival is not possible any other way (or that the current way is the best
we've got). The simple fact is that we fall prey to fear very often and
construct these elaborate schemes to make us feel more secure. It would be
more efficient to, as a species, at least make an attempt to face our fears.
The issue is that we're biologically wired to survive in an environment of
scarcity. We go kind of crazy (in the sense that our ideas do not match
reality) when things are abundant.
------
nhangen
The war on piracy is like the war on drugs. Giant waste of time and resources,
will never end, and no gets out without losing an arm.
~~~
rick888
The problem is that piracy destabilizes the price of whatever is being
pirated. Digital goods are only worth what people are willing to pay and if
everyone knows they can go to thepiratebay and get it ford free, it will be
$0.
So even though companies know they will never win the piracy fight, it sends a
message that it's not okay to download it for free (as opposed to doing
nothing).
~~~
eftpotrm
No.
I don't deny there is a demographic that will always obtain for free what it
can but it's a lot below 100%. Witness the documented effect of services like
NetFlix on piracy levels or the warnings in software such as PDFCreator or
Paint.Net that if you paid money you were conned. For whatever reason, some
people will pay for the freely available.
Not to mention that, very often, material via sources such as TPB is of lower
quality - inexpertly cut off at the start or finish, periodic glitches,
whatever. Plus it's hardly got high availability and consistent cataloguing.
People will pay for a reliable, quality service.
~~~
rick888
yes.
"For whatever reason, some people will pay for the freely available."
If piracy wasn't stopped and it was advertised everywhere that in all the
search engines that you could get commercial software for free, these numbers
would be very close to 100%.
"Not to mention that, very often, material via sources such as TPB is of lower
quality - inexpertly cut off at the start or finish, periodic glitches,
whatever. Plus it's hardly got high availability and consistent cataloguing.
People will pay for a reliable, quality service."
TPB has a search box. software is a perfect copy, music is usually near
perfect, and many times the movies (not always), are ripped right from the
studio or DVD.
~~~
cookiecaper
I disagree strongly. The Pirate Bay is infested with malware, fake torrents,
media monitoring companies, and lots of other undesirable stuff. It is
difficult to navigate and use.
Here's the way that record companies should make money: $20/mo for access to
that company's entire catalog, unlimited download, well-organized, high-
quality rips, vetted torrents (i.e., uploaded by the company itself, malware
free), etc. If you've ever used one of the big private music trackers they
make an excellent prototype for a for-pay service that would allow the rights
holders to rake in even more money than they currently make. They were
eventually able to figure it out with VHS, I don't know why it takes them so
long with the internet.
~~~
rick888
"I disagree strongly. The Pirate Bay is infested with malware, fake torrents,
media monitoring companies, and lots of other undesirable stuff. It is
difficult to navigate and use."
There is a rating system. If there is a virus, someone will complain. How is
it difficult to use? looking for Photoshop? put it in the search box and click
"search".
"Here's the way that record companies should make money: $20/mo for access to
that company's entire catalog, unlimited download, well-organized, high-
quality rips, vetted torrents (i.e., uploaded by the company itself, malware
free), etc. If you've ever used one of the big private music trackers they
make an excellent prototype for a for-pay service that would allow the rights
holders to rake in even more money than they currently make. They were
eventually able to figure it out with VHS, I don't know why it takes them so
long with the internet."
The record companies already negotiated with terrorists and lost, why would
they believe that this time will be any different. You can get songs for 99
cents, Netflix tons of movies, preview music through Grooveshark, Last.fm, and
Pandora. Yet, it's still not "enough". Piracy is worse than never and there
are a new set of excuses as to why you have a need (and a right) to
downloading someone else's hard work for free.
The beginning of the entitlement generation.
~~~
guard-of-terra
"Piracy is worse than never" Is it? Something to back this claim up?
~~~
rick888
haha,
There is a pirate party in Sweden and sites like thepiratebay get millions of
visitors per day.
~~~
rick888
Love the down voting too. Proves to me once again about the political nature
of HN and why a pure democracy doesn't work.
------
pflats
I think one of the best ways to at least look at why the music industry is
really reeling is to take a look at album sales and singles sales.
When CDs hit the market, there was no compelling way to get singles. CD
singles were relatively rare, and few people wanted to buy cassingles instead
of CDs. This is at odds with the the music industry existed up until that
point.
Take a look at the list of best-selling albums and best-selling singles on
Wikipedia. Sort the categories by year. There's fewer than 10 high-selling
singles there from 1992-2004, while there are dozens of multiplatinum albums
from the same era.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-
selling_albums_in_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-
selling_albums_in_the_United_States#10.E2.80.9314.C3.97_platinum)
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_singles>
~~~
eftpotrm
Only to some degree; single sales have also partially dropped off because the
relative cost of albums has decreased. I bought my first album in 1987-8ish
for about £8.50 - the same purchase today would most likely be £10 and back
catalogue releases are very frequently on sale for about £5-7. Factor in 24
years of inflation and....
tl;dr - albums now cost much the same as singles used to in real terms, but
have more music. Why shouldn't people buy them in preference?
------
modernerd
The Internet, like DVD, VHS, cable, radio, and sheet music, is just the latest
in a long line of transmission mediums.
Use of each medium to transmit work that was once locked down and overseen by
a controlling influence has always been considered piracy when that medium was
in its infancy -- right back to sheet music -- as Cory Doctorow notes in a
video interview with the Guardian[1]:
"The copyright wars aren't new, of course. In the first part of the 20th
century you had sheet music composers who represented the only real 'music
industry'. They were an industry as a pose to a trade because they had an
industrial apparatus; a copying machine that made sheet music. And so they
could sell it even when they weren't there.
"Then you had performers who weren't really an industry; they were just a
trade, because you could only make money as a performer if you were actually
performing; there was no industrial component. And then someone invented
recorded music, and the performers who were buying their sheet music down at
Tin Pan Alley and performing it all these years started performing it into
recording devices.
"And the composers said, 'What are you doing? You're selling our compositions
without our permission! You must stop this -- it's an act of piracy!' And the
performers said, somewhat understandably, 'You sold us the sheet music, didn't
you? Didn't you think we'd perform it?' And different states came up with
different answers, but at the end of the day, all the countries that made the
transition to having a successful recorded music industry said that composers
actually don't get a say in whether or not their music is recorded. They may
get some money from an automatic royalty system, but you don't get to say
'this can only be performed here' or 'only that guy can perform it'. Once it's
been performed once, everyone can perform it and everyone can record it,
because that's how music is.
"So here you have the great pirates of the first decade of the 20th century:
the music performers; the record labels. And the record labels turned around,
not that long afterwards, and pointed at the radio stations and said, 'What
are you doing playing our records on the radio? You have no business doing it!
What we did when we took those compositions without permission, that was
progress! What you jerks are doing... that's just piracy!' And, of course, the
broadcasters went out and they said, 'no, you should let us broadcast' and
they eventually won that fight and then _they_ were the brave pirates who
became the main stream.
"And so when cable channels started taking broadcast signals and pumping them
over cable wires, the broadcasters said, 'Well, you know, when we took that
music from the record labels that was progress, but when you take our radio
diffusion and pump it down over a cable that's just piracy'. And the cable
operators fought that fight.
"Then along came the VCR, which could record programmes off the cable, and the
cable operators, having won the fight with the broadcasters, said, 'You know,
when we took the broadcasts that was progress! When you take our cable
transmissions and record them on a VHS cassette, that's piracy!"
"And then, the company that invented the VCR, Sony, joined with the major
studios in suing the Internet for taking movies that had been diffused on DVD
or VHS cassette or over the air and said, "You know, when we put your cable
diffusion on a VHS cassette, that was progress, but when you take it and put
it on the Internet, that's just piracy."
"The biggest difference now, I think, is the extent to which they're being
taken seriously. I think it used to be true that no lawmaker believed he could
be re-elected by breaking the thing that his constituents use to entertain
themselves. And now there seems to be an awful willingness to go to Corfu with
a music composer and come back and propose that the Internet should be
censored and that people who are accused of file sharing should be locked out
of it and so on. And I guess that's the major difference and the thing that
gives me anxiety about the future of the Internet.
[1]:
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/video/2011/may/30/in...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/video/2011/may/30/internet-
piracy-cory-doctorow)
~~~
ajtaylor
Thank you for this - I had never heard it before. What struck me was how every
successive new distribution method was first called piracy. What comes after
the Internet?
~~~
sdrinf
Why, realtime performance distribution, of course.
Think about it, with state-of-the-art piracy, currently you 1, can listen to
2, any music 3, anytime, 4, anywhere. So the only thing that's really a
competitive advantage to channels is time between performance originally
recorded, and general availability.
Not sure how this could be really "liberated" with the performance business
still remaining profitable -a moneypooling service maybe? But there's
definitely room for improvement on the current distribution model.
------
te_chris
Is it just me, or has iTunes Match finally made this whole world a slightly
better place?
I mean of course, in terms of actually finding a way to monetise content
acquired through any means - i.e. I download album over BT, pay itunes match
sub, sync lib, then artist gets royalty. It seems like we're finally
approaching a sensible business model.
------
jneal
I love music - but I'll be honest, I rarely buy my new music. However, the
music industry still gets my money, and here's how.
If I had to spend let's say $10 per CD, and on average I get a new CD every
week (I do) that's over $40 per month. Instead, I get my music for free, and I
spend the $40 going to a concert almost every month. So far this year, I've
been to 4-5 concerts.
Now, I'm not saying this is legal or this is even "right" but it's just what I
do. Besides, bands don't see much money from CD sales, they get money from
touring, so I much more prefer to spend my money in the way that more directly
affect's the band's paycheck.
I do still occasionally buy CD's. For example, Linkin Park's new album "A
Thousand Suns" I downloaded before it was even released so I could listen to
it, although I had already pre-ordered it and received it a few days after it
was released (it's still unopened)
------
goodspeed
Another view would be to look up publicly available company revenues and see
that their annual revenues are totally not affected at all. You can see an
increase in year on year. No were are those figures dipping or near bankruptcy
like what they claim.
I'd love to see these revenue
------
Natsu
Yes, we're being conned by lobbyist-written "research" that contains wild (but
always bad) guesses about the piracy impact but which has nothing to do with
the real world.
It's been going on for a long time now. Remember how they compared the VCR to
the Boston Strangler? Yeah, only to go on and make billions of dollars off of
it.
If they really want to investigate something that's hurting the industry,
maybe they should look into that Hollywood accounting thing.
------
fleitz
The best way to reduce piracy is to shorten copyright. Lets give the industry
what they want, 6 month copyright length. This would vastly reduce piracy, by
the time the DVD comes out it's legal to copy. I think after that they'll be
begging for the return of piracy.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
I installed Windows 95 on my Apple Watch - coloneltcb
https://medium.com/tendigi-insights/i-installed-windows-95-on-my-apple-watch-589fda5e36d
======
xirdstl
Impressive! I remember upgrading to Windows 95 back in the day so I could play
Diablo. My PC struggled at the time. It's amazing the kind of portable
computing power we have now.
Also it's fortunate that he didn't install ME, which might have destroyed the
universe.
------
kingnight
Next up, BeOS, please!
I think it's the plain blue background of Window 95 that made me jump to that
idea. Windows95 base look holds up really nicely vs versions that came between
95-10.
~~~
digi_owl
Windows 98 holds up better in modern terms, and there you had things like USB
support build right in.
~~~
mhd
Was 98 the first one with gradients in the window bar?
I remember being quite disappointed when the toolbar buttons went all flat, as
I felt that was offering a consistent UI (button -> 3D look) on the altar of
design. But I think that came with one of the Office versions first. (QA was
horrible back then, if you had a Windows applications, you had to cross-check
it with every ofice/OS permutation, as both wreaked havoc on your UI dlls).
~~~
laumars
95 didn't support title bar gradients natively, but it was trivially easily to
add support for it into your application manually. If I recall correctly, it
was only one win32 API.
I used to love hacking about with the Win32 Apis in the old days. I wrote all
sorts of neat tricks like turning the start button into a paddle for a weird
desktop-based game of Breakout.
~~~
userbinator
_turning the start button into a paddle for a weird desktop-based game of
Breakout._
I've done a bit of fun "repurposing" of the Win32 controls too, and that is
something I'd definitely love to see --- probably along with quite a few
others on HN.
~~~
coderdude
It exists in a hundred different uploads on Planet Source Code's VB6 section.
Go nuts.
[https://www.planet-source-
code.com/vb/default.asp?lngWId=1](https://www.planet-source-
code.com/vb/default.asp?lngWId=1)
I was an obsessive VB6er.
~~~
laumars
Oh wow. That's a blast from the past. I don't think I've been on that site
since the 90s.
I still have an unclaimed prize ticket for winning best submission one month.
It's a pity the owner never gave the UI more love as that site had the member
base long before StackExchange et al but it just failed to compete. Even now,
it still looks like a 90s site and that's not even the same design it had in
the 90s.
------
frik
You ported Bochs to Apple Watch (complete x86 computer emulator, not a just a
virtual machine) and run Win95 (because it consumes little resources and
already took hours too boot). You could also run Rhapsody/NeXTSTEP (the
precursor of Mac OS X/iOS/WatchOS) or even a stripped down WinXP on Apple
Watch which has 512MB RAM
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Watch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Watch)
). Anyway great job, and I am waiting for someone to run Rhapsody (or early
Mac OS X version using PearPC) on Apple Watch, that would be so meta ;)
------
bananaoomarang
Impressive you can run an x86 emulator on there at all, even more so it holds
out for the hour+ long boot time and actually runs it without crashing.
As an aside from this: what would actually be neat is having DOSBox on there,
or some old console emulators + a layer for translating the sensors/inputs to
controller buttons.
------
_ph_
Cool hack! And the comparison of the watch specs with a pc of that time shows,
how far computer hardware has developed in those years. Without the emulation
overhead, it would be completely feasible to run Windows 95 on a todays watch.
This of course raises the questions, could you install a linux natively
compiled for the watch on it an run it at a reasonable speed? Might be
actually usable.
------
pstoll
Beautiful madness.
------
userbinator
I'm surprised Win95 could handle the (very) odd resolution, even smaller than
desktops would have at the time, or is it standard VGA downscaled?
~~~
sdk77
I had the same question, looked up the resolution, it's 312x390, about half
VGA. Guess that's why it looked pretty sharp still.
By the way "Optional: hot glue a motor to the watch’s crown to keep it from
falling asleep." \- that made my day!
------
mhartl
This story is a good hacker litmus test. If you can appreciate why installing
Windows 95 on an Apple Watch is awesome, you're probably a hacker; if not,
definitely not.
------
mappy
Very cool. Looks really slow, though.
~~~
shortsightedsid
That's because Win95 is running on top of Bochs. Bochs simulates every x86
instruction in software. Getting Bochs to run on Apple Watch is itself
impressive!
~~~
JoshTriplett
It's unfortunate that qemu probably can't run on iOS due to its JIT code
generation. qemu (without KVM acceleration) doesn't run nearly as fast as
native, but it runs orders of magnitude faster than Bochs.
~~~
05
It's possible to statically JIT the hotspots, then statically link that code
into the app. You'd probably have to rewrite lots of qemu code though..
~~~
JoshTriplett
That would also make that build of qemu app-specific, and for that matter not
distributable if it included code derived from Windows.
------
fsiefken
Great totally unpractical exercise. What about taking one step back and taking
two steps forward in the practical range, using dosbox to get win3.11 to run
with bluetooth keyboard and mouse. It will get you faster bootup for sure, and
perhaps with win32s some win9x programs will run. Or better yet, get a
bluetooth supported minimal linux with ssh server and mobile gui running...
something like Tizen... o wait
------
SmellyGeekBoy
I was intrigued by the 386 comparison in the opening paragraph so I decided to
double check on Wikipedia - turns out that it was indeed possible (and
officially supported) to run Windows 95 on a 386! Can't imagine it was a fun
experience, though.
~~~
fsiefken
Given enough memory it should be pretty usable I think (> 16 MB). Though I
prefered to stick with Win3.11 on my 386 4 MB toshiba greyscale laptop(which
ran pretty damn fast)...
------
chris_wot
Hmmm... I wonder if you could install ReactOS on that watch?
~~~
colejohnson66
Because he used Bochs, any x86 operating system will run. All you would need
to do is bundle a ReactOS image instead of a Win 95 one. However, if it took
an hour to boot Win 95, imagine how long it would take to boot a modern OS!
~~~
frik
ReactOS is pretty tiny, and consumes just little more memory than Win95. It's
one of the less bloated NT series OS, only comparable with NT 3.x series in
the memory foot print.
------
jimothyhalpert7
Ah, still remember the school nights spent on getting Win95 to run on my Nokia
5800. After finally getting it to run, I, of course, realized that it had no
practical value to me. Luckily, my friend was a HOMM2 fan, so that DOSBOX
install found it's use. I only wish we payed more attention to French class...
------
jug
I was a bit surprised over the slow speed given the reasonable specs of the
Apple Watch. Then I realized it was running on top a software emulator, and
the disappointment turned into amazement.
------
capote
Aww, it's such a tiny Windows 95 :3
Almost makes me forget the pain and misery of Windows 95.
------
hola_hola
Incredibly awesome!!! I hope one can also install windows apps. That would
also be cool.
------
alistproducer2
I wanted to say I accidentally flagged this. I have a small phone and fat
fingers. Sorry.
~~~
greenyoda
If you accidentally flag an article, you can click the "unflag" link to
reverse the action.
~~~
alistproducer2
Thanks. I didn't see that. Unflagged.
------
J_Darnley
Huh? I doubt it has an x86 CPU in there not to mention floppy disk or CDROM
drives to read from the media.
> iOS port of the Bochs x86 emulator
Oh. Boo.
~~~
dang
We've asked you before to stop posting snarky dismissals of other people's
work to HN. Such comments go against both the guidelines and spirit of this
site. You clearly have a lot of knowledge to share, which is great, but we
need you to actually share it—by teaching the reader something new—and to
eliminate the bits that just put others down.
~~~
teddyh
I have no idea what J_Darnley has written previously, but in this case you are
being unfair. J_Darnley’s “snarky dismissal” may in this case be terse, but it
is entirely deserved here – they didn’t “install Windows 95”, they ran it in
an _emulator_. A standard, commonly used, x86 processor and PC platform
emulator. The title is misleading.
From the article, it seems that to even get the emulator running on the Apple
Watch was a serious problem, and I can see that. And if the article title
would have reflected this, like “ _I got a PC emulator running on my Apple
Watch and ran Windows 95 in it_ ”, then I would have had no problem with it.
As it is, it’s misleading clickbait.
~~~
shimon
How else could he have gotten Windows 95 running on an Apple Watch? Recompile
Windows? Swap out a processor?
The fact remains that this article describes something novel and technically
difficult. If you have a better suggestion of how a Real Hacker would run
Windows 95 on a watch, please tell us about it. That would be interesting.
~~~
teddyh
It is the very fact that it is, at first glance, impossible which makes the
headline interesting. The fact that it _is_ impossible (and the article
describes something similar but different) does _not_ excuse the headline from
the charge of inaccuracy and clickbait.
The article _does_ describe something novel, interesting and difficult. But
not what was promised by the headline.
~~~
chris_wot
I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous. He installed Windows 95 on the x86 emulator
Bochs on a wristwatch running iOS!
What is _not_ amazing about that? So what if it's emulated? It definitely
installed and ran - on his _wrist_!!!
I'm not normally impressed, but this is amazing!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Facebook open sources its servers and data centers - arithmetic
http://gigaom.com/cloud/facebook-open-sources-its-servers-and-data-centers/
======
codex
This is a strategic attack on Google. A proliferation of scalable data centers
hurts Google a lot more than Facebook by enabling Google's competitors. Cheap
computation matters much more to search engines than social networking sites.
~~~
neilk
Because Google could never benefit from Facebook's designs too? Google does a
lot of things bespoke, but now they have a model to compare with that is using
more off-the-shelf tech. That can only help them in the buy-vs-build decision
process.
I think you're going overboard in thinking that everything the big players do
is about killing the other guy. Sometimes they just want to reduce costs. If
you decide that part of your infrastructure isn't strategic to own, it always
makes sense to be open.
~~~
brownleej
I'd say that efficient data servers are one of google's core competencies.
Google does not benefit from having that commoditized.
~~~
neilk
I just don't like the phrasing. "We did a thing that Google does not
substantially benefit from" == "We attacked Google" ?
------
flyt
Get all the CAD files and other specifications here: <http://opencompute.org>
~~~
swah
Any idea on how much would it cost to produce a small quantity of those
boards? At which scale does it starts to make sense to use a custom made
motherboard instead of a off-the-shelf PC?
~~~
flyt
HP, Dell and other vendors are already showing off hardware built to the new
specifications: <http://instagr.am/p/C66FU/>
~~~
hollerith
Your link does not support your assertion. It's just a picture without a
caption.
~~~
jedsmith
With a source fairly prominently displayed at the bottom. Follow along if you
absolutely must know more:
1. Navigate to twitter.com/scobleizer.
2. Observe first tweet.
<http://twitter.com/Scobleizer/status/56062315665178624>
That said, I lost all interest in the image due to the dumb focus effect.
~~~
smoody
ditto on the focus effect. reduces the value of the photo.
------
beagledude
say what you want about Facebook but I give them props for open sourcing so
much code to the community. Cassandra, Thrift, Scribe,Hive, etc...
~~~
lrcg
"Please take a look, tell us what we did wrong and join us in working together
to make every data center more efficient."
Mad Props.
~~~
skeletonjelly
Indeed. This is how I want to see society. Sharing knowledge for the greater
good. Probably the reason I'm not a fan of detriments of this such as software
patents and Apple in general.
~~~
farlington
Apple has open sourced a lot of their projects. Check it out:
<http://opensource.apple.com/> <http://developer.apple.com/opensource/>
------
whakojacko
Link to an article in James Hamilton's blog with actual pdfs of various
designs:
[http://perspectives.mvdirona.com/2011/04/07/OpenComputeProje...](http://perspectives.mvdirona.com/2011/04/07/OpenComputeProject.aspx)
~~~
wmf
As much as I like James and his commentary, I have this thing about primary
sources: <http://opencompute.org/>
------
corin_
Sorry ARM.
Have ARM actually done more than announce that they will be moving into
servers? If they have then I missed the announcement. Either way, seems like a
fairly stupid dig at ARM, can't really expect companies like Facebook to have
moved onto ARM servers this quickly, even if it is the direction they intend
to go in.
~~~
wmf
This "sorry ARM" stuff is mostly just the media's need to turn every story
into a horse race. But there is some technical detail here: Facebook said
they're not ever willing to use 32-bit and ARM won't have 64-bit for years.
Also notice that Facebook's servers are "conventional" 2-socket with lots of
DIMM slots, not 1-socket "microservers".
~~~
steevdave
Fwiw, Freescale has a 64bit ppc processor now... Either way though, until
you're able to just drop an ARM processor into a "commodity" motherboard, it
won't really see widespread use, aside from cell phones, and other mobile
devices. There is also the fact that ARM processors all seem to have the
graphics card embedded in the chip.
~~~
wtallis
Current ARM SoCs have all been built for embedded applications, which is why
they integrate things like GPUs and radios.
The next-generation high end ARM core, the Cortex A15, will be the first one
that's intended to be suitable for server use: they've added virtualization
support, PAE for up to 1TB of RAM, and cache coherency to their bus to support
SMP. The server-oriented implementations will be quad-core 2.5Ghz chips, of
which you would be able to put at least 4 on a motherboard like this. When
they start hitting the market next year, they'll probably all but kill the
market for Intel Atom-based servers.
------
michaelbuckbee
I'd be very interested in hearing from someone with more experience in running
their own hardware what portions (if any) of what Facebook has announced today
is applicable at the small scale of say having a couple of co-located racks in
some datacenter. Maybe the base server designs?
~~~
cft
I can give you an interesting data point: our power bill is only about $600/mo
(2.5KWh), our bandwidth bill is about $3,500/mo (1.2Gbps). So power is a
smaller consideration.
~~~
patrickgzill
If you are in the USA, you are overpaying for bandwidth by about $700/month or
so.
------
rbanffy
I don't get the AC PSUs on the servers (<http://opencompute.org/servers/>).
Any reason why those are being used when each 6-rack group has a UPS (and
batteries) connected to them? Going DC would get rid of the inverter on the
UPS out and the 200 or so PSUs on each server.
~~~
lrcg
The UPS doesn't need an inverter - the PSUs have a DC in.
~~~
rbanffy
But they are supposed to use the AC input when not running off the UPS. I
wonder why that would be a good idea.
------
iloveponies
One thing I've found interesting: The decision to have batteries not per
server like Google, or per data centre, but per group of racks.
~~~
Swannie
Pretty standard in telecoms. Never quite understood why Google went per
server.
~~~
iloveponies
Their claims were that the efficiency was that great, and that it's acceptable
to pay the extra few dollars in motherboard manufacture to build it in.
~~~
Swannie
I guess in their instance the lifetime of the server was never likely to be
eclipsed by that of the battery. In telco, 15-20yrs of operation is not
uncommon, so a single set of replaceable/easily service batteries is
important.
------
budwin
This is a great talent acquisition play.
------
tallanvor
I'm sure they've done a lot of tests, but running servers in an environment
with 65% humidity just doesn't sound good for them.
~~~
ceejayoz
> In August 2008, Intel conducted a 10-month study to assess the effectiveness
> of using only outside air to cool a data center. The temperature range was
> 64°F to 92°F. Humidity varied from 4% to over 90% and changed rapidly at
> times. No increase in server failure was observed.
[http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=power_mgt.datacenter_e...](http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=power_mgt.datacenter_efficiency_inlet_temp)
------
skorgu
What are the chances of these being commercially available anytime soon? Is a
single consumer (even if it's facebook-sized) enough to jumpstart a B2C supply
chain? It's hard to see this catching on with anyone not building green field
unless it can come in at least on-par with a Dell/HP/Supermicro quote.
------
lrcg
Ethernet-powered LED lighting :D
~~~
oasisbob
I found that interesting too, thought it was a joke at first.
The only details I was able to dig up are in the Data Center specs [1], and
they're pretty brief:
> Energy-efficient LED lighting is used throughout the data center interior. /
> Innovative power over Ethernet LED lighting system. / Each fixture has an
> occupancy sensor with manual override. / Programmable alerts via flashing
> LEDs.
I wondered what the justification for PoE lighting could possibly be, sounds
like all the lighting is also functional as instrumentation.
Anyone know more?
[1]
[http://opencompute.org/specs/Open_Compute_Project_Data_Cente...](http://opencompute.org/specs/Open_Compute_Project_Data_Center_v1.0.pdf)
~~~
chopsueyar
A couple of guesses. They probably have a lot more cat5/cat6 around than
3-conductor 12 gauge copper wire (not sure if it is cheaper by the foot).
Also, the network switches can output the PoE, so maybe it is easier to wire
into/from the racks or overhead than a seperate AC line with conduit.
Labor installation and material costs may be less.
Also, since it is DC, and not an AC lighting source, interference may be less
(just a guess).
And as you mentioned, the lighting as instrumentation.
~~~
bhousel
All true. Right now 14/3 Romex costs about 3x more than Cat5. Copper is
expensive!
LED lamps use DC power. The LED lamps that you can buy that screw into a
standard Edison socket contain electronics to convert the AC line voltage into
DC. This is inefficient -- generates heat and wastes power (though still not
nearly as much as a traditional incandescent bulb).
By using power over Ethernet for their lighting, the datacenter can use
cheaper, cooler, more efficient bulbs, and save a lot of money on the wiring
too.
I can definitely foresee a future where new construction includes wiring for
both line voltage AC and also low voltage DC. It could eliminate all the bulky
transformers scattered around a typical house and save energy and money.
------
jacques_chester
Ah, economies of scale, is there anything you can't improve?
------
yanw
Not sure how many startups built their own servers anymore, this event seems
like a response to the Greenpeace accusations of Facebook's environmental
responsibility or wherever.
Edit: I agree it's a good thing, it's just that hosting a press event rather
than just making the announcement through a blog post suggests other motives
as well.
~~~
nroman
This is true. However, the services that startups use to host their servers
(Amazon Web Services, Rackspace, etc.) could adopt these practices in new
datacenters because the specs are open. This could lower costs for the
startups that use these services, and be good for the environment.
Seems like everyone wins.
~~~
vl
Any large scale service already adopted such practices, may be not to the same
degree. All large players buy custom hardware with specific tweaks to be more
energy (read cost) efficient.
------
ignifero
Shall we expect Google, Amazon, Microsoft et. al. to start posting their
energy efficiency stats from tomorrow?
~~~
wmf
Way ahead of you: [http://www.google.com/corporate/datacenter/efficiency-
measur...](http://www.google.com/corporate/datacenter/efficiency-
measurements.html)
~~~
Flenser
Looked through Google's numbers but they don't seem to be directly comparable
to Facebook's. Anyone know how far apart they are?
------
amitraman1
Wow.
------
davidpitkin
Facebooks attempts at openness make me wonder what they are trying to hide...
misdirection?
~~~
nanexcool
Are you serious? Facebook open sources so much of their code.
Check <http://developers.facebook.com/opensource/>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The New Yorker Strongbox - danso
http://www.newyorker.com/strongbox/
======
pilif
I was discussing with a colleague whether tor is still trustworthy these days:
running exit nodes without ending up in jail or thrown out by your ISP becomes
more and more difficult (if it's not impossible already). Also tor still gets
a lot if bad press as being nothing but a medium for child porn consumers to
hide their tracks.
As such I wonder whether there are exit nodes (or even just plain nodes) left
that are not being run by governments as honeypots?
How can you be sure that the data you are submitting is not intercepted? How
can I be sure that all my traffic is not running through one government
network (because all tor nodes still left are compromised)? How can I be sure
that I'm actually submitting my information to the New Yorker in this case as
opposed to a government server posing as them?
The announcement page linked is not being served over SSL and the onion URL
given isn't using ssl either (as if any ca would sign a cert for that domain,
but if the linked page was served over SSL they could publish a fingerprint
there)
If I had important information to leak, I would probably still have an
otherwise uninvolved colleague drop by in person to dump the data for that one
(and only one) time. If I had a friend willing to take the risk.
Or if there was an EV signed page of the New Yorker listing an SSL fingerprint
of a certificate that's used by that tor server, then maybe I could live with
the fact that tor is likely compromised.
Then again, maybe I'm just a paranoid coward. I'm so glad I don't have access
to information anybody would be interested in.
~~~
chimeracoder
> Then again, maybe I'm just a paranoid coward. I'm so glad I don't have
> access to information anybody would be interested in.
I agree with everything else you're saying, but I should just point out one
thing:
It doesn't matter whether or not anybody is interested in your information -
especially in this era of en-masse passive data collection, you have the
_right_ to your own data, which includes the right _not_ to be snooped on by
third parties (governmental or otherwise).
It doesn't matter whether or not you "have anything to hide", only whether you
have anything you _want_ [voluntarily] to _show_.
</rant>
~~~
saraid216
Honestly, it's great that you're passionate about the issue, but that doesn't
a logical argument make. Privacy is an intuitive _concept_ , but it translates
surprisingly poorly to reality. That's not to say privacy doesn't exist or
isn't important, but that we don't _actually_ know what it is.
Intuition makes for bad law, not least because everyone has different
intuitions; it's basically asking, "Why don't programmers just program in
English?"
~~~
gknoy
Thankfully, my kids are learning Lisp before English, so at least that let
them program more intuitively.
(Kidding: ... if only I could. My son doesn't seem interested in it.)
------
ComputerGuru
I'm not surprised to see this coming from The New Yorker.
I've all but given up on quality journalism from most "newspapers," but long-
form investigative articles from The New Yorker and Vanity Fair (yes, of all
places!) always keep my faith in humanity. Less-lengthy but usually well-
researched articles from Mother Jones and Harper's are also up there.
Other sources that sometimes do an awesome job but other days leave you
scratching your head would be NPR, The Atlantic (less investigative
journalism, but awesome write-ups), The New York Times (covering everything
from tabloid trash to 20-page quality journalism spreads), and The Seattle
Times (likewise, but less crappy and less awesome at both extremes).
~~~
jfb
If you haven't already, check out _The Economist_. They have a strong, clear
ideological bias, but the writing is excellent and it's one of the very few
places to get any sort of news in English about parts of the world that _The
Times_ ignores.
~~~
seldo
I have been a subscriber to the Economist for, woah, 11 years now. Simply by
virtue of its weekly format, it does a good job of ignoring a lot of the
interesting-but-transient stuff that wastes your time if you read regular news
online. It also has great breadth of coverage -- it's easy to get parochial
when you read online news, especially tech, and the E is a reminder that the
rest of the world exists and that important things are happening in it.
However, the breadth seems to often come at the expense of depth -- on the
occasional chances I get to discuss an article in the Economist with an actual
expert in that field, it seems their analysis is often dismissed as
superficial and they not-infrequently get basic facts wrong (their letters
section often contains quite substantial corrections).
~~~
rndmize
I generally read the Economist by means of their website, and its quite
interesting to read the comments on articles; they usually fill in the gaps of
the articles or point out errors (especially in the case of articles focused
on a single country, which if flawed will bring out the nationals in force.)
------
danso
FYI, "Strongbox" is a fork for the open source project that Aaron coded, which
is called "DeadDrop"...it was down because Github pages was recently down, but
back up now: <http://deaddrop.github.io/>
The repo contains this thorough Threat Model/theory guide:
[https://github.com/deaddrop/DeadDropDocs/blob/master/THREAT_...](https://github.com/deaddrop/DeadDropDocs/blob/master/THREAT_MODEL.md)
~~~
masklinn
It not a fork, it's the first production use since DeadDrop was discussed
with/instigated by New Yorker journos.
In fact, there's a shoot-out and link to DeadDrop _in the page's
introduction_. Not sure why you thought an FYI was necessary...
~~~
danso
I came across StrongBox in this blog post, in which DeadDrop was mentioned but
the repo not linked to:
[http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/05/stron...](http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/05/strongbox-
and-aaron-swartz.html)
In the OP, "DeadDrop" is listed prominently but not as text...so when I came
to the page, my first instinct was to do a Find for "deaddrop" to see if the
repo was there, which comes up empty of course.
Without reading the Aaron Swartz post, I would've assumed "DeadDrop" was an
existing service because of the brandlogo, and not a link to the open source
repo.
Note: I'm not saying there's anything wrong with how it's done, I'm just
pointing out my thought process: Anyone who comes to the OP without having
read the Aaron Swartz post would not know of the open-source project
underneath it (though it isn't a fork, so my mistake) and may not click
through the "DeadDrop" logo. People who have read the Swartz post may be like
me, wondering where the Github code is, as it is not linked to in the Swartz
post.
Just trying to make the project more visible for those of us less skilled at
sussing out HTML. No fault of the New Yorker's...both posts are aimed at
different audiences (though the Swartz post should probably just include a
link straight to DeadDrop for convenience's sake)
------
revscat
This comment is somewhat parenthetical, but one thing I am glad to see is that
the cyberpunk/cypherpunk spirit that was so influential in the early days of
the Internet has carried on over into today. There are areas -- important ones
-- where anonymity and cryptography are necessary tools in addressing various
wrongs, regardless of the objections of the state. That a mainstream
journalism organization like The New Yorker has recognized this, and has found
it important enough to implement a technical means of addressing, shows that
the work of pioneers like Zimmerman, Assange, Schwartz, and many others have
been fruitful over the long term.
~~~
saraid216
I... just realized that I know so many Zimmermans that I don't know which one
you're referring to offhand.
~~~
graue
Probably the inventor of PGP: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Zimmermann>
------
thruflo
Might be useful to serve that page over https so the .onion address it
contains can't be changed by a man in the middle.
~~~
daviddoran
Agree. I think they should be using HTTPs, HSTS etc for this page.
~~~
bjacobel
Github Pages, to my knowledge, doesn't support HTTPS. They'd have to move it.
------
pqdbr
This is amazing because it's endorsed by a major mainstream news organization.
A good point when arguing with those that defend that Tor is only meant for
terrorism, child pornography and illegal activities.
~~~
pyre
| Tor is only meant for
Tor was developed by the US Navy so that people in oppressive regimes could
have secure communications, though I guess that could qualify as 'illegal
activities' under the laws of said regimes...
------
jjmardlin
It's great to see a reputable organization finding use for Tor and online
anonymity. Innovative, advantage gaining move in a not so innovative industry.
~~~
grandalf
In the past decade, the New Yorker has been the _only_ news organization
(aside from Wikileaks) doing significant investigative journalism.
~~~
rthomas6
That's quite an assertion. I'd say that a few public radio programs I listen
to have done some great investigative journalism.
Specifically:
[http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-
archives/episode/487/h...](http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-
archives/episode/487/harper-high-school-part-one)
<http://apps.npr.org/unfit-for-work/>
[http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/05/07/182010027/episode-...](http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/05/07/182010027/episode-456-marijuana-
arbitrage)
[http://www.propublica.org/article/finding-oscar-massacre-
mem...](http://www.propublica.org/article/finding-oscar-massacre-memory-and-
justice-in-guatemala)
~~~
grandalf
NPR is great, but never questions the legitimacy of the US Government.
------
DanBC
This thread - of smart people - shows a little bit of confusion over the
difference between _anonymous_ and _secret_.
That's kind of scary when we think about the reasons someone might be sending
stuff to a newspaper, and the need that have to be anonymous. Secret would
probably be good too. At least until the newspaper prints.
Newspapers are supposed to explain stuff to their audience. This article
doesn't explain much. Like the saying goes, when I see how badly they do with
stuff I know about I have to wonder about everything else too.
------
ianso
Nice. I have to say this is the best approach to "wikileaks"-style journalism
since wikileaks itself imploded. Now here's hoping they have what it takes to
publish what lands in their inbox, even when the US Govt objects...
------
salimmadjd
It's a sad day when a US based publication is leading the charge to protect
its sources to ensure the vitality of the freedom of the press. I had expected
this in an authoritarian regime, not here.
~~~
Jun8
In a _real_ authoritarian regime this page would not have existed at all due
to government pressure (or would have been a honeypot for government). Such
regimes generally work through the double whammy of threat of action (legal or
thug-based, e.g. in Russia) to the actual reporters who uncover dirt and
subtler threats/coercions to their bosses, the latter of which leads to self-
censorship and is much preferred. A recent example of the second approach is
the suppression of news about the bombing in Reyhanli in the Turkish press.
~~~
salimmadjd
I considered the same argument you are making before posting my comment.
However, for this to have happened in USA it means we are half way there or
getting there.
The media is controlled by two factions now: Government through access (you
don't get to come to white house if you piss us off or you wont get the
interview)
Large corporations and the major characters behind them. (i.e. Fox news,
Viacom, etc.
This is not the path to maintain an open society. We don't need thugs like
less sophisticated media controlled countries , we control media in a much
more elegant way. But the results are the same!
~~~
brown9-2
As the blog post announcing this points out
([http://m.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2013/05/introd...](http://m.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2013/05/introducing-
strongbox-anonymous-document-sharing-tool.html)) in a lot of ways this is an
extension of the mailing address or phone number that the New Yorker has
advertised (and informants have been using) since the 1920s.
------
nsxwolf
The government has really showed us how little we can trust them in the last
couple weeks. Go Tor!
~~~
rsync
ToR is funded by the US government.
~~~
lawnchair_larry
What does that have to do with his claim that the USG is not trustworthy? Are
you implying that it isn't the solution that it claims to be, due to the
funding source?
~~~
rsync
I'm not claiming anything - I'm simply pointing out that the answer to the
question "will tor protect me" has a little bit more nuance than it is usually
answered with...
~~~
lawnchair_larry
That's why I said "implying" - can you state directly what you mean? Your
reply wasn't directly relevant and you're intentionally being vague and
ominous, which isn't useful.
The most logical conclusion, given the information that you're providing, is
that "Tor might not protect me because the authors accept US Government
funding".
If so, it's important to call that out as the BS that it is. Either you are
highly ignorant as to how Tor works, or you are being malicious for some other
reason.
If I've missed something, please clarify.
------
derrida
GlobaLeaks enables news organizations to offer a similar functionality:
github.com/GlobaLeaks Includes some Tor developers on the dev team.
They have been working on this for 2-3 years in the open and would appreciate
bug reports & people to run the code. They also currently maintain Tor2Web,
the first version of which was written by aaronsw
------
smoorman1024
Nice to see a strong endorsement of Tor. I imagine it will help The New Yorker
attract new sources for their stories.
------
Serow225
I'm pretty much ignorant about Tor, but I'm curious why the .onion strongbox
address they give is a string of random characters, instead of something
recognizable/memorable?
~~~
acebarry
If they wanted to make a memorable address, they would have to run something
like Shallot [1]. This is essentially brute forcing private keys until you
find the public key you want. Depending on the name, that could take a very
long time.
[1] <https://github.com/katmagic/Shallot>
~~~
zokier
I don't really understand how they can claim that shallot-generated keys are
as secure as normal keys. If you are able to essentially brute force your key
(to create the customized address), wouldn't the adversarial (with presumably
much greater computing power) be able to do the same?
------
igul222
I don't get the point. If you trust them, isn't it okay to reveal your
identity to The New Yorker anyway since they're legally protected from being
compelled to reveal your identity? And if you don't trust them, why should you
trust that they're not logging your identity even on Strongbox?
<http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_of_sources>
~~~
pwenzel
You raise a good point. However, in light of the Justice Department secretly
obtaining AP phone records [1], this provides an alternative option for secure
information.
For information that is best delivered anonymously, this sounds like one of
many tools to get your message out there.
[1] [http://www.npr.org/2013/05/14/183810320/justice-
department-s...](http://www.npr.org/2013/05/14/183810320/justice-department-
secretly-obtains-ap-phone-records)
~~~
mtgx
No he does not have a point. Even if he does trust them, that's irrelevant.
The point of anonymity is so others (especially governments) don't find out
your identity. That can be done regardless of how much you trust the
publisher.
Why do you think Wikileaks was invented?
------
brown9-2
The deaddrop installation documents
(<https://github.com/deaddrop/deaddropdocs/>) refer to a repo at
<https://github.com/deaddrop/deaddrop_puppet> which doesn't seem to have been
made public yet. Would be interesting to see the rest of the installation
procedure.
------
zimbatm
I hope this becomes a standard, every news organization needs one of these.
------
gesman
VERY wise move! Contrary to tormail.org - you know who owns the TOR-based
messaging system and this will surely increase an inflow of "hot" [albeit
unverifiable] stories! Great way to stay ahead of less techy competition.
------
ignostic
Good for the New Yorker; I hope this catches on. Unfortunately, _if the
encryption is not end-to-end, the data is not secure_. In fact, the NSA may
choose to hang out and watch the unsecured traffic flow.
_The New Yorker should make the traffic a little more secure by encrypting
traffic (using https)_.
There have been past instances where similar weaknesses were exploited by
sniffers:
[http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2007/09/embassy_...](http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2007/09/embassy_hacks?currentPage=all)
~~~
ef4
That vulnerability applies when accessing normal web pages via Tor.
But that's now what the New Yorker has set up. They're hosting a Tor hidden
service, and in that case Tor is necessarily encrypting the traffic end-to-
end.
~~~
286c8cb04bda
The problem is that you got the .onion address from an unsecured web page.
Someone between you and that unsecured web page could've changed the .onion
address and when you went there you would be visiting a Strongbox hosted by
the NSA rather than one for The New Yorker.
~~~
mcdigman
This is why you typically want to publish things like this as far and wide as
possible - if any single source is compromised, it can be detected by noticing
a discrepancy between two publicly available addresses. I'd wager they'll put
it in their print edition (same as their physical address and phone number)
from now on, because the NSA probably isn't going to everyone's house swapping
out their magazines for altered ones, so anyone who gets the magazine will
have a hard copy of the address.
------
lowglow
Trying to do something similar here: <http://valleyanon.com/> \- Let me know
if you're interested in helping out with the project.
------
ck2
Soooo can .onion addresses be spoofed for MIM attacks?
~~~
pwenzel
Man in the middle attacks on Tor are possible. Check out Moxie Marlinspike's
2009 BlackHat DC Presentation on SSL Stripping:
<http://vimeo.com/50018478>
<http://www.thoughtcrime.org/software/sslstrip/>
~~~
nwh
Attacks such as those referenced are are not relevant in this case.
As this website is being served as a hidden service, the traffic never exits
the Tor network. There's no SSL in use for a MITM attack to remove, nor does
there need to be.
------
FramesPerSushi
What an awesome idea, this needs to become a standard. This will lead to lots
of interesting and previously impossible stories in the future!
------
jmmcd
What is the purpose of the people on the New Yorker end having to switch
machines? How can the submitter trust that they've done that?
~~~
mcdigman
Because the internet facing machine could have been infected with malware that
allows someone to read the decrypted message, and send it back over the
internet. First, being compromised in the first place is less likely for the
machine not connected to the internet, because it is booted fresh from a CD-
ROM every time, and the CD is read only, so in order to install something
unwanted on the computer the attacker would have to physically replace the CD.
Second, even if it were compromised, it is not connected to the internet, so
there should not be any way for it to transmit the information, again unless
someone has physically bugged the machine.
------
ISL
How do we know that Tor is reliable?
It's the de facto standard, but, barring bugs, is it provably NSA-resistant?
~~~
shabble
Even if it is already entirely broken by them, there's the question of whether
they'll risk revealing that fact by going after you (publicly) c.f. _Ultra_
[1] level intelligence from breaking Enigma.
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_%28cryptography%29#Safeg...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_%28cryptography%29#Safeguarding_of_sources)
~~~
acheron
Yes, we all read Cryptonomicon too.
------
benrmatthews
Out of interest, what are other potential applications for Dead Drop, beyond
journalism?
------
tyang
What's a good guess here as to the signal to noise ratio?
------
tenpoundhammer
I'm really searching for an Al Gore joke here, someone help me out.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Is there radiation fallout risk in California? - Aegean
What would be the risk of unhealthy radiation fallout in California? Could the radiation clouds move over the Pacific?<p>Also these geiger counters, is it something civilians could buy and use?
======
3pt14159
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/radiation-fears-sweep-the-
re...](http://www.theaustralian.com.au/radiation-fears-sweep-the-region/story-
fn84naht-1226022828500)
Has an article on it. Basically you shouldn't worry, people were testing a
whole bunch of atomic weapons during the cold war and everyone turned out
alright.
~~~
Aegean
I am not sure an atomic bomb is a good comparison, I have heard nuclear
reactors possess many multiples of radioactive material than a bomb.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Will IDN domains ever get browser support? - _eht
Is anyone spearheading acceptance anymore? FF used to do something really vague but that seems dead.
What are the reasons why it is still stagnant?
======
runnr_az
It doesn't seem like it. I tried for awhile to move the needle on emoji
domains, got nowhere....
------
detaro
What do you mean? As far as I know, all current browsers do support them.
~~~
_eht
Without converting to punycode?
~~~
detaro
There are no IDN domains "without punycode". If you mean the display, both
Firefox and Chrome do show them as-is at least in some cases - but as far as I
know do have policies show the punycode form in others to avoid phishing
attacks.
~~~
_eht
Alright yeah that was what I was referring to. Are phishing attacks the only
real thing holding back full support? I'm wondering if maybe a notification
that the domain is an IDN similar to how they notify about bad https for
anything they don't already fully show would do the trick. Seeing as how
phishing is not currently a solved problem, would it really be that much worse
if all IDN's displayed properly?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Browsh – A modern, text-based browser - tombh
https://www.brow.sh
======
tombh
Some of you may have seen this before under its previous incarnation of
"Texttop". Then it was just a hack, but I got some great feedback, so I've
spent most of the last 12 months turning it into something serious. It's
morphed into more than a mere TTY gimmick. That UNIX philosophy of text being
the "universal interface" has somewhat unexpectedly risen to the forefront,
such that Browsh is now essentially a text browser _engine_ , serving to both
TTY clients and, somewhat ironically, other browsers - see
[https://html.brow.sh](https://html.brow.sh) Being able to render any modern
site (even WebGL for example) to text seems like an appropriate return to the
web's origins. The obvious benefit being to those less fortunate that have
slow and/or expensive bandwidth.
Also, I'd be interested in any opinions here about how to financially support
this project. At the very least I'd just love to somehow make this my job.
~~~
bryanrasmussen
actually one problem you have here, and you're probably realizing from the
responses, is a problem I had with a personal project that could be used to
build lots of things that people wanted, but in itself was not a thing people
want. In order to monetize you need to build one of the things people want,
but in doing so you put focus into one area and stop improving the generic
base of everything, as well as not producing many little toy examples of the
possibilities of your technology.
~~~
jacquesm
This is typical for infrastructure and foundation libraries. Nobody made money
on jpeg, but jpeg powered entire industries.
~~~
C4stor
While your point stands, you may be interested to know that a company actually
successfully sold a patent for jpeg at some point, and made about $100M doing
so. So I wouldn't say nobody made money on jpeg !
But it's also interesting for the OP, maybe there's something patentable in
there ?
~~~
jacquesm
If you're referring to Forgent: they were patent trolls and their patent was
invalidated due to prior art. Unfortunately not before a bunch of companies
paid up.
Fraunhofer is a better example of an institute that made good money on tech
patents with merit, as well as 3M and lots of other tech companies.
But as a rule these things are hard to monetize and while I'm not happy that
it will be hard to monetize the work that went into this particular project at
the same time I think it is good that patents are most likely a closed avenue.
Patents are - in my opinion - a net negative and the sooner they are abolished
the better.
------
genpfault
> Browsh consists of a minimal Golang CLI client and a browser webextension.
> Most of the work is done by the webextension. When the CLI starts, it looks
> for a compatible browser (currently only Firefox) and starts it in headless
> mode. Once the browser has started it opens a remote debugging connection
> and installs the extension.
So a browser _wrapper_.
~~~
mikorym
I was wondering about this. If everything goes through an already installed
browser, then what is the advantage that browsh has over a minimalistic fork
of Firefox with e.g., lower bandwith features?
~~~
pkulak
I guess the point is to install this on some random server somewhere that you
can then SSH to. It really does seem like a good way to have a speedy browser
experience over even insanely slow network connections.
~~~
mikorym
Does one then need a Firefox installation on the server, or can it be through
a local Firefox installation?
Edit: according to comments below the headless browser (i.e., the Firefox
installation) runs on the server. After this, the smaller bandwith data gets
sent directly over SSH.
------
sevensor
Can it be made _not_ to show WebGL, embedded video, and so forth? I enjoy a
very serene internet using w3m set to monochrome, with mouse and images turned
off. Every now and then it's necessary to use a graphical browser, and it's
the sensory equivalent of being woken up by a toddler at 5:30 on Christmas
morning.
~~~
bovermyer
What you call "serene," I would call "austere." That's not meant as a
denigration, mind you: I'm very curious as to your viewpoint here. What do you
enjoy about such an experience?
~~~
chaoticmass
I use elinks--
I like it for reading. I like how all the text is displayed the same, in a
fixed width font I'm used to looking at. There's nothing to distract me or get
in the way.
------
jhanschoo
Seeing as images are so pixelated as to be near-indistiguishable, I think it
would be nice for browsh to have a status line where it shows accessibility
metadata (e.g. alt="" attributes) of whatever element is currently in focus.
It might also be nice to have a mode where images are just replaced by filled
boxes that are more visually distinguished from the surrounding content.
~~~
tombh
That's a great idea about the `alt` metadata, thank you.
Have you got an example URL for a page that would benefit from those filled
boxes you mention?
------
bwag
> Its main purpose is to significantly reduce bandwidth and thus both increase
> browsing speeds and decrease bandwidth costs.
How does it reduce bandwidth exactly? It still has to grab all the html/css/js
for the site being rendered.
~~~
robrtsql
I think the use-case is that the user is running their headless browser on a
remote server with a good internet connection. Then they open an SSH tunnel to
that server from their local machine which has low bandwidth--and the only
thing that needs to be received by the local machine is the browsh rendering
of the webpage.
~~~
tombh
Exactly.
As well SSH/Mosh access there's a HTTP service, that currently only outputs
static, noninteractive HTML and basic graphics. For example:
[https://html.brow.sh/https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17...](https://html.brow.sh/https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17487552)
~~~
_dark_matter_
This sounds like your ticket to making money then. Have a hosted option.
~~~
stockkid
I'd be wary to use a hosted option because a browser in a remote server will
then contain my credentials and browsing history.
So if OP goes down this road then I think he should allow users to access
machines.
~~~
tombh
What do you mean by access to machines? Like SSH access?
Do you think such a service would be significantly different to an email
service in terms of privacy concerns?
~~~
peatmoss
Yes, I do think it’s pretty different.
If you weren’t the fine upstanding person you are, you’d have all the web
traffic of users at your disposal: banking, secure interactions with
healthcare providers, credentials to Hacker News, the whole nine yards.
With access to my email, you could probably reset a handful of my passwords to
various services that don’t support dual factor auth, and you could probably
discover what services I subscribe to.
I mean, I wouldn’t want you to have access to my email, but I would much
rather that than a permanent man-in-the-middle web client.
~~~
e12e
It should be quite doable to spin up a container/VM on demand. I'd probably
look at lxd/lxc or bsd jails for this (both with zfs for storage) - or if
there now are any real ways to run containers under hw virtualization - maybe
that.
Maybe something like:
[https://github.com/rkt/rkt/blob/master/Documentation/running...](https://github.com/rkt/rkt/blob/master/Documentation/running-
kvm-stage1.md)
for VM backed containers - but I'm not sure if it's considered stable and/or
secure.
~~~
tombh
Thanks for the suggestion. I'm already using Kubernetes/Docker for the `ssh
brow.sh` service. What advantages would your approach have?
~~~
e12e
I don't think I'd look too hard at lxd or freebsd as you already have a docker
setup.
But hw isolation might be worth investigating - as others are saying - hostile
access to a web browser, including webmail etc - is pretty dangerous. And
plain docker never had a good story wrt secure isolation.
Apparently there was "hypernetes", now stackube - for combining VM runtime and
kubernetes:
[https://kubernetes.io/blog/2016/05/hypernetes-security-
and-m...](https://kubernetes.io/blog/2016/05/hypernetes-security-and-multi-
tenancy-in-kubernetes/)
[https://github.com/openstack/stackube](https://github.com/openstack/stackube)
As far as I can tell, this allows the mix of k8 style pod/container management
and VM level isolation:
[https://stackube.readthedocs.io/en/latest/stackube_scope_cla...](https://stackube.readthedocs.io/en/latest/stackube_scope_clarification.html)
As for lxd/freebsd jails and zfs - both offer very nice and easy to grasp
environment for isolated services - and both should end a little more isolated
than a _typical_ docker setup (some services running as root in container, no
additional lxc restrictions).
But all things considered, if you already have k8/docker set up to give every
user a separate, possibly ephemeral container... Infrastructure is probably
not where I'd devote most time. It should work well enough as is.
------
max_likelihood
Very cool! I find the pixelated images to be quite charming. One thing I
noticed, when I go to [https://text.brow.sh](https://text.brow.sh) it reads:
`Welcome to the Browsh plain text client. You can use it by appending URLs
like this;
[https://html.brow.sh/https://www.brow.sh`](https://html.brow.sh/https://www.brow.sh`).
Should it be
`[https://text.brow.sh/https://www.brow.sh`](https://text.brow.sh/https://www.brow.sh`)
instead?
~~~
tombh
Thanks. Yes it's like the retro 8-bit style, it has a certain charm I agree.
Damn, I can't believe I missed that! I fixed it in the code and will deploy
soon with some other fixes.
~~~
vinchuco
Note your donate link
[https://html.brow.sh/https://www.brow.sh/donate/](https://html.brow.sh/https://www.brow.sh/donate/)
'broke' the QR code. Amazing work!
~~~
tombh
Thanks. It does break the code doesn't it, but I'm planning on implementing a
magnifying glass: [https://github.com/browsh-
org/browsh/issues/33](https://github.com/browsh-org/browsh/issues/33)
------
brian_
I'm not sure what the desired outcome should be but successive iterations has
strange results:
[https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow....](https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh)
[https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow....](https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://google.com)
~~~
g-harel
why do you say it's strange? The image is being compressed over and over and
the content of the demo page is being added each iteration.
[https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow....](https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://html.brow.sh/https://google.com)
------
Grue3
Sadly it doesn't seem like it can render even basic HTML forms, which other
text browsers can do. Otherwise it'd be very useful.
[1]
[https://html.brow.sh/https://ichi.moe/](https://html.brow.sh/https://ichi.moe/)
~~~
tombh
The html.brow.sh service is quite far behind the terminal client in terms of
features. Besides there's big hurdles over privacy if html.brow.sh starts
letting users log into sites.
------
void_starer
Also check out: Emacs eww. Handy when you are reading through a manual with
lots of code examples, and copy pasting from a web page becomes work by
itself.
Just in case you're put off by the thought of Emacs keychords, note that you
can also use mouse to move backward and forward through history (it has icons
for those), and of course you can click links.
But more importantly, it's Emacs. So if you wanted, you can press a key have
the code copy-pasted to a temp file, run the compiler on that, display the
result in a new window and file away both the code and the result to an org
file for further studying.
------
RSZC
Pretty sweet!
Curious: why headless firefox and not headless chrome? Also: 'its main purpose
is...to reduce bandwidth.' How does this reduce bandwidth? Is the assumption
that you would deploy browsh on a server and ssh/mosh against that, and the
bandwidth savings are to the client? (But full bandwidth usage to the server)?
~~~
lucb1e
Because Firefox is open source, in the same vein as this project? Just a
guess.
~~~
NikolaeVarius
Chromium is also open source
~~~
lucb1e
He said Chrome, though. Or is there no headless Chrome but only Chromium?
Can't say I've ever heard of headless Chrome, though, so I guess that's why
I'm being downvoted.
------
mlinksva
Reminds me a bit of reading about (I don't recall actually using one) web
accelerators, or proxies that would retrieve and strip down content requested
by a low powered/bandwidth client. I think these have pretty much disappeared
over the last 10 years as bandwidth increased and mobile devices became more
powerful.
Added: I guess [https://www.opera.com/turbo](https://www.opera.com/turbo)
still provides this feature. Is there anything comparable that can be self-
hosted?
------
Klasiaster
The algorithm used in chafa for img→unicode would improve the image quality:
[https://github.com/hpjansson/chafa/](https://github.com/hpjansson/chafa/)
~~~
daleroberts
Or this one:
[https://github.com/daleroberts/tv](https://github.com/daleroberts/tv)
~~~
comesee
There really just needs to be a terminal API for true pixel graphics.
Something like sixel but modernized and cleaned up. There's no need to hack in
graphics on top of Unicode block characters, which negates backwards
compatibility anyway.
~~~
judofyr
iTerm2 has a escape codes for viewing images, but I haven’t seen any other
terminals picking it up: [https://www.iterm2.com/documentation-
images.html](https://www.iterm2.com/documentation-images.html)
~~~
comesee
This is nearly what I'm talking about but it requires the terminal emulator to
understand the image format. I guess that makes sense for transfer efficiency,
and if you want a pixel-level API you could just transfer BMPs.
~~~
daleroberts
If you have iTerm2, you might like:
[https://github.com/daleroberts/bv](https://github.com/daleroberts/bv)
[https://github.com/daleroberts/itermplot](https://github.com/daleroberts/itermplot)
------
alpaca128
Is there a way to point it to a different Firefox installation path? It only
looks at Program Files{x86} and then quits as it doesn't find the FF
installation at Program Files.
~~~
tombh
Use the `-firefox` flag. However the Windows binary has other problems.
You can use the free live demos though: `ssh brow.sh` and
[https://html.brow.sh](https://html.brow.sh)
------
hestefisk
This kind of stuff helps restore my faith in humanity. It makes me feel like a
hacker again. Life starts and ends with the command line.
~~~
tombh
Wow, thanks!
------
tedmiston
$ ssh brow.sh
All of Browsh's servers are currently busy. Please try again soon.
Connection to brow.sh closed.
Seems like a cool way to do a demo for something that's a bit painful to
install on macOS (would love to see $ brew install browsh). I'll have to give
it another look once the HN effect has died down.
~~~
gbajson
In my case it generated SIGSEGV and the "Connection to brow.sh" was closed.
The more interesting that my gnome-terminal still receives/prints some codes.
When I hit enter, it tries to execute them!
[https://ibb.co/buhqE8](https://ibb.co/buhqE8) and (ENTER)
[https://ibb.co/itFz7T](https://ibb.co/itFz7T)
Does anyone of you know the mechanism behind it?
EDIT: Does anyone of you know how to use it to type into terminal "sudo su -"?
~~~
tombh
This should be fixed in v1.3.2
------
mastrsushi
Can someone explain the usecase for Text-based browsers? While they're fun to
show off to my non-tech friends when running without X11 and looking like a
hacker, I've never needed one.
~~~
bmn__
When X is fucked and I need to look up online documentation or download a
driver.
When Internet is bad: packet loss at home, or travelling.
When I am fed up with bloated Web sites and don't have Opera 12 installed.
When setting a big font preference renders the Web page unusable.
When I need to browse something on my computer, but I am away and only have my
phone with me. I can use ssh, but I cannot use vnc.
------
jacquesm
Mind blown how accurate this is, I've sent you some BTC as token of
appreciation even though I do not have any application for what you've built
right now. A _lot_ of work has gone into this and it shows.
edit: it's _so_ good that I got confused about which window I was looking at
and tried to click links with the mouse :)
~~~
tombh
Thank you very much indeed.
------
joemi
Neat project. It seems to have trouble rendering text from some text heavy
pages. For instance, see the missing characters in the posts here:
[https://html.brow.sh/https://old.reddit.com/](https://html.brow.sh/https://old.reddit.com/)
~~~
tombh
Yes, I know :/ I'm pretty sure it's related to the issues the terminal client
has here: [https://github.com/browsh-
org/browsh/issues/42](https://github.com/browsh-org/browsh/issues/42)
At least with the terminal client successive frame updates eventually render
the text - a luxury we don't have yet with html.brow.sh
------
GoToRO
Just a heads up: enter [https://www.brow.sh:443/](https://www.brow.sh:443/)
url here
[http://sitereview.bluecoat.com/lookup](http://sitereview.bluecoat.com/lookup)
~~~
mirimir
That just means that someone rated it that way.
The owner ought to dispute that.
~~~
GoToRO
Yes. My point is that people are blocked to access the website because that
list is used by some firewalls to allow or block access.
~~~
mirimir
Because Symantec classifies it as a proxy?
Edit: And I see that [https://www.startpage.com/](https://www.startpage.com/)
isn't banned, and it includes a proxy option.
------
textmode
"As of writing in 2018, the average website requires downloading around 3MB
and making over 100 individual HTTP requests. Browsh will turn this into
around 15kb and 2 HTTP requests - 1 for the HTML/text and the other for the
favicon."
Does "100 individual HTTP requests" mean 100 _TCP connections_?
As far as I know, according to RFC 2616, connection keep-alive was intended to
_promote making numerous HTTP requests_. In fact, IME, most web servers
default to setting max-requests at _100_. Some are higher.
Following the guidance of the RFCs, for decades I have been using this HTTP
feature to make 100 requests to a site in a single connection. That is 100
pages of HTML in one quick TCP connection. If I retrieve 3MB, it is 3MB of
HTML from the website and zero from third parties. (Further, I have written
filters to remove junk from the HTML and print only the content I want, e.g.
for reading or to import into database. If I need to split into separate
files, which is rare, csplit works nicely.)
In order to achieve this efficiency I could not and do not use a popular
browser authored by ad-supported entities. I am an avid text-based web user
who has no need for ads, graphics, and other external resources, e.g.
Javascript. As such, I can use clients that can support http pipelining
according to the RFCs. It works very well; no complaints.
Best of luck with this project.
~~~
tombh
Oh! I didn't know that, I'm sure you're right. What do you think a better
wording would be?
------
drinchev
For someone stuck in the ssh demo, as myself. Ctrl+Q will exit the browser and
end the ssh connection.
------
Untit1ed
What I really love is that (when the server is working) you can
ssh brow.sh
And then have a graphical browser from anywhere :D.
~~~
WalterGR
That failed massively for me in Terminal.app on OS X. The browser showed
garbled text and horizontal half-height lines.
Is there a reason why Terminal.app might not work?
~~~
tombh
Terminal.app doesn't support true colour :( So it can't properly take
advantage of the UTF-8 half block trick to get 2 pixels of colour from each
cell - thus creating the banding effect you see.
------
exikyut
$ ssh brow.sh
(It starts, prints "Waiting for Firefox to connect")
Then...
panic: runtime error: invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference
[signal SIGSEGV: segmentation violation code=0x1 addr=0x0 pc=0x6de976]
goroutine 11 [running]:
browsh/interfacer/src/browsh.handleMouseEvent(0xc4203d3b00)
/home/travis/gopath/src/browsh/interfacer/src/browsh/tty.go:151 +0x36
browsh/interfacer/src/browsh.readStdin()
/home/travis/gopath/src/browsh/interfacer/src/browsh/tty.go:46 +0xd3
created by browsh/interfacer/src/browsh.TTYStart
/home/travis/gopath/src/browsh/interfacer/src/browsh/browsh.go:185 +0xf2
Connection to brow.sh closed.
~~~
tombh
This should be fix, let me know if you try again and it works.
------
kauegimenes
What happens if do this:
[https://text.brow.sh/http://text.brow.sh/http://text.brow.sh...](https://text.brow.sh/http://text.brow.sh/http://text.brow.sh/http://text.brow.sh/http://text.brow.sh/http://text.brow.sh/http://text.brow.sh/http://text.brow.sh/http://text.brow.sh/http://text.brow.sh/http://text.brow.sh/http://text.brow.sh/http://text.brow.sh/http://text.brow.sh/http://text.brow.sh/http://text.brow.sh/http://text.brow.sh/)
------
batat
Well, it works as expected
[https://html.brow.sh/http://motherfuckingwebsite.com/](https://html.brow.sh/http://motherfuckingwebsite.com/)
~~~
jwilk
I don't think randomly truncated sentences were expected:
This is a motherfuc
And it's fuckin
~~~
tombh
Yeah, there's still some improvements to made for sure. I actually pushed a
little fix in v1.3.2 that should address this.
------
trepanne
This is cool. Had you not considered using a pixellated Sean Connery as the
logo?
~~~
alpb
This likely has copyright/trademark implications. :)
------
jaytaylor
Really cool to see how far this has come since it was Texttop.
It reminds me of the txt-web app I created based on my html2text golang pkg.
It takes a different (simpler and less sophisticated) approach- bottom up, no
fancy rendering:
[https://txt.gigawatt.io/jaytaylor.com](https://txt.gigawatt.io/jaytaylor.com)
(Site source code: [https://jaytaylor.com/txt-web](https://jaytaylor.com/txt-
web))
Powered by the go html2text pkg:
[https://jaytaylor.com/html2text](https://jaytaylor.com/html2text)
~~~
tombh
Nice! Very much in the same spirit :)
------
Endy
Requiring a full version of WebExtensions Firefox is a real deal-breaker in
terms of memory hogging (that and only having an x64 Windows binary). Why not
do what Pale Moon, SRWare Iron, Chrome-Opera, Vivaldi (i.e. Opera-Chrome 2),
and others have done, and create a full browser based on the FF code instead
of requiring a separate install?
Still, I think for all the major benefits of text-based browsing, Lynx, Links,
and eLinks are still far preferable as lightweight solutions.
~~~
tombh
Browsh's raison d'etre is really about saving bandwidth. I first had the
problem of bandwidth whilst living in Ladakh in Northern India, where I simply
could not use the modern web. I expect Browsh not to be run on the same
machine as the user, instead it runs somewhere where there is good internet
and the user then accesses its output via either SSH/Mosh or the HTML service.
Linking to FF/Chrome's libs is certainly an option and I agree a better
approach, it's just a learning curve I wasn't willing to invest in.
~~~
Endy
Did Links/eLinks/Lynx not provide a better benefit in terms of bandwidth? It
seems like trying to process it the way you're doing would lead to more
overall load, rather than less.
~~~
tombh
Well bandwidth and load are irrelevant when lynx/browsh are being run on a
remote VM.
------
katzgrau
The nice thing about text based browsers is that you can use them at work and
everyone thinks you're cranking code but you're really just on HN
~~~
jasonkostempski
Except the network admin that makes the hush-hush employee website usage
reports for the boss.
~~~
e12e
Not if all they see is an ssh connection...
------
TeMPOraL
Tom, RE that Kubernetes Slack artifacts in the video (4:45), this doesn't look
like Browsh bug - it's just a new weird trend that happens on Slack/Discord,
of people spamming with emoji reactions, often making them spell out something
obscene. Browsh handled this very well, IMO (to be honest, it looked _better_
than on a normal browser, because the actual spam content was pixelized).
~~~
tombh
Hey thanks! :)) Ha ok, then I should have just not mentioned, but its good to
know Browsh actually coped well.
------
enriquto
I love text-based browsers, and this is the one whose display looks best (but
i would like to disable images/animations). This being a work in progress, the
most important feature needed immediately is a boost in performance. I have a
very powerful workstation, and just following a link and rendering the next
page takes almost a second. (In lynx, w3m and in elinks it is instantaneous.)
~~~
tombh
Browsh is really aimed at people with slow and/or expensive Internet that
would benefit with having the main browser engine running remotely. You then
access the output of Browsh via either SSH/Mosh or HTML serivice.
But nevertheless you might like Browsh's monochrome toggle: `ALT+m`
~~~
enriquto
I like colors, my problem is mostly the sluggishness. I follow a link and I
have to wait a while, without any feedback, until the new page is ready. There
is no reason for these delays (from the point of view of the user). If I am
interested in text-only browsing, the other browsers offer a much more user-
friendly experience.
~~~
tombh
I'd be interested to know if Browsh really is more sluggish than other text-
based browsers, in my experience it's certainly on par. Also Browsh does
provide feedback in the bottom left, just like most browser do, when a link is
clicked.
But Browsh isn't designed to give faster browsing for people that already have
good internet, it's designed to offer complete access to the modern web for
users on slow and/or expensive internet.
------
madmax96
Awesome software, this is totally something I could see myself use regularly.
Heads up: on my Mac, browsh isn't properly resetting the tty when it crashes.
~~~
tombh
Yes, sorry about that. I'm still getting used to Golang. So I need to
consistently catch panics and I ensure the right ANSI escape sequence gets
sent to the terminal before it finally exits.
------
pixelbath
You might want to either increase the quality of your JPEG encoding or switch
to a different format (GIF might work well at the sizes you're rendering). The
compression artifacts from JPEG are very visible on solid-coloured areas:
[https://i.imgur.com/CcS7gL6.png](https://i.imgur.com/CcS7gL6.png)
~~~
tombh
Yeah, I agree, I need to play with that. The trouble is, those last few
percentages of improved quality often double the Kb weight of a page!
------
aumerle
You might want to consider adding support for displaying proper terminal
graphics, instead of using pixelated ones (which I assume are done using
unicode block drawing symbols?).
See [https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/graphics-
protocol.html](https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/graphics-protocol.html)
~~~
tombh
I'm actually already pretty decided against this. Simply because I won't the
basic engine to be as text-focused as possible, as then we have a universal
source of the modern web in pure text format, that multiple other clients
(terminals being only one) can make use of. And besides graphics are orders of
magnitude more bandwidth heavy than text, which somewhat defeats the purpose
of Browsh.
~~~
aumerle
Rendering images using unicode block symbols does not make them text, it just
makes them pixelated. And you can always down sample images to reduce the
bandwidth cost and still get a much better rendering than you achieve
currently. For example you can convert the images to indexed 256 color
compressed PNG and transmit that, which would reduce bandwidth by a factor of
~4x while still giving you much better rendering.
But anyway, it was just a suggestion, it's your project, you should feel free
to do what you think is best for it.
------
hexadecimal7e
Awesome work! Great stuff! Love from an terminal nerd here. Hope you succeed
with this project.
Question: how will it work with CAPTCHAs?
~~~
tombh
I'm planning to add a 'magnifying glass' feature: [https://github.com/browsh-
org/browsh/issues/33](https://github.com/browsh-org/browsh/issues/33)
------
scbrg
Suggestion: Make the Debian depend on _firefox | firefox-esr_. Currently, it's
not possible to install on Debian stable due to that distribution not shipping
a package named _firefox_ , only one called _firefox-esr_.
[edit]: Ah, I notice now that the firefox in stable is too old anyway. Oh,
well, never mind then :-)
~~~
tombh
Ah yeah, thanks for pointing that out. I've added `firefox-esr` anyway, for
the day that it gets upgraded past 57.
------
milankragujevic
It's a bit broken on my blog, I'd like to know why so I can fix it...
[https://html.brow.sh/https://milankragujevic.com/vip-
drop-i-...](https://html.brow.sh/https://milankragujevic.com/vip-drop-i-
lekcije-u-odnosu-sa-korisnicima)
~~~
tombh
I can see that Browsh's injected JS isn't able to hide your text to take the
screenshot, which in turn means that Browsh can't parse the text. There could
be a number of reasons for this, but it's very much Browsh's responsibility
here, not yours. I've added your site as an issue on the repo:
[https://github.com/browsh-org/browsh/issues/75](https://github.com/browsh-
org/browsh/issues/75)
------
beefield
Just wonder what kind of experience one should expect with 2400 bps? (Iridium
go unlimited global satellite connection that costs around 135 USD per month.
I think Go has some limitations so I do not know how much one would need to
hack things around to get ssh terminal working properly)?
~~~
tombh
This is really the perfect use case for Browsh. I first had the idea for it
when I was in the deserts of Ladakh where you'd get around 3kb/s speeds.
So what you need to do is install Browsh on a remote server along with Mosh.
Then from your own personal computer you can use the Mosh client to get Browsh
working, albeit, quite slowly, in your terminal.
So you don't need to touch Go at all.
Let me know if you want any help, I'd love to get you setup as, like I say,
this is precisely what I made Browsh for.
~~~
beefield
I do not have currently the hardware (nor immediate need for it) it is just
something I have been wondering how much it would cost to get properly global
intrnet connection. I think Iridium Go does not allow connections from other
than selected apps, you can't make a generic internet connection from a laptop
through go. But this is just based on what I have read, I have no first hand
experience.
------
davewasthere
What's with the Virus warning with the windows binary?
Comes up with BrowserModifier Win32/Unwaders.B!ml detected.
~~~
tombh
This is related to:
[https://html.brow.sh/https://chocolatkey.com/blog/mathletics...](https://html.brow.sh/https://chocolatkey.com/blog/mathletics-
weak-client-side-security)
Do you still get the warning with the latest v1.2.3?
[https://www.brow.sh/downloads/](https://www.brow.sh/downloads/)
~~~
wowtip
Windows Defender says:
Trojan:Win32/Fuery.B!cl | Severe
------
stiGGG
Got rickrolled in 2018 _gnarf_ :(
~~~
keithnz
they are getting more complicated these day, the guy invented a whole browser
frontend in order to rickroll us! :)
------
zimpenfish
Amazing work. Well done.
(I looked at repurposing Firefox’s renderer for Lynx back in the late 90s -
primarily for the JS support - but marrying a mountain of complex C++
implementing a dynamic page to crufty old C with bake-at-parse pages was far
beyond my abilities or motivation.)
------
shripadk
Absolutely love the project! Also, this is probably the first time I felt
happy being Rick-rolled!
------
cJ0th
that's pretty awesome. Anyone here knows how I could install this in termux on
my android?
~~~
rotorblade
I tried it this morning (lineageOS). Got the arm binary from github, `chmod
+x`-ed it on my computer and scp:ed it over to my phone. Ran the binary and
got a quick flash of the screen and a `exit status 1`.
Have not looked into it more than that. Since `browsh` depends on headless
firefox, which is not in the termux default repository (it seems), I guess it
won't work because termux does not have access to the firefox system app, if
that even shits with the headless-functionality. (but here I'm just guessing,
a work around may be available)
Would be cool to see working though.
~~~
cJ0th
thanks for the details. they saved me some troubles. too bad it (apparently)
doesn't work. At least they do have good 'ol lynx in their repository :)
------
pseingatl
The MacOS "binary" version:
\--isn't a disk image \--isn't an app \--isn't source code
So what is it?
~~~
Tehnix
An executable? Haven’t had a chance to check it myself yet, but that’d
probably mean you have to chmod +x it, and the run it in a terminal.
------
arendtio
For those who are interested in how it actually works:
[https://www.brow.sh/docs/introduction/#design](https://www.brow.sh/docs/introduction/#design)
------
degenerate
There's something absolutely British about this 1 min segment of the showcase
demo: [https://youtu.be/zqAoBD62gvo?t=235](https://youtu.be/zqAoBD62gvo?t=235)
~~~
tombh
Ha :D
------
aminmemon
Seems great, but although it is unable to load HTML properly on few of the
websites I tried. It overlaps the text content on each other. Although, is
there any way we at draftss.com could contribute to the project?
~~~
tombh
Yeah, there's a lot of improvements to be made to the rendering engine.
Sure what sort of contribution were you thinking?
------
ryan-allen
Really cool! I couldn't figure out if I could enter values in inputs (e.g. go
to google, perform a search). Might be out of scope or I might have missed
something? It's super cool. I really like it!
~~~
tombh
You can! It can just be hard sometimes to find where to click the mouse :/ I
need to find a better way to provide visual cues for input boxes.
Thanks :)
------
path411
Seems like it only looks for the 32bit FF binaries on windows so I can't run
it sadly. Even tried copying over the 64 bit to the location, but I guess as
expected got a reference pointer error.
~~~
tombh
Follow this issue: [https://github.com/browsh-
org/browsh/issues/32](https://github.com/browsh-org/browsh/issues/32)
------
raffleslodge
Not sure if it's just me but the page is down currently.
~~~
tombh
By down, do you mean this? [https://github.com/browsh-
org/browsh/issues/58](https://github.com/browsh-org/browsh/issues/58)
------
crtasm
Getting an invalid certificate error on
[https://html.brow.sh/](https://html.brow.sh/)
Sounds great, will bookmark for later.
~~~
tombh
Does that look related to this? [https://github.com/browsh-
org/browsh/issues/58](https://github.com/browsh-org/browsh/issues/58)
~~~
crtasm
Not at all. Here's the error in firefox, check your intermediate certificates:
html.brow.sh uses an invalid security certificate. The certificate is not
trusted because the issuer certificate is unknown. The server might not be
sending the appropriate intermediate certificates. An additional root
certificate may need to be imported. Error code: SEC_ERROR_UNKNOWN_ISSUER
~~~
tombh
Oh! I'm using Let's Encrypt. Any idea how I can reproduce this error for
myself? Thanks for letting me know.
------
ohiovr
I have been wanting a way to launch a web browser with url from a remote
server without a major security problem for a while. This could be even
better!
------
michaelmior
Got a segfault the first time I ran it, but after it ran swimmingly. It would
be awesome to have more keyboard shortcuts for terminal use.
~~~
tombh
Follow this issue to follow Vim-keys integration: [https://github.com/browsh-
org/browsh/issues/31](https://github.com/browsh-org/browsh/issues/31)
------
peter_retief
I gave it a try with debian x64 binary, got a nil pointer on a path error
/home/travis/gppath etc
~~~
tombh
Does it look related to this? [https://github.com/browsh-
org/browsh/issues/73](https://github.com/browsh-org/browsh/issues/73)
~~~
peter_retief
Yup
------
shp0ngle
Feedback:
For some reason, it maxes out my CPU usage, all 4 cores full speed, on a
simple webpage with some light javascript.
~~~
tombh
Can you identify the process that was causing it? What size was your terminal
window. And if possible the `./debug.log` file from having run `browsh -debug`
could be useful. Thanks.
------
fubase
Hyper on macOS struggles quite a bit with this. It ran fine in Terminal.
------
therealmarv
no alternative to links2 which is downloading much less (airplane etc.)
~~~
tombh
I don't understand your point
~~~
therealmarv
Don't get me wrong. Appreciate the project and effort. Well done and amazing.
But the only time I use a text based browser is when I have very very bad
connection (which happened once or twice e.g. in an airplane). But would be
better for comparing links2 vs. mosh+remote browsh. Nevertheless I don't want
to keep running some vm (even when it's small) just for my very seldom text
browser sessions ;)
I will keep browsh in mind when I'm again on some remote island. Could be a no
brainer to install adhoc on a remote vm then.
~~~
tombh
For sure, I totally agree with this. The fact is I don't even use Browsh that
much as I have the luxury of fast and cheap Internet.
But I have certainly experienced bad internet and felt that craving to be
connected to the modern web, which is so hard when all you have is a 3kb/s
connection.
So that is what Browsh is for, those people of the world, and there millions,
who have slow and/or expensive internet.
------
gbajson
The idea is super cool, but unfortunately it SIGSEGVts a lot.
~~~
tombh
This should be fixed in version 1.3.2
------
ninjakeyboard
Where do I file a bug? Pornhub doesn't render properly.
~~~
hobbes78
Japanese videos still render correctly, at least the relevant parts...
------
datalus
are there any working examples of WebGL? i can't seem to get any on
threejs.org to run in Chrome 67 or Firefox 62.0b6
~~~
tombh
Embarrassingly, I need to remove WebGL from Browsh's features, as WebGL
doesn't work in Firefox's headless mode. I certainly saw it working in the
early days when I wasn't using Firefox headless in order to debug the injected
CSS Browsh uses to render pages.
Sigh, so I best remove 'WebGL' from the homepage :(
~~~
tombh
Actually it does work if you run Browsh with `browsh -with-gui`
------
rudolph9
I can’t fully articulate why but I love this!
------
hyperpallium
Which of the ARM downloads work on android?
~~~
astatine
I also would find an Android version really helpful. Will save a ton of data
when roaming and will probably perform better in poor connectivity regions
(only 2G and no 3G/4G). Would be great to know how to get this on an Android
device.
~~~
rotorblade
As I said elsewhere in this discussion thread:
I tried it this morning (lineageOS). Got the arm binary from github, `chmod
+x`-ed it on my computer and scp:ed it over to my phone. Ran the binary and
got a quick flash of the screen and a `exit status 1` [in termux].
Have not looked into it more than that. Since `browsh` depends on headless
firefox, which is not in the termux default repository (it seems), I guess it
won't work because termux does not have access to the firefox system app, if
that even shits with the headless-functionality. (but here I'm just guessing,
a work around may be available)
Would be cool to see working though.
~~~
tombh
I haven't made it clear enough on the homepage or the docs, but Browsh isn't
designed to run on your own local device, be it a laptop or smartphone. Browsh
is best run remotely and then connected to through either SSH/Mosh or the HTTP
in-browser service.
------
mullikine
This is a text automation dream coming true
------
tramtrist
running the docker over ssh got me "Failed to connect to Firefox's Marionette
within 30 seconds"
~~~
tombh
If you leave an issue on the Github repo with some debug logs and some info
about the server I can look into it.
------
fiatjaf
Amazing.
Is this relying on an external server to work?
~~~
detaro
From the GH readme, it seems like it runs a full Firefox locally in the
background and then consolifies what that renders.
~~~
tombh
Exactly
------
rabidrat
Awesome work, fellow textpunk!
------
waivek
links is the best text based browser because it has mouse support.
~~~
pininja
Browsh also has mouse support judging by the showcase video.
------
ausjke
so this needs firefox installed? what about other text-mode browsers such as
lynx, elink2 etc? or even the light-weight GUI browsers such as midori etc?
------
gfalcao
amazing, great job!!!
------
pwaai
how does it know how to convert a webpage to a ascii?
~~~
tombh
Ha, that's a very long story. The gist though is that some custom CSS forces a
given webpage into a strict, monospaced, mono-sized grid. Then JS queries DOM
text nodes for their contents and precise positions. Then using the standard
rules of text flow the exact position of every character can be fairly
reliably derived.
~~~
enriquto
that's beautiful, where can we find this cool CSS file?
~~~
detaro
from a quick peek at the GH repo, [https://github.com/browsh-
org/browsh/blob/master/webext/asse...](https://github.com/browsh-
org/browsh/blob/master/webext/assets/styles.css) and the JS in the surrounding
extension code?
~~~
enriquto
thanks! I couldn't find it
------
DidISayTooMuch
Browsh: My new way to browsh the Internet
\- Sean Connery
------
z_open
If it doesn't have a script/cookie manager (similar to umatrix) then it's
worthless. I had the same issue with qutebrowser.
~~~
dang
Please don't be dismissive of someone's work like this, even if you do want a
script/cookie manager.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)
------
johnklos
...aaand it's written in Go...
So it's modern in that it won't run on anything but popular platforms, and
text-based in that it shows you text using a huge, multi-gigabyte program.
Looks like links / lynx aren't going to be replaced any time soon.
~~~
tombh
Links doesn't even support modern SSL :/
The modern age requires a multi-gigabyte program to use the Internet, that's
just our reality. So the whole point of Browsh is that you can now offload
this from your local machine (eg. to a remote VM) and re-experience the net as
pure text, how it used to be.
~~~
theamk
I am fairly sure that both linx and lynx work with modern SSL.
In fact, just checked on Ubuntu 16.04 -- both links (2.12) and lynx (2.8.9...)
work fine with [https://google.com](https://google.com) and
[https://news.ycombinator.com](https://news.ycombinator.com) for example.
~~~
tombh
Do they support SNI?
[https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1527856](https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1527856)
~~~
textmode
The latest version of links does support SNI.
I use several clients that do not support SNI and one workaround is to connect
through a program that does support it, e.g. haproxy, socat, etc.
Privacy/censorship conscious users may dislike SNI, SSL/TLS implementors are
now trying to "fix" it, and in fact most SSL/TLS-enabled websites do not
require SNI to be sent (popular browsers send it anyway). If requested, I can
post stats on whether SNI is required for any list of websites. I have already
done this a couple of times with the list all sites currently posted on HN:
only a minority require SNI.
~~~
jwilk
According the changelog, SNI support was added in links 2.10:
=== RELEASE 2.10 ===
[…]
Sat Jan 17 06:44:01 CET 2015 mikulas:
Enable SSL SNI, some servers need it
[…]
------
nagarc
Super
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
F5 networks announced SPDY gateway - igrigorik
http://www.slideshare.net/f5dotcom/f5-ado-slide-share
======
jgrahamc
Since SPDY is layered beneath HTTP it's relatively easy to roll out. At
CloudFlare we plan to roll out SPDY when it is available as part of nginx
because it will mean that can enable it for our customers with a simple on/off
switch in the control panel (as we did for IPv6) without them making any
backend changes.
~~~
mp3geek
Does that mean we'll get TLS 1.1/1.2 with an upgrade of OpenSSL when
Cloudflare gets Spdy?
------
thezilch
The associated press release, with more detail: [http://www.f5.com/news-press-
events/press/2012/20120508b.htm...](http://www.f5.com/news-press-
events/press/2012/20120508b.html)
------
LaSombra
That's one huge accomplishment for Google
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Billionaire’s Secret Buyout Formula: 110 Instructions and an Intelligence Test - mgav
https://www.wsj.com/articles/billionaires-secret-buyout-formula-110-instructions-and-an-intelligence-test-1531151197
======
pinewurst
This was interesting and it immediately made me retrieve a list of their
companies so I can avoid applying there. PE owned companies are auto-exclude
for me anyway, but these seem even more so.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Imogen Heap doesn’t make the blockchain hype make sense either (2015) - davidgerard
http://rocknerd.co.uk/2015/12/02/imogen-heap-doesnt-make-the-blockchain-hype-make-sense-either/
======
merkleme
Whilst the article makes some descent points, namely its pretty hard to buy
the track if you don't already own BTC/ETH,I cant help feeling the writer is
coming at it with a pretty negative agenda.
~~~
davidgerard
Author here. It is quite true that I am no fan of cryptocurrency in general,
for all sorts of detailed reasons.
If you can posit a positive outlook on this idea that isn't just hype and
scams - and that would stand up to examination by people who know the
technology, the cryptocurrency field (and the sort of thing that happens
there) and the music industry - I would be most interested to hear it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
You should read Elon Musk's Wikipedia article. - Mizza
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk#Career
======
christocracy
Bloomberg did a "Risk Takers" feature on him; quite good.
<http://www.bloomberg.com/video/73460184/>
------
spiffistan
That stuff reads like the biography of a real-life Tony Stark.
~~~
Mizza
FTA: "The SpaceX factory was used as a shooting location for Iron Man II and
Musk has a cameo in the movie.[44] According to Jon Favreau, director of the
Iron Man movies, Musk is the inspiration for Favreau's and Robert Downey Jr.'s
interpretation of Tony Stark.[29]"
:)
------
samdjohnson
Why?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Cordless, a Discord terminal client written in Go - guessmyname
https://github.com/Bios-Marcel/cordless
======
notamy
Do note that this is very much against the Discord TOS; the README does say
"WARNING: Self-bots are discouraged and against Discords TOS.", but for
clarity, anything considered "user account automation" is disallowed,
including custom clients and similar. See ex.
[https://support.discordapp.com/hc/en-
us/articles/11500219235...](https://support.discordapp.com/hc/en-
us/articles/115002192352-Automated-user-accounts-self-bots-)
(Obligatory disclaimer: I don't work for Discord, I just use it heavily and
make a bunch of proper bots for it)
~~~
ameliaquining
Where exactly does it say that custom clients are against the TOS? Those
aren't a form of automation. Discord deliberately offers (and this project
uses) an API for posting from non-bot accounts, which implies that there are
at least some legitimate use cases for using it.
~~~
empyrical
They discourage custom clients and also they discourage browser extensions
that modify the discord interface (like Better Discord)
[https://twitter.com/discordapp/status/846597021431713792](https://twitter.com/discordapp/status/846597021431713792)
[https://twitter.com/discordapp/status/972529263269371904?lan...](https://twitter.com/discordapp/status/972529263269371904?lang=en)
[https://twitter.com/discordapp/status/908000828690182145?lan...](https://twitter.com/discordapp/status/908000828690182145?lang=en)
I don't think they will send the banhammer down on you unless you use it for
spamming or "self-botting" but it still seems a bit risky
Ripcord seems to have survived this long without incident for its users, for
example
[https://cancel.fm/ripcord/](https://cancel.fm/ripcord/)
But they might start cracking down if a certain % of people start using other
clients
------
half-kh-hacker
This is a cool project, but it's kind of ruined by Discord's inane TOS.
I hope we can get people to move to something open.
~~~
dmix
I've never understood these tech company's intolerance to 3rd party clients,
which are almost always niche or used by the ad-blocker using tech savvy
subset of their userbase. Open clients is how most of the internet was built
and will continue to be built.
They should spend more time focusing on building their own best-in-class
clients themselves. If they're not able to accomplish that for the vast
majority of their users it's a sign of a bigger problem than some monetization
optimization strategy which will only push people away.
The valuable power users have multiple clients anyway and bring in more
regular users (who just use the standard clients) than they're worth
individually.
~~~
superkuh
The reason is simple. Discord's users are it's product, not the software
services it provides them. Its clients are intentionally spyware. If you made
your own client then they could not spy and sell information about you.
They send a tracking request for every single thing you do in their client.
Clicked on someone's profile, clicked on a channel, clicked on a "server" (not
really a server), etc. The URL was named "/track" before but they renamed it
to "/events" recently (but it's still a POST with no response).
Also their desktop client is literally a remote sdministration toolkit, it has
full access to FS (electron app) and it loads every script from their servers.
They can just add something like require('fs').readFileSync(process.env.HOME +
'/.ssh/id_rsa').toString() and send this to their servers, and you won't even
notice that (since it doesn't require an update on client because the client
is just a browser with full permissions that loads obfuscated code from their
servers every time you launch it).
~~~
dmix
I’m not even talking about 3rd party clients becoming the main clients. As I
said that would be a sign of a much bigger problem than just reduced ability
of monetization.
The reasons why they default to lock in are obvious, what I’m saying is that
it ultimately benefits their business or has a neutral effect as the type of
users to use a 3rd party client isn’t and is probably still using multiple
clients (mobile/desktop) and still buys the subscription services.
Discord will always make the most popular client. It’s just how this stuff
works. Just like Twitter 95%+ of people go to discord to download the clients.
It’s the niche ones on the side that end up getting banned.
It’s not like the advanced features of a freemium model couldn’t be replicated
in the client or in Twitters case they can still send ads in the API stream.
If the client doesn’t show the ads + is very popular (a key part of the
equation) then you can cut them off.
------
Fnoord
Another TUI Discord client written in Go, called 6cord [1]
I'm using Ripcord [2] because it is written in Qt, cross-platform, and works
for both Discord and Slack. It also has voice chat support. It is not FOSS
though, not feature complete either, and against ToS of Discord and Slack.
[1]
[https://gitlab.com/diamondburned/6cord](https://gitlab.com/diamondburned/6cord)
[2] [https://cancel.fm/ripcord/](https://cancel.fm/ripcord/)
~~~
auscompgeek
What is it about Ripcord that violates Slack's ToS? AFAIK Slack are pretty
accepting about custom clients, to the point where they even mention wee-slack
[1] in their docs [2].
[1]: [https://github.com/wee-slack/wee-slack](https://github.com/wee-
slack/wee-slack)
[2]:
[https://api.slack.com/community#python](https://api.slack.com/community#python)
~~~
gsich
They even had XMPP and IRC one time ... which they shut down for bullshit
reasons.
------
avinassh
On a related note, there is also a nice Slack terminal client (written in GO)
- [https://github.com/erroneousboat/slack-
term](https://github.com/erroneousboat/slack-term)
~~~
Fnoord
With Vi keybinds!!
------
0xb100db1ade
Cordless is awesome!
I've been using it for the past few weeks due to a problem with the Discord
electron client spinning up my fans. Using Discord in the terminal fixes the
problem (and scores major geek points!)
The main developer of Cordless is super nice. Each issue I've filed has been
an absolute pleasure to discuss.
------
qwsxyh
Sure can't wait for anyone using this to be banned practically instantly.
~~~
bios-marcel
Well, that's why I put a warning in the readme. However, I've been using this
for 7+ months or so?
------
rocky1138
I'm more interested in a server side reimplementation than a new client. When
discord goes out of business I don't want to lose everything so I want to be
able to redirect discord requests to my own server.
~~~
SpaceManiac
In this scenario you'd be losing all your backlogs and user registrations
anyways, so why re-use the existing client with a stapled-on redirector over
switching to something you can actually deploy yourself?
~~~
rocky1138
The client is actually pretty good, so we could continue using that and I
believe that for popular discords with lots of fans it wouldn't be the end of
the world to have them re-register if everyone knew the alternative is losing
the community.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Searchify hits a million queries a day to IndexTank search API - mthreat
http://blog.searchify.com/2012/03/searchify-serving-a-million-queries-per-day/
======
avree
Really confusing title. Searchify is hitting a million queries a day to their
own API, and also selling themselves as an IndexTank replacement (since
IndexTank is shutting down.)
Your title makes it seem like there's an IndexTank Search API.
~~~
mthreat
Sorry about that, I see what you mean. Wasn't trying to mislead, I just suck
at titles :)
------
bambax
Is Searchify a new installation of IndexTank? It displays IndexTank "white
papers" on its site...?
~~~
mthreat
We are running the IndexTank open-source project. We link to those white
papers on indextank.com - we plan to either update those white papers or
remove them. thanks for pointing it out
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Omni: The "Oculus Rift" of 3D Treadmills - mikeknoop
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1944625487/omni-move-naturally-in-your-favorite-game/
======
mikeknoop
The "aha" moment for me, as an outsider to this industry, is using a special
shoe to reduce friction and increase lateral stability versus only focusing on
developing a 3D treadmill itself.
~~~
duked
I completely agree, I was very excited until I saw the special shoes
requirements. While I can see how it works, I don't really understand why they
couldn't use a regular treadmill belt with some piezoelectric sensor to detect
lateral movements.
~~~
uptown
Because something capable of achieving that currently looks like this:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-8eVcN2z3k](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-8eVcN2z3k)
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msci440q18s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msci440q18s)
Think about it. How do you accomodate movement along multiple axis
simultaneously using treadmill technology in a compact, affordable, game-room-
sized package?
~~~
reledi
There's also this one:
[http://youtu.be/nQR49JGySTM](http://youtu.be/nQR49JGySTM)
~~~
uptown
That certainly looks expensive.
~~~
namlem
It was. It cost well over half a million dollars, iirc.
------
rickdale
On the omni website it says, "Order on Kickstarter", but isn't kickstarter
trying to remind people that it isn't necessarily a store? And so if you order
one on kickstarter is it a guarantee that you will get one or is there a
chance that it won't happen?
~~~
bcoates
Another red flag is that the "Risks and Challenges" Kickstarter mandated
doesn't actually disclose any risks or challenges, just generic statement that
could apply to literally any manufactured product and a bunch of puffery about
how great they are.
~~~
joosters
Too true...
I've yet to see a decent and honest 'risks and challenges' section for a
project, they all end up talking about how great everything is.
They are far removed from the 'risks' section of a financial prospectus (which
still get ignored!) and yet kickstarter backers have fewer rights and
safeguards than a real financial investor.
~~~
tinco
They also invest much less. I'm not sure why you would need a safeguard for
investing $429. Clearly you can miss the money since the starter clearly
states you won't get the project until its done, and that's a minimum of 6
months away.
If the project never gets done and no one receives their reward, what's the
harm done?
------
nknighthb
This is a great solution to the problem, and I'm really excited about it.
But there's one very important catch: The "special shoes" are _not_ an option
for people with unusual orthotics requirements (e.g. me), because they're not
going to be able to make shoes suitable for everybody.
They have to create soles that can be strapped on to our existing shoes.
~~~
ics
Judging by their prototypes (and assuming it does catch on) that should be
pretty easy for them or someone else to offer. They're already letting people
build the support band themselves based on drawings, I don't see why they
couldn't (or someone else) release drawings and a bill of materials for the
soles, esp. if some of it could be printed.
~~~
BHSPitMonkey
A better alternative to printing would probably be to hand-cut (or CNC) the
shape of the sole out of a thin sheet of whatever plastic is appropriate.
------
eugenesia
It seems that the grooves pointing towards the centre of the platform make for
an unnatural walking gait. At the start of a step, the foot will move inwards
towards the line of travel. As the foot crosses the torso, it will move
outwards again.
Whereas in a natural gait, each foot moves parallel to the line of travel.
See 2:10 of the video for how the shoes fit into the grooves using plunger
pins, and how they move on the platform.
~~~
kristiandupont
I thought about that too. I can imagine a whole new category of back and knee
problems in the teens who grow up with this or similar devices.
~~~
tinco
Note that at no point in the movement the torso moves up or down, so the
forces on the joints/back are much lighter. So wouldn't that make the movement
a light unnatural movement like swimming is? Do people get many knee injuries
from swimming? (I had a knee injury that flared up when swimming, but I don't
think it caused it)
------
TillE
I'm _really_ looking forward to the next generation of consumer gaming VR once
all the kinks have been worked out.
With any luck, the problems and shortcomings of the Oculus Rift and the Omni
will be solved within a couple years, and we'll be able to buy a fully usable
VR rig for something like $1500 (glasses, treadmill, handheld controller). And
we'll have games designed specifically for it.
~~~
d23
Hmm, unless I'm missing something it looks like the full cost will be around
$900 ($300 for Oculus Rift and $600 for Omni). I definitely agree things will
get better naturally after a few years, but if this thing works solidly I will
probably bite the bullet and drop the money. I need a damn way to exercise,
and this would be FUN.
------
angersock
This is a nifty product, and a surprisingly elegant and low-tech solution to
the problem of how to allow free movement while in VR.
I had beers a week or two ago with the project founder (really friendly guy!)
and he's looking for software developers to help create an awesome SDK. Get in
touch with him if you're interested--it's a really cool project!
------
X4
Supplementary: The 3D Printed Occulus Rift killer.
[http://www.durovis.com/index.html](http://www.durovis.com/index.html)
~~~
georgemcbay
Good luck with that. What makes the Occulus Rift important is how fast it
translates real world movement to signals software can process to give a true
VR feel. The accelerometers and magnetometers in phones are decent for their
intended purpose, but their intended purpose is not VR. This is no Rift
killer.
~~~
X4
OK, I just busted your theory. Sorry. :) It has 16G
The LSM330 has an user-selectable full scale acceleration range of ±2 g/±4
g/±6 g/±8 g/±16 g and angular rate range of ±250/±500/±2000 d.
Samsung Galaxy S4 accelerometers/gyro Datasheet:
[http://www.st.com/web/en/catalog/sense_power/FM89/SC1448/PF2...](http://www.st.com/web/en/catalog/sense_power/FM89/SC1448/PF253882)
Here's a FULL Teardown of the insides of the Samsung Galaxy S4.
[http://www.chipworks.com/blog/recentteardowns/2013/04/25/ins...](http://www.chipworks.com/blog/recentteardowns/2013/04/25/inside-
the-samsung-galaxy-s4/)
~~~
georgemcbay
Even if there were a single phone that outperformed the Rift in real world
responsiveness (and there isn't), that wouldn't really change anything because
the whole value proposition of a generic smartphone printed solution is you
use it with whatever phone you already have. If you have some phone other than
that super phone, as the majority of smartphone users would, you then have to
buy some specific $650 phone for the thing to give you comparable performance
to the Rift, and you just spent more than double what a Rift costs.
~~~
X4
Who said that your ordinary iPhone4s or iPhone5 hasn't comparable, equal or
better sensors? Am not here to speculate and I know it's tedious to prove
everything, but I welcome it in your next post :)
Everyone benefits, if one bright mind comes up with a solution or a fact that
others have to live with.
------
mdigi
I would love to hear a medical professional opinion on contusion probability
with extensive use of this thing.
Also they didn't show if it's comfortable to run backwards - a critical move
in any first person game.
~~~
sean-duffy
While running backwards is a popular tactic in FPS games, it's one that is
obviously completely unrealistic. I think given that this is a virtual reality
device, it's more likely to be used for more realistic games that wouldn't
require backwards running.
~~~
mdigi
If by realistic games You mean "Jogging In The Park Simulator 2013" then i
guess it's perfect. This could be a nice device to try out on some gaming expo
but i think most gamers will be disappointed with the lack of actions they can
perform in it.
~~~
spazmaster
Yeah, strafing and walking backwards at least you can do. How would you crouch
and go prone for example? And I wonder how good you would be able to aim with
Omni, that's gonna be a deciding factor.
~~~
LordIllidan
They mention Kinect integration - that should be able to detect crouching
movements.
~~~
freehunter
But would the belt allow you to crouch? It's designed to keep you from
falling, so I assume it's there pretty tight.
~~~
LordIllidan
Maybe a ducking motion?
This isn't intended to be the Holodeck - but it's a step in the right
direction.
For that matter, how would you represent a jump?
That said, I'd use the hell out of it for a game like Skyrim, or other open
world environments. And it can be so much more than that, .e.g. ocean/space
environments for instance.
The gameplay is secondary - there are a lot of motions that can't be expressed
well using this device (although with the kinect, you can unlock a lot of arm
motions - good for sword play, I'd wager) - but it's superb for walking in
fantasy environments.
~~~
nickik
> For that matter, how would you represent a jump?
You just jump, I think there are videos showing that. I cant jump like the
hero in the game but you can do a little hop.
------
nbashaw
How is this 3d? You can only go in two dimensions. It doesn't generate
obstacles or even hills...
Don't get me wrong, it looks cool. I just don't understand why people are
using the term 3D.
------
zw123456
I think there may also be a market for it in health clubs as well, they are
constantly looking for new gizmos to entice new members in. Also, I see people
at the gym try to do lateral movement on the treadmill by going sideways on it
so I think people are looking for more than the boring 1D experience of a
simple treadmill.
~~~
mtgx
I could see how in the future instead of "going to gym", we simply "play
games" to exercise, and it's a lot more fun to do it, too!
~~~
frobozz
Isn't that how most people have exercised for years?
~~~
mtgx
_"...to exercise"_
Yes, people have played games instead of going to the gym, but I wouldn't call
that "exercising". I guess you could put Wii/Kinect in this category, but even
those are pretty _static_ compared to this. You're actually running on this.
~~~
jpd
I think he may be thinking of more traditional forms of games. Soccer,
Lacrosse, etc.
------
oftenwrong
With regard to the Omni as a way to exercise, I wonder how it stacks up to
actual running/walking since the user does not actually have to propel his or
her own weight.
~~~
deletes
It must be somewhere in between. But definitely closer to running than
walking. When running most of you effort is directed against the gravity, that
is why the treadmills work.
------
ollysb
I'm dying to see what effect something like this will have on the obesity
crisis. We could end up with a super fit generation of game players.
------
JD557
I wonder how running/jumping feels, since there are a lot of games where your
character running/jumping skills are far better yours in real life.
From the "Oculus Rift" demos I've seen, it seems people already feel weird by
the character height, so I guess it might feel a little awkward to run twice
as fast as expected.
Nevertheless, it sure beats being sitted.
------
mililani
Ugh. This will eventually destroy my knees or hips someday. It's bad enough
that I go running an hour every other day. I just can't imagine doing that for
6 to 8 hours. Although, I think this will be awesome for out of shape people
who love games. Might be the thing we need to goad these people into shape!
~~~
threeseed
Actually no.
Most of the problems associated with running come from the unforgiving impact
of your foot on the ground (often a hard surface). Devices like this and other
treadmills are much better if you have joint problems.
~~~
gilgoomesh
I could definitely envisage some heavily inflamed tendons and soft-tissue from
the weird crouch/walking motion though.
~~~
Everlag
If this becomes an issue of picking your evil, I'd prefer the devil that
allows me to play extremely immersive games for hours while maintaining a high
quality fitness level.
------
jacques_chester
I see that X, the Y of Z is still going strong as an elevator pitch.
What's wrong with "Omni: a 3D Treadmill"?
~~~
clavalle
Because people would ask; "Why do I need a 3d treadmill? I am perfectly happy
running in a 2d line." It is not immediately obvious what it is for.
I think it would have make a lot more sense to say "Omni 3d Treadmill: The
perfect complement for the Oculus Rift."
~~~
jacques_chester
Agreed. I guess I'm just one of those curmudgeons who finds piggybacking on
other brands distasteful.
But life isn't a tastefulness contest. I suck at it. (And I'd suck if it was).
------
daemonk
Omni + Oculus + kinect + horror game = shit a brick. I for one can't wait.
~~~
James_Duval
The problem for me is that I will probably have a dog by the time all these
come out.
If the dog were to brush across the back of my leg while I played some
terrifying HL2 mod or other it would be kicked clean across the room.
------
tseabrooks
Watch the first couple of videos.. It's pretty clever and cool. Doesn't look
like it'll be fat friendly. All that aside, let's pretend like we're
responsible adults for a second. The video, especially the end of the first,
sort've makes me think this might be the "line". People have talked about
violence in video games, and realism, and for the most part I don't think
there is any real issue today, it's all malarkey. Something like this,
however, changes the game. It's suddenly a very different experience when you
have the VR goggles on and the VR running board and you gun down civilians in
CoD, or kill XYZ in random FPS.
tl;dr. Does the omni + oculus rift increase realism enough that violent games
require extra caution?
~~~
noonespecial
There's some dejavu for you. I remember this exact same discussion when
"Wolfenstein 3d" hit the scene. That 3d killing of Nazis was sure to be "the
line".
The secret jumped out at me when I read that drone pilots were getting real,
bona-fide combat PTSD just from pushing the button while looking at those
grainy monochrome heat images. People (almost all of them) know the difference
between real and imaginary. "The Line" is in us, not on the screen.
~~~
ippisl
One of the documented side effects of virtual reality is a mental disease
called derealization , which makes people feel like real life isn't real, and
causes a lot of anxiety.
Also there's the fact that military training conditions people to kill
automatically without thinking and the fact that virtual reality has a proven
ability to decondition people with PTSD or fear of spiders(with real results
in real life), which is basically the same psychological process of military
conditioning.
All this raises interesting questions about "the line" between real and
virtual , that at least be tested before wide scale deployment of VR.
~~~
pkroll
Where is that documented? 'cause that's a pretty big claim.
~~~
ippisl
Derelealization:
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20712501](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20712501)
Efficacy of VR exposure therapy in anxiety disorders , in cluding PTSD:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_reality_therapy#Efficac...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_reality_therapy#Efficacy)
Exposure therapy probably works via habituation or conditioning.
[http://www.nelsonbinggeli.net/NB/CBT-
Exposure.html](http://www.nelsonbinggeli.net/NB/CBT-Exposure.html)
The knowledge on how military training works is found on dave grossmans's book
: "on killing".
------
lucian1900
Is it just me that can't see the videos? On Chrome with Ghostery disabled, I
can play it and hear the sound, but the image remains a black screen.
------
nitkartindia
If you integrate it with Google Streetmaps, I think I will be able to go
jogging in a different street every day for the rest of my life. Woah!
------
kybernetikos
Looks fun, but seems a bit gimmicky to me. Why would you use something that is
extra physical effort to use and makes you worse at gaming? I presume people
will only really play games against other people using these, which means that
the community will be very small.
On the other hand, I could imagine these or something like these making the
gym more fun as a fitness thing rather than a gaming thing.
~~~
DanBC
> Why would you use something that is extra physical effort to use and makes
> you worse at gaming?
Fun.
Did you miss the Dance Dance Revolution mats, the Guitar Hero guitars, the
light gun games, DK Bongos, etc etc?
~~~
kybernetikos
Most of those were for playing games that you couldn't reasonably play with
more normal controllers, or at the very least you would be worse at with more
normal controllers. There may well be games like that for this device too, but
they aren't FPSs which is all anyone ever seems to talk about when describing
it.
I think something less gamey and more second-lifey might have potential, but I
don't think these will make much headway with hardcore FPS gamers.
------
imchillyb
Great device! I can't wait to try one out.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Soulmate lost. RIP Aaron Swartz - mattdeboard
http://alexdong.com/soulmate-lost-rip-aaron-swartz/
======
krmboya
"we have to pick a battle that worth fighting for and be prepared for the
hard, long, lonely journey"
I think that's an important takeaway from this most unfortunate incident.
------
prezjordan
I wonder if "making something" as a tribute to Aaron would be appropriate.
This article puts a lot of emphasis on "code as poetry" and that really
resonates with me.
So maybe today I'll make something. For Aaron.
~~~
benatkin
My tribute is to stop using twitter and other walled gardens so much and to
start publishing my content to the open web again. Even for smaller things. I
started by sharing my thoughts about Aaron's passing on my own website:
<http://benatkin.com/2013/01/12/rip-aaron-swartz/>
I noticed that since he does the old style of blog comments, that if you ever
left a comment on his blog, you can type a search like this into google:
"Ben Atkin" site:aaronsw.com
...you'll get a list of the comments you made on his site.
I don't think he ever wrote code just for the sake of code. I think he wrote
it for a larger purpose.
------
danso
The OP talks about how Aaron needed to be more pragmatic, like a Steve Jobs. I
don't disagree...and as much as I admire his almost total-lack of self
promotion and the minimalism on his sites, I wonder if Aaron would've felt
more of a force had he more of the weight and attention of the world. Think of
how much even digital media celebrities like David Pogue can make things
happen (Remember how fast police _in another state_ acted when he lost his
iPhone? [http://money.cnn.com/2012/08/03/technology/david-pogue-
iphon...](http://money.cnn.com/2012/08/03/technology/david-pogue-
iphone/index.htm))...
Some tech prodigies have the desire to stay anonymous, but Aaron clearly
wanted to be at the forefront of civic action, if not the "spotlight", so to
speak. It's unfortunate that his accomplishments and virtues did not attract
the celebrity that they deserved.
~~~
pekk
In this startup subculture, we really do despise people who don't inflate
themselves, even if we only do it subtly ("as much as I admire...")
~~~
danso
I most definitely do not despise Aaron. I think it's highly detestable that
someone of his passion and skill gets less followers than an early-cut-
contestant from American Idol.
We can argue that maybe he would've been less productive if he really got into
tweeting or whatever. But he was hardly shy from talking about himself, and he
shouldn't have been. It's a shame that didn't result in the kind of deserved
following that would have gotten more public sentiment on his side.
His SOPA/PIPA campaign is a prime example. The reason why it succeeded when at
first legislators ignored it was not because the merits of its argument became
better over time, but because more people, beyond the choir, had joined the
cause.
~~~
drzaiusapelord
>I think it's highly detestable that someone of his passion and skill gets
less followers than an early-cut-contestant from American Idol.
Every week reddit gives me the latest talking point jerks like Kim Dotcom or
Ron/Rand Paul, yet its own guy was ignored by it until his death. PR is
everything now. Social media is reputation media. Working on your image is
just as important as your work, which sounds like something out of The Prince,
but its truer in the age of instant communication. Christ, what a sorry world
we live in where our actions are meaningless and we are nothing without good
PR.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
India to order taxi aggregators like Uber, Ola to go electric - abhi3
https://in.reuters.com/article/us-india-electric-autos-exclusives/exclusive-india-to-order-taxi-aggregators-like-uber-ola-to-go-electric-idINKCN1T71DU
======
ShirsenduK
* Uber/Ola do not own cars, and the owners take out loans to get one. Electric cars can be expensive to be financed for that income group. Uber's endgame is to own self-driving cars and not a normal car, atleast that was the dream :).
* Indian car companies do not have electric cars (a real car can go for atleast 200kms a charge/refill).
* A car factory(even non-electric) would take atleast 5 years to start churning cars.
* Even in that case, it will have to import 40% of the cost ie batteries as India cannot make them. If it starts today, it can in 10 years.
* Import duties of fully assembled, SKD and CKD electric cars is very high makes them uncompetitive to petrol/diesel cars.
* Direct importing is not viable as it requires certification.
* 60% of India's electric supply is coal based.
And to top it;
* Upto 50% of pollution a car will cause is done during production of the car ie before even a kilometre has been driven. Replacing lots of good working cars from the street is not environment friendly.
~~~
ardit33
Nice analysis.
The point that many people make: "* Upto 50% of pollution a car will cause is
done during production of the car ie before even a kilometre has been driven.
Replacing lots of good working cars from the street is not environment
friendly."
It is not just overall pollution, but where and how it is done that it is
important. There is a huge difference between controlled pollution, from a
factory away from large cities, and thousands of cars spewing emissions right
into the core of urban centers. The second would cause more direct health
issues and potentially deaths and overall unpleasantness.
~~~
vkou
> The point that many people make: "* Upto 50% of pollution a car will cause
> is done during production of the car ie before even a kilometre has been
> driven. Replacing lots of good working cars from the street is not
> environment friendly."
You're completely wrong. This may be the case for a weekend vehicle that is
sent to the junkyard before you put 30,000 km on it, but is 100% wrong for a
taxi, that drives >300,000 miles over its life.
It takes 6-12 tonnes of CO2e to produce a car. [1]
Taking 35 mpg, every 10,000 miles driven is 285 gallons of gasoline. 1 gallon
of gasoline produces ~8.9 kg of CO2e. That's 2.5 tonnes per 10,000 miles
driven.
After 50,000 miles driven, the typical car breaks even with its manufacturing
emissions.
The average taxi (in NYC) puts on 70,000 miles. Per YEAR. [2] In a single
year, it's fuel emissions exceed manufacturing emissions.
If you want good return-on-investment, taxis are the first vehicles we should
be regulating. They drive a lot more than the average car.
[1] [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/green-living-
blog/20...](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/green-living-
blog/2010/sep/23/carbon-footprint-new-car)
[2] [https://www.quora.com/How-many-miles-does-a-NYC-taxi-do-
in-i...](https://www.quora.com/How-many-miles-does-a-NYC-taxi-do-in-its-life-
as-a-taxi)
~~~
ShirsenduK
Electric cars produce more CO2 during manufacturing.
Indian taxis/cars on Indian roads do worse.
India's electric market is 60% coal.
"If you want good return-on-investment, taxis are the first vehicles we should
be regulating. They drive a lot more than the average car." \- Who is the you
here? The car driver who is trying to make ends meet?
~~~
vkou
> Electric cars produce more CO2 during manufacturing.
How much more? Sources, please. The internet tells me that adding an 85 KWH
battery in a Tesla adds ~1 tonne of CO2e. [1]
Tesla, as a whole (Which includes non-manufacturing, but does not include the
carbon cost, of say, smelting the steel that went into their cars, or
Panasonic manufacturing their batteries), produced ~300,000 tonnes of CO2e in
2018. They shipped ~250,000 vehicles in 2018.[2]
Bloomberg claims something completely different, but doesn't provide any
concrete numbers. [3] The study it seems to cite is [4], which claims that a
Tesla's battery is ~15 tonnes of CO2e, if manufactured in a factory powered by
50% coal power. There seem to be no other studies on the subject.
Panasonic, which manufactures Tesla batteries, is doing some work to make
their batteries carbon neutral [5][6]. It's unclear how much volume this
factory produces, and what the emissions of their other factories are.
> Indian taxis/cars on Indian roads do worse.
This also means that the existing ICE taxis don't have a long prospective
life, and at least 40% of them are due to be replaced by 2026. It's why this
legislature is coming into play in 2026, and not in 2020.
> India's electric market is 60% coal.
Thanks to Carnot efficiency, even if your electric car is powered by a coal
plant, it is still more carbon efficient than powering it with gasoline. Your
V6 engine doesn't reach the temperature differential that utility coal plants
do. Electric vehicles also have near-zero-cost regenerative breaking, which
increases waste energy, that would otherwise go into heating brakes in a non-
hybrid ICE.
> Who is the you here?
Someone who is comparing the environmental benefit to the monetary cost of
switching from ICE to electric. You get a lot more reductions, for the same
dollar spent, from electrifying taxis, then from electrifying heavily-used
personal vehicles. You get more reductions from electrifying heavily-used
personal vehicles, then lightly-used weekend vehicles.
Pick the lowest-hanging fruit first.
[1]
[https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Ska839...](https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Ska839NYN2kJ:https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2016/04/22/the-
carbon-footprint-of-tesla-manufacturing/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us)
[2] [https://www.environmentalleader.com/2019/04/tesla-
emissions-...](https://www.environmentalleader.com/2019/04/tesla-emissions-
report/)
[3] [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-16/the-
dirt-...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-16/the-dirt-on-
clean-electric-cars)
[4] [https://www.thegwpf.com/new-study-large-co2-emissions-
from-b...](https://www.thegwpf.com/new-study-large-co2-emissions-from-
batteries-of-electric-cars/)
[5]
[https://www.panasonic.com/global/consumer/battery/primary_ba...](https://www.panasonic.com/global/consumer/battery/primary_batteries/sustainability.html)
[6] [https://www.panasonic-batteries.com/en/news/panasonic-
enviro...](https://www.panasonic-batteries.com/en/news/panasonic-environment-
vision-2050-our-commitments-become-carbon-neutral)
~~~
ShirsenduK
Indian cars/manufacturing/importing has different economics and pollution
impacts. You are free do your own research and make up your mind.
I am not against electric cars, I want them. I am against the idea to replace
cars which have already contributed to significant pollution being removed
from road.
The lowest hanging fruit for me is to get US and other top polluters to reduce
pollution. India and China are doing good already as they are increasing more
green cover. The reality is the India car drivers cannot afford the cheaper
electric cars, forget about Tesla.
~~~
vkou
> Indian cars/manufacturing/importing has different economics and pollution
> impacts. You are free do your own research and make up your mind.
No, you don't get to go ahead and do that. The burden is on you to provide
evidence for your claim, not on the person you are talking to.
> I am against the idea to replace cars which have already contributed to
> significant pollution being removed from road.
Didn't you say that taxis in India don't last as long as they do in the West?
If so, won't it be possible to electrify 40% of them by 2026, through natural
attrition? The whole point of this law is to give a heads-up on a multi-year
process.
> The lowest hanging fruit for me is to get US and other top polluters to
> reduce pollution.
Agreed. The West has had modest per-capita pollution reductions, but needs to
go much further then that. As does China. (It's overall per-capita pollution
has matched that of the European Union. If you look at its urban areas, alone,
they pollute just as much, per-capita, as the US.)
China is no longer a developing country. It's a 350-million person developed
country, with all the same carbon footprint as any western economy, sitting on
top of a 1-billion person developing country.
> India and China are doing good already as they are increasing more green
> cover
Increasing green cover isn't anywhere close to enough. If we tore down every
city, uprooted every field, and covered the entire planet with trees, we'd
offset only a few years of global emissions.
------
amrrs
This is what you call a PR thing by Government. Why? * 2019 - 2026 - That's
after (5+2) years which means it makes it easy for this current Government to
pitch it before next election.
* Everyone knows Uber and Ola don't own their fleet so who'll be accountable?
* In Bangalore, Ola was banned for a month or so for a policy violation, only to be revoked just in 24 hours citing Public / Traffic / Driver's livelihood.
* Uber and Ola drivers in cities like Bangalore are currently not even getting time for their food (lunch) and for them to sit aside and recharge the car seems another big 'would they ?'
* Any news on Public Policy reg. Internet companies hit front page.
Why not the government make better Public transport system? Why don't they
increase the frequency of Government Bus ? Why don't they electrify Public
transport?
None of these would hail the Government as Elon Musk ish visionary other than
this one.
~~~
giis
>* Everyone knows Uber and Ola don't own their fleet so who'll be accountable?
Who says so? Have you read about tie-up with Tata for EV ?
[https://www.indiatimes.com/auto/current/tata-nano-
electric-m...](https://www.indiatimes.com/auto/current/tata-nano-electric-may-
debut-with-ola-cabs-1000-examples-to-join-fleet-368361.html)
Try to understand ground reality before making false claims.
Btw, elections over just ~15 days back, if this just PR stunt, it makes more
sense announce it during 7 week long election not after that.
~~~
captn3m0
That’s an article from 2 weeks back. (24 May) of an announcement of the deal.
The ground reality today is the drivers own the fleet, with both Ola and Uber
financing it to some degree.
------
yeldarb
How would this work? As far as I know neither of them owns the vehicles in
their “fleet”.
Do they just provide incentives for drivers to buy electric vehicles? Or is
the government actually expecting them to put company-owned electric vehicles
on the streets?
~~~
est31
How they change their fleets is their business. They could give higher
compensation to people with EV's. They could treat ICE as if they weren't
around when the maximum number of ICE cars is on the road.
~~~
wuliwong
>How they change their fleets is their business
Why is this obvious? If the composition of their fleets is not their business
why is it clear that the way they manage their fleets is? I would actually
assume that there are probably loads of regulations that already govern the
ways Uber can manage its fleet?
~~~
toomuchtodo
If they are regulated, it should come as no surprise when additional
regulation is imposed. And they are regulated.
------
ramshanker
So let's jump start the beginning of "S Curve of Electric Adoption" going for
cars. 2 or 3 years back, Minister of Transport Mr. Nitin Gadkari had dropped a
bombshell right in the middle of some mega Car Event. "I am NOT going to allow
you to sell ICE post 2030". Audience was like ....... Awwwww
Battery Mini-Riksaw are already dominating many of the small towns in India
right now. Registration for Diesel Tri-wheelers is already stopped in some
capital cities. Petrol may be on the way out too within 5 years.
------
kumarvvr
This is a good thing. But I really hope India invests a lot in public
transportation and related infrastructure, especially in tier 2 and tier 3
cities.
~~~
rrrazdan
We are. We are building metros in n>10 cities now.
------
mariushn
7 years from now is quite late. Would prefer a 2-3 year deadline, along with
plans on how cities will provide chargers before that deadline.
~~~
tracker1
Where do you anticipate all these cars being made? What about the cars that
are currently owned, where the sunk cost of mfg was already paid and it's more
economical to continue using vs. replace?
For example, if the U.S. required half of all cars sold be EV, then there
would be no cars available to buy for 2-3 years just to ramp up production
alone. Millions of jobs lost during that time too.
~~~
mariushn
We're talking only about ride hailing cars, right? Not all.
~~~
tracker1
It's only a matter of scale, in example to emphasis that the impact is not
necessarily trivial as suggested.
------
nonamechicken
Some more info:
>EV sales in India grew three-fold to 3,600 in the year ended March but still
account for about 0.1% of the 3.3 million diesel and gasoline cars sold in the
country over the period, industry data showed. China's electric car sales,
meanwhile, rose 62% in 2018 to 1.3 million vehicles.
>Motorcycles and scooters sold for commercial purposes, like food delivery or
for use by e-commerce companies, will also need to be electric from April
2023, the person added.
>Its Ola Electric Mobility unit in March raised ₹400 crore ($58 million) from
investors including venture capital fund Tiger Global and Matrix Partners.
>It also raised $300 million from Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors and formed a
strategic partnership with the South Korean duo to help build India-specific
EVs.
[https://www.livemint.com/politics/policy/india-set-to-
order-...](https://www.livemint.com/politics/policy/india-set-to-order-uber-
ola-other-taxi-aggregators-to-go-electric-1559820588642.html)
------
InTheArena
Having just been in India, I can safely say that Uber in India is one of the
worst uber experiences I have seen, independently of this change.
India's car policies will make this very difficult.
Right now the "made in India" car restrictions means that India doesn't share
car infrastructure with the rest of the world. From what a local was telling
me, car manufacturers typically transfer their tooling from old product lines
in other parts of the world when assembly lines are re-tooled to build cheaper
India only vehicles.
Thankfully, the big cities are so congested that the older model cars with
older model safety systems, but this approach won't work with EVs, which are
not yet mainstream in the rest of the world.
My guess is that a modern version of a tuk-tuk would be ideal, but battery
production is going to be a very big problem for this. India has the 3rd
largest automobile market and a low level of vehicle adoption, but until they
fix infrastructure, I don't see it happening.
------
naruvimama
India has aggressive climate change commitments. It is setting long term
expectations and providing guidelines to the biggest influencers [Uber/Ola].
It gives an indicator to the manufacturers, infra providers, service providers
and the end consumers on what to expect. It is in line with their 2025 goals.
------
Glench
While I don't know about this specific policy, I'm happy that the push to
electric vehicles (and hopefully carbon-free energy) is happening worldwide.
This is one of the big areas we need to do absolutely immediately.
Otherlab founder Saul Griffith has a great analysis about why electrifying
cars and more of our technology is so necessary in the US here:
[https://medium.com/otherlab-news/decarbonization-and-
gnd-b8d...](https://medium.com/otherlab-news/decarbonization-and-
gnd-b8ddd569de16)
> "Without changing the size of our homes, or our cars, or fundamentally
> changing the fabric of our lives, a fully electrified energy economy using
> non-carbon fuel sources would require less than half of the total amount of
> energy we use today."
Your next car should be electric.
------
yatharth_1
To everyone recommending adding more restrictions to the cars that can be
driven for rideshare companies, please, I don't know where you live but India
is not at all as rich as your country. There's no infrastructure to support
electric cars not to mention no drivers who can actually buy it. Here's an
example, today I rode Uber for one journey for one hour and paid 500 Rs (7
USD). In US I pay more than 10USD for a few miles (may be 15 minutes) only. Do
you really think this guy is going to buy an electric car?
Yes it's a PR campaign, elections may be over but reelected government has to
show that its better than past and what better way to make empty promises,
which cost nothing.
Every point made by ShirsenduK is to the mark about conditions in India.
------
vishnu_ks
Ola recently raised $56 million to spin out a dedicated business that focus
only on electric vehicles. In March, Power Minister R. K. Singh said the
government was aiming to ensure that at least 30% of the country's vehicles
run on electricity by 2030, a significant dilution of the earlier-stated goal
of an all-EV fleet by that year.
[https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/28/ola-ev-business-ola-
electr...](https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/28/ola-ev-business-ola-electric-
mobility/)
------
plibither8
This might be irrelevant to the topic at hand, but the cover image of the news
article that the reader first sees is very misleading. It depicts nothing that
might hint towards the article talking about Uber, Ola or electrification of
their fleets. Yes, there appears to be a traffic jam (which in an indirect way
can be linked to Uber and Ola being public modes of transport), but that is
because there is a road-show going on related to an election.
------
KaoruAoiShiho
Are there domestic EV brands that are doing well there? Or is the expectation
that Ola will fund it itself? Or buy foreign brands?
------
trimbo
Anyone know roughly how many hours various electric cars can go in a city
taxi-driving setting before needing to be recharged?
~~~
oyebenny
Aside from the fact that this is not an impressive goal, hopefully by that
time we have electric cars with solar panels anyway.
~~~
marsRoverDev
I don't think that solar panels will be capable of generating enough power to
make much of an impact on an electric car's mileage. Happy to be corrected.
~~~
gvb
_The standard solar panel has an input rate of around 1000 Watts per square
meter, however on the solar panels available at present you will only gain
roughly 15-20% efficiency at best. Therefore if your solar panel was 1 square
meter in size, then it would likely only produce around 150-200W in good
sunlight._ [1]
_For example: 2 square meter panel x 1000 = 2000 x 0.20 (20% efficiency
panel) = 400. 400 x 5 hours of sun hours = 2000 Watt hours per day._ [ibid]
_In 2012, the EPA range for the 60 kWh battery pack model was 208 mi (335 km)
and the 85 kWh battery was 265 miles (426 km)._ [2]
A Tesla gets about 3.5 miles per kWh, so you would be able to get about 7
miles of driving distance per day (5 hours of sunlight) of charging.
Ref:
[1] [https://www.theecoexperts.co.uk/solar-panels/how-much-
electr...](https://www.theecoexperts.co.uk/solar-panels/how-much-electricity)
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Model_S#Battery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Model_S#Battery)
~~~
clouddrover
The Sono Sion gets 34 kilometres (21 miles) per day from solar charging.
------
throwmex
Is it just me that thinks whenever a western media writes an article about
India, they show an image of India in the worst possible way.
For ex: Why does this article have to show a picture of a political rally ?
~~~
seanmcdirmid
Because the rally is collocated with a traffic jam?
~~~
praneshp
Ah, I think your parent comment should have asked for a non-stupid reason. An
electric car is going to be in a traffic jam as well.
~~~
seanmcdirmid
Yes, but it won't be spewing out any noxious gases while stranded in traffic
(neither would a hybrid or a shut off idle car, but none of those are in that
picture).
------
olivermarks
Seems crazy to me. Most taxi and uber/gypsy cab drivers run hybrid Priuses
because they are the most cost effective and economical vehicles for this
purpose in stop and go traffic. Insisting on EV's when charging tech is so
inefficient and scarce seems hugely problematic for the foreseeable future.
Seems a lousy investment for anyone wanting to make money providing a driving
service through one of the mobile platform middlemen.
~~~
najarvg
Your point is well-taken but there is an incredibly limited number of hybrid
vehicles in India (only 2 actually) -
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_industry_in...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_industry_in_India)
But given the age of India's electricity infrastructure and the huge
challenges, this initiative would definitely present large challenges. The
good news is that there is political will and a general absence of politically
powerful retrograde lobbies to stop this from happening if tried sincerely.
~~~
monksy
Good luck getting a charge with the blackouts.
Also.. most of the ubers (aka taxis) that I was in were suzuki Wagon Rs.
------
dang
Url changed from [https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/06/india-electric-
vehicles-20...](https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/06/india-electric-
vehicles-2026-uber-ola/), which points to this.
------
LargeWu
Based on Uber's history, they'll probably cook up some scheme to fraudulently
register combustion vehicles as electric or find some other shady way around
the regulation.
~~~
kinkrtyavimoodh
Ridiculous government regulation needs Uber style treatment.
India is faaar from any electic car infrastructure. Like another comment said
above, it's purely a PR move by the govt.
~~~
bhaavan
Yeah, let's not attempt do anything, because it's not perfect. /s
~~~
kinkrtyavimoodh
Grandstanding about doing something is very different from actually doing it.
Grandstanding is free. That is what this 'reported order' is. To some extent
it's the government's job to do this kind of PR, but we don't have to buy it
hook line and sinker.
When the government does something concrete to boost the infrastructure, I
will be the first to applaud.
~~~
shripadk
> When the government does something concrete to boost the infrastructure, I
> will be the first to applaud.
Yeah building roads and highways at record pace are not concrete enough to
boost infrastructure right?
[https://www.businesstoday.in/sectors/infra/modi-
government-c...](https://www.businesstoday.in/sectors/infra/modi-government-
constructed-73-percent-more-highways-compared-upa-
last-4-years/story/279060.html)
"So far, the incumbent government has constructed a total of 28,531 km
national highways since FY 2014-15, contrasting with 16,505 km by the previous
government up to FY 2013-14, a clear gain of an astounding 12,026 kms, the
Financial Express reported."
~~~
kinkrtyavimoodh
What has building roads and highways got to do with switching from gasoline to
electric cars?
~~~
shripadk
I thought you talked about physical infrastructure (roads and highways) needed
for cars to ply on. After re-reading your comment I realised you are talking
about infrastructure needed specifically for electric cars (like charging
stations). My bad! Apologise for that!
Either ways, I don't see how the Government can help in this! Isn't this the
prerogative of the companies manufacturing their EV to setup? The only place
where Government can help is providing land and electric power for these
charging stations. That should not be a big deal.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Carlo Rovelli on challenging our common-sense notion of time - Deinos
http://nautil.us/blog/forget-everything-you-think-you-know-about-time
======
jnurmine
I am not really skilled in physics and have never understood why time would be
a tangible dimension like, say, width or height, instead of a mathematical
construction to argue about change.
I get it that it is convenient to talk of change in something, like movement
from state a to state b, under the guise of wrapping it in "time", but is
there some physical argument in support of time in general? Honest question.
Living beings getting older is their cells becoming more and more inefficient
in division and cell repair. One could likely achieve the same effects with
chemicals, but doing so would not mean time has run faster.
The concept of time for humans seems to be all about observable change, which
needs an observer with a memory to compare the current state with previous
state to be able to say: time has passed.
A rock changes via erosion and such, but it has no memory, and cannot observe
anything. Does a rock feel time? Of course not. Does it exist "in time"? Does
it, without an observer that somehow measures the flow of time (via changes in
Cesium atoms or something)? Or is the rock just existing and under the whims
of all forces of nature that might impact it and change it into smaller pieces
and eventually to sand, and so on.
I guess my question is: what exactly is time, physically, and why should it
have to exist as some sort of a physical process in the first place.
~~~
mikekchar
I have a kind of followup question (which, if I understand correctly, was
touched on a bit in the article). If time is a tangible dimension, is it
possible that the "passage of time" is an illusion? I remember the past and
because of causality, the events are ordered. Time seems to flow from the past
to the future and it never flows from the future to the past. This seems
obvious to us, but I've always wondered why time doesn't flow backwards.
Just to take a silly example, what if all the "points in time" just exist (and
are ordered -- I don't propose to break causality)? They don't flow at all.
From my perspective, at every "point" along the time axis, I can recall the
past and it will be ordered as if it "happened", but each point could be
independent (though constant). If I could remember "forward" through time,
then this would be obvious, but since I can only remember "backward" through
time, at every point it appears as if I have progressed through time.
I suppose the interesting thing is that causality is uni-directional. Things
can only happen in a certain order in the past. But this is not true of the
future. Even if I have perfect knowledge of the present, there are some things
I can not predict about the future (quantum mechanics FTW). I wonder why that
is (because we are flowing through time? Ha ha!)
Sorry for the diversion, but if someone that is better educated than me could
shed some light on the matter, I'd be grateful.
~~~
aaaaaaaaaab
You’ve rediscovered eternalism:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternalism_(philosophy_of_ti...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternalism_\(philosophy_of_time\))
~~~
akvadrako
If eternalism is real it's hardly fair to say he _re_ discovered it - all the
discoveries have always existed.
~~~
stan_rogers
Discovery is not invention, it's literally just noticing (or uncovering in a
metaphorical sense) something that was always there.
~~~
radisb
How do you know?
------
mathgenius
> Unlike general relativity, quantum mechanics, and particle physics,
> thermodynamics embeds a direction of time.
This is the bit that irks me. Quantum mechanics, the real QM that physicists
actually use, involves collapse of the wavefunction. This is absolutely time-
asymmetric. But in all these discussions of "why is time one-way?" this never
seems to be mentioned. Apparently QM is not a real theory, and just a
placeholder until we can work something out properly. Irk!
~~~
jblow
Many physicists do not believe that collapse of the wavefunction is a thing.
~~~
mathgenius
Ok, but why is there no discussion at all? I stand by my irk.
~~~
whatshisface
You _can_ get every conclusion you want out of QM without any wavefunction
collapses, so there's no need to discuss it (depending on your purpose) and if
you're an MW-er you'd argue that, further, there's no reason to believe that
it even happens. Since there are several self-consistent "piles of words" that
all talk about the same math but contradict each other, (Does the wavefunction
collapse? Does 1600s literature simulate the simulacrum?) not talking about it
seems completely justified.
~~~
mathgenius
> You can get every conclusion you want out of QM without any wavefunction
> collapses
I don't think so.
> "piles of words"
I definitely agree about the piles. Maybe ordinary language is just to feeble
for this stuff.
------
gtrubetskoy
Would it be fair to say that the second law of thermodynamics is only "a law"
given our human perspective of the direction of time? If time has no "arrow",
but a memory is only possible in non-decreasing entropy which is our
perspective, there can be another perspective in which the big bang is the
future and our future is the past, only we cannot comprehend it because a
memory is not possible in decreasing entropy?
~~~
danharaj
The second law of thermodynamics is about entropy, which is an observer
dependent quantity. It is the discrepancy between what one knows about a
system (e.g. its temperature) and its state (e.g. the position and momentum of
every particle in a classical gas). A being that knows the exact state of a
system does not observe entropy increasing or decreasing. At least
classically.
I don't understand the rest of your question.
~~~
SomeHacker44
Digging deep into my memory of classical mechanics, I think this is along the
right lines. However, I believe (seem to recall) entropy is an actual measure
of the number of ways a system can be ordered in its details and still produce
the same generalized outcome.
A crystalline solid has relatively low entropy because you can be reasonably
sure where each nucleus is, as they are highly ordered. A gas or plasma can
have the nuclei distributed nearly randomly. Both systems can be measured
generally (stochastically, or of their overall or average properties) but the
number of ways you can organize all the nuclei to get those results very
different between the two systems.
Feel free for someone more knowledgeable to correct or expand.
~~~
dodobirdlord
That's basically the gist of it. The entropy of a system is proportional (via
Boltzmann's constant) to the natural log of the number of available
microstates, where _microstates_ are configurations the system could be in,
and _available_ denotes that they have the same total value for all conserved
quantities as the aggregate system. Consequentially the system is free to
spontaneously transition between any of its available microstates.
------
kwhitefoot
If you found that interesting you might also enjoy Rovelli's defence of
Aristotle's physics:
[https://arxiv.org/abs/1312.4057](https://arxiv.org/abs/1312.4057)
------
eveningcoffee
We know that the universe went through various very fast state changes in its
very first fraction of seconds.
Given that the gravity must have been immerse then how should we understand
this time?
~~~
gregdunn
>Given that the gravity must have been immerse then how should we understand
this time?
We don't really know. There are speculative theories, but they don't all
agree.
It's very difficult because the temperature would have been so hot at the very
start that instead of four fundamental forces (of which gravity is one), we
would have had only one. There's also the Hartle-Hawking State, which is a
theory that proposes at the very "start" there simply was not time, only
space, and that time coming into existence was part of the process that
occurred during the planck epoch.
There's also the Grand unification epoch, inflationary epoch, electroweak
epoch, quark epoch, and hadron epoch that occurred in the universe before a
second had passed, all with very different implications for how physics could
have worked, so the answer would change multiple times during that period.
------
rbrbr
This guy uses rather confusing descriptions of his theories and ideas. I
respect his approach but other are much better in explaining these topics.
~~~
keithpeter
Rovelli mentions his paper from 2009 with the title 'Forget Time' in the
video. The paper can be downloaded from [1].
I enjoyed the presentation. Talking for an hour on this kind of material with
just a piece of string and a couple of watches is fairly impressive. The
thought experiment with the wooden box and green/red balls (in two size
categories unrelated to their colour) was thought provoking.
I'd like to see someone define/construct two sets of macrostates that give a
different time scales in a system with one set of microstates. For all I know
someone may have actually done that. The paper referenced does have a section
on the 'thermal time hypothesis'.
[1] [https://arxiv.org/abs/0903.3832](https://arxiv.org/abs/0903.3832)
------
interfixus
> _In fact, clocks tick slower when they are in a stronger gravitational
> field_
They shouldn't, if they are properly made. They should tick and measure at
their usual rate. Their local timeframe is out of whack with somewhere else,
but that's got nothing to do with the clocks.
~~~
gregdunn
It's unfortunate you're getting downvoted, because this is correct.
For anyone that is dubious: Black holes are one of the common ways this gets
discussed, because it's such an extreme example, and you can read more about
it at
[http://www1.phys.vt.edu/~jhs/faq/blackholes.html#q11](http://www1.phys.vt.edu/~jhs/faq/blackholes.html#q11)
\- this goes into a bit about photons and the event horizon - you can ignore
that and just consider it in regards to the time dilation effects of gravity.
~~~
interfixus
Thank you. It is faintly disturbing how many downvotes short, factually
incontrovertible comments may often garner on HN.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
In a court hearing, oil companies publicly backed the science of climate change - eaguyhn
https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/22/17151532/climate-tutorial-san-francisco-oakland-lawsuits-judge-alsup-chevron-exxon
======
PaulKeeble
The science has been settled since the 1970's. Since then it has been a
political issue and football that has been kicked around and ignored for a
long time. The collapse of Kyoto in the 1990's was probably the moment when I
knew humanity wouldn't choose to save its habitat and certainly wasn't
interested in doing it in the least expensive way, which is what the 2C
warming "goal" is about, it is the cheapest route.
Alas the USA collapsed the deal then and it is on its way to trying to
collapse the Paris agreement now. The oil companies are fully aware of this
and have been as long as we the people have been since the science was settle
5 decades ago. They can't be sued for our collective choice to not do
anything, that isn't fair.
~~~
mannykannot
Suing the oil companies is not going to make a difference, anyway. What
matters is the broad public opinion, and the good news is that we seem to have
passed one tipping point, in that the consensus now is that climate change is
both real and problematical, and deniers are increasingly being seen as
cranks.
~~~
ZeroGravitas
It will take money from people who continue to fund denial and political
diversions.
It will increase the potential costs they consider the next time a major
industry has to choose between ending human civilization and their quarterly
profits.
It will punish shareholders who supported this behaviour.
It's not the only answer but I don't see any way that it hurts.
~~~
mannykannot
Agreed; I am not particularly upset that it is happening.
------
dhuramas
Alsup is a badass - be it patent law, or DACA, etc- he takes a balanced view,
and "does his homework"(which might be problematic from a legal POV). I would
like it if more judges were like him.
~~~
travmatt
For those unaware, Alsup is the judge who won plenty of respect when he
rightly called out Oracle for trying to inflate the importance of some lines
of Java:
[http://www.groklaw.net/articlebasic.php?story=20121127123047...](http://www.groklaw.net/articlebasic.php?story=20121127123047829)
------
cryptoz
Wouldn't that imply that Chevron has never produced an ad for the product? But
I've seen there ads hundreds of times!
So the lawyer is saying that if a company spends tens of millions on
advertising, that it has no effect on the economy that he is arguing is
causing global warming?
~~~
jstanley
Only if you think the customers wouldn't otherwise have bought any oil, which
I think is unlikely. Nobody buys oil for fun.
The only purpose of the advert is to make people buy from Chevron instead of
their competitors, but the same amount of oil is getting sold either way.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Magic Leap – another unicorn startup joins the line of Enrons of Internet era - baybal2
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/12/09/1535221/magic-leap-used-fake-tech-demos-and-is-years-behind-schedule
======
ElijahLynn
This is poor quality. Magic Leap is still unique to Hololens and they have
always had a very "long game" in mind. I feel this may be a little on the FUD
side of things.
Also, the source of this is Slashdot > IBTimes > The Verge > The Information
(which is behind a paywall). So none of us can actually read the source.
[https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/12/09/1535221/magic-
leap-...](https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/12/09/1535221/magic-leap-used-
fake-tech-demos-and-is-years-behind-schedule) >
[http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/magic-leap-dead-report-claims-
compa...](http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/magic-leap-dead-report-claims-company-used-
fake-tech-demos-years-behind-schedule-1595726) >
[http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/8/13894000/magic-leap-ar-
mic...](http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/8/13894000/magic-leap-ar-microsoft-
hololens-way-behind) > [https://www.theinformation.com/the-reality-behind-
magic-leap](https://www.theinformation.com/the-reality-behind-magic-leap)
~~~
joezydeco
Abovitz publicly said _just a few months ago_ that the production line was
ramping up and they were getting ready to start.
[http://www.businessinsider.com/magic-leap-production-
begins-...](http://www.businessinsider.com/magic-leap-production-begins-
summer-2016-2016-6)
IMO that's not a "long game" announcement by any means.
------
jameskilton
Please don't editorialize in the headlines.
And no, there's nothing even close to an Enron situation with Magic Leap.
Misleading investors is no where near the same as repeatedly pushing and
encouraging your employees to reinvest retirement funds into the company at
the same time that you're instigating wide-spread fraud with that same money.
------
gumby
Previous discussion including some about proven bogosity in claims they have
made:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13135735](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13135735)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Airbnb to collect hotel taxes for San Francisco rentals - zmitri
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Airbnb-to-collect-hotel-taxes-for-San-Francisco-5365352.php
======
calbear81
"We know from countless discussions with our hosts that they want to pay
taxes, but some of these rules are arcane and difficult to follow. Some hosts
have even tried to pay taxes in San Francisco and been turned away."
I find it hard to believe that any host voluntarily said "Please, take my
money because I want to pay more taxes!" This is akin to someone actually
reporting their out-of-state online purchases on their income tax return.
Seems like a somewhat risky move given that they're admitting they are like a
"hotel" in which case they may also need to adhere to safety rules (fire
escape posted, etc.) that hotels have to comply with as well.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Just launched. Zero users. No clue how to market. Resource suggestions? - m52go
I'm individually messaging folks on reddit who've indicated interest, or who are very likely to be interested. I'm following and interacting with relevant industry folks on Twitter. I'm going to begin reaching out to bloggers soon.<p>But I'm not getting anywhere and I feel clueless. To the point it feels more productive just going back to developing app features for my non-existent user-base.<p>Any courses, books, or resources with practical, idiot-level advice?<p>It's a consumer-focused app related to books.
======
i336_
I'll throw this out there because you might consider it relevant.
I recently learned that Abe HomeBase is pretty much the de facto standard book
inventory software out there. It seems there's little motivation to search for
other platforms because you have to use HomeBase to get listed in Abe (as I
understand).
I learned all of this when a friend was showing me HomeBase at the bookshop he
worked at... and in particular its mind-numbingly slow live search system.
Take Google autocomplete, make it blocking/non-asynchronous (it freezes while
it gets your result), and slow it down so EACH KEYPRESS takes FIVE SECONDS to
acknowledge. That's HomeBase search.
I have no idea how you would go about fixing this, but I thought I might
mention it in case this direction sounds interesting. I'm not sure, but I get
the impression this is one of those areas with no movement or competition, and
it just needs someone with a bit of motivation to come along and turn it
upside down.
If you like I can put you in touch with my friend; he's very technically
minded, so you could very likely get a lot of in-depth info about how the
program works and what needs to be done to replace it.
------
bopf
You should check out the Growth Hacking class at onemonth.com - I have taken
the class and totally love it. It walks you through a full product launch from
building a landing page, writing perfect copy to selling. Lots of great advice
in there but it does cost $49 per month (and one month is honestly all you
need). Also check out this startup community:
[https://startups.blnkk.com](https://startups.blnkk.com) Lots of fellow
founders sharing new products and getting feedback from the community.
~~~
m52go
Thanks! This is precisely the sort of thing I'm looking for.
------
andersthue
Ideas besides the already mentioned forums and other online places:
Go to a bookstore and talk to the owner to see if they would promote your
software (if it adds value to the bookstore)
Go to a library and talk to potential users about the idea, get some to test
the app and give feedback (buy them coffee/donuts as a thank)
Talk to the librarians, they probably know your user base, ask them how to
promote the sw.
Go to a coffee shop and talk to those sitting and reading books - tell them
about the app and get feedback.
Submit as show HN Submit to product hunt Submit to all the beta lists out
there if it is in beta
------
reach_kapil
In order to get through traction, you have to pass few tests on product/market
fit Do you have 1 customer? Is she happy with your product? If not, iterate Do
you have 10 customers? Are they happy? if not, iterate Do you have 100, 1000
customers? Are they happy? Iterate anyway
How to get to 1 customer? Go out of your online world into real world and talk
to real people. Do user studies, focus groups, stand on streets or coffee
shops to show your product. This will bring you to P/M fit
~~~
avalaunch
I would advise not to iterate based off a single customer. Despite being a
customer, I think there is still too great a chance that she isn't in the
startup's target market. This goes 10x if the customer isn't a paying
customer.
Otherwise, great advice.
~~~
reach_kapil
Sure, but single customer idea is mostly to give an idea of how to approach
this problem. You are right about subjectively 1 customer should not determine
the direction of product. Mostly don't ask for feedback to your closest
friends and family
------
nmela
Do as much bottom-up research as you can at this point. Go to every single
bookstore in your area and talk to the potential customers. If you can get an
owner to let you have a stand at a bookstore for a couple days - the personal
interaction will help a lot. Definitely use the feedback to iterate (not only
based on 1 user, but try to identify trends in what they tell you). Go out
there and set a goal to have 30users by next week.
------
joshmn
Would this be Bookshop Crawl?
Edit: Looks like it is. You could go asking for feedback on one of the popular
indie book forums (assuming there is such a thing).
Marketing, at its most fundamental level, is simply placing yourself where
your target demographic is, and then socializing with them.
Don't think too much about it.
Where do they hang out, and why do they hang out there - what brings them
there other than like-minded individuals?
Remember: simple questions often are best answered with simple answers.
Good luck! :D
~~~
m52go
Thank you sir. I'll also be visiting/engaging B&M bookshops. It's online
marketing that seems less straightforward.
~~~
joshmn
I'm assuming you have an interest in indie bookshops. Where do you go online
to talk about them? Where do your likeminded friends go online?
~~~
m52go
It's more about the books one finds at bookshops. Reddit and YouTube are
destinations for some.
Personally I don't really contribute to either...visiting a bookshop for me is
more of an independent, spiritual type of activity similar to the way many
people think of gardening.
Still, the passion expressed for browsing independent bookshops through
articles, social media, and other projects is immense.
I know I'm hitting an area dear to many...question is if I have the right
angle.
Anyway, not trying to make this a personal consulting session, but it's an
interesting niche that I expect will have its own unique pitfalls and
challenges in reaching customers...just like any other!
~~~
nitam
First, check your core hypotheses.
> Still, the passion expressed for browsing independent bookshops through
> articles, social media, and other projects is immense. > I know I'm hitting
> an area dear to many...question is if I have the right angle.
1\. How do you know that? For example. I love custom made chess pieces. I'd
never buy (or use) an app to browse different chess boards/pieces etc. I need
to touch them, talk to a person that made them, etc.
2\. Can you find 3 people who want this (i.e. give you money) ?
If yes: What do they say? Why do they want(love?) this app? Where did you find
them? How many others like them are out there?
If no: Ask them why they don't like it.
Anyway, if you want to talk more about it contact me. I'd love to help.
------
phantom_oracle
If you can't handle rejection, then building a startup is not for you.
Imagine you are the guy someone is trying to peddle something onto you that
you seem vaguely interested in and then imagine telling that guy "thanks but
not now". This is what you'll hear/get a lot, so you must deal with that
first.
Secondly, you need to make sure that what you are building is out there and
reaching the people who really need it.
Social media is great to get things going, but the person you want to target
is the one who goes to a search engine and types:
_I need XYZ to do something_ and your result should pop up somewhere there.
~~~
m52go
I'm not scared of rejection. I've worked in sales. I expect it. I need it. But
I'm not getting any now. So in a sense, I'm wondering how to get more.
------
reilly3000
If you have a mobile app I would highly suggest a small Facebook ad budget for
cost per install ads. Make a list of all of the potential interests your
prospects have them target them individually. Think of it as an investment in
market research rather than pure acquisition. Treat those customers great, ask
for referrals and testimonies. Find what they love about your app and focus
your landing page on that.
Spend some time reading Moz.org blogs.
And treat it like a job. These things don't just happen, they take consistent
input with often limited feedback. Good luck!
------
JSeymourATL
> idiot-level advice?
Check how Tim Ferriss marketed his book. You'll likely find some applications
for your situation. [http://fourhourworkweek.com/2011/03/10/12-lessons-
learned-wh...](http://fourhourworkweek.com/2011/03/10/12-lessons-learned-
while-marketing-the-4-hour-body/)
------
mahringer_a
Go to a book store. Find your first customer. Buy him/her some coffee and
learn from his/her experience. Improve your product based on their feedback.
Go to a book store...
------
a_lifters_life
Customer development. Why are you doing product development, without any
customer development first? Google: Steve Blank
------
siquick
Posting a link in this thread would be a good start :-)
------
tallerholler
why don't you post a link to check it out??
~~~
m52go
That will happen soon. I just want some more real feedback from real people
first.
Which I guess sounds paradoxical but it seems all the product posts on here
are already so refined.
------
vishalzone2002
why not share your app as Show HN?
------
MichaelCrawford
How to Promote Your Business on the Internet
[http://www.warplife.com/tips/webmaster/website-
promotion.htm...](http://www.warplife.com/tips/webmaster/website-
promotion.html)
White Hat Search Engine Optimization
[http://www.warplife.com/tips/webmaster/search-engine-
optimiz...](http://www.warplife.com/tips/webmaster/search-engine-
optimization/)
Painless Serch Engine Site Submission
[http://www.warplife.com/tips/webmaster/site-
submission.html](http://www.warplife.com/tips/webmaster/site-submission.html)
Analyze your webserver log files. I use analog but it has not been maintained
in years, doubtlessly there are better tools by now.
Avail yourself of Bing and Google Webmaster Tools, also Alexa. Use
[http://www.google.com/trends/](http://www.google.com/trends/) to find
keywords to target. Note the geographic distribution.
I havent written anything yet about pay per click ads like AdWords but I
intend to. The key is to bid on keywords that only a paying customer is
likelely to search for. I paid $300.00 per month for "software consultant" and
"software consulting" with nary an inquiry, but got a signed contract for
$30,000.00 after paying ten cents apiece for but two clicks by bidding on a
keyword that I will never tell anyone because I might need to use it again.
~~~
MichaelCrawford
You might at first expect that its best to write articles on the general topic
of books. While there is some benefit to that my experience is that its best
to diversify your topics.
The public's interest in the topic of the day varies widely. For example just
before Thanksgiving Americans search the web for "turkey stuffing recipe". I
expect Canadians do so as well but in early October.
In inlink from a book-related site will be the most relevant, but some other
topic may produce more inlinks.
~~~
nitam
This is a good idea for a little bit later. First you need to understand what
to write about. What are the keywords, what are they looking for, etc.
~~~
MichaelCrawford
While I mostly agree it is hard to determine what to write about until you
have written something and it has been posted long enough that it yields some
search engine referrals.
To take a wild guess is better than not posting anything at all.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Tcd.vim: Tab-specific directories in Vim - oinksoft
https://github.com/oinksoft/tcd.vim
======
oinksoft
This is something I extracted from a plugin I wrote years ago, proj.vim. It is
sometimes quite useful to be able to set a different working directory in a
tab on the fly, particularly if you use tools that default to the working
directory, such as NERD_Tree.vim.
Please report issues on Github.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Review my Startup - Sqardius - sqardius
Sqardius allows you to share and view pictures around you, and save them for others who will be there later.<p>Here the link: http://www.sqardius.net
======
jfaucett
I'd like to give as much helpful criticism as possible, but I can't say much
about the general idea, doesn't ring with me, but I'm not a photo/sharing
social media person so I'm not the target audience here. Otherwise, I would
try to get a native english speaker to correct the english mistakes, that
always takes a bit away from the professionality of an app. Also IMO I think
bootstrap is too ubiquitous (don't know if end-users think this yet), doesn't
add any unique/cool feel to your idea that a good design might. The fact that
about/contact/blog all link to a completely different looking site is
confusing and disorienting, you might want to consider taking them out.
Best of luck with the idea though - always glad to see people making things :)
~~~
sqardius
Thanks for your reply, now that you mention it, I think you are right, I'll
try to correct them very soon, thank you
------
sqardius
A clickable link: <http://www.sqardius.net>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What's Wrong with Tech Folks Who Attack the Tech Media. and What's Wrong with T - todsacerdoti
https://hunterwalk.com/2020/02/15/whats-wrong-with-tech-folks-who-attack-the-tech-media-and-whats-wrong-with-tech-media-today/
======
tonicb
Now this is something that has been in my mind for some while now. I actually
think this lack of understanding goes far beyond these two groups.
There is a lack of understanding, but also trust between citizens and the
media, citizens and the tech space. And we also see the same with our
legislators too.
All around people are struggling to understand each other.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Procter & Gamble Launches Widget To Convert Clicks into Water - mars
http://mashable.com/2010/10/25/pg-water-widget/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29
======
michael_dorfman
Isn't Mashable just a bit embarrassed about acting as an unpaid arm of P&G's
PR department?
Obviously, the widget is converting anything into water; what's really
happening is that P&G has decided to donate some water, if and only if they
can corral enough folks into generating publicity for them.
_Because P &G is responsible for the actual “donations,” bloggers can spend
their time writing and producing great stories instead of sending out e-mails
to ask for donations, which makes the contest more about helping the cause
than promoting oneself._
No, the contest is more about promoting P&G. And it is embarrassing to see a
press release taken at face value.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Robotic pour-over coffee - cvdfer
http://www.poursteady.com
======
rdtsc
This looks really cool. I haven't tried the pour-over coffee, yet.
Still using a french press. Other members of the family are using a cheap-o
single cup generic coffee maker (the drip kind). I have tried the coffee from
both (both take different grind sizes obviously) but depending on type of
coffee one can be better than the other. Sometimes it is just different. The
drip one tastes almost closer to a cold brew, which I also like.
It seems pour-overs is a realtively new trend. It used to be all about french
press, then aeropress became cool. That "vacuum thing" was cool for those
willing to spend more money and time. But in recent years I started hearing
about pour-overs. Is it just a matter of a cool ritual, or does it do
something different to the taste?
~~~
hadoukenio
French press makes coffee that's way over extracted. You can get a Hario v60
for like $10 and it will change your life (well, at least you coffee habits).
Even since moving to pour overs, I rarely go back to espresso. And this is
from a 3-5 double espressos a day guy.
Next, try cold filter. Wow.
~~~
rdtsc
> French press makes coffee that's way over extracted.
I usually control that with the time the grounds are in contact with water and
the size of the grounds.
But heck at $10 + paper filters I will get it and try it out. Might even have
to get the cute little metal hot water pot. I have to say, like any proper
addiction, the ritual of making the coffee, the anticipation, the smelling of
grounds and so on. I can see how this provides those elements.
------
derekwilliamson
Cool! Are you going to sell this to other businesses? If that's the direction
you're going, maybe try to throw some numbers on the speed, consistency and
reliability so a business owner can get excited about the investment? Really
cool product though - it's certainly has "theater" to it.
~~~
cvdfer
We will start trying to sell machines pretty soon. Our background is in
robotics so we thought this would be a fun application for the automation
technologies we use at our day jobs.
We just showed this at Engadget Expand in NYC this weekend and made about 850
cups of coffee over two days. We wrote a scheduler which takes care of the
timing and water volumes so every cup is the same. Parameters are controlled
via an HTML5 app. The machine is built like a piece of factory automation
equipment for good reliability. We've been running them 24/7 in the shop for
months to verify the hardware.
The theater is a big part of it, we're definitely trying to strike a balance
between the robot and the barista.
------
BostonEnginerd
I can confirm the awesomeness of the coffee produced by this machine. They
were setup at Maker Faire NYC for the last two years giving away free coffee.
The robotic pourover was excellent!
Best of luck to these guys!
------
mikydna
I saw these guys at maker faire. They won a ton of ribbons. I also saw them at
Engadget expand conference.
It's was a tasty cup of coffee. :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Two Americas: The wage gap between the states has stopped closing - eplanit
https://www.axios.com/poverty-geography-economics-america-wage-gap-mobility-3bac216a-4aa6-41fe-b9e2-eca20623c008.html
======
Magnet_hammer
I agree that most nowadays don't have the resources to move and are stuck in
their hometowns with limited income
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Parsing horse racing charts with Apache PDFBox - robinhowlett
https://github.com/robinhowlett/chart-parser
======
joosters
Very interesting! I had never heard of Apache PDFBox before, I must give it a
try. I have a similar program that parses horse racing PDFs from sites such as
www.racehorserunner.com - which are of a much simpler format, but cause
endless problems for me when the PDFs have layout problems. For example,
issues like one column being too long and overlapping with another, e.g the
last race on
[http://www.racehorserunner.com/Archives/ELP/ELP170702.pdf](http://www.racehorserunner.com/Archives/ELP/ELP170702.pdf)
All PDF parsers that I have tried cope very badly with these kind of
situations, and often try to be 'too clever' in that they value the final
layout of the text over and above the individual strings.
Have you experienced similar problems with PDFBox, or does it handle
formatting and layout fairly reliably?
~~~
jahewson
PDFBox committer here, if you want even lower-level access to the page content
stream, without anything 'clever' at all, check out the
PDFGraphicsStreamEngine class, which is a superclass of the text extraction
and rendering classes. Gives you access to the raw glyphs. You can override
PageRenderer too, for visual debugging, e.g. render glyph bounding boxes. We
have an interactive Swing PDFDebugger which does just that.
[https://github.com/apache/pdfbox/blob/6f18d7c4bef4d23a22d/ex...](https://github.com/apache/pdfbox/blob/6f18d7c4bef4d23a22d/examples/src/main/java/org/apache/pdfbox/examples/rendering/CustomGraphicsStreamEngine.java)
~~~
joosters
Thanks for the guidance, I'll take a look.
------
maxxxxx
I still don't understand how PDF could become one of the standards for
publishing documents. Well structured content gets converted into PDF which
loses most of that structure. And then a lot of work is done to guess that
structure from PDF and convert it back to a better file format. It just shows
that successful solutions don't have to be technically good.
~~~
userbinator
The keyword is "publishing" \--- as in, producing human-readable physical
copies, not electronic ones. It just so happens that the format was relatively
suitable for the latter too (because it actually looks like a printed document
rendered on the screen --- unlike HTML or other formats around at the time),
which is why that use-case became popular. PDF is basically a descendant of
PostScript, which was designed to control printers.
(Its PostScript origins may also explain the bizarre mix of text and binary
that constitute the file format. For example, page contents are in a
relatively free-form PostScript-ish RPN-like textual language, but are found
in "content streams" which may be compressed or encoded into a binary format.
Data "object" structures include things like '<<'-delimited dictionaries, '['
arrays ']', textual "/Names", and even provisions for comments(!?).
Then there are things like the cross-reference table of all objects in the
file, which is an array of fixed-width _textual numbers_ representing file
offsets, e.g. "0000001056 00000 n" refers to something 1056 bytes from the
start of the file. Reactions of _WTF!?_ from those working with the format for
the first time are not uncommon.)
~~~
amenghra
Minimal PDF explained:
[https://brendanzagaeski.appspot.com/0004.html](https://brendanzagaeski.appspot.com/0004.html)
------
beager
Very neat, and gets me curious about PDFBox, but every time I see something
that converts a consistent-layout PDF back to structured data, I just bemoan
the fact that this would all be trivial with an API for these kinds of things.
------
0x445442
Great job!
I was just looking at collecting race information and historical results data
a month or two ago and was struck by the lack of available structured data.
Heck, I couldn't easily find any for pay options either.
------
Cyph0n
Firstly, what an interesting library. Secondly, this is among the best TLDR
readmes I've ever seen! I lack exposure to this area, so I'm actually quite
impressed with the complexity of it.
Keep up the great work.
------
richiverse
As a python programmer, I found R's pdftools to be indispensable for messy
text based PDFs. I couldn't find a python lib that worked as consistently
across variously different formats.
~~~
tunaoftheland
I came across
[https://github.com/pdfminer/pdfminer.six](https://github.com/pdfminer/pdfminer.six)
recently and was impressed with what it could get done. The documentation can
be challenging to parse, so I relied on a code sample from a StackOverflow
answer. Have you had a chance to try it out? Curious about how/if it works
well across platforms.
------
hbcondo714
Impressive! Seems like you can't just use PDFBox out of the box (no pun
intended) and need to write some custom code specific to the PDF itself per
the chart-parser commits[1]
[1] [https://github.com/robinhowlett/chart-
parser/tree/master/src...](https://github.com/robinhowlett/chart-
parser/tree/master/src/main/java/com/robinhowlett/chartparser)
~~~
robinhowlett
Author here; well, PDFBox is good for simple text stripping. If I wanted to
print all the text on the PDF, that would be very straightforward and not much
code. However, the PDF chart here is in essence a representation of structured
data. I wanted to get the content in that format so that I could both
serialize to JSON plus have an SDK to boot.
------
JabavuAdams
Crazy! I was just looking in to this topic a few weeks ago, for a friend.
Thanks!
------
vbuwivbiu
what I would love is an app that would reformat portrait PDFs as 2-column
landscape for reading on my screen
~~~
mpweiher
Most PDF viewers I am aware of (including my own, PostView) have 2 up modes,
are those not sufficient?
~~~
vbuwivbiu
that's still presenting the pages in portrait orientation. I want the pages to
be landscape and for the text to flow in at least 2 columns.
~~~
sk5t
PDF is used primarily for pre-paginated media and does not reflow text; if the
PDF author wanted the pages in landscape orientation, or using some other
paper dimensions, he would have specified that. Same goes for margins and the
like.
~~~
grogenaut
Doesn't mean the author isn't wrong for my reading situation... Or isn't doing
it just cause everyone else is.
~~~
userbinator
I think what the parent is trying to say is that PDF is not like HTML or text
or other formats where the viewer is primarily responsible for a lot of the
formatting --- in fact, a PDF page contains not much more than primitive
instructions of the form "move to X, Y"; "set font to F"; "draw text 'Some
text here'" (some pathological cases issue individual moves and draws _for
each character_ ) --- so expecting all PDF viewers to be able to somehow
"reverse-engineer" or "decompile" that set of low-level drawing instructions
into more semantic entities like lines of text or even words in order to
reformat the text is a little too much.
Anyone who has tried selecting text from a two-column PDF page will also
quickly realise the nature of the problem.
~~~
grogenaut
I totally get that; however since these days a standard sheet of papers is no
longer the main reading mechanism... I'm not sure it's the best layout for
reading. My brother is a PhD and reads papers all day. He hates the two column
format and paid for a reflowing reader. PDF is terrible on screens with
different ratios than paper... Eg good computers and mobile. As I get older I
use my plethora of giant screens to crank the fonts way up and sit back
relaxed. PDF is terrible in that situation.
Just a thought... Maybe highly formatted PDFs for paper print shouldn't be the
standard anymore. Eg my original point.
------
ocrimgproc
Can it be used for invoices?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Millionaire John McAfee Arrested in Dominican Republic - wslh
https://news.yahoo.com/millionaire-john-mcafee-arrested-dominican-232017508.html
======
lostgame
'They were suspected of traveling on a yacht carrying high-caliber weapons,
ammunition and military-style gear, officials said.'
This sounds entirely about right. For those who aren't aware, John McAffe is a
_strange_ character [1] known for his paranoia and penchant for illegal
weapons.
On a humorous note, when asked if he still used McAffe antivirus, he stated
'it's annoying. I took it off.'[2]
For some excellent entertainment, grab some popcorn and read his bizarre WIRED
interview: [https://www.wired.com/2012/12/ff-john-mcafees-last-
stand/](https://www.wired.com/2012/12/ff-john-mcafees-last-stand/)
[1]
[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaand...](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/belize/9681177/John-
Mcafee-is-bonkers-says-Belize-prime-minister.html)
[2]
[http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/fcc5bdda-3f36-11e2-a095-00144feabd...](http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/fcc5bdda-3f36-11e2-a095-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2EZ3tRjaS)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: A Collection of Stories About People Who Landed Their Dream Tech Job - sciencewolf
https://algodaily.com/stories
======
sciencewolf
This is a collection of stories about folks who got their dream job. When I
was looking to break into tech, I found it was really useful to talk to people
who were in the field, and learn how they broke in. They usually had nuggets
of advice that would help with the process-- whether it be about interviewing,
searching, networking, or negotiating.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Entrepreneurs in America: Who creates jobs? - ActVen
http://www.economist.com/news/business/21577106-immigrants-do-who-creates-jobs?fsrc=scn/tw_ec/who_creates_jobs_
======
makmanalp
This comes in time with the whole debacle of the H-1B lottery being triggered
this year due to too many people applying within 5 days of the quota period,
overflowing the 85k yearly quota by almost twice.
I've written about this before, and I like to impress upon you yet again that
the majority of H-1Bs are taken by outsourcing / consulting companies that you
might not have heard of, like WiPro, InfoSys, Satyam, Tata, Deloitte, Patni,
which contribute the least to innovation, in my humble opinion.
Second in line is Microsoft, Google, et al. and the smallest group by far are
startups and small businesses, which innovate the most and create the most
jobs for the US.
Why not make work visas easier to get for small companies but limit visas per
company? That'll make sure companies pick correctly and only people they need.
Or maybe make it much more expensive. There is currently an additional (around
2k/appl iirc) cost for having too many H-1Bs, but it's not enough. The visa
system heavily favours larger companies, because it was created and lobbied by
them.
More details: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5515519>
....
Besides, if you're worried about foreigners driving salaries down, you should
quit targeting the H-1B which has a legitimate prevailing wage requirement
(and we can argue for days whether the DOL does a good job of deciding what
prevailing is, and I'll say it does, but that's a different issue).
The L-1 visa for employees of multinationals has almost as many people
entering the country per year, but has NO prevailing wage requirements. Yup, I
can bring in a person from another country and pay them federal minimum wage
to be an engineer.
...
My opinion on calls to end the H-1B used to be pretty negative but maybe we do
need a startup visa. My problem with the startup visa is that it's pushed by
VCs and favours that model heavily. Want to bootstrap? Want to raise angel
investment for a year or two? Good luck.
In any case, the US has a labour force of 150 million. We're talking about 85k
a year.
Could we agree that letting small / medium businesses hire a reasonable number
of H-1Bs easily would not demolish the the US economy or significantly? Let
the cap be for the large ones.
~~~
loumf
They will drive salaries down by simple supply/demand (but that's not a reason
to not to do it -- just like increasing the number of engineering graduates is
a good idea regardless of wage effects).
Totally agreed on the cap for large companies and not small ones. There is a
lot of precedent for small companies having different rules, and this is one
where being small is a huge disadvantage.
In my case, it's because I might hire one H-1B in a year and can't take the
risk that I will lose them to a lottery. A company hiring 100 can risk losing
a % of that.
------
isalmon
One thing that a lot of people don't realize is how hard it is to start a
company being on H-1b visa. It's almost impossible. I actually agree that
"Immigrants overwhelmingly enter the labor market and drive down wages". I had
to work for 4 years, taking less-than-market salary before I got lucky and got
my Green Card. Next day I started a company and now I create jobs.
We need visas for entrepreneurs, we don't need more H-1b's
~~~
orangethirty
Before visas for entrepreneurs, how about we dal with the issues the locals
have? Like health insurance and laws that favor tax breaks for bootstrappers
and incubators. Nothing against foreigners, but more people dont fix anything
if laws are not aligned for the benefit and interests of those involved.
------
john_w_t_b
The government should auction the H1B visas to the highest bidder. This would
encourage high value immigration. They could set a price floor of $100k to
discourage low wage employers. They should also set a minimum salary for H1B
holders of $100k.
There is already a visa for investors creating jobs so that is covered.
~~~
rayiner
That's actually a brilliant way to handle immigration.
Compute how many slots are available, based on national concerns (mostly, how
many people can you easily integrate and naturalize per year). Then, auction
off the slots to the highest bidder, and have a short-track naturalization
process for the winners.
~~~
HarryHirsch
When you auction off the available slots you can be reasonably sure that the
auction will benefit the winners (if self-sponsored) or the sponsors (if this
is an H1B-style visa). But it may not be in the best interest of the nation as
a whole. I note that most every other high-immigration country (Australia, New
Zealand, Canada, Britain) has a point system.
------
volandovengo
If you only want job creators to come to the country - how about just creating
a visa to only allow that. On this visa, you can come to the US to consult,
open a barber shop, found a startup, etc but you cannot work for anyone else.
~~~
tptacek
A consulting visa would set up perverse incentives between employers and
"consultants"; I don't see what the public policy difference is between
someone working W-2 and someone working 1099, except that in the 1099 case the
employer has an excuse not to pay FICA or offer health insurance.
A problem with startup visas is that nobody knows what a viable startup is,
and countries have a strong incentive not to offer long-term residency to
people who can't support themselves. So what we have to go on instead are
proposals like "we'll allow you in if you're sponsored by a qualified venture
capitalist", which creates it own set of perverse incentives.
~~~
loumf
All things being equal, public policy usually prefers employer-employee
relationships over 1099. Tax collection is more sure, worker's comp and
unemployment get paid (and the individual is covered), etc.
Probably the best way to deal with "startup visa" is to instead have a small-
business visa. Small-business already has an understood (to the government)
meaning, and there's already a lot of examples of slightly different rules for
them.
------
codex
Job creation is the wrong metric. One could employ a million people digging
ditches and then filling them up again, and ultimately nothing will have been
accomplished save for some wealth redistribution.
Wealth creation is the key metric. While harder to measure, it's what actually
moves society forward.
~~~
justin66
> One could employ a million people digging ditches and then filling them up
> again, and ultimately nothing will have been accomplished save for some
> wealth redistribution.
This is kind of obviously wrong. Just substitute "entertainment" for the ditch
digging and it should become apparent why. Those people might have made their
money in a silly way, but much of it will be spent, and that is important.
~~~
jerf
Wealth is goods and services people want. People want entertainment. People do
not want ditches dug, then filled in again. Entertainers are generating
wealth; a soft, fuzzy sort of wealth centered on meeting needs very high up
the Maslow hierarchy, but wealth nonetheless, a luxury good. The ditch diggers
and fillers are not.
~~~
justin66
I think the key thing (arguing the nuance re: wealth is hugely boring and
unimportant) is that codex was arguing about "what actually moves society
forward." His hypothetical ditch-diggers, unless they BURN the money they
earn, will end up moving things forward when they spend their money.
(unless we're talking about a hypothetical society consisting entirely of
hypothetical ditch diggers. again, boring)
~~~
jerf
No, that's looking at the wrong place. Yes, the ditch diggers may make money
and that may go on to generate wealth, but at the point where we're _paying_
the ditch diggers, we're burning wealth. We could either have gotten something
for that money, or nothing, and we chose nothing. There's opportunity cost
there. Quite significant, in fact.
A lot of people make this mistake, including the government and even it seems
to me many economists, always looking to the _next_ transaction and failing to
think about _this_ one. But _this_ one is the one that counts right now. The
mere fact that the dollar wasn't "destroyed" doesn't mean that it did anything
_good_ , and it certainly could have.
~~~
justin66
There's a discussion to be had about the "velocity of money" but this isn't
really the place for it. The point is that if an economy is hydrolocked and
nobody is spending, "throwing away" money can benefit everyone if it unlocks
things.
------
rayiner
I always find "who creates jobs" comments silly. Consumer demand is what
creates jobs.
~~~
mhuffman
maybe...maybe not, depending on who you ask and how you look at it.
example: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Century_of_the_Self>
------
protomyth
Regardless of truth of the article, it looks like immigration reform is going
to continue to be delayed. The whole "$100,000 in welfare then blow people up"
message is going to take a lot of positive to overcome. It is possible to
lobby past the event, but there doesn't seem to be a group willing to do that.
~~~
sskates
The Economist article cited two groups that are lobbying to fix this- Innovate
for America and FWD.us.
~~~
protomyth
They don't seem to have the muscle to overcome the crisis. Neither has done
the advertising to locals to push through a bill. They are not putting the
money into the local markets to really count as a push.
------
enraged_camel
I'm a current H1B holder. I would quit my current job and start a company if
my visa status allowed me.
I've been working for over 4 years. As things stand, I have to wait for
another ~5 years before I get my green card and start adding jobs to the
economy. And that's assuming the US government does not delay it by making me
jump through various hoops like they did with my H1B application.
~~~
volandovengo
Apparently there were some recent changed to the H1B which actually allow
people on this visa to start their own companies. you should look into it.
------
minussohn
Sorry, all people living in the US are immigrants.
~~~
thirsteh
Then all people living on Earth are immigrants from East Africa.
~~~
MisterBastahrd
I think you need to look up the definition of "immigrant." You clearly do not
understand what it means.
~~~
thirsteh
> I think you need to look up the definition of "immigrant." You clearly do
> not understand what it means.
Read the comment I replied to, whiz.
------
13b9f227ecf0
What percentage of immigrants start innovative businesses? I think it's
negligible. Immigrants overwhelmingly enter the labor market and drive down
wages.
[http://cis.org/immigration-and-the-american-worker-review-
ac...](http://cis.org/immigration-and-the-american-worker-review-academic-
literature)
~~~
mrb
The percentage of immigrants who start businesses is higher than the
percentage of americans who start businesses.
Here is a data point: 40 Percent of Fortune 500 Companies Founded by
Immigrants or Their Children:
[http://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2011/06/19/40-per...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2011/06/19/40-percent-
of-fortune-500-companies-founded-by-immigrants-or-their-children/) And because
immigrants represent a minority of the people in america (12.6% as of 2007
[1]; and when adding their children this is likely still less than 40%), we
can deduct they create more businesses per capita than americans.
[1]
[http://books.google.com/books?id=aaimTNHDzZYC&pg=PA32...](http://books.google.com/books?id=aaimTNHDzZYC&pg=PA32&dq&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false)
~~~
13b9f227ecf0
Business creation is not a particularly useful metric. Note that I qualified
with "innovative." That there are more restaurants and more people have their
lawn professionally landscaped rather than cutting it themselves doesn't
really create an argument for immigration.
The Fortune 500 stat smells pretty slippery and cherry picked. I mean, one co-
founder had one parent born overseas and the company is counted as immigrant
founded? This is meaningful? The vast majority of major companies were
probably also founded by people who grew up in major urban centers. Immigrants
are disproportionately likely to live in major cities. What happens when you
control for that? I cast aspersions.
The link I provided is actually fairly rigorous in describing the effect of
immigration as it is currently practiced in the USA: It drives down the wages
of low earners and increases profits to the economic elite. It's probably a
wash for the bulk of the middle class when measured in purely financial terms,
but that ignores various psychic and ecological impacts. Did you know that
current immigration rates projected out result in a USA population of over 600
million by the end of the century? Is it not obviously insane and ecologically
criminal to allow that level of over population?
~~~
mrb
_"Business creation is not a particularly useful metric"_
Business creation is wealth creation. It is job creation. It is everything to
the american economy.
_"I mean, one co-founder had one parent born overseas and the company is
counted as immigrant founded"_
No it is not counted as immigrant-founded. The point of this statistic is to
show that immigration has a positive effect on business creation. In other
words, had the parent never immigrated, the child would not have founded a
business (created wealth) in the USA.
I think the same is true in reverse: americans who emigrate are probably
creating more businesses in countries they emigrate to, than citizens of these
countries. Immigrants are risk-takers who want to take control of their
working lives.
~~~
13b9f227ecf0
> Business creation is wealth creation. It is job creation. It is everything
> to the american economy.
Most new businesses are small businesses. The jobs associated with small
business are significantly worse than those associated with larger business.
You are oversimplifying this.
~~~
mrb
Are you saying the average immigrant founder creates small businesses of
inferior quality than the average business?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Shellac: extend Chrome with unix shell commands - sigil
https://github.com/acg/shellac
======
sid0
Wow, the way you're doing it seems really convoluted. I wonder if using an
NPAPI plugin would be easier? I know this would be tons easier as a Firefox
extension.
~~~
sigil
> I wonder if using an NPAPI plugin would be easier? I know this would be tons
> easier as a Firefox extension.
I'm not so sure about that, when the NPAPI [1] hello world example [2] is 224
lines of C just by itself.
By contrast, Shellac does everything that it does in 50 lines of Python and
120 lines of js. The extension is structured like any other web app -- some
client side js calls a server side scripting language, which most people will
be more comfortable messing with.
[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPAPI>
[2]
[http://git.webvm.net/?p=npsimple;a=blob;f=npsimple.c;h=205c7...](http://git.webvm.net/?p=npsimple;a=blob;f=npsimple.c;h=205c7c3a0cfa29277fcad450c682d29b4cf52b79;hb=master)
~~~
sid0
I meant less convoluted for the user. :)
It really sucks that there's no way to do native extensions in Chrome other
than the NPAPI hack. Even an equivalent to Firefox's js-ctypes would be
awesome.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Is it unethical to make a business derived from inside joke with friend - wafflez180
I’m starting a business which the idea was derived from an inside joke between my friend and I. The joke mentioned an imaginary product, but we never considered to take it seriously. Half a year later, I haven’t spoken to him in months, and at a hackathon I decided why not work on the idea. Is it unethical to not include him in the business?<p>I want to work on it alone because I don’t need help to execute with this idea.
======
piocho
If he is a really good friend, I suppose he won't care at all.
------
c3534l
Yeah, it's fine.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Adi.js - mariusbalaj
https://github.com/balajmarius/Adi.js
======
skrowl
This is broken.
Going to
[http://mariusbalaj.com/dev/Adi.js/](http://mariusbalaj.com/dev/Adi.js/) in
Win 10 / Firefox 43 (dev ed / aurora) + uBlock Origin 1.2.1 + all 3rd party
filters clicked other than multipurpose & easylist w/o element hiding rules =
You cool, G.
------
dvh
If I understand it correctly, adblock blocks any file named "advertisement.js"
where it set foo='bar', thus is foo!='bar' it must have been blocked, the rest
is glorified alert function.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
RocketChat: Slack-like online chat, built with Meteor - sachalep
https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat
======
primigenus
Funnily enough there are actually multiple Slack-like chat app projects
underway in the Meteor community. I guess building a chat app is the new
building a todo list app?
Yesterday at Meteor's main meetup Devshop this was presented:
[http://spacetalkapp.com/](http://spacetalkapp.com/) and the speaker mentioned
that there's a big community effort underway to keep improving it.
Let's see which one wins the race :)
~~~
whoiskevin
I think chat apps are the new todo list app. Everyone is building one and
frankly they are all boring and don't offer anything significant.
~~~
oldpond
I tend to agree. Instant messaging seems to be dying out in the workplace. I
used to find it a highly effective mode of collaboration, especially in large
enterprises. Small shops seem to leave it off the list. We cranked up Slack
for my team of 15 devs, but since we are co-located it didn't add any value. I
guess if you were trying to make a buck off the cloud an IRC SaaS solution
might look like a good idea. I don't think Freenode has to worry. :)
------
decaprime
I've been building
[https://github.com/mattfeldman/nullchat](https://github.com/mattfeldman/nullchat),
a meteor chat application as part of a commit-a-day pledge of working with
meteor.
I think the reason there are a few of these popping up is that it's a lot of
fun to build a chat application with meteor. I never intended to be a 'clone'
of slack as as much as rocketchat or spacetalk.
I've been running it for a small group (~10 active daily users) for about 6
months - it has more social features like rich embeds, mentions,
notifications, sms gateway, giphy search etc.
Demo Instance: [http://nullchat.space](http://nullchat.space)
~~~
marceloschmidt
Would you be willing to join efforts with Rocket.Chat? There's a lot of neat
stuff on nullchat that could be really useful there.
------
zaargy
So you set this up and you use it for a few hours and everyone on your team is
like hey this is kinda cool.
* a month or so passes *
Now everyone is invested in the tool and since the expectations have been set
by things like Slack they expect integrations to work flawlessly, search to be
infinitely fast, 99% uptime, Google OpenID authentication, and a slew of other
features and before you know it you have someone spending two hours out of
every day keeping it running.
As a personal project for kicks? Sure it's cool. Would I let me company run
it? Hell no!
~~~
cuddlybacon
What if you can't run slack because your company doesn't allow chat services
that are externally hosted?
EDIT: This seems like something that never gets brought up in any discussion
of Slack. No company I have worked for would have allowed an externally hosted
chat service. Have I just been unlucky, or is it just the people in my
situation never speak up?
~~~
icelancer
Unlucky. We used Slack at the last three companies I worked for.
~~~
danielsamuels
You can't be a very loyal employee given that Slack has been out for less than
2 years.
~~~
icelancer
I'm not. I'm a consultant.
------
broabprobe
Another sweet new open soruce Slack alternative is Friends,
[https://github.com/moose-team/friends](https://github.com/moose-team/friends)
~~~
hobarrera
There's also letschat: [http://sdelements.github.io/lets-
chat/](http://sdelements.github.io/lets-chat/)
Dunno why people tend to flock over to the propietary option though. :(
~~~
aroch
> people tend to flock over to the propietary option
Because it Just Works(tm) and there's no fiddling or faffing about necessary.
I'm all for [FL]OSS applications, but sometimes proprietary solutions, even if
they do the same task, are just easier to use and integrate (both technically
and bureaucratically)
~~~
ocdtrekkie
In the case of something like Slack though, there's a huge business risk:
Storing your confidential internal discussions with a random startup of
questionable security practice.
~~~
aroch
True, but it also gives you an out if customer data is breached. You, with
good faith, contracted a thirdparty to manage and secure your data. If you run
your own Letschat and some exploit is found that dumps your chat db,
you're/your company is on the hook.
FWIW, I don't and likely will never use or promote Slack for intracompany
chat.
~~~
lez
The opposite. If you install opensource software on you own servers, and make
it available only for your company's intranet, you are perfectly safe from
outside attackers. Proprietary software can also exploited or they can just
sell your data for bucks, when they are about to bankrupt.
~~~
ocdtrekkie
Unless someone compromises your intranet as a whole.
------
scotty79
The fact Slack is a thing is evidence of how horrible dominant IM companies
are at their business.
~~~
yebyen
Dominant IM companies are a thing?
I know this is serious, but maybe I misread your intention. The thing that
makes Slack greater than all of the dominant IMs is that IM is their whole
business.
Everyone else is busy "improving" gmail if you're Google, or monetizing
voip/video chat, or (whatever it is that SalesForce does besides Chattr),
meanwhile Slack is just chat, and whatever else you expected chat to
encompass.
~~~
scotty79
> Everyone else is busy "improving" gmail if you're Google, or monetizing
> voip/video chat
Yes. Instead of improving, they do voice, video, profile pages, silly pictures
replacing your text and all that crap.
The only actual innovation I've seen to IM is ability to edit your last
message.
Last people that tried to improve the actual IM chat were Google Wave but it
crashed and burned because they fixated on everybody seeing as what everybody
is writing when they write it (which was something nobody wanted).
Today, almost 20 years after ICQ people default to Skype even though it's
closed crap for that purpose.
Any IM company that had some users had potential to become twitter or even
facebook, but instead someone fresh came and stolen their lunch while they
were playing with crappy voice and sponsored news feeds while accumulating
bloat on their software.
------
thekevan
There's a link to an "online demo" but then it asks for your login info or for
you to register. That isn't really a demo then, is it?
~~~
morganvachon
That's the brick wall I hit too. I'm not giving them my email address for a
demo, and I'm not logging in with a social media service.
I suppose I could download it myself and try it out that way, but that's a ton
of effort for something I may not even want in the end.
Rocket.Chat devs, if you're listening, please provide a way to demo the
program without giving up real information.
~~~
Drdrdrq
Agreed. If you still want to use it however just enter
[email protected] and then check the mail at
[http://somerandomstring.mailcatch.com/](http://somerandomstring.mailcatch.com/).
Very useful when you want to bypass such useless logins, just know that the
mail is public.
~~~
morganvachon
Thanks, I didn't want to deal with one of those mailinator-type accounts but
this is even easier. Adding it to my "cool tools" bin. :)
------
joeyspn
One of the devs said yesterday that API integrations are coming soon. After
this, replacing Meteor's Blaze for something like React could make this a
serious slack alternative...
~~~
akhatri_aus
What specifically would a user notice with the difference between Blaze and
React? I get react is a bit faster under the hood. Its not something that
would make this a 'serious' alternative?
~~~
jbhatab
I'm an avid react user and I completely agree. It wouldn't make it a 'serious'
alternative just from that, although I would always love to see react used :).
------
sotoer
Not sure if this is related [https://scotch.io/tutorials/building-a-slack-
clone-in-meteor...](https://scotch.io/tutorials/building-a-slack-clone-in-
meteor-js-getting-started)
------
pwenzel
One of the useful parts of Slack is push-notifications to my mobile device
when I'm away (and only for things I opt in to).
Do any of these new-fangled open source Slack alternatives offer notifications
for people on the go?
~~~
rafaelks
It's planned. You can see whatever is planned or not in GitHub issues. Also,
you can create some feature request there or either contribute with something.
[https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat/issues](https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat/issues).
------
cstrat
Pretty amazing effort, very clean UI and works flawlessly so far...
------
filipedeschamps
Parabéns pessoal pelo projeto! Pelo que vi, todos são brasileiros, isto é
muito legal :)
\--English-- Congratulations guys for the project! From what I saw, you're all
Brazilians, this is very cool :)
------
Dowwie
I can't seem to find a Meteor-built IRC client but maybe I'm not looking hard
enough. Is there one? Why not combine the strengths of Meteor with IRC?
------
Omnipresent
_Offtopic_
What are some resources for getting started with meteor. Being able to build a
chat apps like these seems powerful.
~~~
toddkaufmann
Go to [https://www.meteor.com/](https://www.meteor.com/) and Start tutorial.
After installed you can go through the tutorial in an hour or two depending
how deep you go, and it comes with a number of examples (show with "meteor
create --list").
Discover Meteor has some more; they were giving their book away (see
[https://www.discovermeteor.com/blog/we-made-our-book-
free/](https://www.discovermeteor.com/blog/we-made-our-book-free/) \-- first 4
chapters are free).
That may be enough for the basics. Then look at telescope, or one of the chat
apps listed here or search on github. Also plenty of conference talks on
youtube.
------
spotman
Does the demo work for anyone? Would like to check it out, but does not load,
just hangs.
~~~
spotman
It loads now. However, can't login as it demands an email. For something like
a demo, this seems a little overkill.
For something I might host for my employees or people I intend on
collaborating with I guess it makes sense.
------
BYWallace
Seems like it's down/not responding? Unable to get in at the moment.
------
rekoros
With all the self-hosted options, how do mobile push notifications work?
------
ywecur
Are mobile apps planned?
~~~
petejodo
this. I've been looking for something to replace facebook messenger to use
with my friends. Whatever it is, it would need mobile push notifications.
Currently I'm using tinfoil facebook so not getting push messages causes me to
miss long portions of conversations in my group chat and I don't want to just
use another service, I'd rather host it
~~~
jdhawk
Whats wrong with Telegram?
[https://telegram.org/](https://telegram.org/)
edit: just saw where you want to host it...
~~~
aw3c2
questionable crypto, by that questionable ethics, not fully open source
------
technicalfault
I guess improving XMPP isn't as cool as building something brand new?
~~~
Karunamon
XMPP is XML-based, noisy, and just plain annoying to deal with. There's only
so much polish that can be applied to a turd...
~~~
9point6
Are there any sensible, albeit less popular, modern equivalents to XMPP?
~~~
Sir_Cmpwn
IRC is better and actually more popular. IRC solved the problem of instant
messaging over 20 years ago, and solved it very well. This is a problem that
everyone and their mother attempts to re-solve and they always end up with a
solution that's inferior to IRC. Just deploy an IRC server folks!
~~~
scott_karana
IRC solved basic communication, but the necessity of bots for things like
authentication for usernames, logging, and retaining permissions are inelegant
kludges, in my opinion. If XMPP has problems, so does IRC.
~~~
Sir_Cmpwn
I don't think it'd be very difficult to set up some sort of web UI for account
creation, combined with existing in-client features for usernames/passwords.
That'd be more worthwhile than building a new solution from scratch.
IRC has advantages over XMPP by having a much wider variety of clients and the
fact that you can create your own integrations for things like build
automation in a very short period of time thanks to the simple text-based
protocol.
~~~
scott_karana
Yeah, I agree with you. Some autocracy and curation could really make a nice
ircd + bot + UI set of utilities.
------
patton01
Why wouldn't I just use slack?
~~~
mod
It's not free, it's not controlled by you.
------
idibidiart
could not register: "Please Wait..." for 5 minutes and counting
~~~
uxwtf
Same for me, demo registration doesn't respond
~~~
marceloschmidt
It's working now.
~~~
shampine
Not for me, I was able to get to the confirmation email, now it is just stuck
in a loop.
~~~
engelgabriel
Sorry guys.. this was just our development server.. we were planning to
release it in 3 weeks time :)
~~~
shampine
No worries, I guess I'll try again in 3 weeks. :)
------
meira
Gorgeous!
------
qwdsacxz
test
------
beams_of_light
2 questions:
What is Slack?
What is Meteor?
~~~
steveklabnik
1\. a hosted chat service with an UX people really like.
[https://slack.com/](https://slack.com/)
2\. A framework for writing realtime JavaScript applications.
[https://www.meteor.com/](https://www.meteor.com/)
------
kordless
I did a containerized deployment for the project:
[https://github.com/giantswarm/swarm-
rocket](https://github.com/giantswarm/swarm-rocket). Still has some issues
that need to be resolved, including configuring the mail server, long build
time, and a handful of other issues. If someone finds it useful, let me know!
~~~
engelgabriel
how can i help you to get that working? can we add it to our repo?
~~~
kordless
Howdy! You can email me or ping me on Twitter or my email is {{my_handle_
here}}@giantswarm.io. Twitter same.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A 2001 Quote From Sergey Brin Explains Duckduckgo's Popularity - tenpoundhammer
http://www.tenpoundhammer.com/2012/02/2001-quote-from-sergey-brin-explains.html
======
farlington
It's really tough to switch search engines when Google's results are so good
the majority of the time. The crux of the problem is that you have to choose.
It's more arduous to navigate to a different search engine than it is to
repeatedly tweak your query until you get the results you want.
You really shouldn't have to choose search engines though. It'd be great to
have the option of seeing results from multiple search engines on the same
query, maybe in like split frames, it'd save so much time. I should get
started on writing a Chrome extension.
~~~
DanBC
Have you seen "Blindsearch"?
(<http://blindsearch.fejus.com/>)
~~~
farlington
No, and thank you, that's totally cool. It kind of illustrates the value of
having an extension that does this with omnibox queries. Without the 'blind
test' aspect, obviously.
------
blktiger
I think many of the DDG search results are not very good, but when that
happens I just put !g in front of the query to search google instead. Other
search results are pretty awesome.
~~~
mlwarren
The DDG !Bang feature is the reason I like to use DDG. I have it as my default
search engine in Chrome and I can search just about anything without having to
first load a site, enter my query, and click search. I just pop open a tab and
write one simple, concise query. Using DDG as sort of a "search portal" is
where I find the most value.
For reference, the !Bang list is very large. <http://duckduckgo.com/bang.html>
------
suking
No one uses DDG - they must have hired a PR firm to get some BS stories
planted. their results are pretty terrible for the few tests I did the last
time their PR firm got something on HN.
~~~
tenpoundhammer
I wrote this blog post, I'm not from a PR firm or paid by a PR firm. I have
been using ddg exclusively for a few days and really enjoy it.
Not everyone's use cases are the same, but for my normal everyday use it has
had excellent results.
~~~
suking
Complete linkbait piece then, b/c DDG is anything but popular.
~~~
tenpoundhammer
Seriously?
There have been several posts about it, recently, right here on hacker news,
John Gruber mentioned it in his podcast the Talk show, and it was also named
one of Time's best 50 Websites of 2011
[http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29...](http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2087815,00.html)
How is that not popular?
~~~
suking
Been around a long time, never caught on. Their traffic #s from compete are a
joke, even if they were off by a magnitude - still shows they are stale. They
should try something different than competing with google.
~~~
epi0Bauqu
Hey, please email me at [email protected] if you don't mind -- I'm the
founder. I'm interested why you're so negative on us. Here are our real
traffic #s btw: <https://duckduckgo.com/traffic.html>
~~~
AznHisoka
I got a question: is there a way to increase the number of default results
returned to a higher number?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Automatic Deployment via git - pwim
http://blog.mobalean.com/2009/02/06/automatic-deployment-via-git
======
ryanmahoski
Yep git rocks and I think yours is a useful recipe. For my needs I prefer
herokugarden to running my own server. Cname with them was a snap plus
everything is free and if the need arises I can upgrade to heroku (rejiggered,
currently in private beta). One thing that had me concerned at first was that
I'd be stuck with a banner ad at the bottom of every page - but that's just
their config/.yml scaffolding. Also their text editor is beautiful but I find
I don't use it, for me TextMate and git gitter done. Their post yesterday on
the future of deployment I thought was prescient:
[http://blog.heroku.com/archives/2009/2/6/future_of_deploymen...](http://blog.heroku.com/archives/2009/2/6/future_of_deployment/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
XDA summary of the answers from Android's team AMA on Reddit - pjmlp
http://www.xda-developers.com/heres-everything-we-learned-from-the-android-nougat-ama/
======
mdaniel
I think the post title would be clearer if written as "XDA summary of ...". If
there is a better mechanism to offer this suggestion, please do let me know.
~~~
pjmlp
Thanks for the hint. Updated.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Green Building Goals and Security Initiatives Can Find Common Ground - stakent
http://www.facilitiesnet.com/security/article/Green-Building-Goals-and-Security-Initiatives-Can-Find-Common-Ground--11349
======
stakent
Found via
[http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/01/security_vs_su...](http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/01/security_vs_sus.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Recursive PNG Generator - sagebird
http://algoind.com/PNG-Gen.html
======
scarredwaits
Lego!
define q (4 times)
qq
, ,
, ,
q, ,q
,,
------
sagebird
I created this website.
The thing I am exploring is recursively expanding a rectangular region.
The area on the left allows you to enter text that defines an image. If I
wanted to define a tower, I might start by typing:
define tower
x
x
xxx
xxx xxx
The x's get treated as black pixels, and the spaces are transparent.
The image is saved to a variable taken from the first letter of the word. So
for tower, it is 't'
That allows you define something else in terms of towers. For example, a city:
define tower
x
x
xxx
xxx xxx
define city
ttt
(That would create 'tower' and a 'city' with three towers)
By itself, that is not very interesting. Slightly more interesting is allowing
recursion in a definition.
That is done by following a definition by parens, and saying how many times to
recur.
EG:
define tower(6 times)
For this to be work, tower must be defined in terms of itself. So instead
defining a tower entirely in terms of x, you can put some t's inside, so it
will recursively expand.
define tower(6 times)
x
t
xtx
xxx xxx
There are many limitations to this implementation. \- It is easy to define a
scene that crashes the browser. \- It can get annoying using keeping track of
single letter variable names \- recursion is limited to 9 times.
It was in Haxe and compiled to JS. It is not efficient or performant. It is
entirely computed client side in JS. PNGs images are base64 encoded, and can
be downloaded and saved.
Thanks for taking a look.
~~~
meemoo
I love tiny editors like this. I spent hours exploring a js1k project that
rendered l-systems.
define x (5 times)
x x
, ,
,
, ,
x x
One feature request: zip the code into the url, then it's easy to share w/o a
server. Can be done like: compress [string to zip to
b64]([https://github.com/the-grid/ed-
userhtml/blob/5a8c88051a72706...](https://github.com/the-grid/ed-
userhtml/blob/5a8c88051a727069b4a8c8c334f792054735e93f/src/edit.js#L26-L31)),
decompress [b64 to unzip to string]([https://github.com/the-grid/ed-
userhtml/blob/5a8c88051a72706...](https://github.com/the-grid/ed-
userhtml/blob/5a8c88051a727069b4a8c8c334f792054735e93f/src/index.js#L11-L15)).
------
azeirah
This is some really cool stuff O_o
what would really help if generated images are cached, as well as a debounce
or a "run" button for when I'm typing in new images and old ones are getting
regenerated on every keypress, that is kind of really very annoying.
------
sladix
Great toy ! I'll probably waste some time trying to display some crazy sh*t =D
~~~
sladix
I had fun creating a "town" with this code :
[http://pastebin.com/kuBYTSqP](http://pastebin.com/kuBYTSqP)
~~~
izietto
lol xD good job!
------
sova
Reminds me of Wolfram's "A New Kind of Science"
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
CrunchFund, Angels Back Flowdock, A Group Chat Application For Teams - mutru
http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/09/crunchfund-angels-back-flowdock-a-group-chat-application-for-teams/
======
tseabrooks
I don't think I get it. Signed up for a trial and I'm playing with it. But for
me it feels like something that is about 10% as awesome as Google Wave..
Though no one seems to like Google Wave it's probably my second most used
google service after mail.
Edit: I guess the github/kiln/other service integration is the good parts
~~~
mutru
Thank you for your feedback! Indeed, without the integrations Flowdock is just
a group chat - although most teams still need one.
When you bring in activity from GitHub, Pivotal Tracker, JIRA, emails and all
your other tools, you'll get to react to anything in seconds.
------
juriga
Congrats guys! I really like how Flowdock is frequently updated with features
that the users really need. Keep up the great work!
------
kristajessica
I've used Flowdock for several projects and found it useful tool for working
with a distributed team. Great to hear this news!
------
Tapanila
Hopefully this will keep the flow flowing!
------
enra
Congrats mutru and the team!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The US reportedly considering blacklisting Chinese surveillance firm Hikvision - bluedino
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/22/us-reportedly-considering-blacklisting-chinas-hikvision.html
======
rasz
Hikvision makes _very cheap_ good quality network cameras ... that you have to
deploy behind a firewall to avoid
[https://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2017/Sep/23](https://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2017/Sep/23)
------
thefounder
Like the US really cares about surveillance or dictators...if they care they
could stop selling weapons to SA or stop US companies selling surveillance
products & services. I mean the very US companies that helped build The Great
Firewall. What US is really concerned about is that China has a big market
share in this industry and will only get better. Maybe the next time SA will
buy from China instead of US...it's really just about old good $$$
------
novaRom
I have a mixed feeling about this new technology war. On one side I think
China being a quite poor country has a good chance to improve life of millions
of its people if it continues to innovate in AI and Robotics. On the other
side, these technologies can be used easily to control all the people,
restricting freedom of speech and debate, thus inevitably leading to
economical deadlocks and wrong decisions, at least while real people do decide
yet.
------
pmlnr
This I actually agree with. Tried one, and while the hardware is surprisingly
decent, the software has holes like an Emmental.
------
pjc50
If we're going after surveillance firms, how about the Israeli firm exploiting
human rights activists or the Saudi firm making wife-surveillance apps? Or is
it a radical concept that we should do this based on a system of rules rather
than arbitrary executive decisions?
------
mc32
As long as you keep them on their own air gapped network, they should be okay.
Arecont are just too expensive.
~~~
SEJeff
The Ubiquiti cameras are of a much higher build quality and don't have these
issues albeit are a tad more expensive. I have Foscam, Hikvision, and Ubiquiti
cameras. I've stopped buying anything but the Ubiquiti cameras due to the
quality being that much better.
~~~
yardie
We looked at them all and went with Hikvision. Ubiquitous does not at the
moment make a comparable camera. I can get 4-10MPixel HKV cameras and the
unifi G3 tops out at 1080p.
~~~
SEJeff
The Unifi G4 Pro tops out at 4K, but is not a cheap camera. Like the G3 Pro
however, the build quality is extraordinary. I mounted it to my masonry garage
on the outside and love run it via PoE to a Unifi 8 port PoE switch inside my
garage (which in turn goes through conduit into my basement and into a 48 port
switch :D
[https://store.ui.com/products/unifi-protect-g4-pro-
camera](https://store.ui.com/products/unifi-protect-g4-pro-camera)
------
wil421
I went with a full Ubiquiti UniFi setup and the UniFi Cameras. One of the
reason was the reported backdoors and phoning home stuff the cheaper cameras
were doing. If I were to get them I’d put them on VLANs with no access to the
internet.
------
cypherg
fucking buggy ass vulnerable cameras are constantly exploited for IoT
botnets....good riddance.
------
scohesc
Remember everyone - if you're looking to buy any cheap surveillance/camera
gear and you're smart enough to block it from phoning home to the dirty
communistic reds, you better buy it very soon and quickly as most cheaper
surveillance equipment is basically re-branded Hikvision technology anyways!
~~~
yardie
The grey markets cameras are worse. Not only are they rebranded Hikvisions,
they also don’t update the software at all. I bought a cheap camera from
Monoprice that is really a Hikvision. And even shows up in their discovery
tools. Except the firmware is 4 years old. I can’t get security updates and
since it’s not Hikvision I can’t flash it with their patched firmwares.
~~~
paulkon
I've had to unbrick gray-market hikvision cameras that were flashed with
hikvision firmware for a friend. Best to keep them on their own subnet along
with a small zfs cluster and drop all new outgoing packets.
~~~
yardie
By design our camera network is unroutable. If you want To watch a feed you
get it from the NVR. I trust these cameras as much as I trust any cheap IoT
device.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
New things in clang land (5.0.0) - mrich
http://www.productive-cpp.com/new-things-in-clang-land-5-0-0/
======
ladberg
Hmm, the first example kind of bugs me. I get why they are doing it, but I
feel like there should be a better solution. Instead of cramming as much
optimization into undefined behavior as you can, maybe don't allow the
undefined behavior in the first place? I think if I had something like this
accidentally in my code then I would want it to tell me that something's wrong
instead of just giving bizarre results.
~~~
Athas
But it might not be undefined behaviour at compile-time. Consider if instead
of just 'f(nullptr)', the call in the main() function had been 'f(getchar() ==
'x' ? nullptr : &x)' (where x is some variable in scope). It cannot be known
until run-time whether a NULL pointer is being dereferenced, but since the
pointer inside of 'f()' is being dereferenced, the compiler can assume that it
will not be NULL.
~~~
ladberg
Sorry, I was referring to the program as a whole. I get why it did the
optimization for that one function in particular, but in this case, it can be
proven that the function call will result in undefined behavior and (in my
opinion, not necessarily the way the C standard works) it should be flagged or
not compiled.
~~~
cesarb
Do not put your faith in whole program optimization. If it can be proven that
the function call will result in undefined behavior, the compiler will assume
that the function will never be called. If it can be proven that it will
always be called, the compiler is free to assume that the program will never
be run, and optimize the whole program down to nothing.
That is, undefined behavior propagates not only forwards (if you dereference a
pointer, from them on you can be sure that it's not null), but also backwards
(if you dereference a null pointer, that's a contradiction since null pointers
can't be dereferenced, and the contradiction can only be resolved if the
statement is unreachable).
~~~
oconnor663
> If it can be proven that it will always be called, the compiler is free to
> assume that the program will never be run, and optimize the whole program
> down to nothing.
Does that happen when the compiler assumes you'll never take branches that
lead to UB, and then finds a path through your branches that more or less does
nothing? Or can it happen even if you're not branching at all?
Also, say my program is
int main() {
printf("hello world\n");
do_some_UB();
}
Is the compiler really allowed to produce a program that doesn't print?
~~~
masklinn
> Does that happen when the compiler assumes you'll never take branches that
> lead to UB, and then finds a path through your branches that more or less
> does nothing? Or can it happen even if you're not branching at all?
Yes and yes. How far it will propagate these backwards depends on the
compiler.
> Is the compiler really allowed to produce a program that doesn't print?
Yes. A program which contains UB is illegal, there are no guarantees about any
of its behaviour, including behaviour which precedes any possible actual
invocation of UB, this is pointed rather clearly by the standard:
> However, if any such execution contains an undefined operation, this
> International Standard places no requirement on the implementation executing
> that program with that input (not even with regard to operations preceding
> the first undefined operation).
~~~
oconnor663
Good heavens! :)
------
MichaelMoser123
actually address sanitizer has been ported to gcc, so it is no longer a clang
only thing. last time i checkted it did not not support stack switching
(cooperative scheduling). Is there any change in this area?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Debunking Myths about Gender and Mathematics Performance - gruseom
http://ams.org/notices/201201/rtx120100010p.pdf
======
StefanKarpinski
It's difficult to fathom how the authors interpret the data on page 14 as
_not_ supporting the hypothesis that there is a male/female variance ratio of
circa 1.1. Figure 1A is a generally bell-shaped curve centered around 1.1. In
Figure 1B, almost all of the points are below the 1:1 line, whereas if you
plot a 1.1:1 line, its a perfect fit. In Figure 1C, the x value where the
regression line intersects a zero gender gap (i.e. no evidence of cultural
bias), is at a variance ratio of about 1.1. All of the evidence the authors
present points to an underlying variance ratio near 1.1, yet somehow they
conclude the opposite.
~~~
DaniFong
That's obvious. Culture factors are the main determinant that they could find.
It is unrealistic to assume the queried countries have a mean centered around
complete gender neutrality, so your analysis is invalid.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A broken cable smashed a hole 100 feet wide in the Arecibo Observatory - djsumdog
https://www.businessinsider.com/broken-cable-tears-100-foot-hole-in-arecibo-observatory-2020-8
======
rollulus
I always assumed that the bottom of the dish was made out of concrete, but
apparently it's relatively thin and floats above the ground.
Also, the pictures in that article made me feel nostalgic playing Golden Eye
on the N64.
~~~
lostlogin
> Also, the pictures in that article made me feel nostalgic playing Golden Eye
> on the N64.
Recently a mate and I plugged in an n64 to play Golden Eye and spent way too
long messing with the cables before realising that it was displaying correctly
and that the graphics just weren’t that great. A 15 inch CRT hid a lot too.
We still had a great time - no Oddjob usage per house rules. Using him is
cheating.
~~~
s_dev
You'll be glad to know some modders are remaking the game using the Unreal
Engine
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55y17rXdt4&feature=emb_titl...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55y17rXdt4&feature=emb_title)
~~~
sli
Unfortunately, everything surrounding this remake implies that the project is
dead and gone. The Twitter account and the IndieDB entry have both been
deleted.
~~~
s_dev
They were forced in to a rebrand a week ago due to legal threats on using the
007 licence. Dev work is still continuing though.
------
brna
Here's a bigger picture of the cable:
[https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2020-08/5f32fb9b2618b96b...](https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2020-08/5f32fb9b2618b96b493620b8.jpg)
Thanks to article on sciencealert.com: [https://www.sciencealert.com/a-broken-
cable-smashed-a-huge-h...](https://www.sciencealert.com/a-broken-cable-
smashed-a-huge-hole-in-the-arecibo-observatory)
~~~
smichel17
That's.. The same article (with credit given, even -- "This article was
originally published on business insider" at the bottom)
------
fsckboy
How do radio telescopes track asteroids? I don't imagine that asteroids would
be emitting radio waves, and their small size wouldn't seem to be an advantage
either (though, a few miles across might be plenty to interrupt/reflect radio
wavelengths? I dunno)
~~~
Symmetry
I had to look this up on Wikipedia[1], it can apparently transmit as well as
listen the way that most radio telescopes do and in at up to 20 TW too. I had
frankly thought the most powerful radars in the world were in the 10s of MW
range and this thing has got a dish 305m in diameter compared to the 10-50m
I'm used to for radars tracking satellites in orbit (I used to do software for
that professionally).
I wouldn't have thought doing active radar scans of an astroid out in space
was possible given that radar returns fall off as the 4th power of range. But
given that power and dish size, given that these are large objects being
tracked, and given that they move slowly compared to the radar cone I guess
it's possible after all. But then again one of the first ballistic missile
defense radars accidentally mistook the rising Moon for an attack and almost
caused WWIII[2] so I guess there's precedent, even though the Moon is much
larger and closer. I'm seeing references to it tracking asteroids in the
Apollo group, so relatively nearby[3] and plates which are much larger. I'd
guess that even the biggest asteroid in the main belt, 1 Ceres, would be too
dim for it to see but I'm curious.
[1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecibo_Observatory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecibo_Observatory)
[2][https://blog.ucsusa.org/david-wright/the-moon-and-nuclear-
wa...](https://blog.ucsusa.org/david-wright/the-moon-and-nuclear-war-904)
[3][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_asteroid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_asteroid)
~~~
jaycroft
Regarding the 20TW from the Wikipedia page, that's referring to the EIRP -
effective isotropic radiated power. This is the amount of power that you would
need to radiate from a theoretical antenna with a perfectly spherically
symmetric power distribution. The Arecibo antenna has a fairly narrow beam.
The 20TW EIRP transmitter appears to operate at 2.38GHz. Plugging that
frequency and the 270m diameter, a beamwidth calculator gives me a gain of
about 75dBi. So, yes, it's like a 20TW transmitter, but only one tiny narrow
little slice of it. At 75dBi gain, that's one (10^7.5)th of the total sphere,
about 1 part in 30 million. Or, you could say, if the antenna were radiating
the same power in every direction as it does in it's peak direction, that
would be 30 million times as much power. So, dividing to find the power in
that narrow beam, we get "only" about 600kW radiated in the direction it is
pointing. Add in cable losses and other inefficiencies, and the power output
at the amplifier is probably close to a megawatt.
------
dguest
I don't know why the scrolling on businessinsider.com is broken for me, but
this worked:
[https://apnews.com/668bb0219afcc086376c9d56685ab9d0](https://apnews.com/668bb0219afcc086376c9d56685ab9d0)
~~~
Legogris
This can happen on sites where you have an adblocker removing modal overlays
elements but there are still an invisible part or other CSS means limiting
scrolling.
~~~
emsign
For me they blurred the images because of my ad blocker. Or probably because I
have cookies blocked.
~~~
rangibaby
the images loaded in for me, I think it's lazy loading
~~~
londons_explore
lazy internet can't be bothered to deliver the images...
------
perezperret
You expect me to believe this wasn't the aliens?
------
abnercoimbre
I grew up visiting the Observatory all the time.
Before Trump made my home island famous, Arecibo Observatory was the one place
I could point to mainland American friends so they recognized Puerto Rico
(since it's famous, used in scifi movies, etc.)
Hope the government assists in reconstructing the dish.
~~~
Vivtek
Given HUD still hasn't released the relief funds for Maria in 2017, I'm not
holding my breath on any other help coming here.
There was an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. set in San Juan, though. So now
there's something else mainlanders have heard of.
~~~
abnercoimbre
Ha, indeed..
------
dylan604
Seems like such a strange break. I feel like there's supposed to be a dramatic
piece of video in slow-mo showing one strand breaking, then the additional
stress causing the next one to snap, until the final 'plink' before the whole
thing comes crashing down.
------
emsign
I hope this wasn't due to underfunding. Old stuff breaks, but it should last
when it is being maintained properly.
~~~
sp332
Not only underfunded, but also damaged in Hurricane Maria in 2017.
[https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/arecibo-
observato...](https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/arecibo-
observatory-6m-upgrade/)
------
ChrisMarshallNY
I always say that 99% of my IT issues are bad cables.
Looks like that applies here, as well...
------
gadders
That first picture reminds me of a level in a team-based FPS I played briefly.
Can't remember the name. You can send drones out and stuff.
~~~
jack1243star
As another comment points out, probably "Rogue Transmission" in Battlefield 4?
~~~
gadders
That looks very similar, but this one was an older game. I'd look it up but I
was playing it on XBOX Live free trial and I let my subscription lapse..
~~~
dEnigma
"Frontlines: Fuel of War" perhaps? It does have a satellite dish in one level,
and the gameplay prominently features drones as far as I can remember.
[https://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/frontlines...](https://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/frontlines-
fuel-of-war/b/b6/Frontlines309.jpg?width=1920)
[https://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/frontlines...](https://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/frontlines-
fuel-of-war/c/c6/Frontlines308.jpg?width=1920)
Source: [https://www.ign.com/wikis/frontlines-fuel-of-
war/Mutliplayer...](https://www.ign.com/wikis/frontlines-fuel-of-
war/Mutliplayer_part_6)
------
oasisbob
Interesting to me that everyone is calling this a "cable".
It might be the combination of climbing/sailing/rigging/nerd ... but I'd never
call that structural element that broke a cable.
The only cables I can think of either carry electrons, photons, or signal
wires (say, a clutch cable). I'm being maybe pedantic, curious what others
think, esp in industry.
~~~
NikolaeVarius
I don't understand how you can be a sailing/rigging nerd and say that isn't a
cable.
Last time I checked nautical cables do not carry photons or signals. Arresting
cables, bowden cables are also cables that do not do so.
~~~
oasisbob
I would call it wire rope, or a support line. If I worked with it often
enough, I'd probably refer to it by size or construction (EHS, 7x7, etc)
I'd argue that a Bowden cable (eg a clutch cable) is primarily carrying a
signal... really though, just thinking through what defines a cable.
By contrast, rope and line are terms with fairly specific meanings.
------
stareatgoats
_" the Arecibo Observatory, which searches for aliens"_
It seems clear what happened here. Aliens.
~~~
lostlogin
The abbreviation for the time zone, ET, caused me to pause.
------
beepboopbeep
wow, I feel like "Smashed a hole" isn't quite doing that carnage justice. Good
luck to them on the repairs :(
------
devalgo
Illuminati preventing us from hearing signals. Aliens Confirmed!!
------
lightlyused
Dupe of
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24127343](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24127343)
------
moltar
Insert not saying it’s aliens meme
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Where Trolls Reigned Free: A New History of Reddit - prostoalex
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/30/books/review/christine-lagorio-chafkin-we-are-the-nerds.html#click=https://t.co/FMrdDrVLue
======
gibba999
I don't think the right word is 'trolls,' so much as bullies. While there's a
fair bit of trolling on reddit, what concerns me more is the culture of
bullying.
Entire subreddits -- iamverysmart and similar -- which are devoted to finding
people who made a comment which was embarrassing in some way, and publicizing
it widely. One day, half of the videos on the front page of reddit (default
page when not logged in) were random cell phone and surveillance footage --
people who don't know they were being filmed -- doing something dumb or being
jerks.
Now, those people were genuinely jerks, but we've all been jerks at some point
in our lives. Should that really become an internet phenomenon that will track
those people for the rest of their lives?
We've got the political mobs too (the liberal mob and its feminist sub-mob
tend to be particularly aggressive in ripping people apart, with similar but
smaller communities on the right).
~~~
chmod775
Basically none of these videos will have the full name of that person attached
to it (if it is even known).
Nobody is going to find it by googling their name.
And many videos of people faceplanting going viral are actually going to be
used to the effect of providing cred in that person's circles.
"Look I went viral! Hahaha"
That's people for you.
~~~
gibba999
You're saying it's okay to bully people and violate people's privacy because
it's good for them? Interesting argument.
If you really believe that argument, post the most cringeworthy video of
yourself on the Internet. For the cred.
You're right that the way these things get found usually isn't by Googling. If
something's on the front page of reddit, the most likely way is your friends
or colleagues will run into it and pass it around. In smaller communities,
that may continue for years.
But Google is certainly _a_ way people will find it too, even if the name
isn't in the post. Search engine 101: the way Google works is by looking at
text in incoming links. If I have a few links posted on social media which say
"Hey, chmod775 lost his temper in a restaurant and boy did he make a fool of
himself," that's exactly what Google will point to. If this person isn't
famous enough to have other high-profile pages about them, it's likely to be
on page 1, or even the top link.
~~~
chmod775
> You're saying it's okay to bully people and violate people's privacy because
> it's good for them? Interesting argument.
No. Don't put words in my mouth. That's rude.
I merely said that those videos generally have much less of a fallout on
people's personal lives than they are often made out.
------
erpaa
I was very happy with Reddit around 2008. "The pre-1995 Usenet is back, you
can say anything you want and then enjoy the verbal lashings you deserve".
Around 2015 everything changed: you were either transphobic nazi or morbidly
obese surgically modified foul-mouthed thingy, who had zher own pronoun. There
was no room for normal people anymore.
~~~
Grangar
Seems to me like there's a growing backlash against the outrage culture that
started halfway this decade. I hope it lasts and we can return to normalcy.
~~~
beaconstudios
agreed, I've been seeing and experiencing more nuance in response to media
recently. I wouldn't say it happened around 2015 though because Brexit/Trump
seemed to cause a massive amplification from both sides.
We have to get back to a place of nuanced, policy-based liberal democracy as
opposed to ideological mud-slinging, or the fallout is just going to get
worse.
------
treerock
This seems to invert the situation at Reddit. The article does it's best to
troll, while the comments provide a level of sanity. Weird.
------
AllegedAlec
Is it strange that I find it somewhat endearing that this person seems to
thing that:
1: Reddit was some place where all the worst of the worst people meet 2:
Reddit was intentionally toxic. 3: Reddit was some singular hivemind, rather
than small, clustered communities. 4: That there aren't any worse places on
the internet.
~~~
7000skeletons
The author has clearly never ventured onto 8chan. Which is probably just as
well, given how they found ye olde Reddit bad enough.
~~~
nailer
I don't think the author has discovered user generated content before.
~~~
7000skeletons
Which is a real shame, all things considered. I feel like the author is
latching onto some of the most extreme examples of the worst Reddit's ever had
to offer and then holding them up as if that's all the site ever was and ever
will be. I'm about as far from a Reddit fanboy as you'll get, these days, but
this still strikes me as profoundly unfair to the site as a whole and the many
great communities you can find there.
------
jarfil
Sounds like the NYT is mad that all these internet kids don't want to pay for
a subscription.
------
nagVenkat
Any topic/subreddit not dealing with politics can be a decent subreddit. The
best example is /r/Linux. When the code of conduct change came, it was
unusable for 2 weeks. Now it is mostly back to normal.
~~~
baud147258
I had a good time in specific reddits, which were not centered on politics,
like r/xcom and r/shadowrun.
------
quantummkv
The author seems to have confused 4chan with Reddit. Not sure if the author is
being sincere or just trolling at this point.
------
shapiro92
I must admit the author is definitely exaggerating about how dark reddit
was/is or he hasnt actually seen the darker side of the web.. Nevertheless,
there has been no other more toxic concept than reddit. Micro communities that
generate their content to be used by people who already are interested in that
content to feed on their ego, while being monitored by a few people who
believe are the top shit of society because they moderate a sub reddit. Just
head over to /r/berlin , a not even tech based sub or anything related to an
ideology, ask a question and wait for the barrage of insults.
------
iamgopal
For average guy like myself, my comments usually downvoted on HN, while same
are upvoted on reddit. Guess, where am I going to spend most of my time ?
~~~
sergiosgc
HN could be compared to a single subreddit, not the whole reddit site. The
comparison is unfair.
However, even if the comparison is unfair, I much prefer lurking in HN. The
reason is the same that makes an average guy feel unrewarded: Top comments
here are usually insightful, well thought, and sitting on real knowledge. It
makes for a vastly better reading experience, at the cost of a poorer
"interactive" experience. I don't mind and, in fact, appreciate it.
~~~
craftyguy
> Top comments here are usually insightful, well thought, and sitting on real
> knowledge.
Uhh. one of the top comments for this story is this "insightful" gem:
> Sounds like the NYT is mad that all these internet kids don't want to pay
> for a subscription.
~~~
nailer
And? It's a common habit of journalists to attack anything which either
criticises them or competes for their audience.
------
hsienmaneja
How about manipulating front page content to harass an unsuspecting user,
juxtaposing public info such as an affiliation that’s documented on Wikipedia
with content intended to gaslight the victim?
Earlier, popular content had links to endless malware.
Reddit always has been a cesspool. It’s simply symptomatic of a much broader
societal cancer. I’m confident we will root out such problems in time, though.
------
jenkstom
Ironically, this article is some really great trolling in itself.
------
somecallitblues
What a troll this David is.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Evil within operator == - AndreyKarpov
https://www.viva64.com/en/b/0509/
======
AndreyKarpov
When you read it, please, don't run away. Please, return back and put a like.
:) The article deserves to be known.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Churchill's Subterranean WWII Bunker in London - pepys
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/inside-churchills-secret-subterranean-wwii-bunker-in-london
======
joezydeco
I've taken this tour, the amount of preservation and history down there is
amazing.
One of the most interesting things was a room that was explained to everyone
as "Churchill's private bathroom". It was a small closet and the door even had
a "FREE/ENGAGED" lock on it, taken from an airplane lavatory. You wouldn't
dare enter or knock on a bathroom door that said ENGAGED, especially one
belonging to Churchill would you?
[http://www.timetravelturtle.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/04/L...](http://www.timetravelturtle.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/04/London-2014-29_web-lrg.jpg)
Behind the door was Churchill's SIGSALY terminal, a private encrypted voice
line between the UK and terminals at the US Pentagon and White House.
[http://www.timetravelturtle.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/04/L...](http://www.timetravelturtle.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/04/London-2014-30_web-lrg.jpg)
SIGSALY was the descendent of the Bell Labs "Voder", which was the first
attempt at electronically synthesized human speech.
[https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic-heritage/historical-
fi...](https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic-heritage/historical-figures-
publications/publications/wwii/sigsaly-start-digital.shtml)
1939 Voder Demonstration:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rAyrmm7vv0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rAyrmm7vv0)
The Voder eventually gave birth to the Vocoder and other developments beyond.
~~~
m_fam_wa_k
> You wouldn't dare enter or knock on a bathroom door that said ENGAGED,
> especially one belonging to Churchill would you?
Eh...I would. A huge part of my family was wiped out because of Churchill's
machinations leading to the Bengal famine. My grandfather was able to move
south with the sacrifice of his siblings.
Churchill's actions put him in the grey area for me.
~~~
oska
Thanks for saying that. I get tired of the constant lionisation of Churchill.
~~~
arethuza
I remember my father, who was in the RAF in WW2, pointing out that a lot of
people in the UK hated Churchill - they respected him as a war leader but
didn't want him running the country after the war as it would mean a return to
the pre-war status quo. This perhaps explains who he wasn't elected as PM in
the 1945 general election - picking a Labour government under Clement Attlee
that delivered things like the NHS.
------
fitzwatermellow
Can also recommend __The Crown __on Netflix, with American actor John Lithgow
masterfully interpreting the Old British Bulldog. There 's even an entire
episode devoted to the affair of Sutherland's portrait commemorating
Churchill's 80th birthday, considered one of the art world's great lost
masterpieces:
Secret of Winston Churchill's unpopular Sutherland portrait revealed
[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/winston-
churchill/11730850/S...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/winston-
churchill/11730850/Secret-of-Winston-Churchills-unpopular-Sutherland-portrait-
revealed.html)
~~~
afarrell
I second this recommendation. I think Claire has a very strong performance as
Elizabeth.
------
Animats
It's a tour worth about an hour. The restoration has been done well.
There's a small electric bell near the exit marked, with wartime
understatement, "Immediate danger overhead if bell is ringing".
------
jbuzbee
What I found most interesting was that it was right in the middle of London.
You'd think that his bunker would be out in the countryside far way from the
attacks of the blitz. But then again, I guess he needed to be close to the
politicians and the decision-makers. To me, it looked like after the war was
over, they all just got up and walked away...
~~~
mnutt
I was somewhat surprised at the level of secrecy around the location, given
that it was a couple hundred yards from what I would assume were actual known
targets. A stray bomb could have hit it totally by accident.
~~~
Theodores
I believe Syria's President Assad would understand why Churchill stayed put in
the capital. In the current Syria situation President Assad stays put with his
family because if he was to move then that would show he has lost confidence
in his armed forces and their ability to free the country from the
terrorists/defend the capital.
Saddam Hussein was probably in the same boat when the same neo-cons/neo-
liberals wanted regime change, Iraq was given the chance to hand him over but
he chose to stay put.
Taking flight from the capital didn't work out for Gaddafi, sometimes the
hardened bunker under the known palace is the only option. Moving is
tantamount to resigning in a game of chess.
~~~
gaius
Remember the context at the time. Rommel had led the invasion of France,
disobeying orders his armoured division had charged ahead, leaving the main
formation far behind, out of range of communications. The German high command
had no idea where he was so couldn't reinforce or resupply him (or summon him
for a court-martial I suppose). And Rommel was in trouble at this point; his
men were exhausted, his tanks were out of fuel and breaking down, spread over
miles of countryside. If the French had sent one reconnaissance aircraft they
would have realized this, and in fact could have just ignored him, he wasn't
able to go anywhere.
Instead word reached Paris that the Germans had penetrated 150 miles into
France and the French government panicked and fled, and that's how Rommel
invented blitzkreig. Churchill would have been perfectly well aware of what
happens when the government abandons its capital. The French are still
suffering from that reputation even today!
------
dghf
According my father, my grandfather (a telecoms engineer) helped lay the
cabling in this complex. Somehow he became privy to some of the details of the
invasion, and late on the night of June 5 or very early in the morning of June
6 1944 took my four-year-old father up a hill to watch the airborne forces
covering the sky as they made their way to Normandy.
------
kristianc
If you're ever in London: do this tour. It's wonderfully well executed, and
well worth the time.
------
matwood
I've done this tour a few times and it is quite interesting. If you're at all
into history definitely check it out. It also, somewhat recently, added a new
section with more information on Churchill and his controversial rise to
power.
As others have said, it is amazing that it is in the center of the city, but
he felt he needed to be there in order to run the war effectively.
------
readhn
Don't show this to Trump he might get some ideas... For something Under the
white house.
~~~
spydum
Already exists
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Emergency_Opera...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Emergency_Operations_Center)
------
mafro
Can anyone tell me the projection of the map in the headline photo?
~~~
chucksmash
I'm not much of a cartographer so I'd be happy to be corrected, but it looks
like a Mercator projection that omits Antarctica to me.
------
batrat
It is on Travel Channel almost every day as a short story.
------
barney54
I also highly recommend touring Churchill's war rooms in London. It is very
much worth the time.
~~~
ghaff
That's what this is.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Adobe tackling 'Flash cookie' privacy issue - taylorbuley
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20028397-264.html
======
jim_h
Get the 'BetterPrivacy' extension for FireFox and it will help remove the
Flash cookies. You can manually remove the cookies or have it automatically
clear them on browser exit.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How do I teach coding to someone who can't learn? - tryingtoteach
Throwaway for various reasons.<p>My girlfriend is trying to learn to code. She has been doing various online courses for several months now and she is still an extreme beginner.<p>She wants to learn, and she is stubborn as hell, but things just aren't clicking for her. This is the case with a lot of things for her, not just coding. She learns by memorizing, not understanding.<p>I have tried to sit down with her and help her through the courses on Brilliant but she systematically focuses on answers rather than understanding.<p>I've also tried to teach her myself, which worked best so far but, though I have 15 years of experience programming, that doesn't make me a good teacher. She also needs something she can do in her own time.<p>She's extremely perseverant and doesn't want to give up. I don't know how to handle the situation. I want to encourage her but I don't know how to help her. She has to learn how to assimilate and understand before she can even work through a CS program.<p>Any advice?
======
aphextim
You seem to have hit the nail on the head.
>She wants to learn, and she is stubborn as hell, but things just aren't
clicking for her. This is the case with a lot of things for her, not just
coding. She learns by memorizing, not understanding.
>I have tried to sit down with her and help her through the courses on
Brilliant but she systematically focuses on answers rather than understanding.
My advice would be to try to find a topic she does fully understand and not
just memorized the answers/talking points. Once you have this established try
to figure out why that one thing clicked vs other things she learns.
Is it personal passion for wanting to learn how to code or monetary reasons.
Ask what is the 'end goal' of learning to code? Better career and finances?
Different environment than she currently works? To satisfy a personal
curiosity in knowing how things work?
Anecdotally I find myself learning with her method for short term things I
need to know for a short personal gain. I may need to learn something one time
on a unique project. I'll figure it out get the job done and move on without
fully grasping what was done because I just cared about the results and think
that this issue will never come back again.
Go to another subject where I truly care about understanding the why not just
the results and I will actually want to learn because once it 'clicks' and you
start to grasp the underlying processes going on and how everything is
connected, you get hit with that 'accomplished' feeling of reward that I
personally only get after being stuck on something for a while and then
finally grasping it.
Don't know if this rant will help you but good luck!
------
WheelsAtLarge
The great part is that she's persistent. Try the learning language scratch.
Once she understands the basics of programing logic she can then move on to a
more practical language. After that look for progtaming courses for kids.
Adult courses get over complicated so just focus on the basics. Most of all
make sure she understands before moving on so you are looking for small wins.
Patience is the key.
It might be easy for you but it's hard for her.
------
moksly
Try getting her to do the CS50 intro course by Harvardx on Edx.org, it teaches
computer science by making you actually figure out how to solve problems. It’s
one of the most creativity sparking/pushing online courses I’ve seen.
It’s not easy, but it’s self paced and the environment they supply students
with is extremely great.
~~~
1nd160
Really good advice actually. They teaches basic ideas first before give you
any programming tasks, that's really good. Also, they starting programming
from Scratch app, which also helps beginners a lot. Didn't know they still
running courses btw.
------
rayray07
Teach her math. Set problems and ask her to calculate the answers, which
requires understanding.
~~~
blacksqr
I've often thought that introductory programming courses should start out with
lessons in binary math.
It would help students understand exactly what is the ultimate point of all
the code they're writing, as well as introducing the discipline of algorithmic
problem solving.
------
RocketSyntax
Start with HTML. Seeing things on the page helps reinforce the material.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why computers have two zeros: +0 and -0 - johndcook
http://www.johndcook.com/blog/2010/06/15/why-computers-have-signed-zero/
======
kapuzineralex
It should be added that this of course only concerns floating point math.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Breakout List – A list of the fastest growing startups - gilles_bertaux
http://www.breakoutlist.com/
======
hanley
Abbreviating San Francisco to SF is understandable, but I wasn't sure if PA
meant Pennsylvania or Palo Alto.
------
eric_khun
Like the idea. Maybe you could add some international startups?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Zuckerberg responds to privacy concerns - evancaine
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/23/AR2010052303828.html
======
seliopou
Without judgment, I think it's important to point out in that at no point did
he admit that Facebook screwed up, nor did he at any point apologize for
anything.
~~~
papachito
He did say they sometimes move "too fast".
~~~
benmathes
Which has the sleazy, downright-asshole assumption that He and He alone knows
what's right. It's just us loser Luddites that don't get it. That's not an
apology, it's a syrup-dipped middle finger.
------
bretpiatt
Nothing more than a PR / shill piece with a bare bones disclosure at the
bottom, "Washington Post Chairman Donald E. Graham is a member of Facebook's
board of directors."
Time to read the NYT and WSJ for the real view on how mass print media views
the privacy issue. I won't waste 10 seconds reading another Post piece on
Facebook.
~~~
ube
I keep having an image of Donald E. Graham hovering over Zuke and waiting for
him to complete the article in long script and then handing it off to some
flunky to be typed. Then Donald says "good job Zuke" and pats him on the head
and Zuke smiles and says "yeah...privacy - my ass". And both leave the
conference room they were in laughing manically.
Of course...that's my imagination...it runs wild.
~~~
siglesias
Zuck.
------
bobfet1
the whole piece is totally disingenuous and it isn't anything new from what
we've heard from them before.
the worst part is the end when he subtly tries to use the fact that it started
out as a dorm room project as some sort of excuse as to why the company is
having all of these problems.
------
jacquesm
We've been here before:
<http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=2208562130>
~~~
apphacker
Here's another one:
<http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=7584397130>
------
petercooper
_We do not share your personal information with people or services you don't
want._
Ah, so I guess all those people whose phone numbers are streaming through
"Evil" or whose updates about their rectal surgery are being exposed through
the Open Graph API _want_ this information to be floating around the Web.
~~~
papachito
If people make their profile public, then yes their updates will be made
public.
~~~
warfangle
Except if facebook makes their profile public without their knowledge (or
consent)...
~~~
natrius
Except that didn't happen. There's no evidence that a large portion of
Facebook's users were confused about the privacy changes in December, yet many
people keep repeating that as fact.
~~~
shawndrost
Jesus, a guy asks for a citation and gets voted to -4. If it's that dumb a
question, post a link to a page with some sourced numbers in it and humble
him.
~~~
pixelbath
Where was the previous poster asking anything? He stated something blatantly
false that could easily be disproven by a simple web search. How does him
stating something provably false place the burden of proof on everyone else?
~~~
natrius
I can't seem to find this proof via a simple web search. Care to assist me?
------
robryan
If he truly believes what he writes, why not default privacy to only
displaying say your name and display picture. No problems for anyone to find
you then and if you really want to share everything you write to the world you
can alter from the default.
------
blizkreeg
It just seems like a drab, corporate BS message lacking any sincerity.
(tongue-in-cheek humor) I propose UNIX style privacy controls - user, group,
world.
~~~
mahmud
Don't even joke about Unix "security". The hacks in Jersey thought it was just
faster to pack 10 bits into a PDP word, than to implement a decent permission
system, an example of which already _existed_ :
[http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/09/the_multics_op...](http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/09/the_multics_ope.html)
(read the linked PDF; linking to Bruce as sort of "peer review" and "don't
take my word for it")
~~~
blueben
When you write a language and an operating system that both endure for more
than 30 years; across numerous hardware platforms; emulated and rewritten
dozens of times; becoming the fundamental underpinning and architecture of the
greatest information network in the history of mankind, sparking a global
cultural and technological revolution; Then you can call the guys from Jersey
"hacks".
~~~
mahmud
The same arguments can be made for MS DOS, don't you forget. Something has to
be said for being at the right place at the right time.
------
ab9
Zuckerberg acknowledges that complex privacy controls are a problem. But I
suspect that's only true because the defaults are evil. If users didn't have
to worry about being deceived, they wouldn't complain about complex controls
because they'd rarely use them.
Like simplicity, defaults are hugely important in UI design. But Zuckerberg
appears to be carefully avoiding the subject.
~~~
commandar
This. The granular privacy controls were a good thing when they defaulted
toward the side of privacy. The problem is that Facebook has increasingly been
adding new features and new privacy options while defaulting them to being
world-viewable.
What has people angry isn't that the privacy settings are complex; it's that
Facebook has essentially used the increasing complexity to pull a bait and
switch with their privacy of the past few years.
------
mootymoots
Why does Zuckerberg make this announcement, which ultimately affects all of
his 400 million customer base, in a buried article for the Washington Post?
Surely it's best to communicate with your customers directly, y'know, with a
Facebook message or something?
Looking at blog.facebook.com right now, there is no sign of this, nothing
officially on facebook.com. This is why people don't trust Facebook.
~~~
cliffchang
<http://facebook.com/facebook>
------
ErrantX
This time I am going to wait to see what changes they bring
I'm still happy to give FB a break over this; they've done a lot to improve
privacy in recent months and IMO get credit for that. I'm still having a hard
time verifying the vast majority of "privacy violations" people seem to be
finding; I suspect they don't really exist in the way they are presented.
Obviously there are one or two that are a problem (and I hope they address
that) such as the information that can no longer be hidden from search.
I've been playing the Facebook privacy game for a long time - and from that
perspective most of this current reporting/outrage is either a) people getting
on a bandwagon/following the crowd or b) misinformed. Amongst that _the
smattering of genuine complaints has mostly been lost_ to the noise. In a few
months it will be back to a few of us pressing those issues again....
Bottom line is; the problem is in creating effective controls people
understand. They really need to crack that, and if that is what the current
fad achieves then great.
~~~
jacquesm
I actually do think their privacy controls suck _and_ I think all this is
overblown.
They've sucked since day one, they make it steadily worse, but after all, it's
no big deal because my facebook page is mostly empty, it's just a shingle to
help people find me if they're looking for me (it's not like the whole world
reads HN :) ).
Facebook could do a lot better in this respect, and they should default new
features to 'off' if their users check a single box, once that says 'default
new features to 'off''.
That should do it.
After that they can do a one time announcement of that one checkbox and
anybody that doesn't check it will have nothing to complain in 6 months when
they roll out new features that affect your privacy somehow.
And they should stop the double speak just say it like it is, we're not
stupid.
~~~
ErrantX
_Facebook could do a lot better in this respect, and they should default new
features to 'off' if their users check a single box, once that says 'default
new features to 'off''._
Yes, that would be the #1 best fix to be honest.
------
OldHippie
Yes oh mighty and complex one. The problem is that we're too simple to grasp
your controls. Asshat.
How about a simple radio button: [] Share my information with 3rd parties []
Do not share my information with 3rd parties
Put it right at the end there as an override in case we can't understand some
of your more complex settings.
~~~
nano81
In the article: "We will also give you an easy way to turn off all third-party
services."
------
ju2tin
More B.S. from Zuckerberg. He should have said, "We screwed up. We're sorry,
we're fixing it, and we won't do it again." Instead we get nonsense about how
"The biggest message we have heard recently is that people want easier control
over their information."
Um... no, the biggest message you have heard recently is that people don't
want you destroying the terms of service they agreed to with unilateral, opt-
out changes, you greedy tool.
------
motters
It's good to hear that Facebook is addressing the privacy issues, but it's a
bit like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted. A lot of
information which people believed to be private has already been disclosed,
and they'll have to live with any consequences which may arise from that. Once
trust is gone it's difficult to win back.
------
drivingmenuts
Yeah. I'm not convinced.
------
paraschopra
See the comments on this post on Facebook itself
[http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=20531316728&share_...](http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=20531316728&share_id=125788394107023&comments=1#s125788394107023)
------
aresant
Facebook users' privacy is directly in conflict with the company's stated
goal:
"If people share more, the world will become more open and connected. And a
world that's more open and connected is a better world. These are still our
core principles today."
In other words, Zuck is bent on setting your personal information free so that
"people share more".
That "response" doesn't make me feel so warm and fuzzy.
~~~
nano81
Not necessarily. The sentence immediately before your quote adds some more
context:
"If we give people control over what they share, they will want to share
more."
I read that as saying that if people have control over who sees their
information, they will become more comfortable with sharing more widely over
time. You may not agree with that sentence, but it conflicts with your
conclusion.
------
elblanco
The best response would be to stop mucking with the information that your
users want to be private.
------
drivebyacct
Here are the principles under which Facebook operates:
\-- You have control over how your information is shared.
\-- We do not share your personal information with people or services you
don't want.
\-- We do not give advertisers access to your personal information.
[clip]
Ahahahahahahahahahahahahah. This is why Queerty and Pandora silently installed
applications on my profile and had access to my data without me opting into
anything (I've never used Connect or anything like it). Or why Instant
Personalization was turned on automatically.
You pissed off a population of users, arguably who are tuned-into this
discussion and many of which are technical enough to call you on your BS. The
candy coated, lets see how little we can get away with, isn't going to work.
In fact, it's only going to make things work.
If the new settings are good, good. Maybe they will avert some of the mistrust
that many view towards them. I certainly won't forget the shit that went down
on my profile w/o my permission in the last 2 months. Maybe an apology, an
admission of a bad idea, etc would be more convincing.
At least Google had the stones to say, rather quickly, Oops, sorry, we
shouldn't have done that.
~~~
papachito
> This is why Queerty and Pandora silently installed applications on my
> profile
There is no way for an app to install on your profile without your permission,
it's just not in the API and I see no reason why Facebook would give them
access to a secret API. Are you sure you didn't sign in to Pandora with your
Facebook account? This is a pretty serious accusation. I'm no facebook fan but
we need to be honest in our criticism if we want to be credible.
~~~
Derrek
I bought tickets on Fandango and later found the Fandango App in my FB
profile. I never installed it or approved it--it just appeared. To me, that's
simply wrong.
~~~
nano81
"Facebook spokesperson David Swain contacted us and confirmed that the
appearance of unauthorized apps was a bug:
In this case, there was a bug that was showing applications on a user’s
Application Settings page that the user hadn’t authorized. No information was
shared with those applications and the user’s list of applications was not
shown to anyone but the user. This bug has been fixed.
It does appear that unauthorized apps are no longer being added to users'
pages, however any unwanted applications that were previously added will still
need to be removed manually."
[http://www.macworld.com/article/151087/2010/05/facebook_addi...](http://www.macworld.com/article/151087/2010/05/facebook_addingapps.html)
~~~
random42
Yeah... I dont buy, it being a bug.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Is AWS having issues right now? - shiloa
We're seeing connectivity issues around us-west-2 for the past hour (since around 3:30 AM PST). AWS status page is green as always. Is anyone else experiencing issues?
======
jrowley
We our having issues getting access to RDS for our phabricator instance right
now. This is really frustrating.
------
rioux602
Getting issues primarily on US-EAST-1 this morning, multiple accounts
affected.
~~~
rioux602
We saw multiple error messages like this in our logs for multiple clients
php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: No address associated with
hostname
~~~
rioux602
Confirmed :
[https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?messageID=774198&t...](https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?messageID=774198&tstart=0)
~~~
rioux602
Related to libc6 update?
~~~
rioux602
Confirmed :
[https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/eglibc/+bug/167453...](https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/eglibc/+bug/1674532)
~~~
jrowley
This is really helpful, thank you!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Death of the Google Bomb - ALee
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/07/23/goodbye_google_bomb.html
======
Harkins
In case you're wondering how on Earth this is possibly news, it's because
Google just hosted a training session for journalists at their DC offices
yesterday. Showed them Google sites and tools that could help them in their
jobs, answered a few questions. Many were surprised to hear that Googlebombing
no longer worked.
(I know this because my gf attended.)
~~~
agentbleu
this is also having a serious negative effect on SEOers ability to jigg
results/
------
mynameishere
Sure.
<http://www.google.com/search?q=santorum>
~~~
Philosophaster
LOL.
I guess that one got grandfathered in.
------
Hexstream
"We are far more perceptive when it comes to these link swarms that show up in
a matter of hours or days"
With a little planning I'm sure it would be possible to regulate the link
swarm over a period of a couple months to pass under the radar.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to Hire Your First Engineer - samdk
https://triplebyte.com/blog/hiring-your-first-engineer
======
lingzb
Can't agree more about prioritizing personal networks over everything else.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to install Docker/Kubernetes from scratch on OS X - mfburnett
https://gist.github.com/Nikkau/8f4badc0d87871b5feb4
======
tbarn
Yay! I'm going to try it out later today.
------
mfburnett
Probably the simplest/fastest setup guide I've seen to go from zero to a
running Kubernetes cluster on OS X
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
That Interstellar Asteroid Is Pretty Strange - okket
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/outthere/2017/11/23/interstellar-asteroid-mystery/
======
DanielleMolloy
Here is the random astronomer on Reddit claiming that the community didn't
rule out that it is an abandoned spaceship yet:
[https://amp.reddit.com/r/space/comments/7ealls/solar_systems...](https://amp.reddit.com/r/space/comments/7ealls/solar_systems_first_interstellar_visitor_with_its/)
"Astronomer here! I will never say this lightly, but we are, swear to God,
actually discussing with some seriousness right now what are the odds that
this was actually a spaceship. Which I 100% assure you has never happened
before in my memory with seriousness."
~~~
erikb
Why the hack do you assume it's abandoned? It can be full of lifeforms even
and we are just not able to see them, talk to them, etc. Imo at this point any
assumption is closing in too much. We don't have a definiton of "life" that
for sure would include extraterrestrial lifeforms that are not actors with
masks in star trek, right?
~~~
paulmd
Well, it's tumbling end-over-end which suggests that if it's a spaceship, it's
no longer in control.
The discussion around the possibility of it being a spaceship rests on the
idea that long thin cigar-shaped objects are the most efficient way to travel
in space because it minimizes your need for ablative protection from
interstellar dust/etc. But if you're tumbling end-over-end you've thrown that
advantage away, so presumably that's not a thing you would intentionally do.
And if you are assuming that this spaceship has shields or whatever, then
there is no reason they would be restricted to a cylindrical shape.
It could be a discarded booster stage or fuel tank, of course. Maybe they were
trying to drop it into the sun and missed. Or a a mass-driver shot (maybe they
finally took care of that pesky Russell's Teapot for us...)
The presumptive conclusion is of course that it's a natural phenomenon, but it
sure is a weird object, and unless we can find a way to catch it (or any
future objects) we will never know. Maybe a starshot probe could catch it?
~~~
semi-extrinsic
The really interesting prospect raised in that Reddit thread is that while the
velocity is likely wrong for an interstellar spaceship, it could be just right
for the spent and discarded deceleration stage of an interstellar spaceship.
In which case the spaceship would be arriving some time later...
~~~
valuearb
It's already passed pedigree with the sun. It is traveling slowly enough that
if it's a discarded stage the spaceship should already be here.
~~~
xelxebar
I'm assuming autocorrect helpfully fixed "perigee" to "pedigree" for you. It's
a nice little malapropism though.
Anyway, minor point but "perigee" usually means closest approach to _Earth_ ;
"-gee" is from the Greek for Earth (as is "geo-"). In the case of the sun, we
have the word "perihelion", and for generic orbits around an object, you
generally hear "periapsis".
And just for completeness, I'll mention that the counterpoint to periapsis is
apoapsis, with apogee and aphelion being the obvious specializations.
There are more words in this pattern for various different objects; Wikipædia
has all the gory details:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apsis](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apsis)
~~~
valuearb
Autocorrect figured out I meant that we need to make sure aliens have
sufficient pedigree before we deign to talk to them.
------
Voloskaya
> Occam’s Razor says it’s unlikely that the very first object we ever see from
> interstellar space just happens to be a spaceship.
Well, isn't this kind of self fulling thing?
Because we assume first that this is an interstellar asteroid, then the
following statement is "proven":
> Researchers had long theorized that space should be full of comets and
> asteroids ejected from other solar systems during their early days. Their
> models showed that planetary formation is a messy business, with many small
> objects kicked out as big proto-planets form. `Oumuamua is the first proof
> that they were right
And at this point, yes, it appears very unlikely that the first interstellar
object we meet would be artificial.
But if we start by saying we don't know what it is, then the above theory is
just speculation, and might be false (what if planeraty formation is a clean
process?). If the theory above can be false, then it could make sense that the
first interstellar object we encounter would be artificial, no?
It seems to me that Occam's Razor doesn't tell us much in this instance.
~~~
hyperpallium
Unfortunately, Occam's Razor can say whatever you want by fiddling the
_apriori_ probabilities. Here, the probability you need is how likely that
theory is to be true - just because it could be false doesn't mean it's 50-50.
If all the models show planet formation is messy, it seems reasonable to
estimate its probability as much greater than 0.5 (note that even if it's
0.9999, they still could be wrong).
~~~
Voloskaya
Totally agree. My point is just that I find it a bit weird/circular to use
Oumuamua as the `first proof` for a theory that is subsequently used with
Occam's Razor to demonstrate that Oumuamua is likely not something else.
------
splittingTimes
So why exactly can we not get a better look at it as it is leaving? With all
our earth- and spacebound telescopes [1] (some are sitting at Earth-Sun
Lagrange points) I would imagine we could. Being too far away behind the sun
seems an unlikely argument to me.
===
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_space_telescopes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_space_telescopes)
~~~
grkvlt
The only working telescope at a Lagrange point is Gaia [0] at Earth-Sun L2,
but it is an astrometry instrument, designed to measure the position and
brightness of various stars, rather than generic deep-space imaging. The
Herschel Space Observatory [1] is also at the Earth-Sun L2 point, and has a
3.5m IR telescope, but ran out of coolant in 2013 and is now defunct.
Interestingly, these are both ESA missions, not NASA.
0\.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_(spacecraft)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_\(spacecraft\))
1\.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_Space_Observatory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_Space_Observatory)
~~~
rsynnott
NASA was involved in Herschel to an extent.
------
kirykl
Seems like this is the same problem/discussion a distant civilization would
have with Voyager
~~~
kk_cz
Voyager is much smaller, though. Can someone with relevant knowledge tell us
if this object would be still detected if it was the same size as Voyager 1?
~~~
scruple
Would we have detected a Voyager-size or Voyager-like object entering our
solar system? I really, really doubt it.
------
michaelwiliamd
>It’s also our first direct look at an intact visitor (as opposed to dust
specks) from another solar system.
Would it not be possible to calculate the origin system based on speed,
trajectory, star positions?
~~~
dangerbird2
The problem is that the star positions change over time via galactic orbit.
'Oumuamua's trajectory appears to originate from Vega, but Vega would have
been at a different position in relation to our solar system back when
'Oumuamua was at the same distance from the Sun as Vega.
------
hectorlorenzo
These actually sound like last famous words.
------
jfindley
Are there yet any credible theories for why we see so few of these? AIUI, if
we're correct about how planets form, there should be far more of these than
we're seeing. Is it that we're probably wrong about how planets form, or
there's something strange about our part of the galaxy, something else or do
we just have no clue?
~~~
Voloskaya
Estimate is that there might be about ~10 of these object passing through
every year, so it's not a lot to start with. In addition asteroids are
relatively small and hard to spot since they are inert. We managed to spot
this one because we were lucky it came so close to earth.
------
Santosh83
Is there _any_ possibility we could launch a really fast space probe that
could overtake this object and report back, maybe within the next decade or
so? Do we have the technology now to pull alongside this rock (and it's going
to be slowing down)?
~~~
api
Probably. Strap a big overpowered upper stage behind a little lightweight
payload and you can fire something pretty fast.
~~~
valuearb
Unfortunately it's almost impossible at this point. The object passed pedigree
a while ago and is headed back out, earth is in a very poor position for an
intercept. The calculations I've seen say even if you use the largest possible
booster, the SLS (which doesn't exist now, won't exist for another 3 years, if
ever) it couldn't even get a small probe to catch up for a very long time, if
ever.
There may be options in using Jupiter for slingshot maneuvers to overcome our
bad positioning, and using super advanced hall effect motors, or project
slingshot type probes. But it seems pretty slim at this point.
UPDATE: The reddit thread has this comment "Not a chance. Velocity relative to
the sun is presently > 39 km/sec and relative to the earth is > 64 km/sec.
This is far faster than anything we have ever launched or even could plausibly
launch in the near future".
Which explains why you need Jupiter to redirect your probe so you can have it
go only 40Km/sec to catch up, rather than 65 Km/sec direct from earth.
------
arnaudsm
Relevant XKCD : [https://xkcd.com/1919/](https://xkcd.com/1919/)
------
singularity2001
tell me it's no the vanguard of a galactic police squad coming to arrest
humans for universal misconduct
------
wruza
Say whatever you want, I know it is Silkie spaceship.
------
joering2
What's really shocking is the drawing from the article [1]
This Astroid was Discovered when already passed by the Earth!!
And was actually very close to it! While I am pretty certain Astronomers knew
it won't hit us, the amount of time it took to discover it would be way too
late for us to even hold hands and kiss our children goodbye!
[http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/outthere/files/2017/11/eso...](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/outthere/files/2017/11/eso1737c.jpg)
~~~
valuearb
The earth gets hit by similarly sized asteroids every 30,000 to 100,000 years,
albeit not quite at this velocity. Average impact velocity for asteroids from
our system is 17 Km/sec, so about 2/3s the speed of this visitor. Either way,
it's not even close to an extinction event.
And "very close to it" is a misnomer. It came within 24 million kilometers of
Earth, about 60 times farther away than the moon is.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Alabama police raid home, take money out of man's wallet over $50 of marijuana - wallace_f
https://reason.com/2019/04/12/alabama-cops-raided-their-house-seized-t
======
lifehacked
This goes on all over the country. For every rotten officer that steals, there
is a whole bushel back at the station that turn a blind eye and happily have
bbqs with them on the weekends. Did you also know that when the police record
an interview they do not have to preserve the tapes, the officers summary of
the conversation is often taken as fact.
~~~
Fjolsvith
This is why you never say anything to an officer except, "I need to call my
attorney."
If you have any kind of a discussion with an officer, they can say whatever
they want, even say you confessed.
------
thatoneuser
Here I am legally stoned out of my fucking mind while in my own country
people's lives are being overturned on an officers subjective smelling of pot.
I mean I wanna think there's more to the story. Like "OH really the dude is an
alcoholic and was waving his pistol at the cop and the cop saw the guy selling
pot..." Because at least if that's the situation then it's like ok the system
is functional.
I can't believe how many people's lives have been ruined over this plant. So
much pointless destruction.
------
kj4ips
I am not sure what makes me angrier, the abuse of civil forfeiture, or the
initial breaking down a door and use of a flash bang as initial contact.
Now, this is only off of one source, but I am of the opinion that the use of a
explosive designed to cause hearing and vision damage on a civilian (without
any other interaction) was blatant overuse of force, and needlessly
endangering the nearby public, as well as the risk of fire.
The civil forfeiture abuse is bad enough, but using an explosive device on a
civilian, while flashbangs are, in almost all cases, nonlethal, the do produce
sound levels that cause instant and permanent hearing damage, and can sill
cause burns as well as other injuries.
I still don't understand how task forces like this can start with this kind of
interaction, where a normal warrant has to be served like any other legal
demand. I assume there is some special provision that is meant for use when
some level of danger is expected during the interaction, and is used to "skip-
past" the usual formalities used for executing warrants, that was meant to be
used where extreme expedience was needed, or the persons being served were
assumed to be actively hostile...
------
craftinator
This behavior is the specific reason for the creation of the 2nd Amendment.
Americans have the right to arm and defend themselves against criminal
activity, and should do so if they wish to protect the livelihoods of
themselves and their communities. Police are criminals if they engage in
theft, and forfeit the special protections normally granted to them by the
law.
~~~
zenexer
Fighting back against police officers is both illegal and a death sentence,
regardless of your innocence. Whether that should be the case is a matter of
debate, but if you fire on police during a raid, you’re going to die. If you
somehow manage to survive, you’re going to be in jail for a long time. It’s as
simple as that.
Again, whether it should be this way is a matter of controversy, but that’s
the way it is. As it currently stands, encouraging people to fight back with
physical force against police is extremely irresponsible and shortsighted.
~~~
craftinator
I don't think that retaliating against criminal theft is a matter of debate.
If police behave criminally, they are subject to retaliation. This is the long
sighted view, in that in the long run, fighting back against criminal behavior
is a detterent against that behavior. Am I missing something here? Should we
encourage thuggery and brigandry in our peace officers? Dangerous, yes,
shortsighted, absolutely not.
------
rum3
Such a strange country.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Nginx on Wasmjit - wofo
https://www.wasmjit.org/blog/nginx-on-wasmjit.html
======
gok
Sounds like the big idea from Singularity (run everything in the same hardware
security ring, use static analysis for memory safety) is going mainstream,
incrementally. Unfortunate that this is happening right as it becomes clear
that such a design is fundamentally unsound on modern hardware.
~~~
zimbatm
+1 for pointing at the irony but it's not really true.
1\. Hardware design flaws are not irremediable and will be fixed in time.
2\. It's still very useful to run software that is trusted to not be malicious
and/but not trusted to be void of memory bugs.
~~~
kllrnohj
> Hardware design flaws are not irremediable and will be fixed in time.
There's no particular reason to believe this. Neither Intel nor AMD have
committed to any form of side-effect-free speculative execution or similar.
That'd required a rather large chunk of transistors and die space, and if
nobody is footing the bill for it it's not going to happen.
Preventing side-effects from leaking between _processes_ (and ring levels)
entirely at the hardware level is definitely going to happen. Within a
process, though? That's not going to happen without multiple major players
demanding it. Since nearly all the major CPU consumers are currently happy
with process boundaries being the security enforcement zones, there's no
particular reason to believe that in-process sandboxing will ever have
hardware fixes to prevent spectre attacks.
~~~
monocasa
> That's not going to happen without multiple major players demanding it.
> Since nearly all the major CPU consumers are currently happy with process
> boundaries being the security enforcement zones, there's no particular
> reason to believe that in-process sandboxing will ever have hardware fixes
> to prevent spectre attacks.
The amount of untrusted code running in browser is only increasing over time,
and the CPU vendors have absolutely noticed this. That's why ARMv8.3A added an
instruction that literally has JavaScript in it's name (FJCVTZS) for instance.
Once you have mitigations for colocating trusted and untrusted code in ring 3,
doing the same in ring 0 almost certainly isn't a big deal.
~~~
kllrnohj
Browser vendors have already rolled out process isolation to handle this. So
why would CPU vendors spend silicon on something userspace has already solved
with the building blocks that are already supported?
In-process sandboxing by all appearances is simply dead.
As for "doing the same in ring 0 almost certainly isn't a big deal" no, very
extremely no. If you let code run in ring 0 it has everything ring 0 can do,
period. You cannot put restrictions on it, that's what spectre proved. Give
code access to a process and it has _entire_ access to that process. Similarly
give something ring 0, and it has the _entirety_ of ring 0.
Untrusted code goes in ring 3 in an isolated process. That's the security
model of x86, and it's the only model that CPU vendors have any pressure to
fix.
~~~
monocasa
It's worse than what you're stating. Spectre is remotely exploitable with
network packets (NetSpectre). The current state of the world isn't just fine
with process level security, and the chip vendors are going to need to fix it,
because ultimately you can exploit then if you control the data, not just the
code. They have several options available to them, all of which also let's you
run sandboxed untrusted code in the same MMU context as trusted code.
~~~
kllrnohj
It is unclear if NetSpectre works in a real environment, but either way it's
fundamentally similar to an IPC call and can be treated as such. As in, that's
where you'd insert hardening boundaries.
Chip vendors have & will fix process boundaries. But _nobody_ is talking about
any sort of protection of any kind that would let in-process sandboxing work
again. It's just not even on the table at this point.
------
rusbus
The intention here is to use wasm to allow you safely run user code _within_
the kernel. Their primary targets are nginx and FUSE. Conceivably, avoiding
the context switch into and out of the kernel will have significant
performance implications, but there aren't any numbers out yet for nginx
specifically.
~~~
simmons
That's certainly a fascinating idea. My initial thought was "Wait, doesn't the
kernel already provide a sandboxed execution environment -- called userspace?"
This would still have scheduling overhead, but I assume the idea is to avoid a
lot of the other context switching steps such as switching page tables. And
instead rely on Wasm/JIT checks to ensure ahead of time that memory violations
won't happen.
~~~
wahern
Once upon a time syscalls were slow, but architectures now provide features
like syscall/sysenter for switching privilege levels, with costs comparable to
userspace function calls.
Once upon a time switching page tables was slow, but now we have features like
PCID that allow preserving buffers.
Soon, if not already, the principle cost to context switching will be the
necessity to flush prediction and data buffers. In-kernel solutions like
Wasmjit must incur the same costs. Quite possibly they may turn out to be
slower overall: 1) they won't be able to take advantage of the same hardware
optimized privilege management facilities (existing and future ones--imagine
tagged prediction buffers much like PCID), and 2) they still incur the extra
runtime overhead of running in a VM which, JIT-optimized or not, eats into
limited resources like those prediction and data buffers that have become so
critical to maximizing performance.
Granted, if it's going to work well at all than Nginx seems like a good bet,
especially because of I/O. But there are many other solutions to that problem.
Obsession with DPDK may be waning, but zero-copy AIO is still a thing and
there are more ergonomic userspace alternatives (existing and in the pipeline)
that let you leverage the in-kernel network stack without having to incur
copying costs. And then there are solutions like QUIC that redefine the
problem and which should work extremely well with existing zero-copy
interfaces.
CPUs are incredibly complex precisely because so much of the security heavy-
lifting once performed in the OS is being accomplished in the CPU or dedicated
controllers. And these newer optimizations were designed to be integrated
within the context of the traditional userspace/kernel split.
Wasmjit looks like an extremely cool project and I don't doubt its utility.
There's plenty of room for alternative approaches, I just don't think the
value-add is all that obvious.[1] Probably less to do with performance and
more to do with providing a clear, stable, well-supported environment for
solving (and subsequently maintaining!) difficult integration problems.
[1] I just want to reiterate that by saying the value-add isn't obvious I'm
not implying anything about the potential magnitude of that value-add. I've
been around long enough to understand that most pain points are invisible and
just because I can't see them or people can't articulate them doesn't mean
they don't exist or that the potential for serious disruption isn't there.
~~~
brobdingnagians
Just an honest question, could you elaborate on what methods are the: "there
are more ergonomic userspace alternatives (existing and in the pipeline) that
let you leverage the in-kernel network stack without having to incur copying
costs". I've been curious about DPDK, FStack, Seastar, IncludeOS/MirageOS,
etc. but wondering if there are easier ways to get the zero-copy IO.
~~~
wahern
Off the top of my head:
Netmap - DPDK-like packet munging performance but with interfaces and
semantics that behave more like traditional APIs. Signaling occurs through a
pollable descriptor, meaning you can handle synchronization and work queueing
problems much more like you would normally.
vmsplice - IIRC it recently became possible to be able to reliably detect when
a page loan can be reclaimed, which is (or hopefully was) the biggest
impediment to convenient use of vmsplice.
peeking - Until recently Linux poll/epoll didn't obey SO_RCVLOWAT, which made
it problematic to peek at data before using splice() to shuttle data or
dequeueing a connection request. I have a strong suspicion that before this
fix many apps like SSL sniffers simply burnt CPU cycles without anybody
realizing. Though in the Cloud age we seem much more tolerant of spurious,
unreproducible latency and connectivity "glitches".
AIO - There's always activity around Linux's AIO interfaces. I don't keep
track but there may have been a ring-buffer patch merged which allows
dequeueing newly arrived events or data without having to poll for readiness
first.
Device Passthru - CPU VM monitor extensions make it easier to work with
devices directly. Not quite the same thing as traditional userspace/kernel
interfaces, but it seems like people are increasingly running what otherwise
look like (and implemented like) regular userpace apps within VM monitor
frameworks. Like with Netmap all you really need is a singular notification
primitive (possibly synthesized yourself) that allows you apply whatever model
of concurrency you want--asynchronous, synchronous, or some combination--and
in a way that is composable and friendly to regular userspace frameworks. VM
monitor APIs and device pass thru permit arranging the burdens between
userspace/VM and the kernel more optimally.
------
sargun
I don’t understand. How is this possible? The POSIX API is not implemented for
WASM. Non web embedding have not yet been standardized, nor threads. How have
they implemented this? Are they implementing a non standard embedding and
pthreads?
[https://webassembly.org/docs/non-web/](https://webassembly.org/docs/non-web/)
------
drzaiusx11
It seems like wasm will finally enable the "write once, run everywhere"
promise that java made but never truly executed by starting with the premise
that you don't need "one true language" (java), but rather just the VM.
Yeah, I know the JVM supports several languages these days but most require
non-superficial similarities to Java (garbage collected, etc.)
~~~
DannyBee
This ignores the tons and tons and tons of work that would really have changed
that. I don't think it really has anything to do with whether you have one
true language or not.
There were plenty of well-funded efforts to have "write once, run everywhere"
in the past that were just VM's and formats (ANDF, etc).
In practice, a lot of things have changed since Java that have made this kind
of approach feasible. As a simple example: good compiler infrastructure to
build on top of is _much_ more available than it was then. These days you
pretty much just have to write a frontend.
Even though GCC existed then, it was still compiling statement at a time!
~~~
drzaiusx11
I know there have been many efforts to write a universal VM. Two things I
think will make wasm more successful than prior attempts is:
1\. it comes on with platforms already via a browser or node.js
2\. like you said, the tools are here now (really LLVM made most of this
possible)
~~~
DannyBee
Sure, i'm just saying your comment seemed to be saying "java's write-once run
everywhere failing was due to trying to have one true language", and i think
that part is fairly orthogonal.
~~~
drzaiusx11
I don't believe it's failure is entirely based on it shipping with a
prescribed language--but I wouldn't say it's orthogonal. Java, the language,
promised "write once, run everywhere" whereas the JVM in the beginning was
just an implementation detail. The JVM slowly evolved into a universal vm
concept, mostly at the hands of the community and not those (Sun, Oracle) that
had the most control over it.
------
jeltz
How do you avoid having to copy buffers from the kernel into WebAssembly? As
far as I know WebAssembly does not provide a way to access memory outside the
linear memory block, but maybe in this specific case (nginx) it is possible to
have all syscalls write to a buffer allocated by WebAssembly.
------
lachlan-sneff
Wasmer just got nginx working on their wasm runtime as well!
------
coverband
I might be getting too old, because I truly don't get the benefit of doing
this... Nobody I know really cares about portability, and I don't see how
running nginx with WASM is in any way better than running it directly on the
system. Does anyone care to ELI5 for me?
~~~
lwb
This is satire but still very interesting:
[https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/the-birth-and-
death...](https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/the-birth-and-death-of-
javascript)
------
zymhan
Does anyone else look at this title and see a jumble of letters?
I miss the days of pronounceable acronyms
~~~
idle_zealot
"engine-ecks on whaz'm-jit" It's certainly pronounceable, though perhaps that
pronunciation is non-obvious.
------
traverseda
Obligatory birth-and-death-of-javascript
[https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/the-birth-and-
death...](https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/the-birth-and-death-of-
javascript)
I suppose calling it METAL would have been too on-the-nose.
~~~
molf
Not sure why you're downvoted, this is a very interesting talk.
~~~
traverseda
It's pretty relevant to the discussion of "why would you want to run wasm in
the kernel", but I'm not too worried about the votes.
~~~
reitzensteinm
It's not, though... WebAssembly doesn't really have all that much to do with
js, any more than Flash or Java plugins would if they ended up being
standardized instead. Every time there's a wasm thread it gets posted, but it
misses the point of the talk to suggest that wasm is the prediction bearing
fruit.
The talk is great, but I'd suggest that's the reason for the downvotes.
~~~
earenndil
> it misses the point of the talk to suggest that wasm is the prediction
> bearing fruit
Does it? It seems that the talk has two main points:
1\. Javascript succeeded because it was (at least initially) just good enough
not to be completely unbearable, but bad enough that people ended up using it
primarily as a target for other languages.
2\. Ring 0 JIT can be 4% faster that normal binaries.
WASM is primarily a target for other languages, and qualifies as a language
that can theoretically be JITted 4% faster than native code can be run.
~~~
reitzensteinm
Point number one isn't applicable to wasm.
The execution inside the kernel is related, but nobody replies to a lua in
kernel post with a link to the talk.
~~~
pjmlp
Because Lua isn't related to Web development, while JavaScript and WASM are.
~~~
reitzensteinm
Right, but that's my point. Wasm is tenuously connected with JavaScript
because both are web technologies, so people link the talk.
But they couldn't be more different technically, and if wasm does indeed
become the lingua franca of future computing it will be much more boring than
the craziness of js doing the same.
The talk was great because it was about an insane yet plausible future. We now
have a boring and probable future.
~~~
pjmlp
I don't believe in that, too much experience to believe in a miracle bytecode
format that will magically succeeded where others failed.
It will just be yet another VM platform.
~~~
reitzensteinm
Even less reason to link to the talk then :-)
------
syrusakbary
Hi HN!
I'm Syrus, from the Wasmer team. We have been working in something similar,
but with a special focus on maintainability and with bigger goals in mind:
[https://wasmer.io/](https://wasmer.io/)
Here is the article about our journey on Running Nginx (which funnily enough
we actually accomplished just before wasmjit):
[https://medium.com/@syrusakbary/running-nginx-with-
webassemb...](https://medium.com/@syrusakbary/running-nginx-with-
webassembly-6353c02c08ac)
~~~
kodablah
> but much more maintainable.
> we actually accomplished just before wasmjit
> Wasmer is the first native WebAssembly runtime [...]
Whoa there. I like both projects and respect competition as much as the next
guy, but maintainability is subjective and being first is of little
importance.
~~~
syrusakbary
True! This statements without analysis are wet paper.
In the article I've linked there is a better analysis on why:
1\. in wasmjit, the machine instructions are hardcoded into the runtime (this
is like creating your own LLVM, by hand... and only available for x86)
2\. it doesn't have a single test
I was talking about my own experience here, because I tried to contribute to
wasmjit before creating Wasmer... and was quite challenging!
It might be useful to check how many people interacted with the code in each
of this projects! ;)
Also note the timeline that took for this projects to accomplish the same:
wasmer (<2 months) wasmjit (6 months)
~~~
hangonhn
You may be correct on all those points but still come off as rude. And I think
you're just trying to be helpful and steer people in the direction that you
think is right. However, given the context of where you're doing it, it feels
like someone is trying to ruin someone else's parade.
~~~
glibgil
They are competing and think theirs is better. They are trying to get people
to look at the competition. That’s not ruining anything for anyone
~~~
zapzupnz
Then the discussion should have been a post unto itself, not a comment piggy-
backing on another project's thread. I dunno, seems like basic netiquette to
me.
But I agree that if you think your solution is better, there's really nowhere
better to put it out there than in front of eyes that are looking at something
similar.
~~~
cryptoplot
Piggy backing rubs the wrong way, but sometimes there is interesting content.
Personally, I would challenge the piggybacker to show me something.
Talk is cheap.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Suster: Should Startups Focus on Profitability or Not? - daviday
http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/12/27/should-startups-focus-on-profitability-or-not/?awesm=bothsid.es_GkX&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=bothsid.es-twitter&utm_source=t.co&utm_content=awesm-publisher
======
orthecreedence
I don't think it makes sense to even think about starting a company if you
don't have some sort of idea of how you're going to make money. This whole
idea of build it first and figure out the money stuff later may work for a few
companies, but it's more or less a recipe for disaster. Investor capital is
temporary, although many treat it as an endless source of income.
~~~
brador
It was a great concept 5-10 years ago when ads made a decent amount of money
and people didn't spend 80% of their time on Facebook/Google/whatever.
In the present day, we have large dominant sites, so you need a better way to
make money than "I'll get the eyeballs and point them to ads eventually". The
eyeballs aren't coming in sufficient quantity to make ads profitable anymore.
Either sell them something, affiliate or go mobile.
------
igorgue
Are there any success stories of companies that turned on the "profit switch"
and started to make money?
I'm just very skeptical about this. It looks like many companies are looking
for the big acquisition and there's no plan "B".
Also this article makes the assumption that companies today are actually
making some revenue, but, most of them (at least the ones that get press) are
not!
~~~
alain94040
Google and Facebook for a start.
If you build something people want and use, _in the scale_ of national TV
audience, then you will be able to monetize.
If you have a great product for a niche, then double-check your unit economics
before you start.
~~~
jonnathanson
It needs to be said that Google and Facebook are perfect, no-brainer
advertising platforms. Mass audiences + natural use behaviors that can be
monetized via ads + user analytics and segmentation capabilities = beaucoup
advertiser bucks.
But it's a mistake to look at a typical startup and assume there's some sort
of magical "monetization switch" that can be flipped when sufficient scale is
achieved. If your platform isn't a natural fit for advertising, or for other
forms of monetization, then monetizing is anything but easy.
Scale isn't sufficient. It's necessary in a lot of cases, but in and of
itself, it doesn't guarantee anything.
~~~
zackattack
I'm having a hard time coming up with a case where a platform /product
achieved scale (in the age of modern advertising), yet couldn't monetize.
Which ones can you think of?
~~~
webwright
Foxmarks/Xmarks and Delicious come to mind.
------
j45
How does a startup ever become a business if it doesn't make money, at least
to cover itself?
~~~
jon_dahl
Eventually, every business wants to make profits. That's kind of the point of
Business. The question is when. If you're a startup, you can:
A) Aim at near-term profitability (say, 12 month horizon) by keeping expenses
low and focusing on revenue growth
or
B) Aim at long-term profitability (say, 5-10 year horizon) by raising a lot of
money, spending it on sales and marketing, R&D, product, etc.
Each has advantages and disadvantages. My take-away from the article: if a
competitor could beat you by raising $30M and focusing on growth at the
expense of profitability, B) might be the right option. Otherwise, A) should
be the default for most businesses.
~~~
j45
In your perception, what percentage of long-term profitability startups end up
achieving it?
~~~
jon_dahl
Tiny, but the payoff is often bigger. :)
------
ThomPete
Clayton Christensen in his great book The Innovators Solution talks about
being "patient for growth not for profit" which I think is a great way to look
at it.
I recently asked him on twitter this advice would fit into the likes of
FaceBook and others and got a reply back that they where looking into that.
It seems to me that the answer as always is it depends.
------
codelust
Of course, they should. It is not whether a company should be profitable or
not that is the important question, it is when it should be profitable that is
more important.
Depending on a variety of factors, companies have runways of differing
lengths. Ideally, you should attain profitability as early as possible. In the
real world it is not that simple a construct.
------
ivankirigin
With subscription SASS services, growth means getting closer to profitability.
Maybe that is why i like them so much lately. It is nice when things overlap.
If I were in the consumer space where you grow before trying to monetize, I'd
feel really nervous about whether that something that will drive profitability
even exists.
------
kennystone
He answers "yes" for 98% of companies, which seems to be a reasonable guess,
if not too low of a percentage.
~~~
pbreit
But don't forget that almost all of the startups are in the 2%.
~~~
kennystone
Nah, just the startups looking to become absolutely huge (most shouldn't).
------
jeffreymcmanus
Profit vs. growth is a false dichotomy.
Of course a growth investor is going to insist that "98% of startups should be
growth focused". In this regard, profit and venture investment are two
different (and, essentially, competing) sources of capital with their own
upsides and downsides.
------
rokhayakebe
Profitability should not necessarily mean that you are earning more than you
are spending, but that you have found a scalable way to make $1 while spending
less. Once you have achieve this, you can focus on everything else.
------
nirvana
This is a great article and it reinforces for me, the importance of the
concept of "ramen profitable". If you're Ramen profitable, you're putting
essentially all of the profits you could be making into growing the business.
You're not running at a loss, and thus not in the situation where a lack of
ability to raise funds would kill your runway. But you're also in the
situation where, if some invested were interested in plugging $10M into the
company you should already have the mechanisms to manage that money and
financial prudence to give the investor a high expectation that you'll put
that money into growth.
Its really easy to spend other people's money and have no profits, and also
have that show up as high growth. You can turn VC dollars into revenue thru a
variety of ways that are unsound for the business in the long term. A trivial
example is taking the VC money and then buying your own products on the open
market. This would likely be considered fraud, but there's a variety of
"partnerships" and inefficient advertising methods whereby you can do the same
thing. If you just want to show growth.
But if you're ramen profitable, and have traction, you've shown the business
is viable on its own terms. This is akin to finding product market-fit. They
might not happen at the same time, but being ramen profitable is a lot easier
once you've found product-market fit.
Of course investors, generally VC types, want to see massive growth and are
not as concerned about profits. But as a founder you have to look out for he
business... and there might not be as much VC interest as you would like, and
in my experience with VCs they are known to drag out deals.
In fact, in several of the deals, during due diligence the VC determined the
amount of cash we had on hand. They also made it known that they wanted us to
start spending more on certain initiatives, and to not worry bout it, we'd
close well before there was a cash crunch. Yet in both times, by the time we
did close, they had us over a barrel because we were about to run out of cash
due to taking their advice.
So, I think ramen profitability is a good balance. You're not wasting gross
margin by banking profits, you're turning it all into, hopefully, an
investment in future growth. You're less dependent on VCs, but have also shown
the discipline to have compelling examples of how you can turn their money
into growth, since you've been doing it with your gross margin so far.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How Old School C Programmers Process Arguments - signa11
http://www.usrsb.in/How-Old-School-C-Programmers-Process-Arguments.html
======
tomsmeding
I have to say, to reasonably experienced C programmers, this code should be
pretty clear. If you need that whole paragraph to understand (* ++argv)[0],
you might be an awesome programmer, but you're not yet a reasonably
experienced C programmer. ;)
I do think this is even more concise than they would have written in
maintained code. In particular, I believe the missing {}'s for the 'while' and
'for' loops whouldn't have been left away, but I might be mistaken. Compare,
for example, with this gem:
[https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/spr09/cos333/be...](https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/spr09/cos333/beautiful.html)
(submitted as
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5672875](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5672875)
some time ago)
There Kernighan talks about a piece of code written by Rob Pike for inclusion
in a different book; the code was written to be as small as possible while
still including some useful functionality. In particular, Pike made well-
considered choices about which functionality to include and which to exclude,
but there are also some of those expressions that will not be completely
transparent to the beginner C programmer. But the goal was writing _short_
code, and _clarity_ came secondary, but also emerged partly as a result of the
first.
~~~
bsder
> If you need that whole paragraph to understand (* ++argv)[0], you might be
> an awesome programmer, but you're not yet a reasonably experienced C
> programmer. ;)
Lines like that have far too much information density for my old brain,
anymore.
Things that went through my poor brain: "Why pre-inc/decrement? Why the +1 on
the for? Did he actually get the precedence of the operators correct? Okay, it
looks like argc and argv will be mangled if you actually want to do anything
else with them. I see comparing to '\0' with no count limit--is there a buffer
overrun lurking here?. Does that error handling actually work--that loop can't
exit with that condition unless the second clause does something.
And that was like--30 seconds?
I'd assign argc and argv to something else so if I need them later for
something they are in their original state. I'd give myself a variable that
points to each individual argv on each iteration, and I'd call it something.
I'd make the error handling more explicit so if I had to add another case
later I wouldn't have to rack my brain about whether the error gets handled.
Etc.
Apparently I've become an inflexible, washed-up, old fart because I just don't
enjoy writing C code with that kind of puzzle-like quality anymore.
~~~
contras1970
i disagree with the sentiment and preferences expressed in your comment. the
code on display is at the sweet spot of complexity _given the scope of task at
hand_. your preferences might lead to code with lower complexity of any given
expression, but there would be a higher number of expressions, higher number
of statements, and higher number of names. that would mean _higher_ complexity
of the full code. should we ban multiplication on the basis that X times Y is
the same as X plus X plus X...?
> Why pre-inc/decrement?
as opposed to what? nothing? clearly, the code needs to advance the iterators
before dereferencing.
> Why the +1 on the for?
because it's interested in the option _name_ as opposed to the leading dash:
argv[0][0] is '-' (see the while above), the switch is looking at argv[0][1].
> Did he actually get the precedence of the operators correct?
not sure what this is about, the only involved expression has explicit
parentheses (out of necessity).
> Okay, it looks like argc and argv will be mangled if you actually want to do
> anything else with them.
yes... and? mutating a local int and a local pointer is bad? how would you go
about this without mutating an iterator?
> I see comparing to '\0' with no count limit--is there a buffer overrun
> lurking here?
nope, it's an array of null-terminated strings.
> Does that error handling actually work--that loop can't exit with that
> condition unless the second clause does something.
i do not understand what you're pointing at here.
> I'd assign argc and argv to something else so if I need them later for
> something they are in their original state.
consider they're already local names, and YAGNI. do alias them _if you need
them later_ , not because you might one day.
> I'd give myself a variable that points to each individual argv on each
> iteration, and I'd call it something.
you would give yourself a possible bug and an obligation to keep the two
things in sync.
> I'd make the error handling more explicit so if I had to add another case
> later I wouldn't have to rack my brain about whether the error gets handled.
what is more explicit than
printf("Illegal option %c\n", *s);
?
i'd really love to see your preferred version of the snippet from TFA. i posit
it'd be two to three times as long, and its total complexity would be
similarly increased.
~~~
bsder
> Why pre-inc/decrement?
No, why "pre-" instead of "post-"? Is that a real requirement , or is this an
old C++ programmer who knows to write pre-crement in order to avoid creating
unnecessary copies?
> Did he actually get the precedence of the operators correct?
It's because I see a "chain" of operators and I have to think about it.
> nope, it's an array of null-terminated strings.
Is it? What happens when I pass 256 '-' characters. Or maybe
32767/32768/65535/65536? Or maybe ...
> Does that error handling actually work--that loop can't exit with that
> condition unless the second clause does something.
If I need to add a second unflagged argument, that error condition test also
needs to be updated. It's an annoyance.
A lot of this is no big deal in this code.
The problem is that code is habit. You will carry the habits from short code
over to long code. So, when you are now parsing 45 flags and 8 arguments, you
will write code the same way and it _WILL_ have bugs.
------
yongjik
So it will admit any combination of -n and -x. In particular, these things
won't raise an error:
find - hello
find - - hello
find -xnxn hello
find -x -n -x hello
find -xxx -nnn -xn hello
Yes, the code has an impressive logic density, but there's a reason why modern
programmers moved away from such style.
~~~
userbinator
_In particular, these things won 't raise an error_
They don't necessarily need to be. Repeating the same option can either have
no effect (|), invert the option (^), or increase something (as in -vvvvv.)
IMHO it's a good thing when there are no error cases --- it basically means
the entire input space has a defined effect.
~~~
MaulingMonkey
Raising an error is an _intentionally defined_ effect.
Doing something under-defined, by accident, that you'll at some point break
because you weren't thinking of that specific edge case when e.g. refactoring,
for someone else who didn't actually _intend_ to exercise that edge case but
never realized they were doing so as they never received an error... well, not
my cup of tea.
~~~
candiodari
And causing errors for everything will cause your program to bug out in
perfectly valid cases.
Defensive versus total programming. Either have their place, but ...
Thing is most programmers vastly overestimate the case for defensive
programming. In practice, most programs need to run. So for instance, the
control loop for a nuclear reactor is not defensively programmed. It never,
ever, ever gets to yield an error. Why ? Because the system is not "fail-
safe". If the program ever were to say "this doesn't make sense, I'm quitting
(or otherwise doing nothing)", there is nothing guaranteeing the system is in
a safe state, and so it may melt down. A bug that fails to notice a critical
condition, and ignores it, on the other hand leaves the system under the
control of the operator, and nothing (should) go wrong (meaning the second
level checks should catch the problem)
The general guideline is defensive programming when starting up, with a force
switch to override it (so the system can be (re)started if operators decide
that's the best outcome). Once the program is running, total programming
should be your go-to solution. When in doubt, do the best you can and continue
on to the next request.
Since I've been programming million qps+ systems, I've learned that there's
even nothing wrong with almost totally ignoring errors. You'd be surprised how
well the following works: before handling a request, note down the time (using
the cheap instruction), then every time you leave your method, check the time.
If it's over a timeout, increase a counter, log if not logged in the past 10s,
and send an empty reply. This makes the developer's job harder, but makes
everybody else a lot happier.
~~~
MaulingMonkey
> And causing errors for everything will cause your program to bug out in
> perfectly valid cases.
Erroring out is admittedly not a panacea to every situation, but the user-
facing end of a command line interface is pretty low hanging fruit and a
pretty obvious place to error out. The nuclear reactor equivalent wouldn't be
the low level control loop, it'd be how the display panels react to operator
inputs and sensors - the red lights they turn on, the klaxons they sound, the
systems they engage to attempt to put the reactor into a safe state when it
thinks it's getting ready to melt down.
And even for that low level control loop, you'd better believe they're
thinking very very hard about, and once again _intentionally define_ , how
they handle any edge cases they can think of, not just throwing caution to the
wind and letting the program's behavior fall where it may.
Even for a rocket, sometimes the best answer is "do nothing - and let the
range safety systems blow the damn thing up if that wasn't the right answer."
> Since I've been programming million qps+ systems, I've learned that there's
> even nothing wrong with almost totally ignoring errors. You'd be surprised
> how well the following works: before handling a request, note down the time
> (using the cheap instruction), then every time you leave your method, check
> the time. If it's over a timeout, increase a counter, log if not logged in
> the past 10s, and send an empty reply. This makes the developer's job
> harder, but makes everybody else a lot happier.
Totally ignoring errors leaves you with crashy garbage that does _not_
accomplish your goal of high uptime/availability/not corrupting data in C++ -
I'd wager you're dealing with safer languages to type that with a straight
face! Even there, though, you probably write code to at least _handle_ null
references and other edge cases. You might not trigger fatal assertion
dialogs, you might not log to some fancy telemetry system, you might not even
log at all - but _something_ to handle error conditions.
And if you're writing that code _anyways_ , you might as well write some
logs/telemetry as well to make your devs lives easier. You don't have to force
it into the face of your end users, you don't have to make the whole thing
explode in the face of adversity, but some opt-in dev tools for yourself tends
to be nice.
A fun trick from gamedev: "Assertion" macros that force you to include an
error handling statement (often a simple "return;"). Devs get to check out if
that null pointer passed to your leaderboards is a systemic bug that broke all
leaderboards, gamers get to keep their quest progress instead of the entire
game crashing because a server being down or giving a malformed response means
the game doesn't know how to handle updating a single leaderboard
occasionally.
Best of both worlds. Be greedy - you can have happy users _and_ devs.
~~~
candiodari
> Totally ignoring errors leaves you with crashy garbage that does not
> accomplish your goal of high uptime/availability/not corrupting data in C++
> - I'd wager you're dealing with safer languages to type that with a straight
> face! Even there, though, you probably write code to at least handle null
> references and other edge cases. You might not trigger fatal assertion
> dialogs, you might not log to some fancy telemetry system, you might not
> even log at all - but something to handle error conditions.
That is exactly what I mean. Defensive programming is erroring out and
refusing to do anything from that point forward (think of it like an uncaught
exception with less information). "Total" programming is doing the best you
can, given what's available. Generally if I am unable to do something, or look
something up, I'll return a partially filled out request, log it (logs are
rate-limited VERY early in the logging process), and increase a counter
created for that particular case.
(I do use C++ often, but we use variable guards to guard against null
pointers, use-after-free, and sharing (unless explicit)).
> A fun trick from gamedev: "Assertion" macros that force you to include an
> error handling statement
Link ? I'm interested.
~~~
jsjohnst
> Defensive programming is erroring out and refusing to do anything from that
> point forward (think of it like an uncaught exception with less information)
I’m not sure where you got that impression, but it’s not the generally
accepted definition.
_Defensive programming_ does not imply crash/abort/exit, it just simply
implies a style of programming where you don’t trust “things will always be
ok”. That could involve checking every input for correctness, checking every
function output, handling all exceptions, etc. Yes, a defensive method could
throw an exception on invalid input, but if the entire program is written
defensively, then it should be handled and potentially continued.
------
userbinator
Extract this into its own function and you basically have getopt() --- the
POSIX version, not the rather more bloaty GNU version that has sometimes-
unexpected behaviour (like reordering arguments).
If you like this sort of source code, I'd also recommend looking at the BSD
standard utilities --- they have a similar simple and concise style.
Yet there's still one small simplification that can be made: the condition in
the inner loop doesn't need "!= '\0'".
If there are many pure-binary options, then putting them in a bitflag is also
an easy extension to the present code:
char binopts[] = "abcdefg";
char *opt;
if(opt = strchr(binopts, *s))
options |= 1 << (optidx - opt);
else
// put the switch(*s) here
_Nowadays they just haul in the software weenies with their fancy objects and
methods. Lost is the subtle art of manipulating arrays of pointers to strings
of characters._
Indeed, compare with the "modern" way of doing it:
[https://github.com/commandlineparser/commandline/tree/master...](https://github.com/commandlineparser/commandline/tree/master/src)
...or something slightly simpler (because it's only one file!):
[https://github.com/mono/mono/blob/master/mcs/class/Mono.Opti...](https://github.com/mono/mono/blob/master/mcs/class/Mono.Options/Mono.Options/Options.cs)
It may seem like an exaggeration, but in my experience working with C# and
Java, code like that is the norm --- the core functionality is obscured by
being scattered amongst a large amount of "fluff" and it's hard to get the
whole picture of how it works because the flow jumps around so much. In
contrast, the C code in this article can be understood by just staring at it
for a little bit --- the entire functionality is contained within less than a
dozen lines.
~~~
Const-me
> compare with the "modern" way of doing it
The examples you’ve linked implement much larger set of functionality.
They de-serialize arguments into strongly typed values (validating arguments),
validate against unknown commands/options, print various help messages,
support globalization, support arrays in a single argument, and lots more.
Sure it’s overkill for a simple app with just a couple of options, but once
you have sufficiently complex command line interface, this modern way becomes
much simpler than what’s possible with C.
Compare with “old school” way of doing it: [https://github.com/gcc-
mirror/gcc/blob/master/gcc/opts.c](https://github.com/gcc-
mirror/gcc/blob/master/gcc/opts.c) [https://github.com/gcc-
mirror/gcc/blob/master/gcc/opts-globa...](https://github.com/gcc-
mirror/gcc/blob/master/gcc/opts-global.c) [https://github.com/gcc-
mirror/gcc/blob/master/gcc/opts-commo...](https://github.com/gcc-
mirror/gcc/blob/master/gcc/opts-common.c)
BTW that thing isn’t even localized, i.e. everything’s US English-only.
~~~
mehrdadn
What in the world is this inconsistent and bizarre spacing around brackets? I
literally thought it was a new syntactical construct in C when my eyes first
landed on it!
cl_options [next_opt_idx].neg_index == opt_idx
old_decoded_options[i].errors & ~CL_ERR_WRONG_LANG
and the parentheses too... why in the world do they do this?
set_option (opts, (generated_p ? NULL : opts_set),
opt_index, value, arg, kind, loc, dc);
~~~
todd8
Once upon a time, programmers didn't have IDE's, Emacs, or even text editors.
I'd been programming for seven or eight years before Bill Joy created vi. Each
programmer and each program had its own style.
Often, a program's layout reflected the programmer's inner thoughts as he or
she worked through the creation of the code. Expressions were written like a
mathematician might write, with spacing and bracketing reflecting some way of
thinking about the grouping of the abstractions at hand.
This is just a random routine, written around 1975, from Niklaus Wirth's PL/0
compiler for Pascal, the programming language that he created. The indenting
is wild by contemporary standards:
procedure getch;
begin if cc = ll then
begin if eof(input) then
begin write(' program incomplete'); goto 99
end;
ll := 0; cc := 0; write(cx: 5,' ');
while not eoln(input) do
begin ll := ll+1; read(ch); write(ch); line[ll]:=ch
end;
writeln; readln; ll := ll + 1; line[ll] := ' ';
end;
cc := cc+1; ch := line[cc]
end {getch};
Early C code too, even in the Unix kernel, was often dense and hard to
understand (the kernel was under 10,000 lines back then). See Lions'
Commentary [2]. Here's a small function, setfs(), line 7167 of the system 6
Unix kernel in Lion's book. In particular note the lack of indention under the
for loop:
setfs(dev)
{
register struct mount *p;
register char *n1, *n2;
for(p = &mount[0]; p < &mount[NMOUNT]; p++)
if(p->m_bufp != NULL && p->m_dev == dev) {
p = p->m_bufp->b_addr;
n1 = p->s_nfree;
n2 = p->s_ninode;
if(n1 > 100 || n2 > 100) {
prdev("bad count, dev);
p->s_nfree = 0;
p->s_ninode = 0;
}
return(p);
}
panic("no fs");
}
It seems obvious now that standard and consistent formatting make programs
easier to understand. Why did we old timers do that to ourselves? First, short
programs were easier to keypunch or enter via a teletype machine. Second, we
had a plenty of time to study our code. Turn around time for a compilation,
from submission to printed listing, could take 30 minutes to 12 hours.
[1] [http://pascal.hansotten.com/niklaus-
wirth/pl0/](http://pascal.hansotten.com/niklaus-wirth/pl0/)
[2] John Lions, Lion's Commentary on Unix 6th Edition with Source Code.
[https://www.amazon.com/Lions-Commentary-Unix-
John/dp/1573980...](https://www.amazon.com/Lions-Commentary-Unix-
John/dp/1573980137/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1517149381&sr=8-1&keywords=lion%27s+commentary)
~~~
DonHopkins
>Often, a program's layout reflected the programmer's inner thoughts
And often it reflects the programmer's inner carelessness and disrespect for
other programmers who have to deal with their code.
------
QShift
Skimmed through the article and found a small mistake.
That means that (*argv)[0] is the first character of the program name and (*argv)[1] is the first character of the first argument.
(*argv)[1] is the second character of the program name (in this case), not
first character of first argument.
------
Annatar
"That’s how Kernigham and Ritchie did it in 1978. Nowadays they just haul in
the software weenies with their fancy objects and methods." No, we use
getopts(3C). For decades now. I even use getopts in my shell programs. For old
UNIX hands, using getopts in C or in shell programming is certainly nothing
new. How, you ask? Simple! Watch this: while getopts hDd: Option do case
"$Option" in h) Usage ;;
D)
Debug=true
;;
d)
Destination="$OPTARG"
;;
esac
done
shift `expr $OPTIND - 1` # I did not use $((OPTIND - 1)) for a reason!
Bam! Your program will now behave exactly as every other UNIX executable,
especially if you do not name it with .sh postfix and make it executable, the
user won't be able to tell the difference between it or say, ls(1)! Having
said that, the example in the article cements what I've been saying all along:
C is more than fine in the programming hands of a thoughtful mind.
------
cperciva
On the topic of processing command-line arguments and the recent post on
obscure things you can do with C: My "magic getopt"
([http://www.daemonology.net/blog/2015-12-06-magic-
getopt.html](http://www.daemonology.net/blog/2015-12-06-magic-getopt.html))
does some very evil things to make it possible to write a "normal-looking" C
getopt look which accepts both short and long options.
------
d--b
Mmh, what's so special about this? A C# version is pretty close...
int i=0;
while(i < args.Length-1 && args[i][0] == `-`) {
for (var j=1; j<args[i].Length; j++) {
switch(args[i][j]) { case `x`: ...
~~~
pjmlp
The pointer tricks on argv.
------
mjl-
this is how they did it somewhat later in plan 9, with macro's:
ARGBEGIN{ default: usage(); case 'm': m = ARGF(); break; case 'p': pflag = 1;
break; }ARGEND
[https://github.com/9fans/plan9port/blob/master/include/libc....](https://github.com/9fans/plan9port/blob/master/include/libc.h#L919-L940)
[https://github.com/9fans/plan9port/blob/master/src/cmd/mkdir...](https://github.com/9fans/plan9port/blob/master/src/cmd/mkdir.c#L57-L71)
~~~
henesy
The Plan 9 solution always felt really logical imo.
~~~
mjl-
i agree. too "clever", feels like a needless optimization. (optimizing for
fewer keystrokes to type? or obscurity?)
btw, many of the plan 9 commands use slightly different/custom option parsing.
probably for historic reasons.
~~~
mveety
No, this isn't clever at all. Its an optimization for when you need to write a
lot of little utilities that need to parse arguments. It probably came out of
a day of writing tools, and after the fifth time of rewriting that while/for
loop someone got pissed and made that macro. I use this macro all the time on
both 9front and unix because it makes parsing arguments trivial (and I don't
use long options, but that's more because I'm a plan 9/unix extremist than for
any technical reasons).
------
aplorbust
"What's so cool about this is its flexibility."
This is something I have never understood.
I am a connoisseur of command line progams. I have used hundreds of them over
decades. I write command line programs and scripts every week. It is an
obsession. Yet I am embarassed to admit that honestly I have never understood
the benefits of flexibility with passing arguments. I never understood the
"getopt" movement. I do not use it. All my programs are very simple and
straightforward without heaps fo options.
I apologise for being obtuse, but what am I missing?
To anyone who might be offended: I am not criticising flexibility of
commandline arguments or its coolness. I just want to understand what are the
practical advantages over something more simple and less flexible, like what I
prefer. Only if I understand the advantages can I be an advocate for using
numerous commandline options and flexibile parsing.
(Theres another post about setenv et al. on the front page right now. For
programs that read from environ variables -- which can be a better alternative
to using heaps of commandline options IMO -- I just use envdir from
daemontools.)
~~~
coldtea
> _Yet I am embarassed to admit that honestly I have never understood the
> benefits of flexibility with passing arguments._
It's about not having to remember what goes before what, if you can put them
like this or that, etc ON TOP of remembering the arguments themselves.
> _All my programs are very simple and straightforward without heaps fo
> options._
If your programs are basically ./a.out then perhaps you're not the target
audience for getopts?
~~~
pjmlp
Easy to sort out with an help flag.
~~~
coldtea
Easy, but also one more needless impediment to just using the damn thing.
------
blikdak
One thing an old school C programmer would not do is neglect to put parens
around their blocks.
~~~
enriquto
On the contrary! We force all our blocks to consist of a single statement so
that we can always omit the damn parens.
~~~
kqr
Are you saying you need statements in your loop blocks!? I just added this to
a school assignment:
for (String next = in.readLine();
next != null && dictionary.add(next);
next = in.readLine());
...you can sense my contempt for this assignment. I would of course never do
this in a real program.
------
dajt
I wasn't all that impressed with the code - too 'clever' and concise for me.
I wouldn't be surprised if it let a bunch of unexpected inputs through as
another commentor pointed out.
That may have been okay back then but in today's hostile environment and with
so many people around that aren't natural programmers who dream of pointers
you probably want something a bit more verbose.
I've been programming C since the late 80s so I'm not a new-comer. But I'm not
a fan of that code even though I can understand it okay.
The more experience I get and the more people I work with, the simpler I like
my code to be. I'll always take simplicity over speed and concision if I can.
------
ggm
The getopt() arguments we used to have on USENET before gnu swept the board..
------
cagey
Maybe I've forgotten more C than I'd like to admit,
while (--argc > 0 && (*++argv)[0] == '-')
...
Notice that the decrement always occurs before the ‘>’ is
evaluated. This would be true even if it were postfix (i.e., argc-- > 0).
but isn't the last statement ("This would be true even if...") in error? IIRC
a post-decrement would occur _after_ the ‘>’ is evaluated.
edit: clarity
~~~
kbsletten
The decrement is the same either way, the value yielded by the decrement
expression would however be different. I don't like the wording either.
------
scarface74
What's clever about this? It's a little obtuse and overly permissive. How do
most developers parse arguments? I suspect it would be a for loop with nested
if statements - since you can't switch on strings. If you expect a value to
follow the flag you increment the counter in your if block and 'continue'.
------
zoul
It’s nice and smart, but also notice how it needs a whole web page to explain
and would happily compile after a lot of invisible single-letter changes that
would introduce horrible bugs. There is value in the old ways of writing
software, I just wouldn’t throw out modern software engineering just yet.
~~~
oldcynic
Any competent C programmer shouldn't need _any_ explanation of that simple
example.
Granted pointers, just like objects in more "modern" languages, take some
while for new programmers a while to get their heads around.
~~~
vram22
>Any competent C programmer shouldn't need any explanation of that simple
example.
Interesting point, and I agree. I read that code a little earlier today, and
(was a bit surprised to see that) I could understand it pretty much right
away, even though I have not used C a lot for a while. I did use it a lot
earlier though, on both Unix and DOS/Windows, and I do remember poring over
that K&R book early in my C career, and working out the meaning of each line
of code in almost the whole book. That may be why I could figure out quickly
what it meant, now. More cryptic stuff might take a while to figure out,
though, but the point I want to make is that the general principle remains the
same: you have to understand what each line and even what each token (of the
code) in each line is doing, how it works, etc., by reading the books and
docs, by trial and error, modifying the code and seeing the modified output,
using debugging print statements, isolating smaller chunks of code and running
them to see how they work and if your mental model of what is happening
matches reality, etc.
------
ateesdalejr
Wow, the amount of compactness and craftsmanship in these lines of code is
amazing.
~~~
jstimpfle
I think there's nothing magical about it at all. It's rather that "modern
software architecture" (examples for what I mean linked in another comment
here about C# and Java) is a disaster.
~~~
beefhash
It might not even be that. I presume that kind of code used to be written with
pen and paper, a compilation cycle almost prohibitively expensive.
When you sit down and just design a piece of code for hours as to not waste
your compilation cycle, I would guess that you naturally end up being fairly
crafty after some time.
~~~
oldcynic
Nope, you just end up thinking that compactly as you type.
When I learned C it was a given to code efficiently. Pointer manipulation and
efficient structure packing was expected, and therefore taught. You'd rule out
of an interview anyone who didn't easily grok it.
It's probably no surprise that the fastest GUI editor I've used to date ran on
a 7.1MHz machine. Such is "progress"!
~~~
tech2
Just because I'm curious, CygnusEd?
~~~
oldcynic
Yes indeed. :)
Most impressive, I think, is that it managed to be so fast and include smooth
scrolling.
~~~
vram22
Brief was pretty fast too. I only used it briefly (heh), but read in some
computer magazines at the time, that it used a lot of code optimizations, one
of which was that it used assembly language code, and another being (IIRC)
that it used BIOS calls to dynamically change the speed of movement of the
cursor when it detected that you pressed an arrow key for a longer time
(probably by changing the key repeat rate or reducing the repeat time), so
that when you did that, movement through the file would be faster. The idea
being that a user pressing the arrow key for a longer time probably meant to
move through a longer section of the file (than usual) to reach some other
distant place in it, so Brief figures this out and assists them with that, by
scrolling faster with that BIOS technique.
Anecdote: On a trip to the US (Boston), I once met Norm Miles, who, my US
colleague said, was the creator of Brief.
The Brief editor is actually still available, here, and for free now:
[http://www.briefeditor.com/](http://www.briefeditor.com/)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brief_(text_editor)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brief_\(text_editor\))
------
Chiba-City
The original getopt was a really tight library.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Best way to hire a CTO in Silicon Valley? - netaustin
My development firm, based in NYC, has a client in Silicon Valley. They are seeking a CTO to work with us before the site launches and to grow an internal team thereafter.<p>We're in a niche where this is pretty common, and the development idiom of the industry is such that a transfer of knowledge should not be a burden if we do our jobs right. Also, the best list of jobs that I know of in this niche is a Google Spreadsheet.<p>Normally, my answer for them would be to plumb their network, post on StackExchange and LinkedIn, etc., etc., but they have fairly specific needs around experience and prior knowledge. Also, they need to keep some details of their enterprise confidential before they launch, since they're fine on funding and would not benefit from pre-launch publicity.<p>Is using a recruiter unavoidable in this case? If so, who are the best? Are there alternatives? What's the best way to advertise a great job while withholding some details?
======
gamechangr
I think you are at the right site and should post something here.
I know this won't be well received, but know that i intend to help. "withhold
some details" just screams of a corporate lawyer who will have a low
probability of putting together a team. Kind of like a blinking red light that
your unfamiliar with the tech space.
It comes from the misconception that the ideas are what makes a great company
(usually it's the team and then a good idea). It is very rare that any company
is alone in a space. In other words, you can bet ten companies are
strategizing on your secret idea as we speak.
advice: no one has a problem with ND if it makes sense. Make a post of what
you need that is generic and ask for related experience. "Willing to pay top
dollar. We need three data miners familiar with social media". Use the best
responder and ask for recommendations of putting together a team.
or do what other New York firms do, pay the local VC's for their network.
Hope that helps.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google is down - efader
http://www.google.com
======
taylorbuley
Not from where I'm typing
~~~
richchan
Unless he meant the stock - it did go down a bit in the afternoon today. =p
------
georgemcbay
Google was down for me for about 4 minutes today. I'm in San Diego. I don't
recall what time it was exactly but it was approximately 6:15ish pm Pacific
Time.
It wasn't just the search engine either, the first thing that I noticed down
was my work email (Google Apps based). Not only could I not reach google or
any of my Google Apps email accounts, but I couldn't reach any app engine
sites including (irony?) downforeveryoneorjustme.com.
Not sure what the outage was or how local it was, but I did actually see what
the submitter here saw as well -- he isn't crazy. My internet connection was
working fine other than the inability to reach seemingly any google powered
site, traceroute to www.google.com failed though the ip resolved correctly.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why the Economic Fates of America’s Cities Diverged - prostoalex
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/11/cities-economic-fates-diverge/417372/?single_page=true
======
exelius
I dunno, when I look at migration data over the long term in the US, a few
things stand out to me:
1\. Weather is a huuuuuge factor. The large, growing population centers in the
US are in warm or mild climates. Nobody wants to live in Buffalo or
Minneapolis unless you're from there.
2\. Location is far less important to the industries that generate the
majority of value today. A lot of industrial jobs (and cities) sprung up in
the midwest in the early part of the 20th century thanks to its proximity to
raw materials (iron ore, coal, etc) and easily navigable waterways. That's not
as important to the economy as a whole anymore, so companies have little
reason to start (aka create jobs) in locations that are otherwise undesirable.
3\. Given that there are fewer job opportunities that are reliant on proximity
to natural resources, and that more of the new job opportunities will be
located in cities with milder climates, it's no wonder that rust belt cities
are bleeding people. Would you start a new business in Buffalo? Or would you
just go to Chicago, New York or Philadelphia instead?
~~~
linkregister
1\. New York City has less warm/mild weather than any coastal city southern to
it along the East Coast. Yet it has the highest per-capita income of any of
them. I don't know your location but this unfounded weather-as-a-migration-
driver theory seems to be propagated by Californians and Coloradans.
2\. Agreed, network effects are what drive these headquartering decisions now.
3\. It's interesting that you're choosing Buffalo as an example. It's
currently experiencing a resurgence [1] [2], as is Pittsburgh [3] [4].
[1] [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/business/energy-
environmen...](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/business/energy-
environment/the-wind-and-sun-are-bringing-the-shine-back-to-buffalo.html?_r=0)
[2]
[http://www.ci.buffalo.ny.us/Home/Leadership/City_Comptroller...](http://www.ci.buffalo.ny.us/Home/Leadership/City_Comptroller/economy)
[3] [http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/09/02/an-urban-
revi...](http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/09/02/an-urban-revival-in-
the-rust-belt)
[4]
[http://www.economist.com/node/14460542](http://www.economist.com/node/14460542)
~~~
ghaff
There's a lot of history, even if sometimes accidental history, in why certain
industries are so concentrated where they are. But there does seem to be a
natural tendency to concentrate in many cases. For example, the Kendall Square
area of Cambridge is pretty much non-stop pharma/biotech construction. MIT is
part of the reason in that case but I'm sure it's not the only one.
Of course, there are often Tier 2 locales for a given industry that have less
of a concentration but still have a reasonable hiring pool and/or people
willing to relocate there (plus remotes). They may not be as in-demand as the
center of the given industry, but they can be a lot cheaper or attractive in
other ways. In tech, the housing pains of the Bay area are arguably the
perfect storm of historical happenstance, a great climate for the most part,
and constrained geography.
~~~
jghn
The pharma/biotech is driven by both the MIT/Harvard connection but also the
local cluster of medical research institutions. You don't have to go back too
far to get to a point where real estate in Kendall/Central/East Cambridge was
relatively cheap. The confluence of these things is what started the feedback
loop there.
~~~
ghaff
Feedback loop is a good way of putting it.
Yeah, I remember when the area beyond Tech Square or so was basically "there
be dragons here." There was a lot of, shall we say, underutilized land from
Cambridge's day as an eastern Detroit a fair chunk of which MIT owned but
hadn't developed.
I would walk to Kendall when I was an undergrad but I thought of that as being
totally disconnected from where the long-gone Lechmere was.
~~~
jghn
Yeah, my memory goes back to the late 90s where there was kendall sq proper
(area around the T stop), Cambridge Center, 1 Kendall and the Galleria and not
a whole lot in between any of them. Tech Sq was there too although no one ever
went there except if they had to go to tech square.
Even though the distances are all the same everything seems so much closer now
just because it's almost a single contiguous entity now instead of 5 min walks
through parking lots and empty space just to get to the next building.
------
strictnein
> "In 1966, the average per-capita income of greater Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was
> only $87 less than that of New York City and its suburbs"
And that is a 5% difference? 25% difference? 55%? Is that number inflation
adjusted?
I hate stats like this. When they show up they make me really assume the rest
of the article is junk as well.
~~~
nostromo
To give them some credit, they link to the source, so you can dig in all you
like. Here, I've done it for you.
1966 average income:
$3,962 - New York City area
$3,875 - Cedar Rapids area
So, 2% less.
~~~
humanrebar
Adjusted for cost of living, Cedar Rapids sounds much _better_ than NYC with
those numbers.
------
hyperion2010
> They did so primarily by making the tech industry much less about
> engineering and much more about lawyering and deal making.
This is my take home for everything. Lawyers are the ones in congress. Who
ultimately benefits from the arrangements we have now? Lawyers and pretty much
no one else.
Simplistic? Yes. However, if you play the 'follow the money' game I'm not sure
who else benefits, because I'm fairly certain it isn't the landlords.
~~~
Periodic
What really stood out to me was the idea that the current climate of shooting
for an acquisition as a primary exit strategy is due to the threat of the
entrenched goliaths of the industry and the concentration of power they have
in terms of markets and patents. I had never linked that trend to anti-
competitiveness in the market because the market looks so competitive based on
how many companies are starting and getting funded.
------
jonesb6
I cannot recommend the book Boomerang by Michael Lewis enough. He examines
what several countries (Greece, Ireland, Iceland, Germany, the United States)
did between 2000-2012 when they were allowed to barrow vast sums of money with
little oversight. He's a great narrator and it's an overall insightful book.
Towards the end of the book he examines what a number of American cities did
when they were allowed to barrow vast sums of money with little oversight.
Thumming through it now he covers Vallejo and San Jose. TLDR would be they
bankrupted themselves with pensions and tax cuts.
Oh and it's a light read too. And it has an Arnold Schwarzenegger interview.
~~~
throwaway_xx9
The story goes much deeper than that.
The public sector unions across California circulated a letter in each
municipality that they would only support candidates willing to approve 8%
guaranteed annual pension returns.
And they got it. As a result, California cities are all bankrupt today.
FYI: San Jose is bad, but ironically wealthy Palo Alto has one of the worst
budgets.
------
Ologn
› Today, the commuter-rail system that once made it comparatively easy to live
in suburban New Jersey and work in Manhattan is falling apart, and commutes
from other New York suburbs, whether by road or rail, are also becoming
unworkable. Increasingly, this means that only the very rich can still afford
to work in Manhattan, much less live there
I don't find this to be true. New York City subways are better now than they
were in the 1970s. Public transportation into Manhattan has not changed much
in the past decades, although the prices have risen. There are plenty of
places to live for working class people with decent commutes to Manhattan. I
know plenty of people at startups who lived in Manhattan - engineers could
live by themselves, others needed roommates. You're not going to live on 5th
Avenue, of course. I live in the suburbs so my apartment has some space, not
due to expense - I could rent a smaller Manhattan apartment for the same
price.
------
Eiriksmal
This was an excellent, thought-provoking piece. Anyone have some book
recommendations for further examinations of how the rise of the corporation
has affected America?
------
powera
This seems to ignore cost of living. A lot of the reason salaries are high in
San Francisco is because rent is high, and rent is high because salaries are
high. Just because people can make "more money" in San Francisco doesn't mean
they'll be better off.
~~~
ams6110
Rent is high because housing is scarce. That does lead to higher salaries
(because you can't attract employees if they can't afford housing) but the
rent is not high just because salaries are high.
~~~
totalrobe
Rent is not high just because of scarcity. It's high in North Virginia even
there is plenty of new housing on the market - the problem is that developers
are only building luxury apartments and trying to rent at above market prices.
Most of these places are offering 3-4 months free up front because nobody is
paying the obscene sticker prices for a 12 month lease.
It's not just a local phenomenon - public REIT's are buying up affordable
units nationwide and renting them out at >20% above market...
[http://www.multifamilyexecutive.com/business-
finance/luxury-...](http://www.multifamilyexecutive.com/business-
finance/luxury-apartments-galore-at-what-cost_o)
~~~
exelius
Rent is high because home-buying credit is scarce. Banks are still gun-shy
about lending, so only people with stellar credit or who are borrowing a small
percentage of their earning power can get home loans right now. Which has
caused REITs and other PE organizations to come in and buy up real estate to
fill the gap -- and REITs are not interested in dealing with "affordable"
rental units and the social problems that often come along with them. So they
market their buildings as "luxury" and attach a high price tag.
This has led to a couple of side effects: a shortage of rental units (and the
associated high rental prices), a shortage of qualified buyers (people aren't
able to roll the equity from their starter house into a new home because they
never bought the starter house), and an extreme shortage of new construction
at the low end of the market (the only people who can even qualify to buy
today are upper-middle class).
We're still not out of the subprime quagmire yet. The rental market in the US
was sized for a world where subprime mortgages existed -- and now that they
largely don't, those people have to live somewhere.
Regardless, "affordable" housing will not exist unless it is subsidized by the
government. The private sector has no interest in renting to the low-income
segment when the "up-market" segment is lower cost, higher margin and has
significantly lower legal risk.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
State Machines - How Balanced controls funds flow - steveklabnik
http://blog.balancedpayments.com/state-machines/
======
plumeria
Cool, it would be nice to have a reading list of articles that show this kind
of applied FSMs.
~~~
cju
You have several realistic examples on this page about Stateflow, one of the
most used FSMs design software in some industries such as automotive:
[http://www.mathworks.com/products/stateflow/examples.html](http://www.mathworks.com/products/stateflow/examples.html)
------
habitue
We use the xworkflows[1] library with sqlalchemy to model state machines. It
works really well.
[1][https://github.com/rbarrois/xworkflows/](https://github.com/rbarrois/xworkflows/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
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